Thought Explosion

When disucssing various ideas within our group, I took it upon myself to create a thought explosion showing an in-depth analysis and written down record of various settings that could be used to suit our Horror genre for example; The woods, dark alleys etc.
I decided the choice of setting was key as they could make or break a film if they were believable. They are altered depending on the genre, i.e you're more likely to end up in a bar/club in a comedy than in a horror.
I also decided that after finding out what our audience liked and linked with the most, that we had the ability then to tailor this to our audience's needs (via market research). I also realised that the audience is what enables the movie to make money.
In terms of characters, I diced it down into two different sections - Supernatural and Humans (realistic), for example Hannibal Lecter in Silence of the Lambs is more realistic than Alien in Aliens. This effects the audiences response to escapism.
Furthermore, I wanted to significantly incorporate the use of Voyeurism as so mastered by Alfred Hitchcock within the film we studied 'Psycho', and therefore I decided would be useful and effective to incorporate over the shoulder shots, point of view shots and possibly keyhole shots to try and enhance the fear factor of our short opening.

Alfred Hitchcock Interview

I looked at this Interview with Alfred Hitchcock, and noted some of the things he said, which we then applied and drew from in our Horror Opening in terms of Mise-En-Scene as well as motives etc.

I realised when looking at this that everyone, even Hitchcock was scared of something. Hitchcock specified that he was scared of Policeman, and he had never driven a car so as not to get a ticket. Therefore, he related himself to a coward, and furthermore related his fear to anything to do with the law.

This was useful when we were creating our piece, as we decided we could incorporate people's fears for example the anticipation of making someone jump, which we effectively included within our Horror opening via our hidden predator character.
He has been frequently referred to as 'The Master of Suspense' many times over the years, which we definitely tried to incorporate within our piece to make the audience unaware of when they would be made to jump. This effect was similar to that of the famous Psycho 'shower scene' where Norman Bates appears from nowhere to kill Marion Crane.
Another quote I drew from this interview was that people assumed that 'because of the material [he] I screen, that [he's] I'm a monster'. This was an interesting quote to draw on when creating our film as I felt that we needed a 'monster' type character within our short opening whether it was an immediate threat or something that we hid until the very end. We chose to partially hide the threat and tease the audience, creating a more effective final product in terms of our 'Villain'.

Nightmare on Elm Street Analysis

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jbnNdIi0eYI

The link above is for the opening of "Nightmare on Elm Street" which I annotated and looked at in a lot of detail. I mentioned the Mise-en-scene, the editing, the camera angles, the fonts, the text (regarding when titles and names appeared on the screen), as well as connotations, the sound and the initial impressions of the characters presented to the audience. I felt this was very beneficial as I found out the order in which to apply the titles as to who the protagonists were in our own Horror opening. I also found out how to arrange the Mise-en-scene of our shots to fit the horror theme and to compliment what happens when on the screen. This was also useful for our choice of our music and sound, both diagetic and non-diagetic, as well as the pitch and where to apply the altering tones within our piece.

The Shining Music

The low rumbling sounds used within The Shining’s soundtrack, created the atmosphere for one of the most commendable horror films of all time. The negative connotations began to roll in thick and fast from the first note which gradually increased throughout the first song. The volume intensifies as the music builds, and a trembling sound is heard. The shrill sound of the violins are then heard and these build – foreboding catastrophic future events within the film. The audience are also in suspense when listening to this as it’s implied that something bad is going to happen suddenly and the sound of chains clinking adds to the tension. This music reminds me of a swarm of wasps attacking someone, which in itself is frightening towards the audience. The frantic violin noise sounds like that made by a bee/wasp. At one point within the soundtrack, the violin music heightens to an excruciating level where the violins sound like stabbing motions, again creating negative implications as to future events in the film. This also could be interpreted as water, which is an uncontrollable source that gives a negative effect on the audience, that the characters within the film won’t have any control over what’s going to happen to them. This could make the audience seriously anxious whilst at the same time concerned for the character’s well being.

Psycho Annotated Opening Credits

TriStar

If I were to choose a film company to distibute our film, I would most definitely choose TriStar. They have produced many successful films, not just Horror films, but Thriller and Action as well. I think that this could be useful for our company as we don't want a narrow company which distribute only a certain/specific type of genre.

Many films have been successful such as:

Silent Hill with a budget of $50 Million and making $97,607,453 in the Box Office.

88 Minutes with a budget of $30 Million and making $32,573,503 in the Box Office.

Faster with a budget of $24 Million and making $35,542,923 in the Box Office.

These examples of films all made a decent profit in the Box Office, and were successful films, making it to DVDs also. This company would be good as they are globally known and are also known to join with other well known companies such as Columbia Pictures, which ensure that the films distributed are more accessible throughout the world.

The logo is well known and depicts a winged horse with a clouded background. The clouds look painted and archaic, reinforcing the fact that they have been around for a long time.

TriStar Pictures was founded in 1982, and since then has distributed over 200 films, branching out over a number of different genres. Rarely does one of their films not make a profit and so seem the stable choice to distribute our film.

The TriStar company are so well known that the opening logo and theme have had parodies of them in the popular TV Programmes, Family Guy where one of the characters takes the place of the famous white winged horse.

Feedback

Tiffany: The music worked well and added more suspense. The loud sound when the villain appears made the audience jump. The hand prints on the wall emitted a certain sense of mystery about the character and had a positive effect on the audience. The young girl on the TV was scary and created a lot of tension but was also very effective. The lighting was dark which is typical of the horror genre.

Matt: The music was great, and I jumped when Catherine appeared on the screen and the sudden noise worked well. The plot was well thought out and structured effectively and I would definitely go and see this in the cinema. The colour of the logo was typical of a horror film, being red and black, and this set the audience up for what they were about to see. Overall it was very effective and reminded me of a typical/traditional horror film.


Samantha: The doll was brilliantly placed and I thought it was effective how it was always looking at Emma as she moved around the room. Emma's reaction to the glass breaking could be more believable as it looks like she was expecting it. The general dark undertone reflected well on the main character, and the music reinforced this. The sound of the doors slamming was very effective and believable.


Molly: It was really scary and made me jump. I wouldn't be able to watch this by myself. It was very well thought out and the 'possessed' plot idea was clever and stereotypical. I like the name of the company as the word cage implies bars and being trapped.


Stanley: The title linked in well with the necklace prop that was used to possess the main character which was definitely effective. The sound of the wind was not realistic enough and the scream petered out at the end. I feel these could be improved, however they didn't completely take away from the overall effect of the movie. The music at the end as the title appeared on the screen was fitting to the mood and let the audience think what had just happened to the main character.


Nichola: I liked the fact it was all gloomy to enhance the dark nature of the genre. The part when Catherine popped up in the mirror made me jump and I like how it was only a flash which made it even more scary. The bit with Molly was so creepy, and I liked how it flicked from being on the TV to just her - makes it seem so real. And I liked the bit when she was walking down the stairs and the camera was below, makes it so scary. Maybe when she falls to the floor, the screen could go black for a second.


Taranvir: Molly's voice on the television gave me goosebumps. The zoom ins and close ups on Emma's face when she had blood coming out of her eye was great. The sound complimented the horror/mysterious theme perfectly. Sound wasn't too over the top like you get in majority of modern film previews...Overall 10/10! Loved Emma's Molly's and Catherine's facial expressions. It was brilliantly directed by Miss Sharp! I liked how the camera angle portrayed a story motion. It gave a realistic sense of emotional attachment to Emma's character.