School Made Production Company - Mehrabi Ward

Deconstruction and Practical Task - School Made Production Company:

This first clip is the school made production company - 

The clip above shows a school made production company sequence. Their production company name is called ‘Enigma production group’.

The clip was made by a group of students for AS media studies. The screenshot above is their production company title sequence and then the rest of the clip goes on to show a film opening. Which is similar to the task I will go on to complete with my group.

What I like about this title sequence is that it looks very professional. If they were to film a person for their sequence then there would have been the risk that it could look fairly amateur. For instance if the person they used couldn’t keep a serious face or, props they used weren’t very realistic or effective then it would degrade the quality of their sequence.

I’m not exactly sure how these students made there title sequence but I am guessing it was most likely using ‘Final Cut Pro’.

Another thing I liked about this production company title is that with some real, well known production companies, sometimes you can tell what type of genre’s they produce just from their title sequence. However if we were to just watch the production company title sequence part of this clip then it wouldn’t give away the type of genre films they make. I like the choice of font and size of the text they have used because I think that it stands out to the viewer and is easy to read. Although there is not much colour going on, it is still effective as the colours that they have used all compliment each other.

Now I will go onto make my own production company title sequence. As a group we all came up with the name ‘Horror House Productions’. We thought this was an ideal name as it tells the viewers straight away that the genre of films made by the company is horror.

This is the final outcome to my production company title sequence. I recorded my footage and uploaded it onto final cut pro, then added sound and the production company title itself. The only thing that I felt went wrong with this practical task is that when I was filming the fake blood dripping into the bath plug, there was the shadow in the background, which I was unable to stop as in the bathroom where I was filming, there are spotlights everywhere, so every angle I tried to have the blood dripping in at, there would still be a shadow in shot.

Overall I am very happy with how this practical has turned out, as it shows clearly the name of the production company and also what type of genre this 'company' produce.

Deconstruction of Camera Angles in the opening scene the Conjuring

Deconstruction of Camera Angles in the opening scene the Conjuring

The opening scene of the conjuring has many different camera angles, some of which are repeated on a number of occasions. This could be to reinforce that a number of events could happen again. The fact that all the shots are in the dark create gloomy atmosphere. The first shot shows a mid shot with three people having a conversation, setting the scene and starts talking about the problem in which a doll is described as things seem to go wrong. 

 The next picture of the scene shows a two shot but is close up of both their faces, but the lady at the black her face is slightly blurred so we can still see her reaction as they go into greater detail about a problem. The fact that her blurred face means we can see the man's feature more clearly like it is being focused right on him. This makes it more effective focusing on him so the audience pays more attention to him but still glimpse at the lady.

The next two shots are only shown for about two seconds but they show both reaction faces, this is effective because we are able to see the fear and despair in their faces so we know immediately something bad is going to happen.

The next image is a shot of the doll used in the movie, this is effective because it is very close up to the dolls face highlighting and showing her features very clearly, with the effects used like the scratch on her cheek to make her look creepier.

A shot below has been repeated, its just a reaction shot of the actors but what makes it effective as well is the fact its really square and the mise-en-scene of the house in the background is the door behind the actors. 

The angles used to show the doll are a high angle shot suggesting the doll has lost her power or ability to control others. The fact that she is laid up against the wall portrays her state of uselessness as she uses the door as a prop to lean on. The extreme close up of her hand holding what seems to be a red crayon implies danger and death due to the colouring used.

The photo below is a scratched picture, but it looks like the scratching has mainly taken place over their faces, this could suggest violence or negative feelings towards the people in the picture. The fact that it has red marks behind it has connotations of blood and the devil. This could therefore hint that the supernatural being is after the ladies in the photo. 

Group idea

Our Group Idea

Our group came together and discussed our ideas for our story board and possible idea names, locations, costumes and props. We also considered the editing techniques and camera angles we are going to use. We put this powerpoint together and presented it to the class so we were able to get feedback and change anything that wasn't right.

Feedback 

The class liked our idea but feedback we have to choose some more names and they didn't like the list we had selected, this was because either it didn't fit or didn't seem right. We will come up with a new name that will suit our idea better.

Deconstruction of Typography- Charlotte Wilson

Deconstruction of Typography 

I looked at typography within horror movies, as we are doing a supernatural horror film opening at the moment i have looked for typography within this genre. 

Firstly i looked at the typography within the supernatural film 'Paranormal Activity'. What i like about this is how the writing is glowing and how the word paranormal is slightly above the word activity. This and the digital effect in the back is effective as it shows us there is an interference, liking back to the title being paranormal activity.  The style of the writing is quit plain but still effective, this enables me to realise that our title doesn't have to be really complicated with over exaggerated font, it can be quite simple and sill effective. 

I then looked at typography from more supernatural films which are different font type to paranormal activity. Firstly i looked at the conjuring, what i like about this is how its an old fashioned and black quite boring but effective as its quite creepy. I really like how underneath it it says based on a true story and how above it it says the other famous films which have been made  by the same director, telling us its going to be similar to these and good. I also think the word the 'Conjuring' is effective meaning to call upon a devil or spirit by invocation or spell which is what the film is about, i like how its shortened down into one word. 

