Independant Research!

Titles
I concentrated some of my research on the title of many popular films. As a group, it took us ages to come up with a suitable and an appropriate name for our film. I had a look at films like 'Paranormal Activity', and i noticed that they use quite dramatic words in their title, but then other films such as 'Mirrors' didn't. I liked the idea that 'Mirrors' had, where they base the title of the film on the main prop used, which was a mirror. In our film its a book, so i think we should go with something based on the book.

Plots
After researching 'Paranormal Activity's plot, i thought that it would suit ours perfectly if we went for something vaguely similar. The plot of the film is basically about a young couple who have just recently moved into their home, and it becomes haunted. This was the main idea for our film, which is why i thought it would be common logic to do some serious research on this film, which is why quite a lot of it is on 'Paranormal Activity'.

Actors
We noticed, that in most horror movies we research, the woman is the one that mainly gets scared and picked on the most. Examples of this could be shown in 'Scream'. Also, the women are shown as quite weak and vulnerable, so we tried our best to base our actor on them traits. The male characters in most films, not just horrors, are often lazy, and do not seem to do much, which is again what we tried to show in our young male character.

Directors
We had a look at some key directors, such as 'Steven Spielberg', and I personally looked at how he manages situations. As I was the director of our film, i sort of had to use him as a role model. This helped me a lot.

Settings
If i am honest, most of the horror films that i had witnessed were set in house, including 'Scream', 'Paranormal Activity 1, 2 and 3' etc. As i enjoyed both of these films, and found them to be really popular among the British public, i thought it would be a good idea to base ours around a house. I think this is a good setting, because it shows that anything could happen, and in most films, people have recently moved into a new home, which can always bring a sense of the unknown.

Research on Popular Horror Films!

I decided to do a bit of individual research ahead of the planning of our own film. I thought that this would help me as it would give me ideas, of which I could inform the group of. I think that every bit of research that i complete will benefit the group in every way.

Paranormal Activity
This is a very popular horror film, and the third one has just recently been released into Cinemas. The film is distributed by DreamWorks Pictures and Paramount Pictures, but the studio was Blumhouse Productions. The film is directed by Oren Peli. In the first film the main plot of this film is that their is a young couple, who had recently moved into a house they had just bought. However, the young woman, Katie, is not completely content on the idea, and she believes that her past is going to follow her into the house, but the film refers to it as an evil presence. As the young couple discover something is not quite right about their new home, the young man, Micah, sets up cameras around the house so that he can witness what goes on when they sleep. After this many strange things continue to happen, and creep out the young couple.
This helped me a lot, and this film edged us towards the idea of having a young couple, that have recently moved into a brand new house. Also, we are going to try to get the couple to work together in our one, against the antagonists who are trying to fear them, which is what happens in the first Paranormal Activity.

The Descent
This film was directed by Neil Marshall. The films studio was
 Celador Films and Northmen Productions, but the distributors included Pathe and Lionsgate. The main plot of this film is that there is a group of females, and early on in the film there is a car crash, where two of the character die. They get re-united with the group about a year later, and start going out thrill-seeking again. They visit a cave near by, however, it does not go to plan, as one of the members of the group discover that they are in an unknown cave, so once they got stuck, no one would have been able to find them, or rescue them. We wanted to try and make our film a bit similar to this, as they all ready had a little family, and we also want to try and introduce a shock early in our film.
I enjoyed watching this film, and it kept my interest throughout, and as I watched the film throughout fully, I was able to get more information from it.

Filming Schedule!

The Opening Scene
We will have to film the news report seperatley from the rest of the opening scene, in order for us to get it on a disc and play it at the start of the opening scene. We will film this on 6/12/11., and then we will film the actual opening scene the next day, which would be 7/12/11.

The Title Sequence
We will film this on 14/12/11, with our group.

Group Roles

Director - Darren Gilbert


Director of photography - Rebecca Riley-Brown


Visual Effects (Equipment) - Adam Thompson


Music - Jonathon Hugget

We discussed these roles before we even started doing our research, and everyone was happy with the role that they had been given and started to do some extra work on their set instructions. The music that Jonathon had selected worked well with our genre, and also the camera work by Rebecca. Adam supplied us with all the props we needed, including the book and even the setting.

