Incubus film opening

Here is our final film opening, enjoy!

Evaluation task 7- progression from preliminary task

I feel I have learnt a lot since my preliminary task, mainly in the areas of camera shots, editing and lighting. As our criteria was to film someone opening a door, entering a room, sitting down opposite someone and having a conversation we simply worked with shot reverse shot, match on action and 180 degree rule. Yet in our final film opening we used a variety of shots and sound effects.

One of the biggest problems with my preliminary task was in the first shot, as there is clearly too much space above Abby's head, the flow and continuity between the rest of the shots was disrupted and there was then a jump from this shot to another.





This was then something we kept in mind for our film opening and tried to have as little of the surroundings as possible in the shot, for the focus to then be on the character as much as possible. 

In the following shot reverse shots it is far too light, looking back on this now I should have adjusted the settings on the camera or changed the lighting in the room.

Lighting was something we worked a lot with in the film opening as you can see in the shots below. As we wanted to keep it as creepy and dark as possible, due to it being a horror film, we used a lot of artificial light from torches to have enough light as was necessary and to keep the creepy sense. We also changed the setting on the camera to accommodate the low lighting.

In regards to editing, in my preliminary task matching the opening of the door in the first shot with the second shot was something I really struggled with, looking at it now it still doesn't fully match up. Another problem was the lack of sound in the last shot, contrasting to the rest of the piece.

Although we didn't have any speaking in the film opening, we used a lot of sound effects such as the closing of the door, music in the titles and the heartbeat to emphasise the story line and shot. So going back to the last shot of my preliminary task I would add in the sound of a gasp to emphasise her shock. 

Evaluation task 6

We have learnt quite a bit about technologies during our horror opening film. There was many programmes which we used such as final cut ( this is where we spent all our time editing the horror opening film) and i movie( this was where we imported our work from the camera and then only imported from that the clips which we wanted on to final cut). Live type (this was used so that we could put our credits in and style the words how we wanted to)
and moviemaker (this was used for our podcast). The learning of new technology was a great a learning experience for both of us and now we could both say that we are much more confident when it comes to editing.

We also used YouTube for our music during the credits at the beginning which were thought best suited for our horror film opening. YouTube was also used to upload our film therefore we could read any comments from the people who watched it. 

Blogger was used quite a bit in order to show our process throughout the film. On the blogger we had done a podcast and used movie maker so that we could have pictures be shown while we spoke.

We went on to a music website to download free sound effects such as the heartbeat and the door shutting to make our horror film more effective and make it that much more scarier. 

For the lighting we had to use final cut to either dim the light or make the light brighter according to the scene. For the sound and just generally for the clips the famous tool we used in final cut was the razor blade which helped us to cut all our slips up and move them around. We could also use it so that we could end the sound when we wanted to. 

Evaluation task 5

This interview shows how the film opening links to other similar films in order to attract the particular Audience that i have previously identified. The interview shows the key conventions of this genre which will therefore attract the audience which this film is aimed at as the main key conventions for a horror film are shown. In the opening we have used music and why we did this is explained. Similarities with other movies are shown and we have identified why red eyes was such a key factor to our film opening.

Evalutation task 4: Audience Profile

This is our audience profile, our film is mainly aimed at teenagers of around 15 years of age but also ranges to adults of around 30 years of age. Focusing on the teenagers; we maintain that people of this age watch our film because teenagers love the thrill of scaring themselves and the intense sense of anticipation created when watching a horror film.

Evaluation Task 3- Podcast

Here is our podcast detailing the role of our production company, Stealth productions, and who, given the opportunity we would like to work with.The podcast also features facts about Hammer Productions and what they have worked on as well as the idea of the a distributor and who it might be and why.

We chose to keep the titles simple and show the main roles such as who wrote, who directed and who edited the film. This was because we did not want the titles to consume the opening and the actors chose not to be in the opening credits.

We felt that with the use of flashbacks in our opening there is a similarity to films like 'Scream' as this was also a feature in these films. We also felt it had similarities to films like 'Rosemary's baby' in its supernatural element and 'The Shining' with our use of blood.

We would have also liked to worked with Warned Bros. as our distributor. Warner Bros. area worldwide distributor based in America which would have meant that in working with them our film would have got the publicity it deserves.

Evaluation task 2

How does your media product represent particular social group?

For Anusha in our film opening we wanted to give a sense of creepiness and yet at the same time make her quite mysterious to the audience almost as if they know she is there but will never be able to really figure her out and whom she truly is, therefore not knowing her true personality.

