Film Ideas

Idea One

• A family suddenly dies in the house 25 years ago and since then no one has ever entered the house.
• The house is big and scary and because the family died altogether so suddenly the rumour is that is it haunted.
• Due to the above point the house has never been sold, until now.
• A large family see the house and ignore the rumours and move in.
• Nothing goes wrong and everyone is happy.
• Living at the house is the parents, twins (10 years old, boy and a girl), 3 boys (3, 5, 7 years old), 1 girl (few months old) and a family dog.
• The main characters are the parents and the twin.
• One of the twins starts to see the kids with blood on their faces that use to live there.
• After a while the twin starts to play and talk to the children.
• They find out how the family died due to the mother having an affair, and because of this the father kills the sons then his wife and hangs them in the living before killing himself.
• Weird things start to happen at the house to the children
• The twin warns the parents about what will happen, but they do not understand.
• Things to start get weird such as the mirrors breaking, doors slamming shut as if it is a ghost.
• The child get badly injured and is in hospital, due to this the parents start to worry
• The parents bring a holy man to the house to perform a ceremony to get the evil out, through the time the evil makes it difficult for them to proceed.
• At the end the evil is out of the house, the child gets out of the hospital and they move house for a new beginning.

Idea 2

A couple have been married for three years and the husband dies in a car accident. At the hospital he tries to tell her something but he dies before finishing his sentence off. After a few weeks still curious of what he wanted to tell her, she uses a weegie board to contact her dead husband. Instead she disturbs another soul and it doesn't leave her alone and always alerts her that she is not alone. Towards the middle of the movie she finds more about the soul she disturbed. The little girl that was not letting her live in peace was sexually assaulted by her father and then died by committing suicide. She wanted justice and she wanted her father to be sent to prison. For this to happen she wanted her to show the police her diary and other things to find her father guilty. At the end of the film the soul leaves after receiving justice and the little girl helps her find out what her husband wanted to say. There are parts of the movie were she sees her husband in the form of a ghost.

Idea 3

College is over and a group of 6 plan to spend a few weeks in a private island. When they get to the island, they come prepared and have enough food to keep them going. The first few nights were really good and they had loads of fun. But the fun never lasted, things started to get missing such as belongings, food and then it was the boat. When it was night they use to sleep near the beach and one time when they were in search for wood for the fire, they entered the woods. At the night in the woods, they heard a noises and see shadows. When it was morning they see footprints on the floor, and the footprints do not belong to any human or any animal present at the woods. This is really weird and they think it is someone messing around. But slowly one by one they die by an inhumanly monster. The monster kills them in a disturbing way and towards the end they try to escape but there is no boat and they start to receive there friends body one by one, and this frightened them a lot. At the end they finally make a boat that help the last two leave the island and are found by a sailor who takes them back home. When they get home they remember that they only seen three of there friends body and was curious that maybe there forth friend maybe still alive. But the character spoke to soon as he opens his bad, he can smell a horrible rotten smell. He finds half of his friend in his suitcase and the other half is in the other suitcase

Preliminary Exercise/ Feedback

The above image is my story board for my preliminary exercise

My Preliminary Clip

Clip the adove title to go to my Preliminary Clip

Preliminary Exercise Storyline

In my preliminary task I used to character one boy and one girl. The boy who was in my task had a role of a local gangsta, the girl had a role of a unknown frightened reporter. The storyline for this particular scene was that the boy named Tank goes to visit the girl called Hannah at her office. He comes into the office to see her and after a short conversations he leaves with a tape in his hand. The short conversation is about Tank wanting a tape from Hannah, on the tape it has recording of him taking drugs from someone. Tank doesn't want any one to see it, so he takes the tape so he can destroy it and then there will be no evidence of him buying and selling drugs.

I only used one location that was the classroom in the college, this was meant to look like the reporter office.

