Evaluation - Question 5

"How did you attract/address your audience?"

We addressed our audience by giving them an opening sequence with farmilar forms to others and addressed the horror fans by using horror conventions. We attracted them by getting in touch with their feelings and filling the film with unique attributes.

The opening sequence conventions are mentioned on Question 1 but I will outline them here:

• Consistent credits with a main title at the end.
• Clear location and setting (establishing shots of the basement and good mis-en-scene).
• Introduction of characters (a minute of dialogue and interaction between them to get a feel for their relationship and personalities).
• Good continuity by use of shot/reverse shot and the 180 degree rule continued throughout the conversation scene. Also, the use of matched on actions such as the killer putting the victim to sleep with the cloth before pulling his arm away in the next shot as he turns to leave the victim sleeping (1.40 mins). This prevented distraction from the film because of lack of flow in the continued story.
• Use of enigma codes to get the audience to interact and fall into the film world.

The first thing we did to appeal to our audience was chose a popular genre with our core audience of 18-25's, and we thought horror was extremely popular, especially the 'Saw' and 'Hostel' films. Therefore we had to conform to their expectations by making our horror similar to that of the 'Saw' films.

My favourite aspect of the openings to 'Saw' was the variety in pace. It began very steadily, holding back lots of information and the actual appearance of the characters. Instead it focused on miscellaneous objects such as walls, pipes and bulbs, and the characters tied up were revealed bit by bit, with CU's of feet, eyes and mouth, before the shots moved further away from the character. It was 30-40 seconds before the actual character and location was revealed. We tried to achieve this affect in our film with opening credits appearing alongside random objects, helping establish the basement atmosphere, and a confusing montage of the victims face waking up to give a dazed effect. There was not an establishing LS until 33 seconds in, which helped lure the audience. Like 'Saw' the film did not pick up unnecessary pace and continued steadily through the dialogue. [The following compare 'Saw' on the left to 'Reservation' on the right, comparing first victim CU and then lightbulb shots].

There are 2 times when our film picks up pace:

• When our killer begins to get angry and ends up shouting at his victim (1.27 mins) - he manages to compose himself to bring the film back down to slow pace again (helped by the rise and fall in the musics dynamics).
• At the end of our film when the hand appears on the door (1.59 mins & below) there is a sudden rise in the music to accompany the shock of the action, ending in total silence and again a slow pace helped by a long mysterious fade to title.
  
  

The suddenness of these dramatic moments is amplified by the slow pace of the rest of the film, as tension builds in the audience who are always anticipating something. This helps add a jumpy affect to our film.

Other aspects we focused on to meet expectations of horror fans:

• Cinematic look with half-dim lighting in a pitch black room, added to by use of blue gel to create a blue tint (right) unique to our film (similar to use of neon green in 'Saw II' - left).

• A confusing montage of the victim waking up at the beginning (0.20-0.30 mins & below) unnerves the audience by disturbing the time period (similar to scene used in 'Hostel').







• Scrawly disorganised font on the credits and title (right) add to the confusion, being a bit like messy handwriting as if the person writing them is in pain. It is unsettling how the titles appear almost randomly throughout the sequence in different sizes, and how the title at the end fades in with each letter appearing at different times in no order at all. It created a mysterious code-cracking effect, as if you had to work hard to realise what the title said and that you may have to look deeper into the film to discover the answers (much like the titles in 'Cloverfield (Reeves, 2008)' (left - best picture I could find) are crackled such as on a fuzzy TV set, representing how the film is more meaningful than it looks and you have to search deep for clues [e.g. the last shot of New York which is set in the past before the whole story happened, a faint line can be seen falling into the sea and this is meant to be how the alien reached earth before the film started] because it is artistic.








• Low-key lighting (right) added to by the flickering lights. We filmed with 3 fairly dim studio lights to highlight shadows in all areas of the characters much like the characters in this particular scene in 'Sin City (Miller & Rodriquez, 2005)' (left) This highlights the expressions of the characters in a particular deep and meaningful scene such as our opening sequence - it is an important part of the story.








• Realistic atmosphere created by added on sounds (diegetic) such as lighting buzz (0.05-0.08 mins) and dripping water (0.15-0.18), giving our film a new dimension - a "spotlight" kind of effect where every little bit of action stood out and was detailed - bringing the audience into the world of the film (e.g. the amplified dripping water and ringing telephone in 'The Ring' (Verbinski, 2002)) [all added on sounds from http://www.soundsnap.com/].
• Use of moody music (non-diegetic) to create a tense atmosphere beyond the reality of the film [music called 'The Platform' from http://www.freeplaymusic.com/].

As well as giving the horror fans a farmilar form we had to offer them an original product. What stood out from our opening sequence compared to other sequences and what made it special? Our uniques selling points were:

• An intriguing plot carrying a hotel-theme and a well-mannered killer. Enthusiasts would want to know why he is acting this way and what the hotel-theme represents. Our film has a carefully written script, giving the audience subtle hints and clues (e.g. "would you like a glass of water?" said by the killer in a hotel-host kind of way.
• The title helps promote this plot and stir interest. 'Reservation' refers to a hotel reservation. However, I believe it could have been far more effective if it had been called 'The Guests', which is much more to the point and possibly sinister if not easier to remember. Reservation is too long and has too many meanings, making it not mean much at all to the audience in terms of the plot.
• Plenty of enigma codes because of heldback information (this links to the point about the pace of the film), raising questions within the audience and making them want to watch more. The ending to our sequence poses such questions as to whose limbs the hand and foot were and how these victims got there (see 1.50 & 2.00 mins). There is loads of information still to find out (character details such as names are not known at all yet).

To make our sequence really special we tried to tap into the feelings of our core audience so they would almost physically participate in the film. We did this by hitting at audience pleasures, fears, reactions and popular themes.

