Preliminary Task Plan

Initial Idea: 

Our initial idea was to have someone walk into a room and sit on a table opposite someone else. We did have the idea of basing the prelim task around domestic violence and a police investigation and in the end me went with that idea.

Characters: 

• Abuser 
• Interviewer/ Police Officer 
• Victim 

Preliminary Filming Task

Cast: 

Blake Challenger............MICHAEL GARRET

Hannah Riley..................INTERVIEWER 

Naya Reid.......................PARTNER/ABUSEE 

Crew: 

Director............ALICE PERCY 

Editor................HANNAH RILEY & BLAKE CHALLENGER 

Set Designer.....ALICE PERCY

Script: 

248071899 Grievous Bodily Harm Preliminary Script 2

Storyboard - Horror

Locations 

 

These are some conventional locations in a horror film that I think is useful to know when planning my opening sequence. The locations include a forest, a haunted house, a dirty basement, an abandoned cabin and a dark ally way. 

Make-up

These makeup ideas give me inspiration when planning my villian in my opening sequence. Even though my group might not reveal the villians face in the first 2 minutes, I still wanted to include this just in case we change our minds. 

Practice Filming

Before filming our final opening sequence, my group decided to do a practice short film to try out different camera angles and shots. We wanted to focus on the camera shots and not dialogue, video effects or credits because we wasn't that confident in using a camera and we wanted to focus on one thing and try and make it look good.  Heres the result: 

How filming went: 

At first we tried out many different camera angles like shot/reverse shot but then we decided to cut that as we diet feel it flowed that well. The shots we used included, close ups, long shot, cross cut and birds eye-view. We started out with a brief storyline and went from there, adding more and more detail into every shot to insure we have a video that made sense but also had some camera techniques in. We gave everyone a chance to film random things like students and teachers walking past. 

Problems we encountered: 

During filming this practice scene, we encountered some problems thats were unavoidable mainly because of our location. Many students and teachers kept on walking past the camera which meant we had to start the filming again. Another problem was that we had never used a tripod before so the legs were sometime not level or we couldn't connect the camera to the tripod. As I was acting in it, sometimes I would mess up or laugh which sometimes made me unfocused when filming but I quickly got back onto the task. As we had only just used a camera, our skills were limited which meant that when we put the clips together the camera was very shaky and not controlled. 

Next time I will: 

This practice filming has helped me not just with my final opening sequence but also with my preliminary task that I will have to include in my blog. To insure I have a successful final sequence and prelim video I will use a varied mouth of shots to make it interesting, edit the footage to emphasis the message/emotion I'm trying to convey and to make sure my group chooses a suitable location to film so we don't get interrupted. 

Schedule (First Filming) - Week Commencing 24th November 2014

Analysis Film Opening Sequence - Insidious (2010)

Insidious (2010) Opening Sequence Analysis
Cast: Partick Wilson, Rose Byrne, Lin Shaye.

Camera movements, shots and angles

The first use of camera angle was at the start when the camera panned down and some text appeared on the screen. The camera then did a 180 degree turn and revealed it was a light. This use of camera movement confuses the audience as they don't know what they are looking at until its revealed. The camera then pans down to see a child sleeping in his room. The child sleeping in his bed connotes innocence and peace but as the audience know this is going to be a thriller/horror, the audience are confused and the tension within the scene gets higher. The camera moves around the child room and out into the passage way. During this the camera stops at certain points where its the most darkest and this is done to put the audience on edge as they are not sure if something will jump out or not. When the camera gets into the hallways it uses to long shot and stops for a second so the audience can notice the shadow in the window. The camera then turns a corner and reveals a woman standing in the shadows. The first 1 minute and 24 seconds is filmed using one continuous shot. This is done to make the opening more real and more sinister too because when the camera goes round a corner you don't know what will appear on the screen next. The rest of the opening sequence is shots of different rooms in the house. 

