We are aiming to make our horror film as realistic as possible, so we avoided looking at stereotypically dangerous places, and instead took domestic areas, and will give them an unsafe feel when filming. We have taken pictures of the locations and where the characters will stand, camera angles etc. These include various rooms in Emmaline's house, a reasonably quiet, though not deserted road, scarcely used garages and an open alley. The photographs for the storyboard were taken during the day, but the film will be shot at night, adding to the atmosphere and highlighting relevant moods, details etc. We will write a consent letter confirming that we have permission to shoot in Emmaline's house, as it is important to use a natural domestic environment, as it will add to the theme of the movie, a place of safety- the home environment- becoming inhabited by the stalker figures.
On the group blog, their are a number of different photos that we took to show where we were going to be filming for out Horror Film.
As a group we all went out to see where the best places to film would be and we all decided that the following places would be ideal;
- Forest Area
-Derlict Garages
-Court Road
-Emmalines House
We took pictures and added them to the group blog on the 'Location Scouting' post. My personal contribution was explaining why we chose the areas we did and how they would be used in our film. I wrote up all the information on the 'Location Scouting' post, and then added the relevant pictures. We all however, contributed into creating that post, when we all went out to look for different filming locations.
This week we have been writing the 'draft script' for our horror film. We uploaded it onto our gropu blog, but because it contains "F*ck" and some other swear words, the school internet blocked us from editing it. So, Lucy will have to go and edit it at home. Because of this, we won't get it done for the deadline but should have it sorted within the weekend.
Also, we have uploaded the parental constent forms for the actors that will appear in our filming. We needed to do this because without Parental consent, we wouldnt be aloud to film the actor and use the footage, for youtube and others to see.
At the moment we are working on the 'Questionnaire' so that we can go out and ask people what they think, to therefore help us improve on the making of our horror film.
As a group, we are still working well together and getting the work done.
When creating the 'Similar Media Works' presentation, we all decided who would help do what slide so that the work was shared out equally between all four of us.
When doing the work, sometimes we would work in pairs to get all the relevant information down onto the slides. We labelled each slide at the bottom, depending on who did what.
My contribution was; - Generic Signifiers - Storylines, Settings and Characters - Technical Codes - History of Horror I also created the first slide with the titles and who created the PowerPoint.
It has helped me when creating my film because I could look and see what typical storylines and setting appear in different horror films. Also, looking at the history of horror helped because I can see what films had already been made, so when making my initial ideas, I came up with some of my own ideas knowing that something like that hadn't been produced before.
Also, it helped the group because when we were writing about our film, we could refer to the PowerPoint in order to use the technical names given to the different aspects of a film. For example, Generic Signifiers.
We created a simple story-board just so that we can tell exactly what is going to happen in the first few minutes. As we are using different camera shots, we will eventually use some of these photos and adapt them to how we want them. We went out and tried to create the feeling on 'the unknown' - for example the picutre of the girl walking uup the stairs, and the figure standing outside from the window. This creates a weird feeling, and this is the feeling we want our horror film to create.
My contribution to the story board, was being in some of the pictures taken and also, i wrote all the captions underneath the pictures, to explain what was happening in each scene.
I think our group is working really well at the moment and we seem to be up to date with all of our work. We managed to share out the work equally when doing our 'Similar Media Works' powerpoint, but it just needs a few extra details before we publish it to our group blog.
Emmaline edited our 'Scream' re-make last week in the very short time she had. Unfortunatly, due to our bad time keeping its not very consistant and looks a bit rushed. However, next time we will plan our time well and make sure we all come together to make our film consistant and well edited. We filmed it so that we could get used to using the cameras etc, so next time we will be very prepared. It also taught us to make sure we plan exactly what we are going to do, before we actually do it. On my indervidual blog I've uploaded the re-make and have written a brief description about it.
All in all though, my work as a group and indervidually is all up to date and I feel happy with the work I've produced so far.
