Nursery Rhymes

For our piece we need to decided on what nursery rhyme we are going to choose for the end of our opening.

Our first choice is,,, Goosey Goosey Gander

Goosey Goosey Gander, whither shall I wander?

Upstairs and downstairs and in my Lady's chamber.

There I met an old man who wouldn't say his prayers,

So I took him by his left leg and threw him down the stairs.

This could be quite disturbing when made into a song especially the threw him down the stairs but nut I feel that it may not be the best one for our piece as it may also be quite hard to make it scary.

Our second choice is... Twinkle Twinkle Little Star

Twinkle, twinkle, little star,
How I wonder what you are!
Up above the world so high,
Like a diamond in the sky!
Although this i generally a happier nursery rhyme I think it coul be brilliant as a scary one. I think panning and EQ will make this a very goo nursery rhyme to use. it is also one of the most well known ones so the audience wil relate back to the childhood making the child figure more scary.

Our last choice is... The Teddy Bears Picnic

If you go out in the woods today,
You'd better not go alone.
It's lovely out in the woods today,
But safer to stay at home.

This would be treally good in our media as it relates to a woods which is where our opening is set. I would also be good because everyone knows that its is a bout teddy bears and teddy bears relate to our little girl villian.

Out of all three choices i think The Teddy Bears Picnic is going to be the best one for our piece because it relates to our story the most.

Theory of Equilibrium

The theorist of theory of equilibrium was Tzvetan Todorov. Todorov's narrative theory is based on this - an equilibrium is set up which is the disrupted, causing disequilibrium, which is the resolved in to a new equilibrium by the end of the tale.

Equilibrium is a state in which opposing forces or influences are balanced or it is a state of physical balance. In media this means that the scene is calm and peaceful and there is not sign of chaos (or in other words disequilibrium).

Disequilibrium is a loss or lack of balance. This basically mean there is a point of chaos when one or more things happen to interrupt the calm and peaceful scene.
Disequilibrium would increase as the suspense increases and reaches its peak when the suspense does. For example disequilibrium would increase if a man was climbing into a scary dark loft and it would reach its peak if there was a huge bang or scream off camera.

This is a disequilibrium graph for Nightmare on Elm Street, Shrooms and our own film opening.

Recordings evaluation.

This was the first thing I composed...


Out of the three things I recorded in the studio this was my least favourite. I don't think this sounds scary enough for the opening scene of our film. We want it to sound scary and haunts but I feel this sounds more like a group of aliens talking and so almost become funny. This is not what we want to portray to our audience and so we will not use it.

This was the second...


I preferred this one to the first recording. As it has a sense of mystery about it. Even though it ticks the criteria of being scary and haunting it strikes me as something you would hear in a 1950s film because it is like talking down a phone. We also wanted it to really sound like a child and not a 'woman' as such.


I then composed this one...


This is my favourite of the three because it ticks all of the criteria we wanted in the sound. It is chilling and haunting as well as being able to recognise a child like voice. I think it will go really well of our close up shots of our child villain.

As a group we have decided to use the last recording because it sounds the best for what we want to achieve in our opening. This week we want to get our child villain (Leah) into the studio to record the final piece. Having a child speaking will finish off the piece nicely and match the shot we will use. When the opening is finished the music and filming will complement each other giving the audience a chilling experience.

Mise En Scene post

We used Elyse as the girly, "slutty" character in our opening because of her blonde hair, blonde hair being a stereotype of a girly girl. We used a lot of make up on her face, (a lot of eye shadow, heavy coverage foundation and a bright lipstick), summery and little clothing in winter to attempt to show her lack of awareness of things around her and how she cares more for her looks than health and also we curled her hair fully to emphasise this and how she cares more for her looks and appearance. Elyse's nails were pink and glittery which emphasises her femininity.

