After a discussion with Mrs Johnson we have come up with a few ideas to change our concept. This would mean changing it so that only one character is cast making it easier for us. The new idea we have come up with is that a woman is tied to a chair in an abandoned warehouse on her own. We looked at a previous horror film opening made at our school and at the opening of Se7en. We liked the fast cutting rate and how it used shots to create a sense of an enigma and tension.
Some ideas we came up with were:
Changing the casting so only Freddie's sister is cast. This will make it easier for us because we won't have to keep trying to find older people to cast.
We also came up with a possible new concept where the female antagonist is tied in a chair in an abandoned warehouse. We can see that she is distressed and psychopathic. Throughout the scene we get flashbacks of victims bodies. We also see POV shots of someone from outside the warehouse coming in. The person then comes in to the warehouse and the woman screams. However, we don't know who the murderer is. We felt this may be more suitable to the horror genre.
Taking some of these into account, we have tweaked our concept a little. The concept is still the same, however the only two cast members are the woman and the detective. The woman is still being interrogated by the detective, however through POV shots the audience knows someone is hiding in the shadows. As the interview goes on we see flashes of victim's lifeless bodies such as the ones in the opening sequence of The Killing. Then, as the detective ends the interview, the man appears from the shadows and murders the detective. We never see the man's face, but it is thought to be the woman's husband, who is mentioned frequently during the interrogation. We feel like this is a better concept because it builds more tension and we can incorporate a jump scare to make it more horrific.
The video above is our final preliminary task. We had to re-edit it and shoot some extras scenes because our first one was deemed not suitable for school. The feedback we got was overall good. Some points that were liked were:
The use of close ups
The panning shot when the protagonist enters the room and sits down
The over-the-shoulder shots that clearly show a conversation between two people
We can incorporate some of these into our production because we are thinking of doing an interrogation for our final piece. This would mean we would be using a lot of over-the-shoulder shots to portray the conversation.
The following prezi is the one we created to pitch our concept to the class. Overall, we believe our pitch went very well, however when it came to the Q&A afterwards, we discovered a lot of flaws.
Feedback
The main problem with our concept was with the idea that it was set in the 1960's. This is a problem because of the amount of technology that could be in shot that was not even invented in the 1960's. This would mean that there would be a lot of dressing of sets and careful consideration when it came to shooting.
Another problem was costume. This is again because we wanted to set it in the 1960's. There would need to be a lot of care taken when styling hair, doing makeup and choosing clothes to make it indicative of the 1960's.
A major problem that needed to be resolved was casting. When we pitched, we had no one cast in any of the roles. This has now been partially resolved due to the fact that Freddie's sister may play the part of the female antagonist.
A flaw that also came up was cost. The audience said that taking into consideration all of the costs of renting and purchasing costumes, such as the wig or the police uniform, it would cost in excess of at least 100 pounds.
Evaluation
We have taken into account all of the feedback and because of this, we have decided to get rid of the 1960's setting. However, we will still take inspiration from that era, but not make it certain it is the 1960's. We have decided that it will almost be a pastiche of the 1960's. The problem with casting is yet to be fully resolved, however we are making good progress.
After a discussion with Miss Fernandez, we have decided to take inspiration for our flashbacks from the opening sequence of the TV series The Killing. This sequence has very fast cutting rates between the flashbacks, just showing us a glimpse of what happened.
For the type of concept we have planned, film noir is the most appropriate choice of genre to research. This is because our film falls under a cross between crime-thriller and horror. Film noir is a term to describe stylish Hollywood crime dramas particularly those that emphasize moral ambiguity and sexual motivation. The golden era of film noir was between the 1940's and 1950's.
Low-key lighting
Some visual techniques we could use to make our film noir more film noir is low-key lighting. Low-key lighting is widely used in film noir. This type of lighting produces stark light/dark contrasts and dramatic shadow patterning. These lighting techniques can be produced by shining a light through Venetian blinds or banister rods. Another technique is three-point lighting. Three-point lighting is where you have lights on both sides of the shot and above. This gives a lot of shadows.
Lighting using blinds
We also believe film noir is suitable because of our plot. Stock characters in film noir are hardboiled detectives, femmes fateles, corrupt policemen and jealous husbands. Our plot includes corrupt policemen, a detective and a husband, but it centres around a femme fatale. The characteristics of a femme fatale is that she is very alluring and sensual. However, she is also very cunning and elusive, using her sexuality to elude the police. We understand that a strong iconography of a femme fatale is cigarettes with wispy trails of smoke. This is something we would like to replicate.
