Analysis Of The Opening Titles In Seven.

Analysis of the opening titles in Seven.

When analysing the opening titles of Seven, there is a mixture of titles on a black background and moving image. The font of the titles is white and looks like hand writing. This is in-keeping with the horror genre as the handwriting looks creepy and links to the narrative behind the titles where a character is looking through an old book and remove some of their skin with a razor blade. I like the combination of the titles fading to a black background and the moving image of the opening. We could consider using this combination in our opening two minutes. It is important to consider the colour of the font and whether it would stand out against the background. In seven it was effective to use white font and a black  background, however if we use white titles we need to make sure it stands out on the moving image. Seven split the screen and included moving image with a black corner where the titles were placed; this was effective and ensured that the titles stood out. However this might be hard to create and we would need to practise creating this on Adobe premier elements.

Questionnaire Results

Questionnaire

what is your name?
Josh
Jordan
Will
James




How old are you?
17
17
16
16


do you like horror films?
yes
No
yes
no


if so why do you like them?
give you a cheap sense of thrill and excitement

Thrilling and tension



what do you expect from a horror opening?
familiarized with the scene and the main characters
Someone dying
scary atmosphere

What is your favorite horror film?
Insidious
Paranormal activity 3
Cabin in the woods



Where do you expect a horror film to be set?
Woods, City, Countryside
Abandoned building or woods
Cabin in the woods
haunted house




What do you expect a villain in a horror film to look like?
dark and scary, supernatural
has a mask on with a chainsaw
covered face, dark




What do you think the victim should look like?
innocent, young, vulnerable
Long skinny face (Will Page)
innocent, dumb



What is your favorite horror opening?
Cabin in the woods
Cungering
Saw

Certificate Research

Certificate Research

 The U symbol stands for Universal. A U film should be suitable for audiences aged four years and over. However, it is impossible to predict what might upset a particular child, especially at this lower end of the category range.

PG stands for Parental Guidance. This means a film is suitable for general viewing, but some scenes may be unsuitable for young children. A PG film should not unsettle a child aged around eight or older. Parents should consider whether the content may upset younger, or more sensitive, children.

      

The 12A requires an adult to accompany any child under 12 seeing a 12A film at the cinema. This is enforced by cinema staff and a cinema may lose its license if adult accompaniment is not enforced for children under 12 admitted to a 12A film. Accompanied viewing cannot be enforced in the home, so the 12 certificate remains for DVD/Blu-ray, rather than the 12A. The 12 is also a simpler system for retailers. It means they cannot sell or rent the item unless the customer is over the age of 12.

No-one under 15 is allowed to see a 15 film at the cinema or buy/rent a 15 rated video. 15 rated works are not suitable for children under 15 years of age. This is the rating we will want our film to be as our target audience is for people aged 15+. If our film was as 18 most of audience would not be able to watch it in the cinemas, as from our target audience research the age that most likes to watch horror movies are the 15,16 and 17 year olds.

Films rated 18 are for adults. No-one under 18 is allowed to see an 18 film at the cinema or buy or rent an 18 rated video. No 18 rated works are suitable for children.

To Do List

Create your storyboard and edit it on Premiere Elements to make it animatic.

Research three horror films and the titles that they have used in the opening.  Explain the colour, font, whether their are moving images behind them, animation or a black screen. Do the titles fade to black or fade out as the opening narrative continues? What do you like about the titles? How have they inspired you to create titles for your film?

Characters

Characters.

The different characters and age groups we will be using will be 16+ as this is the age of general teenagers and they can relate to the characters due to the same age. There will be mainly only boys as we don't know what girl would get involved in our film, we don't have a girl in our group this is also why. There would be two people camping out and one filming, whilst a weird man (one of us) is lurking in the woods. The guy lurking in the woods will be in dark clothing creeping around barely visible to the camera. The two campers can be in normal clothing doing as they wish. The audience will relate the characters by either being the same age, which would make them be able to relate. The costume and props which will be used for the characters will have will be hooded clothing (dark) for the guy creeping in the woods so this hides his identity. The props needed in this film will be camping equipment due to the two people acting out setting up camp to stay the night.

Shot List

In our film we will be using a lot of different types of shots. When the characters are speaking to each other we will be using shot reverse shot, we will use this shot because it will show the characters reaction and facial expression to the audience. Also we could you an over the shoulder shot when they are talking to each other. Another shot we will use in the long shot to show the campers as they walk through the woods with all the camping equipment this will enable the audience to see the woods clearly and will hint that something dramatic will take place there. We can also use the over the shoulder shot when the person following them is looking at them from behind, this would build up tension and create an enigma code as the audience will want to know what the man will do to the protagonist. the close up shot will be used to show the facial expressions of the characters when they are scared this is a typical convention of a horror film that the audience will recognise. we will also use a high angle shot when the characters are walking through the woods this would show that they are vulnerable.

