Our interviews and audience feedback

Our final opening. DUSKWOOD

Pitch and Audience Research

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Evaluation Task 2 Audience research OH

Task 2 Audience research questions.

1) Did you like the film opening, if not why?
2) Did u think the film conformed to the conventions of a thriller horror film?
3) Could you relate to the characters, since they were your own age?
4) Did you like where the film was set?
5) What was your favourite part of the short film?
6) What would you improve if you had the choice?

We are going to ask atleast five people these questions shortly after watching our film opening, hopefully we will get a good amount of market research. We will also answer the question after with a voice over beforethe filming to state who our target audience is, stating our demographics and so on…

Evaluation- planning Task 1 OH

Task 1- group discussion and proposal.

After going through our evaluations, and discussing improvement where need be amongst some of the questions we came to the decision that jack and eddy would combine their two answers for questions one through four and that i would answer the questions six and seven and that jack and myself would answer question five after all of the viewings of our opening sequence so we could get good feedback from an audience about our opening.

Method of presentation
We have decided to present our first four questions as a directors commentary over our film opening, if need be add in some text for more detail. Question five is going to be made up of video responses, of atleast five responses, we will ask them five questions, all the same and put it on premier and possibly annotate them with extra detail. Then finally on questions six and seven I want to present them as a PowerPoint presentation, with pictures and possibly some videos embedded into it.

End piece write up. OH

Write up of the editing and creating of our final piece.

After the filming was complete and we had all the parts of footage that we needed to create our film opening we imported all of our seperate clips that we needed giving time to allow us to cut it easily, however this took us some time since we had quite alot of fast cutting shots and this caused some problems with gethering the right clips, however we were able to get the clips eventually, our next task was to gather the clips in their correct order, this led to a great idea of having cut to blacks and importing heart beat sounds, showing eddys stress after running, which would eventually reveal the killer.
We played around with this idea for a while, until we managed to cut the clip in such a way that the clip was cut perfectly in time to the sound of a heart beat. after we had all of our clips in the right order we then cut them down to size and shuffled them all next to eachother, we created a fast cut rate at the beginning since a few of our shots were quite long so we cut them down, also to create a faster cutting rate we added titles, the font we used was similar to the one from se7en, we cut these in time to the sounds of days and the boot closing to make it look more smoth and professional. after all of this was done we just had two seperate chase scenes and a car scene, to increase enigma, suspense and to give the clip more meaning we merged the car scene with the first chase scene, this increased the cutting rate even more to create tention during a chase scene, we hoped this would show creativity during editing. however our film on its own was only about one minute thirty seconds, at this point we added the titles and a montage, to show we could do montage and continuity editing to show we have a wider range of skills. we created a montage connoting death and implying that it had been in a woods, we added a sound to it which was in tone with the insanely fast paced montage, however the montage didnt look to good in alot of coulour so we toned the colour down and added a "old silent movie" effect which gave it a effect that it has happened before. we also made the clips more "blue" getting rid of some of the colour so that it looks more ominous, and since we shot on quite a sunny day it wasnt as in tone with the genre as we would of liked, so that was the main reason for tuning the colour down and increasing the contrast.
after this was done and all of the shots were cut correctly and in placewe decided to play around with the sound and editing, we decided to tackle the editing first, we tried to have our titles filcker to some extent but it looked very amature so we just left the titles since they looked ok just on their own anyway. then we added an effect to my face as there was a close up of my eyes to make it seem almost like i was in a daze or day dreaming. we then added fades in to when it cuts back to a POV shot of the killer looking down at eddy showing that i was remembering it again. then this lead to our second chase scene, we added a sound of a hit and a white flash to add emphasis to the hit. Then we created our "Duskwood" title which originally just was a still image, however it then zooms in in it and a sound effect adding emphasis was entered. then it cut to the beginning of the film. where at the and the clip fades to black. those were the effects that we added. we then played around with sound, we wanted something semi fast paced and to finish with something more fast paced for the chase scene on its own. we wanted to use the se7enopening scene music however we werent sure if it was coppy right free or not. after some research we found out that the first 45 seconds was coppyright free, however after that it starts to merge with a song from "nine inch nails" which was copyrighted so we couldnt use that. so we just repeated the first part. we then put that through the hole film and cut it and faded it out when need be, we were then advised to add some fast paced music, so we looked on the D drive and the first piece we listened to fitted the chase scene well so we imported it and placed it in the right part. we then added way points in the sound to make it more pronounced in places that it needed to be. then we went through and sorted out all the little bits that didnt look quite right.

Write up of our filming: part 2

filming part two of our chase scene

The second part of our chase scene was shot on thursday the 4th of march at 4:30 Pm and lasted for about an hour, although the lighting was different and there was less shadow, it was of since we planned to put a filter on it during the editing process. This scene is going to be placed after some montages of newspaper front pages and when the fade back into my imagination.

The shots with this are also rather creative, they make the killer look increadibly sinister and scary which adds enigma, we have managed to make the killer seem less human, bringing terror to the scene, a nice overhead shot adds to the creativity of our shot angles and also. over the shoulder shots, close ups f faces when eddy meets the killer to show his emotions and fear which has come upon him.

over all the fact there was less light making the killer more sinister was used to great affect, we have been vey lucky with our lighting and weather, no risks of rain r any complications like that came into our filming. so over all we are very pleased with our work.

Risk assesment and problems with our second shoot.






This is our risk assesment for the second shoot that we went on, it haled us to identify the dangers and problems we could be encountering while shooting, which might prohibit some of our more inventive camera shot. however we would look at our risk assesment and work around it to create interesting shots without endangering ourselves or the equiptment.

write up of our filming: Part 1 OH

Opening chase scene shoot

We decided the two things that would be hardest and most time consuming parts to shoot were the two chase scenes. So we decided to do them first so that we were able to edit it as soon as possible. we shot in southborough woods, on monday the 1st of march at 10:30, the conditions were increadibly sunny and the shadows from the trees really added depth to our shots, we played around with many different shot angles, panning shots, close ups of feet and all sorts of creative shots.

we made eddy run many times so that we could get the perfect shots, we used closeups of eyes and PoV shots to emphasise the danger and fear, also we used the light to create an amazing silouet shot, low angle shot showing me "the killer" in a dominant position. which was very creative. The shooting lasted for about an hour and a half and was a very good start for our opening sequence.

