LOCKED

This is the finished version of our psychological horror opening sequence: LOCKED. I am very pleased with the end result and am glad that it is finally completed.

Completed!

Today we finished our opening sequence and I am so happy to see all of our hard work and effort finally completed. Overall I am very pleased with our end result considering the time and the footage that we had. We spent todays lesson touching up the credits and sound. However our sequence is still 3 minutes long and we did not put in Shotgun Productions logo due to the length of the sequence. Apart from this setback I think our sequence is good and it is nice to see all of the footage come together to tell a story.

 

This picture is of our group right after we had finished our sequence!

Group Progress - New Credits

The previous credits in our sequence had to be changed due to it looking to much like a 'essay' font. We changed it so that it  is smaller and each credit is in a different spot on the screen. The actual font itself has been changed to be more slender and creepy like:

 

 

It is more elegant but is also pointed which I think represents our opening. Everything might look normal but there are plenty of small twist and turns throwing the audience and character off-track. I personally like this font a lot more as it looks more professional and matches the genre which is what we were aiming for when choosing a specific font.

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.

Group Progress - Problem

With only a few more edits to fix, in a study period today half of the group watched the sequence again and went through what needed fixing. We added in some extra 'boom' sound effects to create suspense and tweaked some of the credits (after being told that the font was to casual for out genre). However the main problem was that our sequence is 3 minutes rather than 2 but there was nothing in the sequence we could take out otherwise our character would jump from on scene to another. As all scenes link to each other so taking out one would take away something from the story which leaves us with a problem. The sequence needs to be shortened to meet exam criteria but there is nothing in the sequence that we can delete that will not make the sequence jump or ruin the story. To solve this problem the group will have to have a discussion about what to cut out and what to keep.

Group Progress - Close to Completion

In today's lesson (24/03/15) we completed the credits! We are close to completing our sequence all together and all we have left to do is add in a few more sound effects. We have also decided to change the music from violins playing repetitively to some royalty-free music called "Insidious". After spending hours on the music trying to perfect it but nothing seemed to work and after finding the royalty free music we thought it was just as effective and decided to use that instead. We have also chosen to have the last scene, in the media room, in silence. This creates a suspenseful atmosphere and puts the audience on edge. We have also added a heartbeat sound effect as it represents the fear that our character is going through the audience will be just as nervous as our character is. The last sound effect that we added today was a static sound but it is interrupted by speech. This plays when the death screen - "YOU SHOULDN'T HAVE DONE THAT" flashes up. This sound effect is both haunting and creepy as it sounds like somebody is trying to talk to our character but fails because of the static.

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.

Target Audience - Why is it Important?

Having the right target audience is one of the most important factors to take into consideration when making a film. Depending on the genre every film will have its own target audience and will create the film around what that audience likes and wants to see when they watch the film.

 

 

Age ratings are given to all films which is a small indicator for the age group the creators of the film had in mind when making it. Horror films usually have the rating of 18 whereas a animated comedy will have a U or PG rating. The higher the age rating the more violence, sex, gore and explicit language will be used in the film as the audience is more mature to those kind of things and will know what to expect before watching.

 

 A good example of an 18 rated horror film that is aimed for a target audience around 18 - 28 is the horror film 'Halloween':
 

 

This film is clearly intended for an older audience as it involves murder and nudity within the first 4 minutes. The ending of the opening often shocks viewers during the first viewing, it is also likely to disturb the audience due to the young age of the killer. The target audience of 18's and over is very important for a film like Halloween as it is not suitable for young children due to the suggestive themes and murder, even though it is not seen directly.

When creating our opening sequence we had a target audience of 15 - 25 in mind as we felt that younger people would have a bigger interest in our film than others however, like all films, there are always people that are not part of the target audience that watch and enjoy the film.  The reason we made our target audience 15 - 25 is because as teenagers we know that most people are age would be interested in watching a horror film and as ours is a psychological horror set in a school our target audience would be able to relate to or understand the character in our opening.

As our film does not include graphic violence or major amounts of blood I think our film could be passed as a PG but would be better as a 15 as the point of the film is to make the audience uncomfortable.

Horror Clichés

Clichés are in most films no matter how unique they are. Props and gender stereotypes involve the most clichés especially  in a horror genre:

 

An opening sequence that I think shows these clichés in an effective way rather than making them predictable and boring is Saw:

  

 

This opening sequence introduces the horror genre through many clichés such as: darkness, chains, blood, dirt and a dead body. It perfectly lets the audience know what to expect throughout the film by presenting these commonly used themes in a new and refreshing way.

