My Opening Credits

My Credits are the following:

• Director (Yousuf bin-Suhayl). I have chosen to be the director as I know the film plot the best and how it should turn out. This means that I should direct everyone so that they understand what is needed for the film
• Director of Photography (Robert Richardson). Robert was director of photography in Shutter Island, which has a similar plot line to my film. I there fore think that he will be a good choice as director of photography as he has had experience in psychological horrors
• Screenwriter (James Wan). James is a famous horror movie director, screenwriter and producer. He Directed saw, Insidious and The Conjuring. He was also the screenwriter in many of these films. Having him as the screenwriter will be a good idea as he has had a lot of experience in writing major horror movies. I think his ingenuity in the scripting will be very useful for my film.
• Production Company (Mind Movies). This is the production company that I created in my earlier posts.
• Producer (Yousuf bin-Suhayl). As Mind Movies is my production company, I felt that I should be the producer.
• Casting (Ellen Lewis). Ellen has done casting in many movies such as Shutter Island, Forest Gump and The Departed. For this reason I think she will be a good addition to my team.
• Editing (James Wan). I think James should be the editor for the same reasons as before.

ACTORS:

Sohale Rahman
Ibraheem bin-Suhayl
Maryam bint-Suhayl

Timeline

Below is the approximate timeline for Opaque Psycho - my main task.

My Production Company

I have based my production company on that of BENDERSPINK because it is the production company of psychological horrors and I thought it would be a good idea to use it as a target.
I though of Mind Movies because my film is a Psychological horror and therefore my production company should somehow relate to that. The first thought that I came up with was brain and then mind. I chose mind for the sole reason that it starts with the same letter as movies resulting in the name sounding better as it is interlinked. I then struggled to find a format to present the production company and after my initial fails,the first one is in my media pitch and the second is on the right. Having then completed my Production company research I decided to base mine around that of Benderspink's and I came up with the image below. The blood splattering is useful as it links the production company to the horror genre and as a result the production company image is linked to both the psychological, and horror, aspect of the film industry. As the splatter and font is black, which is associated with darkness and the night, the audience will link the production company with death and evil, and finally horror. I think that having the splatter black rather than red allows it to blend with the font more and make it more eerie by suggesting to the viewer that the production company is linked with the black death and evil.

My Media Pitch

Above is my presentation of the media pitch and below is the power point that I used.

 

 

Above is the response of the class regarding my Media Pitch. Most of them thought my idea was good and that my target audience was well matched. The location was also thought to be good by everyone. From this, I will keep my audience and location slide the same or may add some more detail to the latter specifically. My inspiration slide was not present so that will be added for my second draft. My plot was accepted as good but some felt, and I agree with them, that I did not explain the jogger's role for the latter part of the film. To rectify this, I will add my three acts from my synopsis post to provide a more detailed plot. Finally, some thought that I should have described my characters personalities as well as their costumes. This will be therefore added to my second draft

Production Company Research

The production company I will be researching is Benderspink. thge reason I chose to research this company is because they have produced some classic psychological horrors one of which is still remembered as the scariest movie of all time. Films produced include, The Ring, The Butterfly, We're The Millers, Horrible Bosses 2, MONSTER-IN-LAW and The Hole.



During the promotion of The Ring, many promotional websites were formed to publicise the actors and locations. even small clips of the film was used. This increased public interest in the movie and also resulted in increased interest in the actors which subsequently led to a further interest in the film. Nowadays, if the same technique was used, people would become curious about the expected film and would try to work out the plot of the film. This would lead to people posting their ideas on youtube and other social media, which would increase the anticipation and introduce the film to some who may not have heard of the film or who were previously uninterested. Overall, this tactic causes a chain reaction which leads to the free advertisement of the movie, which is a major bonus.

I will be using a similar style to this logo for my own. I would like to be able to create the increasing/decreasing font size, but I doubt that I will be able to create a decent replica with Powerpoint 2013 or Adobe Premier Pro, as I am unfamiliar with the program. I would like to use Adobe After Effects to create something 'special', which could give my main task another mark or two, but the program is unavailable to me so this is impossible.