Group 7 Preliminary Task

Evaluation of presentation. OH

Evaluation of presentation

overall i believe that our presentation was very successful. however there is room for improvement in our ideas of how much information there will be in our opening sequence, whether we can fit all of our ideas that we have come up with and drawn inspiration from other films from will fit into the allocated two minute period that we have to shoot our film.

The presentation was very well presented, clear voices and lots of opinions and original ideas were portrayed throughout. eddy with the most views and ideas since he was the one who went on the location reckie he was able to conjure ideas of shots and create original visions in his mind of how he views that our coursework will look.

The survey research was very positive, with the majority of people, over 60% wanting a film with people in their own age group, possibly so they can emerse themselves into the experience more since it becomes more realistic to their lifestyle. also the most popular location was in the woods, i believe this was because it connotes remoteness, no help for possibly miles, just you and the murderer.

Also i thought that the locations were eye opening for the class to see, so they could see that where the camp site was it was quite an open landscape, with lots of room for filming, and also the surreal sense that someone could be watching you quite easily, without you being able to see them. Eddy's idea of using the silo-et shot from "rock and rola" was a very good idea and will hopefully be one point that will rack up lots of marks for the techniques and use of lighting and editing.

The costumes and characters which we are using are stereotypical of our specific genre and follow the conventions that you would expect in a teen horror thriller.With this, we will be able to portray some information about the teens and their lifestyle without having to explain it through dialogue which may look unprofessional.

In conclusion, I believe that our ideas are very sound, costumes, location and ideas are all conventions of the genre and have very promising possibilities, and with our creative teamwork, which was evident in our preliminary task we will be able to make an extremely technical and clever two minute opening. however time management of what we wish to put into our two minute opening will need to be sorted out and we need to decide and focus more on whether or not our ideas fall more into a film after twenty odd minutes or a opening sequence.

Feedback #2

I think you are developing an excellent concept, however there are some things that you need to go away and think about in terms of product research. Knowing that your opening will be set in woods, you don't seem to have chosen many related texts for your analysis other than dogwar? I think you need to think about looking at conventions for shooting in those locations in a bit more detail.

CF

Location Possibilities. Southborough & Bidborough Woods.

Treatment

A small group of friends enter woods on a camping trip, happy, noisy teenagers. They enter without and real cares for anyone else except for themselves, however it becomes apparent in the opening scenes of the film that they are not alone. Rustles in bushes and noises in the distance cause fear amongst the group, but not for long. The murderer picks them off one by one.
A cut then to a urban town, heavily populated, another group of friends enters the woods on another camping trip, however they know what has gone on in the woods, however they don’t see this to be a great threat. They proceed, without many items, a tent, sleeping bags, alcohol and implements to make a fire. The teens are here to have a good time, get drunk and have sex, stereotypical teenage behaviour. However the kids venture to far into the woods and with no real way of knowing how to get out they get lost.
The kids try and venture out to find help and a way out, however as they venture out alone and try and act heroic, they never return. The murderer has incredible strength, however he doesn’t look too threatening, you never see his face. He has a mental illness and it amuses him to kill people in horrific ways and scare the teenagers, for example by leaving parts of their dead friends around the forest. He leaves booby traps around the forest which also cause some of the teens injuries, from these injuries he kills these characters off. This drives the teenagers to the brink of insanity themselves, however the teenagers try and adapt to their environment to get their own back at the killer, when they realise people going out on there own means almost certain death they all stick together, however some more go missing until there are only two characters left.
They face the murderer in the woods, he follows them, but he doesn’t know that’s what they want him to do. When they get to a certain point they confront him and lead him into their trap and kill him. Then they cry and embrace each other after there ordeal. After this they hear rustling in the bushes and think it’s another murderer, however it’s a police officer and they are shown to a near by town and go home. However at the end of the film the girl looks in a mirror and thinks she sees the murderer and looks out the window, and all she sees is rustling bushes.

Genre

The film Kidulthood belongs to the British drama genre but may also be related to crime/thriller as possible sub genres. In the opening sequence the audiences generic expectations seem to be fulfilled to a certain extent mainly due to the use of mis-en-scene but also the frame work involved. We are immediately introduced to various groups of teenagers in a school playground, which highlights the separation and isolation between the different children. In this sense expectations are fulfilled as this seems to be a natural occurrence during growing up. Certain words used also imply and reinforce the stage of childhood that would be expected including party, cigarette and even coursework. Again this supports the apparent divide between groups as some are referring to the weekend or out of school time, whereas some are more interested in school work. This suggests the text conforms to the characteristics of the genre as there’s no real sense of playfulness or irony when relating to the characters opposing the genre in hand.

Film language

The mis-en-scene conveys a vast amount of meaning in the sequence as is the main representation that structures the genre. We are introduced to groups of teenagers who although are wearing uniform look extremely untidy due to certain accessories and hairstyles. This creates the impression that this image may also be portrayed in their characteristics and behaviour. Various activities are also taking place as a group of boys are playing football, riding bikes and handing out invitations to a party. All these different things make the setting look cramped and enclosed and create an impression of claustrophobia and riotousness, almost like a prison which makes us look upon the teenagers in a negative view, similar to prisoners. Various meanings are also conveyed due to camera work. The opening scene is filled with crabs, pans and swish pans from one group to the next which again highlights a sense of riotousness as even the camera seems to be out of control. There are a number of close ups, mainly on the bys feet playing football which suggests a level of boisterousness. The two shot of the two girls looking untidy creates a lower class image and implies their behaviour may be of a low level as well due to a dominant stereotype. The sounds used in the scene is a soundtrack which seems to build tension and establish enigma. It allows the characters to oppose as slightly threatening and suggests its building up to an intense incident. Certain shouting is also amplified which again implies a rowdy atmosphere. We immediately learn that the characters portray criminal attributes through the use of dialogue as they speak of illegal parties and drugs; “parents are out of town, so anything goes” and “just light up the zoot” support this. Other visual techniques used by the director include the underlying feeling of bullying taking place just from certain looks and individual words used. Some groups are opposed to be more threatening than others and the idea of a group of boys looking for others implies a chase and makes the audience think of the consequences once the group finds the other.

