The Blair Witch Project - Use of Camera

When re-watching our opening sequence I noticed that the use of camera is solely focuses on our main character. It is a third person view as the audience follows her around the school while being stalked. In our entire sequence there is only a single POV shot and that is when our character sees the antagonist for a second but other than that we are watching the character in third person. Most films shots like ours as they are the easiest to convey a story however there is one psychological horror that uses POV shots through the entire film:

 

'The Blair Witch Project' is a psychological horror that was disgusted as a real story by filming in POV shots (as someone was behind the camera talking it is similar to a POV shot). It was made to look like a phone or camcorder had filmed everything and due to the muffled sound and causal acting of the actors makes the audience truly believe that the footage is real. The use of the camera is shaky to show it is handheld and 'bad' quality footage to show it was filmed on a phone or camcorder instead of a professional camera. The reason this use of the camera is so effective is because the audience can only see what the characters can see unlike our opening sequence where the antagonist is shown to the audience but not to our character. Choosing what the audience can and cannot see if important for any horror film, in 'The Blair Witch Project' everything is hidden from the audience because the camera is shaking due to the first person shots whereas in our opening we chose to show the audience the antagonist as it shows that the threat can disappear at any time. Both of these are effective for a horror film as they both can put the audience on edge as they want to see what is going on but if they do they are nervous about whether the antagonist will show up again and what they will do if they chose to show themselves to the camera.

'Boom' - Sound

When researching horror sound effects, as we have added many to our opening sequence, I found that most of them are used to make the audience jump or to create tension. The sound effects that are in our sequence consist of a telephone ringing, a heartbeat and a voice-over. We did however add a 'boom' sound effect at the beginning of the sequence and really liked this. This lead us onto adding more as they matched our genre.

 

When watching some horror sequences such as 'Scream' I noticed that 'boom' sound effects are used quite frequently when ever something notable happens.

 

 

Whenever the killer says something intimidating to the main character there is a boom sound effect. At 2:17 in the sequence the antagonist says "I want to know who I'm looking at" and as the fear crosses the characters face there is a quiet and subtle boom sound effect signify that something is happening and the character could be in potential danger. A similar sound can be heard at 3:28 when the antagonist says "Blondie" showing that he knows and can see the character. The sound following this is quick boom-like effect representing danger. This sound continues until the character thinks she is safe by locking the doors. The final boom is at the end of the sequence at 4:59 when the antagonist knows the name of the characters boyfriend. The sound effect is subtle and tells the audience that the antagonist is correct and whatever happens next cannot be good. This is also accompanied by the characters face of shock:

 

 

Like our opening sequence a boom sound effect signifies when something bad is about to happen. In our sequence we have a boom whenever the antagonist shows up: in the corridor, when they grab the protagonist and in the media room. This represents that this character is evil one in the film and anything including them will have grave consequences.

Black Swan - Use of Editing

'Black Swan' has a elegant, beautiful opening sequence that I think is a nice way to start of film. The use of editing in this opening sequence is simple yet effective during the repetitive shots.

The sequence starts with a soft piano track and the production company's name in a simple white text on a black ground. The letters fade individually away and fade into the first shot of a black piece of chalk (or crayon) on a piece of paper. The shot gets lighter and follows the chalk as it moves. The movement is smooth which matches the music. Most of the shots cross fade into each other so that if pauses at the right moment both shots can be seen. Some shots are longer than others but they all fade into each other:

 

In this image two shots can be seen and they overlap each other. This has a nice flowing effect that make one shot slowly transition into the next.

 

The faster and more vigorously the crayon moves the shorter the shot. This could represent that the character will go through some troubles and/or aggression and they may quick and rash decision like the edits. The sequence ends with a pan shot of a large black scribble showing that the elegant drawing has gone wrong somewhere.

 

I think that although the sequence is repetitive and short the edits are smooth and could have a hidden underlined message behind them that is for the audience to figure out. The edits match the music and credits perfectly.

Mise-En-Scene in Horror Films

Mise-en-scene is important in any film especially horrors. The setting, clothing, hair and makeup and objects such as flashlights and murder weapons are all crucial to the film. The audience will immediately associate certain places with genres and will know what a person is like from their clothing. Their will also be items in the film that the audience would expect to see in that genre.

