ICT feedback

Feedback
Focus:

Use of ICT on blog.
WWW -

You have used some images to present ideas and have embedded video for examples of openings.
EBI -

You need to explore a range of ICT to present your ideas: consider the use of emaze and prezi as well as vlogging.
Resulting Actions  (student response):
 I will act on this for future blog posts

Movie title sequence analysis - font

Research
The font I will be analysing will be from the film "Evil Dead" released in 2013.

From the start, the title blasts out to the audience, in big bold, Deep red serif'd Writing, and we can see that this will be a horror from the start. The Deep ed writing slowly start to gain darker, blood like veins through it, like a human body, and so it is signifying that there will be gore in this.
The next part of the title sequence is like an homage to what is happening behind the titles. Blood red writing etches along the front, while the blood pours down behind, being completely corresponding to one another, and increasing the feeling of knowing what will happen in the film

Camera editing- Saw 2

Research
Saw 2 is an american horror film from 2005, directed by Darren lynn bousman.

The first thing we see in he film was a POV shot. This is used to show what the characters we are viewing are seeing from their eyes. This is used to show what is happening as more horrific for the viewer, as we can see what it would be like.

Next we see a shot reverse shot between jigsaw, and the person. Shot reverse shots were used to have a conversation between two characters, and possibly show relationship. However in this scene we can see the relationship between them is captor and victim, with the volatile face on the victims face. The shit reverse shot is used until the conversation is over.

This is called Continuity editing, and its made to show the story seamlessly from different  angles.

Our synopsis of our horror film

Planning
Horror film synopsis
The story is about a police detective called Alistair Murkland (often nicknamed ‘Alice’ by colleagues). As a child, he experienced a traumatic event which led to him being mentally unstable (the murder of his family by a masked man). He was put on a case involving a killer similar to the masked murderer from years ago. Keen to find the killer responsible for the death of his family members, he becomes obsessed with the case. The masked murderer kills his victims and then dismembers them – with rumours and some evidence of cannibalism. As what is thought of as a result of his obsession for the case, he begins having nightmares of the murders from the killer’s perspective. This resulted in him regularly taking sleep aids, which affected his work. As he’d become so emotionally involved with the case, and it had had such a negative effect on his health, he was taken off of the case. He was angered by this, and so decided to take the case into his own hands – he would investigate it himself. He set up a faux-investigation operation in his basement, and became increasingly self-absorbed and solitary. As he became more and more obsessed, he lost his job, and so invested all of his time in finding the murderer. In the end, the build-up of his dreams becoming more real, memories uncovered and evidence discovered, he finds that he in fact had been the killer all along, and he mimicked the persona of the murderer responsible for the death of his family as a kind of reincarnation.

Plot for the opening

Alistair is having a nightmare, in which he is seeing a murder from the perspective of the killer (the masked murderer). A clip is then shown of him looking down at the mask in his hands. He wakes up, terrified and sweating, but soon relaxes when he realises it was a dream. This is where the titles begin. A path of time is shown where he gets ready for work (this is where we find out that he is a police detective by his lanyard), travels to work, arrives at work and then enters the room where the investigation is occurring. Titles will split up each of these clips with a fade to black. A close-up is shown of him pinning up or circling a picture of the killers mask. Then, the title of the film is shown.

Mise en scene- horror opening analysis

Research
The horror opening I have decided to analyse is "The Ring"

At the start we see the girl in a skirt and white top, this could be implying that she is still in school, but possibly in the late teens by how high the skirt is (she is more daring and provocative as she is in the higher years). The White top attracts attention of the simplicity of what she is wearing, which could make her seem innocent (although that does clash with what I said about the skirt). This, along with the provocative skirt, and the bare legs, can all lead to her being the victim, and her being vulnerable.

Next, all the rooms in this house are dark, this plays with human fear, of something we cant see killing us, but the part that makes this scarier is the fact its set in the house, something that nearly everybody has. Because of this, people cant differentiate between themselves and this character, making it alot scarier.

Finally, The opening of the fridge, or the TV turning on and off makes the audience feel something else is at work. Something more spiritual than what we've already seen, this causes the audience to get worked up, putting them on the edge of their seats, then we finally get  to that last scene, and we see a glimpse of the horror that can truly happen, putting that build up, to its maximum effect.

Conventions of a psychological Horror.

Research
The sub genre that our group decided to focus on is psychological horror.