Script

Script -

Genre: Horror / Adventure

[Cinematics of the woods and the location in which the film is taking place]
[Characters come round the corner looking exiting for there camping trip]

 Jordan: do you reckon they have set up the tents yet?

James: i hope so because i don't want to do it

[Both boys continue to walk through the woods.]

[Boys walk across old brdge, they look across to look at the river]

[Twig snaps]

Jordan and James: What was that!

[Boys turn around and look scared]

James: I have no idea, lets keep walking

Jordan: Ok

[Rustling occurs in bushes]
[Scary tense music starts playing]

James: Did you hear that?

Jordan: yer what was it?

James: I dunno probally just an animal or something

[Will is watching James and Jordan through the bushes]

James: Come on lets keep going we are nearly there now

[Jordan continues walking along side James]

[Jordan and James continue to hear rustling]
Jordan: there's someone else here



James: yer I think I heard it that time

Research and Plannings

You need to be aiming to achieve a band four in this task - which equates to more than 16 marks out of 20. At the moment there is a lot more independent work needed to be done to achieve the grade you are capable of - so push yourself! Analyse the techinical elements of the following film openings and revist my emails to extend your work this term. In your planning for your film, which needs to have been planned and filmed by the end of term, make sure you are evidencing every stage in detail. Delegate responsibilities to manage your time. G321 needs to be your priority between now and the end of term and there needs to be a real focus from now for you, and for your group.

Feedback

Well done James, you have clearly been working hard at completing your research and planning.

Targets - could you explain the images in your mood board and what they reflect/symbolise in your film.

Script - write the script for your opening two minutes, include stage directions where you explain the characters facial expressions and movements, also the sound effects.

Interview a couple of actors in your opening - why are they good for the role, what experience do they have, how will they conform or subvert stereotypical representations of their character?

Mood Board

                                                                   

                                                                                                       

                                                                        

The pictures of the woods and the forest symoblise the setting and time of day we are planning to shoot our film at. The pile of sticks will be used in our film for props they could be used as a weapon or a tool. Also the station will be used as the characters will get off the train to go camping. The phone will also be used as a prop because teenagers genrally have phones out in the public and we want to show that in our film 

Target audience profile research

Target audience profile research

I found these statistics on the pearl and dean website which shows the gender, ages and class of people who went to watch this horror film. The typical audience of horror films are male gender at 67% due to male being more confident and less scared to watch horror films. the main ages which went to watch saw were 15-24 as the target audience was aimed at these types of people due to the release date of the film. Also more teenagers enjoy watching scary films. this shows that horror audiences include men and woman, however men may take more of an interest in horror movies as they are more known to get a thrill or an adrenalin rush when watching films. This research was to find out who enjoys horror films the most and what age, gender or class enjoys horror films.

Mise en scène

MISE-EN-SCENE

Mise en scène encompasses the most recognizable attributes of a film – the setting and the actors; it includes costumes and make-up, props, and all the other natural and artificial details that characterize the spaces filmed. In other words, mise-en-scène describes the stuff in the frame and the way it is shown and arranged.  We have organized this page according to four general areas: setting, lighting, costume and staging. The term is borrowed from a French theatrical expression, meaning roughly “put into the scene”. At the end we have also included some special effects that are closely related to mise-en-scène.

Props for our film

We are going to need to use camping equipment for our props, as this will be a main part of our short film. We are using this to set up a camp site and be attacked by a mental person from our school that we barely speak to. We will need these items to set the settings as we will be in a woods at night or at dusk.

Characters in our opening 2 minutes

The Characters in our Opening Two Minutes


The different characters and age groups we will be using will be 16+ as this is the age of general teenagers and they can relate to the characters due to the same age. There will be mainly only boys as we don't know what girl would get involved in our film, we don't have a girl in our group this is also why. There would be two people camping out and one filming, whilst a weird man (one of us) is lurking in the woods. The guy lurking in the woods will be in dark clothing creeping around barely visible to the camera. The two campers can be in normal clothing doing as they wish. The audience will relate the characters by either being the same age, which would make them be able to relate. The costume and props which will be used for the characters will have will be hooded clothing (dark) for the guy creeping in the woods so this hides his identity. The props needed in this film will be camping equipment due to the two people acting out setting up camp to stay the night. 

