Lighting

In Horror/Thriller films the lighting it generally dark. Most horror films have dark lite scenes when something is about to happen. 

 Dark lighting is also used to identified a antagonist. The dark light makes scenes feel more tense because you don't know what is in a room or where something or someone is because it is dark. It can also hide things like faces to create a scenes of mystery.

The use of colored lights to connote something is also sued in horror and thriller e.g. red can connote danger or blood.

Blocking and Framaing of opening scene

We disiced to take a stills camara and experiment with frames and shots we could use for our opening scene in the location that we plan to use for it.

Audience

For our horror films we need to think about the get audience i.e. they age, gender and what they like and spend money on.

The average target audience for horror is 15-25 years old and is middle class. The females in this age group and spend about £4.35-£9.30 on avenge. They enjoy horror films in groups and will mostly watch thrillers or horror films with thriller elements. They are students but some also have jobs as well.

Like females the make target audience is also 15-25 and are students and middle class. They too like to watch thriller in groups but can have a broader range of films the older they get. They spend about the same about of money on cinema.

Sets and Settings

A lost of Horrors/Thrillers are set in remote isolated areas where there may be no chance of getting help. This is because a film can be more scary or tense if the audiences knows that there is no help coming.

 The film 'Alien' is a good example of these because the film made it clear that there was no chances that someone was going to help them. The even made it one of the films selling points by using the slogan "In space no can hear you scream."

The sets are also good for a horror film. The alien ship they explore looks very strange and unnerving. The creepy walls and shape makes the audience uneasy and because it looks so alien the audience can't expect what will happe next and so makes the scene more tense.

Locations (school)

These are some of the locations in school that we thought would be good for our horror film.

Character and Narrative Research

In my research I didn't view any horror films for characters similar to ours, mainly protagonists that are mentally unstable. The two main films I looked at were:
 'The Fisher King'
and
'Spellbound'

Both films feature an unstable character that is similar to ours in that they have visons and don't believe that there is anything wrong with them. In these films I looked for how the character was portrayed, what techniques could be used in our film and how it makes the audience relate to the character.

The first thing I noticed is that both characters are paired with a character who is very stable. I feel this has been done because mentally ill people are hard to relate to for an audience so they are given a normal person to relate to and through them see what the other character is like through a relationship that they build and also learn about both characters.

Another similarity is that in both films the mentally unstable person suffers from amnesia and their hallucinations are caused by their memories, however they don't know that they are memories and neither does the audience. They learn about it as the characters do. I think this way of telling the characters' story will work well for our horror narrative and we can include a mystery where the audience can't tell whether the hallucinations are brought on by the character's memories or brought on by the paranormal.

Costume

Costume in horror follow a very basic style depending on the type of film. My research has shown that for most horror films the protagonist dress in normal cloths for that time period or location.
 (Cast of 'The Thing') In this film the actors dress in winter clothes which is normal for people living Antarctica which is were the film is based, the cloths are fitting for their environment which can help set the scene for the film. I feel that this is done so the audnience can relate to the characters more is they look like normal people.

 (Jason Voorhees from 'Friday the 13th') For most horror films they follow a stereotype for horror villains which is tall disfigured humanoids that look dead or that are covered so you can't see their body for face. There is also the running cliche is the uses of masks. We want to avoid cliches so we will probably not use this type of clothing in our film.

 (Norman Bates form 'Psycho') When researching psychological horrors (which is the type of film we are making) I saw that the killers and antagonist also dress normally.

In our horror we will try to use normal cloths that don't give away who is the threat to the protagonist to keep some level of mystery and to make characters more relabel.

Research Questionnaires Results

After one week I have had 16 questionnaires filled out from different ages and genders.
Example: 

 

(For questions look at previous post "Research Questionnaires")

For question 1 the most popular answer was comedy with a total of 7 votes. The second most popular was horror with 4 votes. Both film genres were voted for by people 15-25 years old of both genders.

For question 2 there were 2 films that appear the most on the questionnaires. Shrek which had 2 votes from 15 year old females, and American Beauty which also got 2 votes by a 53 year old male and a 21 year old male.These two films were the only ones to be said more than once.

For question 3 the most popular answer was 'at home' usually in the evening. This answer was on nearly every questionnaire.

For question 4 the most poplar answer was equally 2-3 times both yearly and monthly from all ages and genders.

For question 5 the most popular answer was trailers which was an answer from nearly all the questionnaires and from different ages and genders. The second most popular answer was Genre.

