Target Audience

As part of my research I created a questionnaire which a total of 22 people filled out.

I asked these questions:

·         How old are you?

·         Are you a male or female?

·         Do you like horror films?

·         How do you watch horror films?

·         Who do you watch them with?

·         How often do you watch them?

·         Do you look for a particular actor/actress?

·         What is your preferred type of horror?

·         How much would you be willing to spend to watch a horror film?

From these questions and the answers I collected I made various pie charts and also a few bar graphs, these are seen below:

From the information I collected I thought that it would be good to target my audience mainly for males from the age range of about 16-21. 

I have also produced a short movie of interview clips that I will include in my evaluation. This movie goes into a bit more depth because you can actually hear them talking about.

Preliminary Task - Dom Harri Toby Becky Harri

For out Preliminary Task we had to make a short video scene of:

Subject A entering a room from a corridor and opening the door. Inside the room Subject B is sitting down without saying anything, A gives a pieces of paper to B. B reads it and reacts. A displays some kind of emotion and leaves. This task MUST demonstrate match on action,shot/reverse shot and the 180-degree rule.

I am in a group with; Toby Harvey, Harri Long, Harri Nicholls and Becky Roydhouse.

We decided that we would stick to the horror genre so we can start to get the feel of how to direct and edit to get the effects and characteristics of a typical horror film. Before we did any sort of story boarding we made lots of notes about how and what we could do for our short scene.

Location

- Ashwell (village near our school) - an old house, the recreation ground/park, the spring.

- School - class room, lunch hall, on the school field.

- Grave Yard.

- Woods/Forest.

- Around a Lake.

- Old farm yard and barns.

Time of Day

We thought about this and decided that because it is a horror film and when you think of this genre you think of dark and spooky so there would be no point in filming during the day so we decided to film either when it is getting dark or when it is really dark at night.

Props

- We thought we would keep it simple and try not to use many props as some may be hard to get but we decided we would use a video tape instead of a piece of paper to add a sense of mystery to our scene because people will want to know what is on the tape.

Camera Angles/Movement

- We haven't had much thought on the camera angles and movement yet but when we story board our idea it will be easier to picture it and choose the right shots and movement we need.

Our Idea

the basic outline of out idea is:

A opens and squeaky wooden gate and walks through it, then walks down a path to some steps where she walks down them. At this moment in time B is sitting on a Bench at the bottom of the steps and the camera is from an over the shoulder shot of A to an over the shoulder shot of B etc. A slowly makes her way to the bench that B is sitting on. She gives B the tape and B rips the tape up.

We decided that we would use The Springs in Ashwell to be the setting for our short scene. This is because we felt that at night it has a very spooky feel to it and this will add a good feeling to how we want the viewers to feel when watching it. We also decided that we would use a video tape instead of a piece of paper (as mentioned in props) to create the sense of mystery. We will film at night as it is the best time to create a scary and creepy atmosphere and especially at the springs where it already has a spine-tingling feel to it. Although in the instructions for the task it says about a corridor because we are outside we won't be able to but instead we will use a passageway that is covered by trees and as mentions in the 'Our Idea' section above the door will instead be a wooden gate outside.

Story Board

In todays lesson as a group we created a story board and wrote on it each camera angle that we will have for each shot.

Below is an image of it:

This is how our final piece ended up like:

Alfred Hitchcock and Psycho

Occupation - Film Director and Producer.

Born - 13th August 1899 - Leytonstone, London, England.

Died - 29th April 1890 (aged 80) - Bel Air, Los Angeles, California.

Other Names - Hitch, The Master Of Suspense.

Years Active - 1921-76

Hitchcock was a British film producer and director He pioneered many techniques in the suspense and psychological thriller genres. After a successful career in his native United Kingdom in both silent films and early talking movies, Hitchcock moved to Hollywood. In 1956 he became an American citizen, while remaining a British subject.

Over a career spanning more than half a century, Hitchcock fashioned for himself a distinctive and recognisable directorial style. He pioneered the use of a camera made to move in a way that mimics a person's gaze, forcing viewers to engage in a form of voyeurism. He framed shots to maximise anxiety, fear, or empathy, and used innovative film editing and this is where he got the name 'The Master of Suspense'.

Psycho

Psycho is a 1960 American horror film directed by Alfred Hitchcock and starring Janet Leigh and Anthony Perkins.

Marion Crane (Janet Leigh) absconds with $40,000 of stolen cash from a Phoenix bank and drives toward California, where she plans to start a new life with her paramour. Before reaching her destination, however, fate delivers her to the Bates motel, which is run by the seemingly harmless mama’s boy, Norman (Anthony Perkins). Following Marion’s mysterious disappearance her sister and her boyfriend team up with a private investigator to find out what happened to her. Clues can be found in the shower of room #1 of the Bates motel.

Psycho is now considered one of Hitchcock's best films and is highly praised as a work of cinematic art by international critics.

