Research- Horror Film Opening 'Silent Hill'

During my research in horror movie, I decided to look at opening scene from a few horror movies that have been realised in the past. When watching these opening scenes, I took detailed note of the opening scenes. As then I can use them to create my own film, and when it comes to editing too. Here are some of my notes I took and have now written into small paragraphs from the films ‘The Amityville Horror’ & ‘Silent Hill’. These two films I choose to publish my notes on are the ones that I found that fit more effectively into my own production.

Here are the notes I gathered from watching the first Two minutes of the film ‘Silent Hill’:

· When the film starts the entertainment logo appears, with a non-diegetic sound of some slow music in the background. But then the sounds change from a slow sound to a fast tense sound with Production Company name appearing and then fading away to a blank screen.

· Two seconds later the credit of the film appears and fades away into the black blank screen, while in the background you here a voice of a female woman shouting out a single name and when the credit fades away, the same voice shouting out a different name.

· Half a second later a mid shot of a women appearing shouting the first name out (“Sharon”), while in the background you see a blur of another person that maybe behind here or standing on higher grounds instead.

· Two seconds later the shot changes to a low angle with the same women looking left and right; the background introduces a big house in the background and with a man now not blurred out, while standing on a balcony.

· It goes back to mid shot of the women turning around and leaving, while the camera turns (still on a mid shot) and faces towards the other character standing on a balcony that’s panicking is well.

At this point, both characters that have been shown in the first few seconds of the film look tensed up and worried, the film producer has done this to create and build up tension. However, in the first few seconds of the scene no non-diegetic or diegetic sound have been introduced, only the voice of the women has acted out as a sound in this scene.

· A long shot transferring into a low angle while the women walks down some steps and then stops to pick up a teddy bear. In this shot there are natural sounds, but sound like they have been added in (heavy breathing creating tension).

· High angle moving down to a long shot (scene may be set in a frost or woods), with non-diegetic sounds.

In this scene the camera has moved and changed its angles and shot’s a lot, this is because the producer wants to show different shots of the locations they are using.

· Diegetic sound of traffic gets introduced into the scene with a bridge appearing and a car going past; then a long shot of the same women running down the steps, while heavily breathing the shot goes to a low angle.

· Then it turns to another low angle but this time showing it off the traffic and close ups of car wheels with diegetic sounds of the traffic.

· A few seconds after another low angle of the women comes

· It then goes back to a high angle showing the traffic including the traffic sounds in the background, the camera then changes angle to an over head shot with the women running and the sound of a waterfall in the background.

· A long shot of the waterfall appear after a second with non-diegetic sounds the waterfall with the women shouting out the name ‘Sharon’.

· Over head shot appears again with non diegetic music and a new character is then introduced; the shot changes once again going from a high angle to a long shot focusing on the women that’s in a shock and is panicking.

· Close up of the women is then introduced while in a shock and non diegetic sound of the waterfall in the background.

· Medium shot of the girl with non diegetic sound in the background.

· Over head shot of the waterfall with the girl.

In the whole two minutes were I watched and took notes, I noticed from the start of the film the tension had started to get created and was building up till the end. All the start of the scene is set during the night. Overall the main thing I noticed there were a lot of different angles and shots used to make the whole sequence up. I personally liked the change of the different angle because it showed a lot about the location and created a tense atmosphere.

When making my notes I had watched the clip (Silent Hill, Part1) from youtube, but unfortunately it has now been blocked. So I've put a small trailer of the film on to give you an idea, on how the film is.

Research- The Horror Genre

 

Once I finished doing my Preliminary task, I decided to look at genre Horror. I have done alot of in-depth research into the horror genre, so that I could have an enhanced understanding of what the genre horror is; it's history and how it was first developed. By doing this I will have a better understanding of the genre horror and what the audience expects to see in a horror movie.

Horror Films are unsettling movies designed to horrify, turn your stomach and to invoke our hidden worst fears. They often feature scenes that petrify the audience in many different ways. However, horror films affectively and always centre on the dark side of life. But some horror films do end up combining or overlapping with the genre thriller; in addition horror films deal with the viewer’s nightmares, unseen worst fears, terror of the unknown and the revulsions. Most horror movies have a good deal of it being about supernatural chillers or some films even contain a plot about serial killers, a disease or virus outbreak as the main spotlight in the film.

Finally horror films are often combined with science fiction when the monster or creature is related to a corruption of technology, or when the Earth is endangered by aliens. Horror films are also known as the following:

·         Scary movie

·         Chillers

·         Spook fests

·         Macabre etc….

Preliminary Task- Speed Dating

The clip above was my final cut of Speed dating. My preliminary task (Speed dating) was all about filming and editing a character opening a door, crossing a room and sitting down in a chair opposite another character. Then both characters will exchange a couple of lines of dialogue and the scene will end there. In this filming and editing task I had to demonstrate the three following things:  

• Match on action

• Shot/reverse shot

• The 180-degree rule

During my research and before I started filming, I decided to research online on what actually match on action, shot/reverse shot and the 180-degree rule meant. In the course of my research I found these three following images (above) showing what each of them meant visibly. By looking at these images it made me understand what the task brief was asking for pacifically.

