How am I going to use the technical elements to create tension and enigma codes?

How am I going to use the technical elements to create tension and enigma codes?

Lighting:

Lighting is important for the horror genre. Low key lighting is one of the main codes and conventions for horror because it creates tension and puts the audience on edge. The audience are unable to visualise the whole scene and often this creates mystery and suspense. Within the filming we had to make sure the lighting was dark enough to create a tense atmosphere. We used torches to illuminate one of the actors. This causes the audience to focus on this character and realise that she is a main protagonist. They may feel nervous for her safety as she, like themselves, are unable to visualise the outside location from the train. This emphasised that she is alone, vulnerable and trapped on the train.

Characters:

The female protagonists emphasis the stereotypes of girls being vulnerable and needing help, and to be saved by men. The characters being scared of the murderer show that he has authority over them, this makes them susceptible to danger. The characters, being teenagers, are portrayed as stereotypical as they get into trouble and they can’t sort it out on their own. This shows that they’re not as grown up as they thought they were.

Props:

Using the props makes the opening two minutes seem more realistic. The petrol can when it is first shown will create an enigma as the audience wouldn’t know what the petrol will be used for therefore they’d have to guess. The rope and makeup put together makes it too, look more realistic as it looks like the rope has done damage to the girl when she is shown.

Mise-en-Scene:

So we capture the setting and location of our opening, we have got shots of the train pulling into the station, also, some of the shots that we’ve filmed has the name of the train station in it. To create enigma we will use different shots to make the audience wonder how a station could be used to torture/ harm the characters. We then will reveal it in other shots, this will end the audience’s questioning.

Filming Diary: Day 1

Filming Diary: Day 1

 

Filming Day: Day 1

Date: Sunday 15^th January

Location: Stoneleigh Station

On our first day of filming, we had most of the actors however one couldn’t make it. Therefore we worked around this issue and filmed as much as we could. We did lots of different shots, some of the same shots but at different angles so when it comes to editing we then have a choice on what angle of shot we want to use.

We decided to start filming at 16:00 as we needed to have a dark atmosphere. The makeup and costume were done beforehand this made the process of filming faster.

The first shot was of one of the teenage girls tied up against the train station sign. Then another shot we did was having a girl on the train when she’s dying and the train doors open. For this the actor and one of us had to get on the train and go to Ewell West, to then change train and come back. This took a while as there was a wait for the next train. Once the train stopped at Stoneleigh the actor acted, then had to go to Worcester Park to change train again to come back as there wasn’t enough time to get off the train after the shot was done. As a group we decided not to repeat the shot as it was very time consuming. We were very lucky to get the shot first time.

After this we go a lot of running shots. Some makeup had to be redone as the rain was making it peel off. This was a problem as this too was time consuming. Throughout the afternoon, the sky got darker so this created more of an atmosphere for our filming.

Below is a shot video to show what we got up to on the day.

Animatic Storyboard and Evaluation

Animatic Storyboard:

Our animatic storyboard shows all the shots we will be using within our opening two minutes.

In our animatic story board, we tried to use as many different shots as possible to create tension, also to make the audience feel as if they’re there and part of it. We created an enigma code by changing the storyline from starting at the end of the night to cut to the beginning of the night. This creates an enigma code as the audience won’t know why the story has suddenly changed, but also they’ll wonder what happens to the characters at the end.

Our narrative has been established through the location of the film, as it also entwines with the title of our film, about and journey and we believed that a train was a good representation of it. The characters establish our narrative as they are relatable, and they’re most likely age to be going out at night. The props we use don’t only establish the narrative but also the genre as they are conventional props for a horror film.

From making the animatic storyboard, we learnt that different shots would create different effects on the audience. We didn’t adjust the shot length because it was over a minute and all we wanted was to show the different shots not the timings of the shots. However, when we edit the actual footage the opening will fit 2 minutes.

Our editing will be quick cuts as this is conventional in horror films, and we want to create a tense effect on the audience. These will be effective as through research we have found that this type of editing has created tension and has put many audiences on edge.

Production Company Title

Production Company Title:

There are many production companies already created. When creating our own production company, we had to make sure that it wasn’t too similar to other production companies out there. However, we could take inspiration and use that to create our own unique title.

