Young Blood: December 2013

Thursday 26 December 2013

Flashback Shots: Blood in Bath

At certain points in our opening, the camera flickers to shots that tell the audience about the killer's past (their past victims etc).
Included in this are shots of a bath with blood in it, referencing to the fact that our killer bathes in blood to stay young.
As these shots will not last for longer than a second, I felt that there was no need for a high quality camera.
All of the shots were close up shots, as the focus of the shots was on the blood, and the body from which the blood is dripping is only alluded to.

Some of the shots were of blood dripping onto the white surface of the bathtub, inspired by the opening credits of American Psycho.
These were created by simply dripping fake blood from a spoon.
These shots were the most difficult, as it was important that the shadow from the camera and the spoon could not be seen within the frame.

The other two shots were of blood pouring towards the plughole.
These shots were created by
I feel that these shots are more effective for the horror genre, as there is a greater amount of blood.

When the shots are put together in the opening, they will only appear briefly, and will flicker between flashes of white, similar to this short clip:

Overall, although the shots were not of a very high quality, I feel that this was a successful session, as the shots did not need to be of a very high quality due to the fact that they will only appear for a very brief amount of time.

Friday 20 December 2013

Conventions of the Psychological Horror Genre.

Common Conventions in the Psychological Horror Genre:

Plot twists
Reflective/response to reality
Emotive - you care about characters
Heavily focuses on main character's psychological state
Sad unresolved ending
'Facing Demons'
The danger is human
Main Character is often detective, battling their own issues
Incorporates elements of mystery
Seemingly supernatural threat - actually human
Struggle between what is real and what is not
Deceptive games
Death
Requires viewer to think

Thursday 19 December 2013

Obsessive Behaviour and Stalking Research

In our film opening, our protagonist is a killer who stalks her victims and shows obsessive traits in her personality. To ensure that the portrayal of this character is accurate and also effective, I researched obsessive and stalking behaviour. These are some points that I thought would be relevant to the antagonist's character:

Obsession is defined as: 'Intrusive, repetitive thoughts, images or impulses that are unacceptable and/or unwanted'.
Some psychologists believe that obsessions are caused by misinterpretations of the significance of a person's intrusive thoughts.
Obsessions can be linked to anxiety disorders, e.g. obsessive compulsive disorder.
Obsessive behaviour can be stimulated by aversive emotions like fear or disgust which leads to avoidance behaviour.
Generally most people with obsessional traits are more socially conforming and less likely to take risks than the average person.
Many people who behave obsessively often have a 'perfectionist' personality trait wherein they feel the need to get everything right.
Stalkers can be classified into psychotic and non psychotic stalkers.
Psychotic stalkers may have suffered from psychotic disorders previously such as delusional disorder or schizophrenia.
Female stalkers often target other women while male stalkers are equally as like to stalk other men as as they are to stalk women.
There are 5 types of stalkers:

Rejected stalkers
Resentful stalkers
Intimacy seekers
Incompetent suitors
Predatory stalkers

Predatory stalkers do not want a relationship with their victims but seek to control them through assault (physically and/or sexually).
Stalking is a behaviour that can be present in people with mental disorders, but is not an actual mental disorder itself.

All of this information is useful because it is relevant to the characteristics we have already decided our antagonist will have, which include:

Being a predatory stalker
Classified as a psychotic stalker
Behaviour stimulated by averse emotions of disgust of her own appearance and fear of being ugly and old

Wednesday 18 December 2013

Film Opening Titles Deconstruction.

Film Opening Titles: 'The Shining'.

In the opening for this film the opening credits were very basic, they all consisted of being a light blue colour and travelled from the bottom of the screen to the top when they appeared.

0:03
Production Company: Warner Bros Pictures

1:19
Director: Stanley Kubrick
Text over image.

1:25
Actor: Jack Nicholson
Text over image.

1:31
Actor/Actress: Shelley Duvall
Text over image.

1:36
Film Title: 'THE SHINING'
Text over image.
Bigger than the other texts.

1:41
Actor/Actress: 'Featuring Danny Lloyd'
Text over image.

1:47
Actor/Actress: Scatman Crothers.
Text over image.

1:51
Actor/Actress: Barry Nelson
Text over image.

1:56
Actor/Actress: Philip Stone
Text over image.

2:03
Actor/Actress: Joe Turkel
Text over image.

2:07
Actor/Actress: Anne Jackson
Text over image.

2:13
Actor/Actress: Tony Burton
Text over image.

2:18
Executive Producer: Jan Harlan
Tex over image.

2:23
Extra Information: 'Based upon rhe novel by Stephen King'
Text over image.

2:29
Producers: Robert Fryer, Martin Richards, Mary Lea Johnson.
Text over image.

2:34
Screenplay: Stanley Kubrick, Diane Johnson.
Text over image.

2:39
Produced and Directed: Stanley Kubrick.
Text over image.

Monday 16 December 2013

Genre Investigation: Psychological Horror

Orphan

'Orphan' (2009) is a psychological horror centred around a family of four and their newly adopted child, Esther.

Esther is different to the other children, which is, at first, endearing.

As the film progresses, the mother begins to suspect that Esther is more different than they had originally thought.

'Orphan' conforms to the typical conventions of psychological horror in a number of ways:

The main character, a wife and a mother, is, herself, psychologically damaged.
She is a recovering alcoholic.
She is also recovering from the loss of her unborn child.
A 'troubled' protagonist is very common in psychological horror films, as the film itself explores the mind.
It is also typical for the protagonist/victim to be female.

The film is largely set in a large house surrounded by woods.
This is a typical convention of psychological horror movies, as it separates the characters from the rest of the world and separates them from people that could help/save them.
The snowy scenery gives the setting a 'cold', bleak atmosphere, which reflects on the negative tone of the plot.