Narrative

The narrative seems to be organised in a linear fashion and keeps the audience attentive and interested because of this. It is constructed through use of images and important dialogue. The audience is positioned with certain characters depending on the camera angle and seems to be opposed with others, for example we are positioned with two girls at one point who seem to be victims of bullying and we are therefore opposed with that group of girls. Identification and alienation are clearly are employed in a number of ways, mainly from the number of separate groups of teenagers spread out across a small playground with no contact to others. The theme of bullying that is highlighted also represents a certain level of isolation in itself even thought we don’t experience it first hand. As mentioned bullying is one of the main themes of the narrative along with crime, sport and sex. Tension is created and maintained during the narrative mainly through the use of dialogue as we understand one bully victim hasn’t completed the work for the bully and therefore consequences are expected to follow. Also a group of boys are looking for a girl, which we as the audience know she is with a different group of boys, again suggesting a feud may be created in consequence.

Representation and Ideology

The main social groups represented in the opening sequence are the teenage pupils who could be considered as common youths by a majority of the audience. As mentioned the represented in a negative light from the criminal antics displayed and disgust and the common use of foul language. The strong theme of bullying represented also connotes a poor image of the youths. Certain semiotics used in the opening including a game boy, bikes, footballs and a ‘zoot’. These all represent a sense of immaturity and channels through a certain sense of naivety and ignorance, which is a general ideology associated with most teenagers these days.

Media Audiences

The target audience for this film is definitely teenagers and young adults. The possible readings of the text would be a following a simple introduction to certain characters and an indication of themes becoming progressively apparent within the narrative. As a British teenager I think I read and evaluate the text in a slightly different way to audiences from different countries. I can clearly identify the opening sequence to contain a level of illegal content however I think it’s more accepted within my generation and therefore doesn’t shock me as much and build as much tension and enigma as it may for others. I can highlight the theme of isolation and separation as well as again, its common in any school and appears obvious even without any use of dialogue. Due to my age and gender I think I can relate to this issues in hand better than the majority of other audiences however my background limits my evaluation as the opening scene is more extreme than most teenage boys would ever experience.

Institutional Context

No real star has been used which could be an advantage in a film like this as the characters won't have been used in a previous genre which could allow them to appear more convincing and believable in this one.

Detailed Analysis - Dog Soldiers

Genre
This film is an action horror.
The generic expectations from a horror are fulfilled in the opening sequence with the following components; some sort of sexual romance, a scary event and blood. All these are connected with the typical horror film. Conforming to the characteristics one would expect from a movie of this genre.

Film Language
In the sequence, mise en scene is typical and unimaginative for a film of this genre. It is the classic night time, moon lit woods that one would expect and instantly relate to horror.
The camera shots in this sequence are mainly close ups to show the reaction of fear on the characters faces. This shows more of a psychological horror vibe and is good way of keeping the audience scared.
There is no music involved in this sequence and only simple digetic sounds which, I feel, gives the sequence a raw and eerie feel therefore adding to the enigma.
We only see 2 characters and by them kissing and performing sexual fornications we get the idea they are a couple. They also talk as though they are and this adds to the horror when one of them is killed in front of the other.

Narrative
The narrative is a simple linear sequence of events.
Through camera work we are positioned with the couple, the man and the woman.
We are instantly introduced to the two people and they are identified to us as soon as the movie starts. The thing that attacks them is alienated by never being seen and all the action being off camera when it is involved.
Tension is created by all the action within the murdering and attacking, happening off camera.

Representation and Ideology
A white English couple are represented as quite free spirited by camping and fornicating in the woods.
There are ideologies of people who don’t conform to society and you can see this by them being adults with piercing and hippy type clothing on.

Media Audiences
Target audience is elder teenagers and young adults
As a British teenager I feel I can relate to the sequence more than someone from another country might. Because this is a British film and all the cast is as well so I feel I can relate. It also puts me in the situation and creates the enigma that it may happen to me and for some reason doesn’t seem so farfetched.

Institutional Context
There is no main, well known star but people one would recognize from other films. It would be important to have a bankable star because it would then encourage more people to go and see it.

OH-Analysis of an opening sequence: Saw II

Genre

To which genre does the film belong?
The film belongs to the genre of horror, horror thriller.

To what extent are the audiences generic expectations of the text fulfilled or challenged by the opening sequence?
The audiences expectations of this type of genre are definitely met and exceeded in this opening sequence. The reason I say this is because it creates a huge amount of enigma within the first minute. Good set design and very good hook to keep the audience interested throughout. It is a stereotypical horror thriller but the story line is very original, which keeps interest in the audience.

Does the text conform to the characteristics of the genre, or does it treat them playfully or ironically.
The text conforms to the genre, it is a very stereotypical horror thriller however the opening scene is amazing because the plot is so good. Irony is used to some extent in the story and dialogue that is used, since he uses his eyes predominantly for his job, which is how he hurt people and he has to cut it out to live.

Film language

How does mise-en-scene convey meaning in this sequence?
Meis-en scene is used in this sequence by very good set design, a dully lit room with no escape implying they have been put there not by their own will. Props are used to convey a more gory side of thinks, as does the costume. The use of a scalpel to cut out your eye is very shocking and conveys the murderer is sick minded for putting a person in a situation where they have to amputate body parts. And costume is used well since the extraordinary mask adds enigma and creates a horror feel.

How does camera shot size, movement and angle also convey meaning?

POV shot initially shows disorientation, but also gives us an idea of what the set looks like, showing little chance of escape. lots of close ups of his face after being told what he has to do showing his horror at the ordeal he will have to go threw and XCU shots of his eyes add a gory tone to the scene, showing the blood and scalpel to add to the shot. The movement is generally fast, with a quick cutting rate, classic conventions of a horror, causing confusion and suspense.