Some options for our production company name were:

• Boy next door films
• Millennium productions
• Cloud 9 production
• Glass films

Overall, we chose ‘Cloud 9’ for our company name. The definition on google for cloud 9 is ‘State of perfect happiness’ we choose this name as it contrasts with what the majority of films we will be producing (horror/thriller). We think that Cloud 9 can have an alternative meaning of all happiness will evidently come to an end. For the design of our production company logo, we will incorporate an image of a cloud made out of 9’s. We are going to put the cloud in white and the text below it in a pale blue. This will then change to the same cloud but with red text and a white lightning bolt too. The text will be on a black background. When this comes onto the screen there will be a lightning bolt sound to shock the audience. This also shows that the genre of the film is horror.

Below are the logos we designed.

Codes and conventions featured in our opening two minutes

Codes and Conventions Featured in our Opening Two Minutes
 

Having researched around different genres at the beginning of the school year and understood the different features of them, we feel it would now be a good time to explain that we have learnt from our research and that this research has impacted our openings in a positive way.

Firstly, a very common feature of the horror genre is blood and gore. This appears a noticeable amount within our opening and the injuries of our characters is what creates fear for our audience as they are scary to look at. The blood appears on their clothing as well as the colour red being used a lot.

Secondly, low key lighting is a main feature of horror films as it links to fear of the unknown, darkness and night time, all things which our teenage audience may find unsettling. We filmed in our location whilst it was dark as it made the location look much more frightening.

Thirdly, the isolated location of a quiet train station in Surrey had the potential to be scary for a large number of our viewers as its always frightening being at a train station on your own at night. Furthermore, train stations could have connotations to death and suicide in the context of a movie due to the depiction that the media creates.

Fourthly, our use of creepy soundtrack and effects links to a typical horror film. After all, what’s a horror film without a blood curdling scream? The soundtrack that we chose also links to our title and story line which follows a stalker style series of events. We also included lots of enigma codes, including hiding the identity of the murderer.

To conclude, our horror opening is a classic mix of gore and creepy story and is inspired by a combination of the horror film market.

Adobe Tutorials

Adobe Tutorials:

We decided to use the official help page for adobe to teach us the basics for our editing. This website was really useful as it was simple, easy to understand and allowed us to develop some key skills.

https://helpx.adobe.com/premiere-pro/how-to/easy-video.html?playlist=/ccx/v1/collection/product/premiere-pro/segment/designer/explevel/beginner/applaunch/orientation/collection.ccx.js

The first video that we looked at was ‘importing footage’, this helped us gain our basic skills needed, because without this very basic technique we wouldn’t have anything to edit. Through importing we could bring onto the screen either a still image or a video clip. This will help us when it comes to editing as we will then be able to choose the exact bits of footage we need.

The second video was creating a sequence. After importing this will help us move the footage we have into different places. From here we can choose what goes where, and for how long. The timeline will then be set for us to edit any further if needed.

Adding the title was the next video. This showed us how to get text, change the font and the colour. This is good because then we will be able to adapt the font quite easily and adjust the place.

The audio to our film is very important, this is the next video; ‘add and adjust audio’ was key. The audio is what will help create suspense in our opening two minutes therefore watching the video was very important.

‘Exporting to Youtube’, this was the final video. Once we had all the basic skill and techniques. The last thing we needed to do was to upload it to Youtube so then we could put it on our blogs. This was quite simple to do but we had to save it first.

Overall, the easy video tutorials were very helpful as they informed us on the simple techniques we’d use. This website has advanced videos too that we could watch if we wanted to change our opening two minutes at all.

To-do List - 2.0

To-do List - 2.0

Katie

• Relevant Online Tutorials (on filming and editing) watched and commented on (At least 2 posts)

• Diary of filming and editing
• Costume and prop research

Eloise

• Film at Stoneleigh Station
• Practising different shots to see what will work in our film and what won’t work.

• Complete Storyboard

Gemma

• Film at Stoneleigh Station
• Practising different shots to see what will work in our film and what won’t work.

• Edit Eloise’s storyboard into an animation and upload to YouTube and blogger

Costume and Props Research

Costume and Props Research

As a group we had to think about the props and costumes that we'd need to film. One factor we have to take into consideration was the type of clothing for two reasons: 1) we had to think about what teenagers would wear on a day out to London. And 2) we had to think that we'd use fake blood or red paint which could be messy and hard to get out of clothes.