We focused on audience pleasures and physical reactions:

• We made our opening scene very intimate with the tight claustrophobic location of the basement (low ceilings and not much space) and the expressions of characters were highlighted by low-key lighting. A combination of good script-writing and excellent acting made the dialogue scene very intense. The audience would immediately feel sorry for our victim as he seems innocent (he is a lot smaller than the killer and is almost being bullied) and the humiliation and tease of this victim seem unnecessary. All the audience can see of the killer is evil as they do not know about his past and just think he is getting a "kick" out of torturing and killing people. Our scene plugs into the audiences emotional pleasures as they are on a characters side and may begin to care for the safety of this character. In scenes where the killer is particularly evil just provokes more of this responce to the film, with emotions such as sadness, anger, sympathy and desperation (we feel these emotions watching films such as 'Saw' as we capture the intense desperation of the characters in their situations due to the realims). The audience are helpless to do anything and may forget the character is fictional.
• Emotional pleasures can lead to visceral pleasures, which are the stimulated physical reactions of the audience to our film. Our opening sequence could provoke many, with sadness causing tears, wittyness causing laughter and anger causing people to tense up. Other than these emotions, the actual sequence itself is stop-starty and up and down a bit like a 'rollercoaster ride'. The pace quickens and slows with the music and the anticipation is high to go with the shocks that make people jump and the twists that make people admire the film in a physical way (i.e. shaking their head in disbelief or crying out). The most common physical reaction to emerge from watching our sequence is a sense of revulsion to what the killer is implying subtly and how he strokes the crow-bar. People cringe thinking about what might happen to the victim as you can faintly see the weapons lined up in the background. The audience are scared the film will become gory and they might often feel the pain (as you do watching 'Hostel' because it is horribly realistic). From our sequence, the gag being ripped off (0.45 mins) could cause someone to jump back or scream out in pain, and the thought of gore and death can cause a nauseous feeling.
• The enigma codes in our film provide the audience with something to solve so anyone can predict what might happen and try and link the important information together to find out what is going on (such as in 'Psycho', we try and guess who is commiting the murders). Solving something can give a sense of pleasure and not being able to know something can frustrate the audience until the end of the film when they find out.
• There is a counter-culture attraction stemming from our film as we release the audience from all rules and regulations. Our opening scene is private, away from authorities, and the killer has complete control. He can do whatever he wants and there are no limits (such as Michael Myers's unlimited power and freedom in 'Halloween'). Our audience get to feel a pleasure from the feeling they have broken rules by watching extreme situations such as our capturing scene.

We also tried to tap into our core audiences biggest fears (see Ortenberg quote, question 4) and most of these were represented by themes of revenge, needless violence and agression as well as life and death. They all stem from real-life experience (see question 2) making the audience fear them more. These fears could be applied to any audience and most horror films try to hit alot of them:

• A sense of claustrophobia, being trapped or captured.
• Voyerism and the idea of being constantly watched or monitored.
• A sense of being alone in a situation in which you have to try and save yourself with your own thinking - nobody else knows where you are.
• Sense of darkness and night time and being stuck in a creepy-looking location.
• Being surrounded by strangers and bodies.
• Fear of the unknown, what is happening to the victim?
• Fear of the anger of someone you don't know and cannot reason with.
• Fear of unbelievable pain that you cannot defend.
• The fear of death and never being able to see loved ones again.

We see these fears in other people because of the bad things that happen around us and on the news, but we never actually think it will happen to us. This makes us fear them more. Our audience will be unsettled and worried throughout our sequence as they have all these fears to think about and mull over in their minds.

We applied all these audience factors to our sequence and every decision made that I discussed in this question was made for a reason. It is hard to sum it all up in one question so I tried explaining some thing in detail and others in less detail, but they were all meaningful to appealling to our audience. Whether they were successful or not was down to our audience feedback.

After having an audience screening in front of thirty 17-18's we were able to summarise their opinions and criticisms. It was successful feedback with 11 sample questionnaires (many who had a particular interest in horror) all stating that they enjoyed our sequence and thought it was attractive, so our attention to detail in image and style were helpful. Good points for the film were its clear narrative, depth in the killer's character, scariness of the killer's acting and the shock of the hand at the end. This was very pleasing with both dramatic parts being effective on the audience and making them react (everybody in the room jumped at the shock-ending). The holding back of the pace must have worked to amplify the jumpy moments. There was some constructive criticism; not everybody liked the lights flickering because regular intervals of darkness remained distracting (right). This is something we had thought about before but could not eradicate after shooting. People also had their reservations on the title, which I discussed earlier in this question. The last critical comments were mainly on our victims's acting when the gag was pulled off (0.45 mins) and that this could have seemed more painful and shocking (left). This was a hard shot to film as the gag kept coming off for certain reasons, so we understand how this moment seemed particularly flat at the time. I believe our groups attempts to appeal to this type of audience was very successful (most people stating their desire to continue watching). This was also evident in feedback I recieved elsewhere with my brother and cousin (both between 18-25 years old) getting a feel for the film and being more involved in possible improvements, whereas as 40 year olds like my mum were confused by the plot and dazzled by the lights - so did not get the modern horror genre so much.

Evaluation - Question 1

"In what ways does your media product use, develop or challange forms and conventions of real media products?"

Our brief stated to make an opening sequence so we researched into the conventions of an opening sequence and how they do the following:

• Give the film a farmilar form for the audience to follow.
• Set the scene.
• Introduce the film plot and lure the audience in.
• Make the genre clear

Our opening sequence follows forms similar to 'The Descent (Marshall,2005)' opening, with credits fading in and out for the duration of the opening sequence before fading to the main title, 'Reservation', at the end. This is the farmiliar form of a film opening sequence.

Click link for The Descent clip.
(http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=WWF6_rSyYcY&feature=PlayList&p=762617D7BA39EF4B&playnext=1&index=21)

We set the scene of our film well by introducing the eerie basement location with the first three shots (pictures from left to right - flickering lights, cracked brick walls and dripping pipe), with the murky darkness of the basement remaining vital to the chilling atmosphere we wanted to portray.

We set up the film plot gradually, although the outline of it was quite obvious from the setting. The minute of dialogue between the two main characters did not give the plot away but introduced important traits such as the killer's apparant politeness, but sudden streaks of anger (an example of binary oppositions used in Levi-Strauss's narrative theory; good and evil). The reasons for this temprement remains unknown to the audience, creating an enigma (we researched how enigma codes are used in opening sequences to lure the audience into watching the rest of the film - Roland Barthes's narrative theory), as does the reason for the capturing. All the audience know is that the killer is keeping multiple victims in and abandoned basement.

Example enigma from 'Reservation': The killer picking up the crow-bar provoked the victim to fear him, but he returns it to its place. What is the killers intention? Is he actually going to kill him?

The genre we focused on most was horror.