Mise-En-Scene; the Shining 1980 Sound; At the start of the scene the sounding is quiet, with just ‘Johnny’ speaking, and then when he starts to knock down the door with the axe, the smacks get louder and louder. Also the woman starts to scream so this makes the scene seem a lot more intense. The extra-diegetic sound in the background also become louder and the scene progresses until when ‘Johnny’ put his head through the door and says “here’s Johnny”. This makes the audience feel more uncomfortable and on edge at what will happen. ‘Johnny’s’ voice is quite deep and husky making him sound nastier then he is. The women’s scream is quite high pitched making her sound a lot more like an innocent victim. When the women picks up the knife from the sink, it makes quite a loud clanging noise so I think this draws the audience to the fact that she has a knife, and that she may use it as a weapon. Costume; ‘Johnny’ is wearing quite dark, placid colours so this could give the impression that he is quite dark and nasty. Also, the colour of his jacket is a deep red/claret colour, which could resemble blood. Underneath that he is wearing a checked shirt. Typically this gives off a lumberjack sense, as its stereotypically the sort of thing they wear. As he is wearing this, the axe almost fits together with ‘Johnny’ because it’s the tool that lumberjacks use to cut trees down. This could give the audience the impression that he is quite strong, overpowering and a violent character. The woman is wearing quite pale and pastel like colours. The dressing gown is a pale purple colour and the jumper underneath it cream so this could give the impression that she’s quite angelic like, hence being the victim. The woman seems very distressed and scared and we can tell this not only through her body language but her makeup and facial expressions too. She seems rather hot and you can tell this because she seems to be quite sweaty. Also, her face is very pale so it could give the idea that she feels sick, and is very scared. Her hair is dull and messy, but this is because she is worried and frightened. ‘Johnny’ has a small beard so this indicates that he is quite rough and not very proud of his appearance, also making him seem more rough and weary. Lighting; The lighting in the bathroom is very bright, and quite pure so it almost looks quite heavenly. This could be because the victim is angelic like or the fact that she is in danger, and will be going to ‘heaven’. As this scene is quite terrifying, the bright light in the bathroom could contrast with the fact that the victim is seen as angelic. It’s as if nothing can hurt her. The walls are white and look clean, so it seems un-like a murder scene. The bedroom however where ‘Johnny’ is seems quite dull and dark. The only light in the bedroom is that coming from the lamp on the bedside table. The bedroom seems to be a lot darker than the bathroom because of not only the lighting but also the colours on the wall. White makes the bathroom look bright and clean, whereas the creamy colour on the walls of the bedroom make it seem small and dingy. Also it looks unclean compared to the bathroom. I think this is due to not only the lights, but the colours aswel. Camera Angles; There are a lot of camera angles and shots used for this scene. For example when ‘Johnny’ is first talking, they use a close up so we can just see his face. The camera angle however is always straight onto the character. They use quite a few close ups, like when the axe has gone through the door and when the victim slashes the knife onto ‘Johnny’s’ hand. Medium shots are used when the women is in the bathroom. This is so we can see not only her, but also the axe going through the door at the same time. Also they are used when Johnny puts the axe through the door for the first time. The camera follows the action of the axe for the first few times where it smashes into the door. The camera angles stay the same for most of the scene.
We created a horror remake, of the first few minutes of the horror movie 'Scream'. We did this for practice, so we all got used to using the cameras and editing our film. We got the script, and acted out the scene where the woman is in the kitchen on the telephone. It was simple and easy to reconstruct, but due to our bad time keeping, the continuity in our final film was quite poor.
The actual scene is set in a kitchen, so with having to film inside the school, we decided to use the food tech room. We tried to make the scene look as realistic as possible, but given that we were in a school, we couldn’t do much about the surroundings and 'classroom theme', but we managed the best we could.
For the part of the scene, where a popcorn clip is shown, we moulded some tinfoil over a bowl in order to make it look like a cooking pot of popcorn. We couldn't actually cook anything, because there wasn't anything to cook but when we were filming we made the tinfoil rattle to give the audience the effect that it was indeed cooking.
We ask one of our friends, Tom Wright to be the voice over the phone because our group is all girls. I think we worked well, so having actors in our main piece won't be a problem because we will just get on with the filming. We actually used a real phone call in our piece, by asking Tom to go into another room and to ring my phone. Then we put him on loudspeaker to give more of a ruffled telephone effect. The phone was held up by the camera at all times so the audience would be able to hear it quite clearly.