Editing transitions, special effects, titles/graphics

The pace at the start is quite slow as the audience need time to analyse the surroundings. The pace then picks up when the camera moves around the room. We see the first credit title and the font is very old and then it fades away like a ghost. This connotes to the audience that the film will be a paranormal/thriller/horror/psychological film. After the women fades to black the word 'Insidious' suddenly appears on screen in the same font as before but this time in red. The colour red has connotations of blood, evil, hell and death so its appropriate for the genre. The title this time flickers which confuses the audience. Other titles follow including actors, directors, producers, writers and costume designers. The font and colour is the same as the film title but instead of flickering the titles release a mist in the same shape as the text. This has connotations of ghosts, death and mystery. 

Mise-En-Scence (colour, costume, props, location, facial expression etc) 

The main colours that appear in the opening sequence is red and black. These colours have connotations of death, blood, hell and evil which is accurate as they are conventional to the genre. The only characters that feature in the clip are a little boy and a mysrerious woman. The boy is dressed in his pyjamas and sleeping in this bed. The women is dressed in a all black and wearing what looks like a veil. There are many props that are used in the video and some are used as an eye trace, which means the camera is focusing on one object and the audience are made to look at it. Props that used as an eye trace are the lamp shade, a lava lamp and a candle. The location is very conventional to a horror film as its very dark and mysterious. However, it juxtaposes with where the location is as a child's bedroom connotes innocence and isn't associated with being dangerous or scary.

Sound (music, dialogue, sound effects, ambient noise etc) 

The consistent sound throughout is a no-diegetic sound where the characters can't hear what the audience can hear. If you listen closely it sounds like someone is talking and this emphasises the genre of horror/thriller as its quite scary and mysterious. This sound can also be descried as hyperbolic sound as I would except this sound to be very quite if an entity is present in the house. When the camera reveals the woman standing in the shadows the music adds a harsh sound which I expect to be a violin. This sound makes the audience feel really nervous and on the edge of their seat because its a really horrible sound and like finger nails scratching a chalk board. The sound then stops and the screen goes black. Suddenly the word 'Insidious' appears on the screen and the violent violin sound started up again but this time it was more intense and loud. The rest of the opening sequence consists of a monotone collection of string interments which sounds like ghosts talking and muttering which mirrors the theme of the film.

Representation 

Children: The ideology of children and their room is that they are innocent, kind and harmless but this opening sequence challenges this as the music, camera angle and miss-en-scenece are all the opposite. The music makes the room seem dangerous and eerie, the camera angles zoom into dark areas of the room  which could reflect the child's mood.
Women: The representation of women in horror films are that they are witches, virgins or evil step mothers. Representing them as witches donates that they are evil and disturbing humans.... 

Lady Gaga Representation

As I am going to do a thriller/horror, I decided not to analyse a horror film but a dark and mysterious poster to see if I ca find something that I wouldn't see in a horror film. I choose Lady Gaga's perfume advert poster 'Fame'.  

 The Lady Gaga ‘Fame’ perfume advert is a perfect example of Gauntlett and McRobbie’s view of female representation. The first thing you see is Lady Gaga laying down with tiny men climbing up her like she’s a God. Gauntlett and McRobbie’s ideology of women are that they should be equal/better than men and in this advert Lady Gaga is shown as a big dominant, beautiful woman and men are shown as tiny worthless creatures who are all fighting and lusting over her. Normally its women who are shown lusting over men but in this case it supports Gauntlett and McRobbie’s view of female representation.

This advert also shows that Lady Gaga is also shown as ‘The Male Gaze’. The picture of Lady Gaga naked has connotations of sex and lust but also purity and naturalism. By Lady Gaga being naked and having men climb onto her reflects the Male Gaze as she has a nice body and many men like girls who are slim and beautiful. Having men trample over her means they are lusting over her and wanting her for themselves. The audience demographic for this perfume is mainly straight, white, British, working class women, aged 20-30. The image suggests that if you spray it on you, men will see you as a ‘sex god’ and will lust over you therefore emphasising the Male Gaze theory.

