Wednesday, 20 July 2011
Mood Board
In preparation for my film I looked through other film posters, films, narratives and key iconic images used in order to get inspiration for my own film. I explored why they were successful and how I could also use the same key concepts in order to also create a successful film with a preferred reading. My mood board helped me to chronologically oragnise my thoughts on my narrative within relation to other horror films. I also looked into horror film posters for research into my preliminary task, I really like the idea of the use of shadows as it creates such a iconic sense of tension and fear. I also really liked the poster with the person outlined by shadow looking in on a home. This to mereally stood out as i felt it gave a sense of intrusiveness and insecurity through the use of the connotations of a home (Safety, protection and sancturary) being flipped on its head by the spying, unseen intruder. I felt this would make my audience feel incredibly alone and feel as though they can relate to the fear the protagonist is experiencing.
Friday, 8 July 2011
Initial Narrative
Using low key lighting, little dialogue, shadows and mirrors we felt we could create the enigma and terror that would hook our audiences to their seats. Our narrative so far is:
Scene One
We meet our protagonist in the car park of her workplace, she will appear isolated by the use of pathetic fallacy as she will be by her car in the heavy rain and diagetic sounds of thunder will rumble around her. She will fumble with her keys, dropping them as to give her a relatable universality. Our audience will therefore feel more attached to her. She will be blonde and wearing white to connote a sense of innocence as purity. This effective use of costume is used in the film Psycho by Alfred Hitchcock In the opening scene in that link we see Marion in her white underwear and afterwards white clothing so show she is innocent. Thereafter she steals money her costume changes to darker colours to display her corruption. This use of costume I will consider when dressing my own protagonist to connote successfully my characters personality. The car park of her workplace will be deserted bar her own car, giving a further sense of isolation. She will ring her boyfriend to tell her she is on her way home from work and is going to take a shortcut because of the rain. This sets up why she is in the car park and why she takes an alternate route home. The sounds will be diagetic at this point, using rain and thunder and no other traffic or people should be heard. This reestablishes her loneliness and isolation. We will use a pan shot to establish the scene and thereafter mid-shots and long-shots of her to show her costume and the connotations of it will be established subliminally by this. We will use continuity editing to give a natural realism to the piece and therefore, again, a universal appreciation. The lighting will be dark, shadowed to create an enigmatic feel to the film.
Scene Two
Within this scene it will be pan shot of an entirely rural area, and her headlights will be seen in the distance, the rain will still be heavily pouring down and thunder bellowing in the sky, her car is seen to suddenly stop and a zoom will be used to focus in on her car, then a jump cut will give an extreme close up of her turning the keys and nothing happening. This will be accompanied by tense music to give the audience an instant sense of eeriness and tension. She will then get out of her car shown by a long shot of her, and go round to her bonnet and look at the engine. Resigning to her cars failure she will pull out her mobile and there will be the sound of no signal. She will look around her shown by a point of view shot, the nearest shelter being an abandoned mansion of Escot House. Another long shot is shown of her running towards the house in search of a phone. The lighting will be dark and the house appearing to be empty. These shots will establish and reaffirm her isolation in the rural area and the soundtrack will be used to create a sense of shear tension and uneasy emotions in the audience. The music in the previous link to Psycho shows very effective uses of soundtrack with the use of violins playing. This use of violins is used in the iconic shower scene of psycho, within that link the scene is shown will and without the music showing the absolute importance of music to create the desired atmosphere.
Scene Three
We will use a low angle long shot to establish the mansion to give an intimidating impression to the mansion, the rain will appear to be isolating the house even more so as it will drown out noises from within the house the audience will instantly feel gripped as they enter the house with the girl. when the door is closed, it should be closed with a defining thud as if you symbolise her not being able to escape its clutches. The music should be a cello sound often used on the TV show "true blood" which is used effectively to create a pessimistic omen to the scene. The lighting should be dark as to create a sense of evil or wrongness associated with the colour and lighting.
Scene Four
Livy will call out if anyone is home and will hear running footsteps in the basement. She will go to investigate calling out "hello?" with no reply. She enters a basement filled with dust and sheets over everything but a long mirror. She walks toward the mirror reservedly and stares into it. We will use a shot reverse shot to show this scene of Livy looking into the mirror seeing nothing, then a shot of Livy looking around and then as she swerves around to look back into the mirror Harriet will be standing behind her staring. Harriet will be in black, with dark eyes, dark hair and a slightly mocking smile on her face as if to show her torturing intentions with Livy. The lighting should be candle light if possible to give a flickering and shadowed effect as though all the shadows around her are moving giving more sense of unease. She will exit the basement.