To introduce the genre, our opening used the following conventions of horror to appeal to horror fans:

• Moody, mysterious, unsettling music, rising and falling with the dramatic action - loud parts accompanied the killers anger whilst quiet parts gave a lonely, silent feel (e.g. the dramatic music in 'Psycho (Hitchcock, 1960)' is only used during the killings, otherwise it is silent).
• Typical horror mis-en-scene; dark and murky location, low-key lighting, dark-clothed killer, shadows, night-time (e.g. the lake location and night-times used for the killings in 'Friday the 13th (Cunningham, 1980)'.
• Fade transitions to give an unknown time period, with the cross-dissolve montage of our victim waking up being confusing (e.g. 'Hostel (Roth, 2005)' uses this to introduce its first victim, tied to a chair)
• The classic horror narrative pattern - an adaption of Vladimir Propp's character role theory but using villain and victim roles instead of villain and hero (e.g. Mike Myers in 'Halloween (Carpenter, 1978)' killing teenagers who are his victims).
• Consistent use of continuity in real-time (except the opening montage of location and waking-up clips) including a shot/reverse shot dialogue scene using MCU's with establishing shots of the conversation at LS, and then a sequence following the killer out of the basement strung together with good matched on action.
  A shock/twist ending to the scene - a bloody hand smacking the door glass showing there is more than one victim (e.g. a car crash at the end of the opening scene to 'The Descent (Marshall,2005)').
• Typical themes of revenge, evil, violence and death - these are not obvious at the start but it is clear the killer has some sort of motive, which could be pure evil or revenge, and it seems as if he has a violent manner. The life of the victim could be at stake but we do not know enough about the killer yet (e.g. killer driven by pure evil in 'Halloween' but revenge is the theme in 'What Lies Beneath (Zemeckis, 2000)' - ours could be either).

A special convention we used to introduce our subgenre as torture, was the dark but brightly-lit basement location for a cold, metallic feel - used in both 'Saw (Wan, 2004)' and 'Hostel' - the most successful torture films to date. This subgenre is part of a newer breed of horror films, so some classic conventions we broke:

• Our character appeared friendly rather than the favoured stereotypical evil killer.
• Blue filter gel gave a unique blue-look rather than favoured black darkness.

The first point gave our film an original plot, with the twisted hospitality of the killer being unique. It allowed for subtle irony in his dialogue and the main title (the hotel-like hint in 'Reservation'). This is much like in 'Saw' where the killers intentions of giving his victims the chance to escape by changing their sinful ways is some what admirable.

The second point could be considered a convention of modern niche horror films. 'Saw' (left) often had a blue or green tint and 'Hostel' (right) was more yellow.

The last convention of a real film we broke was the classic narrative pattern (Todorov's narrative theory - equibrium then disruption then resolution). Our film opening did not begin at equilibrium but began with a disruption, the victim having been captured. Our film could go back to an equlibrium point after this opening and work its way back to this disruption point before offering a resolution - a technique used by many films in some forms of the horror/thriller genre (e.g. 'Severence (Smith,2006)' from the comedy/horror genre and 'Goodfellas (Scorsese,1990)' from the thriller/gangster genre).

As well as breaking conventions, our film opening tries to create its own unique style similar to that of the 'Saw' films:

• Slow paced and heldback information.
• Moments of faster pace for dramatic, jumpy effect and to highlight key information revealed.
• Cold, metallic feel to the basement location because of the blueness of the image.
• Confusion points that delibrately unsettle the bye use of cross-dissolve , stop-start rhythm and feel, scrawly uneven credit font and size, flickering lights (although many people commented on how this did not unsettle but more disrupted them from what was going on in the scene).

To summarise, our opening sequence used a mixture of opening sequence conventions, horror genre conventions, enigma codes, modified modern horror conventions and a unique style specific to the torture subgenre as to provide a farmiliar form for all audiences to follow but give them something new and unique - like most real film products do.

The Final Sequence! :D

Enjoy!

Family & Friend Screenings

We were given a DVD with our finished sequence on, and as my group had only screened in front of 17-18 year olds I thought I would get some personal feedback from people outside school. Instead of using a questionnaire I just talked to them about it, and this is what I found out.

Mum (aged 46): Does not like the horror genre at all and as a result was very jumpy. She admitted she does not like the violence of the genre but was impressed by the acting and cinematic experience it provided. She missed certain aspects such as the production company and the foot that moves near the end. However, the plot did not confuse her and she got an almighty shock at the end with the hand slamming against the door. She found the flickering lights a bit dazzling and said she would only have watched the rest of the film if I had actually directed it for real!

Dad (aged 49): Does not usually watch horror but would if it was meant to be good. He was very impressed with the music and atmosphere and found the location very sinister. He said he felt nervous the whole way through as if something was going to happen but he was also dazzled because of the flickering lights and as a result missed some dialogue and the foot at the end. He wanted to find out why the victim was there and what had possessed the killer, so would watch on.

Uncle (aged 51): Enjoys quite alot of horror films althought not necessarily gore. He really enjoyed the sequence and understand everything as well as the enigmas that he wanted to find out. He admitted he was a little bit confused by the foot but worked out by the end that it was another victim - adding he thought there was too much clutter around the foot. All in all though, he would watch the rest of the film and actually preferred it to the 'Hostel' film he saw, which he did not like because it was too farfetched.

Cousin (aged 25): Likes horror movies but prefers action thrillers. He was extremely impressed by how filmic it was and the mysteries he encountered - he wanted to find out more! He was a little sad to find no real violence in the scene but I assured him more would have come in the actual film. He had no criticisms at all and told me to give the actors a pat on the back for an Oscar-winning performance.

Brother (aged 19): Loves any films including horror. He really enjoyed the sequence and thought the pace and structure, and how heldback the narrative was was excellent. Being a film student at university, he claimed he could take the film from there and actually make it into something special with a twisted plot. He thought the flickering lights were actually effective in unsettling you and added to the anticipation something would happen. He also was impressed by the depth in the killer's character and said his acting was amazing for a sixth form student. His one criticism was the blurry camera occasionally, saying we could have changed the manual settings to eradicate this. However, he said he would definately want to see more.

Nan (aged 74): Has never watched a horror film because she would be too scared. Like mum, she did not enjoy the violence and could not take the intense atmosphere. She thought it really looked like a film though and added that the acting was convincing and clear. She got confused with the 'putting to sleep' scene and did not see the foot move, but we turned the volume down so she did not get too shocked by the scream sound with the hand, which she thought was the scariest thing she had ever seen. She would not want to see more despite the fact she was impressed with it.