 

Mise-en-scene is something that should always be thought of when making a horror film. For our opening sequence we had our main character wear a ID badge showing that she was a sixth form/college student. Our antagonist wears only black as the colour is usually associated which horror, loneliness and darkness which I think represents that character quite well. As our location is in a school our props match the scene. Our props are schoolbooks, pens and a pencil case, a backpack, a coat, a mobile phone and a class full of computers. Our character having a mobile phone does fall  into the commonly used horror props which I personally think is a good thing as I wanted to keep some horror clichés in our piece as well as making it unique.

Gender Representations in Psychological Horrors

(Blog Post on Genre and Gender in Horror + Gender Stereotypes)

 

Psychological horrors rely on atmosphere and the mystery of the unknown to spook the audience whether this is through the actual film or the posters advertising it. However psychological horrors are no different from regular horror films when it comes to stereotypes. The gender stereotypes used in horror films are usually the same: a defenceless young woman as the protagonist that narrowly escapes death throughout the entire movie and the male antagonist that is usually a fully grown man and carries a weapon that matches the way he kills or a young girl or doll that possesses supernatural powers. These stereotypes are used in horror films, psychological included, as they work. The audience is familiar with these stereotypes and immediately put them into categories.

 

The psychological horror 'The Conjuring' was a highly praised film that marketed the film with teaser posters before it was released. The first picture they released was a tree with a noose hanging from it. This only hinted at the themes that would be in the film and gave no suggestions towards who the characters were and what the threat in the film would be. However the second poster included many stereotypes from the horror genre, including gender:

 

 

 

The stereotype for the antagonist is there and the gender stereotype of the protagonist. From the poster it is hinting that the woman in the rocking chair is the protagonist, a female that is unaware of the threat, the doll, and is looking straight forward. She is clueless to the threat which also shows the audience that this is a psychological horror and the girl herself looks unkempt which could be hint towards the characters mental state. This kind of character shows up continually in many different horror films as the audience will know this kind of character well as because of the female protagonist stereotypes they will now what to except from her during the movie.

The Shining Opening Sequence - Sound and Credits

The Shining is a psychological horror film that has a simple yet effective opening sequence. The sound used creates a uneasy, tense atmosphere that contrasts with the picturesque scene of the hills and lake. The credits are simple and cannot be missed as the flow over the screen.

This sequence has effected our group opening sequence as it has given us ideas for music and credits. The music is low, simple and repetitive similar to the one that we made for our opening. It is tense and creates a sense of mystery and enigma about the place the sequence is shot. The low and deep sounding piece of music helps represent the psychological horror genre in a different way by using sound effects such as the strange high pitch noises that can be heard in the clip from 1:25 onwards. If the music was happy and upbeat it would portray a different genre therefore the music suits the current situation perfectly: mysterious music to match a unknown location that the audience is unfamiliar with.


The credits are a soft blue that roll over the scene like end credits usually do at the end of the film. These credits are incredibly simple especially when they are compared to credits in films such as Zombieland where the credits smash when touched:



Although the Zombieland credits are interesting and entertaining to watch the simplicity of The Shining's credits is just as effective as it achieves what credits are suppose to do. They simply inform the audience of the key details in the film. This will be similar to our credits as we are unfamiliar with the program After Effects we will make simple credits which we were unhappy with at first  but after watching The Shining opening sequence we saw that it could match our genre.

Editing

There are many different type of edits that are used when making a film and each creates a different  effect. The different types of edits are:

• Continuity
• Montage
• Point-of-view (POV)
• Match on action
• Eye line match
• Establishing
• Parallel

I made a mind-map showing all of the different editing types and what they achieve:

Some examples of the shots are:

MONTAGE

 

This sequence is from the film Rocky 4 which is known for its training montages. This sequence shows time passing over time through quick snippets of footage. This allows the audience go see all of the training but in less time.

 

ESTABLISHING

 

 

This is a collection of establishing shots from films. They let the audience know where the film is set and get familiar with the setting.

 

POINT-OF-VIEW

 

 

This is a point-of-view shot from the film Halloween and is one of my personal favourites. It is a shocking and well thought out opening that puts the audience in the young boy's shoes (except we don't know this until the end).

 

MATCH ON ACTION

 

 

This short clip shows the swift change between shots. The board is pushed away and the shot changes to face the other direction. These edits are similar to continuity editing.

 

EYE-LINE MATCH

 

 

The part of this sequence that involves eye-line matching is in the first minute. There is a conversation and the camera flips between the two people. This shows both of them talking but also their reactions to what the other is saying.