Scene Five
The next long tracking shot will be alongside Livy running down a corridor in the near dark. As she runs past one of the windows harriet will be outside it with a hand on the glass. I spoke about the use of mirrors and windows within my mood board. I think the use of someone staring through a window is very intrusive and will make the audience feel goosebumps as they imagine this happing in a situation they can relate to. Livy will not notice Harriet there which gives dramatic irony to the piece as the audience know that Livy is not free from her but she continues to run deeper into the house. Livy will stumble across a door and rush in as to protect herself from Harriet.
Scene Six
A mid shot will show Livy backing away from the door as shadow will appear under the door of feet and then the shadow will leave with the sound of running feet down the hallway. The room will have china dolls and a rocking horse typically associated with scary films as I described previously in my mood board. Again the lighting will be low key and create a sense of tension as the footsteps are heard. The sound should be silence all bar the diagetic sounds of footsteps running. There is still a sense of unease as we hear nothing but sounds of Josie respiring and slowly creeping forward, as to raise tension, and opening the door.
Scene Seven
Again a shot reverse shot will be used here to give the jump when Harriets face appears. it will also be a point of view shot as Livy looks to her left down the corridor and then down the right and then as she looks left again Harriets face will be there. This will be end of the film and it will go black as to leave a cliff hanger and the audience guessing at what happens to Livy. There will be some intense music for this final shot, ending either very high pitch or very low pitched violins or cello to create the negative, tense atmosphere. The lights will be low key and sparingly dim.
Scene One
We meet our protagonist in the car park of her workplace, she will appear isolated by the use of pathetic fallacy as she will be by her car in the heavy rain and diagetic sounds of thunder will rumble around her. She will fumble with her keys, dropping them as to give her a relatable universality. Our audience will therefore feel more attached to her. She will be blonde and wearing white to connote a sense of innocence as purity. This effective use of costume is used in the film Psycho by Alfred Hitchcock In the opening scene in that link we see Marion in her white underwear and afterwards white clothing so show she is innocent. Thereafter she steals money her costume changes to darker colours to display her corruption. This use of costume I will consider when dressing my own protagonist to connote successfully my characters personality. The car park of her workplace will be deserted bar her own car, giving a further sense of isolation. She will ring her boyfriend to tell her she is on her way home from work and is going to take a shortcut because of the rain. This sets up why she is in the car park and why she takes an alternate route home. The sounds will be diagetic at this point, using rain and thunder and no other traffic or people should be heard. This reestablishes her loneliness and isolation. We will use a pan shot to establish the scene and thereafter mid-shots and long-shots of her to show her costume and the connotations of it will be established subliminally by this. We will use continuity editing to give a natural realism to the piece and therefore, again, a universal appreciation. The lighting will be dark, shadowed to create an enigmatic feel to the film.
Scene Two
Within this scene it will be pan shot of an entirely rural area, and her headlights will be seen in the distance, the rain will still be heavily pouring down and thunder bellowing in the sky, her car is seen to suddenly stop and a zoom will be used to focus in on her car, then a jump cut will give an extreme close up of her turning the keys and nothing happening. This will be accompanied by tense music to give the audience an instant sense of eeriness and tension. She will then get out of her car shown by a long shot of her, and go round to her bonnet and look at the engine. Resigning to her cars failure she will pull out her mobile and there will be the sound of no signal. She will look around her shown by a point of view shot, the nearest shelter being an abandoned mansion of Escot House. Another long shot is shown of her running towards the house in search of a phone. The lighting will be dark and the house appearing to be empty. These shots will establish and reaffirm her isolation in the rural area and the soundtrack will be used to create a sense of shear tension and uneasy emotions in the audience. The music in the previous link to Psycho shows very effective uses of soundtrack with the use of violins playing. This use of violins is used in the iconic shower scene of psycho, within that link the scene is shown will and without the music showing the absolute importance of music to create the desired atmosphere.
Scene Three
We will use a low angle long shot to establish the mansion to give an intimidating impression to the mansion, the rain will appear to be isolating the house even more so as it will drown out noises from within the house the audience will instantly feel gripped as they enter the house with the girl. when the door is closed, it should be closed with a defining thud as if you symbolise her not being able to escape its clutches. The music should be a cello sound often used on the TV show "true blood" which is used effectively to create a pessimistic omen to the scene. The lighting should be dark as to create a sense of evil or wrongness associated with the colour and lighting.
Scene Four
Livy will call out if anyone is home and will hear running footsteps in the basement. She will go to investigate calling out "hello?" with no reply. She enters a basement filled with dust and sheets over everything but a long mirror. She walks toward the mirror reservedly and stares into it. We will use a shot reverse shot to show this scene of Livy looking into the mirror seeing nothing, then a shot of Livy looking around and then as she swerves around to look back into the mirror Harriet will be standing behind her staring. Harriet will be in black, with dark eyes, dark hair and a slightly mocking smile on her face as if to show her torturing intentions with Livy. The lighting should be candle light if possible to give a flickering and shadowed effect as though all the shadows around her are moving giving more sense of unease. She will exit the basement.
