Our Chosen Sub Genre

We have decided to use the sub genre of a horror thriller. We have chosen this genre as it is the most interesting and we all like films of this genre. We have decided that we would like a similar character from off The Grudge and we have also picked saw to help us through filming.

This is what we want our horror character to look like. We have decided that we are going to make our character have long dark hair with a white face and dark eye makeup. 

We have got the idea for our story line the 'Candy Man'. This means that we are going to have a ghost that comes when called using a mirror. 

Why opening titles are so important?

For a horror thriller, opening titles are important because they help to build tension and keep you wanting to watch more. They can also lay out the plot of a horror thriller in the opening titles so the whole film is easier to understand. The first few minutes of the opening scene is what the viewer sees first, this means that the opening scene needs to make a good impression. 

Still Image Analysis

In this picture there are the typical dark colours used that represent horror movies. The character is very dark but there are lighter colours around him, this makes him the main subject in this image. This conveys the character to be the most dominant subject of the image as he is most eye catching. The most important element of the image is the character. I know this because he is in the centre and parts of him are a lot darker than his surroundings. This makes him the main element.

        In this image the lighting is being used to show some of the detail on the characters mask, this makes him more sinister as you realise he is the villain of the image. Natural moonlight is also used to frame the character and make him look eerie and dominant, as if he is blocking the light and the hope of escape. 

        In the still, the only character is Jason from the film, Friday 13th. The character is represents as dark and evil, standing in the woods with a knife. He comes across as dominant as the camera is looking up at him, this could be a point of view shot of one of his victims, who could be lying on the forest floor beneath him. 

        This image seems to be taken in a forest as you can see the trees behind the character. This connotes a scary movie as the image is taken in a stereotypical horror place. 

Sixth Sense - opening sequence analysis

The opening sequence starts off with the non diegetic sound of slow orchestral music, which gradually builds suspense as it is mysterious and haunting. The tittles are plain white to show simplicity but they fade in then expand slightly until they fade out of the shot, the main tittles then flash in accompanied with a sharp violin effect which creates tension. The music then gradually grows louder which creates apprehension but then abruptly slows down and gets quieter which could make the audience nervous for what is to come.

After the tittles have ended the shot turns into an unusual shape that is slowly lighting up, gradually we can understand that it is a light bulb that seems to be turning on in slow motion, as it lights up, you can hear the sound of a door opening. The shot then jumps into a view of a cellar which is taken looking through a wine rack. A women then enters the shot, she is walking down the stairs wearing a purple evening gown, we can hear the diegetic sound of her foot steps as she walks down the stairs. The cellar is quite dark and eerie which connotes a dark, haunting feeling. 

As the women reaches the bottom of the stairs she pauses and slightly looks around, as if she is nervous of being down in the dark on her own. She then slowly walks towards the camera which is behind the wine rack. You can then hear the diegetic glass sound of the wine bottles as she searches through the rack. After she has found the bottle of wine that she is looking for, she slowly looks up and around the room. Her expression shows that she is quite nervous of being down there, this is also shown when she hugs the bottle of wine to her chest. There is then a medium long shot of the women, she is facing side wards to the camera and her shadow is seen on the wall next to her. There is then a long shot of the women which is taken looking through the banister, in the shot we see her hugging as we hear the diegetic sound of her shivering. We then see her rush to the stairs and then all we see are her feet as she runs up the stairs, this shows that she obviously doesn’t like being down there in the dark. 

The shot then jumps to a shot of a mantelpiece that’s full of cards and candles, during this shot we can hear the women’s foot steps running up the stairs whist music is being played. Then there is a two person shot of a man and women putting on jumpers, this connotes that it is starting to get cold which could also mean that it is getting quite late. Some dialogue is then exchanged when the couple are talking about a frame of a plaque, this then turns to a shot of the couples reflection in the plaque whilst they are talking about it. There is then a shot reverse shot between the couple talking and their reflection in the plaque. Then whilst the couple are kissing, there is a extreme long shot of them which is taken looking through the stair case banister, this is quite a creepy shot which could show that someone is on the stairs watching them as the shot is taken in a place which could convey a hiding place. 

The shot then jump cuts to them in their bedroom doorway, there is then a shot reverse shot which shows the couple undressing. Then when there is a shot of the man throwing his clothes to the floor, he pauses and his smile disappears. You then realize why when it cuts to a shot of the women who is facing the window and huddled over. As the man walks over to see what is wrong, there is then a shot of a mess on the floor, the phone is all tangled and there is glass scattered around it. The camera then travels up in the same shot to show the wind blowing the curtains through a broken window. Then there is a two person shot of the couple looking at the mess and you see a shadow passing over them. The women puts her hands over her mouth and the sound of her scream is heard, this shows shock and fear as she knows they are no longer alone in the house. As soon as the women screams, the shot jumps to a shot of the bathroom, the door is open and the light is on. The shot then zooms into a shot of the couple, the women cowers behind the man and he puts a protective arm in front of her, this shows that he is afraid as well but he knows he needs to protect her. 