 

PARALLEL

 

 

This is a scene from the film 'The Godfather'. In this clip there are two stories being shown to the audience: the baby being baptised and the murder scenes. These run alongside each other hinting at either a flashback or they are happening at the same time.

 

In our opening sequence we are mainly using continuity edits but we have experimented with a few others to make it interesting to watch. We did have a quick POV shot of our character running but took it out as it did not fit in with the rest of the sequence but we did decide to keep a POV shot of the stalker in the distance. We do, however, have establishing shots of the science corridor and the media room to help the audience take in the surroundings. We also have a match on action when our character runs down the corridor as the camera moves from being in front of her to behind her.

The Order of Opening Credits

All opening sequences contain credits of the people that had a large role in the making of the film. Instead of putting them at the end along with all of the other credits they choose to show them to the audience straight away to show the importance of these people and how much they had to do with the film. All of these companies and people are put into a order that are played out in the opening of the film:

Distributor

(20th Century Fox, Warner Bros. Pictures, Paramount Pictures)

 

Production Company

(Disney Pixar, Lionsgate, DreamWorks)

 

Artistic Credit

(This can go to a director, writer or producer, anyone with a creative say)

 

Starring Cast

(The main actors being credited - This can come before or after the title)

 

Title

(The name/logo of the film)

 

Featuring

(Any star actors that have taken part in the film, they do not need to have the main part)

 

Casting

(The casting director who selected the actors that are in the film)

 

Music

(Who it is composed by or it may say Original Score by...)

 

Production Designer

(The key creative role and look over the making of the film)

 

Designers

(Hair and makeup artists, costume and set designers)

 

Editor

(The main editor of the film)

 

Cinematographer

(Director of photography)

 

Producer

(This is the single person that produces the film - not the production company)

 

*Based on a Story/True Event/Play*

(This is not required for every film but credit must be given if the idea was originally someone else's)

 

Writer

(The script writer or screenplay writer)

 

Film Director

(The person that directed the footage)



Sound - (Children of Men)

Sound can make or break a film and is one of the most important factors to consider when creating one. Whether it's music or sound effects everything that can be heard when watching a film should match what the audience can see on the screen. Sound needs to be consistent from the beginning of the film right to the end. A film that has good sound at the beginning is 'Children of Men'.

 

 

The Outside Scene - Sound of Driving is Loud

It starts as a completely black screen followed by a woman's voice. The first sound heard is the woman talking about the death of the youngest man alive. As the screen is black her voice has to be focused on and she is clear and easy to understand. The tone of her voice shows that it is a newsreader and she is reciting the most important piece of news, giving the audience a insight into what's happening. A male voice then continues the story while the images on screen begin to play.

Explosion Scene - Causing a Loud Break in the Sound

There are faint building work sounds in the background showing that the place the characters are in needs fixing or updating hinting that the place is not as secure as it should be. A character then comes into the coffee shop and speaks, asking for a coffee and the sound of his change can be heard over the news story. When the screen focuses on the TV news story muttering from the people can be heard. This shows that everyone is listening intently on the story and muttering comments to those near them. Crying can then be heard to inform the audience that the story is deeply emotional to the people listening to the newsreader. The newsreaders voice begins to echo when the character begins to walk as there are several TV's in the room causing there to be more sound. The closer the character gets to the door the louder the sound of the traffic gets showing that the next location will be outside. When outside the only sound present is the traffic and it is loud and clearly sets the scene. This sound continues for a while before a sudden explosion breaks the calmness and triggers many other sounds associated with panic such as screaming, alarms and the sound of rubble falling. These sounds create a distressing scene without even looking at the film on screen.

 

The sound makes this film much better as it creates a quite tone with natural sounds such as traffic and people muttering which is interrupted by a sudden sound that no-one was expecting.

How Gender Stereotypes are Presented - (Beauty and the Beast)

(Representations of gender in horror films is all ready on the blog)

Stereotypes are ways that people see a certain gender or race and except them to act in a certain way and are used in many films but are overlooked by the audience as they have become almost a default setting for films to include. Gender is one that is used frequently to make it clear to the audience what the character is like straight away through their speech or appearance. One company that plays on gender stereotypes is Disney. Even through animation, rather than using actual people, they show gender stereotypes and represent their characters in the same way. Although this is slightly different to horror or action stereotypes it is where the cliché of gender stereotypes became recognised. Disney has created around 12 princesses for their Disney princess movies and each one shares something with the other. Each princess is considered, by other characters in their film, as beautiful and in some ways, helpless. Disney made the princesses to be role models for young children that will watch the movies by making them the stereotype of a woman: beautiful and depend on a man. This is not the case for some of the more modern princesses but the first 6 all had those two qualities in common. However the men in Disney films are also represented in a similar way. The princes are muscular, charming, handsome and always showing up in the princesses time of need. The male villains are vain and want the beautiful princesses even when they can't have them. One good representation of this is the opening to 'Beauty and the Beast'.