What Boy's and Girl's Like

Boys

 

Like	Sport, Comedy, Video Games, Films
Dislike	Reading, Animals, Moaning
Shop	Designer Clothes Shops, Sports Shops, Game, HMV
Music	Rock, Heavy Metal, R&B
Clothes	Designer Labels
Job	Paperboy, Work in shops, Lifeguard
Money	Medium Wage
Class Status	Middle Class
Other Films	Comedy, Action, Advebture, Thriller
Education	Good

Girls

 

Like	Animals, Make-up, Gossip, Celebrities, Reading, Shopping
Dislike	Insects, Sports, Video Games
Shop	Clothes Shops, Make-up shops, Accessories
Music	R&B, Boy Bands, POP00
Clothes	Designer Labels
Job	Work in shops, Hairdresser
Money	Medium Wage
Class Status	Middle Class
Other Films	Romantic Commedies, Musicals
Education	Good

Top Horror Films

Top 10 Horror Films

1- Physco (1960)

2- Alien (1979)

3- The Shining (1980)

4- Les Diaboliques (1955)

5- The Thing (1982)

6- Faust (1926)

7- Nosferatu (1922)

8- The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920)

9- The Exorcist (1973)

10- Rosemary's Baby (1968) 

Top 10 Highest Adjusted Grossing Horror Films

 

1- Jaws (1975) - $795,369,426
2- The Exorcist (1973) - $686,631,452
3- The Sixth Sense (1999) - $357,566,366
4- The Mummy Returns (2001) - $221,650,716
5- jaws 2 (1978) - $215,603,340
6- The Amityville Horror (1979) - $213,841,738
7- Alien (1979) - $200,233,659

8- The Mummy (1999) - $189,949,583

9- What Lies Beneath (2000) - $179,115,699

10- The Omen (1976) - $177,620,519



Lowest Rated Horror Films

1- The Weekend it Lives - Ax'em(1992)

2- Daniel- Der Zauberer (2004)

3- Manos- The hands of Fate (1966)

4- Monster a Go-Go (1965)

5- Zombie Nation (2004)

6- The Final Sacrifice (1990)

7- The Beast of Yucca Flats (1961)

8- Merlin's Shop of Mystical Wonders (1996)

9- Hobgoblins (1988)

10- Track of the Moon Beast (1976)

Film Production Companies Logo's!

Universal

The company logo shows us that it is worldwide. The writing is in white with a gold template of it, and gold could be used to show they are the best. The title also stands out really clearly. Also, the Earth in the bckground is shinning which makes the logo more catchy and makes it stand out. The black background shows how high up they are.

Dreamworks

The 'Dreamworks logo is really interesting and original. The fact that it is set in the clouds could suggest there high up and better than the rest. The clouds may also signify Heaven, which is said to be a happy place. Also, there is a man sitting on the moon, which may suggest that anything is possible with 'Dreamworks'. The title is written clearly and is in captial letters.

20th Century Fox

This logo is written in commplete gold, which could show that they are

number one and are of high importance. The writing is big and bold and clear to read. They then have a little message underneath saying 'A news corportation company' which tells the audience what they specialise in.

Paramount

The 'Paramount' logo is quite imaginative. We can see the image of a tall mountain and this could show that they are higher than all the rest, and at the highest point. The title is written in a sort of italic font, and surrounding it are many stars. This could show how good they are and there achievments. Also, the mountain links with the name of the company, as they are called 'Paramount'.

Film 4

This logo is quite plain and ordinary, however it makes it clear for the audience to understand it, and know what its about. The red background colour makes it clear to read, and also makes the logo stand out. The title is writing in a white, bold font.

Warner Bro's

This logo is very simple, and is in the shape of a shield. The writing and shit is all written in gold, which may suggest there high imprtance. Also, it has initials of 'WB' which obviously stands for 'Warner Bro's'. It also has the sky in the background to signify how high up they are.



1408: Title Sequence and Opening Scene

I continued my research by looking at the title sequence and opening scene of '1408'.

14  Seconds                     
All we can see is a black screen, and in white writing it says 'Dimension Films Presents'.

