Final Horror Film Opening

( 7 ) Looking back at your preliminary task (the continuity editing task), what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to full product?

Looking back on my preliminary task i feel that i have progressed a lot by using different software and hardware to make my final piece better. I felt that by getting more known how to use adobe premier pro has helped me on being able to make better, this is because i now know how to insert different types of editing techniques such as cut and cross fades.

Whilst filming i found it easier to use a tripod than holding the camera free hand. I found it is because when filming my preliminary task i was holding the camera free hand and the shots weren't as good because the camera kept shaking, but because of using the tripod most of the footage in my final piece is clear and easy to see.

Adding in music to our opening scene made it more of a realistic film opening than watching the opening of my preliminary task, this is because throughout most of my first task there is a lot of movement going on and hardly any sound, which i found quite boring. So by adding the music in made it more interesting to watch and where the music gets louder in my final piece would make the audience jump, which usually happens in a horror film.

( 6 ) What have you learnt about the technologies from the process of constructing this product?

^^^^^^^^^^^

I used a fuji finepix digital camera and a sony handycam video camera and a sony tripod. This was easier for us to get our close accurate shots steadier and clearer using the tri-pod. We used the fiji camera to get clear shots of our location photo's.



^^^^^^^^^^^
I used adobe premier pro, do capture and edit most of our opening scene, whilst using this i discovered how to edit in different types of ways. The most editing techniques we use using this programme was cross-fades and cuts from scene to scene.

^^^^^^^^^^^
I used YouTube to upload my horror movie and annotate connotations to my opening scene, this was the easiest way i could think of the be able to do this. By using YouTube i found it easier to upload video's and show other people.

We used Adobe Photoshop 7.0 to make our company logo, whilst making our company logo i found out how to make a shadow behind the writing and also making it look like it the writing is rusty giving away the horror them. Also i found how to put a background behind the writing to give away the blood effect. We also used this programme to make our titles of our job roles, we used this because it was easier to edit the writing to a more horror like theme.



This is  ESI Rekord M was new to me when i first used it. After looking through the device it became easier to use and the best way to record our voice over. Whilst using this i noticed i had to be in a quiet area because they pick up other sounds easily.




Blogger was knew to me when i first started my horror research and planning, like all blogs it was easy to get used to and can upload everything that is needed, from pictures to videos.



Google was the main search enginge i used to get all my reasearch images and research data, i used this because it is well know to finding out everything you need to know, which i found out from doing most of my reasearch using this search engine.

( 5 ) How did you attract/address your audience?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=61zCI_gDt1U

( 4 ) Who would be the audience for your media product?

Our target audience is mainly aimed at teenagers or young adults. This is because the ages of our characters in our opening scene.

( 3 ) What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

( 2 ) How does your media product represent particular social groups?

I have chosen a character from the opening scene of Strangers, this is because both of the characters have similar features, but there are a few differences. The main difference between the two characters is that the character from The Missing is a stereotypical teenager because of the clothing he is wearing, and you can tell that the character from Strangers is a girl because of the long blonde hair. One of the first similarities is that both of the characters are masked. Whereas the character from the film Strangers has an edited masked to show that she is a girl character. They have done this by adding make-up to the mask (blusher). This is a difference to our character because we have only made our mask plain white as it’s a male character. Also the clothing of both characters are different because our character is wearing a hooded jacket where as the character from Strangers is just wearing a plain green shirt Both characters have similar roles within the films, acting as the killer throughout the film, moving from scene to scene. 

( 1 ) In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

1.  We chose the title 'The Missing' because it links into titles of other horror films, such as 'The Shinning', 'The Thing' which are rated as top horror films. We chose our title after we produced our film, the title links in with our opening scene because of the three teenagers going missing.

2. Setting and Location, we chose this location from the film Strangers. The film Strangers was based around similar based story line.

