my assigned roles

the two roles which i was assigned with during the production process is, researcher and director. for my role as a researcher, i was able to research a number of different films based on our concept for our own movie opening, which is a favourite of mine, point if view films, i have always enjoyed POV films, after having watched a Blair witch project many years ago, i became fascinated with the idea of having a horror movie made from my point of view on a apparently hand held camera to give it a more real and authentic feel, i found it was an extremely effective technique to fulfill the conventions and brief of a horror movie. i researched 4 of my favourite POV films, the Blair witch project, Cloverfeild, rec and the American remake quarantine, and paranormal activity and looked over all of the different aspects that were used in these films to assist me and our group with the planning of our own film. then by using the information i gathered from my research i will go on to using specific camera angles, techniques and devices to create an effective opening for our own film.

narrative structure of a horror movie - 5 narrative stages

stage 1:

a situation of equilibrium is clear

within our film there is only a short period of equilibrium and this is before the film begins, there is a shot from behind some bushes of the characters in the film walking together and unharmed, although the shot choice being from behind a bush may give a sinister feeling to the film we still feel as though all is well.

stage 2:

disruption to the equilibrium by something negative

there is a disequilibrium within our film, where there is a zoom shot first of all focusing on one body then opening up to see a large number of bodies laying dead in a Field, this is where the equilibrium begins to become disjointed.

stage 3:

an anagnorisis of sorts, trying to resolve the problem

a realisation of the disequilibrium comes when we see the remaining two characters seemingly running away from something, screaming, they seem to be every disturbed.

stage 4:

attempt to fix the disruption, overcoming hurdles in order to do so

an attempt to repair the damage caused by the disequilibrium is during the dream sequence, where the audience is not entirely sure what is going on. the disturbed and frantic screaming crossed with the happy, peaceful dream sequence attempts to repair the damage.

stage 5:

reaching a conclusion, fixing the issue and returning to a new equilibrium.

the damage is not repaired as such, however we reach some sort of a conclusion in the fact that the two remaining characters escape from the maze they were running through, it is a metaphorical device for them escaping and a sense of equilibrium is restored.

conventions of a horror movie

Films within a genre such as horror, action adventure or romance usually apply and share similar codes and conventions. For example, the horror genre will generally make references to death, pain, fear and the dark side that exists within most people’s sub-conscience. Other criteria will include a villain or supernatural force, blood, a chase and a helpless victim. John Carpenter’s ‘Halloween’, Wes Craven’s ‘Scream’ and ‘The Texas Chainsaw Massacre’, all stick to these traditional conventions of horror films. All three male antagonists are evil personified, wear masks, chase helpless female protagonists, and kill people with carving knives or other similar weapons.

Horror films often involve a complex set of codes and conventions that will give the audience the idea that they are watching a horror film. In most media texts, particularly advertisement posters concerned with films of the genre, many of the codes and conventions displayed within the narrative of the film are portrayed to an effect that will suggest important aspects of the film i.e. lead characters and their alignment (good/evil). This is important in informing the audience of what to expect of the film and give them an idea of the narrative structure or plot, which in itself is very inviting as we want to see why these particular elements and themestool of representation for characters, the monster is often enshrouded in darkness and we rarely see its face in most posters.

A monster or representation of distorted humanity and evil:The monster is mostly a singular entity and is often pictured in the background if at all as if to linger over their victim. The monster often has a trademark tool for killing e.g. a claw, hook or knives that is emphasised in the pictography.

The victims:The victims are often displayed in different colours than the text and monster to show innocence or neutrality. The lead character that is often the sole survivor (another regularly used convention of the horror genre)


Freytag`s dramtic pyramid




Todorov`s theory of narrative

Scream title sequence analysis

the opening to this movie is infamous, the title sequence and the immediate effect it has upon the audience has alot to do with this. the non diegetic sound is heightened very much so at the start of the title sequence, with the first sound we hear being the distant yet deep and gloomy sound of a church bell clanging, then we hear a piercing and horrifying scream of a young girl, a phone ringing and an erratic heart beat and the heightened sound of violently slicing knives. the white scream writing springing down onto the black background, flashing quickly of off the screen and then returning in a red stained colour, creates a very sinister within the titles creating a correct atmosphere for the rest of the film, and displaying the definite possibility of impending doom. the opening sequence is very effective in building up tension and fear within the audience, an affect i would like to convey in my own title sequence.

The Blair witch project title sequence analysis

The title sequence of the Blair witch project is one of great interest to me, it is not conventional of a horror movie, or any movie title sequence, it does not have flashy glamorous writing, big bold pictures or loud attention grabbing music, it is a sort of documentary style, setting the scene for the rest of the film, which is also filmed as thought it were a documentary. it opens with no non-diegetic or digetic sound whatsoever, just a black screen with white writing over the top that reads "the blair witch project", followed by another black screen with white writing, which says, "in October 1994 three student filmmakers disappeared in the woods near Burkittsville Maryland while shooting a documentary...a year later their footage was found." then the film begins with a blurry POV camera shot, and the filmmakers talking about how tot work it. the bareness of this title sequence, in my opinion is simplicity at its best, an uncomplicated but highly effective title sequence, a concept i would like to attempt to mimic in my own film.

