Risk Assessment for the fourth day of filming

Video diary 27-11-14 Agnes' mum scene

Ghost Boy's Makeup: Day Four Of Filming

To begin, I applied a pale concealer and a thick white face powder to Connor's face in order to give the illusion of a drip-white face as his character was a ghost and was therefore supposed to look deathly pale. However, when looking into the deeper semiotics, the colour white is also a symbolism of innocence and virtue; therefore, reflecting the fact that this character is not actually an antagonist as the audience may believe at first, he is simply a protagonist who has innocently moved into his new property which is- unknowingly to him- haunted by the spirit of a young girl: Agnes.

I then contoured Connor's face using a mixture of dark brown and grey shadows, applying to his cheekbones, temples, the sides of his nose and jawline; this was in order to give the illusion of a gnawed, skeletally thin appearance as I thought this would add to his overall scary, ghostly look of this character. Also, the dark colours signify the sinister aspects of this particular character when perceived through Agnes' point of view, especially in the living-room scene when he creepily walks past the doors. Popular films such as 'Dark Shadows' also use this technique when trying to portray a male character in a sinister way without applying too much drastic makeup as that will scare the audience and defeat the point of the particular character being a protagonist as the makeup would inflict fear on the audience and oppose the persona; contrasting with the entire significance of the character.

I applied a red substance underneath the eyes and slowly blended in brown shadows to create dark under-eye circles which, again, relates to the fact that he is supposed to be a ghost as it suggests death and decay. To add a finishing touch to the look, I applied a drip of fake blood to Connor's nose to not only add to the overall shock factor of his ghostly appearance, but to use the blood as a semiotic to signify danger and so that his face looked particularly striking when on camera.  

Agnes' Mother's Makeup: Day Four of Filming

To begin, I used a concealer a few shades lighter than Charlotte's natural skin tone in her T-zone area to create a substructure for the entirety of the makeup and a white pressed powder all over her face to create a paler complexion as she was supposed to appear washed out and ill due to her severe drug addiction.

Next, I contoured Charlotte's face using a mixture of brown and earthy-toned powders; applying this to her temples, jaw line, the sides of her nose and cheekbones to create the elusion of a thinner face as I wanted to make her look gnawed and frail, relating to her drug addiction but also to create a shocking appearance to inflict fear on the audience as she is one of the two antagonists.

Using a small blending brush, I applied a small amount of light brown powder in various areas of her face such as the creases in her cheeks and some wrinkles on her forehead to create an "aged" look as Charlotte was supposed to be portraying a character who is twice the age of herself.

I secondly applied a red colour underneath Charlotte's eyes to create a base for some under-eye circles, then slowly blended in various brown powders to add to the verisimilitude. I did this to add to the fear factor of Charlotte's overall frightful appearance as, since we are producing a horror film, a scary character is what the audience will expect to see and is therefore a typical convention.

To complete the look, I smudged some black mascara on her eyelids to give a rugged and un-kempt look as black is a semiotic that connotes danger and death; this not only mirrors the dark personality of Charlotte's character when she hangs her own daughter, but also foreshadows the sinister plot of the film, (such as Agnes' death). I also applied a coat of bright red lipstick to her lips to reflect the dangerous personality of her character since this makeup was for the scene where she hangs Agnes. 

My own Youtube tutorial for this makeup look:

  

Agnes' Father's Makeup For Day Four Of Filming

To begin this look, I applied a pale concealer in Jack's T-zone area. This was in order to create a base for the makeup and to give the illusion of a washed-out, pale completion as we were trying to portray him as a severe drug addict; I applied a white pressed powder all over Jack's face and neck to add to this effect afterwards.

I then used several dark brown shades of powder to contour Jack's face, applying this to his jaw line, cheekbones, temples and the sides of his nose in order to create the illusion of a slimmer face which adds to the persona of his character- a severe drug addict- as the stereotype the audience would expect from this type of character would be to appear very frail and skinny.

Next, I applied a mixture of warm brown tones in various areas of Jack's face, (such as around his eye area to give the illusion of 'crows-feet') in order to make him appear aged as his character was supposed to be aged between 40-50. Also, the ageing shown on Jacks face (such as the wrinkles on his forehead) could be believed to be a side effect of his dangerous drug habit.