Mia Wallace
Some famous and iconic examples of femme fatales are:
Mia Wallace (Pulp Fiction)
Catharine Trammell (Basic Instinct)
Satine (Moulin Rouge)
Another convention of film noir is the narrative. Film noir generally portrays an extremely corrupt world and explores dark themes.
Overall, film noir is a genre we would like to take a lot of inspiration from in our horror opening.
The camera was still for the majority of the shots and in the ones that moved it was very slow. This reflected the slow sombre pace of the footage. the slow cutting pace also shows that tension and horror can still be captured in a more slow paced sequence.
None of the shots featured the protagonists, this created a sense of suspense and makes the audience wonder who or what makes the three children jump out of the window for no apparent reason.
Camera
Duration
Mise-en-scene
Sound
MCU
0-11
Daniel Radcliffe trying to make the film sound good. Also he
describes it as “my” new film. #diva.
“Expelliarmus”
Establishing shot Close up of a tea pot pretending to pour tea into
two cups and then being set down
11-22
The lighting is dull, the cups and table are very small, they have
birds on them to show it’s a child’s play set.
Eerie music from the start accompanied by the loud diegetic noise of
the tea ornaments chinking together. I like tea.
ECU of a dolls face as a small hand pretends to make it drink tea
22-25
The doll looks handmade and has large dark eyes which give it a scary
look. The hand is small and you can tell that it is a child’s.
A new instrument Is introduced, the high pitched qualities add to the
already eerie effect the music is giving. This is non-Diegetic.
Another ECU of a different doll with the same thing happening.
25-29
The second doll is more detailed facially and is wearing a red
flowered shirt.
Same as above box.
A medium shot of the three girls who are playing with the dolls.
29-33
The rooms lighting is quite low key, the lack of lights shows that it
isn’t set in modern day. The three young girl’s Victorian style dresses also
show this. There facial expressions look normal; it’s just a standard day in
playing with the dolls.
The music is the same, however the audience are lead to believe that
nothing is wrong so there is juxtaposition with the gloomy music and happy
scene.
Dolls face close up.
33-35
Shallow focus, doll is Victorian styled and
Continuation of music.
Close up of another doll.
35-38
The doll is being tucked into a small toy bed.
More music.
Mid shot at eye height
38-40
Two girls pretending to pour tea. There smiles show that they are
having a great time.
More music
mid shot
40-42
The third girl smiles back. Lack of verbal communication is strange
because as of yet all the communication has been non-verbal
Bit more music
A mid shot from a low angle which shows the toys.
42-44
Girls bottom halves and hands can be seen playing with the toys.
Same tunes still.
A much higher angle shot which shows the whole room. Adults eye
height.
44-52
The tea party comes to an abrupt halt as all the girls become fixated
by something and stare at it.
Continued music but at a more intense volume.
Low angle mid shot
52-56
They all turn to look at the other side of the room. It’s a bit like
synchronised dance except much slower and sitting down.
Slow zoom with mid shot
56-58
The lighting inside is dim you can only really see a grey sky out the
window.
Bit of a bass drum as the window comes into shot. Interesting.
Low angle, mid shot.
58-1:00
Three girls rise in sync with each other.
Music continues.
Low angle, mid shot.
1:00-1:01
Close up of two of the girls getting up.
Music is slightly louder. Tension is building.
Close up of feet from a low angle.
1:01-1:02
The feet are dressed in old leather shoes
Same tunes still.
Close up from a low angle of cup in hand.
1:02-1:05
The cup is dropped and smashes on the floor.
Continued music.
Feet walking from a low angle.
1:05-1:11
The feet stride across the floor smashing cups and dolls. Reeking
absolute havoc.
Still the same beats but with the noise of the feet treading on
china.
Tracking backwards.
1:12-1:16
The three girls walk towards the window at the same time.
Music continues
Medium longshot.
1:16-1:20
They step onto the window ledge and reach for the three separate handles.
Music continues.
Close up on a girl’s hand.
1:20-1:24
The hand grasps the handle and pushes the window wide open.
Music continues.