How does sound anchor the image?
The sound anchors the image very well but no better example as when he lifts the scalpel to his eye, the sound go’s more high pitched, adding suspense. The use of dialogue is also incredibly important. It sets the scene and lets the audience know what is going on.

What do we learn about the character through dialogue and non-verbal language?
We learn that the murderer wants to challenge the man, to see if he has what it takes to survive, we understand that he is doing this because he is a snitch and jigsaw believes that he needs to be punished. The non-verbal language helps us understand how horrified the man is at what he is being asked to do.

What other visual techniques does the director use and why?
The director uses a TV as meis-en-scene in the room to make the murderer saying the task less personal, however this could cause more fear, since u think that the murderer could be anywhere.

Narrative.

How is narrative organised and structured?
Narrative is constructed through a lot of dialogue, which really sets the scene and lays out what is to come. It is linear and keeps the audience guessing.

How is audience positioned in respect to the narrative?
The audience is positioned within the room, given the mans perspective for most of it.

What techniques of identification and alienation are employed?
Identification of the man is employed through the murderer saying the mans name (Michael) which personalises him to us.

What Is the major theme in the narrative?
The major theme is a murder, a man placed in a situation from which he can escape however must go threw lots of torture to do so. This psychological battle of will to over come the trial or face death is quite a big theme in the narrative.

How is tension created and maintained?
Tension is maintained straight away by a POV shot, showing disorientation, possibly been drugged, the puppet on the TV which explains the situation he is in builds tension, creating enigma as to whether the man will escape which draws the audience in, CU shots of gory sequences also adds tension, and the music increasing in amplitude also creates tension. Right until the mans death.

Representation & ideology.

What social groups are represented in this sequence and how?
There are no real representations of social groups in this clip. Except possibly old men with cancer like to put people in horrible situations. There is however a slight inclaning to there being representation of men. normally men are seen, as in heroic roles to be corageous and brave. not letting anything stand in there way. however in this clip, even though the man is faced with a horrible task he doesnt show these characterisctics, he shows fear in the face of a life threatening situation. although this may seem a bit harsh, undermining his manly hood because he is placed in such a terrible situation that he cant deal with the pressure. the characteristics of a hero are not present in the representation of his character.

What values and beliefs/ ideological discourse is evident?
Values that all bad deeds should be punished, there are no real religious beliefs being portrayed in this clip. however

How does semiotics as a frame work see how the representation is constructed?
Semiotics such as blood dripping off the walls, a dirty room and dangerous objects construct a representation of the murderer being really sick minded, the representation of the man is one without much guts. Even though he has to amputate his eye, its still better than death.

Media Audiences.

Who is the target audience?
The target audience is teens/lower twenties and horror/gore fans. it doesnt appeal to the 4 quadrents.

What are the probable and possible audience readings of the text?

How do you as a British teenager, read and evaluate the text? To what extent is your reading and evaluation influenced by your age, gender and background?
I have read it by taking the view that this isn’t just a murder, it is justice. The murderer has put them in a situation where they have a chance to live, but only by loosing blood and in this case an eye. The plot is very clever and I got the impression deserved to be in the situation the murderer put him in.

Institutional context.

Has a star been used in this film? Why is this important?
No famous stars have been used in the film opening, this is important since bankable stars give publicity to the film, so this means that it must have had another unique selling point and hook.

Which studio produced this film? Is it an “industrial” film or independent film?
“Twisted Pictures” produce this film, it is a mainstream industrial horror/thriller film which we can establish from no CGI but very good make up and set design.

Is the institutional contex evident in the production values of the opening?
Yes it becomes very apparent it’s a horror film from the very first POV shot, showing disorientation, there are lots of characteristics of a horror like gore which you would expect from a horror film like this, there are many main conventions through out which connote it’s a horror.

JH - Genre Analysis

1. What is your chosen genre? Research your genre. What sub-genres exist? Are you following the conventions of a sub-genre? Outline some films which fit into this genre which you find interesting in some way.

My chosen genre is horror as this is what our opening of a film is based on and the genre itself contains sub genres. Horror films are movies that strive to elicit the emotions of fear, horror and terror from viewers. Their plots frequently involve themes of death, the supernatural or mental illness. Many horror movies also include a central villain. Various sub genres include psychological horror, slasher horror, comedy horror and gore horror.

Psychological horror tends to be subtle compared to traditional horror and typically contains less physical harm, as it works mainly on the factors of mentally affecting the audience. Psychological horrors rely a lot on various emotions of the viewers, so that they too can relate to this and it also uses a lot of various techniques to build on suspense, like music, sound effects and shocks. Good examples of psychological horror films include the likes of The Blair Witch Project and Paranormal Activity.

Slasher film is a sub-genre of the horror film genre typically involving a psychopathic killer stalking and killing a sequence of victims in a graphically violent manner, often with a cutting tool such as a chainsaw or knife. This creates enigma and terrifies audiences due to the realism and the thought of it happening to them. Successful slasher films include The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Scream.

Comedy horror relates to a combination of strong horror and a frequent use of satire, intertwining to present a more relaxed enigma however at the same time uses strong themes of horror, shocking and terrifying audiences. Classic examples of comedy horror include the Scary Movie franchise and Severance.

A final sub genre of horror is gore horror. This is an extreme form of horror and presents ideas in a graphical and violent manor. It gives the film a sense of realism and the obvious killing style involving a lot of blood and weaponry scares the audience. Examples of successful gore films include the SAW franchise and Hostel.

2. Pick three of these and outline specific techniques or style which you think might be useful for what you are planning.

Three of these films which I think are extremely effective in terms of scaring an audience and present the theme of horror in a terrifying way include Paranormal Activity, The Texas chainsaw massacre and Hostel.

Paranormal activity lists under the sub genre of psychological horror. It’s all filmed using the style of a hand held camera, similar to the Blair Witch project. Its effective as the way is filmed presents a sense of extreme realism and from one point of view (the cameras) the whole time, which means you don’t always see the main action and have to think for yourself about what is taking place. The way it’s filmed also allowed the film to be made on an extremely low budget of £15,000 which is going to be a factor when making our opening 2 minutes.