As the man then walks towards the bathroom the shot then follows his gaze as he looks around the corner of the bathroom doorway. As the camera looks into the bathroom the first thing you notice is a pile of clothes on the floor, then as you continue on you see a mans feet just standing there. The camera then stops at his feet and quickly travels up so that you see the man standing there in only his underwear. The man who is half naked looks quite scared and he is hugging himself for warmth, but when the shot goes to the man whose house he is in, his expression looks quite grave. When he tries to talk to the man, the naked man walks towards him and he backs down onto the bed. This shows that he is being submissive as he does not want to get on the wrong side of him. The naked man is clearly unhappy as there is then a close up of him with his hand pressed to his mouth, he seems to be crying. There is then a shot reverse shot between the naked man and the women, he is muttering about being alone and the women is clearly on edge. There is then a lot of shot reverse shot between the two men as the naked man tries to make the house owner remember who he is. The expression on the naked man shows that he is distraught and he screams and shouts, this shows that there could be something wrong with him due to the way he is acting. Through out this, the house owner is on the bed looking up at this, this shows he is still staying submissive to the naked man. He is still trying to keep him happy. 

The naked man walks away into the bathroom, as he does this the other man stands up and tries to reason with him. Then unexpectedly, the naked man grabs a gun and shoots the house owner straight away, the sound of the gun is heard as the man fires slightly to the side of the camera in a medium close up. As soon as he has shot the gun the camera jump cuts to the man being shot in the chest and falling onto the middle of the bed, the diegetic sound of the women’s scream is then heard. The camera then pans away from the bathroom door as you see the naked man shoot himself in the chest, you then hear the diegetic sound of the gun and then his body falling to the floor. There is then a birds eye view of the man lying on the bed, you can hear him struggling to breath as the women enters the shot to rush to her partners side. All to the sound of non diegetic, sinister music.  

The Secret Window - opening sequence analysis

This is my analysis for a film called ‘The Secret Window’ which was directed by David Koepp. It is a physiological thriller about a writer who is accused of plagiarism by a strange man who turns up at his door. This man then haunts the writer in seek of justice.
At the start of the opening sequence you have the Columbia logo on the screen with the non diegetic sound which creates a sound bridge, it is not until the screen changes to a shot of the actor, Johnny Depp, that you understand that the sound is coming from the windscreen wipers off his car, this could represent his heart beat as it is repetitive and he looks quite nervous There is only one character in the car and the mise en scene shows that it is snowing and the weather is quite gloomy and depressing, this could represent the characters mood, he is also dressed for winter which could indicate the time of year. Also the close up of the character shows that he is clearly stressed and worried about something. Then there is a voice over which makes you think that there may be another character in the car, then you do realize that the voice is representing what the character is thinking, it is his mind.

After the actor has turned his car around, with some shots of inside the car, a point of view shot, which shows the actor driving, there is a long shot of the car reversing to the hotel with the sign for the hotel included. The sign is blood red in colour which could represent danger and shows the audience that something bad is going to happen. The gloomy weather also adds to this effect.
There is then a shot of the motel car park, then the characters jeep reverses into the shot and the character leaves the car, the shot then pans and follows the actor a he walks into the building. Instead of the camera going into the building to follow the character, the shot looks through the motel window to watch the character looking for keys. I think this is quite an unusual shot although it does link in with the title of ‘The Secret Window’ as it is looking through the window at the character. As the character leaves the shot, another character enters and starts shouting at the first character who has just taken some keys. I then shows the Johnny Depp getting into his jeep and slamming the door.
In the next shot the first thing you notice is the noise of the car engine as the car makes its way to a motel door, you can see this from the point of view shot which is looking out of the windscreen and towards the door. The colour of the door is also bright red which shows that something bad may be waiting on the other side of it. You can then see from a shot of the wind mirror, the actor getting out and shutting the car door, he then leaves the shot and re enters at the front of the car with a set of keys. He then hunches over the lock and opens the door, as the door opens and you can see what’s in side the room, there is a sound which sounds like a sharp intake of breath, this shows that the man is shocked at what he sees. Inside the room, the sound of the wind outside grows louder so that you cannot hear what the couple in the bed are saying, all you can hear then is the actor scream, this shows how deeply upset he is.

After the actor found his wife or girlfriend in bed with another man, the camera shot sways slightly and the background music all adds up to show distortion, this could represent how the character is feeling. Then the shot gradually moves back to show the jeep sitting in the car park with no driver, it then fades to show a shot of the water.
There is then a very unusual shot of long distance panning across the water created by crane tracking which includes some fade editing, which helps to continue the long distance travel across the water. As the plain white titles then appear on the screen, the non diegetic sound of cellos starts building up and increasing in speed, this starts to add tension to the shot as it closes in on a wooden house.

As the camera gets closer to the house it starts to pan through a surrounding forest, this could indicate what country the character is in. The camera then slowly ascends up to a small window on the house, this again links into the title of the film. The camera then proceeds to go through the window and continues through the house. It then passes over a desk with a laptop on that has unfinished work on it. It then changes angle on the desk and you can see a pile of un opened letters, this shows that maybe he hasn’t bothered to pay any bills and might have let him self go with paper work. The shot then continues even further again, over the banister to a shot of a mirror. You can see the character in the mirror, lying on a sofa in his dressing gown. The camera then goes up to the mirror and passes through it, this also again links into the title.

The shot then gets closer to the character and you can see that his dressing gown is ripped and his hair is un combed, this could show that he isn’t really taken care of himself which could mean that he is in a depressed state. Even though the background music has been constantly playing, you can slightly hear the man snoring, he is asleep even though there is daylight outside, this could also indicate that he is depressed and very un happy. The background music then fades out to a knock on the door.

Our Continuity Sequence

This is our continuity sequence that we planned for and filmed whilst in school. We used a variety of different shots that we learnt about and we also stuck to our brief.

Our Script

This is the script that i wrote for our continuity sequence.

Ellie: Jod?
Jodie: yeah? What's up?
Ellie: I think i'm pregnant.