 

NOTES ON PSYCHO

Mise En Scene – Location, Props, Costume, Lighting	Camera Angles, Shots & Movements	Editing	Sounds
- Credits very sharp, violent/unpredictable – represent the stabbing motion. - Blinds close when Marion and Sam are in the room, intimate and secrecy. - Phoenix, Arizona, Time and Date – use of anchorage. - Window half open – Hitchcock likes to hide as much as he can from the audience. - Sam opens the blind – dramatic lighting shot – very bright. - When the policeman pulls her over his glasses cover/hide his identity. - Mention of trouble at the car dealers – darkness on the horizon. - She looks confident then it rains which could symbolise things to come before she gets to the hotel. - Long shot of house. - Over the shoulder shot – goes to room key number 3, then 2, then 1. This could symbolise a countdown and that time is nearly run out. - When she is eating, he is in the dark and he is in the light. The juxtaposition shows that he is the evil one and she is the good one. - No panic on his face – controlled – he knows what he is doing. - His room – birds of prey. - Her room pictures of smaller less harmful birds. - Power struggle between Norman and the detective. - Questioning – verbal sparing – detective is seemed to be winning. - When he enters low angle shot of the owl again which suggests that he may be the next prey. - Although Sam’s talking to Norman you still get the feeling she is in danger.	- Establishing shot. - Two shot – shows intimacy. - Wide open aerial shot of the town, pan across. - Zoom into the hotel room window. - Not there point of view shot but someone else’s, seems like someone is watching them. - Power of money, when Sam has the money he is standing up, then when Marion has the money she is the dominant one. - Long shot of two cars. - The shot through the glass when the policeman stops her could represent that she is trapped. - Low angle point of view shot of the policeman shows that he is the dominant one although she has the money. - Over the shoulder shot of the car dealer shows her with barriers and darkness behind her. This again could show that she is trapped. - Over the should and point of view shots in the car shows that it is clear in front of her but because of the car in the rear view window it shows that she is always being followed. - Low angle shot of Norman with the bird behind him in the background could represent that she is his prey. - High angle looking down on her represents that she isn’t in control of what is going to happen. - Midway through her talking about her mum (negative) he moves forward in his chair with the eagle in the background shows something has unnerved him. - Pictures of naked woman on the walls – takes them off to then view Marion getting changed through a hole in the wall. - Extreme close up of detective – knows they have the money. - Low angle – nervous about being found out. - Medium shot of Norman smiling – shows he may have given away information but he is actually in control. - High angle shot looking down on the detective from the stairs again suggests he is next. - Birds eye view of him coming out the door of his mother’s room and attacking the detective. - High angle of them in the bathroom where her sister was murdered – shows they could be prey for Norman.	- Cross cutting from her to the money – audience on her side – she has her mind on the money. - Long pauses between shots – comfortable /intimate. - Shot reverse shot – cutting between characters – both on their own – cuts are shorter which makes it tenser. - Jump cuts – forward in time – day travelling in city to night travelling in the suburbs. - Transitions between scenes – Norman taking his mum somewhere and Marion and Sam coming out the church.	- Non diagetic – shaper music, reinforcing the genre – stabbing motion – represents what is going to be the death of Marion. - Sam opening the blind – creates a sharp dramatic diagetic sound. - Non Diagetic sound of people talking in her head. - Diagetic sound of rain – heavy/harsh. - ‘As harmless as one of those stuffed birds’- Norman says this when talking to Marion – shows something bad is on the horizon because although they are stuffed they are birds of prey and were dangerous. - The sound mirrors the way in which Norman is feeling. - Sharp/Harsh high pitch music when stabbing. - High pitch noise when she’s dieing. - Diagetic – Harsh.

Silent Hill - Akshay Mason, Georgia Sharp, Catherine Porter and Emma Wylie

Like my group, Daryl's presentation and Ellie's groups presentation, Akshay, Georgia, Catherine and Emma also commented on the 4 elements but in the horror film 'Silent Hill'. The film was directed by Christophe Gans and written by Roger Avary. The story is an adaptation of the Silent Hill horror video games.


- In the opening sequence of the film there is the non-diagetic noise from a piano which is playing a haunted style of music. This immediately sends across the mood of the film as being very dark and mysterious as well as putting across the genre of the film as being horror.
- There is a low angle shot of the woman, this may show that she is the main character and also you see in the background that there is a man and he is always in the background compared to the woman, this will show that the female plays the more dominant role in this film.
- The time it is set adds a mysterious element to it, at night (common in many horror films) represents fear and the unknown.
- Different shots and especially the long shots between her and her mother shows that the mother is isolated and has a lack of control over her daughter.
- Colours of the clothing each character is wearing shows their connections - light blue pyjamas of child and light blue shorts of woman.

Hide and Seek - Abbie Lacey, Hannah Moore and Ellie Fetcher

Similarly to My group and Daryl, we watched Abbie, Hannah and Ellie do a presentation also on the four elements in the horror film 'Hide and Seek'. It is a 2005 horror film staring Robert De Nero and was
directed by John Polson.