The Texas chainsaw massacre relates to the genre slasher. As it’s based on a true story, it immediately establishes enigma and builds tension for the audience before the film has even started. This could be useful to use in our opening two minutes as it tells the audience this has happened and could happen to them which makes the experience even more terrifying. The use of the infamous chainsaw is also extremely effective and creates a feeling terror alone. Again this concept could be used in our film as a simple way to emphasise the theme of horror.

Hostel is clearly comes under the sub genre of gore horror as the sickening reality of the event throughout the film are used to scare audiences and portray the genre with a sense of realism. This however may be hard to include in our opening scene as we are working with a low/no budget, but if ideas were used successfully it could be extremely beneficial.

3. What is a typical narrative for this genre of film? How could this be set up in the opening to create enigma or suspense?

There is clearly a main type of narrative for horror films however they seem to vary depending on the sub genre. Relating to the film examples previously used, Paranormal Activity and the Blair Witch Project, both psychological horrors, have a similar narrative of slowly setting the scene and getting to know the characters, a subtle introduction to the horror and then a full on scenes of horror with a psychological twist at the end, often leaving room for a sequel. The openings start to establish enigma and suspense as we start to realise unusual event taking place and assume that the worse is yet to come. The introduction with the characters also positions you with them for the rest of them film and then when the horror is introduced it makes it even more terrifying as we feel connected to the victims.
The Texas chainsaw massacre has a slightly different narrative as do most slasher films. They usually start of with a group of friends, mainly teenagers, going on a road trip or somewhere together which unknown to them is previous place of murder, although the audience usually know this. The horror is then introduced and one by one the characters start to get killed off usually leaving the two main characters at the end and finally the girl. In some slasher films the villain is killed by the remaining characters, however, like in Texas chainsaw massacre the villain survives leaving room for a sequel. The openings to these films create suspense as we, the audience, already know the horrors that have taken place at the location and believe that these characters are about to experience similar. Finally films like hostel and SAW, a sub genre of gore horror, have a completely different narrative. These types of films usually start immediately with a killing, in an extreme fashion, creating tension and suspense from the start. They often create an immediate puzzle or twist that is left to resolve throughout the rest of the film. These narratives can be used to structure our opening in terms of ideas as we need to establish a sense of enigma and suspense straight away in order to create a successful and scary 2 minute clip.

4. What kind of characters are conventional to this type of genre? Identify archetypal heroes or villains, stock characters?

There are defiantly typical characters the conventional to the genre horror. Archetypal heroes are often females who appear to be useless throughout the narrative, however usually prove successful in the end by killing the villain or saving the day. Villains in a horror film are often mentally challenged or have superhuman strength and speed which allows the audience to think the characters have a slim chance of survival and will be shown no mercy. There are acceptations however, like in the SAW franchise, where the villain is extremely intelligent and can therefore create life threatening situations for the characters with ease. This again creates a sense of the characters having no escape, as they are not in control. Stock characters in horror films are usually typical teenagers or a group of friends who are killed off by the main villain in a terrifying and often gruelling fashion.

5. What are typical locations or settings for this genre

Usual places for a horror film to be set are remote locations where the characters have little chance of escaping or calling for help. This creates a strong sense of isolation and builds tension and enigma relating to survival. Typical locations could be the woods, abandoned houses, cabins and cornfields. All of which suggest no one will be around, except of course the villain. The sets are usually dully lit and or even shot at night to enhance the enigma.

6. What iconography would you expect to see in this genre?

Typical iconography in a horror film would be extreme types of weaponary, which are of course used to kill the victims. These could include chainsaws, axes and kifes, typically used in slasher films like the Texas chainsaw massacre and Scream. Types of masks are also often used in horror films to cover the villains face, establishing tension as the audience then doesn’t know who or what the killer is. This has been used in again the Texas chainsaw massacre and Scream.

7. Find examples of suitable costume.

8. How is lighting/colour used? What effects would you want to create with lighting? Identify connotations of particular colours.

Obvious lighting used is dull lighting or the film may even be shot at nigh. This immediately establishes enigma and makes the whole situation more terrifying. Colours used would be mainly dull in horror films, especially by the villain, wearing mainly black. Red may also be used to signify danger and could be an indication in to who’s likely to be killed or possibly who the real killer is.

9. Find examples of fonts which would be suitable for this genre for title sequence

E.U - Genre Analysis - Horror

1. What is your chosen genre? Research your genre. What sub-genres exist? Are you following the conventions of a sub-genre? Outline some films which fit into this genre which you find interesting in some way
Our chosen genre of group 7 is horror. I personally think that horror was the correct choice because I am a strong fan of horror films and also it is a genre that compels me to make the coursework scary and effective. The sub genres in horror range from violent and gore obsessed spectacles to try to shock and cringe the audience into feeling the fear a scary movie should bring them. These are films such as Hostel, The hills have eyes and Wrong turn. To me, psychological horrors are easily the scariest. These films take everyday objects and situations that one would think is safe and feel secure with and then turns them into a means to kill you. films such as The Ring and the grudge. Are in my opinion the scariest films because there is not violence or blood in them.

2. Pick three of these and outline specific techniques or style which you think might be useful for what you are planning.
To start with I will talk about my favourite horror film The Ring, this was a film was originally a Japanese cult film that an American company decided to remake for the western audience. The technique in this film that makes it so horrific is that the girl, who kills people, comes out of their TV. There is a great clip in the beginning of the film which shows the first death. It is a point of view camera shot that is from the girl’s perspective as she runs across the room from the TV and kills a teenager by looking at her. Giving us a first person view of this gruesome incident, but still no blood.
Another film that I thought was very effective is the remake of the classic film The Texas chainsaw massacre. The scariest component in this film is, in my opinion, the policeman who abuses our main characters. Policemen in films are meant to be a constant that can help people and when there is a serial killer you would think that everything would be better when the police get there. But no. this policeman knocks a boys teach out with a Jack Daniels bottle and makes them lie in the dirt while he stomps on them. This film does use a lot of violence and gore but I think to great affect.

