Intro to Main brief

For our main brief project we will have to gather together ideas within a group no bigger than 4 to create our opening of a horror film. We will have to consider Sub-genres, actors and editing the film. The film has to be precisely 2 minutes long and must include titles. Throughout the making of the film we will have to research history of horror films and learn how horror films have changed throughout the years. We will be assigned certain roles within the project and time management will play a big part of the process. We will consider the conventions of a horror film to make our film the most entertaining and the best it can be.

Horror Films History, Example of progression of horror films

Horror movies have long served both purposes. They deliver thrills by the hearseload, as well as telling us stories of the dark, forbidden side of life (and death) – cautionary tales for grown ups. They also provide a revealing mirror image of the anxieties of their time. Nosferatu (1922) is not simply a tale of vampirism, but offers heart-rending images of a town beleaguered by premature and random deaths, echoes of the Great War and the Great Flu Epidemic fatalities. At the other end of the century Blade (1998) is not just a tale of vampirism either, but reflects a fear of the powerful yet irresponsible elements in society, a lawless elite, echoes down the corridor of the growing invincibility of those at the top. Horror movies of the early 21st century cogitate on global concerns of contagion (28 Days Later), or sound reactionary warning notes about the dangers of leaving moral absolutism behind (The Last Exorcism, The Conjuring). Horror movies provide a unique space for free discourse about the moral, political and societal shifts in our communal paradigms.
 The first horror films are surreal, disturbing pieces, owing their visual appearance in part to expressionist painters and in part to spirit photography of the 1860s, and their narrative style to the stories played out by the Grand Guignol Theatre Company and drawn from Gothic literature. They draw upon the folklore and legends of Europe, and render monsters into physical form. Spirit photography – the practice of using double exposures or superimpositions to depict ghosts within a frame of film – was popular from the 1860s onwards, not only among Spiritualists (who may have believed the images were real, vindicating their belief in the afterlife) but also among stage musicians and their audiences, who delighted in the fakery as entertainment.

Le Manoir du Diable- 1896

The first ever horror film on record was Le Manoir du Diable, which was produced in 1896 and was created by one of films earliest visionaries Georges Melies. Although it was only 3 minutes long, it really captures different elements of a typical horror film in the time and kit included things such as   bats, devils, witches, cauldrons, ghosts, trolls, all appearing and disappearing in puffs of smoke. 


         


The Cabinet Of Dr Caligari (1919)

Director: Robert Wiene

Writers: Carl Mayer, Hans Janowitz

This film tells the story of an insane hypnotist (Werner Krauss) who uses a somnambulist (Conrad Veidt) to commit murders.

1930s to the 1940s-

During the early period of talking pictures, Universal Pictures began a successful Gothic horror film series. Tod Browning's Dracula (1931) was quickly followed by James Whale's Frankenstein (1931) and The Old Dark House (1932), both featuring monstrous mute antagonists. Some of these films blended science fiction with Gothic horror, such as Whale's The Invisible Man (1933) and featured a mad scientist, mirroring earlier German films. Frankenstein was the first in a series of remakes which lasted for years. The Mummy (1932) introduced Egyptology as a theme; Make-up artist Jack Pierce was responsible for the iconic image of the monster, and others in the series. Universal's horror cycle continued into the 1940s with B-movies including The Wolf Man (1941), as well as a number of films uniting several of the most common monsters.

Other studios followed Universal's lead. The once controversial Freaks (1932), based on the short story "Spurs", was made by MGM, though the studio disowned the completed film, and it remained banned in the UK for thirty years.Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (Paramount, 1931) is remembered for its innovative use of photographic filters to create Jekyll's transformation before the camera. With the progression of the genre, actors like Boris Karloff and Bela Lugosi were beginning to build entire careers in horror. Both appeared in three of Val Lewton's atmospheric B-movies for RKO in the mid-1940s, including The Body Snatcher (1945).

1950s  to1960s- 

• The Strange Door

• The Black Castle

• House Of Wax

• The Maze

• The Mad Magician

• The Snow Creature

• Bride Of The Monster

• Cult Of The Cobra

1970s to 80s-

• The Changeling
• Maniac
• The Evil Dead
• Evil Dead Ii
• The Funhouse
• Cannibal Holocaust
• The Howling
• The Entity

2000-2010

Saw III- 2006 

Jigsaw kidnaps a doctor to keep him alive while he watches his new apprentice put an unlucky citizen through a brutal test.

Dark Water- 2002 

A mother and her 6 year old daughter move into a creepy apartment whose every surface is permeated by water.