Group Progress - Credits

With two members of our group learning how to add in credits and the other two touching up the music we have finally completed the music and learnt how to fade the credits in and out of our sequence! Following the credit order that is used in all films we have started to add in the credits. We also agreed to put our names into the credits somewhere - As I spent a long time editing the sequence in my spare time I was down as editor which I was happy about:

 

 

The font is a simple but bold text that stands out on the screen. As a plain, square font in white we thought it would represent our sequence. The horror is subtle and simple but creates a atmosphere and the text similarly is there before disappearing, like our protagonist. We also wanted the text to be a serif font as a font that was curly and pretty-looking would not match the genre and would make our sequence look girly and pretty rather than simple and creepy.

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.

Group Progress - Costumes

Our main character is a everyday girl that has just attended a day at school so she is wearing comfy and casual clothes. Her clothes are neither girly nor masculine but the perfect in-between. This way she does not fall into the girly category or the tough hero woman. She acts and dresses the same way as other teenage girl when they go to college, this means that college students can relate to our character and is appealing to them.

 

She wear a simple white t-shirt and as white usually represents innocence I think it suits our character perfectly. Her trousers are smart jeans which shows that she is dressed under the dress code for a college of sixth form showing the setting through our character. After she leaves the science room she puts on a long black coat and as black is associated with fear or horror it shows that she is the next victim. We also included smaller details such as a ID badge for our sixth form. This shows where she currently is and it also confirms that she is a college/sixth form student.

Group Progress - Props

When re-watching our sequence I wanted to make notes on the props used in our sequence and was surprised to see there was not many. The character carries her bag throughout the sequence but she never really uses it. She does however use textbooks at the beginning of the sequence and she then uses her bag to pack up:

She also get out her phone in one scene. Her phone is modern which shows that the sequence is set in current times and that our character is a girl that can afford having a modern and current mobile:

 

We also use the computers and although this is not a prop  used by the character herself, she does turn one off and is aware that they are there. As the school she is in has a classroom full of computers it could show that she is in a school that can afford modern technology:

 

 

Group Progress - Editing + Music

Today we continued editing and changing the music which we had two hours to do. Going through the sequence again was good for the group as we all looked closely for any minor details that we might have missed the first time around. We also decided to change the music entirely and add more sound effects to make the sequence more realistic. So two members of the group played around with some new music to find something that matched our genre, another member and I continued to edit by making some cuts smoother so that they jumped less. Overall we got quite a lot of work done and we hope to start adding credits, which we will do by following the film credit order, and the music that was made next lesson.

Group Progress - Characters

In our opening sequence we only have 2 characters that are shown to the audience. One is the main protagonist, who we follow throughout the sequence, and the other is the antagonist who stalks her and tries to catch her.

 

Our protagonist is a female teenager that is dedicated to her work, which is shown through her staying late after school to study. Her clothing is casual and comfy which we thought teenagers in college or sixth form could relate to as she is not dressed up but is still in smart clothing.

Something notable about our protagonist is that she does not talk during our sequence - the only words she says are "No! Stop!" and several screams and gasps but she never forms a sentence. We thought this gave her a sense of enigma but it was also real to the topic as people do not usually talk to themselves. Something else that is quite unique about our character is that she remains nameless as nobody is there to say her name and, as mentioned before, she is unlikely to talk to herself. This creates a sense of enigma about her: Who is she and what is her name? Why was she studying so late after school? Does she know the antagonist?

 

 

Our antagonist wears all black to create a sense of mystery about them. Black also represents fear and horror which I think suits our antagonist perfectly. Their face cannot be seen and they continually disappear throughout the sequence.

Similar to our protagonist, our antagonist does not speak at all. They are silent and they follow her silently so that the protagonist never notices her stalker until they make themselves known.

The gender of our antagonist is unknown and it is never said why they are stalking the protagonist which creates a sense of enigma. During filming our antagonist was played by two different actors because there face was either far away or covered so their facial features where never seen.

We also have a point-of-view shot from our antagonist at the end of the sequence when they lunge at our protagonist, this is showing that they are always watching her - even when she least suspects it.

 

Group Progress - Editing the New Ending

After filming the new ending we had to edit it into our sequence. As the scene was so unique and interesting it was fun to watch through the images and finding where to put them together. However in one of the shots our character takes a sudden step to the left but we cannot change this so we have left it this way. The 'Ben Drowned' inspired death message worked into the sequence really well. It was eerie and creepy and added a sense of enigma - why shouldn't she have turned off the computer? What does the static sound signify?

 

The new ending takes up the around the same amount of time as our last ending but the newer one is much better than our previous one.

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.