Iconography

Opening Credits Research

In the opening credits of Shutter Island, the following roles and personnel are displayed:

- Who the film was made by, i.e. the director (Martin Scorsese). Red font, on the bottom right of the screen.

- The producer of the film (Micke Medavny and Arnold Messen). Red font, on the bottom left of the screen.

- The person who has done the screenplay (Laeta Kalogridis). Red font, on the middle left of the screen.

- The author of the novel the film is based on (Dennis Lehane). White font, on the middle left of the screen.

- The director of photography (Robert Richardson). White font, on the bottom right of the screen.

- The lead actors are named:
Ben Kingsley, bottom left in white font.
Leonardo DiCaprio, top left in white font.
Mark Buffalo, top left in white font.

- The editor of the film (Thelma Schoonmaker). White font, on the bottom left of the screen.

- Who has done the music (Robbie Robertson). White font, on the bottom right of the screen.

- The title is finally shown (Shutter Island). Red font, increasing size from the centre of the screen.

By putting all of the credits on the side of the screen and varying their positions, it makes the opening appear more important than the film thereby keeping the audience engaged with the film. This idea is furthered when the title is shown in the centre of screen. The title grows in size also showing that the film is starting.
A mixture of red and white is used, highlighting the fact that there is innocence and purity as well as danger and death.



In se7en opening credits there are a few differences:

The production company is mentioned.
Who has done the casting.
The costume designer.
Who has designed the production.
Who are the coproducers and co-executive producers.
Who wrote the script.

PR2 Feedback - 26/11/2014

Resulting Action: To be able to achieve an A in media I will need to move up by two levels, from level 2 to 4. For this I will have to take extra care in the presentation of my planning and research. Ideally, many of the issues will be solved as I progress through the course, when I will then write my storyboard and scripts for example. My planning and research will also be complete by then as questionnaires are time consuming when waiting for sufficient responses. Following results from my research, I will then be able to make appropriate location and actor choices so that my planning will have the best possible level.

Synopsis for my Main Task

MY SYNOPSIS

This plot line tends to focus on Groups C and B as the film revolves around professions that these audiences can link to more. For example psychiatrist and white collar professions can link to the position of the protagonists as they can associate with the involved stress more.

Second Questionnaire

Following my previous questionnaire I have decided to do a second to add to my understanding of horror audience.

Timestamp	Why do you enjoy watching psychological horrors?	What is your favourite psychological horror movie and why?	Is there a particular theme (revenge, blood thirst etc) that you look for and what is it?
11/19/2014 15:45:37	no	n/a	n/a
11/19/2014 15:50:45	yes	ANNABELLE	jump scares, suspense
11/20/2014 8:38:02	Plot and characters	Shutter Island, because Martin Sorcesse directed it and it's great.	Mental illness or psychopathy is always interesting.
11/20/2014 14:36:44	they normally give me a good laugh	screm because of how bloodly the film is	blood thirst
11/20/2014 15:00:34	Yes	Black Swan	Isanity
11/21/2014 8:48:33	yes	the shining	blood thirst
11/21/2014 14:10:07	No	I dont have one	cold blooded murder

Do you want to be intellectually challenged when watching a psychological horror?	When watching psychological horrors do you want to see special effects?
n/a	n/a
yes	depends on the nature and style of the movie. Also the time period
Yes!	That depends. Shutter Island has some CGI as well as Hannibal, however, it's nto always used in a convenient way in other psychological horrors.
sometimes but mainly not	again sometimes but mainly not
Yes	No
yes	no
yes	not too much special effects because with psychological horrors its all in your head

What 'turns you off' when watching a psychological horror?	What profession should the villain have?
n/a	n/a
really obviously stupid moves. e.g. lighting a match and going up to the attic	caretaker
Bad character development.	Something intellectual, of high status.
women screming all the time	something that people find trust in such as a teacher or a nurse
Monsters	Doctor
men with bad bodies	murderer
sobbing family memebers and romantic scenes	teacher or doctor

please note that each specific colour refers to an different answers from the same person. From this questionnaire, I can determine that special effects should be avoided and the opening must be intellectually challenging. Insanity and bloodthirst are also popular themes and I think a psychopathic killer similar to the antagonist in Psycho or The Shining will be a good choice.

