Pyscho film opening 9 frames

Here are my nine screen shots of the physco opening, I chose these shots as i thought they were the most important during the film opeing. The first one shows the company and productions of the clip which can let the audience now what they are watching and how good the other films they produced are and so on.

The Ring detailed analysis

Number 23 detailed analysis

The Grudge Part 1 detailed analysis

Timeline for the opening of our psychological horror film opening Aura. Up to 2 mins and a bit.

Institution of a Big Multinational Company

Paramount Pictures corporation  is a global distributor and producer of filmed entertainment. It has robust and multi-faceted divisions across all areas including digital, home entertainment, network and cable television distribution, studio operations and consumer products and recreation.
It was founded in 1912 and is currently owned by conglomerate Viacom and has a major film studio still headquarted in the Hollywood district of Los Angeles.
The most popular films they made are Star Trek, Indiana Jones, Transformers, Paranormal Activity, G.I. Joe and many more.

20th Century Fox is also a film corporation which is one out of 6 major American film studios  It was founded in 1935, which has become the most recognized film institution in the world.
This institution prefers to make comedy/fantasy and family films as they seem to be most profitable. however they also seem to  create horror films for example. Hell, Alien, The Omen, Jennifer's Body, The haunting of molly Harley and many more. Some of the most successful films created are avatar, Star Wars, The chronicles of Narnia and Speed.

Institution of an independent company

Twisted Pictures is an American Independent production company, mainly creating films the genre of horror. It was formed after the box office huge success of Saw in 2004, this lead to an successful nine picture distribution deal with Lionsgate. The company then went on to produce six sequels.
Other movies include Saw II, Saw III, Catacombs, Dead Silence, Saw IV, Chain Letter etc.
Company was founded in 2004 by the Evolution Entertainments Mark Burg, Oren Koules and Gregg Hoffman. (Known for producing the Saw Film series.
I would want this company to be in with my film as they have been very successful with all upcoming horror films.



Lionsgate is a Canadian entertainment company, which was formed in Vancouver but its headquarter is in Santa Monica California. Since 2007 it has been the most commercially successful independent film and television distribution company in North America. They have produced and distributed motion pictures, TV programming, family and home entertainment.
The majority of their films have very similar genres which are drama, action and thriller/horrors. However thriller and horror was not their strongest point. This information is very important when i come to deciding whether this film institution is suitable to create my horror film.

Audience Research- Horror Title Sequence

Below an example of the computer made questionnaire i created can be seen.

 

My results

The image below is a screenshot of the spreadsheet I made in order to show my results and the data we had collected. I added conditional formatting to the cells I had selected (columns B and C) to make it clearer and easier to read. In column A, I set it to turn automatically green for the people we were aiming for, red for the ages who are borderline and yellow for the ages who we are not specifically aiming for. In column B if the gender is male the cell will turn automatically blue and if girl red/pink. All of this processes turns automatically when the data is entered.

Age and Gender

Before we even started to shoot or plan our film the first question was to gather information about the age range of people who watched horror films, and what age would our film be suitable for. The second question we asked was what gender our audience are. The two images below shows the most frequent ages we collected and the gender of the people who completed our survey questionnaire.

16     16    16   17   17   17   18    36   42

Your Gender

Genre 

Once I found out the gender and age of our applicants we then wanted to find out and research what sub genre of horror they preferred. I quickly found out that psychological Horror was the most popular so we decided to base our film around this.

   Favorite Genre of Horror

Actors

When then wanted to find out the audiences preferences on actors, and from our research its shows that male characters are most preferred in horror films. This lead to us picking a little boy for one of our main parts.

    Main preferences on the main actors 

Favorite Horror films

We thought as a group that maybe asking what peoples favorite films were, to give us and idea of the sort of story line people enjoy the most , and the Paranormal Activity series of films were the most popular. We then hope to in corrupt some of its well known features recreated into our film.

Setting

I then wanted to find out what peoples favorite locations were in film horror genre. One of the most popular answer we got was a house, so my group also decided to incorporate that into our final film (we also used an abandoned woods at the beginning of the clip).

         Preferred horror film setting

Credits

I was pleased to find out that most of the majority preffered the credits to appear on the opening footage, as this was one the things me and my group had decided to do at the beginning of our film opening.

       Do you Prefer credits at the beginning of the film or completely separate opening credits in the opening of the film?