Camera Angles and Movement

In my scene I used many different types of angle movement that were close ups, long shot, over the shoulder shot and shot reverse shot. I used close ups to show the characters facial expressions, to create tension when Tank knocked on the door also to show the audience that the object that I have done a close up to has an importance in the scene. I did a close up on the tape to show the audience that this object has an importance in the scene, because Tank the actor wants the tape. When the character Tank walks in and out of the room I used long shot. I used the camera angle over the shoulder shot when they were sitting down having a conversation. Also I used was the shot reverse shot when Tank walked in and out of the room.

180 degree rule

The above picture is to show the 180 degree rule, this is a key point in a scene, without doing this right you can confuse the audience to were the characters are looking. This when the camera can only be used be half of the room.

Filming
My first attempt I never used a tripod and just used the camera. I thought I did well but when we watched it back in class I realised that I didn't follow the 180 degree rule and this confused my class. With the feedback I received I made another attempt, and in my second attempt I used a tripod and I followed the 180 degree rule and it was a success. In both attempts I would first position my characters and tell them what to say, after I would do a practise shot then I would record. I only did one take of each shot this is because of this scene we never done any editing.

Comments received on Attempt One

1. The storyline worked well with the match on action.
2. I failed to follow the 180 degree rule.
3. At one point the camera moved, due to I was holding the camera and never used a tripod.
4. Shot-reverse-shot worked well with the scene and how it was done was good.
5. The different types of shot was good.

Changes I made to create my attempt two were due to the feedback that was I followed the 180 degree rule (number 2) and I used a tripod so the camera doesn't shake (number 3).

Comments received on attempt 2

1. The camera didn't move.
2. The characters were really good, as they kept a straight face.
3. I included the 180 degree rule.

My thoughts of the Preliminary Exercise

I am happy that I received my feedback because if I didn't then maybe I wouldn't have noticed the two areas that I failed at, even though my first attempt was not accurate but at least my last attempt was. I found it easy to think of a quick storyline and setting for my task because I enjoy that part of the task as well as doing everything else.

When I got my camera off Paula I looked for my characters and went straight to film my scene. When I was filming it was hard to instruct my characters on how to act, it took long for a few scenes because they kept laughing or getting the words confused. That's how come I kept doing each scene stopping, practising then filming.

I was really pleased with the finishing of my preliminary task and if I had a chance to do it again I would have used a office rather than a classroom.

Research on Thriller and Horror

Sometimes people get confused of what is the difference between horror and thriller. The main key difference is the codes and conventions such as horror is more blood and thriller is more surprises/cliff-hangers. Thriller movies are normally taken place in exciting places, busy cities or even in a forign country. These are fast pacing and the action taken place is done quickly.

Sub-genre
There is not just one type of thriller, there are many sub-genre thrillers that have been listed below. Most thrillers are 12Aa, 15 and 18 this is because the scenes that are not suitable for people under these ages. This is due to violence and disturving scenes.
1). Action Thriller
Action thriller consists of violence, action, race against time, guns explosions and much more. This genre combines with action as well as thriller, this genre is usually a 12A. The common action thrillers are listed below;

1. Death Race
2. James Bond films
3. The Dark Knight

2). Crime Thriller

Crime thriller are popular to watch as it features murders, robberies, chase, and shootouts. This is maily liked by men more then woman that is the sterotype that is given. The crime focus on the criminal views not the police officers and each scene builds up to more to a tension and suspence climax. Below are well known crime thriller movies;

1. The Godfather
2. The Bank Job
3. Batman

The above image shows that thriller movies are more popular than horror and romantic comedy. Sherlock Holmes is the second one on the list that is a thriller movie, Romantic Comedy is the forth on the list called It's Complicated and horror is the seventh one on the list called Daybreakers.

HORROR

Horror is enjoyed by nearly every one and the codes and conventions are clear enough to know the difference between any genre. Horror has sub-genres such as Psycholgical horror, Fantasty (supernatural) horror, slasher (serial killers/ teen) horror. They are the main sub-horror.