Family Friends (mum & dad aged 40's, one son aged 16, one son aged 13): The mum and dad had pretty much the same views as my mum and dad, with their dad enjoying it slightly more. The 16 year old son really liked it and said he had seen 'Saw', referencing it to the start of that (spooky!). He said he would definately watch on because he likes watching horror films to see how scary they really are and he likes to pick holes in them (though he could not pick any in ours). The 13 year old is not really allowed to watch films rated over 15, but he liked the film, understood it and asked alot of questions about why things were happening (meaning he wanted to find out more). He got a bit scared at the end with the hand, which I think shows the 18 rating would be more suitable and any hardcore 13 year olds can get their hands on the DVD!

Overall, this feedback was very useful and concluded alot of things. The people that mattered most were my brother and cousin (part of the core audience) and they were the ones who had most knowledge of horror and enjoyed the film most because they watched that sort of thing. They were impressed by it, which is very hopeful for the films success. The wider audience had more mixed views about the film, which is expected. The adults in their 40's would not usually watch that genre, but the men did still find it interesting, proving some adults of this age might go to see it. My nan was probably too old and had never seen a film like it, so the potential for old people is not very high, which does not matter a great deal as it is way outside our core audience. The people below our core audience age were the 16 and 13 year old, and they both enjoyed it too. The 16 year old said he would watch on despite being under the age rating, showing lots of kids this age and maybe below would watch such a DVD. Even the 13 year old did enjoy it although slightly creeped out by it all. I think there is a little bit of potential either side of the core audience and plenty within it. At the end of the day, it is probably more about whether you actually like the horror genre or not as to whether you would truly enjoy our sequence!

Audience Screening

We held an audience screening on Monday 19th January lunchtime, showing off our film to 30-40 people in our sixth form. We produced a questionnaire and got them to fill it out. We took a random sample of 11 out of the 30 or so questionnaires (taking every 3). From these questionnaires we were able to come up with the following summary of the feedback, which I typed up on our group blog:

Every sample was from 17-18 age group as they are in our year at school. About half were male and half were female, and traits did not seem to be based on gender as we expected. Common genre likes were action, thriller, comedy, horror and thriller. Someone even said slasher! These genres were shown in favourite films such as Saw, Scarface and Mean Girls.

Every single person recognised that it was an opening sequence and the title was 'Reservation', which was good from our point of view - our film was clear. Everyone also recognised from the sequence the genre, which was clearly horror with elements of thriller/slasher. About 9 out of the 11 people thought the film could be filmed at a normal cinema or multiplex with the other 2 opting for a student film festival. This tells us that our film could target a mainstream audience and be popular enough to show at a normal cinema. Most people opted for teenagers or 18-30's as the targeted audience with some adding horror enthusiasts or people that like to play violent games on the xbox/PS2. This was a pretty similar view we had for our target audience. Only 2 people mentioned that males would be interested so most people did not feel it dominated one particular gender.

The film seemed to make it obvious who the killer and victim was, and one pressed every single person was able to explain the victim was a captive and was being tortured by the killer. People described the killer as evil, insane, scarily polite, bad, mean, sadistic, murderer and psycho. Nobody described the victim so his personality can be identified as miscillaneous or "normal". Most themes identified were along the lines of fear, revenge, violence, evil and death, so that came across well.

All 11 people in the sample enjoyed the film and found it attractive to watch, with one person saying because they thought it had a clear narrative, and others saying it was tense and filmic. The favoured parts of the film were the hand at the end with the scream and Matt shouting, "I SAID BE QUIET!", which did not really suprise us - they were the most dramatic parts. People generally thought the lighting, music and location worked the best with some people suprisingly liking the flickering lights even though we were not sure about it. However, some people were not sure about the regular blackouts stemming from the flickering lights, and someone thought the acting was not up to scratch although we certainly do not agree with this. Alot of questions were asked about the random foot and then hand at the end - this made us pleased. These signified enigma codes and you were meant to be confused by them, as to continue watching the film to find out what they meant and who they belonged to (everyone commented on how they would continue to watch the film, even the people who said they did not like horror and would be terrified!) - so our film was successful in luring in its audience.

The following were the ratings given out of 10 by the 11 subjects: 10, 10, 9, 7, 8 and a half, 9, 8, 9, 10, 5, 9. On average this works out at about 8 and a half out of 10, which is not bad at all for an amateur film project. We realise some scores and comments maybe bias due to friends being present at the screening, but all in all we are very pleased with this feedback, and will take the criticisms on board in our evaluations.

Final Idea

Our final idea will start with a victim waking up. This will be a series of CU's at different angles creating a montage effect. The character will look around and motivated cuts disguised as cutaways establish various parts of the basement room. The victim will look down and more motivated cuts will show flash cutaways of his hands and feet chained up. This will be followed by some establishing shots of the victim in the chair chained up and the camera will arc the chair 360 degrees in fast motion. This will cut to POV shot looking through a gap in some shelves at this victim. Parallel editing between the victims face and the killers feet/shadows etc will build up tension as the killer comes towards the victim, picks up one of the weapons lined up on the floor (ip dip doo...) and raising it. We will not see the killers face yet, just the back of his head, but instead of killing the victim he cuts or rips off his gag and begins to speak normally. He is reasurring and charming in this shot/reverse shot conversational continuity sequence but much of what he says has hidden tones of twisted irony revealing he is treating his victims as "guests" hoping they have a "comfortable stay". Suddenly, he is more forceful showing his strength and power by forcing the victim to sleep using a drug. Then a long POV tracking shot will show the killer leaving the room as he murmers to himself creepily showing he is psychotic. He will pass other victims pleeing for freedom and eventually shots the door on a victim. We end on a shot of the victims blood smeared hand bang on the glass window of the door with a horrible scream. We will focus on this shot as the hand falls steadily down the glass and the killer says something ironic revealing more of the situation before we hear the killer footsteps leave. We will fade to black revealing the film title. Throughout the whole sequence random cutaway shots of basement objects such as a dripping pipe, flickering light, stacks of weapons and shadows will be accompanied by credits (director, producers, cast and company names).

