Different Production Companies

• Universal studios is a production company that has produced many of the top grossing films of all time, such as E.T and Jaws, this means that if it was to be used as our introduction people would notice straight away who we want to stage as the producers of this film as universal studios is a very prestigious company.
• The films that Universal Studios usually produce are more of action/adventure films and they are not known for producing any horror films, therefore it wouldn't be a great production company to use as there are better companies we can use to support our genre.

• Sony pictures animation is an animation company, responsible for the production of films such as 'Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs' , it is the animation section of sony pictures.
• Clearly this wouldn't be acceptable to use as our company as it is an animation company so it wouldn't fit into the horror genre we wish to use.

• Paramount pictures is another prestigious company responsible for the creation of films such as Star Trek and Mission Impossible.
• Due to the bright nature of the intro clip, it wouldn't suit a horror film, therefore making it unusable for a horror film, also due to the type of films Paramount usually makes such as action/adventure films, horror wouldn't fit the usual films that they make so it wouldn't be a wise choice.

• Lionsgate films is yet another prestigious film production company, responsible for films such as Expendables and American Psycho.
•  Due to the red colour scheme of the introduction this could be used as the introduction, as the red can show danger or and connote to aspects in horror films such as blood which is indeed a strong convention in horror films.

• Twisted pictures would be the perfect production company to use for our film opening due to the name and the logo, the word 'twisted' indicates that the film may be twisted or messed up, insisting that it will mess with the views mind
• The barbed wire indicates danger, as barbed wire is dangerous it shows that the nature of the film will also be dangerous by nature, all of these reasons put together indicate what kind of film the viewer will expect.

http://messmediatownley.blogspot.co.uk/2012/12/survey-analysis.html

Changing the Brightness/Contrast on iMovie

One of the potential problems faced with our filming was the lighting as we were shooting outdoors at a time of year where daylight was scarce, in order to ensure that we had a way around this I checked how I could change the brightness of a clip on iMovie.

Here is a picture I found on the internet of a dark forest, I played around with the lighting of the clip to see how it would look.

If the light was too bright and we needed to darken it, by changing the brightness and contrast to a darker setting this could have been achieved, heres the result.

As you can see, the shot is now darker, if this was needed I could create a dark scene simply by adjusting a few things, now I am going to make it brighter.

Now it is brightened you can see the forest more clearly and the source of light which is the moon stands out much more, in doing so you can make a dark shot bright which makes it easier to see all the features which are within the picture.

I now know that I can easily alter a video using iMovie if needed.

Moving Clips Montage

• Above is an embedded clip of a montage of moving clips put together
• In order to get the shots I did 3 things

1. I rode my skateboard while filming, it enabled me to get good movement as I was filming however as I needed to push the shot was unequal
2. I picked my skateboard up with my camera on top, depending on the camera this can be really helpful as you are on a flat base, was very effective in the end
3. Rolling my skateboard across the floor, this is very effective if the surface is flat as it resembles a panning effect, also as it can reach different speeds you can have the pace of the shot differ.

Ways to die in a psychological horror - Seyi

Different ways to die within a psychological horror

Due to the nature of psychological horrors the ways to die are generally logical, as many psychological horrors confine to real situations.

Games

• Psychological horrors which need to appear messed up to convey the insanity within the persons head so games are a good way of conveying this
• In films such as SAW, they play games toying with the victims mind, making them play games in order to survive, this uses the psychological factor extremely well as not only does the instigator of the violence have to be messed up in order to create such madness but it gets inside the victims head as their natural instinct to survive kicks in making them become extremely desperate individuals, this leads to irrational decisions which are often the ones that kill them.
• The games are generally a game for their life, different types of games, the game gives the villain all power in the situation.

Gore

• Another way of presenting death in a psychological way is gore, psychological horrors involve people that have gone mental and if you want to show an extremity of this you must show true gore
• In films such as human centipede they use extreme gore to show how mad this villain has gone, it unhinges the moral barriers that many films withhold, by doing a gory death you can make it as disgusting as possible to create effect

Use of Zombies in horror

• Zombies create their own genre within horror films, they are used incredibly well and could be a concept within our own one
• As simple as the concept of zombies are, they have been used incredibly well in films such as resident evil or programs such as walking dead, due to the carnivorous nature of the creature, even though there has never been any true sighting of zombies etc you have the ability to tweak their abilities, if you wanted to you could make them super fast or super strong

• The image of the zombie is incredibly important, the make up must convey a creature that isn't alive yet is still moving and breathing etc, therefore you must convey a dead body moving, by doing so the use of blood is effective, also the use of make up to show decomposition too, as these are dead bodies you must remember that maggots and other insects have had their way with the bodies, so something must be there to show this. 
• Sounds associated with zombies must also be utilised, the type of groan that they make which is the stereotypical noise, or if you want to give the zombie speech and the ability to say words like 'brains' that is also possible, however it must be extremely limited as these creatures are dead.