• Slasher (serial killers/ teen) horror

This horror is enjoyed by many and most of the films have got a part 2 and even more. This focuses around a serial killer and most of the time the victim is a teenager. These types of films are like Saw and Halloween.

• Psychological horror

This is mainly a female role that is the main character and usually is based on realistic events. It focus on tention rather than the the gore adn graphic horror.

• Fantasy (supernatural) horror

This horror is supernatural but still tends to frighten the audience. Once again it is common for a female to be in the Central to the event. Supernatural refers to vampires, ghosts, demons and spirts. The films that go under this sub-genre are The Ring, The Grudge and The Omen.

Horror are designed to frighten and to raise our unknown most unpleasant fears often in a terrifying shocking way. Whilst entertaining use as at the same time.

Box Office

Films on release in the UK by genre, 2007.

This shows that Comedy is a well-known and liked genre this is because the target audience isn't limited like horror and thriller. Comedy can be seen by any age and gender. Horror is not a popular choice like the other genres but still enjoyed by various people.

Analysis of The Questionnaire

1). How old are you?

I have used four different age groups from young as 15 years old to above 31, to gain an equal result. I have given 24 questionnaire out and have divided them up by 6 questionnaire to each age group.

2). What gender are you?

I wanted to conduct a fair questionnaire and receive feedback from both genders to have done this I have give 12 questionnaire to each gender.

3). Which genre would you prefer to watch?

I only had three boxes that were horror, thriller and other. The people that selected other wrote action, comedy, fantasy and adventure. From the results it shows that thriller was a popular genre to watch. This has made me realise that I am going to choose thriller as my genre because my audience would prefer this.

4). How many times in a month do you watch your chosen genre?

This doesn't help my research but it does show that my audience does watch the movie frequently.

5). What do you expect to see in a horror movie?

This results showed that people expect to see blood for it to be in the dark and be able to hear creepy music. They do not expect as much to see an old house or an unnatural monster.

6). What do you expect to see in a thriller movie?

This shows that people expect to see in a thriller action, crime, conspiracy an murder not much of political or disasters. The three expected areas are linked together and are easy combined.

7). What is your favourite horror movie?

In this question I never done this as multi-choice because I wanted to see which films the audience would like to watch. The three I got the most was Saw, Paranormal Activity and Orphan this would help me with my video as I will watch all the movies and see what is common and what I could use for my video.

8). What is your favourite thriller movie?

In this question I never done this as multi-choice because I wanted to see which films the audience would like to watch. The one I got the most was Bourne Trilogy. This would help me with my video as I will watch all the movies and see what is common and what I could use for my video.

Target Audience Questionnaire

1). How old are you?
15-17
18-21
22-30
31+

2). What gender are you?
Female
Male

3). Which genre would you prefer to watch?
Thriller
Horror
Other
Explain

4). How many times in a month do you watch your chosen genre?
0-1
2-4
5-7
8+

5). What do you expect to see in a horror movie?
Blood
Violence
Unnatural Monster
Old house
Creepy music
Darkness Other (night-time)

6). What do you expect to see in a thriler movie?
Murder
Crime
Action
Conspiracy
Political
Disaster Other (Floods, earthquakes)

7). What is your favourite horror moive?


8). What is your favourite thriller movie?

Codes and Conventions- Romantic Comedy

The target audience for these films are mainly woman, it is every woman's dream to find their true love and live happily ever after. Every romantic comedy has a romantic scene, then something occurs for the happy couple not to be together but then it ends with a fairy tail ending. This makes audience believe that there is a man out there like in the movies and they watch the ending to see how the fairy tale ending finishes. The typical codes and conventions are;

• True Love
• Romance
• Funny
• Love soundtrack
• Romantic Setting
• Couples
• Different in class
• Voice overs
• Boy meets girl
• Reason why they cant be together
• Fairytale ending

Romantic Comedy is normally set at the daytime with the sun shining and the weather is prefect. It is either set in a busy town like London or even a quite place like the country side. The surroundings are normally bright colours meaning the main character would not be wearing a plain black top with black jeans, she would be wearing a bright top and light colour trousers, also places would have bright colour flowers.