To give the illusion of dark under-eye circles, I firstly applied a red substance under Jack's eyes which connotes danger and mirrors his villainous character, then slowly built up the look using several brown shades and then blended them together making sure there were no harsh lines. I gave him dark under-eye circles to simply make him appear haggard because of his unhealthy, distributive lifestyle and to have an overall frightful appearance as he is one of the two antagonists.

I applied a white powder onto Jack's lips to completely overrule the natural pink-ness of them as this disrupted the overall washed-out and ill look I was trying to create for him; I then asked him to tightly purse his lips as I used a deep shade of brown to fill in the creases in them which, when relaxed, gave the illusion of them being dry, chapped and cracked. 

To finish of the look, I used a deep grey powder to create the illusion of a large bruise on the right side of his head which inflicts fear on the audience as it suggests something threatening about his character since it makes him look like a 'thug'; a clear goal when making him appear as an antagonist who murders his own daughter.

My own youtube tutorial for this makeup look: 

      

Risk Assessment for the third day of filming

Day Three Filming - B-Roll

We decided to make a B-Roll of our third day filming to show how we created some of the mise-en scene, how we achieved some shots and the discussions we had about changing and altering ideas.

Agnes' Hair

We recorded Agnes doing her hair so that we could refer back to the video when we need to use the same hairstyle, as this will help stop continuity errors. We discussed as a group what hairstyle Agnes should have, and we decided 'plaits.' This would give our protagonist a childish appearance and we wanted to create the look that represented that she never really grew up. The colours she wears, her bedroom and her hairstyle represents that she is still a child at heart.

Risk Assessment for the second day of filming

Filming pack for day 3

Day 3 
For our filming pack on day 3 we have decided to only film with Emma in it who plays Agnes due to the availability of the other characters. We will be filming in the bedroom, hallway, bathroom, kitchen and the living room. Emma will be filmed washing up, seeing her parents do drugs, seeing a ghost and the news scene where she's reported as being missing. To add to our characters though we are going to use Ellisha to play the ghost that Agnes sees in her bathroom.

Props
On day 3 we have decided to film the drug scene with Agnes' mum and dad. Props will be needed to be used for this such as fake syringes, flour for powder and cigarettes may be included if we can get hold of all of them. We will also need a car, boxes and a rope for other parts of the scenes that happen in various parts of the house.

Hair and make-up 
On this day hair and make-up is going to be a big factor used and we will include some make-up tutorials in the shooting as well to add to our blog. We will need to really put emphasis on Ellisha's make-up because she is playing the ghost and needs to look extra scary in order for the film to work and scare the audience which is our main aim.

Filming pack for day 4

Day 4

For day 4 of filming we will need to travel out of college and go to Chapel town, we will be travelling by car so we can fit all our equipment easily and won't have trouble carrying it all or forgetting anything. We have decided to film the Garden scenes which will be the beginning of our film and all details of that first scene can be found in our shooting script. We think shooting the garden scene may be difficult because of unpredictable weather and we've got to fake someone hanging themselves and make it look real using the camera at different angles.

Characters 
The only characters we will need in our film are going to be Agnes, Agnes' mum and then Agnes' dad. So we need to make sure all these people who are playing these characters will be available and can film on this day to avoid having to put our film back another day.

Props
For this scene we will need a good tree in the garden so we can successfully get the hanging scene right and make it look very realistic. We also need to make sure we have a piece of material that can act as a noose for the part where it will go round Agnes' neck. To add to this we need to make sure we pick a good patch of grass with leaves so Agnes can get dragged along it to add to the fear factor it needs to look cold and damp in the Garden this can be easily achieved.


Hair and Make-up

For the hair and make-up we need to make Agnes look dishevelled we plan to do this by messing up her hair and putting dark make-up under the eyes and on patches on her face especially when she goes to hang herself. We are also going to add some fake blood to add a little bit of gore to the scene, i think this will look good because it will add colour to the scene and we want to shock the audience.

Mainstream or independent?

For our film we need to look at what companies would possibly want to produce our film if we made a full version of the 5 minute one. 

There are normally two types of production companies mainstream and independent.

Mainstream- 
If a production company has major funding either through earnings, studio investors, or private investors, and has done or been involved with big budget productions in the past, it is considered to be a major production company. These companies often work with well-known and expensive talent. They have a budget from their bosses which they can spend on anything they want to make the film look as good as possible and they are usually broadcast worldwide to everyone so they make more money than they have to spend. Massive companies that own most of the media industry such as Time warner are called conglomerates. 