My Target Audience

Our Audience will be of Group C1 and B. This is because our film will make the audience think more than others, making the film ideal for an audience of a higher social status. As the film will show murders but will not be graphic, the age rating will be 15. This is also due to the film containing strong violence but mild language. The theme itself, a man committing murders, is not appropriate for younger audiences.

This audience wants to be intellectually challenged during a film so that they can engage with the film. As a result, I will make the film opening complicated to follow and understand so that my audience does not lose interest in the film.
As many people watch movies to solve their daily problems, I must first analyse what the common problems faced by my audience are. Considering that my audience have desk jobs or positions in middle management and teaching, they will often be stressed from their jobs. This again gives reason to have an intellectually challenging opening as the audience will become intrigued thus making them forget about their stress.
It is important to not bore my audience as this will compound upon their stress resulting in them turning off the film. First I must understand how my audience will be bored as different people find different things boring. A higher class audience are likely to find special effects boring in comparison to educated dialogue, which would explain the film and characters.

Antagonist Costume

Analysis of Props

Blog Feedback - 14/11/2014

Label my blogs, as I have now done on the top of the screen, and add detail some of my later posts. I I will try to use different formats of presentation, prezi, which I have started to use, and more videos, probably one for my audience analysis when I will video my interviews.

My Production Company

As my horror movie is psychological, the production company should be related. This has led me to choose Mind Movies as my production company. Mind Movies has an appropriate name as it is a production company for psychological (mind) films. The use of the brain for the O and the skull for the D creates a horror effect as well as emphasizing the mind part. The deep purple background also, combined with the other factors, produces a horror effect as it allows the skull and brain to stand out more, making them more apparent to the audience.

Costume - Initial ideas

The walker, who is a protagonist, will be wearing something white to portray his innocence as white is often linked to purity, angels and cleanliness. This can be displayed by a jogging outfit, with bright trainers to show that the character is cheerful as the bright colours will display his state of mind

The other protagonist, who is caught in the car chase scene will ideally have shorter hair, which we can make look wet and tangled to show that she is tired and unprepared for the chase. She will wear a red jumper, which shows that she is in danger due to red being linked with blood and murder. A jumper with an image on it will ideally be used as it will portray her innocence further by showing that she is childish. This will ideally increase the sympathy with the character. Finally, she will have a rucksack on to emphasis the fact that she is a school girl. The rucksack will ideally have a fun or childish design on it to increase the horror of her being chased and killed as she will be portrayed to be a happy and young (shown by the rucksack and jumper) teenager. The idea of her being young and childish can also be portrayed by her footwear, trainers with, ideally, flashy lights and some pink colour. The use of this costume will increase our range of audience as this scene will be targeted at parents and guardians.

Costume Analysis

Location Planning

The top three pictures display the car that we will use. The front of the car has a monster look due to its big rectangular lights and the grill gives a scarier effect. The car is a Mercedes E250d L reg (1993). This car is slow but makes a lot of noise, which we believe is vital to produce a good chase scene. The car is old but relatively luxurious inside contrasting with the driver's actions making it useful for a psychological horror.
The four picture collection is where we will do the car chase. It is a country road with bends and bumps which will make the car bounce a bit increasing the effect of the chase scene. The corners are where we will start the chase scene, someone will be running and the car will come around the corner. Ideally the last of the four pictures will be used for this.
The two pictures on the left are where we will do our inboard footage of the driver. It is on private property, which we have permission to use, allowing us to make a good inboard footage without causing a hazard on the road. As our actor for the driver is likely to be under 17, this allows him to be seen driving the car. We will have someone with a driving license to drive on the country road, as no shots of the driver will be taken there.
Update: as my partner for the filming has split up with me, the antagonist and driver is now likely to be over 17 and we will probably do the in car footage on the road due to a change in location (see below). 

Moodboard for Main Task

The BBFC and Age Ratings

FILM CLASSIFICATION & THE BBFC

Film classification is used to prevent minors from viewing content that is deemed inappropriate for them. The BBFC (British Board of Film Class) is an independent company that is responsible for the classification of films in Britain. This is necessary to prevent children viewing inappropriate scenes, which may affect them psychologically and have an adverse affect on society.

