Question 1: In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products? (ie. of film openings)
Production company name:
We decided to create our own production company, titled 'Slaughterhouse Productions'. We chose this title as we felt that it directly ties in with the genre of horror, which is the style of film our company would produce. The name suggests that films produced by this company would contain themes of murder or 'slaughter', and the use of the red shadow behind our logo reinforces this. We chose to keep our logo fairly simple, emphasizing the harsh contrasts between the red and white font and the black background. We chose to use a colour scheme that linked with the genre of horror, and so we chose red (which can symbolise blood or murder), along with black (which has connotations of death and mystery) to juxtapose with the white font - which connotes purity, innocence and vulnerability, linking with the 'victim' role found in horror films.
Lighting:
After
watching many horror films, we found that ‘The Descent’ had excellently used
lighting to maximise fear and anxiety in the audience. The story focuses around
six women who are trapped in a cave with only their torches to guide them, and
this is similar to our film with the fact that our female victim’s only source
of light is her torch. Through hiding
most of the setting from the audience due to the film’s restricted view, ‘The
Descent’ focuses on building tension by tapping into the audience’s fear of the
unknown. In our film, we chose to incorporate these aspects into our opening,
and kept the lighting minimal in order to keep tension running high.
Camerawork:
- P.O.V. Shot: We decided to take ideas from the film 'Quarantine' and incorporate a point of view shot into our own opening. We felt it would
not only vary the shot types used, but help to include the viewers in the film.
This shot type is known to add to the sense of unease and tension found in real
horror films, and we hoped to create a sense of claustrophobia as our camera
moves towards the small staircase in our film.
- Long Shots: Long shots are used frequently in horror films to emphasise a character's vulnerability by making them seen small and insignificant. We decided to use several long shots in our film to make our victim seem small whilst inside the imposing house. One film which uses this shot type is 'A Nightmare on Elm Street'.
Credits:
After researching many different font styles online, we decided on a font called ‘cracked’ that was already available on our editing software to use in our film. This style of font is very harsh and eerie, and has sharp edges which link with the genre of horror. We believed the style of font we used would be typical for a horror film, and in fact many different horror films use fonts which are similar in style to ours, including the film ‘Seven’. As you can see, both fonts seem creepy and are written in an irregular way, which unnerves the audience.
Mise-en-scene:
- Paintings: chose to use several props in our opening. We decided to open our film with a shot of a painting of a naked woman embracing a white swan. Alfred Hitchcock used similar paintings in his film ‘Psycho’ and these paintings could symbolise being trapped or confined, and could therefore imply that women are seen as a form of trophy. We felt that including this painting in our film would achieve an effective result, perhaps foreshadowing our victim’s eventual confinement within the house.
- Other props: We decided to make use of the other props that were already available within the house we filmed in, including a sculpture of Shakespeare’s face. Shakespeare commonly wrote plays focusing around tragedies, often including or resulting in death. This could symbolically link with our own film, as our character eventually falls victim to tragedy and dies. Other props which convey the theme of death are the red candles shown in various places around the house and the Titanic monument on the wall in one of the rooms. Candles are significant for time and time running out which, along with the colour red (which connotes danger and blood), could symbolise the victim’s time running out before she is killed. Similarly the Titanic, which was known to kill over 1,500 people upon its sinking, could perhaps foreshadow the victim’s descent towards her death.
Film Title:
We decided we would choose a name for our
film that linked in some way with real estate or the process of moving into a
new house, as our film revolves around this process. We eventually settled on
‘The Occupant’ as it directly links to the plot of our film, and sounds quite
sinister. After researching and trying out different font styles that would be
regarded typically scary, with irregular shaped letters and blood-like
patterns, we found that in fact numerous real horror films actually use simple
and bold font styles instead. This creates a more sophisticated look, and
avoids running the risk of looking cheesy. Therefore, we made our title font
very basic, bold, and in capitals – making it stand out.
Setting:
We chose to keep most of the setting hidden from
the audience in the opening to create a sense of mystery, as although the audience
can see it is a house, it is unknown where or whose house it is until later on
in the film. Houses are used as settings in many different horror films such as
‘Paranormal Activity’ and ‘The Ring’, and these homely locations place the
audience into a false sense of security. Through choosing a location that is
familiar to most audiences, the sense of realism is increased, and we followed
this convention in the hope that audiences will be able to relate to the
setting and thus will be more involved in the story.
Characters:
In terms of characters, our victim is introduced in this scene, and the audience can tell that she is worried and scared due to her facial expressions. We chose to use dark shadowy lighting with the torch being the only source of light in the room to make her character seem vulnerable, like most victims in horror. The juxtaposition between the bright light coming from the torch and the dark lighting all around the house could suggest that our main character is typically ‘good’, whereas the house is ‘evil’; making the audience feel more sympathetic towards our victim.
A film which shares similarities to our own in regards to its characters is ‘Scream’. In the opening scene, Drew Barrymore is introduced to the audience as she wanders through her house whilst being terrorised by a villain. The low-key lighting, whilst not being as dark as our film, still makes the victim seem vulnerable. The setting is also very similar to our own, and the victim is of a similar age group and social class to our victim. Her clothing is white and casual, suggesting she is innocent and is the ‘good’ character of the story, which is another similarity to our film. Therefore, the way in which both ‘Scream’ and ‘The Occupant’ introduce their characters is effective, as the audience’s sympathy is maximised due to the familiar setting, vulnerability of the young female, and portrayal that she is ‘good’ when compared to the ‘evil’ villains of the story.
In terms of characters, our victim is introduced in this scene, and the audience can tell that she is worried and scared due to her facial expressions. We chose to use dark shadowy lighting with the torch being the only source of light in the room to make her character seem vulnerable, like most victims in horror. The juxtaposition between the bright light coming from the torch and the dark lighting all around the house could suggest that our main character is typically ‘good’, whereas the house is ‘evil’; making the audience feel more sympathetic towards our victim.
A film which shares similarities to our own in regards to its characters is ‘Scream’. In the opening scene, Drew Barrymore is introduced to the audience as she wanders through her house whilst being terrorised by a villain. The low-key lighting, whilst not being as dark as our film, still makes the victim seem vulnerable. The setting is also very similar to our own, and the victim is of a similar age group and social class to our victim. Her clothing is white and casual, suggesting she is innocent and is the ‘good’ character of the story, which is another similarity to our film. Therefore, the way in which both ‘Scream’ and ‘The Occupant’ introduce their characters is effective, as the audience’s sympathy is maximised due to the familiar setting, vulnerability of the young female, and portrayal that she is ‘good’ when compared to the ‘evil’ villains of the story.