Scene Five
The next long tracking shot will be alongside Livy running down a corridor in the near dark. As she runs past one of the windows harriet will be outside it with a hand on the glass. I spoke about the use of mirrors and windows within my mood board. I think the use of someone staring through a window is very intrusive and will make the audience feel goosebumps as they imagine this happing in a situation they can relate to. Livy will not notice Harriet there which gives dramatic irony to the piece as the audience know that Livy is not free from her but she continues to run deeper into the house. Livy will stumble across a door and rush in as to protect herself from Harriet.
Scene Six
A mid shot will show Livy backing away from the door as shadow will appear under the door of feet and then the shadow will leave with the sound of running feet down the hallway. The room will have china dolls and a rocking horse typically associated with scary films as I described previously in my mood board. Again the lighting will be low key and create a sense of tension as the footsteps are heard. The sound should be silence all bar the diagetic sounds of footsteps running. There is still a sense of unease as we hear nothing but sounds of Josie respiring and slowly creeping forward, as to raise tension, and opening the door.
Scene Seven
Again a shot reverse shot will be used here to give the jump when Harriets face appears. it will also be a point of view shot as Livy looks to her left down the corridor and then down the right and then as she looks left again Harriets face will be there. This will be end of the film and it will go black as to leave a cliff hanger and the audience guessing at what happens to Livy. There will be some intense music for this final shot, ending either very high pitch or very low pitched violins or cello to create the negative, tense atmosphere. The lights will be low key and sparingly dim.
Considering Theories for our Narrative
Genre theory
Genre alludes to the type or kind of film a category based upon certain themes and aspects a film has. Audiences create expectations for a genre whereas the same formulae is used to fulfil these expectations. However producers must consider variation within their films as to avoid dissatisfaction or boredom described in the limmited effects paradigm, so the producers created hybrids such as "Kill Bill" where many of the elements of a Western is used but it subverts entirely other parts of the formulae. Within the key concepts of a genre there will always be Similar aspects to it such as: Characters, Plots, locations, Props and signifiers. Eg, Within a horror film there will always be a villain, hero who defeats the villain and the similar locations will always be shadowed and dark, perhaps a use of pathetic fallacy to use to set the tone, such as storms. Problems raised with categorising films into genres would be the inherently difficult as time progressed and hybrids were created to combat audience dissatisfaction. Rick Altman looked into genre theory and decided there were 2 aspects of genre that need to be taken into consideration when producing our film. The semantic aspect is the conventions typically use to comunicate a concept to the audience. Using this idea Rachel and I will consider the props and the connotations they possess to create the iconography we desire, ie, the use of colour scheme being red and black mainly for the protagonist to create a sense of danger and enigma. Another aspect of genre being the syntactics which is the relationships and narratives, we intended to have a faulty relationship between the mother and daughter instantly hinted to showing a sense of isolation and loneliness to our protagonist, making her and ideal character for our horror genre short film.
Audience theory
Initially the media assumed the audiences were passive and the "hypodermic needle theory" applied for their audiences describing them to be entirely passive and accepting everything without challenging the messages. During the war this idea of a passive audience was used effectively to manipulate and indoctrinate the audiences directly to conform them to the idealistic nuclear family or to hate a race. The government also applied the two-step flow theory so their ideals and opinions were given to opinion leaders, or people the public looked up to to preach these ideas and the public passively consumed their ideas. Also effectively using the chinese whispers theory to have a ripple effect having people discussing and adapting their opinions and having them widespread. However the hyperdermic their tastes and the consumers are also becoming producers using sites such as youtube to create needle theory could be seen as outdated as the consumers become more diverse in their own films and music. During times of moral panic they will still apply this theory and blame the media for lowering vocabulary and the disrespect of authorities. The uses and gratification theory was expanded by katz and bhumler who said that the consumers take in the media product and use what they want from it, accepting some ideas and rejecting others depending on their environment and background. When taking this into consideration I will choose my subject, environment wisely ensuring the correct messages are displayed so my audience are receiving my preferred reading of my text.