Freud’s Madonna/Whore complex suggests that men see women not as individuals but as either Madonna (a saint, like the Virgin Mary) or Whore (prostitute-like woman). The Lady Gaga perfume advert clearly shows this theory. The Madonna part of the advert is shown in many ways, firstly, Gaga wears a mark and the tiny men are covering her private parts and this shows that she has some dignity and will not show expose herself for anyone. Secondly, she’s looking away from the men which shows her disinterest in entertaining the tiny men. Thirdly, although being naked isn't normal and could be seen as supporting the whore complex, this shows that she is pure and natural. The Whore part of the advert is shown by firstly, the background and her mask is black and dark which shows impurity. Secondly, she has red lipstick on which is a seductive colour associated with love. Her mouth is also open which is also seductive. Thirdly, as she is covered in men and naked it shows that she is vain, has sexual confidence and wants to flaunt her body. Finally, the advert is supposed to be selling a perfume but you don’t really notice it because Gaga wants everyone to notice her instead.

On the subject of the madonna/whore complex, a film opening sequence that includes the 'whore' aspect is 'Jennifer's Body'. The character in the opening has minimal clothes on which reflects the complex. The camera also slowly travels up her body which gives the audience time to see everything. The madonna aspect of this opening sequence is that her room is pink which connotes being girly and innocent.

This gif shows the madonna/whore complex better as the whore aspect is when she is undressing and the madonna aspect is when she is naked which has connotations of being pure and natural.

Research Into Horror

Horror; the scary, gruesome, mysterious and nail-biting genre that has many people on the edge of their seats and hiding behind the sofa. Horror has been around for hundreds of years starting with films like 'Dracula' (1931), 'The Wolf Man' (1941), 'Night Of The Living Dead' (1968) and 'Frankenstein' (1931).

Conventions of Horror

Colour

Red - The colour of blood and has connotations of being evil.

Black - Most horror films are set at night and the killer is always in very dark clothes like black.

Brown - This colour connotes the dirt and grime in scary houses or on the killers clothes. 

Locations 

A dark, gloomy, foggy forest is a conventional setting for a horror film because the trees are good hiding places for the killer and there's lots of opportunities for the victim to fall over a log and get killed. The dark, mysterious and sinister setting represents the genre and the intentions of the killer. Films that are set in the woods are: 'Cabin in The Woods', 'Yellow Brick Road', 'Monster Man', 'Pumkinhead', 'The Blair Witch Project' and 'Evil Dead'. 

Another conventional setting in a horror film is an old, mysterious house in the middle of no where. Many films are set here because its a location that can look the same but each story can be different. 

Films that are set in a scary house include: 'Beetlejuice', 'Boogeyman', 'The Conjuring', The Grudge 1,2 and 3' and 'Paranormal Activity'.  

A graveyard is a really good setting for any horror film but mainly zombie or ghost films. This is because they setting matches well with the storyline and at night a graveyard can be the scariest setting of them all. Films that at set in a graveyard include: 'Poltergeist', 'Drag Me To Hell', 'Phantasm', 'The House by The Cemetery' and 'Pet Semetery'. 

Props 

'Scream' (1996)

A conventional prop in a horror film is a knife. This is used to impale, dismember or injure a victim. This weapon is the most popular of them all as there is so many different variations e.g. machete, dagger and blade. A knife is very popular as when its used it can do very gruesome things to someone and in a horror film thats what you expect. Unlike a gun, a knife can be used in many different ways from someone physically holding the knife and stabbing someone to the knife being thrown or hung up on a string ready for the victim to walk into the trap.

Costumes 

Top, Left To Right 

'The Grudge' (2004) 'Nightmare on Elm Street' (1984) 

Bottom, Left To Right

'Scream' (1996) 'Texas Chainsaw Massacre' (1974) 

The conventional horror 'killer's' costume is mostly always dark colours like black, brown but also contains reds because the colour connotes blood, death and hell. Most horror villains wear a mask or have a distorted face. This is to add mystery to the film and this is also to add enigma codes throughout the film because the audience will want to know who's under the mask. Having a mask on also makes the character more scary as its not normal and the mask itself could be very scary. The killer also has a particular weapon that they use throughout the film, for example, in 'Scream' the killer uses a knife to kill people and in 'Texas Chainsaw Massacre' the killer uses a chainsaw. 