Voldemort is similar in the sense that in the series almost no witch or wizard dares to speak his name, instead referring to him by epithets such as "You-Know-Who", "He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named" or "the Dark Lord". This gives a sense of nobody really knowing his true personality, how much power he has or the lengths he would go to. So they know little about him, similarly to Anusha. This leads him or her to be scared of this being and this is what we try to achieve with Anusha aka the villain.

 It is even possible to relate both Maria as the innocent victim being like harry potter as the villain seems constantly after Maria and this is the same with Voldemort being after Harry potter. We had used Maira as our main protagonist as she is there to represent teenagers. Maria was also used as she can be related to by teenagers and as she wakes up from her nightmare we see the typical girly pink room with JLS poster and her in pyjamas. Another reason we picked Maria is because she is a young female protagonist therfore showing the audience that she is vunerable and helpless in her nightmare. 

In the film, Voldemort shows us that he has supernatural abilities and this can be seen with the villain in our film as it gives of the idea that this being has a supernatural ability. Both Voldemort and Anusha wear cloaks, as we never wanted to reveal what Anusha was wearing underneath, as this would give her away as clothes can really describe someone.

Therefore our villain is more of a complex type of character then Voldemort yet their basic characteristics are similar. Therfore Anusha fits the criminal social group at the very least. Maria on the other hand fits the teenage social groups.

 

Evaluation task 1

The is the title of our film,Incubus, we chose this because we felt that it give a sense of mystery towards our film but also due to its meaning of 'demon' we felt it gave it a dark and sinister tone.  

We chose this particular font because it looks as if it had been hand written and we felt it created an immediate impression of a supernatural and timely element that would then be present throughout the subsequent scenes.This is also why we chose to use the shot of the candle behind the font as we felt this added and completed the titles. 

At this point in the opening the music starts, we chose slow piano and violin music that we felt fitted with the conventions of a typical horror film but also added suspense and a creepiness to the simple shots. 

The story behind our opening is that there is a demon that is chasing after/hunting down the protagonist to change her to become the same creature as the demon. In this shot is the protagonist, Maria's, friend who the demon has killed to show Maria the power she has. Our opening ends with both Maria and the demon together  and the flashes of their red eyes, this is intended to show they are now both demons and that from this point on they will be working together to achieve the original demons plans. 

In this shot it is clear that Maria is our protagonist, she is in a clear state of distress and danger as she is tied to a chair, with blood on her wrists and screaming. We aimed to make it as clear as possible that Anusha was our demon through the use of the red eye contact lenses and the cape as well as the silence that surrounds her in each of her scenes which we hoped develop the idea of an ominous being.

Here can be seen some of the props and costumes we used. We used a cape to allow the audience to identify Anusha as our demon, whilst also using the typical horror film convention of creep lighting. We tried to use the lighting to our advantage to emphasise other props that were intended to add to the tension such as the knives inside the box lit by one of the torches. 

This shot shows the red eyes of the demon, played by Anusha, with the camera work in this shot we tried to maintain a small amount of movement so that the shot was not static and kept the movement of the total film but also allowed for it to be an obviously different shot that stood out to the audience. We also lit the face so that the rays of light only hits a small part of Anusha's face and so maintains the ominous tone surrounding the character.

One of the main locations we used was the school cellar because it is in itself creepy and develops the horror film convention of an isolated and unsettling setting. We also used this location for our opening because it held potential props such as stacks of old books that added to our supernatural convention.

Here can be seen our special effects, we used fake scar tattoos on Maria's arm to allude to the previous shots of her being tied to a chair and her arms being cut and bleeding because of the rope. We also used a large amount of fake blood and cotton wool to make wounds and cuts in previous scenes. 

Certificate Ratings Research

The U symbol stands for universal, and means that the film is suitable for anyone over the age of four. only mild bad language such as damn, hell, bloody or bugger are allowed and this must be with a suitable and justifiable context. If there are any moments of emotional stress or threat they must be quick and have a reassuring outcome.

PG stands for parental Guidance and so it is acceptable for general viewing but the minimum age is around 8. It allows mild bad language but stresses the importance of the context, and it does not allow for detail in violence or fighting.

Anyone aged 12 or over can see the film unaccompanied (12a for films at the cinema only). In this the tone is considered, so if it is particularly dark or has an unsettling tone it will probably not get this rating. There may be strong language but infrequently again taking into account the context. Moderate physical and psychological threat is permitted but disturbing scenes cannot be frequent or sustained.