Medium longshot
1:24-1:36
The three girls jump out of the window in unison as if they have been
possessed.
The music gets to its loudest points when they jump and then a woman’s
scream can be heard.
Close up on doll
1:36-1:40
The dolls plain face is shown.
The woman screaming can be heard saying “my babies” in a reasonably
distressed tone.
The concept for our project revolves around the idea of a female antagonists being interrogated by two police officers. For this we need a realistic location to shoot the questioning. This could include an abandoned building or warehouse or even just some ones cleared shed with a few changes
This scene from Batman The Dark Knight (Nolan, 2008) shows an ideal location.
made to it. Our concept also requires other locations in which we can film flash backs. When we look at potential filming locations we must take into account the fact that we are setting our coursework in the 1960's so it will be hard to film in public places. The Batman still below shows the kind of room we would ideally use, I don't have one of these in my house and neither do Ben and Ollie as far as I know so we might have to make do with a shed or even an old school class room.
A potential location for this scene would be my garage, this would mean clearing the area to asses its suitability. We would also need to look at how we can transform the room to give it the feel of the 1960's if we proceed with the idea of setting it in this era.
This is an image of the room we are considering using, however it is unlikely because of the amount of time that would be needed to make it suitable for what we are planning to do with it. At the moment it is looking like we will have to make other plans for the locations that we need.
Genre:
From the opening scene one can see that the film belongs to the slasher Horror sub genre. Conventions of the slasher sub genre are shown by Micheal's character spying on the couple and then sneaking through the house to violently murder his victim. The opening scene is effective because it unfolds from the murderers point of view, you see the murder and then find out that Micheal, who is only a child of six years is in fact the one carrying the rather uncalled for stabbing. Before the audience finds out that Micheal has killed his sister, they could be forgiven for thinking that the opening revolved around the classic horror film idea of a teenage girl being left alone and murdered in her house. In this sense it draws parallels with the opening sequence of Scream (Craven, 1996). These types of openings are now commonly used in opening scenes for slasher films, however the fact that the antagonist is only six and the way in which the sequence unravels through his eyes makes Halloween innovative and different.
Film Language:
At the beginning of the scene the slight jolt of the camera conveys that it is a POV shot, The camera movies and dips in time with some one walking which shows that we are seeing things from the potential antagonists point of view. when the camera looks through the window the distance shows that Michael is spying on his sister and her friend, this is also shown by the dialogue "we are alone aren't we?". panning shots are also used, to convey Michael s line of sight as he looks from side to side. The editing, or lack of it, in the scene is very unique. As already mentioned it is shot in POV format, up until 3:45 the whole sequence is one long continuous shot where the viewers see everything Michael see's. The length of the shot lures the audience into a false sense of security, they begin to feel comfortable with Michael until he picks up the knife and his intentions become clear. The mask used is the main prob/Costume item used. The sisters Boyfriend first uses it to joke around with however its visual significance changes dramatically when Micheal puts it on. The mask is worn whilst the sister is murdered, masks are often used as disguises in horror films and the fact that its a clown mask reflects many peoples ideological fears of clowns. A clown mask might of been chosen because clowns are typically meant to be funny, the same as 6 year olds typically don't viciously murder there family members with kitchen utensils, this concept might of been seen as innovative at the time. The only other notable costume feature would be the lack of it during the stabbing scene. The knife is an important prop, a standard kitchen knife would come under horror film iconography, its the type of weapon anyone can get hold of and can create very graphic and gory scenes. The location, a typical suburban house is also unusual, usually horror sets are isolated and desolate however the choice of a house in a populated area gives the audience the sense that these type of murders could happen to anyone. Furthermore from the girls dialogue we learn that she is happy and careless she is laughing and immediately agrees to "go up stairs". her screams and tone of voice during the murder convey how frightened she is, which is some what understandable, after all she is being repeatedly stabbed by some one who probably still struggles to read words with more than 5 letters. Non-diegetic sound is the first sound heard in the sequence, as the camera moves round the side of the house crickets can be heard, there sound implies that there is no one in the immediate vicinity. Non-diegetic sound is again used. this time when a light upstairs is switched off, the high pitch music is sudden and gets viewers on the edge of there seats. This high pitched eerie noise carries on through out the scene and serves as a good way of building tension as Michael moves through the house getting closer and closer to his victim. The version i watched had no title sequence, however you can see on the poster below that the font is bold and stands out on the black background. Both the first and last letters are capitals which gives "HalloweeN" a strange spooky image.