Conventions In Films

The main conventions in films are: 

Opening Credits 

Se7en (1995) 

The opening sequence contain opening credits which tells the audience all the relevant information about the film e.g. actors, directors, producers and writers. The opening sequence can also tell the audience what the film is about. For example, 'Se7en' opening sequence has very minimal lighting, face paced editing and hyperbolic sounds so the audience know that its going to be a thriller. 

Title

A title is also another movie convention and this can tell the audience a lot of things. The font of the title is a major way to connote to the audience which genre the film is in e.g. spongebob squarepants font is bubble writing so it connotes that the film will be fun and the children.  

Company

The production company is also a convention in films as it makes them recognisable and give them credit for the film. The production company also connotes to the audience about what the film will be about. For example, 'Dimension Films' mainly make thriller/horror films so the audience will know what they are watching and 'Walt Disney' make children's films which are usually adventure and fantasy films.

Hint at the start 

Scream (1996) 

Another convention in films is a hint at the start of the film which indicates to the audience what genre that film is in. For example, at the start of 'Scream', the character is playing with knives and talking to a creepy man. This connotes that the film is going to be a thriller/horror because those things are associated with horror films. 

Sound

The Lion King (1994) 

Sound is a very important convention as it connotes to the audience about what the characters, storyline and genre are about. The characters voices can show the status of them and even if they are good or evil. Soundtracks are used to connect to the audience and gives them something to remember the film by e.g. the lion king has a famous scene at the start where theres a song that everyone remembers. 

Introducing characters

Trainspotting (1996) 

Introducing characters in the start of s film is very important as it gives the audience someone to follow and connect with. This is also done so the audience can establish the characters traits and personality. In 'Trainspotting' this is done really well as in the first 2 minutes of the film they show all of the characters and their names. 

Binary Opposites - 'The Dark Knight'

When planning my opening sequence I decided to research a few clips from thriller movies as I am planning on doing a horror/thriller opening sequence. I can across a clip from 'The Dark Knight' and saw that binary opposites was very strong throughout the clip.

In a particular scene in ‘Batman – The Dark Knight’, binary opposites is shown when batman is interrogating The Joker. When thinking about binary opposites between these characters you would expect Batman to be ‘good’ and The Joker to be ‘bad’ but in my opinion it’s the complete opposite…

The scene starts off with The Joker in dark lighting and you can only see his face. This dark lighting add tension to the scene and reflects The Jokers evil side but showing his face shows that he’s not ashamed of who he is and he doesn't need to hide who he is.

 The light comes on and Batman is revealed. Instead of the ‘bad guy’ lashing out first, its Batman who attacks The Joker and this shows that he’s got an evil side as he didn't try and talk normally to him. Also The Joker talks slowly and calmly which shows he can control himself unlike Batman who is angry and argumentative throughout the scene.

The Jokers voice is quite high which is associated with being a jolly person whereas Batman’s voice is very low and menacing which is associated with being quite aggressive and scary.

 Most other superheroes wear colourful costumes and the bad guy wears dark clothing so you could say that The Joker was the superhero and Batman’s the bad guy.

The Joker doesn't wear a mask, he doesn't care who sees him because he doesn't have anything to hide. However Batman wears a black mask to hide his identity from the world.  

Theory

In class I have researched a few theorist who have their own views on genre, films, characters and plot. These theorist include Rick Altman, Steve Neale, Robert Stam, Blumler and Katz, Tsvetan Todorov, Roland Barthe and Claude Levi-Strauss.

The first theorist I looked at was Rick Altman, who believes that you can't determine a films genre by the semantic elements such as props, costume, locations, music and colour, you have to take into account the syntactic elements which are the emotional themes e.g. love. The two films I looked at that are very similar in terms of the semantic elements were 'Hot Fuss' and 'Die Hard'.

Die Hard 

'Die Hard' is about a man who has to stop a group of terrorists from blowing up an office block where his wife and a couple office workers are being held hostage. This film is marketed as an action film.

Semantic Elements: guns, explosions, chase scenes, a bad guy, a good guy, dangerous locations, intense and fast paced music, colours such as red, orange, yellow, white and black, involves policemen, a love interest, terrorists, blood and action.

