Props used

Title of the film

The Results Of Our Questionnaire!

Alrighty, so this entry is mostly going to focus on our questionnaire results as we designed a questionnaire in which we asked people what kind of things they would expect from a horror movie and this is basically what they said and this is the kind of knowledge we beared in mind when we were coming up with ideas for our opening.

The first question that we asked people was what kind of setting they would like to see, or what kind of setting they would find the most effective and the most popular answer being dark woods shortly followed by a domestic house which we thought would be more appropriate for our opening.

The second question that we asked our potential audience was what kind of supernatural characters they would want to see in our opening, if we were to focus on a more supernatural aspect. The main answer came back as being ghosts shortly followed by zombies but we did not use this information as our movie is more based on something that could happen in real life but this information was interesting to know.

The next question we asked in order to conduct our research was kind of trailer would people expect to see for a horror movie? Most people said that they would expect loud music along with fast shots as then that will make the movie look better and more epic but we could also use this in a manner to see what we could use in order to frighten the audience.

One the questions we asked that I found would be one the most important ones was what would the audience expect the movie to be like. A lot of people said that they would expect a horror movie to have a mixture of supernatural elements, psychological and real life but however we found that our opening would be more eerie if we focused on something that could happen in real life and this would therefore make the audience more drawn into what is happening. 

Evaluation activity - screen shots of opening sequence

 

titles for our opening

The Script To Our Movie

‘Daddy’s Girl’ Script:

*a policeman pulls up outside of a suburban house, in a perfectly normal suburban area and we then switch to inside a bathroom where a girl is staring in the mirror, muttering to herself*

*Simple Plan- Could Be Perfect is heard in the background*

*a pause as we have a long shot to establish the setting as girl still looks in the mirror and then an Extreme Close Up of her eyes*

*hearing argument of parents*

Father: “YOU WANTED THIS CHILD SO NOW YOU LOOK AFTER IT! I STAYED WITH YOU BECAUSE I LOVE YOU—NOT FOR THAT CHILD! I COULD HAVE GONE TO UNIVERSITY AND MADE SOMETHING OF MYSELF BUT I DIDN’T JUST FOR YOU NOT THE CHILD. THIS IS WHAT I GET!”

Mother: “STOP SHOUTING! NOBODY ASKED YOU TO STAY! HAVE SOME  CONSIDERATION ABOUT OUR CHILD AND HOW YOU ACTING LIKE THIS COULD AFFECT HER FUTURE! YOU ONLY THINK ABOUT YOURSELF SO FOR ONCE JUST BE A FATHER AND FACE THE RESPONCIBILITES!”

*Close up of her washing hands as we hear a knock at the front door, Girl jumps and picks up the speed of washing her hands*

*Descending the stairs, still with a steady stream of muttering*

*opens door and see an over the shoulder shot of policeman*

Policeman/woman: “Good evening miss, we received a call from the neighbours about a noise complaint from your house.”

Girl: (with a light laugh to cover anxiety) “Oh no, that was just the TV, I couldn’t find the remote but I turned it off now. I’m sorry if it disturbed anyone.”

Policeman/woman: (narrows eyes): “Well alright, but be sure to turn it down next time. Have some consideration for your neighbours.”

Girl: (starting to close door): “Yes, yes, of course, have a good day sir.”

Policeman/woman: (in a crisp voice): “Have a good evening miss, sorry for bothering you.”

*Girl smiles politely and closes door as we see the relief on her face*

*Walking to her room*

Girl (inner monologue): “God, that was too freaking close. What would have happened if I’d just been that much slower washing my hands? Man, the house sure is quiet.”

*In bedroom looking for a family photograph*

*Once found, Girl looks at it with a spiteful expression*

Girl: (inner monologue): “My family. Look at them, all happy and smiling. It makes me sick.”

*Without any hesitation, she rips up part of photo which had father in it*

Girl (inner monologue): “There. That’s him out of my life. My daddy, even though I’m not sure if he even deserves to be called that.”

*cuts to the title of ‘Daddy’s Girl’ written in blood on wall and opening ends there*

So this is our final edit of the script that we used in our opening sequence but as it is an opening sequence we couldn't have a lot of dialouge as otherwise that would take away the tension from the opening and our opening is supposed to be suspencful.