 The images above are the different types of film classification used by the BBFC.
These are different factors which affect the age rating of a movie.
DISCRIMINATION, VIOLENCE, BEHAVIOUR, LANGUAGE, HORROR, DRUGS, NUDITY, SEX & THEME

U: Universal, this is deemed appropriate for all ages. This may consist of mild and infrequent use of language and violence will be mild even if frequently used. Kissing is permitted and drug use will not be shown.

PG: Suitable for all ages, may be some unsuitable scenes. Requires parental guidance. likely to consist of typical school issues such as bullying or racism. Language is mild and infrequent but may contain words such as S**t and son of a b**ch. Violence will be mild and blood can be shown, although the visual representation will not be shown.

12A: This is for cinema release, under 12s may view if accompanied by an adult.
12: Only suitable for 12 and over. Use of the word f*** may be used and long fight scenes may be shown. Gory injuries may be shown, but no emphasis will be placed on it.

15: Only suitable for 15 and over. May consist of frequent strong language and discrimination with strong violence. Drug usage may be displayed as well as  references to sex and may contain nudity scenes. May contain horror scenes.

18: Only suitable for 18 and over. Likely to consist of strong frequent language and discrimination with strong violence such as gouging of eyes and very graphic scenes. Can contain sex scenes and nudity. Can contain strong horror.

R18: "The R18 category is a special and legally-restricted classification primarily for explicit works of consenting sex or strong fetish material involving adults" from BBFC website. It can only be shown in specially licensed cinemas.

Peer Assessment - 4/11/2014

Resulting Action: I will be more explanatory in future posts and will add detail to my current posts to push my level up from 2/3 to 4/5. 

Audience groups

AUDIENCE GROUPS

Group A: Well paid professionals, highest class. Lawyers, Barristers, Doctors, Scientists, Dentists                        etc.

Downton Abbey is an example of a group A series as the characters are well paid professionals and their style of life relates to a group A audience more. 

Group B: Fairly well paid professionals. Teachers, middle management etc.

Dead Poets Society is an example of a group B film as Robin Williams plays a teacher and the life style of the characters would relate well to a group B audience.

Group C1: White collar professionals. Nurses, Bank clerks, people who wear white shirts to work.

Casualty is an example of a group C1 drama series about nurses in an emergency department at a hospital, while house sitter is about an architect, white collar, in a relationship.

Group C2: Blue collar professionals, skilled tradesmen. Electricians, mechanics, plumbers, carpenters                   etc.

Alien is an example of a group C2 horror movie. In alien, the main characters are mechanics, pilots etc on a ship. These relate to a group C2 audience.

Group D: Unskilled tradesmen. Post sorters, cleaners, dustbinmen etc.

Dwayne Johnson's Snitch is an example of a Group D film, as he becomes a lorry driver, which relates well to a group D audience.

Group E: Unemployed, pensioners, students and children.

Will Smith's Pursuit of Happyness relates to an unemployed audience as he plays the role of a homeless salesman. The film relates to how he gets a job and looks after his son, relating to the unemployed who often find themselves in similar scenarios. Group E films includes cartoons, such as SpongeBob Square Pants, to cater for the younger audience and gardening and cooking shows, such as Gardener's World, perhaps for the pensioners.

My horror opening will be aimed at C2, D and E as these groups are the common horror audience, which are from 15 to 25 years of age. For this, my opening will have to revolve around people of these social classes.

Still Frame Analysis

ANALYSIS OF STILL FROM THE CONJURING

In the still above, The woman is wearing a red blindfold as well as a red cardigan and skirt. This may represent the fact that she is surrounded by danger, as red is often used to represent danger through its link with blood. She has walked through a white door, suggesting that she has moved house to find a more happy life. This is linked with the fact that she is currently playing with her children. The picture in the left of the screen shows a cat, cats are family pets, making the audience feel that the mother is bonded with her children. The natural lighting through the window gives a natural feeling to suggest that the mother is a normal caring parent. The images on the far right of the screen supports the fact that she is bonded with her family as the picture s are likely to be family photos. The rug in the middle of the floor has rings of colour, the outer ring is red and the rug itself, white. The white colour links to the family while the red ring links to the danger they are in. The dark brown cupboard in the background links to evil, suggesting that the evil and danger of the house is shut away like clothes and waiting to be released. The wooden floor boards have an old look to them suggesting that the danger can easily break through as old wood is easily broken or rotted.