This opening sets the plot for the film by giving the audience some background information. In this stained glass window art style, the prince is shown in rich clothing and is described as spoiled and unkind. This is the stereotype of a rich prince or villain and the audience immediately knows what to except from this character. A beggar woman is then shown to the audience and her appearance is described as haggard matching what people would usually associate with beggars or poorer people. The prince's reaction to the beggar is that he is repulsed by her appearance and turns her away. The narrator explains that the beggar tells the prince that beauty comes from within but even then he dismisses her. However the beggar woman turns out to be a 'beautiful enchantress' that is disgusted by the prince's attitude. The enchantress is then given long, golden curly hair and a large green ball gown to show the audience that this woman is beautiful compared to the beggar and puts her into the stereotype of women. The prince begs for forgiveness when he sees her beauty almost sending the message that beauty can make people forgive them and will favour them than people that are considered as 'ugly'. The enchantress then puts a spell onto the prince to teach him a lesson by turning

him into a beast.

 

The stereotypes in this opening are there but are shown to be almost backwards as the beast/prince starts as a vain villain but turns into what people see as the official Disney prince stereotype and the enchantress disguises herself as a beggar which is something new but then turns out to be a beautiful woman just like all of the other women in Disney.

The Ring Opening Sequence

The Ring is a psychological horror film that focuses more on atmosphere and building up suspense rather than contently scaring the audience. It perfectly makes the audience become extremely tense until the climax which is quick and ends within a few seconds.

 

 

 

The sequence starts with a shot of a teenage girl about to walk out of her kitchen when she hears a static sound. The screen then goes into a close-up shot of the girl to show her shock and confused expression. This lets the audience know that something is obviously wrong. The TV is then shown to be the source of the sound and has been turned on however the room is empty and the remote lays on the sofa untouched. This creates a sense of enigma, the audience know that something is happening but nobody, neither the audience or character, know what is causing the problem but the audience wants to find out more. The girl turns off the TV and places the remote down however the TV turns back on causing the girl to stop in her tracks. The character blames another person in the house however the audience will know that something else is causing these problems. There is then a noise causing the girl to turn to face where it came from, only to see nothing suspicious. The fridge then flies open and after closing it the girl travels upstairs to find the only other person in the house. However the is a liquid all over the floor by the door and dripping of the door handle. There is a shot of her hand slowly opening the door before a flash of events. She bursts open the door, sees the TV on the death tape, the camera zooms into on her face, it is difficult to see what happens but it looks like her face melts or (as it is psychological) has been possessed. There is then several image flashed onto the screen followed by the TV static.

The audience is left to only guessed what the images are as they flash up for less than a second and what happened to the girl. A large sense of enigma is left behind as there are many unanswered questions that the audience will want answers to.

Using sounds to create a sense of atmosphere is key for a psychological horror and this opening used it perfectly. There is music on very quietly in the background and makes the scene even more sinister. Static is also a key sound and is heard 3 times during the sequence and hints that it will be a important feature that the audience will have to look out for later on in the film.

The camera shots are also different instead of all being medium shots such as high angle from the top of the stairs to make the character seem smaller and a close up of her hand on the door handle. This makes the sequence more interesting to watch as although the continuity edits are very smooth it is still a creative way to show the basic activities that the girl is doing.

Opening Credits - Zombieland

Opening credits show who had a main part in making the film such as the producer, actors and designers, some are words over a background and others are included in the films footage. One of the most interesting opening credits belongs to the film Zombieland.

Zombieland Official Poster

Before the credits begin the film gives a bit of background to the film as a narrator sets some rules to follow during the film. It is also to set the tone of a horror survival situation but the narration gives it an element of humour. The credits start at 2:40 in the video and are cleverly placed into the scenes. The scenes that are playing are all in slow motion so that they are barely moving, this lets the audience look at the scene and the credits. Each scene shows a different horror that the characters will be facing through the film, the main threat being the zombies.