This task helped us and taught us a bit more about the cameras, and how to use the dolly when filming a 'tracking shot'. I'm glad we managed to practise before our real piece because we are now more familiar with the cameras themselves, and how to make the shot look steady and realistic.
All in all, I think we worked well as a group. We all had a discussion on what we need to improve on and we shall follow this through with our final opening of a horror film.
After making a mind map of all our ideas, we began to think about the plot and the main stroyline of our horror film. We have decided to base our theme on 'psychological stalking' rather than just a murder mystery. It's based on a group of stalkers that turn out, not only to be pyschopaths, but scientists aswell looking for women's features that would create their ideal perfect being. The victims that match what the stalkers want, will turn out to have a cross on exactly the body part the stalkers want, when shown to be unconsious. This will hint towards to the actual plot, however leaving the audience wondering what exactly will happen next. The opening two minutes of our horror film will show, for example, the way that one of the victims is followed home, using quick flashes and mostly audio sound to describe the scene and leave the audience wondering what is going on.
When thinking about ideas for our horror film, I created a spider-diagram and wrote down all my ideas. Then, we all got together as a group and shared our thoughts, then created another spider-diagram of our combined idea.
We all seemed to come up with roughly the same sort of idea, which was easier when it came to choosing our final idea.
We are creating the opening titles for a horror film, so I wanted something that was going to grip the audience within the first few minutes, so they are more inclined to carry on watching it. We all came up with the idea of having the first few seconds as a black screen with audio rather than film. The audio will be of a women screaming and breathing heavily in what sounds like a phone. Then, we will have quick flashes of different characters in various situations. For example, they will only be short, so someone looking through a window when it’s dark outside. I wanted to create more of a physiological film, rather than a jumpy/scary film. This is because it makes the audience relate to what happens because they will be everyday things that scare people.
Also, I want to film it in quite a quiet and derelict to set the scene of someone being all alone. As the music gets quicker, so will the flashes and then eventually it will stop and 'Enigma' will flash up on the screen followed by a Childs voice saying "excuse me".
I am analysing the first 3 minutes of the opening scene from ‘The Exorcism of Emily Rose’. I am going to be looking at costume & makeup, lighting, body language, characters, framing and the different screen shots used.
At the very start of the scene, all the audience can see if a black screen, slowly followed by some quite high pitched music. This denotes that the film is quite weary and scary, as high pitched and slow toned music is commonly found in horror films. Whilst the music is playing small, dark titles are appearing in the top left of the screen. They are appearing rather slowly, yet because they are quite ‘gloomy’ it is had for the audience to read them. A short while after these have appeared, and the screen is still black, the music starts to play a very deep toned & high toned mix of music. Shortly after the music is decreased and the audience can hear what almost sounds like a young girl screamed/crying. Then, ‘based on a true story’ appears in the middle of the screen. Again, this is in the dark grey font, making it quite hard for the audience to read. After this, the screen then again goes black and the audience starts to hear a girl calling “Emily”. We can now make out that there is more than one girl in the background music. One girl seems to be crying out, and the other seems to be crying for the girl. The background music that first appeared has now decreased in volume so that the audience can hear the character speaking clearly.
From there, a white screen then starts to appear. They have used a ‘fading’ effect so that the white screen appears slowly, increasing its purity. This could give off the idea that the film is innocent, because white is quite a pure and clean colour. However, it could give off the idea that the film is dark, cold and psychological because white is quite a basic colour. Whilst the black screen is fading and being replaced by an increasing white screen, the scream of a girl gets louder and louder. The white screen then begins to fade, almost turning into some sort of fog. The audience then starts to see a dark object on the left hand side of the screen, that turns out to be a post. The white screen fades to reveal a scene in what seems to be a field. The post is linked to some barbed-wire. The white screen turns darker, and then the film title appears on the right of the screen. The title is in a red colour, maybe symbolising blood or death. This denotes that the film is quite dark and gloomy because of the colouring used. The screen then turns black again, and the music that was originally playing in the first few seconds of the opening, starts to play again.