This is very similar to 12A only for films on DVD and Blu-ray.

no-one under 15 is allowed to watch. it may contain strong violence and frequent strong language. No theme is prohibited, provided the treatment is appropriate for 15 year olds, so it cannot necessarily endorse themes such as racism or discriminatory language.

18 rated films are for adults, so no-one below the age of 18, no theme is prohibited as adults by law are free to pick their own entertainment, but this means no 18 works are suitable for children.

The restricted 18 certificate  is only to be specially licensed cinemas as it is restricted classification primarily for explicit works of consenting sex or strong material involving adults.






I believe that our film would have a rating of 15 as it shows scenes of blood, knives and allusions to violence but it does not contain any bad language or sexual scenes so may not be an 18 certificate

First attempt at the running scene

This is our first try with the scene where we have maria running to where she will eventually end up; in the cellar. The pace is quite slow as we were aiming to build tension and have Maria get faster and faster until she was running but as you can see the pace change was too sudden. Other problems we found were the jumps in shot and changes in lighting, all these combined created problems with continuance among the shots and the increase in tension we were aiming to build.

The Shining title sequence

Here is the title sequence for the film 'The Shining' that was produced and directed by Stanley Kubrick

Iconic Sounds

Door Shut- This creates a creepy and scary effect that gives a sense of isolation and darkness which envelopes the characters. Making the length of the sound very fast can create a sense that something is wrong.

Heartbeat- The fast pace of a heartbeat can cause an effect that suggests  a character is frightened. The combination of an increasing fast pace and killer moving closer towards the victim gives a sense of wrongness. The heart beat can be used instead of music as the audience gain a sense of the victims emotions.

Footsteps- This gives the effect that either the victim is running from the killer and trying to escape. Or suggests the killer is getting closer to the victim if the footsteps are slow and cautious.

Panic Sound- This gives the sense that something is going to happen and the scene is going to reach its climax, confirming something scary and dangerous is going to happen.

Nine Frame Analysis

9 Frame Analysis

4 Seconds

The words appears on the screen fading in with a dark background giving it a creepy edge.

3 seconds

We can finally see the words on the black background it gives a sense that a story is going to be told and soemthing is going to happen on that day.

3 seconds

Here there is a close up of her eyes making her look thoughtful and almost scared.

                                                                       3 seconds

Here it is quite a quick shot moving quite fast and it starts to make the film more fastpaced so it looks like it is leading up to something

2 Seconds

The doll definately makes this frame look really creepy and the doll looks dead yet weak and delicate.

2 Seconds

In this frame she looks happy but it does not seem that her happiness is going to last very long.

                                                                     5 Seconds

This is another quick shot and creates the scenery , the camera spins around from the girls point of view.  

12 seconds

In this frame she is still going around on the roundabout, the fact that she is just lying on the roundabout and it is not a sunny day and shows that soemthing is off.

 

                                                                         5 Seconds

In this frame we see a women spinning her around it seems like something very normal yet still gives of a creepy feeling.

Sub-Genres of Horror

1) Psychological Horror:
 Psychological horrors use a characters fears, beliefs, guilts and emotional instability to build tension. Because of this, this particular genre is subtle in its methods of scaring an audience as it does not include a lot of scenes with physical harm, violence or gore but looks into the human psyche and psychological vulnerabilities. it choses to expose the possible evil hiding behind normality and so deepens the plot of the overall story. 

Examples- The shining(Stanley Kubrick) 
        - Rosemary's Baby(Roman Polanski) 
        - The Blair Witch Project (Daniel Myrick)


2)Slasher Horror: 
Slasher Horror films focus around a psychopathic killer stalking and murdering its victim. They typically devote more screen time to portray a murder and so contain violence and often suspense. Frequently such films tend to create ominous and threatening tones through concealing the identity of the killer and gives the killer an unstoppable and uncontrollable quality. The normal setting used tends to be one that is a normal environment that then becomes the target of terror. 

Examples - Psycho(Alfred Hitchcock)
         - The Texas Chainsaw Massacre(Tobe Hooper)
         - Halloween (John Carpenter) 


3)Supernatural Horror: 
Supernatural horror centres around unknown beings that are not found in reality, such as ghosts, demons and devils and so normally explore such things ruining the life of the protagonist. This sub-genre is rooted in folklore and religious tradition and so relies upon special effects, eerie lighting and,commonly, isolated settings. 

Examples - Poltergeist (Tobe Hooper)
         - The Exorcist (William Friedkin)
         - Paranormal Activity(Oran Peli) 

4)Action Horror: 
This sub-genre places an emphasis on the abilities of humans when faced with impossible situations, battles with evil forces or supernatural beings. It looks at the characters struggles and their skills and plans in these situations. In short how the protagonist will battle their nightmares. 