3. Costumes and Props. The costumes used in our opening scene are based on just modern day typical teenage clothing, this is because of the type film we have produced. We also decided to use the white plain mask to disguise the killer from the audience for them not to know who they are. This idea was taken from the film Freddy vs Jason, which also has a masked character.

4.Camera work and Editing. I have used the low angle shot to be able to get all the characters in one shot, the audience watching the scene will get the feeling that the killer is watching them walking down the stairs. This shot also

5. Title font and style. Our Production Company logo relates to horror because of the blood splattered behind HM Productions. We have made to letters over the top bold to stand out infront of the blood splattered in the background. Also inside the silver part to the writing there are patches of black to give the effect of it being a horror movie.

6.Story and how the opening sets it up. This is the first sight of our killer reflecting from the mirror, this shot is to give away that the killer is able to watch the teenagers entering the bathroom but they can not see him. At this point the music gets louder to make the watchers jump to show that the film is under the genre 'Horror'.

7.Genre and how the opening suggests it. Usually when you see plain white masks in film it usually is a horror film to disguise the killer from the other characters. Sometime when you see masked character the audience get the hint that he/she is going to be the killer throughout the film, or working with the killer.

8.How characters are introduced.  Our modern day characters get shown in the first couple of seconds of the opening scene. The picture shows that the killer is looking through the curtains towards the teenagers. Whilst the killer is looking through the window you can hear a banging noise which brings fright to the characters in the living room.

9.Special effects. We use different effects in our editing to make the different scenes in the opening move more easier then jumping from scene to scene. Some of the editing techniques we used where cuts from scene to scene and fades. This will make it more interesting for the reading instead of jumping all the time.

Horror Film Final Draft

Horror Film - Final Draft



Before we could submit our final clip, we had to produce a final draft to show a set audience.

Location Photo's

Location Photo's

Top: Our Location, Bottom Picture: House from the film; When a Stranger Calls

This is house is where most of the first scene will be filmed. We chose this location because the house is similar modern day based house which has been chose it the film; When a Stranger Calls. This house we chose to film in has similar features to what you would find in a horror film.





The rest of these pictures will be where most of our opening scene footage will take place, we have chose to base in inside a house because we got a few ideas from the film 'The Strangers'. In the bathroom will be the firsrt sight you see of the killer in our opening scene. Most of the other pictures you will see throughout the opening from where the character search the house due to them hearing noises in the house.



These are the pictures for our back-up location





These locations will only be used if we can not film in the other locations we have chose.

The Art of The Title Sequence - Se7en

For part of our research for our own Horror genre film opening we looked at the film 'Se7en' as a Group. We believe that the opening to this film is very effective as it reveals little but key information throughout  it. This then 'hooks' the viewer, meaning that they want to watch the rest of the film. Throughout the title sequence it flickers between a black background to autopsy scene. This significantly connotes that somebody has died, automatically suggesting to the viewer that the film is from the horror genre. The timing is also key as this also helps to create tension and suspense for the viewer. The entire timing for the sequence is as follows:
2 Seconds - Book with pages open
6 Seconds - The words 'New line cinema presents' appears
9 Seconds - Distorted black and white photo of hands
13 Seconds - Close up of machinery
17 Seconds - Close up of fingers holding a piece of metal
20 Seconds - Black background with 'Morgan Freeman', an actor's name, written in white writing
24 Seconds - The title 'SE7EN' is revealed on a black background
29 Seconds - Close up of the front cover of the book
33 Seconds - Close up of the book with writing
36 Seconds - Close up of someone writing upside down
38 Seconds - Close up with red filter of a black and white photo
42 Seconds - Black background with 'John C. McGinly', an actors name, written in white writing
45 Seconds - Plain paper, square paper, and some photos. Two fingers touching the photo on the top of the file
49 Seconds - Close up of a black and white photo of a face
56 Seconds - Black background with cast names written in white writing that randomly flashes
1 Minute, 1 Second - Close up of someone writing in black ink and then smudging with their finger
1 Minute, 7 Seconds - Writing that's been printed, word crossed out with black marker
1 Minute, 12 Seconds - Cast names edited in over black and white photo of male face with the eyes crossed out with a marker pen
1 Minute, 19 Seconds - Negative film's with a finger holding them and placing them inbetween pages
1 Minute, 26 Seconds - 'Production Designed' written in white writing over a close up of dirty and bandaged fingers
1 Minute, 31 Seconds - Close up of a black and white photo of male and female's faces
1 Minute, 38 Seconds - Close up of the tips of dirty finger's with a needle between them

