Critical Reflection Questions “The Woods”

1. Critical Reflection Questions“The Woods” Diana Hauter

2. Our product uses a variety of different conventions commonly seen in horror movies today. Some of these include: suspenseful music, the choice of setting (the woods), the fake blood, and the low lighting. We chose the woods as our setting because we wanted to establish a dark and dreary setting, which is a common setting in most scary movies. It gives off that sense of isolation and seclusion. Additionally, the volume of the music in the background is altered in certain scenes to add suspense and tension to those specific actions occurring, for example, Cody bumping into the body. Although we shot our project around evening time, we put a filter on it to make it appear darker. At the end of our film, we added fake blood dripping onto the ground to end the scene on a suspenseful note. How does your product use or challenge conventions?

3. Our film involves a killer on the loose. This triggers the audience’s psychological fears, asthe bloody, hanging body in the woods is sure to result in some emotional responses. Since it does not reveal the killer, it targets the fear of the viewer without showing the source itself. How does it represent social groups or issues?

4. Our film is targeting mainly for teens and young adults. We felt the whole concept behind the film was not ideal, nor was it appropriatefor young children to watch. It engages with the audiences by keeping them entertained through suspense and fear, created through our musical score, shots and angles, and ends with dripping blood, making the viewer want to see more. How does your product engage with audiences?

5. Our film would be available on YouTube. To promote it, we would have teasers, trailers, and ads on the radio. YouTube would be beneficial to use because viewers do not need a subscription and the site itself has global recognition. Virtually anybody could see it, and the more people who see it, the more promotion it would get. There would also be room for feedback in the comments to give us insight on what the audience members did and did not like. Additionally, one would have the comfort of viewing it in his or her own home. How would it be distributed as a real media text?

6. My production skills developed in a couple of ways. First, I suggested that we should focus on one character running throughout the woods, with a close up on his feet as he runs. I felt that this added to the film because we can hear the sounds as he makes his way through the woods, stepping on the grass and leaves. This built up the action because the viewer is focusing on the noises going on. Additionally, I suggested the fake blood. I was especially proud about this because I think it ended the film in a really interesting way. It keeps the audience wanting to see more. I thought it was an appropriate place to add the title screen and it worked perfectly. I greatly improved my ability to generate ideas that benefitted the overall quality of our film by adding these little details. They have made a big difference. How did your production skills develop throughout this project?

7. The technology we used had a significant effect on the quality of our film. All of our scenes were shot on a Canon Vixia HFM40 HD camera, improving the quality of the shots greatly, as opposed to a film that could have been pixelated or lacking in that aspect. To shoot, a steering wheel stabilizer was used to give it that handheld feel without all of the shaking. It gave us clear and steady shots. We did use a tripod for some scenes, such as the the scene with the blood dripping. The software we used to edit the film was iMovie. How did you integrate technologies- software, hardware, and online- in this project?