Setting

Settings

The location for our opening 2 minutes will be Ashtead Common because it is an open space where the group of teenagers could camp. There is also a wooded area where the villain could hide away. It would be a recognisable setting to the audience as it follows the conventions of the horror genre. There will be diegetic sounds in the common such as the wind, trees rustling and birds which will provide an eerie atmosphere which can create tension in our opening 2 minute film. The mise-en-scene will feature an open space with camping equipment and the teenagers in a group hanging out; the lighting will be created by the sun setting and torches used by the characters. Also the mise-en-scene will feature the teenagers walking and looking amongst the forest and trees trying to find the missing person. Ashtead common is an ideal setting for this as it has a mixture of open spaces and wooded areas. we need to be careful when filming the scenes as we want to create an eerie atmosphere but we need enough lighting to see the action and the characters. Therefore we need to ensure that we film during dusk so that we get enough natural sunlight.

Research Feedback

Revisit the email you received to your student account before half-term. You need to evidence further evidence of research in order to achieve your target grade. Lots of areas of study from this term have not been addressed in your blogging. Anlyse these opneing using key terminology! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wCTgUq6hzUk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tOLgGA-Yqc8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-xPYHygck6o https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0OYBEquZ_j0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gLeix0ZYSCE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1JfS90u-1g8

Questionairre

what is your name?



How old are you?



do you like horror films?



if so why do you like them?



what do you expect from a horror opening?


What is your favorite horror film?




Where do you expect a horror film to be set?





What do you expect a villain in a horror film to look like?





What do you think the victim should look like?




What is your favorite horror opening?

Target Audience Profile

through researching the pearl and dean website I am able to find out who the target audience is for horror / Thriller films. the target audience fir paranormal activity was 49% men and 51% women this shows both men and women are interested in watching horror/thriller films. the most popular age of the audience who would watch it is 15-24, therefore when conducting our research for our opening 2 minutes of our film we will ask a range of men and women who are 15-24. to find out what interests them about horror films and what they look for in a horror film.

Preliminary Task Media

In filming we came up with a idea for the task really quickly which meant we had a lot of time to film it. also we worked together really well and took the task really seriously so we were focused which made the outcome of the film really good. one of the only things we could of improved on was keeping the camera more steady but it is hard because we did not have a tripod.




In editing we edited it really quickly making the shots look clean the only thing we could of done is added a few effects but as we are new to the software we didn't know how to.


If we were to do it next time we would get a tripod to make the shots more steady also this will make it more professional also I will make sure I have a role in the film as a character unlike this one where I only edited it.




The skill I need to know for the main task is to learn all the shot techniques and rules to make it look as good and professional as possible.


We used a variety of shots such as long shot, medium shot, over the shoulder shot and close up. also we also used a shot reverse shot and the 180 degree shot/rule.

Rules Of Filming

Rule Of Thirds
The rule of thirds is applied by aligning a subject with the guide lines and their intersection points, placing the horizon on the top or bottom line, or allowing linear features in the image to flow from section to section.


180 Degree Rule
In film making, the 180-degree rule is a basic guideline regarding the on-screen spatial relationship between a character and another character or object within a scene.


Shot Reverse Shot
Shot reverse shot  is a film technique where one character is shown looking at another character, and then the other character is shown looking back at the first character.


30 Degree Rule
The 30-degree rule is a basic film editing guideline that states the camera should move at least 30 degrees between shots of the same subject occurring in succession.


Match On Action
Cutting on action or matching on action refers to film editing and video editing techniques where the editor cuts from one shot to another view that matches the first shot's action.

Film Pitch

The narrative would include dialogue for each characters, they will be followed possibly without knowing, building up tension. The codes and conventions for the genre features in our opening will be screams, tension, chase scene, dark and eerie setting in Ashtead woods. The characters we may include will be a group of teenagers or girl who is very vulnerable and other various characters. A suggested prop list would be a phone or some sort of weapon maybe sticks . The shots we could use would be a close up shot, medium, high angled shot or a long shot to get different perspectives of the scenes. The mise-en-scene that could be used would be different props in different places, where it needs to be when its needed. We also have an idea of starting this by having a group of friends going out camping in the woods at dusk which will give a scary feel to the setting. We will be followed by another pupil at school, who we've never really payed any attention to in the past years and didn't realise he had mental problems and comes and attacks us in the woods of Ashtead. The narrative could begin with the group of friends going into the common setting up camp and getting ready to spend the night out. Through the film, there will be multiple chase scenes also people will go missing during being in the camp site, we start to look for clues to find out where the missing person is.