Independent-
These companies are known for just basing themselves in one country like the UK and don't have enough money to broadcast their film worldwide. Through my research i have found that these kind of companies rely on regional identity to help sell their films and rely on certain themes. Independent companies don't rely on using other peoples money to fund their productions and are known for using actors that aren't that well known to help propel them into the filming industry. Independent films can be known for making indie films and using up and coming stars that eventually get to appear in the mainstream films of hollywood. 

Verdict- 
I think that our film will definitely be needed to sold by independent company because it is more suited to our brief. I think that it is appropriate because we don't have big stars being featured into our film and we don't have the money or technology to really use any special effects unlike the mainstream companies like Time Warner that can use them in nearly every film to excite the audience. In an independent film were just going to have to use other methods to try and make our film look professional. 

Day 1 shooting pack

To make our project easier to film we decided to shoot the scenes where we wouldn't need to travel to a location and can film these parts at college this would be our first day of shooting to get all the easy parts out of the way.

The scenes were are going to shoot-
Police interrogation scene, Agnes in a closet and the news report scenes can all be filmed in college.
These scenes will need an office type looking location which can be easily found in college we can use a classroom and store room can be used for the scene with Agnes in a closet.

Props we would need-
We would need a lamp, posters, a desk and a chair.

Make-up we need to include- 
We are thinking about doing some make-up tutorials because we want Agnes' mum and dad to look dishevelled and bruised. We want Agnes' mum to have her red lipstick smudged and mascara down her eyes.

Agnes' mum - Make Up for the interrogation scene

Agnes' dad - Make Up for the interrogation scene

Filming the closet scene

When we were recording the scene where Agnes is in the closet, we experimented with the night vision setting on the camera. We are using the Sony HD 1000 as we used it last year, so are familiar with the settings. We also knew that the picture quality was good and looked like a film. We decided, when filming to shoot multiple shots. We used shots that had normal lighting, and we also used night vision. The normal shots were very dark to begin with, so we used an IPhone torch to brighten the shot. We found that this was very helpful as it created a very

eerie affect as there were shadows cast by the lighting on the wall. It made the scene look creepy and like she was alone. We then used the night vision setting as we had seen this done before on films such as 'Rec' and it created a creepy look. It showed a lot more in the scene compared to the other setting, and created the look that someone was watching the protagonist. We liked the style and thought it was different, but we were not sure that it looked like someone was watching Agnes. The idea of the scene was that Agnes' parents had dragged

her into the cupboard and had forgotten about her. The fact that this shot made it look like someone was watching her, created the wrong affect for our film we believed. We did like the style of the cinematography, but we thought that the other shots worked better for that particular scene, as it created a creepier look, and made it appear that Agnes was truly alone and terrified.

Filming Diary - Day Two

When? - Wednesday 19th November 2014.
What? - 13A to 13D
Who will be in it? - Police officer and Agnes' mum and dad.
What are the props used? - Lamp, files.
What is the location? - Classroom/office.

Props for the second day of filming

To add to the mise-en scene of the film, we wanted to use some props to create the suspension of disbelief. We printed off these pictures to stick on the wall in the police interrogation scene to represent that they are in a police station. We printed off a photo of the protagonist to include in a file. This will help the plot develop.

Agnes' Mother's Makeup For Day Two of Filming

Firstly, I applied a concealer a few shades lighter than Charlotte's natural skin tone in her t-zone area; this was in order to pale out her face and create a base for the white pressed powder which I applied after. Both products gave the illusion of a washed-out face, insinuating Charlotte was ill- an obvious goal when attempting to make her appearance live up to the expectations of what a severe drug addict would look like.

Secondly, I used a dark brown powder to contour her face. I applied this to her cheekbones, jaw line, the sides of her nose and her temples to give the illusion of a slimmer face in order to make her look frail and malnourished, again, living up to the stereotype of what the audience would expect a severe drug addict to look like. The contouring also accentuated some of Charlotte's sharp features (such as her cheekbones) creating a fearful appearance which would inflict terror on the audience as this presents her as an antagonist. I took my inspiration for this idea from the contouring used on the actress Angelina Jolie in the recent production of Disney's 'Maleficent'.

I took the brown powder down underneath her eyes to give the illusion of some under eye circles which made her appear tired after her character was supposed to have spent the previous night in a prison cell as a result of being arrested for the murder of her daughter; all adding to the verisimilitude.

