Horror Film location photos:

After researching a variety of horror movie openings we began to plan our own. Each member of our group (myself,Jonathon Fromant and Josh Spoelstra) had to research a specific aspect of a horror opening such as camerawork, music etc. We then took pictures of the location which we felt was most appropriate for our own horror movie opening which ended up being a forest near pocket park. It was convenient as it is in our area, and we chose it because of the isolation aspect and also a forest is quite a dangerous place, as its similar to a maze, which again connotes aspects of horror. Here are some of the pictures of our desired location : ( note: These pictures are not definite and are liable to change through development in our planning and progression in film. )

This shot is a rough idea of the beginning of our opening (just after the title sequence) of where the two main characters will feature and play catch for a few shots. We fear we have may problems here though, due to filming it after school the location may change as students do occasionally walk through here on the bridge and may disrupt the footage. It begins peaceful as its open, however its surrounded by danger by the wood which hints that they will eventually enter again emphasised by playing catch. Due to previous films the audience may aspect the ball to go missing as it is quite unpredictable and could go anywhere.

 This shot could be appropriate as it looks similar to a tunnel leading somewhere and later in the day, it could also appear quite ominous, similar to a cave etc.

The area in this shot is greatly surrounded by trees which adds to the terror of the scene and as there is a dip here it is also has place for injury, so a victim could be wounded etc allowing the creature/murderer to gain on them, building tension.

 This shot is similar to the last in its effect, as forests are stereotyped as dangerous places (especially at night) so it really appears scary by a character(s) being surrounded by danger. It appears dangerous because there are hiding places and dangerous harmful objects around every corner.

The same applies to this photo as with the above. It appears as though its an entrance to some sort of terrifying lair, the roots on the ground also look similar to veins, highlighting the goriness of a typical horror movie which would be shown here, if we choose to use this area in our movie.

We may use this tree as a hanging scene as there is a fair amount of room

for action nearby, and the tree can be clearly distinguished from the others from being so bare, so there is plenty of room to have our character wounded upon this tree.

This picture would probably be a good scene for where when one of the characters enters another scene and appearing similar to a doorway it appears abstract and also ominous in turn as people are stereotypically scared of what they do not understand.

This shot will probably become the shot of a rustling bush where one of the masked people will be hiding, we will also use the camera looking through the bush as a POV shot for the masked killer, appearing like something is hiding adding to the scare factor.

We will likely use many of these areas when we film our horror opening, but in the event we find an area more appropriate this may change to a different area.

Psycho: The shower scene and relation to our own production

 

'Psycho' is one of the best known horror thrillers today and this is particularly portrayed in its famous 'shower scene'.

Psycho determines its genre of horror particularly in this scene. These screen shots show the classic scene in full, the scene contains a mixture of tense music to involve the audience and heighten the impact of the scene through emphasis on the sound. The music quickly sharpens as the blade appears to involve the audience as well. The scene uses an array of shot types to keep the killer hidden and also to show the full impact of his/her attack through blood and the final demise of the protagonist. The shots used in the scene give a 'delirious' aspect to the scene which adds to the tension further as we want to know who the killer is its so fast paced to the beginning of the film, it is also surprising and makes it truly stand out for its shock factor and high tension made by the music, props as well as shot types.

 The scene is a cult classic which has often been parodied in popular film culture and is the inspiration for a wide range of horror to date.

For our own film we have tried to incorporate similar aspects to the scene through a wide range of shots as well as a quick demise of the victim (played by Rowen Elliot) in which we will try and copy through a 'delirious' sequence and a ghosting effect so she can barely understand whats happening before the antagonists/masked ones pounce. This makes it feel more realistic also building high tension which will also be aided by very tense music that will sharply rise with the beginning of her death scene.

Horror films research

In both lesson, and independent research we have been studying the openings of horror movies in preparation for when we plan out and film our own horror opening. We have been comparing openings from a fair few films, which has enabled us to see the general conventions of horror movies and make our own opinion on what a good horror movie opening has to have to be successful. Below I am going to talk about a few of the horror movie openings I have studied.

Halloween (1978) I studied the opening of this film through independent study. The opening itself "Halloween" is a very appropriate title for the horror genre, as it connotes evil, and a spooky atmosphere with monsters such as vampires and werewolves, so even before the movie begins, the audience assume its going to be a horror film of some kind.