After i looked at the typography from the film Sinister i found that The Conjuring and Sinister had similar typography. As our film is also quite similar to these films i think were use typography similar to these two.  It has the same front as the conjuring however in this one it looks like blood or something which is dripping down or smudged. They also had writing underneath saying 'Once you see him, nothing can save you.' i find this very striking as it scares the viewer before even watching the film. If we find the right sentence to use we may use something like this under our title if it works. 

Finally i looked at some typography from a slasher horror just to see a comparison and so we don't do something which may make ours to look like a slasher instead of a horror film. I looked at the typography from the film 'Saw', i found that the writing is very ridged and uneven. I like the way the W is longer then the other letters and looks like a pitch fork, showing us one of the weapons possibly used to kill the victims. The word its self is also short and simply compared to the supernatural horrors, telling us our title needs to be a bit longer with a meaning behind the word. 

I think my group our going to use typography similar to The conjuring and Sinister titles as our film opening is going to be similar to these types of films. 

Locations - Georgia Serrecchia

Practical task - Locations:

The locations in horror films are usually isolated places, such as large and quiet houses, which normally have a basement kind of area.
These photos show some fireplaces which look quite creepy and they would be found in an isolated countryside house which is where these type of horror films normally occur.
This other photo shows some stairs going down into an eerie basement, this shows that they look very dark and it looks like something you would see in a supernatural horror film due to the spirit/demon normally living down there.

The edge of this fireplace looked very rusty and old which is a big feature of the horror movie location due to things normally looking very old and ancient.


This fireplace would be effective in a horror film because it looks very old and run down, which is conforming to representations of horror films due to them involving old houses/furniture.









This photo on the right shows the stairs leading down to the basement, it suggests that they lead down into darkness as it looks very mysterious and you don't know where they lead too.
This would be effective in a horror film because it looks as if the stairs are leading to something which could be a spirit or a demon. This could relate to our horror film opening, as we could have stairs in which the young actor walks down in order to find the being/figure to be down there.

Gore and special effects - Georgia Serrecchia

Practical task - gore and special effects:

These photos show myself with messy, back-combed hair and a bruised face accompanied by blood running from my forehead, eyes, mouth and nose. I chose to do this because it suggests that the actor has been attacked by another being and the messed up hair and look on the face makes them come across as looking shocked and possessed.

This first image shows myself with bruised eyes, cuts and blood and it shows me looking very young which is what our actor is going to appear to be.
The fake blood needs to appear quite real because otherwise it won't be realistic and believable to the audience.


This image on the left shows myself with the same make up, however it is shows from a different angle and my face appears to be looking very possessed, which relates to our film as it is a supernatural/psychological horror.
To create the cuts/stitches on my face, I drew them on with a black eyeliner and I used black/brown eyeshadow to create the bruised eye effect. I got face blood to add in the blood from the nose, mouth and eyes, to do this I just got the blood and wiped it on the face in the designated areas.

Costumes - Georgia Serrecchia

Practical task - Costumes:

I found a beige coloured plain t-shirt to start with and thought about how I could relate this to a horror movie. I cut the sleeves and ripped them slightly, and then I cut holes in the t-shirt whilst continuing to rip the holes to make it look more like it had been ripped or torn by another being.

After doing this, I added some fake blood to the holes and neck of the t-shirt making it look like the person wearing it had been attacked by someone or something, which is common in horror movies especially the slasher genre.


This first image shows the brown/beige top I have used for the costumes and it shows the ripped sleeves, the ripped neckline and the holes I have made in the plain t-shirt. This relates to horror film costumes because especially in slasher movies, they usually show a character wearing ripped clothing accompanied with blood after being attacked by someone or something.






This is the final costume that I made. In this photo, it shows that I have added face blood to the t-shirt, coming from the rips which represents death and relates to a slasher film costume. This may be a good one to use in our film opening because it could show the girl being attacked by the figure dressed in black. However, our film is a supernatural horror and this costume relates more to a slasher film, but we could use the one without blood as it then doesn't seem too slasher and gory.




Why is this effective?

I think this is effective because it gives the impression that violence has occurred in the scene due to the rips and blood all over the shirt, therefore it may make the audience become more worried as too what else could occur in the scene. There is blood on the shirt, which usually represents death and violence, which is also a reason it is effective.

Deconstruction of location - Mehrabi Ward

Deconstruction of Location:

This is a deconstruction of location used in various horror films. I chose to base my research on the two films, 'The Cabin in the Woods' and 'The Conjuring'. I chose these two films because I thought that conformed to their common conventions of sub genre's. I also thought that even though their sub genres are different they still have similar aspects to their locations, which I will analyse further.