Typical Synopsis

TYPICAL SYNOPSIS

The synopsis is the plot of a film. The typical synopsis of psychological horror would be about a character who has a split personality or a mental conflict. The character can be either the protagonist or the antagonist. Throughout the film the character attempts to solve his conflict or work out who he is. Two good examples of this are Identity and Shutter Island.

In Identity, Malcolm Rivers has 10 different personalities, one of whom is responsible for his murders. The film revolves around the personalities being killed until Malcolm only has one personality. In Shutter Island Edward Daniels sent to a criminally insane hospital to investigate the escape of a patient. As he investigates the case he is later told that he is in fact a patient and he just thought that he was an investigator as part of a test that was created to break his insanity after murdering his wife who had drowned their children.

An alternative plot is when there is a psychopathic killer who is killing for revenge or some other mysterious reason. The film would be about the protagonist/s defeating the antagonist or escaping.
A good example of this is Nightmare on Elm Street where Freddy Krueger is out for revenge by killing his enemies children until one child fights back leading to a long term battle as the child attempts to bring Freddy to the real world, where e can be killed. The film may occasionally have a plot twist at the end such as in Final Destination, where they believe they have defeated death only to be killed later.

Youtube Documentaries which give an insight to horror

From the video above I have learnt that people like to be scared and have an adrenaline rush. Watching horror movies makes people remember their own traumatic memories. This would lead us to question why people would still watch horror movies. Well as stated in the videos we have a desire similar to 'scratching metal on a chalk board' were you hate the noise but like it at the same time. People have a 'negative centre' which feeds of this trauma and possibly people want to to relive these experiences. However horror movies also allows people to experience certain experiences such as serial killers or zombies. This is similar to the situation in total recall were people can purchase different memory experiences at a place called Rekall. The fact is people want to pulled away and want to forget about their boring day to day life and experience what it might be like to be an agent or living in an apocalypse, and even if this triggers traumatic memories for them it is worth the pain of memory to be able to experience such excitement that they would otherwise not feel.

Audience Expectations from Horror

AUDIENCE EXPECTATIONS FROM HORROR

Horror audiences watch horror for several reasons:

• To be scared, this was shown in my questionnaire results, people tend to watch horror for a thrill or to be scared. This leads to a desire of seeing scary characters such as Freddy Krueger or zombies. 
• Many people enjoy plot twists and working out the characters, like in Scream.
• Horror audience tend to enjoy slasher scenes, such as those in Nightmare on Elm Street or Final Destination.
• As horror audiences tend to be from 15 to 25, typically from social groups C1, D and E, the movie tends to feature characters from those social groups.

Conventions of Psychological Horror

Common conventions seen in a Psychological horror are:

• Main character has a mental conflict or has some form of memory loss. This is seen in The Shining, where Jack often has mental images and in Identity, where Mallick has ten different personalities..
• The movie plays on common human fears. E.g. Creepy crawlies and darkness. In the film Nightmare on Elm Street, Freddy tends to attack in dark areas, he also cuts himself open sometimes to reveal worms and insects.
• Children are often injured or attacked as this has a big affect on parents. This is seen in Nightmare on Elm Street, as the teenagers are murdered.They are also used as the antagonist in films as this has a more psychological affect on the audience, this was seen in Wicked Little Things, The Children and in many zombie films as some zombies are children.
• There is often a lot of tension and anticipation to build a horror element. This is shown in many horror movies, the scene tends to build up by use of music, location and body language. When a character runs away from the antagonist, the music will build up, he will start breathing heavily, looking behind him and will run into a narrow corridor or will be running around corners, where the audience believe the antagonist is waiting.
• The personality of characters is often not given in detail, the audience must work out which one is the antagonist, in a way similar to that in Scream or Se7en.

Camera Shots/Angles/Movements

Analysis of The Thing (1982) Opening

How does the title sequence establish genre, character and narrative?