Costumes And Props!

Costumes: So the costumes we're gonna be using for our opening sequence aren't going to be overly complicated but our main character of 'Girl' (she doesn't have a name yet so yeah) will most likely be wearing hoodies, jeans, that sort of thing. We thought that this would be useful and effective for the audience as it would a) help them identify the character and b) it would tell the audience what age she is and that would obviously play a huge role in the development in the story if we were to make the entire movie.

Our other main costume is a police hat/ police outfit as our dialogue consists of a police officer knocking at the door of our protagonist and saying that there has been a noise complaint from the neighbours to which the girl says that it was just the TV. The idea that the police is there is linked in with the usual conventions that you would find in a horror movie because the police or other law enforcement usually have very positive connotations, leading the audience to believe that everything will be okay and that our lovable characters will not have anything to worry about. However, the fact that the police is coming at the beginning of the movie helps to build up the tension for the audience, getting them hooked onto the story as they would want to know what is going to happen, or what has happened.

Props: Like our costumes, our props are pretty minimalistic, we have fake blood with which we have chosen to write our main titles on a wall of 'Daddy's Girl'. The use of blood is something very common in horror movies and in fact any genre of movies, even if they may not be focused on blood and gore. We will also have another purpose for using fake blood as our opening starts with the girl in the bathroom as she is washing blood off her hands, this again makes the audience wonder what is going on but it would follow the conventions of horror movies because a lot of movies start off being dis-jointed and they explain what is happening as the movie goes on so that the audience know as much as the characters know or sometimes more.

Our other main prop is a family photograph which the girl will later rip up. This is something which will help tell the audience the main theme of the movie but at the same time not giving enough away so that then the story will become predicable.

Shot list part 2

Shot list part 1

Strengths

Weaknesses

Horror film font of titles analysis

The horror film font of titles analysis

All movies need a good font as if the wrong one is chosen it could mean that the whole tension and effects created can all change the movie and destroy the intentions of the producer as a bad font can be comic to some of the viewers.

The tile of the movie "the ring" uses a informal font that looks uneven and crooked which creates the sense of disorder that could be in the movie. It is also inside a ring which is illuminating white ray of light which is smoke like. The black colour of the background usually creates mystery and darkness and maybe a sense of evil. There's a sense of static which usually means that there will be disorder and things that are unnatural and unordinary will happen.

The Haunting In Connecticut.

Alright, so I'm back again guys but this time I'm going to be analysing the opening of a movie of our chosen genre and the movie that I have chosen to do is The Haunting in Connecticut (2009) and I'm basically going to be reviewing the camera angles and the camera movements and talk about what kind of effect that this will have on the audience and I might even talk about denotation and connotation, doesn't that sound exciting?

Okaaay then, so as the film company names roll we get our non-diagetic sound of a piano playing and then it starts off with a close up of a black and white photograph of a family, who's identity is currently unknown. The picture consists of four people, a man dressed in a suit and a woman both of whom have medium shots and then another two people whom have a close up and they're made to look even more intimidating because they have all deadly straight faces.

Then at 0:52 we cut to another black and white photo of two girls, both of which have have medium shots and the suspense is built up because for one thing we have no idea who any of the people are, or in fact if they are going to play any kind of part in the movie later on, or if they were related to the family in the previous picture.

We then get a snapshot of medical clamps, a close up along with some kind of shadow in the background which again makes the audience want to know who it is and what they are doing and apart from the music all is silent making the scene of the photographs all the more eerie and unnerving. Then like the last shot, almost too quick to see we see some kind of liquid being pored and then we get back to the black and white photographs.

In order to build up the suspense of the moment we get snapshots of blood being poured down a drain and the medical equipment implying that not all is as it seems and this helps to establish it as a horror. However as we reach the end of the photo montage the music becomes more distorted and frightening as we go on to find out more about the photographs and yes I will be giving away the twist here but basically the people were taking pictures of them with their dead relatives, creepy right?