The conventions can be split into several different points.

Weapons

 For a Psychological horror, there are not any weapons as such, its more the killer/ villain uses fear or suspicion as a weapon. Twisting peoples minds and confusing them.

Sound

 Non- diagetic sound is usual in a psychological horror. Usually with the creepy music over the top helps distort the perception of whats going on, helping with the psychological feel.

Setting

 Most of the time, the settings are:
Large house,
forests,
schools, asylums,
hospitals.

For example


These places that the horrors are set in everyday places, making these scarier as it means it could happen to a normal person, and so the audience picture themselves in the protagonists position.

Title sequence camera shots/ angles analysis - The woman in black

Research
This horror film "The Woman in Black" starring Daniel Radcliffe and directed by James Watkins.

From the start we have an extreme close up, which is used throughout the opening scene. This is used to make the audience uncomfortable, and also, it could be to show the audience a certain item, for instance, the cups and the tea and the fact that nothing is being poured. This shows that these girls are only playing.


Picture will go here when i can find one.



then, the establishing shot shows the room and the girls. We can see Old fashioned costumes, and the walls indicate it is late Elizabethan era. This was used to show that we are not in the current time period, and that this happened before.

Then, the girls start to move towards the window, I believe this was a tracking shot, and was made this way to make it feel like you were travelling with the girls.

Finally, the camera stops moving as we watch the girls fall out of the window. I believe this was done to make us feel powerless in the wake of the forces at work in the house, and sets the scene for the rest of the film.

Title sequence sound Analysis - Alien

Research


The first analysis of a Horror film opening was of the film "Alien" released in 1979  and directed by Ridley Scott.



The opening starts really rather quiet, as this is set in space and (obviously) space is silent.
This could tell that everything is in equilibrium in this point of time. But as the words start appearing on the screen, the sound gets louder, there are high pitched sounds that slowly become more frequent too. This can tell the audience that something has changed in the path of the equilibrium, especially when the music later progresses into more frantic and therefore scarier music. The music and sound definitely create more than enough tension, which helps build for the rest of the film, because you now know how much tension there can be.

Furthermore, it solidifies where the film is set. The loud noises, followed by gaps of empty noise or space can give the impression that this is a more futuristic music or sound you would hear in space. This music has gaps of empty space as i previously, so it could mean that some of the music got lost in the vacuum of space, and so we know it is set in space.

Mise en Scene Feedback

Feedback
The first shot was an extreme close up. These are used to show something important to the plot in close view. This means the audience can focus on the point of significance, it also brings intensity due to how close up it is, and can cause discomfort for the viewers.[MDH1] 
The second shot was a long shot of the woman. Long shots are used to show a character in full shot. This gives the audience a full view from head to toe, giving more overview onto the character or the crime scene. It also shows the audience an establishing shot with a character in it, so they can see how the scene will play out.[MDH2] 
The third shot is a Low angle shot. Low angle shots are used to show that some characters have authority over others, or to show they have power in comparison to the angle. The effect on the audience is they know these two characters are in a higher position than the ones they are talking to, just from an angle.[MDH3] 

WWW: A great start to exploring the camera angles/shots, you understand their purpose and use well.
EBI: Always make sure to explain how the angles and shots create an effect in the specific scene that they are in.
 [MDH1]Fantastic knowledge on the camera shot and its purpose, what effect is created in this specific scene though?
 [MDH2]How does it make the audience feel? How does it present her character?
 [MDH3]Excellent understaning.

History of horror Feedback

Feedback

AS Media Feedback


Focus:

History of Horror.
WWW -

You include a lot of information in regards to the horror genres themselves. You also include how the context of the 20’s helped to evolve horror thus making it popular.
EBI -

Consider the context for each of the era’s: how did it help to change horror?

Use a wide range of IT skills in your posts – think about embedding video, sounds, vlogs? Don’t just use text.
Resulting Actions  (student response):

I will act on this in the future posts. 


Preliminary Task Feedback

Feedback

AS Media Feedback


Focus:

Preliminary Task 
WWW -

The content of your task was amusing and you thought about how your props would assist in this.
EBI -

 Your shot reverse shot didn’t quite work because you changed the height and angles of the shot which disorientated the viewer. It seemed like Ewan had sat down but the reverse back seemed like it was over his shoulder when he was stood up. Then by changing the distance it also disorientates the viewer because it seems like the character has moved position, but from your final shot the character hasn’t. By using camera diagrams these can help you to place the camera in the correct position.
Resulting Actions  (student response):

I understand where we went wrong, and what parts did not work, I will act on this in the future when we use more of the camera


History of horror

Research
Over the years, Horror has changed exponentially. From the Old monster films, to the new psychological horrors, we can say that horror has changed with the public.