The screen then switches to a field with some crops growing. They have used a wide shot so that the audience can get a general idea of the scene and the surroundings. There are some crops that are blowing in the wind. The noise that the crops are making, as they are blowing in the wind is diegetic, but the audience can still hear the music that was played in the opening seconds, only the volume has been decreased quite considerably. The shot is on the crops for quite a while before it moves on. The sky looks grey, like it is about to rain. As the audience, you get a general feeling of the un-known before of the scene setting and the crops blowing. You can also hear the wind, whistling through the crops slightly.
The next scene is faded in, and it looks as if they are some pumpkins. It is very dark, so the audience could find it hard to see exactly what they are. The ground looks very dry, as the soil is a light grey. This could give the idea that there hasn’t been any rain, and from the colour of the sky it may storm. This builds up the tension of what will happen next. The music then decreases even more until nearly faded out, then the screen switches to a wide shot of a house, which seems to be in the middle of nowhere. The house is almost like a dark yellow colour, which could give the impression that it is normally a happy household. The weather is still dark and gloomy; however there appears to be snow on the ground. This instantly tells the audience that the film is set around December/January time. The titles appear again in the top left hand corner of the screen; only instead of grey they are orange. This is easier for the audience to read, and it also may give them the impression that everything is normal. The music is very faint in the background but you can still hear it. This gives the audience the idea that the film is about to start and the opening titles have stopped.
As the camera zooms in on the house, a small figure walks across from the bottom right hand corner towards the house. The music has almost stopped now, but you can still hear the wind blowing. The figure seems to be wearing very dark colours, showing his authority. The shot then changes to a close up of the figures foot, after treading in a puddle. The character is wearing black shoes, with black trousers. The noise of the puddle, splashing as he steps into it, is emphasized heavily. This is the diegetic sound, because it is over the music. The music has almost stopped and the crunching of the snow has almost taken its place. The snow seems to be very muddy, like it’s been there a few days. Also, because the character trod in the puddle, the audience knows that someone has been out of the house before then, therefore causing the puddles. The next shot is of the character walking off; the audience can still only see his feet though. It is still a close up, and the character walks off of the shot. There is also a crunching sound of the snow under his feet. The snow is quite bright, in comparison to the colour of the house and surroundings.
The shot transition then changes to reveal the character walking up towards the house. The windows of the house are dark, and it looks as though the blinds are drawn. Immediately this gives the audience a threatening feeling and it leaves them wondering what is going to happen to the male character, and who he is. The audience can hear his footsteps still, but because he has reached the house, it isn’t the sound of crunching snow anymore. It’s the sound of stepping against wood, as that is what the house is made from. The music that has been playing on and off from the start, increases again, making the audience ready for something that may or may not happen. Its also builds up the suspense.
The screen the turns to a mid-shot of the character. For the first time the audience can see his face. He is a middle aged man; I would say late 50’s. The character is wearing a black duffle coat, and a black hat. This could make the audience wonder if the man is trustworthy. Typically, he looks threatening because he is dressed in all black with a hat. This could symbolise death, or a threatening behaviour. The man wait’s a bit before knocking on the door. The audience can’t see through the door as it looks boarded up. The paintwork on the house is chipped, so it gives the impression the house is uncared for, or whoever lives in it can’t or hasn’t got the time to look after it properly. After knocking, the man then looks through the door. This is quite threatening and the audience is then thrown into suspense because we don’t know what will happen.
The shot is then switched to a wide shot of the house and the character then starts to walk away, and off the decking, back into the snow. The music is still playing but the diegetic sounds, like the footsteps are made known. Then screen the moves to a mid-shot of the man, and he seems to be looking at something. This leaves the audience wondering what it is that has made him stop. The shot them pans round to show a wide-shot of an old barn, and a tractor. Both looks very run down and have a scary essence about them. The weather is still dark and the sky is still grey. Music is still playing quietly in the background; however you can hear the movement from the weathervane on top of the barn. The, the shot pans round to show a close-up of the weathervane. It is quite rusty, so looks as though it has been there for some time. This is quite threatening itself as it’s quite a weird and uncomfortable sound. Also, the audience can see an entrance to the barn, but it is dark so we cannot see inside. This leaves the audience in suspense as to what is inside.