We then see a lot of close ups of things that are hard to distinguish at first because the audience is not given enough time to identify what it is that they are being shown but this just goes on to further provoke questions and therefore developing the plot line more by making the audience want to know what is going to happen. We then see a big close up of a corpse lying on a table as a man moves around him and we see nothing but his hands as we are proceeded with a jump cut to the corpse being covered and then we go back to the photos as though nothing has happened but the tension of the scene is amplified as the audience is being kept on the edge of their seats, wanting to know what happens.

We then proceed to receive more images of loved ones dead, as their mourning relatives take pictures of them, or with them I should say but now that we know a bit more about the situation it is anything but comforting as the music picks up in pace and becomes more and more chaotic, almost psychotic as the audience is made to feel disgusted by what they have seen. We also receive non-diagetic sound of a camera flashing loudly as each new image is revealed. There are more jump-cuts after this of someone performing some kind of surgery of a corpse but whether or not it is the same corpse as before it would be hard to tell.

The camera angles in the first minute are all close ups to medium shots and the camera is held steady making the whole scene all the more uncomfortable to watch.



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MRJA3lN0xCQ Alright so this is the link to the trailer if you lovely people fancy having nightmares for a week :P

Doesn't BBFC Sound A Bit Intimidating?

Alright so in this entry I will be looking at a company called the BBFC which basically stands for The British Board if Film Classification. A bit of a mouthful right? They're responsible for the age ratings that movies get and I suppose that the best way to describe this would be have you ever had a movie that you really, really wanted to go and see but then you looked at the age and it an 18 or something? Not that I want to sound like a conspiracy nut but they're the people behind that.

Basically, all of their classifications are based on their regularly updated Guidelines. These are the products of very thorough public consultation, research and the accumulated experience of the company over the years. For example, in their most recent consultation of over 87000 members of the public were asked for their views of the classification, and this anything from language, discrimination, violence, sex and drugs in DVD's and video games. However, the Guidelines which are updated once every four years also have to take into consideration the various UK laws which might have an impact on the final decision for a movie or anything else for that matter.

Extended Classification Information Logo. 

Something that they have on their site is called the Extended Classification Information which is when they give very detailed information about the movie (or video game) that they have classified. This is in addition to the little bit of text you would see on the movie poster and it's basically designed to explain why a movie has received the rating that it has but in this case scenario it will also have spoilers which is why in order to get to it you need to find the link because not everybody wants to have a spoiler of the movie.




So this very complicated sounding ECI goes up onto the site at least 10 days before the film opens.

I think that everybody will know what this means, this is the logo that means that a movie should be suitable for any audience of any age to see. But like anything else it's hard to pin-point it exactly and it's hard to say that might or might not upset a young child. Usually 'U' films are suitable for any child over the age of 4. So in this type of film:

Discrimination: No discriminatory language or behaviour unless clearly disapproved of.

Drugs: No references to illegal drugs or drug misuse unless they are frequent and innocuous or there is a clear educational purpose or anti-drug message suitable for young children.

Horror: Scary sequences should be mild, brief and unlikely to cause undue anxiety to young children. The outcome should be reassuring.

Imitable Behaviour: No potentially dangerous behaviour which young children are likely to copy. No emphasis on realistic or easily accessible weapons.

Language: Infrequent use only of very mild bad language.

Nudity: Occasional natural nudity, with no sexual content.

Sex: Mild sexual behaviour (for example, kissing) and references only for (for example, making love).

Theme: While problematic themes may be present, their treatment must be sensitive and appropriate young children.

Violence: Mild violence only. Occasional mild threat or menace only.

Alright, so this is again something that most of us would have come across in our every day life. This is the logo for when a movie should have a parent present when the child is watching it. A PG movie should not upset children aged 8 or older.

Discrimination: Discriminatory language or behaviour is unlikely to be acceptable unless clearly disapproved of or in an educational or historical context. Discrimination by a character with which children can readily identify is unlikely to be acceptable.

Drugs: References to illegal drugs or drug misuse must be innocuous or carry a suitable anti-drug message.

Horror: Frightening sequences should not be prolonged or intense. Fantasy settings may be mitigating factor.