Influences

Saw 1 - Opening Sequence


Saw 2 - Opening Sequence


We thought our opening sequence could share alot of similar features to the openings of 'Saw 1' and 'Saw 2', obviously taking into account our budget. The aspects of 'Saw 1' we thought we could use were the location type, the sounds/atmosphere and certain shots. The location is in a bathroom rather than a basement, but holds the same kind of disused and dirty feel as our location. We particularly liked the watery effect shown in the bath scene, and the fuzzy electric effect shown by shots of the lights when they flicker on. These are boosted by eery sounds of dripping water and electricity generators, a background fuzz we feel we could emulate fairly easily with fans or the light sounds themselves, and using water from a bucket to drip on the pipes. The overall sound is fairly silent with sudden drum sounds matching random flash shots to scare you. We could record drum sounds and use the same kind of shots to help build tension and keep the audience on guard for action. That leaves the very faint high pitched violin twing that occasionally rises and falls as tension runs its course. I don't know how we could emulate this, possibly making our own violin sound on the computer as a kind of audio track. A shot I really liked from the 'Saw 1' opening was the point of view shot from the character as the lights turn on, as this is blurry as if he is in a dazed and blinded state. We could use this for our character as he wakes up, altering the focus on the camera at this point for blurred effect. Also, I feel we can reverse the effect of darkness to light shown in this scene, by the lights flickering and going out at the end of our sequence. This would be effective in mystery, suspence and the meaning of loss of hope, while leaving a black slide to put the title of the film without having to use a cheesy fade to black effect. We felt the camera movements and lighting in the 'Saw 2' clip were extremely effective, and we could use a similar kind of style. The lighting was fairly bright, with the combination of grey/green slimey walls and yellow/white lights giving the whole clip a neon green/yellow kind of bright tint to contrast the shadows and darkness. The lights in our location are very similar, whilst the walls (mainly concrete and brickwork) are more dusty yellow. The overall effect could be a slight neon yellow tint to create bright contrast to the shadows, especially if we shoot at low key lighting with lights only focused on the character and the rest relying on the room lights as they flicker. The shadows created will give a great opputunity to mask the killer and add mystery to his identity, as well as possibly shocking the audience when he arrives. The camera movements in the 'Saw 2' clip are almost an array of different angles of the victim in the chair pieced together in a lightning quick montage. Here this is so fast as to depict the idea of racing against time, but we could use such quick camera movements as flash cutaways to clues of the victims whereabouts, fast-forwarded pans, arcs and tilts of the victim at different angles, and cuts of his face at different distances quickly pieced together to zoom in on him in a mechanical style. This would create the effect of panic, confusion and disorientation as well as giving the film a modern rejuvinated and alternative effect. The sequence could be fast and pacy at some points, but we will also slow it right down at points to build up tension and introduce the characters, setting and situation, as well as creating space for continuity techniques over montage. The camera movements for 'Saw 2' will only be used at certain points in our sequence and not for the whole duration, as this would not work for our project, and we have to take into account that we are shooting an ameteur film with average equipment. We will try to combine similar aspects, and will go as far as we can to emulate some of the techniques shown in the clips on a low budget. We felt both clips had an interesting style, especially in the titles, with 'Saw 1' showing a slow and gloomy effect with cold, blue and rippling watery titles, and 'Saw 2' showing an inconsistent and unpredictable effect with neon yellow/green flickering electric titles. We could use either of these styles in our titles and credits appearing alongside such features as dripping water and flickering lights, to either create a solumn or threatening atmosphere. Both are rather chilling and signify danger clearly. We hope to amplify both with effective titles between clips that use many of the techniques shown in the early scenes of the 'Saw' movies.

More Influences



This is a scene of Gollum in 'Lord of the Rings 2'. He is having an argument with his other side, Smeagle, because he is a schizophrenic. The scene uses shot/reverse shot on the same character to make it look like two characters talking to each other, when really it is the same character. We hope to achieve the same technique for our character who could be a schizophrenic arguing between his good and bad side.

My Favourite Horror Movie Clips

These are some of my favourite clips of all time from horror films. These include the first alien sighting in 'Signs', the famous tv seen from 'The Ring', the dramatic ending to 'The Descent' and the unbelievable opening scene to 'Saw II' (don't watch if you don't want to spoil the films for yourselves!).









I have analysed 'The Ring' clip for shot types, the 'Saw II' clip for opening sequnces and mentioned 'The Descent' clip in my influences and character types. The 'Signs' clip is just another clip I find inluential and have mentioned the fact this first sighting comes very late in the film in my influences. Other than that, these are purely for your entertainment and so I can refer back to these at any time for ideas etc.

Opening Sequences


1) Introducing the main story - 'Saw' (0:00-2:55)


For the first 45 seconds all we see are titles; the companies who produced the movie ('Lions Gate Films' and 'Twisted Pictures'), the producers and the main director, 'James Wan'. This is all done very slowly and tentatively in total darkness. The whole time we can hear a faint high-pitched note held on a violin string, so we know something is about to happen. There are many eery and creepy noises, with lightning and barbed wire sounds shocking us on the logos, and then echos, quiet blowing wind, dripping water and small bangs and clunks lurring us into the atmosphere of the film, making us tense before the film has even begun. The first thing we see is quite ambiguous. Out of the darkness a blue light appears to hover over a mans face. We can only see his eye, then his mouth, then his neck. The light disappears. Then out of the darkness, the words 'Saw' appear in the same blue light - with this title moving towards us with watery effect. We get the impression the man maybe in water judging by the blueness and liquid movement of everything. After the title we go back to the blue light hovering over something we cannot make out clearly (this is still probably the man). Next there is a close up shot of the man waking up under water. This gives us a shock, as from the quiet eeriness there is sudden noise and panic. At this point we our totally confused just like the man. The sequence is near total darkness so we do nothing is given away about the location except that the man has woken up in a bath, as he scrambles from out the bath full of water and the blue light in the next shot. We keep switching back to the plug hole and the music is building up so we are on the edge of our seats. The blue light is swallowed down the plug hole and disappears so we never know its purpose - this is very sinister and we get the feeling that the man has been set up and woken at this time by a programmed light for a reason. The man staggers out of the bath and we are still very tense due to the rising and falling of this eery sinister music. The man stands up and begins to cry for help. He is full of panic and terror and we can tell he does not have a clue where he is. This makes us frightened. A low voice speaks from the corner of the room to our shock and the man spins around to ask who it is. Still nothing is given away, but we hope that some answers about where they are and their situation may arise from the next conversation, but nothing is except we realise the low voiced man is in the same situation as he does not appear to know anything. The frightened man keeps asking questions, with the whole seen being very disorientating due to the darkness and staggered camera. Next the scene is suddenly drenched in light as one of the characters finds a light switch. Very bright lights keep turning on all around them almost blinding the frightened character and almost blinding us too. From these first few shots in light we learn more about the location, with the bathroom type tiled walls, dirty grey metallic ceiling and pipes. From the mans point of view we see a blurred picture that turns into a clear view of the lights and ceiling. Then for the first time we see the other character standing under some pipes. He has blood on his face and shirt, and both characters appear to be drenched and messy. We then see a very clear onlook of the whole room, where we see a bath, a toilet and some sinks. It appears to be a very old, dirty and abandoned bathroom of some sort, with all the metallic grey surfaces suggesting a garage or warehouse. Suddenly the music builds up and both characters as well as the camera itself begin moving towards the centre of the room. We know something of presence is there. The camera tilts down to show an arm in a pool of blood. The camera then spins up simultaneously with 'Psycho' type music, as a dead body in a huge pool of blood is revealed, lying in the centre of the room. This is very shocking, and the audience gets a new sense of perspective - that both characters have woken up chained to opposite sides of the room, both facing a corpse in the middle. Cutaway shots to a tape recorder and a gun that the corpse is holding does not give us any clues as to why they are here, but simply intrigues us more. We are desperate for answers just like the characters but nothing much has been given away, making it a truly nerve-jangling introduction to a film. From this point the scene continues as it is the main scene in the film, and the audience learns little by little their situation by peicing little bits of information together. The pictures seen in this introduction become significant later in the film.


