Test Shots

Here are our test shots that we chose not to use in our final opening.


Test Shot One:


This demonstrates the victims POV of her looking at her MP4. We realised after playing back this clip that the camera, and the person holding the holding the camera (ironically the killer) were reflected in the screen of the MP4. Even after filtering the shot this could still be seen.
We tried this POV shot again from the side, however the angle of the shot gave the impression it was someone stood next to the victim looking at the object.




Test Shot Two:


Here we tried to make the killer appear menacing by getting him to drag his weapon across the floor. We were experimenting with this shot to try and achieve an eerie scraping noise of the shovel, however we felt this didn't work at all because the killer did not seem intimidating enough and the noise of the shovel didn't sound as we expected it to- maybe due to the ground it was being dragged along.




Test Shot Three:


Again another POV shot from the victim. Here she is at the gate peering frantically through a gap to see if there is anyone that can help her. She turns round to see the killer approaching her up the steps.
We felt this didn't work as the shot itself was too uncontrolled to be understandable to the viewer, however the confusion of the shot complimented the frantic nature of the victim.
The use of the camera in this shot too unstable.




Test Shot Four:


This was our first time round filming the killer swinging the shovel at the victim - done in the victim's POV.
However we made the mistake of leaving objects such as the tripod in the background, this therefore ruining mis-en-scéne.
We also felt there was too much of the killer in shot for most of the focus to be placed upon the shovel and its movement.
The second time round filming this we made sure to clear the background of unwanted objects, we also zoomed in on the shot so as the shovel filled the clip more than the killer.
The second time round filming this style of shot

Film titles/font

Film Title Ideas:


-Isolated: This idea was put forward because of the wooded setting we chose, the setting is isolated in the sense that no one is there to hear and/or help the victim. We chose not to use this title because as the rest of the film progresses their will most likely be a range of settings rather than just the woods.


-Abandoned: Again the idea of being alone, however this title suggests the victim has purposefully been left - this is one of the main reasons why we didn't choose this idea, our opening shows no obvious signs of this. Although our film could progress into this idea of being purposefully left we still chose not to use it as our title.

-Reminiscence: (Now currently our title) We searched upon several words meaning to 'remember' or to 'look back in time' (retrospective) because we thought of the idea of playing our shots backwards to make the opening seem like a flashback. We settled upon this as our title because it is short and to the point, if we were to continue the film it would be shown that the opening is in fact the ending played first, therefore the rest of the film would be in retrospective of the opening.


Title Fonts:







Here we experimented with different fonts to find one that would suit our genre of film.
Like generic horror film titles, we looked for a sharp font which showed no emotion; for example the 3rd example above is too rounded for the text to be imposing however we liked it for its formality.

We settled upon the font of "Baskerville" in the same red colouring as the above examples.
This was chosen because we felt it was quite eerie and formal, whilst still fitting in with the expectations of a horror title.

However with this font we encountered a problem, the text was automatically outlined with black and this made the writing difficult to read on our opening. To overcome this we removed the outline completely and this made the letters more obvious, we also made the text larger so as the writing would be easier to read.
We chose to use red colouring to reflect the typical conventions of a horror, i.e. blood, danger etc.

Influences

Films

Shrooms - We gained inspiration from their opening scene of a girl running through a wooded area. We felt this was effective because it created a helpless atmosphere and threw the audience straight into the action of it all. This influenced us to use a frantic chase scene.

The Blairwitch Project - The claustrophobic setting worked well in this film making the characters feel trapped. This influenced us to use a forest setting.

Also the use of the moving camera shots to give the perceived perspective of killer and victim grew from the inspirations of this film, however after including this in the final product we feel it did not work as well as expected and that it only worked in Blairwitch Project because it was shown that the film was done by one of the characters upon a camera, so the perspective worked there. Whereas our film was to try and achieve perspective whilst running without making it seem like a camera - looking through the eyes of the killer and victim in effect.

Memento - This inspired us to incorporate the idea of doing the film in reverse, i.e. the ending would be the opening.

If we carried our film on then it would display the events that lead upto the opening, giving a cyclical feeling.

Past examples of AS media films also gave us some ideas that we experimented with.

Directors:

1. Alfred Hitchcock - His success in creating tension in his films influenced us to try and replicate this. In his film "Psycho" Hitchcock used high pitched music to insinuate a murder, this influenced us to try and create a soundtrack that reflected the uneasy nature of "Psycho".

2. Paddy Breathnach (Shrooms) - Breathnach proved also to be an inspiration through his works into the horror genre, he has also made other horrors such as 'Freakdog/Red Mist' that went also for the gorey approach.

Analysis of a Film Opening

'Alien vs. Predator'

Summary:
Alien vs. Predator follows the genre of horror/thriller/sci-fi. Directed by Paul W.S Anderson and written by Shane Salerno. The film is set in Antarctica and a team of scientists are in search of a recently discovered ancient pyramid. The location of the story creates a sense of vulnerability and isolation. When they are being flown over there, they reach the dead zone, there’s no signal for contact and don’t have enough fuel to turn back. In a traditional film such as this one, there are normally only two sides, this film however has three, the main focus is between the Predators and the Aliens, the humans unfortunately are stuck between the two sides.

Camera Shots & Angles:
The uses of camera shots vary from low angles and high angles. The low angle shots are used mainly on the Predator, making them seem more dangerous and over powering. The high angle shots are commonly used when an alien is above someone, again, making them more powerful than the humans. This could also be classed as a point-of-view shot as we are seeing what the aliens are seeing. Point-of-view shots are also used for the Predators as well; however, an infrared filter is used rather than ‘normal’ sight. The low angle shots are almost always used on the humans to make them seem weak and helpless. An effective shot of someone falling over and looking just above the camera is used, though we don’t actually see the Predator, we see the two blades in the top corner of the screen approaching the person on the floor, then is switches to a P.O.V shot in infrared, oranges, yellows and reds are seen for the people, but the Aliens however are shown in green black, connoting the sci-fi genre.

