Moodboard of teen and teenhorror

This is our third moodboard, which scott and I did together. We used key words that we thought related to the conventions mainly of teen movies. We then put in some words for teen/horror films. We have learnt, just by looking at google images, what some connotations of words are and what the audience may think at certain words. This is the start, before we run our audience questionnaire of finding out what some people think of at certain words and images.

Feedback #2

Jamie / Scott, this does show some promise, however you must document your idea and ensure that your research is focused. you mention that you want to do a teen horror, but you haven't analysed any openings from this sub-genre, or mentioned again any of the teen conventions. Your mood boards certainly don't reflect this choice, including images from films such as 'The Shining'. Your research must be clearly focused on the response to the brief.

Jamie- you must also catch up in terms of the film analysis - this is a key part of planning.

Moodboard of horror film characters and locations

This is my moodboard that I made to show stock locations and characters that conform to a horror genre. I have also included quotes from the films and this has helped me to learn how there are normally similar locations used in horror films. The quotes have been attributed to the films that they came from and I have also learnt how the mentalities of the antagonists in horror films are also similar because they normally turn out to be sadistic psychotic killers.

Shots of locations that we wish to use.

These are the shots of the locations that me and jamie are looking at using for our opening sequence. They are from Ramslye Woods and we thought of places that would fit into and conform to the conventions and stock locations for a horror film and we also plan to use a school as another stock location to help us conform to the hybridised teen/horror opening sequence that we are hoping to create.

Preliminary Task editting

Today saw the finished cut of our preliminary task video. We have exported the file and posted it on to "youtube". We decided to put our film into black and white to make the experience seem more realistic within the gangster style.
We shot our clips and scenes in orders of practicality, not in order of how the scene plays. The camera was positioned carefully, in order to make viewing easier and to obey the 180 degree rule. Shot reverse shot was easily created as we knew where the camera needed be on our arc to shoot dialogue and throw a sound bridge over the cut to a reaction shot. Match on action was an element that required careful planning as there were only two of us filming and acting, thus meaning many cuts and reshoots with a different camera angle.
We learnt how to plan by using a story board, to give us an idea of the shots and positioning that we wanted to create the desired look. Our storyboard told us how to make each shot, and where we wanted the camera to be. In our storyboard we had an idea of what would look good, we filmed a panning shot and tracking shots as written in our storyboard, however in our edit we decided that the panning shot was not going to work within the working scene.
We have some shots spare and parts of individual shots have not been used where we have made errors or have decided we only want specific parts of a scene, so used the editting software to cut in and cut out.
Some scenes look uneasy, with repetitive dialogue but these were planned to fit within our filming style. One shot, which is shot over the actor's/cameraman's shoulder looks mis framed, but the second actor comes into the shot, this could potentially have been better framed but we like the feeling it gives with the uneasy framing as it looks like the audience is in the scene.

Film opening analysises.

As seen in my two films analysed so far, and in scott's films too. There is a tendancy for certain elements to be repeated in horror films, which we can now start to look at and compare which features become vital in the stability of a films genre.

"He'd only do it once" 1992

This film is very intrigueing in that its elements are not stable, so you cannot feel comfortable as an audience. I find the film hard to watch, and dont particularly enjoy it for this matter. The film opens in black and white, with scratchy footage that feels as though it is very old. The first shot is over the shoulder of a young man, into a mirror, we see his smart jacket and his face under his hat. The camera then moves forward so we can no longer see his shoulder and becomes an MCU in the mirror. We see his worn face and tired complexion. The character walks away from the mirror and the shot cuts to a tracking shot alongside as he walks. Light is very directional and clearly very closely behind the camera by the way it glares across the sreen, there is much use of natural light as the camera follows the character walk across the room. We get a point of view shot as the character leaves his house, steadicam is used here, but the steps give a feeling of unsteadiness in the way he walks. As the man walks along the street colour inobviously fills the screen.
There is a poster on a tree, a picture of a knife, which could be a leading connotation of crime or danger. As we realise colour is now all over the screen, we notice a dark blue wash over the screen. On screen there is use of foliage in the corners and figures and objects of interest take away direction from the character walking down the road.
We suddenly hear a bang, clearly added in later as only the main actor seems to react to it. Possibly meaning that the other persons within the shot are not actually actors or aware of what is going on. There is a swish pan as the man looks about. Music slowly starts to come in in an ery tone. The man then suddenly starts to run and there is a freeze shot, showing an establishing shot. This freeze is set as the credits start to roll along the bottom. On screen we see the person's body language, we see his fear and confussion. His costume is jeans and a brown working jacket. The surrounding people are dressed in 80s style so the man looks out of place. The road is empty and houses and trees line the frame. The sudden speed up of movement and music create excitement and then with the use of a freeze shot creates engima and hooks the audience to continue viewing.

