Our remake of Halloween of (1978), first group task

Using 'Premier', we have created a scene from 'Halloween', whilst adding our own twist on events. The main reason as to why we decided to change some element from the actual scene, comes down to the fact that we wanted to challenge ourselves, whilst allowing us to develop our skills. Additionally due to us having to make our own production, we wanted to get a sense of how some of our ideas would come across once its actually been filmed. This was a good indicator to see if we should make some elements of our ideas much more clearer e.g. in the case of the narrative without revealing too much. One has to have into consideration that due to the shortage of time, our scene couldn't wasn't our best as it could have been, for the final production we will be ensuring all the footage are edited smoothly.

What was effective?

• The use of text reinforced the genre of the film, which was in this case horror 'Be careful who you let in...' Although this was not actually stated in 'Halloween', we wanted to have the same fear factor as the actual film hence why we decided to include such text as a way of a evoking a reaction. Also we chose to make the text to be red, whilst canted as a way of reflecting the distraction of normality, suggesting that something is wrong connoting danger, which the audience can sense. 
• The narrative is clear, without causing confusion for our audience, this can be seen with the relationship the audience are introduced to. The audience rapidly get a sense of uneasiness, due to the voyeuristic nature, where is hinted the young couple are being watched. 
• The dramatic breathing adds to the suspense, whilst reinforcing the idea of them being watched. Here we slowing faded the breathing, whilst placing the actual soundtrack from the film on top as a way of building up more tense making the audience feel uncomfortable.  
• The slow motion of the mask, this is done to follow the convention of horror films, where masks are often one of many key ingredients. We done this, as we wanted the audience to feel as if they were watching from Micheal's perspective (point of view), which is used in the actual scene of Halloween.
• Slow motion of me slowing turning towards the camera appears to make it sinister, making it memorable for the audience as is not expected. Also due to it being the last image they see, is more likely to have much more of an effect, as is implanted in their brain, which is built up using only the breathing. 

Least effective/ what didn't work:

• There was a slight shakiness in the beginning scene, when the tilt was used, which is can be noticed by the audience. 
• Other shakiness can also be seen with the shot of the house, even though we were using a tripod, we struggled to film this smoothly, purely based on the height of the house. 
• The camera at one point was out of focus e.g. when the couples were saying goodbye to each other. Additionally the colour was out of balance, as there were far too much light coming out of the window making it look strange/ faded. 
• The scene with the couples consisted of  long takes that, it didn't add anything to the horror element. 
• Here the knife was being taken out, whilst close up of feet walking up the stairs due to the way in which we edited it (placing one footage on top of another), made it look messy, as well as the colour being out of balance. This made it hard for the audience to actually see what was going on, and thus not having as much impact as it could have possibly been. 
• Slight jump can be seen with me on top of the stairs holding a knife, which cuts to me slowly turning towards the camera. This was not effective as it made it predictable as to what will happen next, additionally it can be argued as adding nothing, due to the long take. 

What we would do different for our final production 

• For our final production, we will be ensuring we bring a white sheet of paper, as a way of us checking of the colour is  balance on the camera.  
• Shorter takes would be used, as otherwise makes the audience loose focus.
• Not to use canted sot, if not done correctly (as demonstrated from window scene).
• To practice using the tripod, to avoid shakiness.  

This what we as a group tried to recreated, as you can see there are some differences between our remake and the original.