Sound is mainly played at the beginning and throughout the movie. The music is normally joyful and cheery and is non-diagetic meaning that the characters can't hear anything.

Example of romantic comedy's are;

1. Bride Wars
2. Love happens
3. The holiday
4. Notting Hill
5. Bridget Jones's Diary

Codes and Conventions- Thriller Movie

Thriller sometimes gets confused with horror by the audience because they both seem similar because the age restriction is high and it is shown to make you jump out of your seat but a thriller has different codes and conventions. A thriller is shown to make the audience think and be frightened but not by the blood like a horror does. Thriller movies are more fast beating, builds to a surprised and twisting climax the codes and conventions of a thriller are listed below.

• Cliff-hanging as it builds to a climax
• Mystery
• Deadly Situations
• Surprises and twists
• Flash Backs
• Make audience think
• Music plays to add tension and suspense
• Editing is often quick cuts
• Opening and closing credits follows the thriller theme
• Weather is used to influence moods

The sound is normally fast beat because the scenes are fast pasting. This sound would be non-diagetic this is to show the audience that something is going to happen plus it adds tension and suspense therefore it entertains the audience making them want to watch more.

Lighting and weather are another key feature to let the audience know which genre it is. The weather shows the mood of the character and the camera angles capture their emotion. Low angles and high angle shots are seen to show the audience the status of the character.

Example of thriller movies

1. The Island
2. What lies Beneath
3. Jaws
4. The Skeleton
5. The Changeling

Codes and Conventions- Horror Movie

A horror is a genre that are known to frighten, scare, terrify but at the same time interest us to keep the viewers intrigued. Horror films target is to interest the audiences and to do this they make the audience feel afraid and they create fear. The film certificate for a horror will be 15 or 18.

Horror films are normally in the dark that are either set in the woods, bad weather, old house or an isolated place. They typical codes and conventions are:

• Blood
• Violence
• Killer is unknown
• Villain is often 'superhuman' and can't be killed at the first attempt
• Main character is often a woman
• Close up on objects that they want the audience to focus on, so this makes the audience aware that something is about to occur.
• Evil
• Murder
• Weapons
• Aim to make the audience afraid.

Lighting is one key feature that would keep the audience wanting to watch what is going to happen next. Different lighting happens in different genres, for example if it is a horror then the lighting will be dark and the weather would be unrealistic like sudden thunder, lighting or even heavy rain.

Music is used to show which genre it is also if something is about to happen. The sound is non-diagetic that is music that cannot be heard by the audience. The sound is one of the big effects in the movie as it creates tension and suspense, also identifies what genre it is. If for example someone is going to die they would use non-diagetic sound (scary music), camera angles (close-up on facial expressions) and lightning (bad weather).

Example of Horror Movies

1. Black Christmas
2. Scream
3. The Ring
4. Bride of Chucky
5. One Missed Call

Codes and Conventions

Technical and Symbolic Codes
Codes and conventions are certain signals to show which genre the film. Codes can be separated into two areas that are technical and symbolic.

• Technical codes means how the camera angles can tell the audience the story but in a media text way. Camera angles are close up (show someone facial expressions) and low angle shot (is to show the status of the character).
• Symbolic codes is the other second area that separates codes this is a expressed by character's actions to show the audience how the character is feeling.