 29 Seconds
Picture of a long road at night. We can see a car appearing in the distance.
'John   Cusack's' name shows up in white. Also, Pathetic Fallacy is used. The lighting if very low
key. The car is shown in an extreme long shot.

35  Seconds                     
The car is getting closer and the camera begins to pan across the screen. 'Samuel L Jackson's' name appears in white.

43 Seconds                 
The title '1408' finally appears in white, as the car in the background stops to look where he's going. The title appears on a fade in, and its in bold and its set out in the way of a code.

47 Seconds
There is a long-shot of the reversing car which tells us that he has missed the turning.

53 Seconds                        
There is a close-up of a man shining a torch. Then there is a POV shot of him looking at the sign.

60 Seconds                       
There is a close-up of him looking at a map, again to show he is lost.

75 Seconds                  
The car pulls up to an entrance of a house near the woods. This shows the house is isolated and remote.

77  Seconds                       
We still have actors names appearing on the screen. This is shown on the back of a mans car.

84 Seconds                       
There is a long-shot of someone walking along a bridge. It also shows the rain and how bad it is. Its terrential rain.

91  Seconds                       
'Jasmine Jessica Anthony' name appears. The house in the background is shown as  scary because its shown through a POV shot as if its someone creeping up on it. It is well lit which also brings out its scary side.

94  Seconds                      
We see the person enter the house in the same camera angle. This shows that its someone elses POV shot.

97 Seconds                     
There is a switch from outdoors to indoors. The mise-en-scene has changed, because it goes from low key to high key lighting. The house looks old-fashioned.

108 Seconds                    
There is dialouge between characters. "Mike, checking in". This shows its a hotel.

115  Seconds                   
Shot reverse shot is used to show dialouge. "Its an honour to have you here" and "you probably want to hear about our Horrid Histoy?" This shows hes a ghosthunter.

Stereotypical Horror Fan

I have researched the stereotypical Horror fan, to see who they should be aimed at. Some of the following are attributes of a stereotypical Horror fan.

Clothing

Many people think that horror fans dress as what they refer to as 'Goths'. This could include the wearing of dark, depressing colours such as black. This could not only be shown in their clothing, but in their make-up that they wear, and the colour of their hair.

Music

The stereotype is also known for the music they listen to, which tends to be gunge like music, and songs that could be classed as 'screamo's' or 'heavy metal'.

Hobbies and Interests

Many people also see these type of people as lazy, and don't have many hobbies, for example they are apparently not a big fan of sports. However, they are known for being good with music, and know how to play instruments like Guitars and Drums. People also say that they are interested in Destruction and torture, but this is only a stereotype, none of these are actually full on facts.

'Italian Job' Title Sequence and Opening Scene.

In our Media Class, we were looking at how the title sequence and opening scenes were presented in different films, and one of the ones we had studied was the 'Italian Job'.

Firstly, all the wording and credits were reasonably small, where as the images on screen were big, which helped them stand out a lot more, as there is not much to drag the audiences attention away from them. In the title sequence there are a few images of maps, and this shows the audience what the film could be about, and that they will be important in it. To go with this isand notebook, and together this could tell the audience that there could be some sort of plan being created in the film. Further more, in the title sequence we were also shown where the film was set, which was Venice, and this is all iconography.

'The Italian Jobs' title sequence alone was 2 minutes and 21 seconds long, however when we create our title sequence it can only be a maximum of 2 minutes. I think that the title sequence was maybe a bit too long, however it did get all the information needed in it, for such a logical and action packed film. I think that when we come to do this we should make our title sequence about 75 seconds long, as this way we can include some key information and also have 45 seconds to film a little bit of the opening scene.

I think that the 'Italian Jobs' title sequence and opening was to give out hints to the audience about what the film may contain, and the main props in the film. I also believe it was to introduce the characters and the setting, and hopefully we will have enough time to include all of these in our production.

Se7en's Title Sequence.

I have also studied 'Se7en', and I have had a look at the title sequence. I recoreded what happened at what time in the title sequence below.