Preliminary Task

We finished the story board for our preliminary tast today. We had two hours at our disposal so found a suitable location to get what we were looking for. We used a mixture of camera angles and movements and shot various shots and scenes in appropriate order to make the edit seem effortless and allow multiple shots, regardless of where in the sequence, to be made together to seem flowing and keep the camera in the same place.
We have now started editing, getting rid of what we dont want and making the shots flow together, and creating sound bridges. Our intentions for the final piece are to be in black and white. We went for a gangster style and tried tried some Horror type shots.
We are very pleased with what we have so far and feel the continuity editing will be fairly free flowing and easy to watch.

Discussion one

Me and jamie have had a discussion about the genre of film that we should do and as you can see by the films that have been analysed, we have chosen to try the opening of a horror film. Also as the moodboard states we have decided to attempt to hybridise it because we have images of from horror films as well as teen films. This allows use to be more inventive because we have chosen two genres to work with.
Our original intention is to shoot the opening sequence using the woods in the local area and utilising what we have at our disposal, e.g. a school and woods. This will help us to use stock locations of these two genres.

Friday the 13th - Sean S. Cunningham - 1980

The film 'Friday the 13th' is a film that falls under the genre of horror and the sub-genre of a slasher horror, which entails the conventions of violence and gruesome deaths. This film conforms to the conventions of a slasher horror because in the opening sequence two people die after being attacked with a blade. It also has the the first victims of the monster or killer shown as a romantic couple, which is a traditional convention of horror because the first victims are normally people that resemble forces of evil or sin. This also adds a convention of psycological horror with the reference of good and evil. the title 'Friday the 13th' is enigmatic as it links to superstition because this date is often seen as a day of ill fate, which connotes that bad things are likely to happen to the characters. The fact that the title hints bad luck gives the impression that somebody is likely to suffer some form of misfortune and hints at what might happen during the film. The narrative in this film is an asynchrounous narrative as it flashes back to show the time that the first murders took place in and and only has one story going on at a time, meaning that it is being explained throughout the film. The film is also set at night which also conforms to the conventions of a horror film because it denotes that the murders occur in the evenings and connotes that it is more dangerous to go around on your own at night than during the day.
When the title credits appear on the screen, there is the sound of breaking glass, which denotes that something has broken and connotes that it may possibly have been a from a shattered window or a broken glass. This gives an indication on how some of the victims may die or how they may become victims. When the opening sequence starts, diegetic sound is used to set the scene, such as crickets and the crunching noise of twigs under foot, which denotes a person walking around and connotes presence in a woodland area. A traditional sound within the conventions of a horror film is the creaking door which connotes somebody or something sneaking around, searching for blood. The singing in a camp hut connotes high spirits as it appears they are celebrating something and could possibly be used as a sense of foreboding because of the person creeping around outside. When the antagonist is sneaking around looking for victims, in this case a pair of counsellors, slow low toned music is used in order to build tension before the murders as it helps to build fear and possibly curiosity about what will happen next, thus building an enigma.
By using semiotics to analyse mise-en-scene, we can say that the subtitles used at the beginning of the opening sequence gives the audience an exact idea of the time that the film originally started in, 1958. Tracking shots are used to give the audience a view of the area, slowly tracking towards the hut as the people sing and a BCU is used when the first two victims are shown to highlight the fear in their eyes. This is used to portray the terror of the characters at their fate and this helps to give an insight of the character of the antagonist and what they maay be capable of. High shots are used when looking at the first two victims because it portrays them as people who are rulebreakers and and this gives the impression that they are going to be the first to die. A handicam is used from the characters point of view to give the audience the impression of being in the film and it means that the antagonist can be followed and can show the route that is used to show how the antagonist tracks their victim. There is no direct view of the antagonist so it leaves the audiences guessing who could be portrayed as the antagonist. The crackling fire in the hut connotes warmth and high spirits and no knowledge of the fate that awaits them.

In terms of ideological discourse in the film, the traditional views of women are represented as well as reinforced because the common gender trait of women being vulnerable is portrayed because they are the first to die. The traditional gender trait of males thinking that they are tougher than women and not thinking bout consequences. However they are also challenged later on in the film when an elderly lady appears to be the reason behind the murders and apparent curse at 'Camp Crystal Lake'. Semiotics also portray the women all vulnerable because they all say that they are scared and rely on the male characters to defend them, which connotes that they believe that the male characters are actually responsible for them.