To make it appear that Charlotte had been crying due to being distraught over being arrested, I smudged mascara around her eye area. I also smudged red lipstick across her face, all to give her a bedraggled and unkempt appearance to suggest something sinister about her character. Also, both colours used in this process (black and red) are colours regularly used in successful films like 'Sin City' ,where the actress in the clip is dressed in a red dress to foreshadow the fact she is going to die, in order to connote death and danger, relating to the villainous persona of this character and highlighting her as one of the antagonists.

 

Agnes' Fathers Makeup For Day Two of Filming

Since Agnes' father is one of the two antagonists, I decided to give him a 'thug' look by creating a large bruise on the right side of his face using a mixture of dark eyeshadows and blending them outwards; this immediately suggests something sinister about his character. In addition to this, I applied brown eyeshadow underneath his eyes in order to give the elusion of eye bags which would be a typical feature of his character since he would have spent a restless night in a police cell as a result of being arrested under suspicion for the murder of his daughter. 

In order to tie the entire look together, I used a white face powder all over his face in order to make him look drip white and ill- an obvious feature expected of a drug addicts appearance- as well as making his appearance look frightening overall which is an obvious goal when considering he is an antagonist who is supposed to inflict fear into the audience.

Since he is a drug addict, I also contoured his cheek bones, the sides of his nose and temples to give the illusion of a slimmer face and to make him look frail which would be expected if he was a severe drug addict. This technique was also used on several characters in the film 'Trainspotting' as it adds to the verisimilitude of the stereotype of a drug addicts appearance that the audience expect to see. 

To finish off the look, I firstly applied white powder then secondly brown powder to his lips to create the appearance of them being chapped and blistered. I felt this added to the overall look of him being run down and un-kempt. 

Theories of representation - Semiotics

Semiotics are signs and sign systems - basically a symbol that represents something. This theory was developed by Ferdinand de Saussure. His idea was that different signs (for example words, images, sounds, colours, flavours etc) represented something else in films and everyday life. He said that everything was/is a sign, and many people use signs in media products without even realising what they are representing; but they work.

He said that the SIGNIFIER (the symbol such as an object or icon for example) and the SIGNIFIED (the meaning that the symbol is representing/the concept it represents) = the SIGN.

Example:

This sign/symbol of stop represents that you should stop. It also represents danger and that there is something unsafe up ahead. The SIGNIFIER is the stop sign and the SIGNIFIED is the stop or the danger that there is something up ahead.

How we have used this theory in our film:

-The noose: this fore shadows the hanging and the plot twist in the story. There will be constant flashbacks to the hanging to help the audience realise this.

-Use of red: the use of red for example the mother's lipstick will represent danger and death.

-White clothes: the ghosts will wear white clothes as it is a common colour that ghosts are associated with and it also suggests that they are really innocent.

-Syringes: the syringes will be scattered on the floor at the beginning of the film to represent the parents drug use.

Risk Assessment for the first day of filming

Production Company Logos

One of the production companies I looked into was, Studio Canal. I found that this companies logo involved a lot of monotonous colours and was very straight forward. I interpreted ideas by using black and white shades, and making the layout/style look professional and proper.
The logos are very similar, but different in their own ways. This particular logo looks rather like a chess board which gives the audience the assumption that the film could be about a game of some sort. This would be good as it could confuse the audience, and make the film appear creepier with the use of a game. But it could create a wrong tone/mood for the film which we would not want to do.



Another production company that I researched was, Cross Creek Pictures. This logo is very much like the previous one as it uses monotonous shades/colours. I used 'Picmonkey' to create a logo that was similar to theirs.

Our logo is very similar with the shapes and colours used. This would help the audience identify with the similar style and perhaps recall what movies that company has produced. We have used our own name for the logo, but the font is different. This gives our logo a bit of diversity, but the audience are still able to associate with the other company. That is a positive about using this production logo, however it is very similar to Cross Creek Pictures. To avoid making the logos too similar, we could use different colours, for example reds, as they represent danger and blood.

Film 4 have produced (and distributed) many films. It is a very iconic logo and because of the colours used it is very bright and bold. I incorporated ideas from the logo by using red and white. The red in the background has been made to represent blood which suggests what genre the film would be. This would be helpful to the audience and set the tone.