Imitable Behaviour: No detail of potentially dangerous behaviour which young children are likely to copy. No glamorisation of realistic or easily accessible weapons.

Language: Mild bad language only.

Nudity: Natural nudity, with no sexual content.

Sex: Sexual activity may be implied, but should be discreet and infrequent. Mild sex references and innuendo only.

Theme: Where more serious issues are featured (for example, domestic violence) nothing in their treatment should condone unacceptable behaviour.

Violence Moderate violence, without detail, may be allowed, if justified by its context (for example, history, comedy or fantasy).

This is the logo for the 12A rating and although you have two individual ratings of 12 and 12A the exact same criteria is used for each one. The material that you are likely to see in these movies should only be appropriate to those 12 years or older. The category of 12A exists only for cinema films and no one that is younger than 12 should be allowed to see a 12A movie. An adult may take a younger child to see a 12A movie but only if they think that it would be sensible. However, the 12 category is only for video works, things like games I presume.

Discrimination: Discriminatory language or behaviour must not be endorsed by the work as a whole. Aggressive discriminatory language or behaviour is unlikely to be acceptable unless clearly condemned.

Drugs: Any misuse of drugs must be infrequent and should not be glamorised or give instruction detail.

Horror:  Moderate physical and psychological threat may be permitted, provided disturbing sequences are not frequent or sustained.

Imitable Behaviour: Dangerous behaviour (for example, hanging, suicide and self-harming) should not dwell on detail which could be copied, or appear pain or harm free. Easily accessible weapons should be glamorised.

Language: Moderate language is allowed. The use of strong language, must be infrequent.

Nudity: Nudity is allowed, but in a sexual context must be brief and discreet.

Sex: Sexual activity may be briefly and discreetly portrayed. Sex references should not go beyond what is suitable for young teenagers. Frequent crude references are unlikely to be acceptable.

Theme: Mature themes are acceptable, but their treatment must be suitable for young teenagers.

Violence: Moderate violence is allowed but should not dwell on detail. There should be no emphasis on injuries or blood, but occasional gory moments may be permitted if justified by the context. Sexual violence may only be implied or briefly and discreetly indicated, and must have a strong contextual justification.

Behold! A Typical Synopsis Of A Horror Movie! *Cue Scary Music*

So hi again folks, if anybody actually bothers to read this thing but this whole entry is going to be about (as you can tell from the title) all about the typical synopsis of a horror movie meaning what kind of aspects you would expect to find in a usual horror movie, although that does not mean that you will find it in every horror movies, there are some movies, (like everything else) that do not follow the usual conventions of their chosen genre and chose to do something that would often be viewed as contreversial because it is breaking the norm of what you would usually expect to see from that particular genre.

Alright, so the first thing that we need to ask ourselves, is what kind of plot lines do we actually expect to see in a horror movie? Meaning, what makes a horror movie, a horror movie? And please bear in mind that this is different to what kind of conventions you would find in a horror/thriller altough they probably do interlink at some point.

Alrighty then! (I don't know why I just pictured Ace Ventura saying that...and if you haven't seen that movie, then by all means go and check it out, 'tis a good movie). Anyway, I digress. Sooooo according to my trusty friend the internet, most if not all horror movies would have some kind of fierce creature most of the time some kind of supernatural being, and what would make this even more fightenening is the fact that it being supernatural means that it is something that we as human beings will never be able to understand and it is part of the unknown, and this leads onto some pretty thought provoking questions, bet you didn't expect that from a horror movie now did you? Anyhow!

Something that directors and producers would do in order to make their creature even more frightening is that they would make it huge, savage and intelligent, and if it more intelligent than a human then that is absolutely terrifying. Another thing that I have already mentioned is that in order to make the film scary directors would use the supernatural and murderers. In some movies, they would have a human character, wearing a mask or scary clothes in order to commit the murders and because you were incapable of seeing the murderers face then that made it all the more effective, for example in A Nightmare On Elm Street our main (and only villain) had a badly burned face which was obsucred in shadow for the majority of the movie making him an even more menacing villain.



Freddie Krueger- 'A Nightmare On Elm Street'.




















