Our AS Level Production Coursework is a horror movie opening. As a result, we are aiming for content which the BBFC would classify at 18. This falls in line with similar releases such as Halloween, Saw and Stanley Kubrick's highly controversial epic, Clockwork Orange.
BBFC classifies 18 as:
Suitable only for adults
No-one younger than 18 may see an ‘18’ film in a cinema. No-one younger than 18 may rent or buy an ‘18’ rated video.
As a result, the production as a whole wold feature adult themes and content wholly inappropriate for children. Therefore, our entire target audience is above the age of 18, as any lower would be illegal and socially irresponsible.
More specifically, we are aiming our production at traditional fans of the horror genre, dating back as far as 50 years: young adults. Young adults have by far the most leberal views and tend to be more interested in the visceral thrills of horror movies than their elders, who are typically more conservative and inclined to watch things like dramas and unoffensive comedies.
In order to appeal to our target audience, we will make extensive use of the conventions of the horror genre, particularly the splatter flicks which have been amongst their favourites since the 80s.
To that end, our production features a central villain whose face is hidden by a distinctive mask. The villain is murdering an attractive teenage girl as is common for the genre, which also adds a certain level of sex appeal for young men. This is a plus as even among young adults, the genre is mainly popular amongst males.
The production will also make use of dark lighting and appropriate mise en scene (Such as the untidy workshop discussed below, full of terrifying torture devices and the dark, eery wood through which the villain pursues his victim).
The use of horror convention to appeal to the target audience will be carried over into promotional materials. The poster, for instance, will make use of the blacks and dark reds which evoke the genre and feature a distinctive image of the villain and/or subtle hints at his mis-deeds, similar to other horror productions as seen below.
We intend to gain a greater understanding of what our target audience would like to see in our production by conducting a survey, some time in the next two weeks at most (A Pilot Study will be conducted in advance of the final survey). In the meantime, we are encouraging anyone in our primary target of roughly 18-34 year olds to post any suggestions in the comments section below.
As our film goes into the use of torture devices we needed a location that would be believable and would help to bring fear to the audience like the torture device. The idea of "no escape" comes from the location making it more chilling.
Objects inside the room would help to make it seem smaller for a claustrophobic feel. In the image to the right there is many messy items that are scattered around that could suggest that the killer is a mess too.
The objects inside the room are very important too all of the objects are made to bring fear to the audience, following the opening many sharp killer objects will be placed into the room and many shots will emphasise how important they are in the opening . In this next picture is an example of objects to be found in the room, the large saw is very suggestive to the plot or torture that may occur later in the film, the blade is close to the camera making it seem more threatening. Behind it is a lot of rusty nails now telling the audience more about the setting, the rusty nails suggest decay in the location.
Finally another important feature for the horror location is the lighting, the setting needs to be dark to appear scary, the only natural light used in our setting will be the strip light, it will be covered more to lower the lighting. Also seen in this picture is the cobwebs that make the light darker n the scene creepier.
We chose to go up to the forest above the village as it is quite close by and as it gets dark the forest would appear to be quite scary.
We will be going deep into the forest so that all there is shown in the background is more trees, this will give a trapped and lost feeling for the character and the audience, also it is suggesting that there is someone or something hiding behind any of the trees.. Because of the season the trees are still at a stage where they are not blossoming. The bare trees create sinister shapes and form dark twisted shadows again creating a scary setting.
We will be making sure that there are no man-made objects in the shot (paths, wooden structures) this will show the audience that the victim is alone with no one around to help her.
Saul Bass was born in 1920 and died in 1996.He was best known as a graphic designer, designing posters for movies such as Vertigo, Bunny Lake is Missing and The Man with the Golden Arm because of his relationships with the directors Alfred Hitchcock, Otto Preminger and Martin Scorsese. He worked for these filmmakers along with Stanley Kubrick and other great Hollywood directors of the 20th Century. He also made title sequences for The Man with the Golden Arm, Psycho and North by Northwest. Bass produced memorable title sequences for Hitchcock using kinetic typography (for North by Northwest, Vertigo and Psycho) He moved away from this technique, in favor of computerized titles, when working with Martin Scorsese- which is how he produced the title sequence for Casino. For 40 years he designed a wide variety of different-genre title sequences such as Spartacus (1960), The Victors (1963), Casino (1995), Goodfella’s (1990), Doc Hollywood (1991) and Cape Fear (1991). Some of these movies feature new methods of production and graphic design. There was a controversial issue over a scene from the film Psycho, directed by Hitchcock, where Bass claimed that he helped direct the scene. ‘Direct’ was taken as two different meanings: literally directed and ‘directing’ in the way that he influenced the scene with his graphic contribution. To the left is an example of his work · The film poster for ‘The Man With the Golden Arm’(1955, directed by Otto Preminger)
This is a classic example of his work because of the bold colours and block shapes used. The design is eye-catching and hints at what the movie is about using the image of a broken arm. The block shapes can be interpreted as just the design or a room/building. The image of the arm may also look different to different people.
