We created enigma by the use of our music, camera angles (i.e. low angle, etc). We also decided to create enigma through the use of mise-en-scene and the settings alone, the lack of other people, dialogue, etc.
Establishing setting-
We established a setting through our close-up shots of the actor and her props.
Later in the film, we did a slight establishing shot before there was another shot from an inside, enclosed setting.
We decided to have only one clip with an outside setting as we wanted to suggest to the audience that the primary character is not safe, and this is shown through the inside settings and locations.
Establishing genre-
We established our genre through our music, location, mise-en-scene and our camera angles. We decided to conform to generic horror movie ways of creating the enigma, suspense, etc.
Focus Group-
I decided to show my focus group the opening of the inspired film to our own ('Scream') and then ask them questions on the comparisons they felt were conformed and suborned.
After they all watched both of these openings, I asked them a few questions:
"Are there any scenes in both of these openings that you think are very similar, and therefore conform to generic horror movie conventions."
Fran:
"I can see that in the scenes that both of the main characters are worried that someone/something is looking at them and they both look for them/it."
Rebecca:
"The fact that both of the main characters are women is something that stands out to me straight away."
Amy:
"Both of the main characters are being shown as being isolated, like through the outside shot in 'Scream' and the bit where 'Ava' is walking by herself outside."
Isabella:
"I suppose the idea alone that they're both being stalked, but the character in 'Scream' knows about it, wheres in your film 'Masked' the main character doesn't seem to."
From their responses to my first question, I understood that they thought that Nav and I had conformed to a lot of horror genre conventions: such as the use of the female character, etc.
Once I had asked this, I was curious to find out whether or not they saw any real differences in terms of subordinating to generic conventions of the horror genre.
"Did any parts of 'Masked" stand out to you as being effective and different from 'Scream'?"
Fran:
"I thought the idea that the movie was from the stalkers position was different and therefore created a different effect, whereas 'Scream' had the film from the main characters view, rather than the stalker."
Rebecca:
"The idea that the character in 'Scream' is unsafe because she is alone in her house, whereas the character in 'Masked' has been made to seem unsafe whilst in a public area."
Amy:
"I think that in 'Masked' the idea that the 'stalker' is remained without a gender yet we all assume its a male suggests to me that I think the main character is a weak character, whereas in 'Scream' we know straight away that its a male"
Isabella:
"The lack of dialogue in 'Masked suggests that the main character is reserved and shy whereas in 'Scream' the main character is outgoing and veracious. This makes it look as if 'Ava' is clever, and not going to be tricked into messes, unlike most of the girls in classic horror movies."
Again, from these responses I was able to understand that my focus group believed that our film subordinated some of the conventions of the horror movie genre, i.e. the dumb girl in the horror movie, etc.
" The representation of African Americans in media has been a major concern in mainstream American culture, and is a component of media bias in the United States. Representation, in itself, refers to the construction in any medium of aspects of "reality" such as people, places, objects, events, cultural identities and other abstract concepts. Such representations may be in speech or writing as well as still or moving pictures."
Through costume, she our main character makes her look like
she is a professional, this doesn't conform to regular POC
representations.
Female Rights-
"The exploitation of women in mass media is the use or portrayal of women in the mass media (such as television, film and advertising) to increase the appeal of media or a product to the detriment of, or without regard to, the interests of the women portrayed, or women in general. Feminists and other advocates of women's rights have criticized such exploitation. The most often criticized aspect of the use of women in mass media is sexual objectification, but dismemberment can be a part of the objectification as well."
We decided to use a female as our main character as we felt that we could conform to the regular stereotypes, i.e. the damsel in distress character. However, we also wanted to have our character as being independent.
Social Class-
"Social class (or, simply, class), as in class society, is a set of concepts in the social sciences and political theory centered on models of social stratification in which people are grouped into a set of hierarchical social categories, the most common being the upper, middle, and lower classes."
We chose to mix all of these representations (POC, Female and middle class) as they, together are highly underrepresented within media.
Focus Group:
I decided to ask my focus group and whether or not they saw and understood our representation of the social groups:
"Where did you specifically see a representation of POC within our film 'Masked'?"
Fran:
"Obviously as I was in the film, I realised there would have been a POC, however the point where it was most obvious to me was the scene where the stalker was zooming in on my photo."
Rebecca:
"I didn't really noticed the colour of the characters skin but, in the scene where she was walking towards the camera at the station: she was the only person in the shot, and I guess she is also the only POC person too."
Amy:
"I didn't particularly notice her skin colour at any point throughout the film, she was the only real character. Maybe I would have noticed if she was the only POC within a group of people who aren't."
Isabella:
I noticed a clear difference in person type in the scene where the actor was sat in the café and there was a girl sat near her, who was the complete opposite to her, other than that I didn't really think about it."
" Do you think that a social class has been shown through our film?"
Fran:
"I didn't really notice a particular social class being shown, I suppose I was dressed quite smartly, although nothing stood out to me."
Rebecca:
"I feel like through her props, like her phone and stuff, you could say that she was middle class because a phone is a luxury item"
Amy:
"Yeah I noticed a slight class representation as she was sat in a café and that is something that lots of people do as an occasion, whereas it was suggested to the audience that she does this fairly often."
Isabella:
"She sort of suggested two types of classes, she was dressed smartly, had a nice phone and stuff, but at the same time she also had to go to the train station, which says that she doesn't have a car."
"How do you think we represented women in our film?"
Fran:
"Well the entire film consisted of a female character, and of course a stalker which has an unknown gender. I feel that women were represented in your film as being undefended as there was an absence of men in it."
Rebecca:
"I feel like women were represented as being outgoing and confident, because she had a full table and took up all the chairs, but at the same time quite and kept to themselves, because she didn't talk to anybody in the shop and walked by herself to the translation."
Amy:
"I feel like they were shown as being weak, because she was being stalked by who I assume was a man, and therefore she had no control or power throughout the film"
Isabella:
"The female representation in this film was very uneven, I assume the 'stalker' was a man although we never find out, and in the real world there is men and women, so I felt like this female representation was a bit fake."