At first, we have the 1800's with silent monster films parading the block, as they were all the rage, but they were still new, and so I can learn that these films could easily evolve.

An example of this could easily be the George Melies' House of the devil, which was used for amusement of the audience, instead of scaring.

According to "A brief history of horror", the horror films in the 20's were still exploring the new possibilities of horror. But they would only start to truly explore after the defeat of Germany in the first world war. I can learn from this that the people were only starting to become more interested in the wake of despair, with the fact of possible remedial results of watching these.


Then, from the 20's to 60's, a new brand of horror came to light, called universal horror. It was called this because of the film studios name "universal studios" and it includes things like the hunchback of notre Dame, The wolf man, and The mummy.

Then, in 1960, Alfred Hitchcock created an all new type of horror film. Slasher. This evolution of horror came to light when he published the revolutionary film "Psycho", which is about a crazed killer killing for fun.Not only did it make a new genre, it also upped the level of acceptable violence in these films.

All the way through the 70's, slasher films were getting more popular, including hit titles like "Texas Chainsaw Massacre" and "black Christmas" were popular because of the amount of gore and relevance people saw it had (as the people being attacked were living normal lives like the audience).


Through the 80's, horror in general was becoming less popular, until 1995 where horror (slashers to be exact) were revolutionised with saw.




Saw was immensely gory, and it was a film with so much shown, so much blood and guts that it created a new sub genre. This new sub genre, called visual horror, were used to make the audience feel disgust by showing extreme violence or gruesome scenes with (for example) Eyes being gouged out of their sockets.






Horror is one of the oldest genres of film in the entire industry, and it has also changed, evolved, and adapted the most too. From short amusing two minute films, to gruesome hour long blood fests, I'm sure it will keep continuing to evolve, as it has inspired many in other platforms, not only in games and TV, but then these games will inspire more, and it may be any time the industry revolutionises itself once more.



Bibliography:

http://filmmakeriq.com/lessons/a-brief-history-of-horror/







Mise en scène

Research
The mise en scène is, in layman's terms, Everything you can see in a scene. These usually include: 

  • Setting
  • Lighting
  • Colour 
  • Composition
  • Body language
  • Facial expression
  • Costume
  • Make up
  • Hair
These are used to present the story in a more subtle way, along with moods of characters, etc.  As humans, the viewers will register these things subconsciously(for example a person in a black cloak whose face is hidden is usually considered as an evil character).

As a task, we analysed the mise en scène of a Still image of a film. I did this still image originating from Paranormal Activity 4:



The use of lighting is very noticeable and important. The colour blue can usually be associated with calmness or being relaxed, and we can see that this blue shine is being shone onto the protagonist's (of the still image) face and shirt, which is also blue. We can also see that everything else in the room is darkened, making them feel less important, and that there is a bright light at the back of the room, shining onto a dark figure. The contrast of the light and dark figure at the back makes it not only stand out, it makes the viewer feel like the figure is bad. Because that point is the only place that extreme light is coming through, it makes the audience feel that is the only way out, and so by putting a dark figure to block the light, it makes the audience feel like their is no escape for the protagonist.

The setting of a bedroom does make this even scarier or tense for the viewer, as it shows danger in a place where usually on would consider the safest place on earth for them. Its the feeling of invasion into their space, an this makes the viewer uncomfortable.

In the way of clothing, the protagonist is shown to be revealing, with alot of skin showing and that makes us think that this character is vulnerable. The fact that she is vulnerable also ties in with the fact that she is facing away from the door, and so she cannot see what is going on with the dark figure, this makes her even more vulnerable.

Next, is facial expression. We can see that the protagonist is completely engaged with what she is doing on the computer by the look of the facial expression. This makes her completely unaware of what is happening behind her.

For Hair and make up, finally, we can see that the make up is very minimalist, there are not complicated blushes or anything of the sort. This gives the feeling that she is child like or innocent, and so this makes her much more vulnerable.


Popular Posts

Like us on Facebook

Flickr Images