2) Introducing a short subplot that links to the main story - 'Saw II' (0:00-4:40)


The first 30 seconds are very similar to 'Saw' above, with the same titles, darkness and noises. On 33 seconds we see a lightbulb begin to shine and flicker, before more titles appear out of the darkness. This again is all building up tension and giving us random bits of information about the scene we are about to see. We switch from lightbulb to title until about a minute in, the lightbulb shines fully and the camera starts to look around the room, to a vent, then to a corner of the room, then to some strange looking mettalic gadgets scattered around the floor. A hand appears and grabs a mirror turning it to face the character. We suddenly realise we are looking from the characters point of view and we hear panting noises. The characters face comes into view through the mirror, revealing he has a swollen bleeding eye and a machine wrapped around his neck. The music begins rising in volume and we can hear the character panting more rapidly as his heart begins to race. The tension buils enormously and the camera swings backwards to reveal the man trapped in a chair in some sort of dimly lit basement, prison cell or torture chamber. It looks very sinister and we panic because the characters is panicking out of control. We get a feel of his total confusion and disorientation as the camera keeps swinging out of control and rapidly, revealing the trap the man is in. He begins to cry for help as we cut from panic close up shots of his face to close up shots of some sort of face mask he is wearing with huge spikes on the end. The mask looks like it will close, crushing his face and head with the spikes - very disturbing for the audience. The half naked character staggers up and begins searching the room. He suddenly sees a TV and the infamous 'Jig Saw' appears on the screens. Unlike the previous 'Saw' we now have a clue as to what is going on, with this villain notorious for setting his victims in traps teaching them a lesson about appreciating life. There is always a way out but the outcome is usually a disturbing death, so at this point we know exatly what is about to happen to the character. The next few moments are very different to that of 'Saw' as we learn alot of information about the character and his situation, giving us the feeling the climax of the scene will happen soon, and that this is not the main part of the film. We learn the character is 'Michael' and that he is a snitch in society. We then learn that he is wearing the death mask that will close on his head after a minute unless he finds the key to open it. The only thing we do not know is where the key is as we see pictures of the villain operating on Michael's body before. Then 'Jig Saw' gives us Micheal a clue as to where they key is, flashing x ray images of the key behind Michael's swollen eye. We know that he has to retrieve the key from behind his eye. Michael begins to panic and charges away from the machine only to release a minute timer. We hear the clock ticking and the music changes pace. Our hearts begin to race. Michael looks down at a box and takes a knife from it. He looks in the mirror and begins tryin to cut his eye out to retrieve the key. The quick flash montage of shots builds up huge tension as we are heading towards the climax, with close ups of his eye and the knife bringing us closer into this brutal, disturbing and gruesome situation. Close ups bring out pure emotion in the mans face of terror, panic and pain, and he gives up as he begins to sob and cry. The whole time we can hear the clock ticking, the music building and we can see the camera moving out of control very fast, showing Michael at different angles. He tries one more time to cut his eye out but the pain is overbearing and he throws the knife on the floor in agony and surrender. He kneels down, screaming for help, but is helpless. The music gets faster and the montage of shots gets faster until the ultimate climax of the scene where the clock reaches 60 seconds. Everything stops briefly, the the pace picks up all over again suddenly as Michael begins shouting "no!", the montage becomes totally out of control with the techno music unbearable for us, all building up to the point where the mask suddenly slams shut on Michael's head. The music and noise disappears leaving a faint echo, and the monatge finishes with the camera resting on a shot of the dead man as he falls to the ground with the mask on, blood dripping from his head. This fades to black and then the title 'Saw 2' appears from the darkness in the neon-green electricity made by the lightbulb. This title only appears at the end of this scene as it was a simple subplot introducing the film, and the sub-story is now over as we switch to a totally different scene with the main characters. This killing simply introduces us to the villain and how he is still killing his victims. It just sets the gore scene of the film and prepares us for what might be in store - in contrast to 'Saw' where we did not know what was going on and were introduced to the main storyline straight away in order to begin piecing the story together.