Examples - The Ghost Rider(Mark Steve Johnson) 
         - Alien(Ridley Scott) 
         - Dawn of the Dead (Zachary Snyder)

Incubus Risk Assesment

Our filming aims for each lesson

Friday 1st February- we have to shoot the clip of the trunk we will show this as follows:

1.       We will have  to show a cloaked figure walking towards the trunk; we will make this quite snappy and short.

Monday 4^th February-(media lesson)

1.       Go through the plan

2.       Organise what we have to bring in tomorrow

 Need to take picture of Maria and Seema

Tuesday 5^th February (Media Lesson)

1.       The figure will be holding a knife with blood on it (she has the knife in her hand rather than picking it up from the trunk as planned before) we can have her twirling the knife around so we can see the blood/or cleaning it with a cloth and seeing it being stained?

2.       If that is fine then we should get a shot of the cellar door closing by itself with a bang for effect.

3.       We should start deciding what our company name etc. is going to be called, we also need to think of how we are going to present it at the beginning of the film, and we need to work on how we are going to do our credits.

Tuesday 5^th February (Our Free) – We need to take a shot of Maria walking towards the cellar; this will be done as follows

1.       We will have her walking form the door of the canteen forward and pass the double doors, and then we will do match on action so we will shoot her coming through form the other side if the door, then we will do the same with the second double doors.

2.       The second option is she could be coming from the assembly door passed the kitchen way and pass where we put our dirty dishes all the way till we reach the same double doors so we have given her a longer walk which makes the cellar look much further away than it is.

3.       We need to get a shot of Maria crying in the chair

4.       Struggling to get out of chair

5.       If we have time we can have a flash back of Seema on the floor, we can start a bit early at lunchtime so it is done quicker.

6.       We can also show a trail of blood up to the chair in the cellar where Maria is sitting, but that can be done anytime.

7.       We also have to get a shot of Maria crying.

8.       At lunch get pic of everyone together in the form room

Thursday 7^th February (Our Free) – carry on what we did on the Tuesday free

Thursday 7^th February (Media Studies) –

1.       we can also film around the cellar like the camera is in anusha’s place or we can have it so we can hear swish noises like she can move really fast but we can’t actually see her.

2.       We need to also do risk assessment

Friday 8^th February (Media Studies)-

1.       We can again look at what our production is going to be called and maybe work on how we are going to use the music/ what kind of music are we going to use. How we are going to organise it. Plan for when we can meet up to do shots at home. Work on credits etc.

2.       We need to also do risk assessment

Monday 11^th February (Media Studies) –

1.       Do the same thing as we did on Friday if we have not finished, we can also see if there is anything else to film in the cellar, or we can finish working on our blog and updating it.

Tuesday 12^th February (Media Studies) –

1.       Again just, either do extra for our film or carry on updating our blog.

Tuesday 12^th February (0ur free)-

1.       We can finish what we are meant to do, either finish Maria walking through halls make sure shorts are perfect. We can make sure we have completed anusha and Maria shots in cellar. Make sure we have done seema lying on the floor with blood all over her. We can also do the crying scene if not done and the trail of blood scene.

2.       We need to also start to anusha’s scene if we have got the red eyes, we will show her coming closer and closer to Maria.

3.       In one if the frees maybe we should get them all drinking or something together like in the common room or at someone’s house, if it is at someone’s house that day we can also get seema to do her scene at that house

Thursday 14^th February (Media Studies) –

1.        We need to again check everything is done that needs to be finished at school. Carry on with the blog.

Thursday 14^th February (Our Free) –

1.       Finish of anything that needs to be done.

2.       In one if the frees maybe we should get them all drinking or something together like in the common room or at someone’s house, if it is at someone’s house that day we can also get seema to do her scene at that house

Friday 15^th February (Media Studies) - Finish of Blog or any extra stuff.

1.       We need to sort out a day in which either we can film at someone’s house on a weekend or after school, we also need to decide if we are going to do any of these at school during a free. We need to do the following shots:

At the house during half term

1.       Wounds on Maria when she is in the bed at the person’s house.

2.       We need to have her walk to bathroom

3.       Look down then back up and see Anusha in the shadow.

4.       If we don’t do the drinking etc in free we have to do it out house

5.       We need video of outside in the garden where we burn a picture.

6.       Make sure we have actually taken the pic

7.       We can also get a shot of a candle; this could be done at the house in the dark. In addition, maybe it could blow out suddenly and leave us with darkness and this could cause Maria to come out of her dream.