In our filming for a new horror opening me made some changes. We decided to try and make the main character seem as 'teenagery' as possible. We decided to do this by sitting him in a room that looks like the typical teenagers room and filmed him playing FIFA 15. We also game him a can of energy drink to give extra effect. The choice of clothing was also very important. To make the teenager character believable he wore slim jeans and a Brooklyn t-shirt.
We kept the killers clothing the same. This was just a normal pair of jeans and a black hoodie. We felt this was appropriate because it seems very basic while also still keeping a sense of anonymity with his hood up.
The main character is also seen using an iPhone 4. This is the typical phone for a teenager. Also playing FIFA in his room is another stereotypical thing for a 16 year old to be doing.
Mise en scene is possibly the most important thing in films in general to make it more believable while also telling the audience what personality each character has without them even having to say a word.
After we re-filmed we did another rough edit and here is how it turned out:
We decided to put together a rough edit putting together our clips to give us a rough idea of how our movie opening will turn out.
The biggest problem with our initial filming was the dialogue throughout because you could not hear the actors without there being wind or background noise such as cars which do not help with the idea of the location being secluded.
We made sure to check our camera before we started this time to ensure that the camera lens did not have any dirt on it as last time we did not check until we had already done some of the shots.
This rough edit, I would say, is much better than the initial filming because it has absolutely no dialogue which means we can put some non-diegetic sound over the top to give the opening a better feel overall. We tried to also add more camera shots, angles and movements throughout the opening.
This time we really excelled in representing the stereotype of a teenager through the use of him playing on a game console at the start, the can of energy drink and overall a great representation of a stereotypical teenager.
We found that instead of actually seeing the killer we went for a storyline where you don't see the killer at all other than their hand, this gives a feeling of uncertainty and really makes the audience wonder who the killer is and what he looks like.
Now that we are happy with our rough edit we will continue to cut it down to as good as possible with the clips, adding in sound and also titles over the top.
These pictures show where we filmed and how we filmed it. This first image shows how we set up the shot of Lewis helping Stephen through the door to the next scene. We felt this was a good angle because it made it clear to the audience what was happening.
During this we were helping Tom find a place to stand which was relevant to our shot. We had to make it so you can only partially see him so he still keeps a sense of anonymity. This was important for us because we felt that the killer's identity shouldn't be given away in the first couple of minutes of the film.
This image is when we were trying to get a sort of birds-eye-view shot facing down on Lewis and Stephen. We chose this shot to make it look as if both characters were in danger.
After filming our opening of a horror movie we put together a rough edit:
Once we finished filming for the first time and we looked at our rough edit we realised that there was a lot wrong with it and that we could improve it massively.
Our biggest problem is the sound; in this plan we relied on diegetic sound (Lewis and Stephen) throughout and this is a huge problem because of the background noise and the wind causing the sound to be very bad; it was hard to hear them at points in the film and didn't build the tension we were looking for.
Another problem that we came across was that some of the clips had dirt on the camera meaning the shot didn't look clear or good meaning that all of these clips need to be re-filmed.
We have decided to completely change our storyline quite a lot and during the next filming we are going to make sure that we include a lot more camera shots, camera angles and camera movements throughout and also make sure that we remove all of the diegetic sound because it is too difficult to do that without the background noise and wind making the quality very bad, we are also going to include music to create the tension that we are looking for.
Titles in horror films can give a huge impression and create an atmosphere before a film even starts. An example of this is the film 'Se7en'.
The editing of the title sequence is very unsettling because of the quick cuts, scratchy fonts, extreme close ups and disordered music.
Another thing about the titles is the order of the actors in which they appear. Brad Pitt comes up first because of the high profile he has. He is first to attract the audience and pull them in straight away because he is a well known, brilliant actor. Second is Morgan Freeman, again a well known fantastic actor who appears in some of the best films to ever hit the cinema screens. Having these two actors first lets the audience know how much of a great film it is going to be, and how enjoyable it is going to be to watch.
The quick cuts makes it very hard for the people watching to keep track of whats going on and can create a very uncomfortable feeling because of what they're being shown. At 0:17 a razor blade is shown for around one and a half seconds and it is being used to cut skin off the finger of an unidentified character. This is not usually what comes up unexpectedly on our TV screen so it can be discomforting for some viewers. Also at 1:38 a needle flashes up for a split second and a fear of needles is very common.
The music doesn't seem to have any order and you don't know what it is going to do next, just like the killer in the actual film.
Another title i looked at is the opening to 'The Last Of Us'. These are very good titles because it gives you an idea what it is going to be about while also not giving too much away.
The black and white filter makes it seem very eerie and can make it feel old. The constant switching in fast and slow motion can make you feel quite uncomfortable because it is impossible to see what is going to happen next and it is sometimes difficult to see what it going on. The voice over in the background is also very powerful because of what they are saying. 'The number of confirmed deaths is past 200'. This isn't something that everyone likes to hear and can make you feel in real danger. 'Hundreds of bodies laying in the streets' at 0:14 is another example. One more example is at 0:17 'Panic spread worldwide after a leaked report from the World Health Organisation showed the latest vaccination has failed'. This makes a really uncomfortable feeling because it gives a feeling that everyone is doomed while still not telling the audience what has happened. In my opinion the music what helps it most. The acoustic guitar on its own gives it an isolated feeling which can be quite uncomfortable for the audience.
We kept the killers clothing the same. This was just a normal pair of jeans and a black hoodie. We felt this was appropriate because it seems very basic while also still keeping a sense of anonymity with his hood up.