We are introduced to the movie at night,it is quiet with the only sound being the asynchronous sound of crickets. The film begins as a POV shot of someone looking at a quiet, derelict home. We later get digetic voices as we see through the windows (with the POV shot.) seeing a couple together, when a light comes on upstairs non digetic music arrives and the camera looks up at it (showing that this is significant to the story). The tense high-pitched music continues as the boy enters in from the darkness into the kitchen and picks up a knife, death is suggested to the audience here, and it is again emphasised by the tense music.

   The footsteps of the character are emphasised here as well through digetic sound, as he walks up the stairs however the sound they make remains asynchronous, this emphasizes horror and the realism here. The character then picks up a mask and creeps over to the girl, their is then a lot of digetic noise from screams of the girl as the character stabs her, the music remains surreal and goes high pitched at key and shocking moments (such as the stabbing) The light remains low-key also, again a connotation for evil. The character then runs outside to meet a car, and the characters identity is then reveleaed throgh a high angle shot. As an auidience we are shocked to see it is a little boy as we would stereotupe it to have been a large man, and this is where the opening comes to a close with surreal and spooky music and a fade edit.

   The pace of the opening for the most part is slow however just before he kills her to the end of the opening it becomes much faster which builds tension.

When a stranger calls (2006)    The word "Stranger" in the the title is a connotation for bad things by it self as we are unsure of what kind of person they are, or what their capable of  like the saying "Don't talk to strangers" so when a stranger calls it implies evil may be coming to your door. Also using the term "calls" which is the term a lot of people use when they go to someone's house, it shows realism by being relate-able and this frightens the audience, that the events of this movie could actually happen.

The movie begins with non-digetic asynchronous sound of a man with a deep voice calling a house, then hanging up. This gives us an insight on whats to come for the rest of the film, and the creepy voice clearly implies something bad is going to occur, it also relates to the title. We then see alot of high angle shots of a fair (close to the house that was called) which implies an overpowering character, by showing how small and significant everyday people look, we assume that this power is given to the caller.  The high paced of the fair ground with all its noise also implies that we can easily be oblivious to danger, shown by the asynchronous, digetic scream which is blanked out by fair rides and no one noticing a silhouette quickly moving across the screen, this itself is scary to the audience as shadows and the colour black is also a connotation for death.

        The opening is again shot in low key lighting and uses pathetic fallacy with the wind blowing through wind chimes to imply the genre further as wind like this we normally stereotype to be spooky and scary. There is a lot of red in the opening as well which is a connotation for blood and danger again emphasising the horror genre here, we see a lot of it as well when we at last hear the girl's screams in amongst the commotion of the rides.



1408 (2007)
The opening begins in low key lighting at night and uses pathetic fallacy with rain and thunder, as its bad weather which pulls us in to a scary ambiance. We are introduced to the main character with a close up and we learn he is a lone traveler. He is in an isolated location in the rain, which also is a clear stereotypical convention of the horror genre. We learn from who he talks to when he enters a hotel which is again isolated that he is a well known righter and that he is there to investigate something paranormal, by this we get a foreboding hint that whats to come will involve ghosts in some way of form, introducing us to the story.

There is creepy, non-digetic music throughout the opening which again gives us a feel for horror. As he enters the so called haunted hotel room we get a feeling of suspense that something bad is going to happen however this outcome is spoiled by bathos because its anti-climactic as we expected something to happen, however nothing does, apart from the sound of lightning. An ellipsis is used to fast forward time, which reveals to the audience that nothing happened all night long. Just because of this however we still expect something horrific to occur later on due to the initial connotations of the horror genre.

I've also studied various other horror film  openings such as Psycho, Drag me to Hell, The Exorcist, Blair Witch, Dracula, Saw and child's play, to aid in the horror movie opening, that we will film ourselves.






From this research its clear to see general similarities in horror films, such as the...

.iconography: black cloaks (evil connotation) , abandoned/isolated areas or buildings, shadows, blood, weapons, pathetic fallacy fog etc.

.Themes/ideas: Dark,gathic,gory,deselette,creepy,suspense,abstract,tense.

.Production style: Dark, low key lighting, twilight, handheld camera,close ups.

.Characters + relationships: Young couple (often), girl, isolated location, get attacked/harassed/chased by a someone/something like a monster/ murderer. Normally there is a girl featured as stereotypically thought of as more vulnerable so adds to the fear and scare factor.