The next scene is of two cats running into the bushes. It is completely unexpected, so may give the audience a sense of confusion. The cats seem to be growling as they disappear into the bushes. Commonly, cats are seen as quite creepy in scary films, so the audience may start to get in to the film. The screen then turns and an over-the-shoulder shot is used, to look at the back of the character and what he is facing. This is the barn and the tractor again. As the man is standing still, the audience can’t hear anything, so the music is then increased in volume to make the shot seem more dramatic than it is. The weather is still dark and gloomy, and looks cold. This could be a reason as to why the man is dressed up in black, heavy clothes. The character then turns around so we can see the front of him, and then also still see the barn. The character then starts walking towards the camera, making the shot into a close up of his face. The background starts to fade; so that the audience can barely make out that it’s a barn behind him now.
The characters facial expression is almost confused and bewildered, and because he hasn’t said anything yet, this leaves the audience wondering what is bothering him. The shot then flicks to what looks like a bees nest, hanging from the house. The music dips, and you can hear the buzzing from the bees. This is quite a weird extra so the audience may start to feel bewilderment as to what is going on. The shot then pans back around to show the character. It is still a close up, but his face still remains the same. At this point, due to his facial expressions, the audience may start to believe that this man is harmless rather than threatening, and maybe trying to do a good thing?
The next scene is off the character looking up at a window of the house. They have used a high-angle shot in order to make the house look big and threatening. There is a sort of orangey warm colour coming from the window, this could give off the impression that the house inside is warm and away from the cold outside. At first, the audience don’t realise that there is a figure standing at the window, but after a while it becomes more obvious. The music is still playing, but there are no diegetic sounds. There is then a close up of the mans face again, as he still looks bewildered. The face then disappears from the window, leaving the curtain moving. If the audience has missed the face at the window, then it would become very apparent that someone was there after that shot. The camera then moves, and displays a wide shot of the house, and the back of the male character. Suddenly, the camera moves to display a women coming opening a door form the house. She opens it in quite a rush so it could give the audience the feeling she is nervous, or maybe scared.
The woman is wearing a skirt and a cream top, with what looks like a coloured cardigan. This makes her seem quite innocent, and not as important as the male character that is all dressed in black. She doesn’t make sure an impression, as the male character did the first time that the audience has seen him. They have used a mid-shot so that we can see the top half of the women, but also the pillars that are holding the house up. As the woman comes out from her house, the audience can now know that the man is a medical examiner because she asks him if he is. Then, shot-reverse-shot is used from the women to the male character. There is still a close-up of the male however, and when he nods his head, the audience now know what the man is. He isn’t just a man in dark threatening clothes anymore, he has a purpose. The next thing the audience will want to know is why he is there.
The male character then walks forward and there is a close-up of his bottom torso walking towards the camera. The next scene is a close-up of a characters hands, clenched around a cup. It then pans out to display a mid shot of a man, sitting at a table. His facial expression looks dull and upset, making the audience ask the question, what’s wrong with him. The camera then pans out to display a wide shot of 4 characters sitting around a table, and the very first male character walking into the house. The house is very dark and not homely or welcoming. The music is still playing, but is lowered so that we can hear the closing of the door and the males’ footsteps. This automatically gives the audience a cold feeling, and a feeling of the unknown. Also, one of the female characters at the table is crying, therefore making the mood solemn and quite.
The shot then moves to a close up of the women in front of the banisters, as she continues to walk on, the male figure looks around. Still wearing his hat, it gives the audience the impression he doesn’t feel very comfortable, as normally it is common courtesy for a man to remove his hat when he enters a building. The camera shot then pans out to show a third character. This time the character is standing gripping onto the top of a chair. The character looks distraught and very scared. The lighting in the house is very dark, almost darker than it is outside, making the house look gloomy and scary. The walls look dirty so it’s as if they don’t look after the house at all.
The body language from all the characters makes the audience wonder what is going to happen, therefore grips them to their seats and makes them watch the film. This is exactly the reaction that a film company want from there film.