We looked into Columbia as the logo represented liberty and the use of the statue also represented that it was a good company. It gave off the impression that it was a large, conglomerate company. I took ideas and made a logo using a statue of liberty to give off the same feel for the company and for it to appear professional. Unlike Columbia however, I used dark black and red colours to foreshadow the genre of the film and to set a creepy atmosphere. When creating this logo on Picmonkey, I experimented with different ways we could use our company name; instead of using 'EA AE,' we could use 'EA².'

Here are some other logos I have designed that are similar to the ones I have researched:
Now that we have researched and created some ideas, we can start working on our final production logo. I understand I would not be able to use these particular logos as the pictures on them have been taken from the internet, plus these were made on 'Picmonkey.' When we make the real logo, we will create it on 'Adobe Photoshop' and use our own creations/pictures/drawings.

Production Company Logos Research

A production logo is what helps the company become recognised. They are used before (and sometimes after) the film to show who produced it. We are making a horror film so looked at production companies, who have made similar films to the one we are wanting to create. The films that are similar to the one we are creating are, 'The others' and 'The woman in black.'

The others:
This was produced by Studio Canal. 

The production logo for this company is very straightforward. The only use of colour, are the shades black and white. This makes the production company appear to be mature and well-organised. For a horror film also, it could foreshadow that bad things will happen by the use of the dark shading. We could incorporate ideas for our production logo by using monotonous colours, and making it appear as if we are a sophisticated production company.

The woman in black:

This was produced by Cross Creek Pictures.

This logo is very similar to the previous. Again, the shading/colours are very monotonous and are mainly black, grey and white. It too appears to be a sophisticated company. We again could incorporate ideas by using dark colours to create the tone of the film, and use easy to understand fonts and styles.

Some more production companies that have produced horror films have taken a different approach to how they will represent their companies.

Companies such as Film 4 and Dark Castle use red colours in their logos. I believe these give the films a sinister tone, before the film has started. Twisted Pictures includes a steak and thorns for its logo which suggests that there will be violence in the film and that it will be disturbing; this has been proven by films such as 'Saw' which it has produced. Companies such as, 20th Centure Fox, Warner Bros, Columbia and Paramount are conglomerate companies. Their logos involve a lot of colour which can make the film appeal to the audience, and because of what the logo consists of e.g. a mountain, a symbol of liberty, a medal like symbol, and a stadium, it represents that the company is successful and making good films. The other companies in the collage above include dark colours such as blacks and blues which help create the appropriate atmosphere for a horror film. We can adapt ideas from these logos, that we could use for our own production logo.

Filming Diary - Day One

When? - Friday 14th November 2014.
What shots? - 12A (Agnes is in a cupboard).
Who will be in it? - Agnes (Emma).
What are the props used? - No props need to be used.
What is the location? - A dark classroom.

Shallow Focus Research

I looked into this website to do some research into shallow focus

http://www.izzyvideo.com/depth-of-field/

We aim to use shallow focus in our film to help us use figures in the background. Shallow focus is when the background of the shot is out of focus, making it blurry. These types of shots are often used in horror films to create jump scares, and so that strange figures can walk in the background.

How to do this shot:
1. Move far away from the subject.
2. Zoom in a lot.
3. Open the aperture (or F-stop [lowest number] or iris) of the camera all the way. If the camera has a mode called portrait, choose that.

Some tips that might help with the focus problem:

• Maybe don’t open the aperture ALL the way up. If you’re shooting video of a person’s face, and one of their eyes is in focus while their other eye is a little out of focus, well it might be time to close the aperture a little. As you close it down, you get a deeper depth of field which means that more area is in focus.
• You’ll need a tripod for shallow depth-of-field work. Shaky-cam can look good with a wide angle lens, but with a long lens and shallow focus, shake doesn’t look very good. 
• You might need someone else to handle the focus. When shooting, it can be a difficult job just to keep the subjects in focus within the image.

Shallow focus

Shallow focus is a photographic and cinematographic technique incorporating a small depth of field. In shallow focus one plane of the image is in focus while the rest is out of focus. Shallow focus is typically used to emphasise one part of the image over another.

In this image you can see the woman's face but the figures in the background are completely out of focus, making them hard to be seen. This could be used in horror to reinforce someone being haunted or followed by someone.

To use this in our film will be a good idea when Agnes is being haunted by the new home owners. We can use this type of focus to show that there are people moving behind her and also to show the objects that have moved in the house. 

