Looking At Musical Themes For Horror Productions

Primarily we looked at songs from previous films  

The Exorcist

This has a very eerie piano being played repetitively it puts the audience on the edge of the seat yet this is very cliche.

We then believed due to our film being a horror but yet we wanted to also slightly break some of the rules of horror to make it increasingly attractive to a new audience of horror fans and we don't want our film to be a strict to horror formulas so it should appeal to people that watched the old slasher  movies yet also a teenage audience. Yet we also don't want the film to seem like a gimmick so it can't be to happy otherwise it seems like a spoof of a movie.

Fonts

We looked at various fonts to ensure it was possible for the audience to know we were showing a horror film we also wanted to make sure it appealed to the audience we were showing the film to so we had to ensure the entirety of the audience like what we were doing also we have to make sure the writing is also legible.

Story Board.

This is our storyboard for our opening sequence, we hope for the short film to look as similar as this without any problems.  There are many extreme close-ups of the main character and other object to disguise her identity and leave wondering.

Why We Picked Horror For A Genre

We looked through several different genres and brainstormed various ideas horror appealed to us as a group we enjoy watching horror films. We also noticed horror has various conventions that are very clear and obvious things that horror films constantly use such as colours such as red are used as an omen for danger very frequently it allows the audience to expect something these are used in a very subtle way. Sound is also used very effectively to replicate something is about to happen and create a sense of suspense sound is also added. Make up and character realism in modern horror is increasingly vital to a horror it makes the film believable and more gruesome the better the make up. Casting is vital in horror is very vital for instance the horror movie Dracula made by the hammer horror company ensured their villain (antagonist was tall) so he commanded the screen when he was on as he looks very dominant. Shorter characters are generally the victims of the situation.

Horror Cliches

We looked at various cliches that are related to horror films, these are very over used things, as a group we decided a horror has various cliches but in order to keep it interesting we made sure we tried to break the cliches by incorporating things that are not over used.

Character Creation

Hope (Main Character)
Hope has a religious family and they have disowned her and kept her out of the family as she has been raped she is also a very popular girl she enjoys going out listening to music and dancing she is a blonde female who wears white as to represent purity and light. She has good looks and is clever.

Velna
A former friend of Hope's who Hope has lost trust in and dislikes now. Hope aims to isolate Velna as she no longer supports Hope since Hope has been raped. She is a very clever girl and enjoys puzzles and mysteries.

Charlie (Target 3) Sport Orientated. Is paralyzed.

Velna (Boyfriend) Alexsander

Emma

Our name choice was vital we tried to find meaning behind names with irony of the situation they find themselves in also we wanted to make sure our characters names meant something. They have values and carry a message.

Target Audience

It may appeal to those aged between 12 to 25 years of age, both male and female. The reason for this assumption is that the storyline is based upon a teenage group who deal with issues which relate to teenage life. It could also interest those who study film in further education or as a hobby, and enjoy the thrill of a slasher movie, due to the teenage appeal it is likely that older audiences would not be impressed by the violence, bad language and sexual references. On the other hand it is possible that the movie may appeal to a slightly older age group. For example people who have experienced the 1980’s slasher movies such as: Halloween, Scream etc. Further more it is clear that this film is inappropriate for young children and the elderly generation of people.

Se7en (Opening Credits)

This is a film that has an opening similar to what we are going to base our final production on. We looked at the Mise en scene very closely in this scene, also the shots.  We came to the conclusion that we do not want to uncover our killer from the beginning. We decided seeing the hands of the killer and not the face is  very effective. The music also creates a tension for the viewer and makes what go on feel very tense

Primary Ideas.

Above is a spider diagram of our initial ideas for the task: to make a short opening sequence.  We went through many different genres of film, thinking what sort of ideas each of our group members had, trying to steer clear of cliches.  Once we had drawn this out.  We went on to youtube to look at examples of different genres of opening sequences.  From this we looks at our ideas and decided that 'Horror' would interest us the best.

Opening Sequences

Opening sequences are key to films as they have the titles in them also set a location (Establishing Shot) that the film will take place in or a key place in the film that is vital, sometimes they introduce the characters, they also allow the viewers to know whom the production companies are. The opening sequence also allows the viewer to establish the style or tone of the film.

In lesson we looked at 3 openings for 3 different types of film and how they conveyed the genre and how easy it was for the viewer to establish the genre of film.

Opening Sequence 1 : Office Space
As a viewer you can establish this is a comedy as the colours and font are joyful and colourful so it looks like a comedy form the titles. Then as we are shown some footage in the sequence there is non diegetic music which is comical, there is also diegetic sound which is comical. The sequence has a lot of comedy conventions such as close ups these show reactions to things that make it all increasingly funny. My opinion on this opening sequence is it's nice as its an easy watch like its light hearted nothing controversial in it it also uses irony very well throughout the sequence.

Opening Sequence 2 : Trainspotting
This film we can tell is a drama as we notice alot of running and also the freeze frames make it look action like yet with the freeze frames we are introduced to the characters as they contain names next to the freeze frames. This is also a low budget film so its a smaller film. It is also a british film so we learn whom the production and distribution companies are from its short title sequence.

Opening Sequence 3 : Sweeney Todd
This is clearly as horror movie as it uses horror genre conventions colour in this is key as its alot of reds and blacks these are very basic genre conventions then there is the lightning this is also a genre convention. there is mist and sound theses are key and vital whilst we watch the opening sequence in its entirety.