The Collecter- 2009

Desperate to repay his debt to his ex-wife, an ex-con plots a heist at his new employer's country home, unaware that a second criminal has also targeted the property, and rigged it with a series of deadly traps.

2010 to 2016 

The Babadook- 2014

A single mother, plagued by the violent death of her husband, battles with her son's fear of a monster lurking in the house, but soon discovers a sinister presence all around her.

Sinister- 2012

True-crime writer Ellison Oswald (Ethan Hawke) is in a slump; he hasn't had a best seller in more than 10 years and is becoming increasingly desperate for a hit. So, when he discovers the existence of a snuff film showing the deaths of a family, he vows to solve the mystery. He moves his own family into the victims' home and gets to work. However, when old film footage and other clues hint at the presence of a supernatural force, Ellison learns that living in the house may be fatal.

The Conjuring 2- 2016

In 1977, paranormal investigators Ed (Patrick Wilson) and Lorraine Warren come out of a self-imposed sabbatical to travel to Enfield, a borough in north London. There, they meet Peggy Hodgson, an overwhelmed single mother of four who tells the couple that something evil is in her home. Ed and Lorraine believe her story when the youngest daughter starts to show signs of demonic possession. As the Warrens try to help the besieged girl, they become the next targets of the malicious spirit.

Textual analysis of Blade

The film Blade was created in 1998 and it is an American vampire superhero film. There is a main character who is portrayed like the antagonist but truthly he is the protagonist. This is mainly because of the way he is dressed. He is wearing a black leather long jacket that connotes powerfulness. He also has sliver buckles across his front to portray how he may  preparing himself for something that will need extra protection. Wearing dark colours really goes against the stereotype of a protagonist because they are known to wear light colours to connote happiness and safeness.

By identifying the protagonist, you can then work out that the  vampires in the underground club are the antagonist. The most significant antagonist would be the lady with the bright red hair. The colour of her hair already connotes danger as it is very bright and stands out. The lady with the red hair also wears dark, revealing clothing. This supports the stereotype of an antagonist as wearing black clothing can connotes darkness in the person that is wearing it. The revealing short skirt that she is wearing creates a sense on rebellion and something that can be sinister.

Throughout the scene it is clear to the audience that the 'damsel in distress ' would be the man that the women has taken to the club to experience the blood bath. He clearly is oblivious to what was going to happen to him as he just went along with whatever the lady told him to do. Also the man had blonde hair and blue eyes and this could connote a sense of purity and innocence because of the way the women is also being portrayed as she looks more strong willed and forceful. This goes against audience expectation because the damsel in distress is usually a beautiful innocent woman where as in this film it is a man as he is seen as a typical American guy. 

Sound-

In this scene there are many different types of sounds that contribute to the aim of the film such as non-digetic and digetic sounds. An example of a non-digetic sound would be the soundtrack that is played over the action right at the start of the opening scene when the  man and the woman are in the car. It is a fast paced set of music that creates a sense of urgency and quickness. By putting this soundtrack on whilst they are in the are, it then compliments the speed of the car and how fast the action is happening. As they drive along the road quickly in the car the audience will feel a part of it as the music will reinforce this. A digetic sound that is used at the start of the opening scene is the revving of the car as it speeds up. This will reinforce the speed of which the action s going in. The soundtrack then changes when the characters arrive at the meat farm which contains the underground nightclub. It starts to have an eery feel to it as the action is moving along. This is done to compliment the surroundings of the characters as around them the audience is exposed to dead animal bodies that are being skinned. The affect of this will be to make the audience start to feel a little uncomfortable as well as the main man in the opening scene. The soundtrack then changes into digetic sound as it is the music from the DJ that everyone is dancing to. This soundtrack is fast and repetitive which can represent the people in the club. They are all up and dancing at a fast pace so this will link together very well. Throughout the whole opening scene there is a lot of digetic screaming and chanting coming from all the people in the club which could create confusion because many of them have not got smiles on their faces so chanting to the music could be leading up to something bad. A non-digetic sound also could be the noises editing in at the end where all of the vampires are flashing their teeth to the innocent man to create a sharp effect.

Editing-

Throughout the whole opening scene there are many different types of editing techniques used to fit the horror genre. An example of this could be the amount of jump cuts that are used. The jump cuts are from people to people and this done to show the emotions of the characters in the opening scene as well as reinforce the pace of the action. The reinforcing of the pace of the action is to make the audience feel losta dn as if they are unable to keep up with the vampires. Vampires are stereotypically fast therefore the fast paced editing is used to encourage this. Another example of an editing technique would be the credits that are used throughout the opening scene. The font of the titles are bold and red. The writing is the colour red because this colour foreshadows what the film is actually about, blood. It also represents danger and murder therefore it suits the horror genre. Titles play a bit part in the opening scene of this film as they add to the mysteriousness and how eery it is. Many point of view shots are used to create a sense of the characters view but i believe the most significant one would be when the main man [damsel in distress] looks down at his hand and there is a drip of blood. This point of view is very important because it is the first real sign of danger and threat. This indicates to the audience watching the film that the danger is about to begin and it will put them on edge before it happens. After this happens there is a reaction shot of his face. This shot is used to indicate to the audience his confusion and worry. This then affects the audience by making them feel exactly like how the characters is.