3) Introducing a past event significant to the main story - 'The Descent' (0:00-3:25)


The first 20 seconds are titles of the company, producers and director, as they appear on random parts of the screen out of the darkness in a little beam of light much like a hole in a cave revealing the outside sunlight. This and the eery echo filled sounds that accompany it set the scene and make us feel tense and uncomfortable. We fade out from the darkness to a bright contrasting scene of American wilderness - a pine forest upon pictoresque hills drenched in sunlight. We cut to a crashing white water river with 3 girls team-rowing in a dinghy boat. The close up handheld camera brings us right into the action taking us on a scary ride of the river. We immediately know the girls are thrill seekers and the scene is happy with their joyous screams and feel-good actions. However, the camera cuts to a long shot and we get a sinister feel of something watching over them. In contrast we cut to a husband and daughter of one or more of the girls. The daughter shouts "mummy!" and their smiles keep in with the happy scene, full of love and adventure. The next few moments are a flash montage of the girls dipping and swerving around a tough part of the river, full of dangerous rocks and crashing waves. They are enjoying it and endure the moment with difficulty but with skill as they reach a calm part of the river again. We feel more settled when they make it to calm again with the daughter clapping from a nearby cliff. The girls steer the boat to a calm channel of water where the daughter and husband are standing and we feel calm at this moment when the characters all meet up safely. This moment is accompanied by peacuful happy music (much like found in "the shire" parts of 'Lord of the Rings') and the gilrs begin play fighting in the river, splashing and pushing each other. The scene is pure happiness and togetherness, with the whole time, opening credits appearing in shapes made by the different shots and locations. The girls clamber out the water and the mother is reunited with her daughter in a touching moment. There is happy chatter amongst all the characters and a sense of completion. However, there appears to be a tiny bit of unease in the music as the husband takes off the helmet of one of the other two girls. She is wearing red whilst the others are wearing blue suggesting she is a danger or different. The audience are uneasy about her in a seconds moment of passion between her and the husband of the other girl. This is not meant to happen and almost spoils the happy clam nature of this introduction. However, the scene quickly moves on as the husband and wife leave in a car with the daughter as the other two girls finish clearing up the equipment. The girl in red briefly looks after the family as they leave with jealousy and hate. We cut to pictures of the family talkin as the car drives down a woodland road (the credits still going on). There is no music now, just the sounds of a chattering family, making us feel slightly uneasy again. We get the feeling there is something on the husbands mind as he drives with unease (making us think about that moment of passion) and the wife picks up on this commenting on how distant he seems. The next shot we see facing the windscreen so we can see where the car is going in. The man faces his wife and says he is fine but is not looking at the road. We sense immediate danger as a van heads straight towards the car. There is a very sudden crash, making the audience jump and taking us completely away from the calm nature of the introduction. Our sinister senses are fulfilled as we knew we could sense danger and an accident has just happened. Sharp poles from the van go straight through the windshield and through the husbands head killing him instantly. As the wreckage of the cars lie there we do not know what has happened to the wife or daughter. A high pitched violin note slowly kicks in making us very uneasy as we fade into darkness signalling the end of the introduction. The next shot we see the daughter facing the wife as she blows out candles on her birthday cake leaving her in pitch black. This suggests the light has gone out in her life too leaving only the wife alive in her hospital dead. The scene is very sinister and she panics as she cannot see anyone else around. She begins to run down the hospital corridor with the walls and darkness chasing her. The music builds up tension here too but she is caught by another woman as she falls and we are brought back into the real world of the busy hospital leaving an emotional scene of the wife crying in the womans arms. Finally we are introduced to the title of the film, 'The Descent', in a slow beam of light from the darkness jsut like the opening titles. The gentle fade in to this darkness and back out gives a sense of time passing, just like after the crash leading to the hosptial scene. This way we know this whole introduction was a significant moment from the past and now we are heading into the main story of the film.

Continuity Techniques

I am going to analyse short movie clips from Die Hard, Shaun of the Dead and Rush Hour respectively. In each I will explain how the director has used continuity techniques to distract the audience from the filming/editing process so they can enjoy the whole reality of the movie.

Die Hard (John McTiernan - 1988)

I am going to analyse the scene shown at the time period 5:13-6:11

We start at LS of the main subject (John McClane) walking through a crowded airport. The camera pans to the right as John walks past, before becoming a sideways track following John’s walk. The camera stops moving as a young woman pushes past a startled John. Here the shot cuts to an MCU from John’s front, matched on action with the last shot, as the action of the woman pushing past him is completed, as well as his head in mid-turn after the last shot, finishing its turn. The camera stops as we see the action behind John, of the woman jumping onto and hugging another man. John turns back round in disgust and begins walking forward, resulting in a reverse track (the camera still following John). John then sarcastically says “California” in remark to the action he just saw, before turning his head to the right (our left). Here the shot cuts back to the sideways track from before as a matched cut, with John being in the same position behind the same man as before. However we do not see his matched on action as the John is briefly out of view for a second at the beginning of the shot, blocked by a man walking past. John slows down as a train of trolleys is pushed past in front of him, towards the right of the camera. The camera tilts downwards and pans slightly to the right following this movement of trolleys, as John is momentarily out of shot. The camera zooms in slightly as the last of the trolleys is pushed out of view, revealing a board with ‘J McClane’ on it. Although this is part of the same shot, which started with John walking, this acts as an insert shot, revealing an important detail that the man holding this sign is to drive John to his destination (taxi). We cut back to MS of John from behind, matched on action to when we last saw him as he had stopped to let the trolleys past. He turns around his eyes directed down to the right – possible eye matching with the sign we have just seen. The camera reverse tracks again as John walks back slightly where he had walked forward and turns around to face the taxi driver. The camera stops moving as the shot becomes an MCU of John on the left talking to the driver on the right. This is the master shot of their conversation. We cut to an MCU almost face on to the taxi driver as he speaks, before cutting to an MCU of John’s reaction to the drivers words (a reaction shot as he nods sarcastically). This is a shot-reverse-shot effect cutting back and forward between the 2 speaking, and uses the 180 degree rule, as the taxi driver is more to the right of his shot, and John is more to the left of his shot, resulting in them not being in exactly the same face on position (the camera is always on the same side of the conversation but switching from person to person. The shot cuts back once more to the driver before returning to the master shot of the conversation again. Between these shots the characters eye lines maintain a matching position. The scene ends with the same shot-reverse shot technique, one shot of the driver and one of John as they speak respectively. We see their expressions and can tell the driver is nervous. John is wary of this and his face both pities and mocks the driver. Without much conversation, the relationship between the two characters is established, with the background noise and continuity of people walking past making the airport scene very real to the audience.