How to create a shallow focus:

1. move far away from the subject
2. zoom in a lot 
3. open the aperture on the camera all the way.

We researched a step by step order of how to create this shot so that we can make sure it is correct and will work every time. Our film may consist of a few of these shots because I think it is quite spooky and un naturalistic which fits in with the theme of our psychological horror film.

 

The Change Of Actor's In Our film

The role of Agnes' mum in our film will now be played by:
Charlotte Hutton
We changed the mum part, as the person who was playing the mum originally, is now playing a ghost. We did this as it was easier for us to get this person for filming.

Hair colour: Brown
Eye colour: Hazel
Height: 5'8




The role of the ghost daughter will now be played by:
Ellisha Summer Clapham
We changed this part as we knew that it would be more ideal for us to have this person to portray the ghost. When we were doing our practice shots we thought that having this character looked very creepy. We got our ideas from 'The woman in black,' as we thought that was a lot more scary.

Hair colour: Ginger
Eye colour: Green
Height: 5'3

The Shooting Script for our film

This is the shooting script for our film. We will use it as a checklist for when we film, so we know what we are doing, and so that we are organised. If we want to change anything, we will be able to do so, but if we are stuck, we will use this as a guideline.

Research Into A Title Sequence

In order to expand my knowledge in the art of title sequencing, I have conducted an analysis of the title sequence from the infamous 1960's thriller, Psycho, by Alfred Hitchcock.

I chose to develop research into this particular title sequence merely as a result of the films evident success and Hitchcock's intricate detail when producing the film; in addition to the films 'thriller' genre being a sub-genre of our 'horror' film, therefore the conventions and semiotics used by Hitchcock would ideally help us to draw inspiration when producing our own title sequence.

Please view the Youtube clip below before reading my analysis as this is the product I am referring to.

Firstly, the clip begins with a silent image of the distributor of the film; "Universal", an American film production company which was founded in 1912. As well as producing infamous films such as Psycho during the 1960's, it has then gone on to release other successful films throughout the years including Jaws (1975) and Jurassic Park (1993), both produced by well known director Steven Spielberg, and both scoring box office records at the time of their initial release. Due to their rocketing success, Universal have become a prestige film distribution company in present day; currently scheduled to release long awaited trilogies this year such as Furious 7 (a trilogy of the 'Fast and Furious' franchise), Pitch Perfect 2, and Jurassic World (a trilogy of the 'Jurassic Park' Franchise). 

We will also introduce our film with our film distribution company as we feel this will entice people into our film based on the success rate of the company alone. This will set peoples expectation very high of our film, meaning the majority will leave the cinema feeling satisfied after consuming our film, as oppose to not.

    

You will also notice the monochrome colour scheme; not just in the title sequence, but also throughout the entirety of the film. Despite not being as popular as in modern day, colour television and film was in fact invented in the 1960's, however it was possible that Hitchcock felt the black and white scheme adhered more to the artistic flare of which he illustrates in the film- as well as being as obvious convention of the thriller/ horror genre, creating an overall sinister tone for his production.

The silence of the film distribution company scene is quickly disturbed by the menacing sound of the films theme tune as the clip gradually sinks into black; possibly foreshadowing the gruesome death of protagonist Marion Crane, or on the other hand, a signal to inform the audience that sinister events are lurking ahead as they are metaphorically sinking into a story line compounded with murder, deceit and decay. The sharp music presents a sense that there is no turning back for the audience, they are already enraptured by the dark tone of the film. This also evokes anticipation and adrenaline in the audience, as the effect of the black fade presents the sense that their vision is distorted, therefore they are unable to see what will happen next. 

  

Following on from this, we then view several sharp lines, quickly darting across the frame, of whats relevance is unassumingly to accumulate and eventually introduce the directors name on the screen: Alfred Hitchcock, of course. I cannot help but feel threatened by these fast pacing objects we as an audience are suddenly left exposed to on the screen in front of us; after being familiar with the story line of the film beforehand, it hardly strikes me as a coincidence that Hitchcock edited his title sequence using such a motion that reflects the same 'stabbing' motions we see performed by the antagonist in the infamous shower scene later on in the film. Since Hitchcock was renowned for his artistic flare, I believe this editing purposefully relates the the darting, fast-paced strikes of the knife used on Marion Crane.  