The poster and cover for Halloween.
Narrative:
The plot revolves around Micheal as things happen from his POV. The sequence starts with a shot of the house and the audience can see a pumpkin with candles inside clearly representing that it is Halloween. The antagonist then looks through a window where the viewers are presented with a young couple on the sofa, the girl says "Micheal is around some where" before they agree to go upstairs. As the shot reverts back to the front of the house a light upstairs flashes off with an accompanying noise which creates a sense of tension. After this we see Micheal walk through the house switching on lights and picking up a knife as his sisters Male companion leaves through the front door. The vulnerable teenage girl is now alone at home during the night, this is a classic example of a stock character or plot in a horror film. Micheal proceeds up the stairs and finds the mask that appeared earlier in the scene, he puts it on and this shrinks the scope of the camera to increase the verisimilitude of the shot and make it feel as if the audience really are sneaking round the house. After this he walks into the bathroom where his sister is, she seems perplexed at first, saying "Michael" in a questioning tone. she then starts to scream as she realises what is happening. the actual stabbing in gruesome in terms of blood and gore however it is brutal as she is stabbed several times, the scene is particularly effective because it is very unusual for someone so young to b carrying out such actions. it goes against common ideologies of who a murderer might be and what they would look like. the final follows Michael's journey downstairs and round to the front of the house where a man, possibly his father, see's Michael with the knife he has just bloodied and again says "Michael" in a surprised and slightly scared tone. Michael doesn't really reply and its unclear weather he was actually aware of the actions that he had just committed.
Representation and Ideology: The idea of a 6 year old committing a murder is surprising, as i said earlier. Murder goes against modern day ideologies, this seems obvious to say however the fact that is so obvious highlights how negatively it is viewed. Michael seems to wait for his sisters male friend to leave before he goes upstairs, this could be perceived as there being ideological undercurrents saying that women need men to protect them. this would be viewed as regressive ideology. The only other social group shown are the parents, who appear only for a few seconds and are quite perplexed as to why there son is holding a bloodied kitchen knife. This is probably because its never happened before, if i was in that situation I also would be a little bit perturbed and maybe even a tad worried.An interesting take on the films dominant ideologies is that it takes a critical stance on what were stereotypical problems for youths growing up in the seventies who had access to more sources of influence then ever before. This is shown by many of Michael Myer's victims being drug users or sexualy promiscuous. It attacked the way in which the youth of the time went about life in a happy go lucky manner, with out caring about tomorrow and the results of there actions. This is further shown by the Heroine in the film being innocent and conscious of her actions, many people view this as the reason for the characters survival.
Media audiences:
The horror market is generally marketed towards attracting 15-24 year olds. So the target audience for this film would be people from 15 to 24. Although most horror films are given the 18 certificate people of 15 are still watching these types of film, Halloween attracts an audience because it has the theme of Halloween. As well as this it also has an easy to follow and gory story line so whats not to love? The characters in the film are also young so young people may feel they can relate to some of the different characters various motives for doing what they do. The relateability factor is also important because it makes the film more scary, being able to understand a characters emotions makes the movie a visceral experience. My opinion as a British teenager would be that the film is old and probably quite scary so I haven't watched it, i would much rather spend my time committing to wider reading, helping the communtity and being a better human, all whilst furthering my education. Institutional context:
Are there any A-listers in the film? No. There are not. the film mainly consists of people you might recognize from other horror films but there is no one I have ever heard of in the cast which reflects that the plor revolves around standard iconography of the slasher sub genre. Falcon international productions produced the film and was an independant film which made good on its $325 K budget, as a result it was made into a franchise which went on to be worth millions. The lack of gore and special effects in the opening sequence during the murder mirror the films low budget, this makes the mask very effective because it blocks out half the screen meaning that less graphic gore had to be shown and this meant that the scene would be cheaper.
I started the analysis of the clip after the title sequence as this wouldn't be very useful for our opening sequence as we don't need to use those types of titles. Psycho (Hitchcock, 1960) itself is a very good film to get some tips off of as it's set in the 1960's and has some of the desired genre features that our group is looking for, as a psychological horror film.