Mise en Scene -

The mise en scene throughout the scene is clear to the audience that what is happening is not normal. It consists of many different objects to suit the genre of horror. An example of this are the dead animals that are hung up in the factory. This can foreshadow the blood that is poured all over the people in the nightclub. These are key representations of death and danger. The blood is another key feature of the opening scene that contributes to the mise en scene is the blood that is poured. Another key feature if the mise en scene is the 'men' sorting the dead animals. The men that are standing around the animal corpses do not look alive, they look as if they have not got any colour in their faces and have not got any blood running through their veins. They almost look dead. This will link tot the fact that the other characters are vampires therefore they may have skinned and drained their blood for their own satisfaction. So this can be a key feature to what the audience will notice and may affect them a lot. The limited lighting is also a key feature within the scene it symbolises darkness and mysteriousness, which adds to the genre of horror. And lastly the most significant feature used in the mise en scene are the bodies that are pulled past the man and woman in the factory. When this happens the mans expression changes from excited to anxious and concerned. This will automatically cause the audience to feel disturbed and distressed. All of the characters in the underground rave are portrayed as being animalistic and erotic. This is a large contribution to the mise en scene as it adds to the frightening experience

Camera Angles-

The angles of the camera in the opening scene of Blade are very important. One example of a camera angles are all of the head shots that are used throughout the whole opening scene. These are used to show character emotion and their reactions. This gives the audience watching a real insight of what the character is feeling and this then affects the audience personally. An establishing shot it used when  the man and woman is walking through the factory to get to the underground nightclub. This shot is used to establish where they are and their surroundings so that the audience feel more involved in the film and they will know whats going on, keeping up with what is happening in the scene. The angle of the camera is very important because it portrays importance and priority within the characters. For example the is a low angle shot of the girl at the start of the opening and this will show the importance and value of the woman. It shows how significant she is and the power that she has at the start of the opening. There is a low angle of the blonde man right at the end of the opening when he is on the floor in front of the dark mysterious figure. The angle is used to create the sense of inferiority of him and how he is so unimportant in this scene. A last very important angle of the camera in this opening scene would be right at the ned when the protagonist walks in. Straight away the camera swoops down to create a superiority of him and make him look bigger. This will portray the sense of powerfulness of this character and this will indicate to the audience that this man is significant because he makes all of the other vampires stop what they were doing and the music dies down but does not turn off completely.




Here is a video of the opening of the film Blade;

Evaluation of mini brief

 At the start of our mini brief this is one of the first mistakes of our short film. This shot of Nimat is slightly blury. This then makes our film look unprofessional and can be improved. It might make the film difficult to understand and confused.

After editing the film we noticed that there was a big cut from this screenshot to the one below. This made our film look a little rushed and it needs to be more of a smooth transition rather than just cutting from one part to another quickly. It could cause disorientation for the audience. 

This is a screenshot of the couple hugging. The two actors are not spaced in the middle of the frame. This can be seen as unprofessional because when there is an antagonist they are usually positioned off-centred because they are the bad people, if there is something good happening it is usually positioned in the centre of the frame therefore this doesn't look right. 

In tis shot-reverse-shot the camera is slightly shaky therefore it cause the shot to be slightly blurred. This causes our mini brief to look unprofessional and can be improved by using a tripod. 

In these three screenshots there are alot of things in the mise en scene that has caused the scene to look unprofessional and improper. This can be improved by changing location to suit the genre and what is happening in the scene.

I belive one of our strengths of the mini brief was the reaction shot of Aaron when he realises that his partner has returned home. Another strength would be the match on action of Nimat coming through the door. This ensures the audience of what is going on and they feel as if they are following well. Also the shot reverse shot that happens at the end when Aaron is proposing really works well as we see Nimat's reaction and also Aaron's face whilst proposing. 

Mini Brief video finished and embedded

Summer homework- Researching openings of horror films

What are the ingredients of an opening of a horror film?