  

The title sequence also features the typical conventions, such as the usual crediting for the various roles in the production process of the film. We will also incorporate this into our title sequence due to the fact that we only have a limited time frame of five minutes, therefore leaving room to create an extra scene to include all of the credits at the end of our film would not only limit the scenes we could include in the actual film, but would create the sense that we have 'crammed' all of the various roles included in our film into one short scene. Nevertheless, gradually leaking the names of the production team roles in the first few shots of our film- as used in Psycho- adds more dimension to the scenes considering it will captivate 100% of the audiences attention, as well as saving more time to include a successful, climactic story line. 

              

Individual Research Into A Similar Short Film

Sleeping Patterns

The YouTube clip above is a short film that I discovered which is similar film to the one in which we are intending on producing and decided it would be a good staple to use inspiration from when creating ideas for our own short film. The title of the short film is "Sleeping Patterns" and shares the same genre (horror) as our film,  "The Intruders"- however, I believe it also shares the same sub-genre of our film which is a psychological thriller due to the non-linear narrative which is also an concept in which we are interested in exploring and possibly including in our own film.

Mise en Scene:

The scene in which the girl wakes up in bed covered in her brothers blood and completely unaware she has murdered him during the night is iconography of the horror genre as blood is a typical convention of the genre. As well as this, the shallow focus shot of her bloody hands immediately suggests something sinister to the audience and foreshadows the fact that it is later revealed she has murdered her brother.

Despite the fact the girl has murdered her brother and could possibly be considered as the antagonist in the film, the fact she is dressed in the colour white represents her believed innocence and naivity to the situation since she cannot remember killing him during the night as white is considered an innocent colour. It mirrors her confusion when faced with the fact she may have murdered him since she has blood all over her hands when she wakes up.

However- the fact she is wearing black trousers could suggest that her character also has a darker side due to the fact she appears to become possessed by something at night. The outfit she is dressed in reflects the fact she is half good, half evil.

Cinematography:

The shallow focus shot of the beheaded dolls head projects a sinister tone for the film. It also connotes death and foreshadows what is about to be revealed; the fact she has murdered her brother. This could also be considered as a typical convention of the horror genre since spooky dolls are a reoccurring object in horror films, such as 'Annabelle'.

 

The frequent dark and mysterious wide shots in between the scenes create tension, adding to the overall intended uneasy-ness of the film itself which adds to the build up of the dramatic climax at the end of the film when the audience find out she has murdered her brother. 

The focus pull on the beginning scene represents the girls confusion when she wakes up covered in blood and also draws the audiences attention to the blood on her hands which creates drama and poses questions for the audience as to why this is; this is intriguing them into the film at the same time.

Editing:

The medium close-up shot- when the brother is sat recording his observations on his sister- has a real digital camera setting and black and white filter which adds to the verisimilitude of the scene as he is supposed to be believed to be recording himself on a small household camera, instead of the sophisticated high-technology camera which it is most likely actually getting filmed on. 

The match on action of the first blacked out shot builds tension and creates a build-up for the terrifying climax of when the shot suddenly switches to the silhouette of the girl: the sudden silence of the music stopping also makes the audience jump and question what is about to happen next; adding to the overall fear factor of the film itself. 

The second to last close-up shot of girls face in the film is edited in a way that suggests a technical difficulty with the camera as a result of the girls demonic possession. This editing technique adds dimension and verisimilitude to the film, as well as demonstrating the producers editing talents on whatever editing software was used. We took inspiration from this shot to use in our own film.

Sound: 

The sinister music (0.00-0.14) instantly creates suspicion and mirrors the girls confusion of why she has blood all over herself after waking up. It also sets the appropriate tone for the beginning of a horror film as an audience will expect to feel scared and on edge which the music does a perfect job of evoking.

The relaxed, happy music playing on the stereo (0.35) in the dingy cellar juxtaposes with the storyline of the film which creates tension and a creepy atmosphere. This technique of the music contrasting with the storyline and/ or situation is also used in successful horror films such as "Insidious".

                                                                                                                               

The chilling sound affect (6.03) builds anticipation and suggests something bad is going to happen. Sound affects like these are used in the majority of horror films as they add to the overall fear factor and have become to be one of the typical sound conventions of a horror film. They also make the build up to an sudden event, (like an antagonist jumping out on a protagonist, for example) more dramatic as the audience are expecting something to happen that will scare them which makes the experience much more terrifying.