The intended media audience of the film is people over the age of eighteen because there is lots of blood in the scenes and explicit violence. This means that the main intended audience of this film is young aldults and other adults because of the content. The probable reading of this text is that it is dangerous to be on your own at night and that there is danger at the campsite. A possible audience reading of this text is that the past does come back to haunt you and you should never go out at night alone because that is when you are most vulnerable.

My first moodboard was created by using google images and searching key words that relate to our genre. As we are doing a hybridised genre of teen and horror, this moodboard was created around the genre-horror.

thirteen ghosts analysis - steve beck - 2001

'Thirteen Ghosts' is a film that conforms to the conventions of the horror genre because it contains the styles that are commonly attributed to horror films. One of the main conventions that it has is a man who can communicate with the afterlife and appears to be possessed. The audience's generic expectations of this text are met to a great extent because with the involvement of the individual that appears to have been possessed, it suggests that this character is going to be pivotal with the storyline. The title 'Thirteen Ghosts' can be seen as slightly enigmatic because it makes the viewer wonder where the ghosts came from and how they died.

When the opening sequence starts it is not neccessarily a typical location for a horror film because it is in a junkyard, however there police and army officers which denotes that something serious has happened and it connotes that it there is something very dangerous behind it. The fact that the possessed man is being used to track the creature or person that is behind the situation connotes that the person behind it could be a supernatural being or creature. This means that it is from the supernatural horror genre because it conforms to conventions related to this genre and subgenre. This film has an asynchronous narrative because it only has one storyline going the whole way through the film, meaning that there are no other storylines being followed or focused on throughout the film. There is what appears to be a flashback or flashfoward in the opening sequence which is a classic convention of film noir, but it is only used to show the victims of this supernatural being, which denotes that the being committed the the crimes on the humans, but also connotes that it is a sadistic, heartless being searching for revenge.

By using semiotics to analyse mise-en-scene, we can say that the car wrecks on top of one another are signifiers because they denote that the setting is a junkyard, but also connotes that there is something hiding. The cars driving through the junkyard are leading lines as they lead your eyes towards the area that is being searched by the army and police officers. The low music is used as a way of suggesting tensity in the area and it connotes that something sinister or even horrific might happen to the people investigating the area. This gives the idea of the creature being demonic because when its victims are shown, it connotes that the being has no remorse and can do things to people that no human being could. It is also filmed in a night time setting meaning that a filter may have been used to give the illusion of nightime and a light blue wash has been used to connote coldness or something terrible that might happen.

Slow motion is used when the possibly possessed character is trying to take some painkillers to take away some of the pain that he is experiencing from his contact with the creature from the afterlife. This suggests that he has been having regular contact with this creature or person as he say the painkillers are ' to take the edge off' meaning that he may have used them before so that he could find the being without suffering immensely. The slow motion is used to give the impression of the tabets falling slowly and the mans pain is highlighted as he watches them fall in front of his eyes. BCUs r used to show the pain the possessed individual is in and also to show things or people that may be significant to what is going on in the narration, e.g a body or a main character. Tracking shots are also used to follow the vehicles so that the audience has an idea of the area that the sequence is set in. Finally a steadicam is also used when looking from the creatures point of view so that the audience can feel as if they are looking at exactly the same think and feel as if they are in the sequence. The scene is also blurred to connote that the being is moving quickly and the sounds made also connote fast movement because we hear panting.

In terms of ideological discourse invovled in 'Thirteen Ghosts' traditional gender traits of men and women are reinforced as the men and women involved in the scene appear to be treated differently, for example, the male opinion is valued higher than the female opinion. This relates to the two characters giving their views of what is going on or what has occurred just before they arrived at the junkyard. because the main people shown are a high ranked detective and a man who is used to contact the supernatural being or to trace it. Semiotics can indicate that the detective is highly ranked because of the way he talks to people and also low angle shots are used in order show emphasise his superiority over the 'possessed' man. When a female character is introduced, she is stereotypically treated as less able to perform the tasks than a male character. This is reinforcing the typical stereotype that men are commonly perceived to be supposedly better than women. The ideology of gender is therefore represented due to this because it is using typical stereotypes of men and women as the male characters are represented or perceived as more dominant characters. The female characters are treated as if they are lower down the order in terms of rank, meaning that they appear to be the more likely victims of this being.

With the supernatural being involved and the connotations that it caused the injuries and murders, the probable reading intended for the target audience is that this super natural being is behind the murders. A possible reading by the target audience is that these beings or creatures may exist and they can possibly be extremely dangerous. Therefore the target audience for this film is young adults as they are more likely to acknowledge the probable reading of the film and to understand what is going on in the film and opening sequence.