Torture porn is a recently developed horror sub-genre in which a central villain murders his victims in gruesome and horrifying ways. They depict nudity, extreme levels of gore, mutilation and extensive sadism.
The movie which sparked the sub-genre, Saw, has spawned a number of sequels. Lionsgate, who produced Saw, have also launched other franchises into the torture porn sub-genre, such as the Hostel series.
Their interest is not just creative, movies in the torture porn sub-genre are significant commercial successes, often earning tens of millions of US Dollars in gross, on budgets of only a few million dollars. Their low budgets allow them to be produced quickly, ensuring studios like Lionsgate always have a cash cow in theatres.
Despite their commercial success, releases in the torture porn sub-genre have drawn wide criticism from movie reviewers and directors of more traditional horror films. Noted director of the Dead series, George A. Romero, dislikes them, saying they "lack metaphor".
This reflects the wider criticism of torture porn, that the genre is shallow and lacking in complexity, appealing purely to basic human instincts. It is from this criticism that the half-derisive term for the sub-genre ("Torture Porn") was derived - the sub-genre is likened to porn, which serves only to serve basic human sexual desire.
We do not fully agree with this criticism and will be incorporating certain aspects of the torture porn sub-genre into our production coursework. We feel that the problem lies mainly in previous releases and their lacking interest in plot - likely the result of their low budgets and short production times.
Our coursework will use elements of the sub-genre, such as use of extreme gore to provoke fear in the audience, but we intend to provide greater context and story, even in the opening scene we are producing. We will do this by having greater than normal character development, particularly with regards to the villain, who often goes through the entirety of the movie without having his motivation explained.
For our A level horror opening we will be constructing our own torture device to use in the film. We have studied old devices that have been used in the past as punishment to put together a suitable torture device that would provoke an appropriate response in the audience - fear.
Here are some examples we have looked at:
First is the cat's paw, the victim would be hung up to a board and, using an instrument, would have their flesh torn from their bodies - from top to bottom.
The Judas cradle is a device where the victim is hoisted up above a pyramid and then slowly lowered onto its sharpened pinnacle crotch first, depending on the weight of the prisoner would depend on the pain given to them.
A standard form of punishment in the middle ages was impalement, they would have a long, sharp pole inserted into their anus and out of their mouth and left there to die, which could take more than a day.
We decided to use a different torture device but modernise it. The saw is a device where the victim is strapped upside down so the blood will go to their head, so when the sawing begins the victim will not pass out and would feel the pain. The saw would then start at the crotch and get to the navel before the victim would lose consciousness.
For our opening we will be using the saw idea but slightly changing the setup, firstly we will be using a chainsaw rather than a more conventional saw. Secondly, we will be lying the victim on her back so the saw will gradually move horizontally towards the crotch.
Alexandre Aja was born August 7th 1978 in Paris, France. He Directed films such as: Haute Tension (2003) The Hills Have Eyes (2006) Mirrors (2008) Silent Night, Deadly Night (2008, remake)
The movies The Hills Have Eyes and Mirrors are very blood-thirsty and gruesome. The Hills Have Eyes is a remake of the 1972 original, directed by Wes Craven. Critics have said that it is a poor reproduction, having the more bone-chilling scenes too early in the film, leaving the rest to fail living up to the movies reputation. Mirrors is more supernatural, using the reflections as means of including blood and gore, but is described by Timeout as ‘the dumbest horror movie of recent years’. The narrative comes from the Korean movie ‘Into the Mirror’.