Pretty Woman 1990- Romanctic comedy Movie

Pretty Woman- 'She walked off the street, into his life and stole his heart'
Is based on a story how to two people fall in love that are the complete opposite. We see each of their lifestyles before they met, and when they are together the problems that occur. This film got really popular and falls in the category as a romantic comedy.
Characters
At the start of the movie we see the two main characters that are played by Julia Roberts and Richard Gere. Julia is seen as a poor young woman who had to turn to prostitution. The place she lives in is a cheap hotel apartment were she can not afford to pay her landlord and as a result she goes down the fire escape. She doesn't speak to family because the pictures on her wall are of herself and the other people have been cut out.
Richard Gere has a complete different lifestyle, he is rich and the atmosphere he is around is complete different its quite. He is having problems with his girlfriend because he don't spend time or even meet her often, he would say to her talk to my secretary. He then asked his ex girlfriend if she thought that she spoke to his secretary more than him and she agreed. This makes the audience aware that he doesn't make effort with woman or his girlfriends he focuses more on his business.
Them both are the complete opposite and you would think that they wouldn't meet eye to eye but in a romantic comedy anything can happen.

Sound
There is non-diegetic been played in the film this is music that is not heard by the actors. This is played at the start, this is one type of convention plus it informs the audience which genre it is. The music represents a happy atmosphere and the music is joyful not frightening.
Camera Angles and Movement
I have noticed many camera angles and movement. At the start of the movie there was a close up on the hands, close ups are to show the audience what to focus on. When we first see Julia for the first time we don't see her face straight away, we see close ups of her. There is a close up of her eyes, of her body letting the audience know its a main character who is a girl. Everyone else is showing through medium shot. There is also a shot were Richard is upstairs, the shot shows his upstairs in the room whilst everyone is having fun downstairs. This suggests that is trapped in his own world and his a closed person who doesn't express how he feels. This is shown because the camera looks down him and everyone is beneath him and no one is around him. There is a extreme shot when he is driving, this is to show the audience that he can't drive because he gets driven around in his limo by a chauffeur. There is a lot of pan camera movement and at times its moved quickly an the audience can see it, its done because that particular scene is fast-beat, everything needs to be seen as in a hurry.
Credits/ Title Of The Movie
At the start of the movie the credits appear with a black background and its written in white writing, if the credits never had non-diegetic music in the background this could could have been mistaken for a horror or thriller, because the colours used are dull not colourful. This is because the credits and title are part of the conventions, these conventions give the audience an idea which genre it falls in. The credits still carry on throughout the opening scene whilst the movie is been played. The title is seen with the same font and colour as the credits.
Editing
The editing is done quickly and there is no effects after a shot.
Mise en scene
A romantic comedy movie are always similar a couple like each other, something occurs that stops them getting together but always at the end they get together and live happily ever after. Women are the common gender who watch this because romantic comedy is every girl dream, to meet the man of their dreams. This film is like the famous children's film Cinderella but a bit more realistic, Cinderella is Julia and the Prince is Richard. This is because Cinderella was poor and had to clean and Julia is also poor and has to work a someone that is looked down on in society. The prince was rich, handsome and he was a important person this is the exact same as Richard he is rich, handsome and is a successful business man.