In this title sequence, background music only starts after around half a minute. The music is very deep and has a foreign/alien feeling. This would lead the audience to believe that the movie is either sci-fi or supernatural horror. The narrative is only developed by a alien looking spaceship entering the Earth's atmosphere, this suggests that the movie is about an alien that has landed on Earth. Character is not established.


How does the title sequence attract an audience’s interest?

The title sequence does not give away the plot, resulting in the audience wanting to watch more so that they can understand the movie more. This method works in a similar way as a cliff hanger, where the audience want to see more.


What do you consider to be the target audience of the film and why?

The film has a mass audience but is more specifically aimed at Group C2 audience as they can relate more to the characters in the film. The characters are pilots, engineers and similar professions, these relate mostly to group C2 audiences, who are skilled tradesmen.
From the opening I am unable to determine the age rating, but having seen scenes of the movie I would determine the movie to be an 18+ movie. This is because there are many graphic scenes which are unsuitable for young audiences. The film also contains mild language which is inappropriate for children below twelve. The movie is actually rated 16  as although violence is bad, language and other aspects are very moderate. The movie is also not scary or jumpy enough to be an 18.


Who has produced the film and how is that evident in the title sequence?


The film was produced by David Foster and Lawrence Turman. This is stated at around 1 minute into the title sequence.

Analysis of Pscho (1998) Opening

How does the title sequence establish genre, character and narrative?

In this opening, the fast music establishes the horror genre, while the character and narrative is not established. Green is used to represent greed and jealousy. Green can also be associated with aliens and hence supernatural occurrences. Black refers to death and evil. So, there is a connection of death, evil, greed and jealousy. Possibly the film is about these elements. 

How does the title sequence attract an audience’s interest?

The fast music along with the animation is addictive, making the audience want to see more. The fact that nothing is given away by the opening makes the audience want to view more so that they know what the plot of the movie is.


What do you consider to be the target audience of the film and why?

From the opening itself, it s impossible to state what the target audience is. The movie itself is directed at a mass audience as its language and violence allow the movie to be suitable for a large market. The movie is more specifically aimed at groups B and C1, this is  the characters  themselves are from the same group. This leads to groups B and C1 audiences having greater sympathy with the characters.
From viewing scenes of the film I would state that the film is a 12 for current audiences, as there are only a few violent scenes, where actual wounds are not shown, making it unsuitable for younger audiences and little language makes it unnecessary to be a 15. The movie was actually rated as a 15 due to nudity scenes.

Who has produced the film and how is that evident in the title sequence?

At the end of the opening, it is stated that the film was produced by Gus Van Sant and Brian Grazer.

Analysis of Roman Polanski

Roman Polanski

Roman Polanski is a Polish film director born in Paris, 1933. His first film was Knife in the Water (1962) and his first english film was Repulsion (1965). He was nominated in the Oscars six times and has directed many psychological horrors, which is the genre for my Main Task. Psychological horror films that he has directed include; The Tenant (1976), Rosemary's Baby (1968) and China Town (1974). He has also directed films of other genres such as The pianist (2002), Oliver Twist (2005) and Carnage (2011).

The following are Roman Polanski quotes:

"My films are the expression of momentary desires. I follow my instincts, but in a disciplined way."

"You have to show violence the way it is. If you don't show it realistically, then that's immoral and harmful. If you don't upset people, then that's obscenity."

"The best films are because of nobody but the director."

From these quotes I have decided not to include any action in my horror opening as I would be unable to film it properly without stuntmen. This has led me to decide to do a psychological horror opening. Also, even though acting is key, it is most important that my actors fully understand what they need to do when filming and that I plan well enough so that I have thought and covered every possible aspect of Mis-en-Scene and so that I can create the best possible horror factor. 

A horror opening is somewhat similar to the prequel of a series, you have to captivate the audience without giving them too much information. Arguably, the most important part of a prequel is to end on a cliff hanger or to leave questions unanswered, which is what I will attempt to do in my Main Task.

Mise-en-Scene Analysis of Se7en opening - 24/10/2014

Resulting Action: I will link my points together to explain how a theme is established and will be more explanatory in my paragraphs by explaining my points and linking them to the effect created on the audience.