However while filming Speed Dating I focused on getting all camera angles right and working along side the brief. Filming each scene was great fun, I had to think about camera angles, background and dialogue; also I tried to make each scene better then the last scene and by making sure it was kept it related to the topic I had chosen, which was speed dating. When Filming I only used a camera, natural light and switch lights. Once I had finished filming Speed Dating, I started editing and placing the three requirements and camera angles together into the order they fit in the film. Then after watching my film a few time I filled out a self assessment sheet (below) and judged the work I had created; out of 70 on my self assessment sheet I gave make creation 35. This was because it was not up to my full expectations, some of the elements that were requested that I had to put in the film were either not correct or had a wrong timing to it. Also in some scenes you could see the camera had moved or was moving at the time and the result of that was a negative visual scene. On the other hand the match on action was not very good as it was timed out of place, but the shot/reverse shot was excellent, as it fitted in with timing correctly and the 180-degree rule's input was not bad either.

Overall to improve on this production, I have decided to redo the scene that will contain match on action and will be working towards a higher quality result for match on action. I will also be looking at the lighting and will be using a tripod in this production this time, as I did not use in this media product I have made, so during my editing I had noticed some complications. By using a tripod it will neaten up the scene's and will look higher quality. However I have noticed that my backgrounds were the same in this media product, so I have decided to change the backgrounds is well and may be make them more colourful. Nevertheless, when redoing this entire media product, I will film the whole screen from one character of view and then change to the other and then edit it, as while editing it, it will be a lot easier and  I will be able to make it similar or the same to what the brief requires.

This is my self-assessment sheet.

Preliminary Task- Software

Preliminary Task- Software

I will be using professional software to edit the clips that I create for the preliminary task. The software I will be using is iMovie HD, on a Mac Laptop.



iMovie HD

Mac Laptop

Preliminary Task- Equipment

The equipment that we will be using throughout all of the tasks will be as followed:

• A Cannon Digital Video Camecorder

• Tripod

 

• Crops

• Apple Macintosh Computers

 Costumes:

Preliminary Task- Locations

The location of this preliminary task was in a drama classroom at the school I attend.

 It was all based in B block at Cheney School.

The reason for choosing this classroom was that it was easy to set out our props, that were a set of chairs and a table, of which the two characters will sit opposite in, and still be able to have room to move around with the camera to get all the shots we needed.

 If I was to film again I would use a bigger and more colourful room to create a exhilarating atmosphere, so the characters are the centre of attention.

Preliminary Task- Casting

 Obaleoyo- Moses Kimuyu

Girl 1# & Emma- Daphine Bikaba

Girl 2#- Sonia Ahmed

Girl3#-& Rose- Aimee Moinan  

Music- Moses Kimuyu

Editors- Sonia Ahmed, Moses Kimuyu, Daphine Bikaba

& Aimee Moinan  

    

Director- Soina Ahmed

Preliminiry Task- My Initial Ideas

My initials ideas I thought up for the start of the preliminary task filming scene where similar to the final product.

At first I had an idea of a girl and boy meeting up through a dating agency. This would reflect through the whole one minute scene that I would create, as they would only mention something about the agency in the dialog that I would write up for the scene. Although the scene won’t be set in an agency because they would meet in a random location, that the agency would set them; this would also be mentioned in the dialogues so the whole concept makes sense. Furthermore the whole scene will be about them getting to know each other and would be sat down through the whole scene. Finally the whole scene would only be filmed from one angle.  

However, the whole idea of them meeting in a random location was I a bit too vague, even though they would mention something about the agency in there dialogue, I personally thought it would just get a bit complicated and the audience would get confused. Lastly the whole scene I was making had to be made around keeping the brief in reference as that’s what I had to follow, and the idea I had thought about didn’t have some of the brief’s requirements.  

Preliminary Task- What I Did

To start the Preliminary task, I decided that I would look at the brief and take notes of what had to be done in the Preliminary task. When doing this I also made a detailed plan of what my short introduction would be about. From this I then created a story bored; showing the actions and positions of each character in each shot, and which view the camera would be positioned.

When filming the Preliminary task, I decided to film it during school times and in my media lessons, so because of that I had limited time in filming. However I worked as the director and editors, and Moses Klmuyu had done the music, actor and editor, last but not least Daphine Bikada and Aimee Moinan were the actresses and also the editors in the preliminary task is well. During the filming, we had to stop after each shot so actors could go over there lines as they had limited time to remember them in. By doing this it took around about an hour to create the final one minute scene.

After I had finished filming, I then had to bring my shots back to our Media Class where I edited it. Firstly I imported the shots from the camera onto iMovie, and then watched each shot and decided which shots I wanted to use. I then had to edit each scene and cut out any parts where the camera had not cut quick enough, and then edited any background sounds or added any dagetic sound in. Then I had to add in the credits at the end of the scene and type in all the information that would be shown at the end.

Finally I then did a final check of the whole one minute nine second scene and saved it, so I could put it onto my blog.

Coursework Task

Main Task:

The title and opening of new horro film, to last a maximum of two minutes.

All Video and audio material must be original, produced by the candidate's, with the exception of music or audio effects from a copyright-free soure.

Preliminary Exercise:

Continuity task involving filming and editing a character opening a door, crossing a room and sitting down in a chair opposite another character, with whom she/he then exchanges a couple of lines of dialogue. The task should demonstrate match on action, shot/reverse shot and the 180-degree rule.