The Descent 2005- Horror Movie

The Descent 'Face Your Deepest Fear'
The Descent is a well known horror that has made a lot of money and due to this the part 2 has been released in 2009.
The editing is shown in this movie are mainly fast paste. In the opening scene when the family of three leave their friends we do not see them sitting in the are ready to drive, the audience see the family waving bye to their friends then on the road. This is because the viewers are aware in that space of time they will be walking into the car ready to drive back to the hotel.
We get to hear the car brakes screech, we don't see how the cars comes in the direction of the family car. Afterwards we see the front of the cars smash together and then action taking place is a quick clip when the mental objects smash into the glass and kills child and the father. The audience doesn't see how they get killed, but we see the metal objects enter the car and after when there is blood on it.
Everyone is dressed really warm, such as coat showing that it is cold outside maybe in the winter the film was filmed.
Characters
At the opening scene we are shown a group of friends that seem really close, because one of them say 'I meet you back at the hotel' as if they are on holiday. One of the girls has more responsibilities because she has a family, a husband and a small little girl.
The husband through the scene seemed as if he had something on his mind, he was in deep thought about something.
All the women are mature adults likely to be in there late 30s.
Sound
You can hear the river and the girls screaming, shouting and talking this is called diegetic sound.
The audience hear non-diegetic music; this is when the boat is moving.
Camera Angles and Movement
The opening of the scene is shot as an Establishing Shot showing the area, it is a far place where rivers and mountains are seen.
They do not use the technique zoom when changing the camera angles the editing is done really quickly.
When we see the man and the little girl it is shown from a medium long shot showing where they are standing and moves quickly to a medium shot.
When the friends are on the boat the camera moves from the close up to high angle shot, this way we get to see each individual character. This is done really quickly to show each facial expressions.
When the woman is talking to her daughter we only hear their conversation because the camera is focused on the dad showing that there is something on his mind.
When the parents are talking to each once again the camera is not focused on their conversation but on the white van coming towards them. This makes the audience aware that there is going to be a car crash.
As the camera is not focusing on the conversation of the two people but focuses on the dad this shows that something is going to happen, making the audience aware before it even happens.
At the end the camera zooms out from the car accident finishing the first dramatic scene.
Credits/title of the Movie
The credits of the movie come in first and come on really slowly. There is black background with the credits in write, they scroll in and out.

The Ring 2002- Horror Movie

The Ring 'So Good, It's So Scary.' 'You'll Have A Spooky Good Time.'
I have watched the starting of the movie called The Ring, from the genre horror. The big letters of the above posters attracts the target audience to watch this movie. The picture is a dark, lonely place somewhere, were no one visits. It looks scary because the woman in the writing is screaming, typically codes and convection's the woman is blond.
It is fast paste editing you can't see the editing.
The setting of outside is dark and cold as you can see it is raining, the school teenagers have finished school and are at home suggesting that the time might be around 4 or 5ish. Due to its is dark so early could mean is it mid November when the clocks have gone back.
Characters
At the opening scene of the movie, there is two teenager characters played by Sasha Barrese and Tess Hall. These characters follower the typical stereotypes of girls talking about boys, hanging out at each other's houses and watching television.
The teenagers are wearing school clothes; this shows the audience that they are young teenagers attending a secondary high school. The girls are not wearing trousers but skirts this is another stereotype that girls wear skirts and boys wear the trousers.
The two girls are watching the television in the dark with no lights on and the curtains are closed. They are home alone and this takes place after school.
Sound
Frightening music is been played when the teenager are talking about something that has happened, this is to make the audience aware that this is something bad. When she is talking about something spooky the phone starts to ring and there is a close up on the time making the audience aware of the time and who would ring at 10 o'clock, whilst this is showing you can hear the rain in the background.
You can also hear diegetic sound such as drink been poured in to a glass, putting the phone down and closing the fridge door.
Camera Angles and Movement
The opening scene starts with an Establishing Shot of the house showing that it is late in the evening and it is raining this is a typical convention in a horror movie.
We are shown that there is two teenagers watching TV in the dark and it zooms on to them from a medium long shot to a medium shot.When they are having a conversation the camera is filmed over the shoulder showing only the character talking and the behind of the other one.
Suddenly the phone rings and goes into a close up of the clock showing that it is really late in the evening and who would be ringing at this time?
When they talk about the subject of the movie about the video cassette the camera zooms on to the face to have a close up of her facial expressions.
The movement technique that is used frequently is zoom, it is used when showing a medium shot to a close up, key features such as the clock and her facial expressions.
When the televisions switches on by itself there is a close up when the teenager is turning her head, this notifies the audience that something bad, is about to occur.