1 Minute, 47 Seconds - Finger tips binding paper with thread

1 Minute, 54 Seconds - 'Written by Andrew Kevin Walker' written in white writing with books in the background

1 Minute, 57 Seconds - Black and white photos in the book

2 Minutes, 8 Seconds - Film begins - buildings and inter-title 'Monday' written in white writing

Production Company Logo Research

As research I decided to look at other company's logo's to see if I could find any good ideas for mine. Most of the production logo's these days are animated to make them look better.

Horror Research: The Mask

We got the idea of using the mask for our main character from a variety of different films such as, 'The Strangers, Freddy vs Jason, Texas chainsaw massacre'. We decided to go with this idea because it would hide away the villains face and make it more of a fright to the audience.  As known it has been successful in these films to scared the character within the film and audience we have decided to go with this idea.

Preliminary Task Photo's

These photo's are to show someone walking through a door to start a conversation between two people whilst pictures in different shots are being taken.

Mid-shot of Ashleigh walking up to the door

Mid-shot of Ashleigh about to open the door

Close-up on Ashleigh's hand opening the door

 

Mid-shot of Ashleigh walking through the door

Long shot of ashleigh entering the room from a different angle

Match on action was then used again to see her walking up to Charlie

The camera was the positioned in the 180 degree position, recording a mid-shot of Charlie 

Then it moved to a close up on Charlie's face

Shot reverse shot was used during this conversation as it turned to a close up on Ashleigh.

Shot reversed shot was also used at the end of the conversation going back to a mid-shot on Charlie

Preliminary Task

In this task we had to record a scene based on anything that we decided on as a group, we mainly had to focus on three different types of features :