I believe that there are many different ingredients to form an opening of a horror film. This varies from sound (digetic or non-digetic), opening titles, to the actual characters in the opening. Firstly the sound track or sounds are very important withing opening of a horror film because it can really create the tension during the opening scene. Without the music I believe the thrill or tension wouldn't be there for the audience. Although silence does create suspense, the high pitched, fast- paced music creates an eary feel that puts the audience feeling on edge.
Another important factor within a horror film opening are the titles and credits. They play a big part of the opening because i feel the audience would feel lost without them and they wouldn't really know what was happening. The opening titles really give the film a feel to it and i believ that the titles will give the audience an idea of what type of sub-genre the film  is going to be s well as whaqt the film is going to be about. For example if the titles were red, the audience may feel the film will be a slasher horror due to the fact that red is a symbol of blood or danger.
As well as opening titles and sountrack i think that the characters within opening of the film are important. Inroducing each character right at the very start of the opening will help the audience to understand the film plot and will help the audience feel as if they are upto date with whats going on when the films goes on. By the audience knowing each character, it is imortant as a character could forshadow a later event that happens in the film.

Update on film

For our mini brief in our gorup we split the responsibilities up equally so that everyone in the group was doing an equal amount. My group consists of me, Amy, Nimat, Jade and Annabelle. We worked together on the filming and split up for the editing parts of the project. My job was to be the directer when the filming was taking place. Being the director consisted of telling people, memebers of the filming team what was best to do in some situations and also another responsability was to make sure everyone done as they were allucated to do.This would avoid any disagreements throughout the process.

Character Analysis

This is Aaron Zurita. He is 24 years old. His job is a teacher and works in a secondary school near where the couple live. Aaron is a lonely child and grew up with his father in a working class home. His interests skiing, reading literature, going to the theatre and retail therapy. His mother sadly passed away when he was young and unfortunately Aaron does not have a good relationship with his father in recent day. His wife-to-be makes him very happy.

This is Francesca. She is 25 years old. She is a wedding planner for big celebrities in the UK. She is very successful in the wedding planning industry and made her name well known. Francesca was adopted as a child and her childhood was not an easy ride. She was made to move from home to home, in and out of care homes for children. When Francesca did live with her mother and father she was abused physically and mentally so was taken away. So her success in the work place reflects on how she is able to do something for herself and that she is very interdependent. She knows that she has three brother but she does not contact them very often, so Aaron is a big part of her life. Hr interests include watching movies, music and skiing. 

Script for Mini Brief

For our script we gathered everyone's ideas to create a final script that which we thought is perfect for our mini brief scene. As a group we made some changes to it but eventually created a final script.






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Mini Brief Introduction, Planning Ideas and Recce

For this task I will be making a Romance opening of a film. For my groups mini brief we all gathered together one another's ideas to decide on doing a romance genre. We decided to do a romance opening  for our mini brief because we thought it would be interesting and different. Our group decided on doing a proposal scene and leave it on a cliffhanger to draw the audience in to want to watch more.
Our group came together and all brainstormed our ideas, and discussed them. By doing this it gave everyone an equal chance of getting their idea across to the rest of the group. Different ways of gathering up ideas for the mini brief would be for example using sugar paper to write down what we wanted to do. Another way of gathering ideas of where to actually film the mini brief would be that we took pictures of different places to give us an idea of what the setting and the mise en scene would look like. An example of this -

These are different parts of the school that we considered to use in our mini brief because we thought these would be suitable for our story line.

Introduction to Editing Techniques

There are many different editing techniques that are needed to create a mini brief. All of these techniques merge work together and all techniques play a very important role in making the mini brief. An example of a technique would be a 'shot-reverse-shot.' This shot is when two characters are communicating and the camera films one of the character, then films the others response and then go back to the original character. This shot is an important shot to use as it reveals to the audience the communication and emotion of the two characters speaking.

Another example of an editing technique would be 'match in action.' This is when action is happening in the middle of a scene and the camera is moved to different angles but staying on the same people.
This is done to create different perspectives of the characters for the audience.

Thirdly another well-used example of an editing technique would be the 180 degree rule. This is a rule set to rule out the temptation of filming on character from one side and then going to the other side and filming the other character. This would not be visually correct and wold not look professional. The rule is a line the is 'drawn' between two characters so the camera does not cross it.

Mini Brief Checklist

Introduction

Hi, my name is Harriett Folan and this is my AS media blog. Throughout the coming months I will be documenting my media work onto this blog. my first task will be to produce 2 minutes worth of an opening scene of a horror film which will include titles and credits. Preparation for this coursework will include researching the conventions of a horror film, learning how t use professional software to edit the film, and watching and analysing horror film. I will post evidence of my progress on here as well as uploading updates of my coursework.