Scream 1996- Horror Movie

Scream 'Someone has taken their love of scary movies one step too far. Solving this mystery is going to be murder.
People watch horror movies typically to get scared but Scream directed by Wes Craven does not fail to scare the audience nor does he fail to bore the audience. I have analysed the starting of the movie Scream that falls in the genre horror. It has many mystery scenes that make the audience want to watch it more. Wes Craven constantly playing around with viewer's suspicions and their head.
The editing is done so the audience cannot see, this is called visible editing.
The setting is a family home because you can see the family table, it's got a swing in the back garden and the house is really big for a massive family.
The house is really bright, because every light in the house is on compared to outside because it's dark and the security lights are not switched on.
Characters
The movie consists with some stereotypical characters such as the Casey Becker played by Drew Barrymore. The blond bimbo who talks to the guy on the phone the voice of Roger Jackson who she doesn't know, she has a ten minute conversation whilst making her pop-corn. When she is talking to him, she is unaware who he is, where he is and his intentions. Any other person would put the phone down but Casey carried on making the conversation.
Sound
Sound is a key feature in a horror movie because it build tension and keeps the views occupied. As the start of the movie frightening music is played in the background as the sign Dimension Films gradually comes out from the black background. A few moments later the title appears with a heart beating, an horrifying scream whilst the music still been played. When all this has stopped the phone rings leading into the first scene of the movie.
When the scene changes to outside in the back garden you hear sounds and the swing is moving slowly. This is not because of the wind as the leaves are not moving, this shows the audience that someone unwanted is outside. Maybe someone is close by, is someone in the tree?
You can hear the popcorn boiling and as it gets bigger the audience can tell that it's going to explode. This is another way of informing the audience that when the popcorn is ready the blond woman isn't going to be alive to eat it. The popcorn get bigger and bigger just as the tension is getting bigger.
When the voice on the phone says 'I wanna know who I am looking at' a piano sound is played this a non-diegetic sound. There is more non-diegetic sound this is when she is running around the house locking the door.
Camera Angles And Movement
In the opening scene the house phone rings and the actress Drew answers the phone, there is a close up of the phone and a medium shot of her on the phone. An close up is an awareness for the audience showing that the phone is going to be a key feature in this scene. When she is walking around in the room the technique that is used a lot in the movie this is called Steadicam, it followers her around the house. At one point the camera focused on the outside glass door for a few seconds showing the audience it is dark but she may not be alone and someone outside maybe watching her.

There is an Establishing Shot of her back garden when the change of setting. Revealing to the audience that it's dark and the swing is moving but there is no wind and no one there, this makes the audience aware that someone unwanted is outside.
When she looks outside to see if anyone is around, the camera moves around as if we are looking outside from her view point.
There is a close up to show her emotions when she shouts down the phone, we see her facial expressions.
Credits/ Title Of The Movie
The screen is black and you hear a bang noise and the title scrolls down the page and the sound changes to a heart beat changing colour from black to red, then all of a sudden you hear a scream and the writing zooms in. The sound of the heart carries on until she answers the phone.

Black Christmas 2006- Horror Movie

Black Christmas 'One of the Best Horror Movies of the Year'

I have been analysing the starting of the movie Black Christmas that falls in the genre horror. It has many unpleasant and heart racing scenes; this is used to attract the target audience attention.

Characters

They have used some stereotypical characters in the film such as Billy Lenz who is played by two different people at different ages Robert Mann at ages 20-35 years old and Cajnan wiebe at ages 10-12 years old. Billy has had a bad childhood he has been abused and has not been loved by his mother. He killed his mother because he saw his mother killing his father, the man who looked out for him. Billy is unloved, lonely and quite. Our first impression of Billy is that he is mad because when he was in the tall building locked away, he was sitting in the dark, rocking on the chair quietly with colour Christmas lights surrounding him. Also when the man gave his food he never spoke at all but he ate his food quickly in front of the security guard. Before we see him eating his food the director wants the audience not to feel sorry for him but to be afraid and scared and not love him, this is shown as when we hear the terrible things he has done. He has killed his entire family, he wants to escape the mental ward prison, he wants to eat chicken that tastes likes his mother and our first impression of him as well.