Sound

I finally collected information about sound, but as a group we decided to keep it all natural on the clip of the girl at home and creepy, quiet nursery rhyme like in the dream section. I was please with the feed back I got because most of the votes were for quiet and creepy music. This soundtrack will help create suspense and help us create more dramatic false climaxes.

        What are you sound preferences?

Gathering research from Emma Bradshaw

'Trick r Treat' cover analysis

Films use a combination of posters, trailers and lots more of other advertising techniques. For my AS media task we have to create an opening of a horror film, as well as creating our company logo. So i decided to do some research into film covers, in what draws us in to thinking whether or not to watch it. I have decided to do this mainly on horror and thriller films so it would apply more to my work.

'Scream' cover analysis

Here is another film cover analysis I did for extra research to help me with my final horror film opening.

Nightmare on elm street detailed analysis presentation

Here is our groups you tube detailed analysis presentation video on the film opening Nightmare on elm street. In my group were Max Farmer, Flynn Jarvis, Emma Bradshaw, Emily Millet.

Nightmare on Elm Street detailed analysis

Here is the video of our groups presentation by Emily Millet, Emma Bradshaw, Flynn Jarvis and Max Farmer

Script for Nightmare on elm street

Emma: 

·         Title flashes in red to resemble blood and death, which links to the genre of horror.

·         Film Company is shown.

·         Screen fades completely black to add tension and mystery, and also links with the main character going into a dream.

 Emily:

·         The small screen suggests that this is an important part of the story because it you have to focus more on it. You can't see the man’s face which adds mystery and tension for the audience.

·         Producer is shown

Flynn:

·         You can tell the man’s intentions aren't good because the close-up shots highlight the fact that he is building a deadly weapon.

·         creepy breathing links with the conventions of horror, and suggests the character has some sort of disfigurement?

·         The Director's name is shown, and due to it being a well-known name it attracts a wider audience.

Max:

·         The title of the film is shown, and ‘Nightmare’ is large and bold to suggest that it will have something to do with the film.

·         It's a creepy font style, the red signifies blood, and the title animation makes it seem like it's creeping up on you; which again links with the theme of horror.

Emma:

·         Enters the character of a woman, the white background makes her look pure and innocent which juxtaposes with the theme of horror. Through an extreme close-up shot, we can see how terrified the girl is, and she is also dressed in a white night gown which shows she doesn’t belong in the environment.

Emily:

·         Extreme long shot, shows setting (long dark creepy hallway), links with the conventions of horror. She is on her own to show she’s isolated from civilisation.

·         There is a bright light in the doorway (associated with death) and she runs away from it, suggesting she doesn’t want to die.

 Flynn:

·         There is a close-up shot of the character’s face, and she is partly hidden within a shadow, which creates a suspenseful atmosphere as the setting is very poorly lit.

·         A zooming shot is used to create the effect that someone is approaching her from behind.

Max:

·         The audience is scared as she turns around, but we realise it’s only a sheep. Sheep represent new life, and this juxtaposes the girl’s situation- which is death. However the sheep links with the girl as they are both young and ‘pure’. 

·         There’s a face hiding behind a wall, which shows that she is being watched, which creates fear in the scene.

Emma:

·         The music is very suspenseful, and adds to the sense of tension within the film.

·         Rattle of chains, symbolizes the feeling of being trapped. For her this would mean her being trapped in this nightmare.

·         More important crew members are shown in the credits

Emily:

·         We can see that the setting is very vast through this extreme long shot, and we feel for the girl even more as we know she will have difficulties escaping.

·         In the distance the laughs of the killer are heard, and this contrasts the girl’s fear.

Flynn:

·         The camera is following her from behind, and this creates the effect that she is being watched and pursued.

·         The steam and mist in the factory add atmosphere, and link with the conventions of the typical horror scene. Red lighting also symbolizes death which could be foreboding.

Max:

·         Close up of killer’s claws, and this scares us as we know it was the weapon seen in the beginning. The noise also sounds similar to nails scratching down a blackboard- makes most people cringe.

·         The use of a hand-held camera following her running away makes it seem even more suspenseful, as it seems like it’s from the Point of View of the killer.

Emma:

·         She has nowhere to run, and the fire behind her adds to this feeling of being trapped.

·         As the girl screams, so does the sheep. This connects them both further as they are both equally defenceless to the killer.