The Blair witch project title sequence

Saw title sequence analysis

the opening to the horror film "saw" in my opinion is an extremely effective one. the titles themselves not being of great length, however there is a very prominent and powerful use of non diegetic sound, with the "liongate film" promo at the start having thunder clashing creates an angry mood and sets the correct atmospheric tone for the film. the next promo company is "twisted pictures" the name alone gives the feeling that the film is to be rather sinister, and "twisted", the diegetic sound accompanying said promo, is the sounds of knives slicing, this gives enhances the fear within the viewer even before the film has begun. the titles themselves are very simple, with just blue writing on a black background, the writing is shaking slightly, gives the feeling, that the pace and action of the film will oscillate vastly throughout, creating an uneasiness. the non diegetic sound is heightened within the titles, there is a rippling, bubbling kind of water sound, with the audience not being able to recognise immediately where the noises are coming from, a sense of mystery is created, setting the scene for the remainder of the film. it then becomes apparent where the noises were coming from with a close up and point of veiw shot on a mans face under water, being slightly illuminated by a small light. and then the film begins.

Paranormal Activity

For my research on a horror movie, I decided to focus on a horror movie that I recently watched rather than an older more well known film, this is because the film I chose, Paranormal Activity, made a big impact in my mind and was extremely successful at full filling its brief as a triumphant horror film, which created alot of press interest.

Background

A lot of hard work and attention to detail has gone into the making of Paranormal Activity to make it original and to steer it away from being just another predictable horror movie, the director of the movie, Oren Peli, aimed to create a small, low budget film that would appeal to film festivals. With a back catalogue of fairly successful straight to DVD movies behind him, Peli was more than happy for this film to do the same, however after coming up with a brilliant story line, auditioning for the two main roles in the film, Katie and Micah, and filming it over a period of 7 days in his own home, editing the film together and with it costing only £9, 000 to make, Peli and his employees realised they were on to a winner.
After attempting to sell it to many film companies, nobody seemed interested on taking such a risk on a low budget film, directed by somebody who was fairly unrecognised in the big movie making game, it took a year, for the film to finally be snapped up by paramount, after various different pitches and talks about changing elements of the film, Paramount finally made the decision to bring in Stephen Spielberg to rewrite the ending. then the film was ready to be promoted and sent out to a few different cinemas in cities and towns around the U.S, an online request service was put up, for the film to go global and within 2 days there were over 50, 000 positive responses. this promoted the advertising company to successfully pitch it to many different movie theatres and within a week the movie made on a £9,000 budget had grossed £60 million.

Camera Work

Paranormal Activity is a POV film, filmed as if it is real footage, comparable in this sense to the blair witch project and cloverfield. POV horror films have been proven to be alot more successful than other films within this genre, this in my opinion is because it feels alot more realistic like these are real people that this is happening to and not just actors, and could happen to you. the aim of a POV movie is to make the audience believe something that isn't there, but easily could be, this means the audience doesn't get to see anything in most cases, with cloverfield being somewhat of a exception. with POV films the story is told through the eyes of the main character, Paranormal Activity has absolutely no, opening or concluding credits, the audience is instantly made to believe there is no director, screenplay writer, producer, makeup artists, sound technicians and most importantly no actors. The implication is that the people you see on camera took the initiative to film all of this themselves, because it was actually happening to them. the camera is an ordinary HD handheld camera that could be purchased by anyone at they're local electronics store, we are introduced to the idea that its a POV film from the very beginning, with the classic amateur, wonky camera in the mirror shot, and then with one of the main characters, Katie, asking what the camera is for, this makes the audience aware that there is a possibility this could be actual footage, as it looks just like any other home movie. there are a variety of different camera shots, such as perspective shots, which is most of the film as its shot from the perspective of the two main characters. there are also a few over the shoulder shots to make it feel like theres a presence that is not human in the room. at the beginning of the film , there are a few wide shots used, to signify the happy and contented lifestyle that Katie and Micah have, this also helps to contrast with the downhill spiral the actions of the two characters throughout the film create. as the film goes on the shots seem to get closer and closer to the characters especially Katie, with alot of close ups on Katie's face, to create the feeling, that there is impending doom, whatever evil presence exists is getting closer and closer to creating a dismal climax for the characters. the film begins with a relatively average pace where shots are concerned, however towards the end of the film, the camera shots are alot more snappily edited together, with a range of wide shots close ups, and extreme close ups, which create confusion and tension within the audience, giving the climax to the film its ultimate horrifying effect. at the end of the film, there is an extreme close up on Katie's face after she has killed Micah, this creates large amounts of fear within the audience as her face is the only thing in the shot, leaving it imprinted in the viewers mind for a long time after.

Sound

As it is a POV film, Paranormal Activity has no diagetic sound whatsoever, everything the audience hears is what is happening within the scene, eg. speech, music played, by either Katie or Micah, the sound made by the "evil presence" etc
the film and the effect it has on the viewer rely`s mainly upon the non diagetic sound, as we never as the audience get to see this evil presence, the tension, suspense and horror is created by the stomping, slamming, screaming, whispering and growling within the film. the effect of not using any diagetic sound is very successful as the silence at some parts creates a very real and Erie feeling, another film where this silence is used to build tension and horror is in the opening scene of "don't look now", where a child drowns, the only sound heard is what is happening within the scene this makes the occurrence alot more hard hitting and effects the audience in a more realistic way than if there was composed music put over the top of the scene.

My Rating

To conclude, I would give this film a 5 out of 5 for fulfilling its ultimate aim, which is to terrify the audience, I am not usually one to be scared by horror movies, I am very interested in them and the effect they have on people, however I am not usually affected by them myself, whereas with Paranormal Activity, I was literally terrified to the point of tears, Oren Peli`s idea that making the film POV makes it feel as though it could happen to anyone certainly worked. the low budget, ordinary setting, ordinary people and small filming time, shows that this film is truly simplicity at its best.

paranormal activity