• FInally, movement of the zombie must be incredibly portrayed, the attacks to get food must be desperate as that is all they do, the way they walk should be slow and unfocused, not sure and certain as if they were human, also in a scenario where they are with other zombies they should rarely interact.

Types of Villains in Horror Films

"Normal" Looking villain

• Normal looking villains are the most mysterious in horror films, they present themselves to the world as ordinary personalities however the nature of the horrors they commit lie deep down in the persons personality. When introduced within films they appear to have very normal or good lives, and are not expected to play a part in criminal activity, this means that you must allocate time for them to be shown in a semi positive light, then the atrocities committed by this normal man are highlighted even more as as time goes on you begin to pick apart the person behind the mask that this character will generally use to conceive his true identity.

Stereotypical Villain

• The stereotypical villain is a villain where they use fear to create a character, ghosts, clowns etc, things that people have a clear phobia of, this is useful as it exploits peoples fears to make the film more effective, not only do they enhance fears but they can also create fears as they can make you see something in a completely new night e.g. a clown usually being seen as a funny thing being seen as a danger in horror films

Aliens/Monsters

• The use of aliens or monsters is very effective in horror films, by creating something from scratch you take away limitations that the creature may have, due to the fact the creature is your own creation you are the person that gives it its attributes, therefore the things you can do within the film to make it scary is unlimited

Real Scenarios

• Using real creatures such as sharks for example, like in jaws, you already have the attributes of the creature, by having this ready you know what you can do and what extent you can go to, it may limit you but it however it will also save time on creating a move set on the creature and allow to make you more creative in the way it claims its victims

Low Budget Horror Films

Aspects to low budget horror films

• Due to the low budget the cameras used wont be of an incredibly high quality therefore the shots wouldn't be of a high quality e.g. 720p

• Also as there is less equipment going into creating camera angles means that the range of camera angles shown for one shot would be extremely limited

• Due to the lack of money going into the editing process the colour schemes of the shots couldn't be as effective as the director had hoped, as they were too strong and were out of sync with the other scenes

• Lighting techniques will also be downgraded due to the low budget used, e.g. less use of broad lights and more use of torch /spot lights which will cover a small space and will not get you the desired effect

Grave Encounters - Seyi

Camera Angles

• In order to set the scene in a way that doesn't take focus on the presenter they used an establishing shot of the house with this man in the way, this way he can set the scene and introduce himself and keep the house relevant

• This use of shot still involves the establishing shot as seen before but also incorporates a two shot to get the advertising aspect out of the shot

• To show the genuine nature of the shot, this extreme close up shot of the bag wiping the lens is incredibly effective as it shows us this is real footage

• This long shot shows the depth of the corridor in the mental asylum, the darkness at the end makes you wonder what is in the distance

Editing

• The editing techniques used in this are basic, mainly continuity editing due the nature of the clips used they need to get a flow of time within it, therefore continuity editing needed to be used so that the viewer could get a view of time going by

Sound
All of the sound has consisted of the noise that has come from the clip itself, mostly diagetic, this is because they needed to maintain a home video type feel from it therefore they couldn't add any non diagetic sound such as soundtracks etc

Mise-en-scene

• Abandoned house
• Team of young adults
• Unprofessionally shot video
• Mental asylum

Deconstuction - The Mist (Supermarket Scene)

http://www.putlocker.com/file/29E24259A8E4FE51#

Camera Angles

• High angle shot to decrease the amount of power in the situation, in this shot they have just come into the back of the supermarket to confront whatever it is outside of the store, as they do not yet know what is outside of the store in order to diminish their power a high angle shot is used as they have little power in the shot due to the fact that they do not know what they are up against

• The protagonist is always shot at a higher angle to the man trying to confront him, this is because within the conversation the protagonist has the more intelligent argument so he is never belittled by the other man, even though the other man is constantly trying to assert his authority onto him, even though the height difference is blatant, no attempt to try and equalise them has been made

• This close up shot isn't to make you notice any features on his face but to create a tight fitting shot, by making the framing of this shot tight you take away the amount of choice he has left in the situation and in this case due to the monster he is facing this shot reduces his choice in whether he lives or dies

• This shot is effective due to where the camera is placed and his body positioning, its on the same angle as the man but placed on the floor, it links in with his outstretched arm as it shows the little percentage of his body that we can see and how much has been claimed by the monster

Editing

• Many eye line matches are used in this part of the film due to the monster that has confronted them, what they have done is that they have shown the tentacle that has grabbed this man and shown the fight to keep him alive, the eye line matches show the reaction of someone within the argument and then the piece of action that they are looking at, this was used very well as the actors reactions matched perfectly what was going on