• Match on action
• Shot reverse shot
• 180 degree rule

Opening Research

Film	Mirrors 2	The Maze
Title	·         Suggests that the mirrors have an important part in the film, and because it is a horror this builds tension when there are scenes with a mirror in because the viewer expects something to happen because it is a horror with Mirrors in the title.	·         The title shows that there is going to be a maze within the film and it also suggests that there will be confusion with the characters involved, as well as making wrong turns and being isolated. ·         Title sequence has moving images with main cast; the moving images would be best understood if they were seen after the film has been watched.
Music/Sound	·         Eerie middle eastern music that has sudden ‘horror bangs’ at key parts of the film, used to build tension and then allows the viewer to later identify key parts helping them to understand the storyline more effectively. ·         When the first scene starts there is diegetic sounds along with added in cinematic sounds that emphasise the actions in the scene, this helps to create tension for the viewer because every sound is exaggerated. ·         All music and sound stop completely right as the viewer expects something to happen. ·         And then cinematic sounds are added along with diegetic sound again to make the scene continuous	·         Title sequence sound is an orchestra playing fast paced jumpy music. Often heard in horrors to build tension. ·         Diegetic sound enhanced with sounds added in. ·         Music and sound stop completely when a hand is innocently placed on the characters shoulder. This enhances that gesture which makes the viewer jump, causing them to feel more involved within the scene.
Storyline	·         From the opening the storyline has been revealed that the main part of the film is about a man who survived a car crash and started hallucinating, from the opening scene after the title sequence it’s a completely different scene that has no relevance to the title sequence, this adds tension for the viewer because the viewer automatically tries to tie the two unique scenes together, and not knowing about something plays on your imagination making it more of an enjoyable film and more of a cliffhanging opening.	·         The storyline from the opening scene suggests that the story yet to come shows the death of characters that own the props shown in the opening, such as a set of keys and a necklace watch. The opening scene’s storyline has no relevance to the title which leads the viewer’s preconceived theories to appear incorrect with also plays with their imagination, dramatically adding further tension.
Settings	·         The opening scene is set in a museum at night and from the only characters uniform it’s possible to tell he is a night guard at this museum. The reason I believe that it is set at night in an abandoned museum is because this builds tension as the viewer automatically know that when you’re a museum night guard in a horror film the person is isolated and because it’s the opening scene of a horror and with all the music and sounds tied together the viewer knows that something bad is going to happen which adds to the tension.	·         The title sequence is set in an after death lab, this automatically links the film to death which suits its genre accurately. It also show isolation because the doctor is on his own with further ads to the tension that the director would want to create. The scene that fades at the end with a tatty damaged clock charm fading into a scene with a female wearing the charm on a necklace, this links the two scenes and tells the viewer that the dead body seen in the first scene is that of the woman in the opening scene. The second scene’s setting is in a desert with again shows isolation which is important when introducing a horror film.
Characters	·         The viewer is introduced to what is thought to be the main character as a short story is explained as well as a night guard that the viewer thinks two of been killed. ·         Also introduced is a large mirror and although this isn’t a character as such the viewer would then associate that the main horrific parts of the film are going to be mirror based.	·         There are 2 sets of characters introduced in the opening and that is a male doctor that is later accompanied by a female doctor, and a group of friends that appear to be on a road trip. ·         Because the props of the second set of characters are shown along with some bodies and then they are shown in the second scene directly with the characters, the viewer automatically knows that the newly introduced characters have a high importance in the film, and because they are linked with the dead bodies, any tension that is built with these characters on scene will be added to because the viewer already knows that a fatality will happen within the main characters. This is also dramatic irony which makes the viewer feel they are one over on the characters which can create a new sense of how the film is perceived.
Pace	·         The pace throughout the whole of the opening is relatively slow which although fast-paced scenes build tension a slow-paced scene with the music and sounds used in this opening signify that something is going to happen, and because it is slow paced the reader is left waiting which also builds tension.	·         The pace throughout the whole of the opening is slow this pace is chosen because key concepts of the film are revealed and if it was fast paced the viewer would lose track on the key parts.
Camera	·         Throughout the shots that build tension before the shot where the horrific parts happen, mid shot’s to very long shot’s are used, the camera tends to pan with movement with helps to set the scene and also add tension because the viewer is on edge because they are unaware of events to come. ·         In the scene that has been led up to with all the tension building the only shots that are used are close ups as the character has a duplicate in the mirror that chews glass, which then the night guard feels the pain, and the close ups help to build tension still in a sense that it a contrast between a vindictive supernatural character and the naive real character, this contrast helps the reader understand more in the scene and allows them to feel shock and sympathy for the real character as he has no control over the events.	·         The camera work is mainly close ups on the hands of the doctor, this is chosen because the props in the characters hands have a key importance to the identification of characters later on. ·         The camera work is all still throughout the opening as well. This would be used because camera movement would create an unbelieveable effect on the reader because it’s such a serious and important scene, because various themes and props are introduced.
Editing	·         Throughout the title sequence there is a lot of animation with broken glass reflecting newspaper stories about the character who survived a car crash. Although the editing is very surreal, it helps the viewer to understand the context of the title, and allows them to notice key parts of information necessary to understand the film accurately.	·         The key piece of editing that has been used within the opening is the fade from the title sequence to the opening scene, it shows a clock charm falling and the camera focuses on it then it slowly fades to a female character wearing the same charm on a necklace, this identifies the character to come and helps the viewer know when tension is being built.