- The first thing we hear is the non-diagetic sound of the music, it is very child-like music and links to the title as we all used to play hide and seek when we were younger.
- There is not much natural light it is quite dark and gloomy, this sets the tone of the film.
- Man walks up and the fact that he is in dark clothes and wearing glasses suggests that this character may have two sides to him and two different personalities. The dark clothes also makes the audience feel quite unsure about this character.
- When the woman was outside she was in bright colours but now she is inside she seems quite depressed and is in black, the contrast of these colours may suggest that there is something not quite right.
- Red lipstick, jewellery, nails etc represent death and blood and could be the signs of something that is going to happen to her.
- Man (father) has his glasses off, this shows that he is not hiding anything but then when they start to argue and talk to each other he puts the glasses back on to show that he may have something to hide.
- She takes off all her jewellery and this could represent that she is leaving bits of her behind for people to remember, she is going to get in the bath but she commits suicide so she is leaving her jewellery in memory of her.
- He wakes up and is walking very slowly towards the bathroom, this builds tension, shot looks like he is being followed. The asynchronous sounds of the dripping tap also builds tension and adds curiosity for the audience.
- He slides the door of the bath open and see's his wife in a pool of blood, the colour is seen to have drained form her and into the water. Music now turns quite echoey and quite mysterious.

The Grudge - Daryl Meadows

Like my group Daryl made a presentation on the 4 elements; Mise En Scene, Sounds, Editing and Camera Movement/Angles, on a horror film called The Grudge. The Grudge was an American remake of the Japanese film Ju-on. It was directed by Takashi Shimizu who also directed the original japanese version. After taking notes on the film and his presentation here is some of the analysis I got.

 Here is the link to the opening on Youtube -

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u-Kjg6jLgQ8

From 2 minutes 20 seconds onwards.

During the opening credits (2:20) the colours are red and black which relate very much to death and blood and this then sets the scene for the film because straight away you would know it is some sort of horror film.

At 3:41 the woman enters the scene riding her bike and we see her coming out of a dark shadow, this could represent the fact that she is quite a mysterious character as well as the black being associated with fear, this also sets the mood for the film. The combination of jump and match on action cuts also to speed up the process of getting to where she wants to go instead of just watching her for ages cycling.

At 4:09 the woman enters the house and straight away we get the feeling of being trapped because one of the first shots whilst she is in the house is from behind a banister or staircase and this creates may represent that now she has entered there is no way out. Also the shot is almost like a Point Of View shot which makes the audience feel like they are hiding whilst watching the woman and may have been used to put us in the grudges position as he may have been sneaking round watching her. Enhancing the fact that us as an audience are looking at her and putting us in the grudges position, is the fact that the camera shots rarely move with her they are always shots from the same place that follow her. Especially at 4:56 where there is a high shot of the woman this gives you the feeling that she is a very vulnerable target and the grudge is much more powerful than her.

At 7:01 when she enters the attic she has to make her way through some cobwebs, this is very significant as we all know that she is the grudged prey just like a fly would be to a spider in it’s web. The attic is almost like the grudges web and once she enter she is trapped for good and there is no way of escape. As well as the cobwebs the light from the lighter is also very significant in this part of the scene. It is very flickery and this gives us the sense of her fear, and could mirror that she is shaking and extremely nervous.

Editing

Continuity Editing - Used to smooth over the discontinuity of the editing process and to establish logical coherence between shots - It creates an action that flows smoothly across shots and scenes without jarring and it establishes a sense of story for the viewer.

Discontinuity Editing - Can be expressed by the deliberate use of ellipses. Cutting techniques useful in showing the nature of the specific ellipses are the dissolve and fade. Other editing styles can show  reversal of time or even an abandonment of it altogether, flashbacks and the montage techniques.

Types of Editing

- Cross-Cutting (Parallel editing) - A Method of editing use in which the POV switches alternately from events at one location to those of another related action or switching from one person talking to another quickly indicating they are happening simultaneously.

- Jump Cut - A cut which brakes the continuity of time by jumping forwards from one part of an action to another. For example, if someone is driving from one destination to another then a jump cut would be used so you don't have to watch the whole journey otherwise it would be boring for the viewers.

- 180 Degree Rule - This is a filming guideline that participates in a scene that should have the same left-right relationship to each other, with filming only taking place within the 180 degree angle. For Example, when you see soldiers walking moving from left to right on the front lines then right to left when they return home, creating a continuous sense of direction.

- Shot Reverse Shot - Usually used for conversation scenes, this technique alternates between over-the-shoilder shots showing each character speaking. This shot often ties in with the 180 Degree Rule to retain continuity by not disturbing the audience's sense of location of the characters in the shot.

Eyeline Match - The matching of eyelines between two or more characters. For example, if Ben looks to the right in shot A, Dan will look to the left in shot B. This establishes a relationship of proximity and continuity.

Match on Action  - This is an editing technique for continuity editing in which one shot cuts to another shot portraying the action of the subject in the first shot. This creates the impression of continuity because the action carrying through creates a 'visual bridge' which draws the viewer's attention away from slight cutting of continuity issues.

Match Cut - This is a cut in film editing between either two different objects, two different spaces, or two different compositions in which an object in the two shots graphically match, often helping to establish a strong continuity of action and linking the two shots metaphorically.

Other Transitions are:

- Dissolve

- Fade in/out

- Wipe

- Superimposition

- Long/Short Take

- Slow Motion

- Ellipses

- Expansion of Time