Now, if we were to look at a typical synopsis of a movie which is all about a masked killer then your typical plot line would be about a group of teenagers, (maybe even young adults) who get off by the murderer one by one, sometimes but not always leaving a sole survivor who goes on to tell his story. Now usually we don't know why the killer is commiting these crimes until usually the very end of the movie when we get our revelation, but its usually for revenge. Durnig the duration of the movie (not the best phrasing in the world, I know) the audience always gets convinced that they know who the murderer is, but then in the end they always end up getting proved wrong; and something else that is also considered normal for that branch of horror movies is that there is some kind of conflict towards the end of the movie.

If we were to look at Scary Movie for example, then right at the very end of the movie our main character of Cindy realises that she has to defeat our villain all by herself and bearning in mind that this is a parody of many diferent movies (altough focusing mainly on Scream) right at the very end of the movie when she thinks that she has defeated him, she calls the cops but then when they go to get his body and arrest him they find out that he isn't there. *Dramatic music should be inserted here*

Scream Masks, or rather the evolution of Scream
Masks.

Another thing that we need to ask oursevles while talking about this is what would make a horror movie successful? In other words, what would be likely to scare the living be-jesus out of your audience? Apart from blood and gore that is. A well known formulea that they use in Hollywood is something as follows: a person who is cut away from the rest of society falls into despair and goes on to seek revenge on the people that made him unhappy.

Another thing that you would be likely to see in all horror movies would be the fact that our good guys, whom we usually emphasise with have to set out to defeat that horrible baddy who's trying to create a decent plot line, and this a pretty standard plot line for any horror movie. This means that this baddy that they have to kill could be in their heads, it could be real, or supernatural and they will also have to get rid of the accomplises of the baddie, therefore building the tension of the scene and making the audience want to know what the outcome of the final battle will be.

The next thing that will be found in every single horror movie out there, is our 'who dies next' scenario. This is pretty straightforward I think without me needing to explani but I'll do it anyway. This is a pretty common element in the Teen Slasher franchise and this basically means that the audience has to guess which one of our lovely group of characters will be killed off next, and, like falling domeoes who is doing the killing, how they die who will survive? This is seen in every single horror movie but a very bad example of how not to create a decent horror can be seen in the Final Destination movies, which are so bad they're funny to watch because they lack any kind of plot line or logic for that matter, but that's beside the point and every single movie is the same.

The final thing which might be able to be found in some horror movies is 'doing the right thing' and this is mostly where our lovable character gets thrown into a situation where he has to pick doing something that will help him survive or doing the right thing, even if means that he has to lose some of his friends along the way which is a basis for some horror movies. Just to round off, here are some nice little images to haunt your nightmares for a few days: ;) Here's a fun little game you can play, (excluding the labelled pictures and final destination) try and guess which movies these are from! No really, I'm curious if you'll get them!

Poster analysis

This is a poster of the movie called 'Sinister' which is a supernatural horror made in 2012. It uses a blood drawn picture made by a young girl creating a scary person or monster which you know the movie is based about as the caption says "once you see him, nothing can save you".
Many horror movies use blood to draw a picture or write the titles which is iconic for the horror genre as it creates a death and danger vibe as the colour red is usually used to represent danger or death.
Most horror movies are more famous if they have a famous producer as in this case it has made the movie seem really good as his previous 2 movies have been a big hit in the cinemas which brings more people to want to watch it.
The wall in the background is dark and crackling which makes it seem abandoned and creepy which is what most horror movies try and accomplish in the movie and it is what makes the viewer want to see more there for this poster succeeds in making the audience want to see the movie. It gives it the abandoned look and everyone would be scared to be alone in an abandoned building as it usually has ghosts or is haunted which is why most posters use the abandoned buildings idea.
As well as this the tape on the floor shows that there is going to be either one or several films that can either be a curse or have a very scary content in them.
In general posters are used in the film industry to advertise the movie so that it sells and makes more money for the industry. The more money made the better movies the industry can afford as a large part of the movies is the actors/actresses, props and the equipment they use. This is because if the technology and stetting are a great quality, people will more likely remember it. Secondly if the actors/actresses are well known then they will act the part well as they are famous for their great acting, there for making it realistic as well as making the movie have more viewers as some of the actors or actresses will have fans or people  that would just want to see it because of their quality of acting.

