Evaluation question 2
https://www.flickr.com/photos/140035240@N05/albums/72157681440334305/with/33452190355/
Wednesday 15 March 2017
"How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?"
Evaluation question 2
https://www.flickr.com/photos/140035240@N05/albums/72157681440334305/with/33452190355/
Monday 13 March 2017
Monday 6 March 2017
Monday 27 February 2017
Thursday 2 February 2017
Monday 23 January 2017
Thursday 19 January 2017
Thursday 17 November 2016
Survey Monkey Responses
33 female responses
Total= 50
6 often responses
11 never responses
33 occasionally responses
22 psychological responses
5 zombie responses
3 gothic responses
5 vampire responses
7 supernatural responses
6 other responses:
"Don't watch horror".
7 effective music responses
1 supernatural characters/ events response
8 haunted house events/people getting possessed by demons responses
7 clown responses
4 violent, bloody or graphic events responses
2 masks responses
1 serial killers response
5 other responses:
"All of the above".
8 music/soundtrack responses
22 storyline responses
8 characters responses
4 gorey scenes responses
5 camera angles responses
3 other responses:
"Jump scares".
7 woods responses
18 hospital responses
7 abandoned school responses
4 other responses:
"All of the above."
"An old castle".
4 End of the Phone Call responses
8 Her responses
10 Listen Don't Speak responses
3 Lest Us Forget responses
4 The Day it Happened responses
11 In Loving Memory responses
8 Other responses:
"Beneath."
"Here We Lie".
"Annabelle."
"The Omen."
"The Others."
"The Ring."
"The Purge."
"The Conjuring."
"Seven."
"The Conjuring 2."
"Woman In Black."
"IT."
"Insidious."
"Scream."
"Theatre of Blood."
"What we do in the Shadows."
"Dark Water."
"Misery."
"Exorcist."
Most popular response: "The Shining".
This survey was helpful to me to see what the public think about horrors and how their opinions could influence a lot of my filming preparation, eg. my film is going to be a psychological horror, which was the most popular genre in my survey. Finding out what people thought about the different titles was helpful to see which one I should use so that I can start working on my mast heads and titles for my poster or magazine. Knowing whether they were male or female allowed me to work out what the different genders picked in general, and knowing what their favorite film is I found helpful, as it allowed me to see what people find effective in different horror films. I could be inspired from some of "The Shining" being the most popular response & look at it's scenes to see what is the most effective form of scaring the audience.
Monday 24 October 2016
Planning the filming
The following camera angles are what I am going to film for my trailer.
Victim (protagonist of trailer) shot angles:
Close up: Her hand holding a necklace her sister gave to her
Wide shot, tracking shot, pan: Girl walking in the garden
Following the girl in front and behind
Point of view shot/subject filming: sees the caravan through the girl's eyes
Tilt shot of her looking up to the sky
Wide shot of bedrooms, garden, caravan and the house in general to establish location
Close-up of wounds on the girl's body
Point of view shots: opening and closing doors
Mug shots of girl screaming showing emotion
Wide shots of her inside her sister's bedroom crying
Hand-held shots of girl falling to floor
Camera angles for the dead sister:
Black and white or sepia flashbacks at start of trailer. hand-held shots and subject filming (through sister's eyes) of her in garden walking, turning round and smiling at the camera, filming her from behind, sitting in the car, close-ups of her being happy.
In contrast: the sister believes that she can see her sister's dead body wherever she goes and goes mad. Dead body is lying on floor with messy hair, simple dark clothing and open eyes lying on the floor in wide shots in kitchen, bathroom and bedroom floors.
Victim (protagonist of trailer) shot angles:
Close up: Her hand holding a necklace her sister gave to her
Wide shot, tracking shot, pan: Girl walking in the garden
Following the girl in front and behind
Point of view shot/subject filming: sees the caravan through the girl's eyes
Tilt shot of her looking up to the sky
Wide shot of bedrooms, garden, caravan and the house in general to establish location
Close-up of wounds on the girl's body
Point of view shots: opening and closing doors
Mug shots of girl screaming showing emotion
Wide shots of her inside her sister's bedroom crying
Hand-held shots of girl falling to floor
Camera angles for the dead sister:
Black and white or sepia flashbacks at start of trailer. hand-held shots and subject filming (through sister's eyes) of her in garden walking, turning round and smiling at the camera, filming her from behind, sitting in the car, close-ups of her being happy.
In contrast: the sister believes that she can see her sister's dead body wherever she goes and goes mad. Dead body is lying on floor with messy hair, simple dark clothing and open eyes lying on the floor in wide shots in kitchen, bathroom and bedroom floors.
Effects of lighting
High key Low key
Lighting in a horror film is very important for how you want the audience to react.
High key lighting is when the atmosphere and location is very bright, with sunshine, colours and happiness. Often in horrors we see this at the start of the film before things turn bad.