Manoj Nelliyattu was born 6th August 1970. He is known as M. Night Shyamalan, known for making movies with supernatural plots with twisted endings and filming around the Philadelphia, Pennsylvania area. He directed movies such as: · Praying with Anger (1992) · Wide Awake (1995, released 1998) · The Sixth Sense (1999) · Unbreakable (2000) · Signs (2002) · The Village (2004) · Lady in the Water (2006) · The Happening (2008)
Sixth Sense and Signs were among the only few films that received financial success and good/ mixed reviews. Most of his films did not become popular and were categorized as failures financially. Critics label Shyamalan as a ‘one-trick’ pony, always having the ‘twist’ element in his screenplays. He is also seen as a better director than he is a screenwriter, being told to perhaps hire a screenwriter to translate his ideas to be better suited as a film. His excuse for creating twists and having horror elements within his movies is that he wants to have a spiritual and emotional perspective. His parents were the associate producers for the film Wide Awake and it was filmed in Shyamalan’s old school. It was nominated for Best Drama and for Cross Best Performance in the 1999 Young Artist Award.
Shyamalan is known for directing thriller movies- something that our group is not doing. We are specifically looking at horror films and conventions but some of Shyamalan's ideas could be used to influence our ideas (twists etc.) for our opening because the horror and thriller genres are closely related. Our film opening differs from the thriller genre because it involves more gore- not hints of it- and the movie doesn't particularly focus on 'playing with the mind' as typical thrillers do.
Identity Lost (2001, genre: mystery and thriller) and Butterfly dreams (2000, genre: short movie) were his first two films that were written and directed by him. Both weren’t very successful. Following these were the Saw movies, starting with Saw II (2005) and ending at Saw IV (2007). He started directing the Saw films when his initial idea for the movie ‘The Desperate’ failed to get made. The studios he pitched it to said it was too violent and the narrative was too similar to ‘Saw’. James Wan and Leigh Whannell (the writers of Saw) heard about this and asked Bousman on the day Saw came out in cinemas whether he was interested in using the story as a baseline for Saw II- Bousman said yes and was signed on to direct the movie. Because of the movies success, Bousman was signed to direct Saw III and Saw IV (although for Saw IV he didn’t think that he would have the time because of the musical Repo! the Genetic Opera- which he needed to prepare for. He directed the music video for ‘Mudyayne’- “Forget to Remember,” which became the main song on the soundtrack for Saw II. He is currently working on ‘Wichita,’- produced by Twisted Pictures and Dimension Films- since he signed a deal with Harvey Weinstein’s new company.
Scream made in 1996 and directed by Wes Craven falls into the slasher horror film genre, it has many codes and conventions to show the audience what genre it is. The introduction has many important features that help build up the film through this genre. Everything in the mise-en-scene, the music, camera shots, plot, setting, edits and characters, all of these create the horror genre in Scream.
As scream lies in a realistic setting everything inside the mise-en-scene must be normal objects, ever thing that is shown in the shots in the opening are all normal items that would be seen in a house (television, books, shelves). Fear doesn't come from these objects themselves, however being realistic it gives the audience a sense of possibility for this to happen. The fear from the opening comes from the telephone knowing that after the first few rings it will be the main threat to the character, she holds it in her hands throughout the opening so the audience knows that she is in danger, however no-one gets to see the killer while she has the phone, this builds up the threat even more not knowing what really is going on. The popcorn also has a significant use, after putting the popcorn on the main focus pulls back the character on the phone and after a while the audience forget it is on, when the popcorn goes off at a silent, tense moment and it startles the viewers.
Like all horrors the sound and music that has been used help build up the suspense, in Scream both the diegetic and non-diegetic help to create a creepy atmosphere for the audience. All of the sounds echo showing that the house is empty and that the girl is all alone and vulnerable. The phone tone has been set to have a sudden ring, this is used to repeatedly startle the viewer, after it has been off a few times the audience the tension builds as they know it has became a threat to the girl. The killers voice has gone off the original theme normally found in horrors, it is a high pitched, crazy joker tone, which makes the audience wonder if the killer is really that bad, however sounding a bit psychotic it does give some suggestions. Footsteps are heard throughout the opening, again this shows how the main character is alone but this also starts to build up pace when she moves quicker across the rooms with the faster beats of her steps. The non-diegetic sound that has been added to the opening is very common for a horror film, it has been played with a string instrument to give an eerie effect, also it keeps fading in and out at drastic moments to startle the audience or build up pace and tension when the killer starts to get more threatening.