Emily:

·         The killer appears from behind her and she gets caught, and this makes the audience jump. The setting changes and she wakes up in her bedroom, and we realise it was actually a dream. Match-on-action shot?

·         Equilibrium is restored, as she is now at home; which is a stereotypically ‘safe’ place.

Flynn:

·         However, there are still cuts on her dress, which makes us question if what just occurred was actually real, and this generates tension. Also the lighting is still dark and shadowy, making the audience feel uneasy.

·         We are made to wonder if the killer will return into her dreams, and whether or not she is actually ‘safe’ in real life.

Max:

·         The cross on the wall in the background also could be quite ironic, as despite her thinking it will protect her, she was injured in her dream.

·         After this scene, the audience is left wondering what will happen to her next, and through the use of this opening the audience are now hooked into the storyline of the film.

Alfred Hitchcock

Alfred Hitchcock on Prezi

The Ring

Another group in class had to do a presentation on a horror opening film was Zoe Woodhouse, Kelsey Duffy, Max Canning and Ellie Bull, they done there opening of the Ring and gave feed back of what they found out. The opening starts with the production of the film which is DreamWorks Pictures but is shown in a static style that has been changed to fit in with the movie which is to show a classic convention of a horror film.
     The first scene of the ring the viewers see is a long shot of the house. The house is in the middle of a woods and set a nighttime with only one light one in the house which shows how isolated the house and people who are in it are from anybody else, this creates the people and the house to seem very vulnerable which fits in the environment being unpleasant which is one of the conventions. It then switches into the girls of a medium/long shot of the bedroom which is quite a contrast from the outside view as it is cozy which makes the viewers feel safe and homely, but at the same time the television flashes images which flashes images onto the background making the viewers think they saw something which builds up suspension and tension.
       Whilst the characters have a conversation this is when the shot reverse shot happens, after the conversation reaches climax from the scary story there is a drone tension, this makes the audience tense but then there is an anti-climax as it seems the character is joking about the story which shows the type of relationship these characters share. It then appears that one of the characters is dying and starts to collapse and choke with an over the shoulder shot which makes her look vunerable, which makes the audience scared and worried  about what is happening but then there is an another anti-climax when the viewers realize she is not dying but faking her death as a joke.
       The tension begins to build again when the phone starts to ring, both of the characters start to feel uneasy and begin to tremble which also make the viewers feel this way as well. Both of the characters are not fully clothed which makes them feel uneasy and vulnerable. When they answer the phone it is a close up shot to show its importance, characters emotions and how is has a dramatic effect of the characters.
       The next scene is when the television turns on whilst the camera is focused the on the girls face, this is showing the viewers that something is wrong by her facial expression. The television is then shown, this creates tension when she turns it off and it switched back on, she then desperately pulls the plug of television not regarding her safety, which shows how urgent she is within the situation, then a loud wind like noise (diegetic) occurs behind her, as the camera focus's where it come form a certain figure moves off screen to show the viewers something unpleasant is happening.
       The next scene is a shot of the girl looking up to the stairs, this shows how worried she is while the camera angle is coming from top of the stairs looking down making her look vulnerable. There is then water of the floor, however in the reflection the girl can see the television flashing makes the girl wonder what it is. She then opens the door an the static noise occurs(non-diegetic) again but faster with unpleasant noises and then more scenes occur and you get a glimpse of the girl dying with the opening scene ending making the audience questioning if what they just saw was real.

The Grudge

In class we got put into groups and got set a task of doing a presentation on a horror film showing all the key conventions of it. One group done a presentation on the The Grudge, the people in this group was Hannah Edwards, Zak Rodgers and Van Abner.
The opening scene reminds the audience what they are viewing which is a horror genre as there are drops of blood which could resemble death. With this there is also dramatic music (non-diegetic) which is iconic as it goes with the effect of blood as the background There is also hair flowing through the opening credits which makes the audience know the film that they are viewing is the Grudge.
The first couple of scenes that appear in the opening are the credits that are mainly off the actors and crews but are surrounded by blood which makes the viewers feel tense and uneasy and then the background changes to red which could represent death, danger, also the font of the credit language makes the audience know it is set in Japan which could mean they could get background information on what it is about and the story line.
There is a close up shot of the pale girl with wet hair which could make the audience feel uneasy and sorry for her as she looks so innocent and vulnerable. The next scene is a flash back which involves a fight scene involving the girl and man which the audience presume that it is her father, when he then breaks her neck. The viewers feel very sorry for the girl as it shows her innocence and vulnerability again. After this there are violent and disturbing scenes on the man killing his son and a cat, this creates the audience to become uneasy and to dislike the character of what he has committed so far in this film.
The flash back stops and is back in the present day, we know this by the long shot type of  the house. It is not a pleasant, homely house with chains around the gate which shows that nobody should ever go past and enter this house. There is then a trademark of the attack which the film 'Grudge' is most famous for. This is the girl who got her neck broken slowly creeping down the stairs  then showing the audience her killing people. This completely narrows out any sympathy the audience ever had of this girl and starting to dislike her character for knowing what she has done.