Typography

In the opening credits, the title of the film 'flickers' between a plain font and one that is splattered in neon paint. This is a reference to something that happens later in the movie.
Furthermore, the font changes to another font which resembles 'scribbled' handwriting.
Coupled with the black background, it is clear to the audience that these are the opening credits to a horror film, as the typography is overall 'creepy' and sinister.

Opening sequence

The sequence begins in high key lighting, which brings a positive mood to the sequence.
The out of focus wide shot at the beginning creates a dreamlike atmosphere.
There are many close up shots of the female protagonist, and no one else's faces are shown till later in the sequence. This tells the audience that she is going to be a key character in the film.
The red of the blood in contrast with the white hospital floor is a clear indicator to the audience that something isn't right.

The lighting then becomes low-key: the operating room is surrounded by darkness and dimly lit by top lighting.
All images seen are surreal, to make it clear to the audience that this is a dream sequence.
The sequence is made up of straight cut edits.
Each shot is very short and the frequently changing shots create an atmosphere of confusion, which reflects on the feelings of the protagonist.
This sequence also introduces the protagonist's psychological trauma to the audience.
A psychologically damages protagonist is a common convention in psychological horror.

Antagonist

Esther has the appearance of a normal girl, which makes her violent actions disturbing to the audience, as it is unnatural for a child to commit such crimes.
Although she looks like a normal child, she dresses in old fashioned clothing (often remarked on by other characters) and this marks her out as different, within the modern setting.

Throughout the film, Esther, who is actually a grown woman, is in disguise as a young child.
It is common in horror movies for the main character to be disguised, as the audience does not know everything about them and this creates the fear of the unknown.
Esther is also psychologically disturbed, as demonstrated by the book she keeps with pictures of all of her victims: she is obsessive.

Music

The sequence above is a good example of the sound used throughout the film.
All diegetic sound is of children playing: this gives a happy atmosphere and contrasts with the contrapuntal non-diegetic sound:
The non-diegetic soundtrack is metallic and tuneless and has a negative tone. These sounds increase in volume to create suspense and fear within the audience.
Some string instruments are used, playing in a minor key to contribute to the negative tone.
Low key lighting is used throughout the sequence to create fear within the audience, as they cannot see everything as some things are hidden in shadow.

Sunday 15 December 2013

Minor Production Companies Research

Dark Castle Entertainment
DCE is a production house formed in 1999 with associations with Warner Bros. and Universal Pictures. Its primary focus when it was first formed was to recreate William Castle's horror films, but began creating original films after two remakes, and also produced films from other genres from 2008 onwards. The most recent horror films produced by DCE are:

The Apparition (supernatural)
The Hills Run Red (slasher)
Orphan (psychological)
The Reaping (supernatural)
Return to House on Haunted Hill (supernatural)

Twisted Pictures
Twisted Pictures is an American independent production company that specialises in producing horror films. It was founded in 2004 after the success of the first 'Saw' film and has since then become well known for producing the films in the 'Saw' franchise. Other horror films recently distributed by Twisted Pictures are:

Texas Chainsaw 3D (slasher)
Chain Letter (slasher)
Mother's Day (psychological)
Dead Silence (supernatural/slasher)

Platinum Dunes

Like Dark Castle Entertainment, Platinum Dunes specialises in horror films (particularly remakes). Founded in 2001 in Los Angeles, Platinum Dunes entered a first look deal with Paramount Pictures and since then has worked with Paramount on projects such as 'The Butcherhouse Chronicles' and the 'Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles' reboot. Most recent horror films produced by Platinum Dunes are:

The Purge (horror/thriller)
A Nightmare on Elm Street (slasher)
The Unborn (supernatural)
Friday the 13th (slasher)
The Hitcher (horror/thriller)

Haxan Films

Haxan Films is an independent American production company headquartered in Florida. It is most well known for producing the famous horror film 'The Blair Witch Project', one of the most successful and critically acclaimed independent films of all time. Haxan Film's most recent releases are:

Lovely Molly (supernatural)
Seventh Moon (supernatural)
Altered (creature feature/science fiction)

This research is useful to the group as we need to include a production company in the opening credits of our film opening. We can use this research to decide which company we think is suitable for our genre (psychological horror) and so improve the quality of our opening by making it look more professional.

Pages of Killer's notebook

I used the photographs I took of the killer's past victim, Cara, in some pages of the killer's notebook.
I cut them out and stuck them down on separate pieces of A5 paper and slipped them into the book.
Having loose pieces of paper makes the notebook appear to be full of information, and therefore indicates many past victims.

On the first page, I wrote down information about the victim e.g. age, hair colour, weight.
I also wrote down what the killer had observed, including her daily routines and the company she usually keeps.
On the 2nd to 3rd pages, I wrote down the plans the killer has for their victim (where they will kill them, what time etc)

On the last page, I stuck down pictures of the victim after they're been killed.
Around the images, I labeled which body parts the killer decided to keep.
Also included was how much blood the killer managed to drain.
Finally, I wrote what the killer planned to do with the body (dump in a river).

I think that these pages will be effective for our opening sequence, as they briefly tell the viewer about the killer's past murders whilst they flick through the pages.
A few more pages need to be made in order for the notebook to be effective as a whole.

Film Opening Titles Deconstruction: Funny Games

I have looked at the psychological thriller 'Funny Games' opening titles for inspiration for our film opening. Within this opening they use a bold and modern font which is clean cut. As for the colour they have opted for a vibrant red; possibly to symbolise the violent nature of the film. This film opening can provide inspiration to our film opening with the use of it's simplistic font and layout over the film.