3. What is a typical narrative for this genre of film? How could this be set up in the opening to create enigma or suspense?
In a typical horror film there is usually a classic storyline of a murder in the beginning of the film that sets up the rest of the movie for the audience to get involved and interested in. this would be good for our sequence because we can show the first murder in the beginning and therefore be setting the movie up to continue along the same lines.

4. What kind of characters are conventional to this type of genre? Identify archetypal heroes or villains, stock characters?
Typically in a horror film there is a group of people that get killed off one by one. But in some of my favourite psychological horrors there is a main lead role played by a female who seems hopeless but comes through at the end to ‘save the day’. In more violence based horror such as The hills have eyes and Saw there is a classic character who seems larger than life who is always at the end and our lead role in the movie has to kill. There are also the classic stock c-list characters who will get killed off as the movie progresses.

5. What typical locations or settings for this genre?
Some typical locations for this genre would be somewhere remote and hard to find because then it makes it more believable that these characters cant get away from the horror or people cannot help them. We have chosen to do our sequence in the woods which we believe to be a good location for our chosen type of sub genre. Some typical locations for a simple horror would be places like; an abandoned prison, a school or a rural town in the middle of the desert.

6. What iconography would you expect to see in this genre?
Some classic iconography would be something like a knife dripping with blood. Or silhouettes down a dark alley. Things we socially or subconsciously relate with danger and fear. These are most common in ‘slasher’ type films such as Halloween. But also in these horror franchises there are masks and images we relate with horror from the previous films such as the mask from scream.

7. Examples of suitable costume.

8. How is light/colour used? What effect would you want to create with lighting? Identify connotations of particular colours.
The classic connotations in horror films for lighting and colour would be things like the colour red indicating danger and blood, therefore maybe giving the audience a clue to who will die next. Also black is a commonly used colour in horror films because of the darkness, therefore giving the audience a fright if they don’t know what’s going on in the shadows.

OH- Genre analysis, Horror.

1) What is your chosen genre? Research your genre. What sub-genres exist? Are you following the conventions of a sub-genre? Outline some films which fit into this genre which you find interesting in some way.


My chosen genre is horror.There are many sub genres that co-exist with the horror genre, examples of these are Teen horror “Scream” Comedy horror “Scary movie” Horror thriller “The Saw trilogy” and gore horror “Hostel” and Yes I am following the conventions of Horror thriller.
Fast cutting rates and fast paced sound are classic conventions of this sub genre of horror. Keeping these two key components in mind when composing my clip will be essential to achieve a realistic opening sequence for my chosen sub genre of horror.Films which fit into the sub genre that I have chosen are films such as the “Saw” trilogy and “Texas chainsaw massacre” The reason I believe that these two films are relevant to the sub genre Horror thriller is because the saw films always produce very emersive openings to their films.

They always manage to build an enigma straight away, normally my having someone murdered in a traumatic way, but giving a twist since if they are willing to pay a price in blood and pain they are able to save their lives. This unusual convention is probably why the “saw” films are so famous and why they have created such a huge fan basis on Web 2.0. The reason that I also chose “Texas Chainsaw Massacre” is because in this film, enigma is created by having a strange family who seem to think the way that their son treats his murder victims is normal to some extent.

However enigma is created in the opening sequence from such text as “Based on true events” which to me adds fear since even if it is not true it makes me think that it could happen to me as well. Also the use of a very large scary murderer who murders his victims in a gruesome way and with a fast cutting rate of the camera and loud shocking noises when he appears produces terror within an audience. This is the kind of affect I would like to have on my audience. I would like to produce an enigma, not so obviously that it doesn’t seem real, I would like to add effects to make the audience jump and so they are really drawn in to watch the rest of the film.

2) Pick three of these and outline specific techniques or style which you think might be useful for what you are planning.

I will start with “Saw 5” in the opening sequence they use an extremely fast cutting rate, I believe this is the best way to add confusion as to what is going on to the audience, so they generally get what is going on, however they don’t quite see the detail enough to make the plot obvious. Low angle shots of victims with the murderers above them putting the murdered in a position of dominants is also a good way of creating fear within the sequence. I believe a fast paced sound track is also important, however (if used) it shouldn’t overpower the dialogue. Personally I believe well is more when it comes to use of dialogue, except with the saw films, where the murderer has put his victims on trial and explains why there and how they can stay alive which I think has been used here to a great extent to create enigma.
“Memento” is another film which caught my eye in the ability to create an enigma. No dialogue is used throughout the whole sequence, however it still manages to create suspense and an enigma. The use of time reversal and blood dripping objects in the sequence has been used to great use, close up shots don’t give much of the scene away to create suspicion and keep the audience guessing but it still manages to put quite a lot of the key attributes in the scene. “Seven” also caught my eye. Although it uses montage editing and doesn’t really give you a whole insight as to what the film is about except that there might be a weird overly obsessive person is in it, it still manages to create enigma by the extremely professional editing used. A fast cutting rate, creepy sound track and use of strange pictures connotes obscurity from the norms of our modern society. With all prejudices around in our modern age the person in the sequence would be seen to be strange and an outcast.

3) What is a typical narrative for this genre of film? How could this be set up in the opening to create enigma or suspense?

The typical narrative in a Horror Thriller is murderer kills someone near the beginning of the film, a puzzle is to some extent weaved around the plot, while a person or group of people try and solve it or help someone evolved in the murder but somehow get caught up in it themselves and more often than not they get killed off one by one until the main character is left who either escapes or kills the murderer. This is an effective way to draw an audience since it allows us as the audience to be more immersed within the film, achieve a more immersive cinematic experience since it allows the audience to try and guess the murderer, however this is normally verging on impossible if the film has a strong storyline and a big twist at the end, which is also a huge attraction to these kind of films.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yfAjoJvxVPs

This could be set up by thinking hardly about a story plot so that straight away the audience can become engrossed with the sequence, another way of doing it may be to use all the conventions of a good horror, low angle shots, little but well prepared lighting and use of natural framing.