Shaun of the Dead (Edgar Wright -2004)

I am going to analyse the scene shown at the time period 3:26-4:11

We start at an insert shot focused on the legs and feet of the main character (Shaun) as the bus doors open and he steps off. This shot matches on action to the next shot, an MS of Shaun who has stepped off the bus. The previous shot ended with a slight swivel to our left of his feet, and this shot begins with the completed action of Shaun turning around to the bus driver, before stepping fully onto the bus and continuing his walk. He walks past the camera as it begins to sideways track him at an MCU. The film is full of lengthy shots following Shaun as he walks from place to place in one whole take – a technique the film uses to focus the film solely on Shaun and his repetitive, robotic life, as well as adding to the alternative style. This shot is one of them lengthy shots, and follows Shaun as he passes a chaotic street, where there has been a crash. We see all his reactions in this one shot at MCU, so there is no need for a reaction shot. We get so taken in by what is happening around Shaun, that we get a shock when he is stopped by another woman abruptly (whom we think is a zombie) The shot cuts to an OTS MS, over the woman’s shoulder so we see Shaun’s shocked emotion, before this turns into a laugh as he realises it is an old friend. We then begin cutting from over her right shoulder, to over Shaun’s left shoulder and back to over her right shoulder again, using shot-reverse-shot as well the 180 degree rule so each character does not appear to be in the same position. Therefore the audience is not confused by the sense of perspective. The shot cuts back and fourth several times, with continuity being kept throughout. This is best shown when we see an ambulance drive past from behind Shaun, whilst looking over the woman’s shoulder. When we cut to over Shaun’s shoulder, the action of the ambulance is completed as it drives past, starting in exactly the same position as it finished in the previous shot. Also, throughout this scene, the eye lines of the two characters are always matching. We then cut to a master shot of the conversation at MS, with the scene of the crash at their side continuing. Two men seen in the previous shot to Shaun’s right remain in the same position here making it a matched cut. Finally we cut back to over the woman’s shoulder, as we zoom in on Shaun (who has a thoughtful but startled expression on his face as he has just realised he has forgotten to book the meal for his girlfriend). The shot ends with an alternative swipe transition to the next scene. These swipes are used commonly in the film, adding to its alternative style and creating disorientation and confusion to the audience, as we begin to get a feeling of something sinister going on around Shaun throughout (i.e. the crash, the noise of sirens, people standing deadly still etc.).

Rush Hour (Brett Ratner - 1998)

I am going to analyse the scene shown at 5:13-7:10

We start at a LA VLS establishing shot of the scene (Chinatown in LA) as the two main characters (Detective Inspector Lee and James Carter) come from round a corner, walking in unison side by side. The camera pans to the right as they move around the corner. The camera then tilts up to show a traditional Chinese building and a man advertising free papers by spinning the paper in a windmill action, who the characters pass. We cut to a LA MS of the two characters in the same position in relation to each other (matched on action). Here James is pointing down at something on the ground, which Lee’s eyes follow, making this shot a motivated cut, as the audience want to see what both character are looking at. We cut to a slab of pavement signed by John Wayne, which is what the characters were looking at, making this shot and insert and cutaway shot with a minor but relevant detail (James is trying to show Lee some American culture). We then cut back to the same previous LA shot, making the previous a true insert shot. In this new shot, James leaves Lee’s side, turning and walking back where they had just walked from. Lee turns to see where James has gone. We then cut to an MLS of the man selling papers, with space to his left where the two characters had walked past. James comes walking back this way so our perspective of where the two characters had previously walked in relation to the paper man has not changed. James arcs around the man to talk to him so we are looking at MS almost over James’s right shoulder towards the man. Using the 180-degree rule this cuts to over the man’s left shoulder at the same angle and distance, as the conversation continues, in order to prevent a loss of continuity in perspective. Continuity continues through this brief interaction, with people queuing to get on a bus behind the two. This scene of people does not change as the camera cuts back and fourth. During this scene, the short-reverse-shot of the conversation changes to MCU to see their expressions of anger and frustration more clearly, with their matched eye line as the camera switches becoming more obvious. We become more involved in the conversation and less aware of what is happening around the characters (we momentarily forget about Lee). James looks around him briefly drawing your attention to this fact, making it a motivated shot, leading to the next shot where we cut to a LS of a crowd of people standing where Lee was before (beneath the tall Chinese building) but is no longer present. This is an insert/cutaway shot alerting the audience to this detail before cutting back the original master shot of the conversation between James and the paper man – this time James darting back into the crowd to find Lee. We cut to a MS from behind James as he runs towards the crowd of people, and looks around. Just as he swivels to his right the shot cuts to a side on view of James completing this swivel action (match on action) with the same people around him in the same positions (matched cut). James begins to walk towards the camera, which reverse tracks at MS, the camera almost parting the crowd (though it is James who is parting it with his movement, as people cut in front of the camera, reminding us that there is “no camera” and the scene is “real”). This is followed by another insert shot showing the view James is looking into, of a crowd with no Lee. We cut quickly back to James who begins to run forwards (we think he has seen something). The scene picks up pace due to quick-cut editing between shots. James moves forward to tap someone on the shoulder, making this shot another motivated cut, as we want to see if he has found Lee. We cut to an MCU over James’s left shoulder of a man who turns around but is not Lee (he is Chinese and looked like Lee from behind). Using the 180-degree rule we cut to over the Chinese man’s right shoulder rather than his left, before James looks around and moves off again at pace. We cut to a MLS of James from front view (temporarily blocked by a bus moving off) and the continuity is right as in the previous shot James turned to his left, where the road would have been in continuation from the perspective of the shots before. In this new shot, James looks to his left as if he has seen something (another motivated shot), and we cut to a MLS of Lee on the bus that just drove past (which was what James just looked at to his left) as he waves to tease James. We cut back to the MS of James as he starts to run after the bus, this time the camera following him in a sideways track and then we cut to a shot from behind James at LS as he begins running down the middle of the road towards the bus (still moving in the same direction it left off), matching the shot and action. We then cut to a HA of James jumping onto the back of the bus, from the top railing of the bus where Lee is sitting. In this shot, we can tell by the road lines the bus is turning right (towards our left) and this action is continued in the next shot with a VLS of the bus turning right around a corner with James on the back. Again this action of the bus turning right is matched in the next shot at LS of Lee sitting on the back of the top deck of the bus (the bus movement being continued by the view behind the bus showing the last movement of turn revealing a crossroads in which the bus just turned into. We then jump cut to MCU of Lee – his action has not changed, but we have been instantaneously brought closer to Lee and his expression of calm. We know James is close behind him and a gun is pointed at Lee’s head (this being James who has climbed to the top of the bus). This is why we were bought closer to see Lee’s reaction, making this effectively a reaction shot. Lee is shocked and annoyed at himself as he turns to face a triumphant James.