Heather and Stevie, the couple, were dressed similar to try and make them look together as one as if they were in sync. They wore dark denim bottoms, heather wore dark denim shorts and stevie wore dark denim jeans. By putting heather in shorts it magnified her femininity when with Stevie as the shorts had a girly look to them. We chose these to characters because they both have dark hair and a similar completion reinforcing the fact they are in sync and like one person. The only difference with the hair is heather has blonde dip dye and so we used this as maybe she is a slightly slutty character (relating to the blonde hair of Elyse) this parts her from Stevie and so maybe she is thinking about ending the relationship. Heather had red nails connoting her passionate feelings.

Shay wears dark clothes because he's not an eccentric character but we can see that he is obsessed with his looks because of his expensive footwear (which is the cause of the argument with Elyse) and large jewellery.

Holly was reading a book called Spilled Blood which we wanted to act as a foreshadow of future events. She wore little makeup to show her little interest in what she looks like, and her neat and tidy plaits show her focus on organisation which is emphasised by her glasses because of the stereotype of geeks wearing glasses.

Background information for music soundtrack

Track one.

Where?
We are going to put a quiet and slightly unusual track when the characters are walking to their destination.

Why?
We are using a track here to cover up some of the noise from the cars on the road by the field. We are also using it to in force the fact that something bad is going to happen to the audience.

What will it sound like?
This track will be quite peaceful but with an quirky edge to show the audience nothing is happening at the moment but it will later on. I will also make the music quite recognisable this means that I can repeat it later on when the murder is about to happen but this time scarier and adding more suspense.

Instruments.
I think I will use just piano in this track to make it more 'normal' sounding. By using a piano the audience will not suspect anything because it is a sound that people will recognise and feel 'safe' around.

Track 2

Where?
The next track will be played as heather finds the jacket Elyse was wearing before she runs off.

Why?
This will add suspense to the scene making the audience sit on the edge of their seat waiting for what will happen next.

What will it sound like?
This track will use the same chord sequence and note pattern of the first track but this time will not be as peaceful. Instead of being in the major key I will change it to the minor key. This will instantly make the track sound scarier. I will modify this track so it sounds a lot different to the first but the audience will still recognise the basic chord and note progression.

Instruments.
I will use the piano again but this time adding violins. I will put a tremeloon the violin which will also add suspense.

Character Make-up

Holly

• Foundation - I didn't put Foundation on Holly because we wanted to see slight imperfections so the audience could see she not as 'perfect' as the other two but i did put tinted moisturizer on her to show shes confident about the way she looks but feels slightly insecure around the other two girls. 
• Lips - a light pale lipstick to show slight femininity but not as much as the other two girls. By using this lipstick shows the audience that she is almost trying to fit in with the other two girls but is not confident enough to wear a bright, highly feminine colour.
• Eyes - a slight eyeliner line was used on her eyelid to define her eyes. I used this as in the clip she is reading a book, with eye definition it makes her eyes stand out emplying that she uses them alot and they're her 'main' feature.

Heather

• Foundation -  i used a light coverage foundation for heather as she needed some coverage but not as much as elyse. Using a light coverage meant she looked near enough flawless but as a person felt comfortable enough around other people, especially her boyfriend, not to look perfect.
• Lips - a coral lipstick was used for heather to bring out her femininity. this lipstick was brighter than hollys but not as bright as elyses showing relating to the amount of femininity shown through each character.
• Eyes - A thicker line of eyeliner was used on heather just to reinforce the fact she is wearing make up to the audience.

Elyse

• Foundation - A heavy coverage foundation was used for elyse to cover her face and hide any imperfections to giver her the 'flawless' look. this could also be implied that she is extremely insecure anout the way she looks which is why she is the way she is.
• Lips -  A bright pink lipstick is used for Elyse to add to over the top makeup. Using the pink colour adds more feminity.
• Eyes - Elyse eyes were very over the top and dramtic. by usinfg browns it makes elyses blue eyes stand out alot. the eyeshadow reinforces the fact that she feels she need alot of make up to hide the way she actualy looks.