Each of the camera shots that are used in the opening are used frequently in many other horror films, a medium shot used to follow the main character around the house, this is used to show the characters expression and where she is in the house, this also hides what is in front of her too. The same effect is used but behind her with a long shot, this builds up suspense as the audience expect something to jump out at her also this shows again what room the character is in. Another camera shot that has been used a lot is the close up on significant items like the phone and the popcorn, this shows the audience that something is to happen with these.
From the opening scene the plot gets set out very simply to the audience, the conversation down the phone and the first sight of the main characters boyfriend does suggest how the killing will be done and the victims they will attack. On the other hand there are not any clues what the killer will really be like, in most horrors you normally get to learn a little more about the villain.
A very common setting in horrors has been used in Scream, in the opening the audience find out that the setting is in the middle of nowhere making the female very vulnerable and helpless. The house itself is very large, this is suggested by the echoes left from the sound in the film. Only a few rooms in the house are revealed, the kitchen is shown to emphasise the use of the knives while talking to the killer and for the popcorn, the other room that is used is where the television is, this is where she hides and finds her boyfriend. This location is used alot in slasher horror films as there are alot of places to hide in a large house and the interior normally has the rooms set our ready for a small chase.
The opening title slides in from the bottom and the top, then a pulse starts like a heartbeat with the font flashing red and white, then the whole font goes red and the beats stop. This could suggest a heart stopping quickly telling the audience of the genre. The edits in the film start slow, as if she was being watched, then as the pace picks up with the killer, so does the edits, doing this speeds everything up and makes the part more tense and threatening.
Finally the characters that are shown in the introduction are typical characters in a horror, firstly the female character is shown to be calm and cool, making her clueless at first of the killer. She is a typical damsel in distress who is helpless to what is going on, although the audience think that she will survive the attack from the killer through the quiz, however on the other hand, the boyfriend that has been revealed is the helpless character that the audience knows has no chance of survival, this is easy to tell by the lack of time they have to see him. The final character that is introduced is the killer however he is not seen, the killer is threatening because the audience know he is somewhere around the house but does not know where, the killer is suggested as a joker more then too serious of why the killer kills, in the conversation he talks about other horror films and uses it as a trivia for the lives of the two characters.
Horror is one of film's oldest and most successful genres. As part of making our own Horror opening, we decided to take a look at the history of the genre.
To view the SlideShow, click here and then click the small downwards pointing arrow on the far right in the row named Horror Retrospective.ppt (See image below for example). Save the file somewhere on your computer (Or open it with compatible software, such as PowerPoint) and View Show.
SAW II made in 2005 and a sequel to Saw is a horror film directed by Darren Lynn Bousman. Many codes and conventions suggest the genre of the Saw II (Sound, lighting, props, camera angles, setting, edits, plots and characters). The opening will be used as an example.
The sound in Saw II mixes both diegetic and non-diegetic to create fear, tension and to pace the opening. The diegetic sound echoes throughout the opening of the film, this shows the audience that the room the main character is in, is a chilling, empty room with nobody around to help this man (Michael Marks). When the shot first opens, the audience hears heavy struggling breathing while the camera looks around the room, giving a first person feel and the beat suggests that the character is in danger straight away. The sound coming from the character on the television(Jigsaw)is all diegetic and a crackling noise repeatedly playing with the sound inside the television helps to build up the fear in the opening. The volume of the ticking clock has been raised to emphasise the little amount of time the character has left to live and to pace the one minute the character has left to escape. The non-diegetic sound that has been used creates an unnerving atmosphere, when the first shot opens, laughter is heard, but in a high pitch voice from a doll, also a wind noise is used to build up suspense in this is a metallic noise as well to suggest more in the setting. When the trap is shown to the audience another metallic sound is used to emphasise the sharp spikes Michael is in danger of. A typical convention used in a horror film is a quick sudden non-diegetic noise used to startle the viewer, in Saw II this is when the television first turns on showing an image of the character Jigsaw. More sudden noises are then added when the audience get a quick glimpse of Michael's only escape this is used to gross out the viewer with the sick idea of what will happen. The final noticeable non-diegetic convention that has been used is a delay in sound from the camera, while the camera moves around Michael the sound is late to follow, this builds up a lot of suspense as the audience would suspect something to startle them, but unknown of when it will happen.