Pan across of the establishing shot at
a high angle
1:51 – 2:15
Black and white filter
over the film, text over the top helping the audience understand where the
film is set.
Calm strings music, possibly orchestra
but no diagetic sound
Keeps the pan
going but starts to zoom onto a certain
building alteringthefocus onto it to which it then stops.
2:15 – 2:24
The black and white filter is still present but now new text comes up as
it zooms into the precise location, telling
the audience when it was, in full sentences.
Still the strings however its now at a
slightly faster pace
Fades into a shot of the house and zooms into the window now at a mediumshot.
2:24 – 2:30
A very basic building style all of the
curtains are very similar allowing the audience to understand this is either
an office block or hotel.
Same strings playing no diagetic sound still.
Suddenzoom into the window. Focuses on
the darkness of the window as we enter the small gap of the window and window
sill
2:30 – 2:40
The darkness that we enter into gives a
sense of unease at the audience that anything could appear at this point.
Still the strings playing however they’ve
sped up slightly as the audience becomes uneasy.
Panacross form the wardrobe to both
of the characters on the bed – twoshot
2:40 – 2:49
Characterblocking has positioned the male
character above the female even though she is given prevalence through the
focus he has power in the shot.
The voice of the man is the first in the
scene even though you cant see his face yet.
Stillshot (CU)
on the items on the side table of food.
2:49 – 2:50
Items such as the sandwich, glasses and
ashtray all in the traditional1960’sstyle.
Voice of the man still present even
though the shot has changed creating a soundbridge between the shots.
Twoshot with the man and women in the
shot, it then slowly fadesout.
2:50 – 2:55
Fan in the back ground giving off that
it’s a hot day in the scene, with the light focused on the man though giving
him prevalencein the
shot.
The female speaks and then slowly enters
the shot towards the male character.
Fadesin, man slowly comes into the shot
with a pan, to a two
shot, he then leaves the shot and it starts to zoom into a CU on her face to show
her unease at him leaving her.
2:55 – 3:25
They kiss and the light is focused on
both of their faces to which he leaves the shot and the camera doesn’t move
giving her prevalence in the shot.
There is diagetic
sound only present in the shot as they both speak to each other.
MCU of the man however no movement
3:25 – 3:27
Pressed up against an open window with
the light on him.
He speaks with a sense of frustration in
his voice showing unease in the scene.
Back to a shot of the female character MCU
3:27 – 3:30
She wears a large collared shirt, typical of 1960’s costume.
Mans voice creates a diageticsound bridge
between the different shots however she then replies in the same shot of her.
POV shot from female character facing at the male character
3:31 – 3:32
No change of expression from the male
character, still the light focused on him
No sound at all just a change of camera
angle.
Quick change to look back at her – quick frame rate at this point
3:32 – 3:33
No change of expression
No sound again
A slow pan follows him at MCU
3:33 – 3:36
Certain swagger in his walk which shows a
sense of confidence about him
He starts to speak in a calm voice which
matches his walk
Follows her at MCU
to two shot of the male and female characters
at a pan, she leaves the shot through the door
leaving the man as the shot the fades out.
3:36 – 3:50
Back to her and follows her out of the
room in suitable attire to enter the public in giving her prevalence
His voice is present even though he’s not
in the shot – end of the scene
EVALUATION -
The scene starts with a high angled,slow panned, establishing shot. The audience are able to see the surroundings and set of the scene as the various titles come up. The name of the area and precise timing of the shot creates a sense of curiosity amongst the audience as to why its been set at such a certain time period.
Cross fading is the used to zoom, focus and change the distance whilst keeping a steady flow through each transition. The way the camera enters through the window, allows the audience to believe they're intruding and spying on the characters.
When we enter the room the focus is on the female character giving her prevalence in the shot however the male character is clearly above the female giving him more power in the shot.
Its clear from the kissing and lack of clothes that they had been making love, which would create a sense of unease amongst the audience back in the 1960's as its only right for this to take place if they're married for these acts to take place.
The way the sound comes in and out of the scene sharply through out helps to give a further sense of un ease about the shots.
Overall the technicalanalysis of this opening scene from Psycho (Hitchcock, 1960), has allowed me to have a further understanding of the general style of films in this time period as well as different culture in film and costume. All of which will help me in my final production if we are to go through with the 1960's theme.