Initial Film Ideas

The genre of our film is horror we are going to film it in the woods in Ashtead common in the early evening we are considering this time because it is typical of horror films and it could give a good feel to the scene. i am thinking of having a chase scene

Horror Genre Analyisis

•       Sound:

•       Sound is very important within a Horror Films to help set the tone mood and atmosphere.

•       Non-diegetic music is used to reflect the narrative events such as the opening credits

•       Diegetic sound is used when the man at the start of the film is breathing really heavily and there is also banging sounds from when he is making his steel fingers this gives a scary feel to the scene which shows that it is a horror film.

•      Camera Angles:

•      A close-up shot is used when the camera is on the girl with a white background this shows she is scared also it is used to show the audience the character.

•      An establishing shot is used of the dark corridor this establishes where the narrative is going to take place.

•      A two shot is used of a man and a women kissing towards the end of the opening scene.

•      A tracking shot is used when he girl is running down the narrow corridor which helps build suspense 

•      Characters:

•      The main characters are introduced in the opening scene when the girl is introduced in the dark corridor also the main villain is also introduced right at the start but you do not see his face until near the end of the opening scene.The audience recognises that they are the main characters through the use of the dialogue/camera shots/events that they are involved in.

•      Narrative Events:

•      The opening scene features narrative events through the whole of the opening scene explain her thought though the scene.

•      Enigma codes:

•      Enigma codes are used to tease the audience and engage them in the narrative so they carry on watching the film. Certain enigmas are included in the opening such as puzzles about how she met him or knew about him or how she fell in love with him,questions are left unanswered about how they will get together or will they get together

•      Symbolic codes are shown in the mise-en-scene:

•      In the opening the audience would identify symbols in the genre such as the dark settings and quick shots to build up suspense these could make the audience feel/think that there is going to be scary parts within the film. 

•      Props/ costumes:

•      The audience can see that the main villain is making steel fingers which he will obviously use as a weapon of some sort this shows that there may be murders in the film which is typical of the genre because its scenes where murders occur are usually scary and that is the aim of a horror film, to scare you 

•      Clichés:

•      Noticeable clichés are used in the opening scene such as when she suddenly wakes up from having a bad dream, This engages the audience as they recognise these features and can predict what is going to happen in the narrative.

Drag Me To Hell

Released:	29th May 2009
Genre:	Horror, Thriller
Price:	D
Estimated box office:	£1,500,000
Director:	Sam Raimi
Film cast:	Flor De Maria Chahua, Justin Long, Alison Lohman, Jessica Lucas
Certificate:	15
Distributor:	Lionsgate Films
The Story:	An unsuspecting young woman (Lohman) becomes the recipient of a supernatural curse cast upon her by an older Eastern European woman who was defied and humiliated by others. •       Sound: •       Sound is very important within a horror film to help set the tone mood and atmosphere. •       Non-diegetic music is used to reflect the narrative events such as when the floor opens opens up. •       Diegetic sound is used in the dialogue between the characters when the boy is scared and he is telling his family what he saw. it reveals he is scared which  this shows that the genre is Horror •      Camera Angles: •      A close-up shot is used to show the boy wrapped up in a blanket looking very scared •      An establishing shot is used of the setting of the huge house this establishes where the narrative is going to take place. •      A two shot is used of the characters talking to each other to show their relationship being close as they start hugging •      A tracking shot follows the boy running out of the room into the landing where he looks down this reveals to the audience he is scared because of his facial expressions and he is running like he would for his life this engages the audience  because they will want to watch on to see what happens •      Characters: •      The main characters are introduced in the opening scene when they all gather round in front of the big house.  The audience recognises that they are the main characters through the use of the dialogue/camera shots/events that they are involved in. •      Narrative Events: •      The opening scene features certain narrative events such as screaming, shouting and talking these conform to the genre as other openings such as a nightmare on elm street feature similar events. •      Enigma codes: •      Enigma codes are used to tease the audience and engage them in the narrative so they carry on watching the film. Certain enigmas are included in the opening such as puzzles about how the boy will get out questions are left unanswered about why the floor opened up •      The audience want to know what will happen to the character who got dragged into hell •      Symbolic codes are shown in the mise-en-scene: •      In the opening the audience would identify symbols such as scared characters these could make the audience feel scared as well and on the edge of the seat. •      Props/ costumes: •      The audience can see that the characters are wearing old cloths this shows that it could be set in the past. •      Props are featured such as cars and blankets •      Clichés: •      Noticeable clichés are used in the opening scene such as someone disappears and they have to find him. This engages the audience as they recognise these features and can predict what is going to happen in the narrative.