Sound

In the opening scene of Black Christmas it starts with fast beat Christmas music, the house is decorated with colourful lights, its dark outside showing that it is late in the evening or night. The music been played is diegetic sound the audience and actors can hear this music, the music is a Christmas song. There is moments in the movie were non-diegetic music is been played that is music that can only be heard by the audience. This music is heard when the girl is walking towards the closet trying to cause tension also it informs the audience what the mood she is in. As the music isn't joyful this means she is not in a happy mood, because the music is frightening it shows she is afraid of what she is going to see. The music is also been played when she is getting suffocated, this music is more a fast beat making the audience jump out of their seat.

Camera Angles and Movement

There is a close up on objects were they want the viewers to see such as the shaking globe that is seen several times as a close up. There is also close up on the sharp objects such as a wine opener, scissors this is make the audience aware that something is about to occur. Also when there is a close up on gift tag that was writing was done in bright red, representing blood. When she is drinking her wine from the glass, the camera is behind the curtains making it believe that someone is watching her from her own room, this builds tension, and this shot is called an Establishing Shot.

When she is walking towards her closet the camera is following her from behind as if someone is watching her or following her, this technique is called Steadicam. This technique has been used in many horror movies to create an intense feeling. When she sits on the floor, the camera uses the technique Pan to show that someone is under her bed, making the audience aware that the person is only walking distance from the woman. There is another close up at the bright red gift tag, when she tries looking for the pen that is no longer there; suddenly the scary person from under her bed puts a black bag over her head making the audience jump out of the seat.

When she is getting suffocated the camera shows a close up again of the shaking globe, this could mean that this object is an important in the film.

In the next scene there is loads of close up. Each individual close up is shown to cause suspense, such as there is a close up when the milk carton drops on the floor because this leads to the door been left open and man entering when it is not allowed. Another close up of the dressed up Santa Clause, the close up is broken in small parts such as his hand, then his bag etc.

Credits/title of the movie

When she is getting stabbed constantly the title of the movie appears and the background is red and the writing is black, representing the red as blood and the black as the darkness or ending of something. The title appears towards the end of the 1st setting, this is common in horror movies, in a romantic comedy the title is showing mainly at the start of the movie.

Editing

The movie constants of fast invisible editing meaning from a Close Up to a Establishing Shot it is invisible when this happens you can't see the change as its done really quickly. The few of the shown editing is when the title of the movie disappears, the screen goes black for a second and the next setting is shown.

Mise en scene

The first setting is the family house with bright Christmas lights. This shows what type of month it is plus the happy played music shows that it is cheerful house. This is what the director wants the audience to believe, therefore later on in the movie when the man from under the bed suffocates the woman the audience are in shock.

The setting of the next scene is a Low Angle Shot to reveal the place with barbwire around the tall, dark building showing its a dangerous place. Also there is a close up when the man types a code in to enter into the area of the building.

Textual Analysis and Representation

Textual Analysis and Representation

There are many things you can look at when analysing a text, things that you may not realises that are there. In a film it needs to be constructed well enough for the viewers to believe what they see. Such as in Eastenders you can’t have a superhero flying around because it does not fit in with the story.
The representational of a film is important because the typical codes and convection's in a movie needs to be seen, the stereotype and the when it was set. Example of typical codes and convection's in a horror movie is blood, scary music and someone die’s and the stereotype is that there will always be a Blonde bimbo who plays dumb.
Camera techniques, camera movement and sound adds tension and it focuses on key aspects to were the audience should watch out for because it gives ideas to what is going to happen next. This is shown through close up plus emotions are shown through close up as well. Low angle shot are used to show that the person is in power.
Editing is really important because if it is not done correct this can make the audience no longer want to watch the program. Most programs use visible fast editing so that the audience does not see the change of scene. Too much shown editing can lose the audience interest such as loads off dissolve, wipe, fade out etc.
The last most important textual analysis and representation is Mise En Scene this when you describe the production design, set, location, studio, costume, make up, lighting and colour design. The littlest thing in a programme is significant because the character clothing needs to match with the year the programme is set.