During our lessons on 17/02/09 and 18/02/09 we outlined some ideas for our main project of the film opening.
Firstly, as a group we have decided on a genre of Horror. The main reasons as to why we chose this, is because we believe there is a lot we can do in terms of filming, sound and location that will help us convey this genre. We also believe that there is many stereotypes that are involved with this genre that can be easily followed or broken.
We also started to gather some ideas together on what we should include in our film opening.
To help us with this ideas, we decided that we should watch some more existing film openings of horror films.
As a group we all decided that we would all look at 1-3 film openings individually, and make notes on them regarding things such as camera shots, music/sound, cast, props, locations, stereotypes, the audience they appeal to, how they appeal to the audience etc. After this we shared all our notes and discussed what we had found and how we were going to incorporate these ideas into our own film opening to make it as effective as those we watched were. The other members in the group looked at some horror film openings also but here are the film openings that I looked at and then shared with the group:
HOUSE OF WAX - By Daniella...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mtIJPXf83lE = Youtube link to the film opening
SOME SHOTS IN SEQUENCE: (click picture to make it bigger)
What happens in this sequence is that a lady is making a waxwork model in the kitchen (shot 1 and 3), we are told that this is 1974 (shot 2), and ten a man comes in with a small child who is screaming and crying and covered in blood, the man and woman strap the child to the chair (shot 6) then it goes into present day (shot 9) and there are teenagers in a car.
The first thing was the Warner Brothers sign, and during this and the other signs the music was playing, this music was quite intense music, which automatically made me feel as though it was going to go straight into something intense. The screen went black after these logo's had finished, with the music playing throughout. The first scene was dated at 1974, shown in shot 2 above, as it came up on the screen to inform the audience this wasn't present day, this shows that this background to the story must be very significant for later on in the film, so it sets the audience up for something that is going to happen later on it the film. When it goes back to present day, it comes up at the bottom of the screen as shown in shot 9 in the picture above. The lighting throughout this part of the film is very dark and mysterious, and at this part, the characters faces are never seen in this part. There are 3 people, a man a woman and a child who is the victim and is seen to be being tied to a chair. The faces are never seen of these people only their bodies mostly hands and legs (can be seen in the picture). The fact that the identities of these people are unknown adds to the mystery of the scene as the audience feel as though they want to know who these people are and how they relate to the story. The editing during this part is very fast and as the tension builds up the music also starts to build up and gets faster, while still remaining creepy and sets the mood as very unnerving. The victim in this film opening is a child, and this could fit a stereotype as women and children are often seen as weaker.
Also we see that their are some teenagers which are also usually victims in horror films.
The Audience of this film is a 15 certificate, obviously because of the scenes which are not suitable for a younger audience due to the violence. This film would probably appeal to an audience of older teens like 15 to about people of 30 years old.
SCREAM - By Daniella...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4YvxjRiY6tY = Youtube link to the film opening
SOME SHOTS IN SEQUENCE: (click picture to make it bigger)
What happens in this film opening is that, straight away the title of the film is shown on a black screen which red blood like writing. Next a scream is heard and a heartbeat, which are non-diegetic as the character can't hear them. This fades into the first shot which is of a telephone ringing (shot 2). A girl picks the phone up and on the phone someone tells her she is going to get killed(shot 3), she then runs around her house locking all her doors (shot 6 and 7 above).
What i noticed was that the location of this film was in a house, a typical "safe" location (shot 4), this could suggest the idea that no locations are safe and that everything is unsafe which can be seen in newer horror movies.
Also the victim is female, is could be seen as stereotypical as females are seen as weaker and therefore easier victims to be killed.
During the shot of the house from outside , i noticed that it is very dark, which also creates a scary mood. She also turns the lights off in the house which makes is scarier.
Also i noticed that the girl was quite young and possibly a teenager which is quite common in horror movies as they are usually targeted at a older teen audience.
After she is told on the phone that she is going to die and when she starts running non-diegetic music starts to play, this is very intense typical "scary movie" music to inhance the mood.
This film has a certificate of 18, which shows the audience may be from 18 to around 30. This film obviously wouldn't appeal to a younger audience, but would probably appeal more to an older teens to middle aged audience.
FINAL DESTINATION - By Daniella...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T1tzn0XRTfk = Youtube link to the film opening
SOME SHOTS IN SEQUENCE: (click picture to make it bigger)
I liked the use of the title and credits in this film, i thought that we use this as a possible idea could incorporate this into our film maybe.
The first thing that appeared was a shot of a window and as it panned down the window the title of the film appeared.
As the camera panned down the window is went onto an object a name would appear and fade(shot 4 and 5), then it would fade to a new object and a new name appeared (shot 6). This carried on (shot 7, 8 and 9.)
During all this the non-diegetic music was very dark and mysterious. I thought this was an effective way of using the credits as they were appearing and fading in a mysterious way, showing objects that may be significant to the film. After the credits the music stopped some characters of the film were introduced and scene went on.
The certificate of this film is a 15, so the target audience would probably be from about 15-30. As this is a 15 it probably would appeal more to a younger teen audience rather than an older adult audience.
Some main things that i noticed from my research was:
- That usually the people involved were teenagers.
- Music was used very effectively in creating the mood.
- Dark settings
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