4) What kind of characters are conventional to this type of genre? Identify archetypal heroes or villains, stock characters?

Classic Villain, scary and threatening often looks as if they have some sort of mental problems which is why they commit the horrible acts that they do. Or as if they aren’t really very realistic but are still very frightening.

Classic hero, although the character isn’t big and strong, the main trait of a hero id that they face up to the villains no matter what. This is being well shown in this picture.

Archetypal Stock characters, characters which create enigma and weave someway into the puzzle/ mystery of the film, but at some point in the film get killed off.


5) what typical locations or settings for this genre?
There are many different types of locations that are used in horror films, from fields to houses, however they all seem to have the same concept in common. there is always a sence that the victim cannot excape. this sense of isolation and terror brings about feelings in the audience which make the film seem more realistic and scare the audience more since, if the film is made realistically that the audience seem to think that it could happen to them and they could find themselves in this situation.

Conventionally however the sets are generally dully lit, use of lighting is normally very important in horror films. all types of shots are used, establishing shots are often used, however it seems the most conventional shot to use in a horror is a close up, so a set will have to be able to have good lighting so a close up shot looks affective.

6) What iconography would you expect to see in this genre?

Classic iconography in a horror would omst likely be a weapon, normally a knife, used most commomly in the sub genre "slasher horror" films. however there is more than weapons to do with iconography. A misty setting in a forrest, gives the affect that there could be something out there watching the victims. mascs are also used and are understood as being iconography in horror films, probably most famously in the jason films where he wears a hockey mask.

7) Examples of suitable costume

dark clothing, masks, weapons. these are all parts of cistume which will create a very scary villan who will strike fear into the hearts of the audience.

8) How is light/colour used? what effect would you want to create with lighting? identify connotations of particular colours.

Light and colour is used to great effect in all horror films, i believe good lighting makes and breaks a horror film. if the lighting isnt good and the villan is made out to be very un intimidating and is revealed near the beginning of a film just down to bad lighting will ruin a film. Shaddow on people, showing there non verbal language and emotions creatse

Film noir - Genre

The genre film noir relates to a stylish Hollywood crime drama which seems to aim specifically to emphasize sexual motivations and a corrupt society. The classic Hollywood film noir period dated from the early 1940’s to the late 1950’s. The general era consists of a low key black and white visual style with variations of camera angles and seems to contain roots in German expressionist cinematography.

The Ring - shot by shot technical analysis (opening 2 minutes)

Establishing shot of house - zooms in slowly with strong use of pathetic fallacy (pouring rain, amplified) connoting an eerie setting and a tense situation

Digetic sound- voice over, two girls talking

Motivated cut to the two girls sitting alone in a room – dull/dark setting

Camera zooms in, allows attention to dialogue – conversation between the two girls represents naivety and ignorance and highlights stupidity and therefore possible level of vulnerability

Cuts to over the shoulder shot during mid conversation

Cuts back to two shot, again attention to dialogue – “video tape that kills you when you watch it” – quote creates immediate level of apprehension and the words “kills you” suggests the seriousness of the situation that may be about to occur

Cuts back to over the shoulder shot, camera slowly zooms in – enhances tension

Continuous digetic sound – “you will die in seven days”, sense of death creates dramatic effect and adds to daunting atmosphere

Reaction shot- shows girl to be horrified and shocked highlighting the dramatic situation, adding to suspense

Cuts back to a point of view shot, immediately into a CU of the girls face directly in time with dialogue – “I’ve watched it” This grabs the audience attention, due to the conversation suggestion as she’s watched the tape seven days ago, she will now die – implies a dramatic sequence of events is about to unfold

In conclusion, i think that the opening two minutes of 'The Ring' has used the aboved techniques to create dramatic tension and establish enigma through the use of camera work and editing techniques. The mis-en-scene and sound had also contributed to the overal genre of the film and creates an imersive experince for the audience.

Feedback #1

Some interesting posts here already but your colours and template make it impossible to read. Can you redesign and ensure that you are punctuating, using sub headings, bold etc to demonstrate "excellence in use of ICT".

OH- saw 5 technical analysis.

Saw 5 Technical analyses.


Twisted pictures is introduced, showing the distribution company logo
Text is revealed in a reddy golden colour in the centre of the screen, an effect is added to look like a torch is being shone over it from left to right.
As the black background fades, it reveals a dully written wall dripping with blood, adding fear and gore to the sequence.
It repeats this process several times, to introduce the main companies and people involved with the film.
The sound used ads fear because it almost sounds like a knife is being sharpened.
The credits stop and cut to a dully lit room with what appears to be a head lit but very slightly.
A flash of lightning gives a glimpse of a man locked down in chains, adding enigma.
A cut back to the titles again, showing that the last scene was a tease, used 2 keep the audience interested.
Cut to a (CU) birds eye view shot of the mans face, his face is dully lit but there is enough light to let us see that his neck is tied down by thick metal.
The room is then lit and a cut to a (MS) pan from the mans left hand side. Revealing that his hands and legs are also tied down.
His flailing limbs show how scared he is.
Cut to a (MCU) of his body, a (POV) shot looking down on himself.
Cut to his left ankle showing it is tied down
Then a cut to his right ankle revealing the same thing.
Cut to a (CU) of the mans face showing his body language as terrified, a pull back and a twist is added to the shot. Connoting insanity. As if the man who put him there is insane.
The fast cutting rate adds suspicion, since you get the overall view of what’s going on but never enough time before another cut to examine the set properly and pick out details of his situation.
Cut to a (LS) establishing shot of the set, the man is placed in the top right corner of the cross section from the rule of thirds, drawing attention to him. Also it reveals that he is in what appears to be a warehouse type of building.
Cut to a (MCU) of his torso and face revealing he has lots of tattoos, could imply he doesn’t conform to society and possibly rebellious.
Cut to a (CU) of his head from behind him, still showing his struggle.
A flashing blue screen reveals itself in the top left hand corner of the screen from a rotation shot.
The TV comes into focus and reveals a scary looking puppet, as the shot comes into focus it cuts to a (CU) shot of the TV, adding fear from a sudden close up of the disturbing puppet.
A fast cut after this to a (CU) of the mans face again to show the horror on his face and using non verbal language to connote fear and terror.
Shot reaction shot is used between the man and the doll frequently after this, as if you would with a conversation between people. But with a puppet.
A cut to the TV again, a (CU) shot of the doll slowly turning to look towards him. Further adding terror since it looks at one point as if it is almost addressing the audience.