The credits themselves are placed into the scenes in a bold red text so that they are noticeable  and stand out in each scene however the most interesting point about the credits is that if a character crosses the text instead of going through it the text gets knocked out of the way. This represents the tone of the film as the world is falling apart and fading away much like the text.

Max Payne Opening Sequence - Enigma

The opening sequence for Max Payne is a good example of enigma and sound in the first few minutes of the opening. Straight away the audience is dropped into the centre of the action making them wonder brought the main character to this situation. The colours used are very bleak showing that these are bad times and this matches the situation that the character is in.

 

I have taken some screenshots of the opening to show the colour and questions raised when watching for the first time:

 

 

All of these questions leave the audience guessing for the rest of the film creating a sense of enigma. The audience will want answers to the questions so they will continue to watch to the film to get all the answers possible. It will leave them looking for clues while they watch to try and solve the questions themselves before the answer is revealed. As the sequence is in the future the audience will know that everything that is happening is leading up to the drowning scene, therefore the character can not die before then and what ever happens he will end up in the sea drowning.

Genre and Gender Representations - Horror

Genre is the most important part of a film as it lets the audience know what to expect when they hit play. All films have a genre such as horror, action, thriller and comedy and some even combine two together such as action thrillers and romantic comedies. All of these genres have something specific about them which makes the film fall under certain categories.

 

Horror is mostly associated with darkness, blood and murder so in a movie trailer if anything like or similar to those aspects the audience automatically knows that the trailer is advertising a horror film and would be surprised if it turned out to be anything else. For example a rom-com is unlike to involve a killer that walks around in a mask and a bloodied knife during the night as this would usually fall under the horror genre, if it did the audience would likely be very surprised when watching the film.

 

Most people can assign a film a genre with classic 'clichés' that show up in trailers or during the film. For example some horror clichés would be:

 

• Creepy Locations (hospitals, abandoned buildings, forests)
• Darkness (with only a flashlight/small amount of light to see)
• Killer / Dolls / Young Girls as Murderers
• Blood
• Demons / Supernatural

These are only a few but most of these things are the parts of horror films that people enjoy the most. The poster for the horror film Friday the 13th shows most of the points above:

 

 

Genre often includes stereotypes of the two different genders by having characters that are require to act a certain way. Sticking with the genre of horror the main protagonist is usually someone that has no idea of their current situation, whether they are male or female and sometimes a sidekick that will usually be killed. The main character is usually a venerable woman that is victim to the killer however narrowly escapes death throughout the film.  The antagonist is typically a full grown man in a mask with a weapon or a young girl or a doll that can do anything a human can, typically dressed in a dress and the things that people would usually associate as being 'cute' or 'innocent' suddenly become creepy. Instead of a weapon the young girls usually have some supernatural power or be able to kill them without a weapon. If the antagonist is grown male they usually have something unique about them that separates them form other horror killers, this is mainly their weapon choice. A knife or machete is usually chosen but some films have had new and scarier weapons such as chainsaws and pickaxes.

 

 

I personally think that these four pictures play to the horror and gender stereotypes: doll, man in a mask, younger girl victim and/or antagonist and a woman having the main role as the victim. Horror films are usually centred around either the protagonist or the antagonist, this means that the audience has to either route for the character or plot against them. However a oblivious female protagonist makes the audience immediately recognise this character as the one the film will be focusing on

Harry Potter and the Philosopher Stone Opening Sequence Anaylsis

Opening sequences are the first part of the film that the audience will see making it the most important and crucial moment in the film. It has to capture the audiences attention and make them stay to watch and enjoy the rest of the film.

A good opening sequences need to successfully set the tone and genre of the film, introduce characters and settings and some even let the audience know some backstory or information that will be important later on in the film.

A film that has all of these in the opening sequence is Harry Potter and the Philosopher Stone, it contains all of the points above within 4 minutes and leaves the audience wanting to see what happens next and how the story will play out after the events that occurred in those few minutes.

To show all of the points I screenshot all of the shots that contained everything a opening sequence should have and wrote a brief speech bubble on what they all were:

All of these pictures set the theme, introduce characters and leave enigma after it's finished.

After the final shot of a baby Harry's face the camera zooms towards the scar in the shape of a lightning bolt and flashes into the title screen:

 

This is covered in lightning and the 'P' is pointed showing that the tone of the film is also quite dark and not all about magic and wizards. I think that all of the small details such as the lightning, the magical lighter and the shadow show that the film is all about magic but also has dark moments and a intriguing and mysterious backstory that is not all colourful and lively.