Sound

• When the tentacle grabs the man, there is a fast paced non diagetic drum beat that continues all the way till he dies, this resembles the fast past action going on in shot.
• When the argument starts there is no non diagetic sound at all in the shot in order to not give away too much about what is about to happen, it leaves us guessing
• There is a breeze type sound which resembles the movement of the mist as it blows across the shot

Mise-En-Scene

• Super market
• shot in a thick mist
• Relatively abandoned in this situation
• Mostly workers about
• 50/50 mix between women and men in shot

Diagetic Sound in Horror Films - Seyi

Use of screams - e.g. Amityville Horror

• In order to show fear, an effective method of conveying it must be used, screaming is a prime example
• A person screams when put in a situation where they fear something or are in danger and wish to notify someone and in most horror films someone is in danger and they wish to notify someone so screams are extremely useful
• Screams differ between genders, stereotypically women are the ones who scream in comparison to men, this is utilised extremely well in this film as the screams are mainly female, by doing so you get a high pitched shriek due to the fact that they are women, this shriek cuts through the air so much more than a males scream so the viewer will either be scared by it or alerted to it faster as it catches your attention quicker.
• Also, the scream can make the person seem more helpless which indicates that they are going to die, due to the situation you can see on screen e.g. a girl screaming in the presence of the person who is going to kill them.

Use of Gore - e.g. Flesh eating etc.

• Films such as zombie films e.g. Resident Evil where lots of gore is present, a squelchy sound generally occurs for things such as flesh eating or bloody flesh dropping.
• This is a subtle thing within horror films however it has a great effect overall within a scene
• In some cases it can be used to show you that someone has been wounded etc. however in some it can be used to show the extent of someones damage as that noise cannot be made without a liquid and in this case it is blood.

Use of Villains/Monsters 

• The sound that monsters create must create fear in not only the actors ears but also ours
• Factors such as growls etc. can create suspense and give us an indication into what the victim is dealing with, sometimes if the film is trying to show a mutated form of a common creature e.g. a mutant spider it will often make any noise that a spider is known to make, however, if the creature is relatively unknown or made up e.g. an alien improvisation must be used however it gives the director the chance to exaggerate and create a bigger effect
• If in certain cases it is not a monster but a villain e.g. a serial killer, the person must sound deranged in their speech and sounds created by movement such as dragging feet.

Se7en Opening Credits Deconstruction - Mollie, Seyi, Serena, Ella

The extreme close up shots of the fingers can indicate many things, firstly the uncleanliness under the nails seems to resemble blood which gives us the indication that this man has been in contact with a bloody item e.g. a dead body or a wounded person. Secondly this man also is shaving the skin off his fingers, not cutting his nails but shaving the skin off his fingers which is a form of self harming when looked at literally.

Secondly the sound being used when a jump cut is applied is extremely sharp, it resembles an abrupt sound like a car screeching etc, it brings in a psychological factor into the scene as the sound only comes when he is examining the blade and not cutting himself anymore.

To confirm that this man has actually hurt himself another extreme close up shot is shown when there is another extreme close up shot of him placing a tea bag within a cup of water, his fingers slip into the shot showing one of the fingers with a plaster showing that he was in need of minor medical care as a result of his actions, also when he is filing through a sorting cabinet, his fingers are also shown plastered.

Throughout the opening, we see a book being featured with this we see words that are cut out and altered too it. These words that have been shot to show they have been removed from this book with the use of a pen covering the words, ‘transsexual’ and ‘intercourse’, this may be to the protagonist seeing words as a bad influence, therefore we can infer that the book being shown is a Bible. 

In addition to this, the close up shot of the word ‘God’ has been removed, however the protagonist leaves the remaining of the text. Camera angles show the Bible with close ups and extreme close ups, often from the side showing the thickness of the book and we are able to see how each page is turned slowly, but also from the protagonists point of view. 

Speeding up the non-diegetic sound track when different shots of the book are shown as the credits move along adds a disjointed effect and sound effects have been added to create tension every time a new shot of the Bible is featured. A flashback of the book being turned is used frequently throughout the opening credits, this features several times, emphasising the protagonist working through the book and developing what they are doing. The Bible is very thick and we can see how it includes a lot of pages, and we can see how the colours are not a pure white and have a yellow tint, which is aided by the lighting, which emphasises the fact that the book is old.

Colour is used heavily throughout the clip in different ways. On example of this is the colour red. Red is used as a dominant colour throughout the clip. It is used as a film over the picture of the child that has been scribbled out.

The red in this shot covers most of the screen and also turned the black scribble red as well. This shows the death is frequent within the story. It also can be connoted as danger for the victims of the murders.

The other colours heavily used are black and white. Black and white are used in the typography as well as the actual clip. The colour black is the dominant colour of the two because by having

the white against the black background shows that innocence of the victims is much less significant than the suffering they feel. Black can also connote the mystery in their deaths.