The lighting plays a very important role in the opening to Saw II, it is very dark, with a hint of green to give a feel of decay in the room that Michael is in. The light bulb seen in the very opening shows how little light is in the room, then to introduce the setting more to the audience and the character more lights are introduced from the ceiling and walls of the room, this creates multiple shadows giving a more eerier effect and shows everything in the room at once. The next light introduced is from the television, this creates a lot of flicking with the audience expecting to have something startle them. All the lighting used in the opening is natural light from objects within the shot. Doing this creates realism to the opening, making the idea seem more possible to happen in real life and adding more fear to the viewer from the film.
Unlike most horrors the props in the opening are at a bare minimum, in most horrors a lot of props are used to suggest hidden characters that would startle the audience, however in Saw II the main threat of a hidden character is coming from inside the television. The television turns on by itself after Michael has woken up, this idea of "Someone is watching him" creates a tense atmosphere.
The camera angles are very similar to ones used in other horror films, a P.O.V. shot is first used to show the character looking around the room, then a close up of Michael showing what he looks like and his emotions, but in a reflection of a mirror. The camera then moves up the back of him to a high angle shot, showing the trap around his neck and making the character seem vulnerable, the shot then zooms in rapidly to an extreme close up of the spikes in the trap showing how bad the situation Michael is in. A lot of close ups are used on the character Jigsaw, this shows that he is the threat to Michael. The camera then does many extreme close ups showing the x-ray of Michael, the knife near his eye, Jigsaw and the clock. All of these show the danger that Michael is in and builds up a lot of suspense and tension. A hand held camera is used when Michael falls to the floor and the camera does a 360 degree turn to have the last full look of him before he dies, also the use of a handheld camera shows how scared Michael is. Finally there is a close up of him falling to the floor with blood pouring out of the mask, this is used to be the final part of the opening, being a close up you can see him perfectly so it makes the shot more disturbing.
In the opening there is only one setting, this is the basement (a repeatedly used location for torture) it is displayed as a chilling, frightful, disturbing small room. The walls suggest that the room is quite old and never used as they are black, green and blue these colours could be related to decay. The floor is stone suggesting that it is cold in there. No doors are focused on in the opening suggesting to the audience that Michael will not escape. Michael is placed right in the middle of the square room, this shows that he is very vulnerable from all four sides of the room.
The opening titles (Not shown on this Youtube example) flicker on when the light goes out, the colours help set the scene as the text is the same colour as the walls again suggesting decay, while the font used is very simple but is blurs out after a few seconds. The blur edit is used a lot in the horror genre for titles.In the opening the edits are very quick when Michael is in danger as it is creating tension and showing the audience how little time he has left to live, the quick flickering edits again are used a lot in horror as it shows how much danger the main character is in. More edits that are used include time changes some shots are slowed and other speed up, this interferes with the countdown of Michael's life pacing him and making it very unclear if Michael will really live or die.
The opening title does suggest a plot, however a very unclear one. Unlike most horrors where the plot is set very quickly, Saw II just reveals that this man deserves to fight for his life. The audience get to see the villain clearly in the opening that is very strange for a horror where the audience doesn't get to see the villain fully until near the end. The death mask and the idea of escape show that the plot to Saw II is extremely twisted but has a deep meaning to it from the speech Jigsaw gives.
The first character that is shown in the opening is very common for a horror, he is vulnerable and confused of what is going on, only wearing underwear suggests that he was attacked and bringing the sight of his eye in shows that there was more done to him, then the conversation starts giving more to his history and why he was brought there. Jigsaw the second character is shown as a creepy looking puppet who knows a lot about Michael, this shows that he has chosen him for a reason.
Our AS Level Production Coursework is a horror movie opening. As a result, we are aiming for content which the BBFC would classify at 18. This falls in line with similar releases such as Halloween, Saw and Stanley Kubrick's highly controversial epic, Clockwork Orange.
. In this next picture is an example of objects to be found in the room, the large saw is very suggestive to the plot or torture that may occur later in the film, the blade is close to the camera making it seem more threatening. Behind it is a lot of rusty nails now telling the audience more about the setting, the rusty nails suggest decay in the location.