Audience Feedback

(Audience feedback post on the group blog)

 

 

After showing our first draft to the class we got some feedback and suggestions on how to improve our opening sequence. I also showed our sequence to a non-media student so that the edits would not be as noticeable and she would concentrate more on the story and whether it made sense to someone that didn't know what the story was. The feedback back we got was:

The packing shot at the beginning of the sequence is to long and needs to be cut down into several smaller shots to make a simple task more interesting to watch.

The ending was to sudden and ruined the suspense that had been created by the stalker suddenly appearing and killing the main character. It was also commented that the actor didn't have the face of a murderer making the scene less intense.

The killer/stalker should be added subtly to more shots to show that someone is following the protagonist but not in every scene as there still had to be an element of surprise when the figure did show up.

The shot of the protagonist getting grabbed but when she frees herself no-one is there was liked as it showed the audience what genre the film would be and would know what to expect.

Although it was mentioned in the feedback I noticed that the lighting was changing in the outdoor scenes so we will have to find a way to edit the lighting.

The scene with the static computers was also liked as although it was a ordinary classroom we had altered it to match the genre and create suspense. The high angled shot in this scene was also liked as it set the scene of the classroom and was a new shot that that been put into the sequence.

The non-media student said that the story was good and the voice-over helped her understand what was going on exactly. She liked the grabbing and static room scene and commented that she did not notice any of the edits which shows that our continuity editing was well done.

Since the feedback was given we have fixed many of the issues such as the ending and the packing shots as they have been re-filmed and edited into our sequence. All that needs to be done now is the last few pieces of editing and adding in the credits.

Group Progress - New Ending

Some feedback that we got on our first draft was that the ending was to abrupt and needed to be thought through to make the ending more exciting. Together as a group we discussed possible ideas and also looked at ideas for sound while we were researching. We finally settled on warning message on the computer flashing up before the killer lunges at the protagonist and supposedly killing her. We then put forward ideas on what the message would say and we all like the message "You Shouldn't Have Done That" appearing on the screen in a blood splattered-like font. I then commented that it reminded me of the creepy pasta "Ben Drowned" which is based off a video game the urban tale that a boy called Ben played the video game 'The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask" and later drowned. His spirit then went on to haunt his copy of the game and would flash up the message "You Shouldn't Have Done That" when ever the player did something wrong and would then kill the character in a endless loop. This linked into out opening and inspired us to include this in our opening as well as the sound we had agreed on.

Post on Sound for New Ending

 

UPDATE - This is the final shot of the death message on the screen.

 

 

Group Progress - Sound

When re-thinking our ending for our opening sequence my group and I decided that we wanted to set an atmosphere that matched the genre of our film. As a psychological horror silence is usually the best way to create a tense atmosphere however we were not sure whether that would work and needed some inspiration for our ending. We searched the internet for creepy horror films, TV shows and video games before finding a hugely popular psychological horror game called 'Silent Hills - P.T". This provided us with the inspiration for our ending and how to use sound effects alongside silence or music to make the footage more interesting. We also found that their were already many similarities between our opening sequence and the game such as the dark corridor scene in our opening and the dimly-lit corridor in the game. We now have a clear idea of our ending for our opening sequence that we think will match the genre and create a tense atmosphere.

 

GROUP BLOG POST

 

Our Opening Sequence

Silent Hills P.T

 

 

Group Progress - Sound Effects

We  have added several sound effects to our sequence to make it more interesting to watch and to replace effects that got drowned out during the recording. For example there is a seen when our character tries to ring someone and a faint ringing can be heard. This was added in to make the sound seem more real and the audience can hear everything our character hears. We have also added a static sound effect over the top of the original sound in the media room scene as it makes it sound clean and the sound no longer clips. The group and I have also discussed adding in a heartbeat or something similar to make the silence in the media room (after the static) a bit more exciting and once again the audience will be able to feel and hear exactly what the character is feeling and hearing.

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)



Group Progress - Locked

When discussing names for opening sequence we struggled to come up with anything that we all liked. We knew we wanted our title to be only one word as we thought it would sound better. Some of the names we came up with were: Followed, Stalker, After Hours however we didn't like any of these names enough to make them our final name. When we started editing we needed to save the sequence so we needed a name. We spent a while thinking before typing in 'LOCKED'. We agreed to change the name when we come up with something better but the more we looked at it the more we liked it.

 

Eventually we decided to keep the name, it was a simple, one-word title just like wanted and it explained the plot of our sequence in one word: Our character was locked in school with no way out. We created a logo which is a simple white text on a black background so it stood out. To make our logo match the word we switched the 'O' for a lock which I personally think looks good as it is plain and simple.