Typical Slasher Movie Characters

The couple

• Usually madly in love.
• would die for each other
• never apart and when they are they're always talking about each other
• no real typical costume

Jock

• Macho man
• lots of muscle
• thinks he's the best looking man in the world
• very sexist
• thinks every girl should drop to his feet
• baseball jacket of some type

Dumb blonde

• usually very sexual and provocative 
• has literally one brain cell so she can breathe 
• very inquisitive
• doesn't understand puns, or jokes either
• has to have everything explained to her.
• short skirt, low cut top.

The intellectual

• Very smart
• knows just about everything about anything
• makes witty and nerdy puns
• knows when something strange is happening
• first person to realise they are in danger.
• long hem lines, turtle neck jumper, glasses

 

Fool

• usually the one that does drugs
• doesn't take life seriously
• finds everything funny
• very laid back
• only bothered about himself, very selfish.
• baggy clothes, jogging bottoms, jumpers

Outsider

• usually there because someone felt they needed to invite them
• normally a goth or emo sometimes a dork
• very quiet, very shy
• doesn't get involved in a lot
• dark clothes, nothing to extravagant

Virgin

• usually very religious
• very naive, doesn't know of the dangers outside of her home
• used to pick on in sexual joke, usually made by the jock
• dresses very 'proper'.

http://messmediatownley.blogspot.co.uk/2012/12/teenage-costume-inspiration.html
                                                                                                                                       

Basic Possessed Child Makeup Ideas

By putting a slight colour on the lips in the middle thins out the lips adding to the ill look of the child.

i chose the pink because its close to a natural colour but not too natural so it washes them out.

For the eyes i used a brown eye shadow to make the eyes appear tired and sunken in.

this gives the effect of an ill child again making the audience more frightened and scared of the child. This is also shows the 'possessed' side of the child which make it scarier for the audience because research shows that possessed or ill children make people more afraid and fearful.

By using bronzer on the cheek it bring the cheek bones out making the face look thinner and gormless.

this would be scarier to the audience because the child would look ill instead of healthy. 

This is the overall look its a very basic one that only the lips and eyes really stand out. On the next go I will make my skin paler and make the cheeks stand out and use a darker colour on the eyes. I think i will also use a slightly paler colour for the lips aswell to make it more natural.

The use of nursery rhymes to create fear and suspense.

By using nursery rhymes it allows the audience to delve into their past making them scarier. If we use a child protagonist nursery rhymes would fit in really well.

here are some inspiration examples of how i can use nursery rhymes to create fear and suspense.

• this is my favourite one of all the nursery rhymes because it has so many different reasons why it is scary.
•  it uses a violin sound over the top of the nursery rhyme that almost represents a child screaming.
• it then uses thoses violins to shound like wind blowing by using a low tremelo.
• at the end it uses a slight drum beat to sound like a train going over a track
• then it makes the sound of a train whistle and fades to end the song which leaves the audience one the edge of their seat and leaves them wanting to know more.
• one thing i would change on this though is you cant really hear the nursery rhyme as much as i would like and so i would turn the gain up.

• this is scary because the voice is uncomfortably high pitched.
• it also has no backing or sound and so is just purely voice bringing a sort of creepiesness to it.
• i like the childlike giggle at the end of this one because it makes a noise that would usually not be scray but would be cute and turns it to give the audience chills.

• this one is not necessarilly scary it is more creepy.
• the gain on the voice haas been turned up and the EQ has been turned down causing the almost tinny efect on the voice.
• just like the one before there is no backing track to it and so it causes the audience to listen to the voice asnd words making it scarier for them.
• one thing i dont like about this one is at the end when the child says 'we all fall down' she says it going up the major scale. this almost breaks the creepy effect and changes the mood of the song we just heard.

http://messmediatownley.blogspot.co.uk/2013/01/costumes.html

http://messmediatownley.blogspot.co.uk/2012/11/photos-of-graveyard-location.html

How to make music scary

Scary music is music that is uncomfortable to listen to. Some things composers do to make music sound scary are:

Using minor scales instead of major scales because minor scales sound more emotive than major scales. The verse part of "Teddy Bear's Picnic" is scary because it is completely made up of the minor scale where as the chorus part uses both making it less effect to create fear.

