Anna Lausterer's Media Blog

  This week, my group wanted to focus on figuring out the exact direction we wanted to go with our project. In order to do this, we were looking at different horror movies and the conventions they all have. By looking at these conventions, we are gaining ideas as to what factors we want in our movie. For example, we know that having scary background music is a key detail to push the genre to the audience. Although our group hasn't made much progress in the sense of getting a clear script together, this week has helped us create a plan.

Portfolio Foundation Blog Update #1      This week my group and I assigned roles for us all to take on during the process of putting together this film. I was assigned the role of putting together the script and storyboards. This means I have to put the groups vision together in the form of camera angles, dialogue, and shots. I'm very excited for this role because I have a lot of creative visions for the genre we picked. We decided to create a movie based off the horror genre. We have all watched a multitude of horror movies and it peaked out interest the most. This genre also offers plenty of conventions and themes for us to work with and use to create a captivating storyline. Some of these codes and conventions that we intend to use are: dark lighting/shadows, props such as blood, wardrobe such as ripped or dirty clothes, dark and abandoned settings, creepy music, and common themes such as getting lost in the woods or being attacked by some sort of evil spirit. With all...

  Film Opening Assignment The Conjuring   The only words displayed during the entire opening scene were shown in a dull yellow text. It read “Annabelle Case- Year 1968”. This gives the audience a slight understanding on what is going on and alludes to a flashback.    The main image prioritized is the doll, Annabelle. The movie directly opens with a shot of her as it zooms out and constantly cuts to shots of her.   The opening also focuses on the people who deal with Annabelle and the frightening demeanor they hold.  Annabelle provides an evil/scary connotation. She lacks color yet has rosy makeup on her face and sinking blue eyes. Dolls in general are usually a symbol for something evil.  Genre is reinforced through technical codes with the loud and intense music, the flashing/dark lighting, and the common themes seen. The buzzing and jarring music is a very common technical and symbolic code for horror movies. Shadowy lighting is also a common technic...