The colours with and red are rarely ever used together. This may be to connote that the danger does not effect the innocence of the victim before they are murdered.

Photos of A Graveyard (Location)

• I had a particular interest in this photo as the graves within this photo stretch for many metres, this   picture would be effective if you we're to look at something or dangerous very far away as you would be able to pull off some really good long shots from here

•  I liked this photo as by putting the camera at this angle and shooting this line you see a lot of graves all lined up in formation as if they were resembling an army or a force of many people, this is a daunting sight as in films such as zombie films it makes you think of the danger that would occur if for example all of the bodies were to come alive etc, things like this can be utilised to create a very good effect

•  This entrance could also be used for a long shot however you can also create a tight fitting shot if you shoot this correctly, the narrowness of the entrance could make a great tight fitting shot which would portray whatever you wished it to portray depending on the situation

•  This next shot wouldn't be helpful due to the house in the background, if we were trying to make the shot come across as isolated in order to conform to the conventions of a horror film the house would take away that isolation there fore giving the victims more hope that we'd like to put across.

• This shot resembles the one above where the use of many gravestones can create fear, the shot stretches making you see may gravestones.

Graveyard Scene Deconstruction (Drag Me to Hell) - Seyi

• The use of the graveyard means that all establishing shots will capture all of the graves within the picture, adding suspense and mystery to the location, the size of some of the graves diminishes the dominant (the open grave) as it makes it appear a lot smaller to the viewer so it takes away all of her power, by using the graveyard from a high angle establishing shot you make whatever the focus is not powerful in the daunting surroundings.

• Within a graveyard you have many daunting figures around such as gravestones etc, with the lighting you illuminate the name which may have some significance to the storyline which in this case it does.

•  By using the dug up grave you create many verticals within the picture, you are therefore now giving the dominant power within the situation. This is another method of utilising the graveyard in order to create an effect

• With the resources you could utilise a graveyards main asset, corpses, as corpses are plentiful in graveyards if you wished to use one you easily could due to the appropriate setting you are in

• By utilising corpses you need to incorporate the attributes of a corpse, this is showing rigamortis, this is making the scene as realistic as possible as the hand she is grabbing is showing all the symptoms, and also the use of maggots with the decomposing body which also shows how realistic they wish to make the scene.

  

Deconstruction of film opening - Haunted Forest

I am once again going to use a horror movie set in a forest for my deconstruction

http://www.putlocker.com/file/O2S1GIL60MS8G0#

Camera Angles

Firstly Establishing shots are used to set the scene and emphasise where this is taking place, within a forest, also these establishing shots help conform to the connotations of a horror film by showing how isolated the destination is, only a waterfall, rocks and stream is shown and little sign of life is there except for the trees and the man.

Loose fitting is used in this shot however it is not used to signify that this man as some sort of choice or whatever as it doesn't match the situation, instead loose fitting is used in this situation to continue to emphasise how isolated the place is, by using loose framing you have made the shot wider so it is even more visible to see the lack of life around him

All camera shots are generally low angles to show who this character is, at the moment he seems to be an eager traveller exploring the great outdoors, however, as soon as we are aware of this creatures presence, the camera angles will soon change to high angle shots as he is now the least powerful entity in the situation.

This extreme close up shot makes the dominant the colour red, the colour values of the colour red due to the blood basically mean danger, this shot isn't exactly relevant as the injury is minor, but by showing this you make the viewers anticipate danger for this lone man in the forest.

This close up shot is the first sight we get of the creature that is stalking this man, it is a powerful shot as we now can see that this thing is coming from underground which makes it a lot more dangerous than we first anticipated.

Most directors use the eyes of a way of making you sympathise with someone or making you fear them, by doing this close up shot and showing the intense look in the eye of this creature you take away any way of the audience sympathising with it and you immediately make it just a dangerous creature.

Editing

• A lot of eye line matches were used within the opening scene to show what was happening mainly through the victims eyes but sometimes through the creatures eyes, this made us see how much danger the man was in when he was unaware of it and also when in order to make us feel the anxiety he felt when faced with the creature we saw the situation through his eyes so we could feel his fear
• Match of action is used when the protagonist of the scene is looking at his injury then putting the stick out of his leg

Sound

• Most of the sound e.g. the backing tracks are non diagetic, as it runs through the entire opening scene
• The diabetic sound is the sound of the nature around him e.g. the small waterfall, his footsteps of the various terrain
• The swift noise that occurs when the creature passes the screen emphasises its speed as well as whatever power it may have
• The intense non diagetic sound that appears when the hand emerges from the floor, is designed to make the audience jump

Mise-en-Scene

• Shot within a forest
• Man in late 30s used as protagonist in the opening scene
• Grey looking monster used as the killer