We then did some research about types of clothing and we decided that for the two teenage girls they'd be in: 

•  
• Jeans
• Crop top
• Flannel Shirt

We decided the jeans as everyone would have them and they're typically part of a teenage outfit. The crop top was the same reason, then we could 'pre-ruin' them. The flannel shirt was because this is typical fashion and practically it would help keep them warm during filming. 

Then we decided for the two teenage boys that they'd be wearing:

• Jeans 
• Pale colour shirt or jumper

We needed a pale colour shirt because we needed the blood to be visible on the clothes. We then again wanted jeans as this is the fashion for teenagers now. 

For the props we will need dark black boots as when the doors open to the train we will see the dark black boots. We will also need a pretend knife so the killer can drop it which will show how he has injured and killed the victims. The clothing and knife will be covered in fake blood to show what it was used for too. Alongside this, we will need rope to show the victims have been tied. Petrol (we will use water) will also be a prop as this could be very dangerous otherwise to the actors.  

To keep the actors safe, we will make sure they feel comfortable before filming them, also if they’re tied up we won’t make the knots too tight. We will survey the filming area to make sure there are no hazards too. 

Stoneleigh Station Location Research

Stoneleigh Station Location Research:

This video shows the location that we will use for the opening two minutes. The video presents different angles we will use and also the places within the location where we will have our dead/suffering actors.

Researching Adobe Premiere Pro Software

Researching Adobe Premiere Pro Software: 

Style:

We have decided that we will probably use red font colour to promote blood with a shadow of white which creates a mysterious atmosphere. At the moment this is just an idea as we are still researching around the different fonts that we can get. We know for definite that our actors will be in a smaller, more discrete font than the distributor, producer, director etc. We have an example of one of our actor’s fonts and colour choice.

 Transitions:

We have decided to practise using this adobe software so that we can prepare our title sequence and get used to the idea of using this program. The title transitions that we have liked so far are 'doors' which can be found under the section 3D motion. It would be ideal for us to use when the doors of the train are shutting, especially if we could synchronise them together. We also liked 'barn doors' which could be found under the section wipe. It would be really good to use when the doors are opening. The transition 'split' would also be good to use during the footage of the doors.

Analysing the opening credits of ‘Dawn of the Dead’

 Analysing the opening credits of ‘Dawn of the Dead’:

The ‘Dawn of the Dead’, credits open with the production company’s name, this then is taken of the screen which what looks like blood as the font is bold and red. It then swaps to a large group of people bowing, the credits are very fast paced.

Gruesome images flash up on the screen throughout the opening, the credits are always in red, this symbolises blood. Over the top of the images, video clips and the credits, there is a voice, non – diegetic, which is like an interview, however the interviewee doesn’t know what is happening to everyone around them.

The credits on the first 2 seconds is on a black screen, and the text is in the lower right hand corner, from this a viewer can tell the genre of the film which is then followed up by the transition.

Later on there is upbeat music over lots of fast video clips, which look old however there is no text. After a few clips the text returns again at the bottom of the screen in bold red writing, the text alone seems quite sinister.

Analysing the opening credits of ‘Se7en’

Analysing the opening credits of ‘Se7en’:

The first shot is of a book or pad half open, the credits are on the side of the book in black slightly jagged, this gives the impression the film is going to be an uneven and frightening film.

The credits as they appear they sometimes appear suddenly or the fade in, they are slightly hard to read due to the font and the font looks like messy handwriting. The title sequence if over moving images and film therefore giving an impression of what the film may be like.

When one of the main actors appears, the name is spread apart and messy, this gives the impression that there could be gore, the screams that go over the title and the ominous images that flash up on the screen give more of an insight.

The ‘joltiness’ of the sequence could also mean it’s a crime movie alongside the images that flash up.

Opening Title Sequence

Opening Title Sequence:

Titles accompanied by still images: (Deadpool) – This can indicate the year the movie is set, if it accompanied by non-diegetic sound, this could give intel into what the movie genre could be.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2MjyGL0go60

Titles accompanied with a series of moving images: (Catch me if you can) -The movie image can offer a metaphor or a narrative thread, it helps to introduce the storyline.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gaLDyrun_Cc

Titles built around animation or motion graphics: (Grease) – The titles can become part of the moving images and integrate together.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=phwOOmFYudU

         

Order of titles in horror genre:

• Directors name or producer
• Production company
• Main film actors
• Films title
• Other key actors
• Studio or distribution company production designer
• Film editor
• screenplay