Lighting:
Little lighting is used for this film. Most of the film is shot mostly inside the pyramid underground; naturally, there will be little if not any lighting in that kind of location. Naturally, the audience will sense that something is lurking in the dark and that they are expecting for something to jump out.

Characters:
The main character of the film however does not follow the typical expectations of other horror films, this time; the female role is the hero rather than the hero being male. But rather than presented as helpless and becoming a hero by sheer luck, her character is portrayed as strong and confident from the start as she is first introduced climbing a mountain. She also manages to form an alliance with the Predator following up the saying “The enemy of the enemy is my friend.” The male roles in the film are very stereotypical. Carrying guns and firing at about anything that moves, they are also shown doubting the female characters plan of action whilst inside the pyramid.

Target Audience:
The films target audience is mainly targeting teenagers and possibly some adults. The age rating for this film is a 15. The genre of the film will attract the teenagers as it consists of aliens, violence and blood, however, this may be more aimed at the male audience rather than a female audience. As for the older audiences, the characters may be the main attraction. The Aliens and the Predator have both had their own films, bringing the two together in an epic battle will want the older audience to see who will win.

Editing:
The editing in the film has different filters, mostly using a dark filter to fit with the location of the pyramid. When a different scene is introduced, there only seems to be a clean cut between scenes, this allows the audience to not be distracted when a new scene is introduced. Had they used an effect such as a fade, it would ruin the effect of the film.

Sound:
The sound in the film has both diegetic and non-diegetic. The diegetic sounds mostly consists of people screaming or talking. A good use of diegetic sound is one of the extras is trapped in a room, we see him trying to get out then we shown one of the aliens about to kill him, the scene then switches to outside where he is trapped and we only hear the scream. Also, the sounds of both the alien and predator are heard from time to time. The non-diegetic sound is created from an orchestra, when the pyramid is first seen, loud booming sounds of drums and trumpets are used, this helps the audience understand how big a deal it is that the pyramid has been found. Fast paced music when the pyramid is shifting and when the humans are being chased by either the alien or predator.

'Shrooms'




-Directed by Paddy Breathnach
-Written by Pearse Elliot

Summary:
Three couples go on a trip to Ireland where they meet up with a friend of theirs whom is an expert on mushrooms, he helps them with their desire to "trip out" on magic mushrooms. Despite numerous warnings from their expert about certain dangerous mushrooms things still manage to go wrong as the characters begin to suffer what they think are hallucinations.
People start to go missing and eventually their bodies turn up, shadows creep through the trees and ghostly creatures begin to appear.
As the characters slowly get whittled down, they start to realise there's more to it than just hallucinations.

Camera Shots & Angles:

In the first few minutes of the film several shots become immediatly apparent:

-The sideways tracking/crab shot. In this instance it is used to follow the victim fleeing from the unknown threat.
- The tracking shot is also a long shot, typically it is used to introduce a character.
-The close-up shot, used to focus on a characters emotions. A montage of these are frequently used throughout the opening, they focus upon objects of interest rather than characters. These objects, such as the maggots, noose, bloody hand etc, greatly represent the horror genre.

Lighting:
Throughout the film, very typical of horrors, frequent low key lighting is used to add dark shadows to characters making them appear ominous and mysterious.Also, at the opening very little light is used so the scene is silhouetted, however a slight blue glow is used to connote a psychological element. A lot of natural light is incorporated due to the wooded setting, the close grouping of the trees block out a lot of light to give it the eerie horror effect.

Characters:
The first character introduced to us (Lindsey Haun), is showed as a typical damsel in distress, or in the instance of Propp's theory - the "princess". This is later contradicted when she is displayed as the villain at the end of the film, similarly it is unusual to have a female killer in horror films because that don't have as much dominance as a male.
However, all the hallucinated killers are predominantly male, therefore following the expectations of Propp's theory.

Target Audience:
The BBFC age certificate for 'Shrooms' is "18", therefore it would be unwise for anyone under this age to watch the film.
It is rated at an "18" because of it content - there are high levels of violence and gore used throughout most the film, as well as disturbing images used instantly at the start.
It would be aimed at anyone over the age of 18 who enjoys gorey/psychological horrors, in particular horror films are mainly aimed at a male audience because they are more likely to watch excessively violent films, however girls enjoy being scared too.

Editing:
Shrooms is highly edited, the opening especially. This is due to the fast paced editing used to create confusing and frantic scene that makes relatively no sense to the audience, however it makes them curious.
Throughout the film a ghost-like transition is used whenever a threat is apparent, this is done to reflect the state of mind of the character during hallucinations, it also makes the character move around more disjointed and unnatural.
Moreover, a blue filter is applied to the whole film, this is done to show a detached scene that is devoid of any emotion - it makes the setting seem cold.

Sound:
Immediately introduced in the opening is the diegetic sound of heavy breathing coming from the running victim. The majority of the film uses natural diegtic sound, however the opening involves a soundtrack of drums beating. This music gradually builds, assumed to be reflecting the victim's heartbeat, until it reaches a climax and fades out to the equilibrium after the opening.

Feedback

After editing our footage to create a rough cut we then presented it to our class whereupon we received feedback from our peers. This feedback involved positive and negative feedback; the positive feedback included the opening being a clear representation of horror conventions, effective soundtrack and fast-paced editing which created tension. The main negative feedback was that our opening was too short.

By doing this it enabled us to refine our horror opening so that we could make it a lot more effective and professional. This included filming more footage to make the opening longer whilst trying not to lose any tension in the process.