Research Questionnaires

For my research I made a questionnaire asking people what movies they like, when they go to see them and how they decide what film to watch.

Questions:

 

 Q1: What is your favourite movie genre (e.g. Horror/action/sic-fi) and why?

Q2: What is your favourite movie (If you don’t have one then just any one of your favourite movies) and why? 

 

Q3: When and where do you usually watch your films?

Q4: How often do you go to the cinema?

Q5: What influences your decisions about what film you want to see (e.g. cost/cast/director/genre) and why?

The Italian Job Opening

The opening of 'The Italian Job' uses a very defined style that uses animated moving lines that reveal aspects of a location, Italy. This gives the audince the films setting and the fast style (and the up beat music) tells the audience that it's going to be an action film. In the sequence we see the production company involved in the film, the crew and cast (the stars of the film). The title then appears half way through the opening. The sequence also as a part where the lines are revealing someone going over a map with equipment (compass, magnifying glass) which gives the audience a hint that in the film there is a plan or scheme, foreshadowing events to come.


This opening generally follows the same format that other movies use for opening sequences and is relatively simple, showing us the production companies, the cast and crew and showing the audience the setting for the film. It also has a style and pace that matches the genre of the film.

Production Companies (logos)

20th Century Fox is a mass production company that has produced thousands of films and has created some of the most famous films that have been released. The logo is large and grand which can represent the company's size and success. It also has spot lights at the side which can relate to 'red carpets' i.e. celebrities.

DreamWorks is a mass company that has produced many films in their time. They are most known for their animated films. The logo is high in the sky which makes them look above others. The name and picture makes it look like it's a creative company because they have dream in the name and they're on a moon fishing; this is very dream like and creative.

Paramount is another large Production company that has been responsible for lots of famous films. The name and logo both suggest power and them being above others and the stars connote celebrities (because they are called stars) and still represents that they are above others.

Vertigo Films is a small  niche production company that have produced some quality films over the past years. The logo looks like one of horror because of the red and also because vertigo is a phobia. This also suggests height.

Prelimenary Task

This was our prelimenary task wear we would had to make a short film following a story bord we were given.

1408 Opening

Times:
00:14 - There is a black screen and atmospheric music playing. This sets the film as a horror because the music unnerving and creepy.

00:29 - The is and extreme long shot looking down a long road. The angel the road is shot at and how long it is makes it look menacing and is also lite by low key lighting which can be related to horror. They also use pathetic fallacy (weather matching the mood) with the heavy rain which creates a dim atmosphere. The road is also surrounded by trees so it looks isolated The actors name John Cusack appears.


00:35 - The camera pans and the actor Samel L. Jackson's name appears.


00:43 - A car drives and stops in front of the camera and the title 1408 appears. The title looks like it's being illuminated from the rain by the car lights. The look of the title looks paranormal which tells the audience that the film is going to be about the paranormal.


00:54 - A close up on the man in the car as he pulls out a torch.

00:56 - A POV shot of from the man of a sigh that says "you are now leaving". This give the audience the idea that he is lost because he has stopped in front of a leaving sigh so he must not want to be leaving.


00:59 - We idea of him being lost is reinforced by him checking a map.


01:15 - There is a long shot of the car going into a car park of an inn. The inn is also surrounded by a forest which reinforces the idea of isolation which connotes horror because n one could help you.


01:27 - The rain starts to get worse which builds the tension because it feels like the closer we get to the inn the near to danger we are. There is also a high angle shot of a narrow bring that the man crosses to get to the inn. This continues to create the feeling of the inn being cut off because if the bringe was destroy he could leave.


01:31 - A shot of a large, old looking house that is shot at like a POV shot from the bushes so the bushes leaves look like the surround the house. The POV shot make it look like he is being followed and so connotes danger and a force that could harm him which relates to horror. The leaves surrounding the house makes it look close in which can be unsettling.


01:37 - There is a clear switch from for the moods in this shot. There is now high key lighting with neutral colours which connotes safety to the audience. The props of the set also look old (60's-70's) which gives the audience some idea about the setting. This change of mood tells the audience that the film is past the opening sequence and is now into the opening scene.

01:49-02:00 - There is dialogue exchange between characters. We first learn that the main character Michel (the man in the car) is famous because the two inn keeps (we know they own the inn because Michel asks for his room key from them) thank him for coming and talk to him about how they like his work. Then one of the inn keepers asks if he would like to hear about the inn's haunted history. This tells the audience that this film is going to be about the paranormal which is related to horror.