Questionnaire

As part of our research, as a group we created a 10 multiple-choice answer questionnaire. We posted the links on Twitter which got us enough responses to reach our target of 70 responses, this also means that most of the answers are from people that are our target audience.

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/RR5ZDTP

1. Location: Where would you find a horror scene scariest/most effective?

• Forest
• Warehouse
• Graveyard
• Haunted house

2. Cast: Which group of people would you find best to fit in a horror film?

• Group of teens
• mixed age group
• group of children

3. Type: What type of horror would you prefer to see?

• Psychological
• Slasher (killing off characters one at a time)
• Supernatural e.g possession, ghosts, paranormal activities. 

4. Type of villain (camera angle): What view of the villain would you prefer to have?

• Point of View from the villain 
• From the perspective of the victim 
• I'd rather not see the villain within the opening
• I'd prefer to see the villain in the opening

5. Type of villain (appearance): What would you prefer the villain to look like?

• Clean cut
• Dirty/grimy
• Intimidating
• Quiet/timid

6. If a child was used as a villain, do you think it could be as effective as an adult?

• Strongly agree
• Agree
• Disagree
• Strongly disagree

7. What scares you the most out of the following?

• The supernatural
• Being trapped/entrapment
• Darkness
• Fear of the unknown

8. Do you think that gore and blood is effective?

• Yes
• No
• Sometimes

9. Sound: Do you think that silence is effective in creating tension?

• Yes
• No
• Sometimes

10. Do you think that a soundtrack creates tension?

• Yes
• No
• Sometimes

Shroom Forest and Clip deconstruction

• This is an establishing shot of the woods.
• by using this shot it shows all the trees which create vertical lines. this conforms to the convention of strength because this is the location that the murder is at his strongest.
• the shot has an almost green tinge to it showing the audience the corruption of the murderer.
• the lighting is very low key to show that they are at a 'deep, dark forest'. this makes it more scary for the audience.
• it is an eyelevel shot to show what the people in the film would see if they were stood here.

• this is a close up shot of two characters in the woods.
• again the trees are create vertical lines conforms to the convention of strength because this is the location that the murder is at his strongest especially as there are two people in there now to kill.
• in this shot one of the trees also creates a diagonal adding tension to the scene.
• the blue hat that the character on the left is wearing subverts the characterisitcs of the character. the blue hat should represent masculinilty and calmness but the boy is acting quite child like as he is worrying about the murderer.
• on the other hand the black clothes worn by the character on the right conform to the situation very heavilly. for example both his hair and coat are black showing the mystery of the killer, the sufferignt hey are both going through or about to go through and the threat the killer has on their life.
• the characters are at a personal distance showin the audience they are friends and not alone.
• the framing in this shot is moderately loose showing the audience that it is possible to get away from the killer but it is very unlikely. 

• This shot is a medium shot of one of the characters.
• the lighting in this shot contrasts as there are parts where you can see just the sky then parts that have dark parts showing tradgey.
• the colour blue is used in both his top and hat which again subverts the characterisitcs of the character. you can also see that he subverts the convention of masculinty and calm by the expression on his face.
• the composition in this scene is very vertical. the character subverts the sense of strength by his facial expression.
• the character is show at the edge of the shot showing that there is nothing he can do about his murder and that he is insignificant as he cant do anything about it.
• this is an open shot to show the whole surroundngs of the woods.

non - digetic sound inspiration - theme songs

By theme tune I mean the song to go over the titles. This song has to fit the opening of the film and also match the typoraphy. as it it the first thing you hear it will need to be perfect.

• The simplicity of this theme song creates suspense as it is quite a haunting song.
• There is a riff that is repeated non stop through out this piece which make the theme effective because it make the audience feel like they are waiting for a massive climax.
• the music then gets louder. this is effective because it shows me that to make something effective and haunting you dont need to change a song you can just change the sound of the piece.  

• This song doesnt sound as scary.
• It almost sounds quite child like subverting the audiences expectations for the film.
• it is light, bouncy and fun. almost like background music for a magic show.
• i think the light bubbly theme tune is a good idea for a film to subvert the conventions but i think that for a 2 minute film opening it would not be suitable as it wouldnt fit just a film opening. 