Atonality and dissonance: Your mind's ear wants to hear a melody. By not using any scale at all, it keeps you from having something comfortable to listen to, this sets up fear in the audience. This is reinforced when the notes don't add up to a single chord, instead they clash with each other and become uncomfortable.

Lack of meter - Bach's "Tocatta in D minor" has a scary feel to it. this is because he does uses alot of uneven spaces between the notes, thus throwing off your mind's ear's desire for rhythmic balance.

Extreme voicing: Using only very low notes gives a dread feeling and similarly, using only very high notes also feels uncomfortable to your mind's ear.

Literalism: An example of this is Bernard Hermann's score for "Psycho", where violins sound like a woman screaming.

A Nightmare on Elm Street Deconstruction

• this is a medium shot of a gaurd walking up to the cell of the boy in prison.
• by having the boy sat up high and crouched it makes him look bigger than the guard.
• although the guard is bigger that the convict, the convict takres up more of the shot making him the dominant.
• this converts the usual convention that the boy has the power because being a convict he obviously doesnt.
• by having the boy cruled up it shows him as quite child like. this shows the audience that although he is in prison he doesnt really belong there.
• also the face he is almosed squeezed in the corner but the shot is loosely framed shows that although he feels he is trapped he still has the possibility to sort out the problem. 

•  this is the first close up shot of the murderer that we see as an audience.
• eventhough this is a close up of the murder he still does not reveal his whole face keeping his full identity still a mystery.
• by having aclose up of the side of their faces means that you can still see the emotions on each of their faces and their reactions too.
• the darkness of thsis shot also adds suspense beacause although you can see the boys face you have to look really closely to see the detail on the murderers face because he is more of an outline at a first look.
• this shot has diagonal composition adding tension and anxiety to the shot.
• This shot is shallow. Only one plane is in focus. this isolates the characters from the background of the shot.
• The characters are centered in the frame meaning they are imbortant objects is the shot.
• this shot has very tight framing showing the audience there is no escape for the boy.

•  as i am the one in our group studying the music i chose this shot because of the way silence makes it effective.
• before tis shot you have a point of view shot of the character looking for the murderer then you see this medium shot of the character being stabbed by him.
• while the point of view shot is happening there is almost complete silence apart rom a couple of quiet digetic sounds.
• this builds up tension as there is nothing (like non digetic music) to seperate you from the scene. the audience feel completely submerged in the story and feel like they are almost inside the film.
• i like the idea of silence used this way because it is very effective when it comes to the fear factor and drwing the audience in.

Vulnerability effects of Protagonists

Young child.

by having a young child as the protagonist it would play with the audiences emotions  they become very vulnerable when on their own because they cannot fend for themselves. by using a child protagonist it will build up the tension and fear in the audience. A young girl would play with the emotions more as a girl is seen to be more vulnerable that a boy but considering the age of the child would be between 5 and 14 a young girl would not be more vulnerable that a young boy.

Older teen.

Sometimes using an older teen can work in favour of vulnerability or not depending on how you portray the character. If you use a 14 year old girl that is quite and timid the audience will feel more fear for her if the murder comes to kill her becuase they know how quite, timid and vulnerable she would be. Whereas compared to if we chose a 19 year old boy the audience would not feel as  much fear because he would more likely be able to defend himself.

An adult

an adult protagonist doesnt particularly strike and audience as vulnerable but obviously still does show a little vulnerability but not as much as the other groups of people. for a child/teen audience an adult is someone they look up to meaning they wouldnt see an adult as tvery vunerable as they have seen adults fend for themselves. an adult audience would feel silight more scared for an adult because they dont look up to them and may even think of them in that position.

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.

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.

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.