Low key lighting is when the lighting is very dark with lots of contrast and shadows. This is used to create the effect of not knowing what is around the corner or what may be out there.
Some trailer examples with low key lighting:
Annabelle- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=paFgQNPGlsg
In the first few seconds of Annabelle's trailer, the establishing shot is dark and shadowy, the audience can't see around corners and the only source of light is the one coming from the house. This creates an isolation around the house and a enigma code- what could be out in the darkness?
The Boy- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X1U21VBSbSs
The Witch- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YjBN0ByAqDk
German Expressionism links to this, as these films were known for their shadows, corners and silhouettes creating an un-nerving atmosphere that would cause fear and confusion to the audience.
The Cabinet of Dr Caligari- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BuocVLKdSqQ
In this film the monochrome has a high contrast of light and darkness, especially from 21:30-21:51, as the set is very angular and unusual with different shapes and areas of darkness where we can't see anything. This is a good example of low-key lighting.
Faust- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Flnxq2HMOqA
Metropolis- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q0NzALRJifI
Horror Music Research
The Shining main title
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WWbI19Pt_nU
Kubrick chose to use some music by the avant-garde classical composer, Krzysztof Penderecki. A famous composition he wrote was called Polymorphia, which has many eerie scratching, squeaking and un-nerving sounds.
The crackling noises along with wailing sounds create a tense atmosphere making the audience wonder what is going to happen. The repetitive notes throughout create a hypnotic sound and make the audience wonder when the next scare will be. He was inspired by this composer as the music cresendos and builds tension and adrenaline, but then stops suddenly, making the audience jump or not know what to expect next.
The Woman In Black opening theme
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OZzgxCVBa1M&list=PL3qcecRT3YPufrt4II32VJnm6gdMCP8Ly
The chimes and notes in this piece suggest things to do with children from the tone. The repetitive notes and the tense build up of squeaking sounds create tension and really terrify the audience.
Dead Silence theme song
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Ix2-HV63Ek
This song again suggests children through the musical box sound. This is effective as it is twisting the idea of a music box, which is meant to sooth a child, but this is very different.
Saw theme tune
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hWaNoK3gN6M
This song doesn't seem as creepy or psycological, it has tension but more of a heroic and building atmosphere almost like an action story. This could suggest the feelings of the victims.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WWbI19Pt_nU
Kubrick chose to use some music by the avant-garde classical composer, Krzysztof Penderecki. A famous composition he wrote was called Polymorphia, which has many eerie scratching, squeaking and un-nerving sounds.
The crackling noises along with wailing sounds create a tense atmosphere making the audience wonder what is going to happen. The repetitive notes throughout create a hypnotic sound and make the audience wonder when the next scare will be. He was inspired by this composer as the music cresendos and builds tension and adrenaline, but then stops suddenly, making the audience jump or not know what to expect next.
The Woman In Black opening theme
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OZzgxCVBa1M&list=PL3qcecRT3YPufrt4II32VJnm6gdMCP8Ly
The chimes and notes in this piece suggest things to do with children from the tone. The repetitive notes and the tense build up of squeaking sounds create tension and really terrify the audience.
Dead Silence theme song
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Ix2-HV63Ek
This song again suggests children through the musical box sound. This is effective as it is twisting the idea of a music box, which is meant to sooth a child, but this is very different.
Saw theme tune
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hWaNoK3gN6M
This song doesn't seem as creepy or psycological, it has tension but more of a heroic and building atmosphere almost like an action story. This could suggest the feelings of the victims.
Tuesday 18 October 2016
My New Narrative
I recently thought about how I could change my narrative slightly by having a deeper story line. I want to keep elements from the old narrative but change them slightly in the following ways.
5 years ago a young girl looses her older sister. She can't get over the loss and she misses her very much. The sister who died used to regularly go on camping holidays with her boyfriend/friends on the weekends, and the caravan is still in the girl's family garden. The girl regularly goes down to the caravan for comfort and to bring back memories. She also rings the number that used to be her sisters, and it always goes to voicemail. She loves to hear her sister's voice and sometimes she will leave a message.
In my trailer I am planning on starting with the girl reflecting on her sister's death with voice overs, visiting the caravan and ringing the number. I will also include some flashbacks. Further on the line things start to get strange, as the caravan might look different how it did to last time, or things move inside the house or the garden might get ruined. Eventually the girl will ring the phone number, and someone answers. I also might get a shot of the girl finding the sister buried underground, who might stand up and walk from her grave.
My new narrative follows Tzvetan Todorov's theory, as the narrative starts off with equilibrium of happy flashbacks of the two sisters, then we see the disruption of the sister dying by seeing different shots of the younger sister upset about the situation. We see the situation thickening and getting worse the more we see and the more she tries to resolve the situation near the end crescendo, however because it was a trailer I'd created, I can't reveal the entire narrative so the ending equilibrium explained in the theory won't be shown in my trailer. A common convention of horror films is for the ending to finish with equilibrium.