• this theme tune has similar effects to the one from 28 days later.
• it is disjunct but still in time making the suspense build.
• the way that the strings are introudced for bursts of sound adds suspense because its sudden and the audience dont suspect it (abit like the events in the film).
• half ways through the song a sound is played to add a scary feel to the song. it sounds likea faint scream in the background this forshadows what will hapen later in the film.
• Like the puppet master this song gets louder too creating suspense. it also makes the audience jump as it gets louder quickly and doesnt build up to it.

Deconstruction of Chernobyl Diaries Trailer

• The establishing shot of the four friends together after seeing them on their journeys through different countries enjoying themselves gives the audience a false sense of security. 
• Only until after this scene do we see anything that connotes danger. The non-diegetic sound of an alarm is played suggesting that something is about to go wrong on their "extreme tourism" trip. 
• The writing is on a red strip, which connotes danger and death. The writing on the red strips reveals what happened in Chernobyl which is where the group are visiting. This leaves the audience worried for whats coming next for the characters. 

• This high angle shot from a balcony suggests that they're being watched from the moment they enter the site. 

• The close-up shot of the camera and the photo that has been taken on it whilst the female character is zooming in on one window makes it clear to us that she has spotted someone out of the normal in her photo and from what we can see as the audience, it looks as though it is a ghost. 
• A non-diegetic laugh is included with this shot, it sounds like a childs laugh which seems completely unconnected to the characters so we relate it to the area that they're within. 
• There is also a sudden zoom into the camera which is paired with a loud non-diegetic sound which shocks the audience, maybe to panic them. 

• Straight after the shot above, a high angle shot makes it look as though the group are being watched as they're in the car. It's as though it's being repeated to show that they're being watched from different angles, maybe by different things. 
• The non-diegetic sound of the childs laugh acts as a sound bridge between the two shots. 

• This medium shot of the female character is tightly framed, as though she cannot escape from where she is. 
• As the audience we can see a dark figure at the bottom of the stairs that she has not noticed, this makes us worry for her as from the previous events that we have seen, it's highly suggested to us that this is going to be something in the character's favour. 
• Non-diegetic sound which sounds like somebody breathing heavily is included here which also adds to the mystery of what's going on because it is not indicated to us that the breathing is coming from any of the other characters. 
• After this shot, we see the other characters being distracted by a child figure that has appeared which acts as a distraction because we then hear a very sudden scream and the shot goes straight back the the female character (above) being dragged down the stairs (above). 

Inspiration- Costumes

Shaun of the Dead and 28 Weeks Later.

When looking at the costumes used for zombies in films, they seem to always be dressed in normal clothes that have just been blood stained. Also the use of contact lenses to change the colour of the characters eyes are used in Shaun of the Dead which separates them from the other characters within the films that are human.

American Psycho. 

Throughout American Psycho, Patrick, the protagonist wears this costume, it subverts the audiences expectations of his character as he is a murderer dressed in what seems to be just a normal business man's suit, and the audiences expectations of a man in a suit is just a working class man, who works somewhere like the city. His suit looks very pristine all of the time, which reflects his character which is revealed to us in the opening of the film and how that he cares very much about his appearance, we begin to understand his vanity, yet has no emotions. During the film, he puts on a plastic anorak type jacket which allows him to axe another character to death, preventing any harm to his immaculate suit, when he is done with the murder, he removes the jacket to reveal his suit again to show that it has gone unaffected by the murder, just like the character has. 

Orphan. 

This costume that is worn by Esther in Orphan contrasts with the character that she is. The audiences expectations of this character would be an innocent child, as that is usually how children are perceived and her outfit suggests no different to that at a first glance. This contrasts widely with the idea of good vs evil, with her being evil whilst dressed in a child's outfit. The old fashioned dress that she is wearing is collared and patterned which suggests that she is one of many. Also her ribbon around her neck and wrist are both a deep shade of red, which connote death. Her hair is slicked back with ribbons, which again adds to her innocence and to the fact that she is a child contrasting with the evil character that she actually is.

Lighting

Lighting is used in horror films to add tension and to highlight both objects and characters. 
Different horror films also have a tone of lighting throughout their films in order to create this anxiety.
For example The Ring uses lighting in a way that makes the audience feel nervous and creates an awareness that things aren't quite right.
This is done by the green lighting hue that is used throughout the film.