Preliminary task preperation evaluation

For our A level year 12 media preparation coursework, we had do a preliminary task which involved us having to follow the teacher's desired storyboard. We turned her original drawings into photos we took ourselves, then we followed this structure and made the desired video, (can be found in my previous post). The scene itself is of someone walking through a door, entering a room and sitting on a chair on one side of a table. We then used the 180 degree, which we learned is where the camera moves 180 degrees to show either person, however we learned that the camera cannot move over 180 degrees and must  stay on the one side to keep the continuity of the scene, and not to break it. The scene then ends with either of the two characters exchanging a few lines of dialogue.

Our take on the task was to have an interrogation scene in which a detective (Josh Spoelstra) walks through the door and sits, asking a suspect (Jonathon Fromant), questions about a crime he is thought to have committed. We also added two extras which were an extra policemen (myself) and a lawyer (Craig Robson). which put our own spin on the scene, without interfering with the set camera shots. Below I will discuss every shot we took, what it implies and discussing the camerawork in every one.

This is the first shot in the storyboard, it is a long shot of the detective (Josh Spoelstra)  about to enter the room, walking up to the door. This long shot allows us as viewers to 'follow' him, making us feel more involved in the story. When we filmed this scene however we changed this from a long shot to a mid shot and tracked him entering from the green door (left) and traveling to the red door (front). This tracking shot gives a sense of realism by putting an impression that the audience was 'waiting' for the story to begin. Then when he enters, it signifies that the video has started, this approach we preferred. The editing from the title sequence was a cut but now, on further consideration, i believe a fade would have been more appropriate to introduce the scene.

This next shot is a close up of the detective's hand upon the door handle, then him slowly opening it. Doing this makes the shot more dramatic by slowing down the action slightly. It also implies significance to his character  by allowing the audience to see him for longer, done by slowing down time with what would usually be an insignificant movement to show to an audience.

The next shot is on the other side of the door, showing the detective enter and walk out of the camera's sight with a mid-shot. This again puts more emphasis on the significance of his character, and by quickly walking out of the shot means that the audience won't know exactly how far across the room he has traveled, until they witness the next shot itself. This allows us to speed the action on, to a more interesting area of the story.

The next shot we are introduced to is that of a mid shot, it shows the detective sitting down behind a desk (back to the camera) and also represents the rest of the cast very briefly (two extras and a suspect).  This reveals to the audience more of the story by revealing where the detective was indeed going.

This shot is a close up  of the suspect who delivers the lines "I do not know why I am here please inform me" through digetic speech and synchronous sound. We were allowed to devise our own script for the video despite being under strict instructions for the camera work.  We choose this line as we thought it was an appropriate thing for a suspect to say, allowing a close up here reveals that he is also a significant character to the story and also allowing him speech again emphases his importance as a character, when shown against the two extras of the scene. This is also were  the 180 degree rule begins, allowing the audience a quick continuous conversation between the two main characters who are revealed (the detective and the suspect).

This shot is a close up of the detectives face, saying his lines again through digetic synchronous sound. "Many things Jerome, many,many things" we put this line in as again it would be a stereotypical thing for a smart and overconfident cop to say in which we portrayed him as so this also reveals more of his character. This shot also fails to break the 180 degree rule.

The final shot is another close up of the suspect's face allowing us to bring the video and the 180 degree rule to a close. He delivers the lines "I was there to protect my baby that is all." This shows deeper into the suspect (Jon Fromant's) character showing the audience that he is nervous and by explaining his side of the story (mentioning he has a child) makes him seem more relate-able by showing his love for it. The edit here will be a fade to signify the end of the video in a lesser abrupt form.


Overall I think we accomplished the task well, following the desired camera shots given by the task accurately and to a good standard whilst adding our own take on it it with a police story, the addition of extras, as well as our own script. A fault we did have when filming the actual video however was the lighting.  It did become more low-key as the detective entered the room which emphasised the tense mood of the scene, however the light on the detective and suspect's faces did radically change and just appeared messy and unprofessional in the 180 degree shot-reverse shot. My editing could have been a bit smoother on the video also and the pitch of the speech should of been louder as well. More edits should have been 'fades' like the one at the end, to make the video appear a higher standard.

Ed Tyrrell a level media year 12 preliminary task