Iconic Directors of the Horror Genre!

So hi again in this entry I will be looking at iconic directors of the horror movie genre and I don't really think that I need to explain that too much so let's just head straight in!

So the first director, you might or might not have heard of (I know I haven't) is called Wes Craven. Craven is responsible for creating the two most copied and re-made horror movies of all times which are The Hills Have Eyes and The Last House On The Left. He directed Nightmare on Elm Street and then would later go on to direct the sequel New Nightmare 10 years from the original and the Nightmare series is one of the most successful horror money-maker of all time.

The second director we will be looking at will be John Carpenter and he was responsible for creating the franchise of Halloween (the movie that is) which could be considered to be one of the most profitable franchises of all time. But he has done even more apart from that and he has gone on to develop the Escape series and rebooted The Thing. With the movie Halloween he pretty much created the mass market of low budget horror movies. Without him there would be no sequels for Scream or Friday 13th.

The History Of The Horror Genre!

Okay so in this entry I will be looking at the origins of the horror movie genre which is the genre we have chosen to do for our opening sequence, (hint the title of the blog).

Alright so the first thing we need to ask ourselves is going to sound very obvious and stupid, but it is important in order for us to move forward;what is horror? Well, if were to give it a very dictionary definition then it would mean 'an intense feeling of fear, shock or digust' now the word horror comes from the Latin of horrere which basically means 'shudder, (of hair) stand on end.'

As long as there have been any kind of stories or story telling there have always been stories about things that will be deemed as being unrealistic and to be fair can you really imagine some psychopath with an axe chasing after you? It seems highly improbable, but I digress. However, the idea of scary stories and 'horror' (you could call it that) comes from early as Abrahamic and Egyptian mythology and these types of stories were mostly populated by darkness or demons for example. Egyptian mythology in particular deals with tales of a world that is not the physical one, mostly a realm of spirits, which are either to be revered or feared. However, classical mythology will focus more on monsters for example Cereberus, the Minotaur, Medusa and so on and so forth. Ancestor worship and the veneration of the dead beings with the Zhou dynasty in China (well everybody needs a hobby), around 1500 years BC. If we look at the modern horror movie genre then it's only about 200 years old but it began to have a form and conventions around the end of the eighteenth century. Every culture has stories that deals with something that is unexplainable and unknown, tales that make the listener wonder 'what if?' Horror movies that you see in the cinema today are versions of epic poems and ballads told around the campfire of our ancestors and this is where I get an image in my head of them singing campfire songs and drinking hot chocolate. 

Okay, so that's enough about mythology so lets actually start looking at movies. Alright, so the first horror movies were mostly silent and if I'm not mistaken they were around 1920 or thereabouts. Because the movies were silent it gave pioneers a wonderful place to be able to examine horror. Early horror movies were likely to be dark and surreal, mostly owing their visual appearance to the painters and narrative styles to the Grand Guignol Theatre Company. It was because of these early movies that the conventions that seem so familiar to us now came from. They would draw upon the folklore and legends of Europe and render the monsters into a physical form. 

One of the first horror movies that was made is a movie called The Golem (and no it doesn't have anything to do with the Lord Of The Rings, so calm down). It was made 1915/1920 and there were several versions of this movie which became dubbed as the first monster movie, directed by and starring Paul Wegener. This was based on a Jewish legend, based in a medieval Prague. A Golem is a solidly built clay man (see I told you it has nothing with LOTR, so ha!) is fashioned to save the ghetto, but when his job is done he refuses to cease the existing, and runs amok thought expressionist sets, eventually to be confronted and defeated by a little girl. 


The second movie which we'll be looking at is called Nosferatu which was made in 1922 and this was the very first vampire movie, badly plagiarising the Dracula story so that they could present Count Orlok, the character of Max Schreck, he would curl this long fingernails around the limbs of a series of helpless victims. It would be described as a movie that actually believes in vampires, Nosferatu gives us a vampire that's much more frightening than anything else (and much more frightening than those weird sparkly vampires) the character of Schreck is simply inhuman and that's all there is to it.