Representation theory
Choosing the ideal person to represent my protagonist and "ghost-like" person will effect the overall preferred reading to my text. I will use a blonde fair skinned girl to represent my protagonist as this will give an angelic look to her making her seem uncorrupt and pure. The Ghost like person haunting the mansion will a friend of mine called Harriet. She has dark long hair with dark skin that will represent her evil nature. When considering the representation theory I will consider Berger's theory "Men act and women appear. Men look at women. Women watch themselves being looked at." Within my short film i will have no male actors as to keep the male gaze, however this also means, if following Berger's theory, there will be no men to drive the action. The women will be the drivers of the action, subverting his ideas entirely. Representation usually uses the stereotypes idealised by societies views upon a certain group of people. Usually within horror films the stereotypes of people are played to, such as gender stereotypes of women being weak and men being dominant. This is used in The Shining where Jack attacks his wife she is seen as helpless and weak in the bathroom as he axes down the door and she holds the knife trying to protect herself but crying and looked petrified. A disability stereotype is played up to within The Texas Chainsaw Massacre The disabled brother is seen as incompetent and unintelligent as he interacts with the mentally touched individual in the van. The audience are gripped because they think "I would do things differently" and therefore they feel hooked upon watching the movie and this a desired effect I wish to use in my movie as when my protagonist enters the mansion I want my audience to be feeling on edge and uneasy as she will be playing up the role of a horror film by entering a house clearly unwelcoming.
Genre alludes to the type or kind of film a category based upon certain themes and aspects a film has. Audiences create expectations for a genre whereas the same formulae is used to fulfil these expectations. However producers must consider variation within their films as to avoid dissatisfaction or boredom described in the limmited effects paradigm, so the producers created hybrids such as "Kill Bill" where many of the elements of a Western is used but it subverts entirely other parts of the formulae. Within the key concepts of a genre there will always be Similar aspects to it such as: Characters, Plots, locations, Props and signifiers. Eg, Within a horror film there will always be a villain, hero who defeats the villain and the similar locations will always be shadowed and dark, perhaps a use of pathetic fallacy to use to set the tone, such as storms. Problems raised with categorising films into genres would be the inherently difficult as time progressed and hybrids were created to combat audience dissatisfaction. Rick Altman looked into genre theory and decided there were 2 aspects of genre that need to be taken into consideration when producing our film. The semantic aspect is the conventions typically use to comunicate a concept to the audience. Using this idea Rachel and I will consider the props and the connotations they possess to create the iconography we desire, ie, the use of colour scheme being red and black mainly for the protagonist to create a sense of danger and enigma. Another aspect of genre being the syntactics which is the relationships and narratives, we intended to have a faulty relationship between the mother and daughter instantly hinted to showing a sense of isolation and loneliness to our protagonist, making her and ideal character for our horror genre short film.
Audience theory
Initially the media assumed the audiences were passive and the "hypodermic needle theory" applied for their audiences describing them to be entirely passive and accepting everything without challenging the messages. During the war this idea of a passive audience was used effectively to manipulate and indoctrinate the audiences directly to conform them to the idealistic nuclear family or to hate a race. The government also applied the two-step flow theory so their ideals and opinions were given to opinion leaders, or people the public looked up to to preach these ideas and the public passively consumed their ideas. Also effectively using the chinese whispers theory to have a ripple effect having people discussing and adapting their opinions and having them widespread. However the hyperdermic their tastes and the consumers are also becoming producers using sites such as youtube to create needle theory could be seen as outdated as the consumers become more diverse in their own films and music. During times of moral panic they will still apply this theory and blame the media for lowering vocabulary and the disrespect of authorities. The uses and gratification theory was expanded by katz and bhumler who said that the consumers take in the media product and use what they want from it, accepting some ideas and rejecting others depending on their environment and background. When taking this into consideration I will choose my subject, environment wisely ensuring the correct messages are displayed so my audience are receiving my preferred reading of my text.
Representation theory
Choosing the ideal person to represent my protagonist and "ghost-like" person will effect the overall preferred reading to my text. I will use a blonde fair skinned girl to represent my protagonist as this will give an angelic look to her making her seem uncorrupt and pure. The Ghost like person haunting the mansion will a friend of mine called Harriet. She has dark long hair with dark skin that will represent her evil nature. When considering the representation theory I will consider Berger's theory "Men act and women appear. Men look at women. Women watch themselves being looked at." Within my short film i will have no male actors as to keep the male gaze, however this also means, if following Berger's theory, there will be no men to drive the action. The women will be the drivers of the action, subverting his ideas entirely. Representation usually uses the stereotypes idealised by societies views upon a certain group of people. Usually within horror films the stereotypes of people are played to, such as gender stereotypes of women being weak and men being dominant. This is used in The Shining where Jack attacks his wife she is seen as helpless and weak in the bathroom as he axes down the door and she holds the knife trying to protect herself but crying and looked petrified. A disability stereotype is played up to within The Texas Chainsaw Massacre The disabled brother is seen as incompetent and unintelligent as he interacts with the mentally touched individual in the van. The audience are gripped because they think "I would do things differently" and therefore they feel hooked upon watching the movie and this a desired effect I wish to use in my movie as when my protagonist enters the mansion I want my audience to be feeling on edge and uneasy as she will be playing up the role of a horror film by entering a house clearly unwelcoming.
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