Especially in this shot there is the TVs highlighted due to them emitting a light source making them brighter and stand out more, adding effectiveness to the movie, where TVs are often featured. 

From this shot we can see how the protagonist is not highlighted with light, but the main focus is on objects behind here, that are all white and are square shaped, like a TV is. 

Throughout the movie, there is no obvious light shone on the main protagonists, showing how she is losing her life as the movie progresses.

I have also found that artifical lighting is used in a way to highlight features around a setting.

For example in The Strangers, this shot has features around the room highlighted with the lighting, both the lamps and candles create a brightness in a room which creates darkness in the centre. Therefore when the villain appears this highlights him more but in a subtle way.

Here we see the protagonist in a state on panic, the lighting shone directly on her face at a little bit of a high angle highlights the sweat beads on her face showing her anxiety. 

deconstruction - the eye

The Eye - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_wVU8CRESp4

Camera Angles 

• First met with an establishing shot setting the scene in a dark and isolated place.
• We see lots of close ups of objects, more than we see of faces.
• Tight framing in the shots before she hangs herself, there is no escape.
• The masked person before we see all of the other person, showing power and dominance with these camera angles.

Sound

• Non Digetic music is being played in the background adding a disjointed effect to the whole scene, creating tension and anxiety. 
• There is digetic sound of heavy breathing, and sobbing coming from a character that we cannot see the face of.
• Can hear screams but cannot tell who makes these screams, assumption coming from a house, but it's in fact the people outside the house.

Editing

• Jump cuts are featured throughout cutting to different shots, adding to the disjointed state.
• Parallel editing used, we see people inside the house and outside, making both events in the scene related.
• Mix different shots with blacked out shots.

Mise en scene

• Dark shots.
• Dry/Dead forest featured, potentially showing what is to happen.
• "Bruja" - meaning "Witch" in Spanish is written on the door in red, conating blood, danger, and death.
• Shadows used to see the people rather than them themselves.
• Long wire is shown and an old fashioned chair.
• Tear falls from an eye - linking back to the movie title. 

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.

Se7en Deconstruction - sloth death

• this is an establishing shot of the police cars driving up to the house.
• it conforms to its genre because is it raining and usually deaths happen in bad weather conditions
• in this scene everything is really dark meaning the light on the police cars stand out identifying their importance.

• by showing the body at this angle means that all of the lines in the shot are diagonal making the shot more tense and showing the obscurity in the death.
• also by having tigh framing it shows the victim had no way out.
• the body is put in the centre of the shot so the audience have nothing else to focus on forcing them to analyse the body.
• this shot is of medium density because although you vcan see most cuts and injuries on the body some are covered.

• 

• a close up shot of the picture found after the death are you used to show the sick mind of the killer.
• the gloves the detective is wearing also help this because they are green.
• the black and white photos show the innocence of the victims anf the suffering they felt. it also portrays the sense of mystery about their deaths.

Sources of Inspiration; Use of Corridors

• the corridor in the possesion is painted green making the scene uneasy for the audience. it also brings a sense of illness to the scene showing the audience something is wrong with the character on the bike.
• by using this shot it gives the audience a sense of anticipation because its shows you how long the corridor is meaning it will take the little boy a while to ride down it and so there is probably going to be something at the end because it builds suspense as he rides down.

The pros of using a dark room or corridor

Doesn’t cost a lot

Can still look really effective with the right angles and sound

Easy to find

A corridor can create suspense because you never know what’s at the end.

Easier to light than a wood because you can hang lights off of walls ect.

Se7en Opening Titles Deconstruction

Typography - 

• The typography looks handwriting and almost childlike.
• the white against the black background showed innocence of the victims against the suffering they feel and the mystery of their deaths.
• the writing also has a loose framing showing the isolation of the victims before their deaths.

Graphic matches





The first shot is a shot of the 'killer' cutting some film. It is a close up shot to show the audience exactly what he's doing.                                                                                                                           

The next shot is a close up of the 'killer' cutting a picture up. It is also a close up as the graphic match is of the scissors he is using to cut up the items.

• while the credits are being shown flashes of evidence comes up on the screen. 
• this gives the audience clues to the murder that are revealed later on in the film.

• Clues are shown throughout the opening titles.
• for example this shot is a close up of a drawing of one of the murders.
• this again gives a clue as to what will happen later on in the film.