5 years ago a young girl looses her older sister. She can't get over the loss and she misses her very much. The sister who died used to regularly go on camping holidays with her boyfriend/friends on the weekends, and the caravan is still in the girl's family garden. The girl regularly goes down to the caravan for comfort and to bring back memories. She also rings the number that used to be her sisters, and it always goes to voicemail. She loves to hear her sister's voice and sometimes she will leave a message.
In my trailer I am planning on starting with the girl reflecting on her sister's death with voice overs, visiting the caravan and ringing the number. I will also include some flashbacks. Further on the line things start to get strange, as the caravan might look different how it did to last time, or things move inside the house or the garden might get ruined. Eventually the girl will ring the phone number, and someone answers. I also might get a shot of the girl finding the sister buried underground, who might stand up and walk from her grave.
My new narrative follows Tzvetan Todorov's theory, as the narrative starts off with equilibrium of happy flashbacks of the two sisters, then we see the disruption of the sister dying by seeing different shots of the younger sister upset about the situation. We see the situation thickening and getting worse the more we see and the more she tries to resolve the situation near the end crescendo, however because it was a trailer I'd created, I can't reveal the entire narrative so the ending equilibrium explained in the theory won't be shown in my trailer. A common convention of horror films is for the ending to finish with equilibrium.
"Powers of Horror"- an essay by Julia Kristeva
This essay addresses abjection which is about how viewers feel when watching horror. Abjection is the feeling where you feel fascinated about the horror but at the same time feeling disgusted by it. Kristeva was one of the first people to write about abjection.
"It lies there, quite close, but it cannot be assimilated. It beseeches, worries, and fascinates desire, which, nevertheless, does not let itself be seduced. Apprehensive, desire turns aside; sickened, it rejects".
This quote describes in detail the feeling you get watching gruesome events. She talks about how it worries you, a sickening feeling but fascinates desire at the same time. Horror is taking something out of the ordinary world and turning it to frighten others, which isn't what humans were made to do originally.
"Loathing an item of food, a piece of filth, waste, or dung. The spasms and vomiting that protect me. The repugnance, the retching that thrusts me to the side and turns me away from defilement, sewage, and muck. The shame of compromise, of being in the middle of treachery. The fascinated start that leads me to toward and separates me from them".
This quote describes how the disgusted feeling is like in your mind and body which is not pleasant, but at the same time the horror leads you towards it. Love/hate relationship.
"Food loathing is perhaps the most elementary and most archaic form of abjection. When the eyes see or the lips touch that skin on the surface of milk- harmless, thin as a sheet of cigarette paper, pitiful as a nail paring- I experience a gagging sensation and, still farther down, spasms in the stomach, the belly; and all the organs shrivel up the body, provoke tears and bile, increase heartbeat, cause forehead and hands to perspire. Along with sight-clouding dizziness, nausea makes me balk at that milk cream".
This quote is a very graphic and visual description of how you feel watching horror linked with food, and the reason why it makes people feel so disgusted is because horrors show these scenes in such detail and audiences can thoroughly imagine the feeling of these things being inside us. These feelings are described in this quote, eg. gagging.
"It lies there, quite close, but it cannot be assimilated. It beseeches, worries, and fascinates desire, which, nevertheless, does not let itself be seduced. Apprehensive, desire turns aside; sickened, it rejects".
This quote describes in detail the feeling you get watching gruesome events. She talks about how it worries you, a sickening feeling but fascinates desire at the same time. Horror is taking something out of the ordinary world and turning it to frighten others, which isn't what humans were made to do originally.
"Loathing an item of food, a piece of filth, waste, or dung. The spasms and vomiting that protect me. The repugnance, the retching that thrusts me to the side and turns me away from defilement, sewage, and muck. The shame of compromise, of being in the middle of treachery. The fascinated start that leads me to toward and separates me from them".
This quote describes how the disgusted feeling is like in your mind and body which is not pleasant, but at the same time the horror leads you towards it. Love/hate relationship.
"Food loathing is perhaps the most elementary and most archaic form of abjection. When the eyes see or the lips touch that skin on the surface of milk- harmless, thin as a sheet of cigarette paper, pitiful as a nail paring- I experience a gagging sensation and, still farther down, spasms in the stomach, the belly; and all the organs shrivel up the body, provoke tears and bile, increase heartbeat, cause forehead and hands to perspire. Along with sight-clouding dizziness, nausea makes me balk at that milk cream".
This quote is a very graphic and visual description of how you feel watching horror linked with food, and the reason why it makes people feel so disgusted is because horrors show these scenes in such detail and audiences can thoroughly imagine the feeling of these things being inside us. These feelings are described in this quote, eg. gagging.
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