The image above is the location from the 'Cabin in the Woods' film. This is the main location in the film, which is the actual cabin in the woods. This is a very secluded location, which conforms to the common conventions of a slasher horror, as usually we see a group of people (usually teenagers) who gradually start to get killed off by something and as they are in such an isolated location, they are too far away to get help from anyone. I like this location as it is very clear it is isolated because of all the woods around it. 

This second shot is from the film the conjuring. This is a shot of the main location which is the house, in which the family live in. I like this shot as it is a low angle shot which makes the house almost look superior to anyone not from it. The house is also surrounded by trees, this adds to the effect as it again makes the house look isolated. The house also looks quite old, which also makes it look more realistic as it would be more likely for there to be a demon or some sort of supernatural being in there. 

When it comes for me to find my own location, that could be used for the film opening, I will think about these two locations and their different features. Also if we were to use the location I have found, then I would begin to think about what types of angles could we use to capture the location as well as lighting - where does the sunlight come in from or where are certain shadows that could look effective.

Deconstruction of Sound - Mehrabi Ward

Deconstruction of Sound:

This blog post is a deconstruction of sound used in horror films. I carried out some research using you tube to find out any similar features used in sound tracks for a particular horror film. The film I chose to base this research around was 'The Conjuring'.

This is the first clip I found from my research. This is the main track that they use in the film. This sound clip starts of very quiet and gradually builds up and gets louder. I found that as the clip went on, different types of new sounds were added, which contributed to the tension. The type of effect this music had was very eerie, and almost uncomfortable, which I think is very effective as it almost makes the viewer expect the worst is about to happen.

This is another sound track clip that I found which is again from the film, 'The Conjuring'. Although this clip has a similar type of sound to the previous one, it has been played in a different way and has more of a tense feel to it. This time, the track starts off quite loud and fast, and gradually gets quieter. Then in the middle of the clip there is a silence, which I thought was quite effective as it is unexpected to the viewer, but again it is almost uncomfortable as we think that there could be another sound to make us as an audience jump but we don't know when to expect it. When the music does start up again, it begins very abruptly and loudly. It almost sounds like a cross between a scream and a scratching noise because of the type of instruments used and towards the end of the clip it fades out very quickly.

From both of the clips I have picked out I have noticed that the common use of instruments used is strings, and also other sound effects have been used to make screeching/scratching types of noise to make it more uncomfortable to the audience and to make it as eerie as possible. When it comes to adding music into our film opening we will make sure that, it builds tension and that it is eerie and thrilling.

Deconstruction of costumes - Natasha McGill

Deconstruction of costumes

This is taken from the movie 'possession’ and the costume she is wearing is rather eerie, so it conforms to the genre of being supernatural horror because it looks all old. The fact that it is a darker colour could suggest she is a dark person or she turns into a dark person so the clothes she is wearing could match her personality. Also the fact that it is like a rag, its one piece of clothing so it’s not anything special. The knot down the middle of her rag dress could suggest that something is going to be tied and that her dress isn’t perfect and straight.

 

 

These girls are in the ‘women in black’ and due to the film being set in older times, all the actors wear clothes like this, but it conforms to the genre because the ragged clothing looks old and creepy because it isn’t part of our time. Also in the conjuring the same type of clothing is worn again and by wearing white clothing it has connotations of heaven which could then hinder that they are going to be killed or someone is going to die. The old rags could be made to look worn down which would then make it creepy looking.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The conjuring has a little girl who is the victim and as we can see from the image that she is wearing all white. It is like a white gown that could have been torn. Also the doll sitting on her lap is wearing the same type of clothing this could have a link and the fact that it could have possessed her.

In sinister the children are all wearing similar clothing, this could be to hide their individuality. They are wearing usual modern clothes but the colours are all dark, there are no bright colours used so this could suggest that something bad is going to happen, but in this picture we can clearly see it has.

So by looking into different actors, there is a range from what the actors would wear but the typical clothing worn is the white rags. Also typical warn down clothing is appropriate because it could give the impression of being possessed. So for our film opening, we will try and stick to this but because we are using pyjamas we will try and make them look run down and ruined.

Practical Task: Props- Charlotte Wilson

Practical Task- Props

I got my inspiration for my practical task from the film Annabelle ,liked the idea of using a doll instead of a teddy. 

After this i went on to youtube to look for ideas on how to make dolls look old and battered, possibly a bit scary aswell. This is the video i found:

Firstly i found an old doll of mine which was this. 

I then got the equipment which i needed which consisted of matches, scissors, fake blood and black eye shadow.

I then cut the dolls hair oddly so it was all uneven as if its torn away over time, i then stapped her eye with scissors so it was turned around the wrong way to make her look a bit my freeky and as if shes been played with a lot.

After this i added some black eye shadow around her face smothered  and on her arms legs shoes etc so she looked old and dirty like a bit mouldy. I the put some fake blood around her eyes and on the back of her head to make her look possessed. I then started to set her on fire. 

I set her on fire on the edges of her clothes and on her heart, i also singed her hair. 

This was my finishing result: