The Devil's Backbone was released in 2002 by director Guilermo Del Toro. It is set during the period of the Spanish Civil War in an Orphanage so it's going to be quite old and dark which will make you scared even more. The title is in red which simbolises blood which means there is going to be some blood in the film which means there is going to be death. The font is also quite weird and unusual that looks like chicken scratch and looks like someone has written in blood or something which also connotes that there is going to be death.

 The opening sequence is that there is a shot of a wall and the camera creeps in. Then there is bombs dropping into the city from a plane. Then it's of a boy in a dark room who has just died and has blood pooring from his head and then the camera starts to move out and you see another boy crying which could mean that he was the boys close friend or brother or either he has hurt him. The boy crying puts the body into the water and than you start to see something in the water growing whilst the opening credits are going on. You see the mix of the blood with the dirty water and the camera starts to move around this thing in the water and you start to see this horrible spine growing on him and it looks very demonic and dark, which correlates with the title as it does look like the Devils Backbone. 

The sub heading is also quite unusual and makes you feel scared it is also written in red so connotes blood and death. '' The Living is always more Dangerous than the Dead '' In Horror Films there is always death and it is typical of a horror film and within the first couple minutes you see a young boy who's dead which connotes to us that he could come back and haunt them because the film is about a spirit who comes back to haunt this orphanage. 

The first person you see is the boy in the room with blood over his head and the camera creeps in closely so to see his last emotion and so you could see what is wrong with him. The other boy looks like a troubled kid and lonely kid who has either just killed this boy or was friends with the kid that is dead. The dialogue is spanish which correlates with the Spanish Civil war because it is set within that time period and whilst the Civil war is going on. The boy who is alive speaks with lots of emotion and starts to use metaphors to describe what the dead boy looks like. There is a voiceover when the boy is put into the water which tells us what he the dead boy looks like using metaphors. There is use of music which is quite sad and depressing which shows us that it is sad and emotional. The characters are both wearing old and dirty clothes which could connote that they are living in poverty. 

I think that this film is targeted at people of ages 18 and above because it looks quite demonic and dark and something that people of there age would enjoy more than people of the ages of 14 and 15. 

Treatment Feedback - Group 2

1) From all the feedback that we got given from the class we were told that challenging the conventions was a good idea as it is different from a normal horror. We are challenging the conventions by making everyone die instead of there being a survivor and it stops the cliche of there being a happy ending and shows that there can be a bad ending.

2) What we need to make better is our initial idea and we need to come up with a good idea for our sequence that is not to original or cheesy because I believe that it is going to be hard to include a ghost or monster without our film looking stupid.

3) I will do more genre convention research so that i can get a better understanding of the Horror genre.

Genre initial ideas

Horror

Peer Assessment of opening scene

- Set in East London
- Not your stereotypical american gangsters
- Guy sitting in a chair tied up whilst a group of men (gangsters) stand in front of him and the man in the chair is explaining himself to the group so that they wont kill him but a man pulls out his gun and shoots the man in the chair.
What worked well in my opening scene was that i used the typical use of death and that someone died which is similar to the film 'Goodfellas'. Also had good use of weapons and its typical for gangsters to carry weapons and kill people. What i could of improved was that it could of been more thought through and could of included more speech instead of just saying that the man was talking. I could of also included some shot types and where the scene is set so the audience can get a better idea of the scene.

How is Gender represented in this 'A clubbabble woman' episode from Dalziel and Pacoe?

In this episode gender is reresented in various ways. One way is by the use of mise-en-scene. In the beggining scenes you see men playing rugby which shows us that there sportsmen and then they go into the bar which also connotes that they like a drink after a rugby match and thats where they bond. It then goes to a building where people are wearing suits and police uniform which connotes that they are police and something is going to happen later in the episode which is going to involve the police. The suits also connote to us they have a quite good job and have some money to spend.


There is also the use of camera. for instance when the man is sitting behind the desk it shows his authority as the camera is on a high angle to show you the whole desk and show us what he has on the desk to show what he likes. There is also the use of low angle shots quite alot on the police so that  the police look very powerful.

They also use editing. One type of editing is the theme song as it is non diegetic because the actors can not hear it but you can. They also have the names that pop up on the screen.

Sound is also used in the making o fthis episode. There is the non diegetic sound which is the theme song. They also speak with a northern accent i think so it is near up north. There is also quite a lot of unsettling music which connotes that it is going to be very creepy and unsettling.

Prelim Editing

a) My role whilst editing was that i had to cut bits out of the clips so that we could use the appropriate footage.

b) I did not meet the brief as i broke the 180 degree rule without realising until we started editing. I think the match on action was pretty well done as we stopped it when he was walking to Devon and all of a sudden he was talking to Devon.

Prelim- group 4

Prelim Fliming

We chose our location because it was the appropriate place for a couple as it lets them escape from the real world and have a serious talk with each other with no interferences. We both came up with the park as it lets them talk seriously to each other.

When Filming the 180 degree rule i kept to the left side of actors as you could see them better and it wouldn't confuse the viewer if i changed the side. When i filmed match on action i had Alban walking through the door half way when walking to Devon i stopped and then the camera showed Alban and Devon standing face to face which shows he is going to talk to her.

We changed our story a bit by using Alban as an actor and we also added in an extra few shots so you could see how something was going to happen. We added in where Alban walks up to Devon which connotes he is going to talk to her about asking her to marry him. We also added in where Alban threw the ring on the floor after Devon breaks up with him and then they both walk in opposite directions.

target two

Give more examples instead of waffling on about what is happening in the scene.

Target one - September

To explain things more thoroughly and to use more key terms instead of just telling what happens. I think that i am almost there and need a little bit more work on it and it'll be alright.

Sean and Devons script

Girl is sitting on the bench.

Boy is round the corner looking at the ring.

Extreme close up of the ring.

He smiles then and closes the box and puts it in his pocket and walks through the door to meet her.

Girl stands up and asks.

Girl: (thinking... I knew this wouldn’t last, he is finally going to brake up with me, I really thought he loved me.)  

Girl looks very sad. High angle middle shot of the girl looking very sad.

Girl: What did you want to talk about?

Reverse shot 1

Boy: I think you need to sit down.

Reverse shot 2

Girl: No I think you need to sit down.

Reverse shot 3

Boy: Ok, but we really need to talk about something serious, ive given it a lot of thought Devon and I feel like today is the right day to finally get it off my chest.

Boy looking unusually awkward. Middle shot high angle to show how weak he looks.

Girl: (thinking...oh my god he is actually braking up with me)

Close up of her face.

Girl: You know what, I need to say something first (stands up) I don’t feel like this is working between us, I think its best if we brake up, I’m sorry.

Boy: Your braking up with me?

Girl: Well you obviously thought it wasn’t working. (walks away)

Boy gets ring out of his pocket and looks at it, and then slowly walks away.