Syntatic Elements: love, hate, anger and patriarchal






Hot Fuzz 

'Hot Fuzz' is about a skilled policeman who is sent to a town where crime is very rare. Soon crimes start happening that no one believes so Nick and Danny investigate by themselves. This film is marketed as a comedy film.

Semantic Elements: guns, exposions, chase scenes, a group of bad guys, dangerous locations, intense and fast paced music, comedic fights, colours such as red, orange, friendship, yellow, black and white, policemen and action.

Syntatic Elements: humor, cool and love(friendship).






Even though the semantic elements are very similar, the syntactic elements are very different so in terms of Altman's theory, the films should be catogrised in different genres. The storyline, characters and dialogue are all different too so this in another reason why they are in different genres.

 Semantic and syntatic elements are used in opening sequences to establish the genre straight away.

Steve Neale argues that film goes through a cycle and changes throughout its lifespan. His theoretical cycle is:

• Form finds itself
• Classic (Dracula)
• Pushes Boundaries (Psycho)  
• Parody (Scary Movie Series)
• Homage (Scream)

                                                           
He believes that that throughout a genres lifespan it changes because audiences get bored and want new and exciting films. For example the genre Horror has changed dramatically. Dracula was released in 1931 and was classified as 'A' which in nowadays is translated as a PG even though it was classed as a 'horror'. Psycho pushed the boundaries of horror films as in the first 5 minutes of the film a very famous actress was killed in a gruesome way that many people complained about as being too violent. After this many films followed the violent nature and by each year films are being made with gruesome deaths, deadly killers and frightening plot lines all because of Alfred Hitchcock film 'Psycho'.

For example: The opening sequence for Dracula (1931) is very different to the opening sequence for Sinister (2012). This proves that Steve Neales theory is correct and that films do go through a cycle to adapt to a new audience. The opening sequence to 'Dracula' includes a lot of credits including the title of the films, the actors, the director, producer and many more. Whereas, 'Sinister' starts off with footage which confuses the audience but is also very disturbing. The only credit used is the title of the film.

The 'Scary Movie' has many genres within it, including horror, comedy, thriller and mystery. This film is very hard to classify into one genre as the story line is based on famous horror films but it takes the mick out of them using comedy.

Tsvetan Todorov believes that every film is structured in a very specific way:

• Equilibrium - where everything is equal 
• Disruption - something happens to disrupt the equality  
• Resolution - the disruption gets fixed
• New equilibrium - goes back to normal.

Many films like 'Frozen', 'Toy Story' and 'Indiana Jones' follow Todorovs narrative structure whereas some do not. 'Final Destination' does not follow Todorovs narrative structure because it ends on a massive disruption which is done to make the audience want to watch the sequel.

Vladimir Propp thinks that every film contains different character types which include:

• Hero (Protagonist) 
• Villain (Antagonist) 
• Princess/Prize
• Dispatcher 
• Helper 
• Doner 
• False Hero 

'Frozen's' Character Types: 

(Left to Right)
Elsa: False villain and princess
Hans: False hero, villain and dispatcher
Anna: Hero and princess
Olaf: Helper
Sven: Helper
Kristoff: Helper


Hanz might be said to be a false hero from Propp's character type theory because he acts like he's the hero and that he is helping Anna but he is actually the villain.

Roland Barthe believes that directors plant enigma codes in films to engage the audience. An enigma code is an unanswered or unexplained part in the film ,normally at the start of a film, which means the audience will have to watch the whole film to get it answered. For example, in a thriller film, the enigma codes might be ''why does the main character want that key?'' or ''who killed Katie?''.

Trainspotting Opening Sequence Analysis

For a class activity my teacher put us into groups and told us to choose an opening film sequence from a selected list. My group choose 'Trainspotting' because we thought that it had many things to talk about including narrative, theory, visual, mis-en-scene, camera and audio. 

Trainspotting (1)

Opening Sequence Storyboard - Lighting

For my opening film sequence I made a storyboard to show how I will use lighting to show different emotions, scions and mood within my scene. This storyboard helps me to become familiar about lighting in a horror film as I will be making a horror opening scene for my coursework. The lighting I will use would be very dark and mysterious to reflect the dark nature of what was happening.