The doll looks as if it is talking to the man, we can presume that it is a murderer which has used the puppet to address the man, so he can scare/freak out his victim even more and not reveal his own identity. The puppet addresses the man as “Seth”.
A cut back to the man (CU) shot and a voice over is used, of the puppet saying “I want to play a game”, this psychotic behaviour, as if he thinks it is fun to torture people and put them in life threatening situations. This lets us know the murderer is very disturbed.
Cut to a (MS) of the man, showing his body and the TV above him. A low angle shot puts the puppet in a position of dominants and the man a very vulnerable position.
Cut to the man screaming for help a (MS) of his face and body.
Diagetic sound is used from the puppet, its voice has been changed to sound threatening, “right now your feeling helpless, the same helplessness you bestowed onto others” showing the man has done something wrong as well, maybe this is a revenge plot.
“Now it’s up to you” shows that his fate is in his own hands.
Cuts on action, shot reaction shot and a fast cutting rate are still being used to create suspense and build tension.
“Life sentence for murder” shows that the man has murdered someone and maybe deserves to be punished.
“Technicality gave you freedom” shows he hasn’t been punished, or not as much as the murderer thinks he deserves.
Shot reaction shot is used frequently to at the same angles to keep continuity.
“But it inhibits you from understanding the act of taking a life” shows the murderer is almost putting him on trial for the crime he has committed.
A zoom is used on the puppet, showing the detail of it, showing how scary it is and adds emphasis to the puppets scary voice.
“In thirty seconds the pendulum will drop” as this is said, a cut to a (MS) low angle shot of a very large blade on a large metal pole.
“Within sixty seconds, it will cut you in half” shows the seriousness of the situation and adds suspense to whether he will do it or not.

Conclusion/evaluation:

The scene creates massive amounts of tension, i think that it has achieved this best by the use of lighting and low camera angles. there are few representations of ideology except that people who have tattoos are more rebelious and more likely to commit crimes, which would land them in jigsaws game since he preys on people who have commited crimes but have not been punished enough, or have somehow got off free.

OH- technical analysis of memento

Shot by shot analysis of “Memento”

Introduction credits, in a medium size blue font. It fades to black which then instantly brings another title to someone involved with the film.
The title appears “Memento”, the letters are spread out showing its difference from the past pieces of text.
The black background dissolves into a extreme close up of a man holding a Polaroid picture of blood covered tiles.
The title then fades and actors names appear in the same fashion as they did before.
Sad music in the major key, of violins playing sorrowful music, goes in tone with the picture, connoting death and sorrow.
The picture hasn’t moved for almost twenty seconds by this point, adding emphasis to it allowing the audience to fully experience the gore of the photos.
The picture is then shaken, still keeping with the same camera angle and (XCU) of the hand, however when the movement stops the picture appears to be slightly less clear.
Approximately eight seconds later the picture is shaken again and when the movement stops it appears even less clear, this implies that the process is going backwards connoting time reversal.
The same thing happens again at around the same time interval, but the picture becomes less clear, barely recognisable, possible connotations of memory loss could be enforced by this.
The picture is then shaken a fourth and final time, still keeping with the trend of less vision of the photo, its barely recognisable as blood splattered tiles.
A cut to an angle of behind the photo, a (CU) shot revealing a mans torso.
The camera stays focused on the photo and tracks it as he passes it from one hand to the other.
It is then placed back inside the camera and is sucked back into it with the diagetic sound of a camera producing a photo keeping in tone with continuity.
The sound changes at this point as the credits stop. It changes from violins to a mysterious kind of music building suspense and tension.
The camera tracks up to the mans face, the use of meis-en-scene with a splatted of blood on his cheek connotes he is the murderer.
A cut to a close up of the mans mid section as he places the camera in his jacket.
Cut again to his face at a (CU) shot, a low camera angle reveals his dominants in the situation that he is in, his eyes give a hint of sadness, but the lighting manages to make him look angry.
Cut to a (XCU) of a wall covered in blood, the blood appears to be flowing up the wall, which further reinforces the idea that time is being reversed, the blood adds a sinister and scary tone to the sequence.(P)
Cut to an (CU) of an empty bullet shell, the camera has been chosen keeping the rule of thirds in mind, with the cross section of the tiles at the top right and the bullet at the top left. (P)
Cut to a pair of glasses on a ledge, covered in blood, also the wall is dripping with blood connoting fear.
Cut to a (POV) shot of the man with a high camera angle looking down at the man as if he doesn’t really care about him and is dominating him, there is blood splattered all around the man’s head. Showing he has been murdered.
Low camera angle (MS) of the murderer, again showing his power and dominants, a gun flies into his hand further giving evidence to show that he was the one that shot the man.
The murdered kneels, a cut on action and panning down to a (MCU) of his face and torso, keeping the camera at his eye level.
Cut to the same angle of the bullet, the bullet rolls backwards and to the left.
Cut to (CU) of the glasses, lifting from the ledge showing time reversal.
Cut to a mid close up of the man with a gun, pointing it at the man with glasses.
A cut to an (XCU) of the bullet re, entering the gun(P)
Then the diagetic sound of a gun shot
A cut to a over shoulder shot of the manwith a gun, looking at the man on the floor.
The man on the floor screams and then it cuts to the beginning of the film.

all in all i believe the 2 minute opening has been able to create an enigma from many uses of meis-en-scene, such as blood dripping off walls and an obvious use of time reversal. a murder has been used initially to draw the audiences in and get them interested in the film and a want to find out why he murdered the man.