Seconds                     Image

2                                A book with an Open page.
3                                'New Line Cinema Productions' name appears on the book.
7                                Intertitle 'An Arnold Kopelson Production' appears.
8                                There are old, bad looking hands in black and white.
13                              We see Brad Pitts name come up  and it almost looks hand written.
16                              Close-up of fingers (cutting fingerprints off. This is dirty.
18                              Morgan Freeman's name comes up.
23                              The title of the film is small, and repeatidly flashes.
29                              We see a book opening, whilst Gwyneth Paltrows name appears.
34                              We then see a Cloe-Up of a pen writing on paper.
36                              A red filter begins to appear.
39                              Scissors are shown cutting up a film - Extreme Close-Up
43                              The paper keeps being shown. There are also Black and White Photos.
52                              Pages in a book are shown and more actors names.
61                              Black marker pen crosses off words in a point of views shot (POV shot)
71                              Young boy in black and white photo is shows, and there is another POV shot    
                                  of someone crossing out his eyes.
74                              The face gets completely crossed out and another red filter appears.
76                              Top half of it shows a photo being dipped into a red liquid. The bottom   
                                  half  of  the photo is white.
79                              It shows a lot of negatives and a book.
85                              Close Up of fingers binding and making a book.
88                              Close-up of some dirty fingers with a bandage on them.
90                              Range of photos on lined paper.
96                              Extreme Close-Up of a dirty hand playing with a needle.
102                           Another Close-Up of threading a needle.
107                           Shot of someone binding and putting a book together again.
118                           Range of fast images, containing photos.
127                           The film starts.

I noticed that in this title sequence there are a load of fast images, and the creater uses close ups and extreme close ups of items and props that will be important and play a big role in the film. This would go well in our title sequence, because ours contains a story about a cursed book.

My Questionaire on Films answers and Evaluation.

This is the Questionaire that I created and I got 10 people to fill it in.

1. Where do you watch films?     At home [6] At the Cinema [3] Other [1]

2. When do you watch films?     Day [0] Night [6] Evening [3] Morning [0] Afternoon [1]

3. How often do you go to the Cinema? Once every week [0] Once every month [2] Once 3-8 months[5] Once a year [3] Never [0]

4. What is your faviourite genre?
Comedy [5]   Action [3]  Horror   [2] 

5. What is your favourite film?   (Only 6 people answered this question as others couln't decide)
The Dark Night [1]  Armagedon [1]  Hangover [1]  The Inbetweeners Movie [2]  The Social Network [1]

6. What influences your choice?
Director / Writer [2]  Trailor [7]  Friends [1] 

7. Do you like horror films? Yes [7] No [2] Some 1

8. Do you like thriller films? Yes [8] No [0] Some [2]

9. Which do you prefer, Horror or Thriller? Horror [4] Thriller [6]

I can tell from this questionaire that most people watch films at home, however some do watch it at the cinema, and this may be because of price and transport to get there, and most people only go cinema once every 3-8 moths. This also shows that most people watch films at night, which could also influence them to watch horrors and thrillers, as people say its scarier to watch at night, which some people like. The most popular genre was comedy, and this would probably be becuase its very entertaining and makes the viewers laugh. The main influence for people to watch a film is the trailor, and this is what a trailor is made to do. Most people like both Horror and Thrillers, however Thrillers are more popular.

My Questionaire on Films.

This is the Questionaire that I created and I got 10 people to fill it in.

1. Where do you watch films?       At home []     At the Cinema []   Other []

2. When do you watch films?       Day  []     Night []    Evening  []  Morning  []  Afternoon []

3. How often do you go to the Cinema?     Once every week []   Once every month []  Once 3-8 months[] Once a year []   Never []

4. What is your faviourite genre?
..................................................

5. What is your favourite film?
...............................................

6. What influences your choice?
.......................................................

7. Do you like horror films?    Yes  []    No []    Some []

8. Do you like thriller films?  Yes [] No [] Some []

9. Which do you prefer, Horror or Thriller?    Horror []   Thriller []

Preliminary Task

I found this task very helpful, as we learnt a lot about how to film, and it was great practice. This also helped us because we learnt who our best actors were, and what type of shots to use in the main production. The task also helped us discover what we did well, what we did badly and what we may need to improve on in our later production. We mainly need to improve on the framing, because I now know how important it is to get it right.