Key conventions of film Openings

After doing the first key convention table of film openings I wanted to do some more research into different film genre so i have back up information which applies in all of them.

Film	Genre	Conventions (sound/info/action)	Style of opening	Info in credits	Narrative story line of film
Titanic	Romance novel	I conic music- sad/helpless. Just music to start with creates emotion iconic effects faded in to show people waving goodbye. (links in with the music)	Colour-sepia shows that it is old fashioned and set in the past, costumes from the time period 1912	Paramount Pictures and Twenty Century Fox.  ‘A light storm entertainment production’ (only)	Tale about love and death heart throbs. Ominous ill-mannered tragedy.
Hunger games	Action and adventure	Slow depressing music- Iconic what’s about to happen crates emotions (sad, sorry, depression)	Formal information at the beginning with a black ground and white writing-serious. Interview-wealthy rich, famous over the top people to district 12 people (back to reality)	Lions-gate Color force production (only)	12 Districts’ 2 from each bog girl fight to the death in what is known as the ‘hunger games’
War of the Worlds	Sci-Fi	Non-diagetic dramatic slow weary music- Iconic creates tension. Voice in the background is strong demanding brave and knowing.	Science fiction based. Bacteria zoomed out to the Earth back to reality (New York City) high street then zooms out to see proportion of the human race.	Amiblin entertainment production Paramount production and DreamWorks pictures (only)	Earth shattering adventure  battle for the future and human race
Lord of the Rings (the two towers)	Sci-Fi	Dramatic music which is non-diagetic with weary dangerous and mead evil hymns- Iconic with the theme of the film and the story line.	Clothing costumes drags, old fashioned and washed down sets the time period for the film.	New Line Cinema (only)	To destroy the ring ( The war of the one ring has begun)

Key conventions of a horror film opening

I have found out from some research i have done that generally the opening of a film will take the form of one of the following;

• Flashback, Panning on Landscape, Narrations, Chase scene ,Fight/shoot out and Title Sequence

All though some are used more often than others, I gave found out they are all used to draw the audience into the film and the plot or characters. By choosing the right opening for a movie, it sets the mood and genre of the film. It usually sets up a basic plot and gives the audience an equilibrium, I am very pleased I have found out this as it will be very useful for when coming to film my opening of a horror. We studied a few films and took notes of the openings.

Film	Genre	Conventions (sound/info/action)	Style of opening	Info in credits	Narrative story line of film
Pretty women	Romance	Piano in the background of the opening which is non diegetic music. It has a lot of action in the opening which creates secrets within the film.	Sets scene of a Hollywood panning.	Movie company only in the opening.	Hollywood, love film, romance.
The dark Knight rises	Action	Non diegetic music in the opening. Slow build up with the music which is building up suspense and tension.	Title sequence fight/shoot in a Bank robbery.	Movie company only in the opening.	Action and adventure capture of civilians, trying to save human life.
Final destination 3	Thriller/horror	Clock ticking in background with non diegetic music which implies horror.	Title sequence into the main use of action.	All credits within the opening.	Centred on the themes of how to foresee avoid or control death which sets the mood for the opening of the film.
Pulp fiction	Thriller and crime comedy.	Retro music within the opening, it also has a lot of swearing which means it would not be sensible for children viewing it.	Retro introduction to characters into title credits.	The credits appear after all the action that has happened within the opening.	Robbery, ironic mix of humour and violence.
The shining	Horror	Building up suspense and tension with the traditional horror sound in the opening which is also non diegetic.	Establishing shot sets the scene within the film.	Credits whilst setting the scene.	Caretaker son posses physic abilities and are able to see things in the past and future.