Today I watched: Orphan

Orphan is a story about a seemingly normal orphan girl named Esther. Nothing is unusual about her apart from she is quite lonely and she paints fantastic pictures. She gets adopted by a family who are struggling to get over the loss of their third child who was unfortunately stillborn. As the film goes on Esther does increasingly evil things including purposefully pushing a girl off of a slide thus breaking her ankle, murdering a nun who might expose her secret and setting fire to a tree house with Daniel (another child of the family) inside.
She doesn't only put people in physical harm she plays with their heads. At one point she butchers a rose bush   that is planted in memory of Jessica, the still born child, and presents the bouquet to the mother Kate.

Don't be fooled by her innocent look, Esther is incredibly evil.

Kate is the only one who can see that Esther is clearly evil. With a bit of digging she finds out that *SPOILER ALERT* Esther isn't a small child she is a 30 year old dwarf from Russia who pretends to be a child to become close to family's. In the end she is always rejected and murders them, moving on to her next victims.

The opening of this film is fantastic, disturbing but fantastic. The way it sets the tone for the film. You know straight away that this is of the horror genre.
It starts with a dream Kate is having of losing her baby. She is taken through the hospital on a wheelchair all happy until she sees she is losing an extreme amount of blood. No one else seems alarmed but she knows that its not right. She has her baby but it is taken away from her, then she awakens from her dream relieved that it is over.

Similarities to my sequence:

• Starts of with a dream sequence depicting something that didn't in reality happen.
• Both characters wake up at the end revealing it was just a dream.

Differences to my sequence

• The dream sequence of Orphan is incredibly dark following conventions of the horror genre whereas mine is still conventional (chase scene, antagonist, murder) but it is no where near as disturbing.
• In my opening sequence the dream seeps into reality: the antagonist from the dream turns up at her bedroom door. In Orphan it is just a nightmare that has no truth in it.

I like the darkness of the content but Orphan is more of a psychological horror whereas I want mine to be more traditional horror. A film that makes you jump out of your seat, a slasher movie. When watching Orphan I wasn't scared, this is not the effect I am trying to create. 

Decision changes: The ending

I have decided my opening sequence is a bit too much like a trailer. It has a very definitive ending when the main character Heidi gets stabbed in her bedroom.  This is similar to the start of Scream, the (who you assume will be) main character Casey is murdered within the first 10 minute of the film.

This is unexpected as we assume she is the main character and will be featured through out the film. Much like in my film.

This doesn't really signify that its the start of a film. To counteract this I am going to add in an extra shot at the end. This will most likely be an establishing shot of a location where the next piece of action will take place. The dream and murder featured in the opening sequence would be an important event integral to the story and referenced later in the film.

Decision changes: Music

I recently said that I was going to use the music that I made for the animatic instead of having my friend compose it for me. I decided this because of the feedback I received on my animatic. All of the people that viewed it said that they really like it so I saw no need to update it.

Now I have changed my mind, my friend Arabella is an amazing musician and It would be stupid of me not to have her write me some music if she is willing. Especially as I have the time to get it done due to how far ahead of schedule I am with editing. I feel that having a real composition as opposed to something I put together on Garage Band would improve my horror opening sequence no end. It is so important to get the sound right as it heavily contributes to the tone of the film.

Editing: Day 2

Today I completed editing the remaining half of the sequence. Last time I finished when Heidi bolts upright in her bed after awakening from her nightmare. I am really happy with the way it has come together and the range of shot types really works well at conveying the tone.

This time I still referred to my animatic but a lot more loosely, I have changed some of the timings and added in extra shots. This is to create the right pace. For example during the chase sequence the shots are a lot shorter and there are more of them, this creates a fast, panicked feel. In contrast to this in the room once Heidi has woken up and she is slowly approaching the door the shots are longer, this is to draw out the time in order to create the most tension possible before the door opens and the Antagonist is standing there.

This edit is by no means perfect and I still have work to do on it, mainly on the sound:

• The Dialogue isn't all in yet and the bits that are in need tweaking. I may get my actors (In particularly Dom who plays the antagonist) to re-record their lines so I can place them over the top of the footage.
• I need to change the music I made to make sure it fits with the timings of the shots.
• The sound effects are pretty much good as they are but I need to go over them to make sure.

Editing: Day 1

Today I started editing the footage on final cut and it is going really well. I have done the first half of the video up until Heidi wakes up from the nightmare. When faced with the task of editing I always think its going to take absolutely ages and  be mind numbing but in fact it is a rewarding process, being able to see all your planning and work come to life.

Editing the footage

Old order of the shots

New order of the shots

Whilst editing I referred to the animatic but already I have had to make some changes due to the continuity. certain shots didn't flow after one another as I had planned so I switched the order of a few of them during the running sequence at the start. The changes aren't massive but are noticeable and I feel they improve the sequence.

This has worked out quite well and despite what I first thought when editing these shots I won't need to re-film them. I am trying to avoid more filming as this could be problematic and it will be a lot harder to keep the continuity correct. Of course if need be I will schedule for more filming but as I say it would be a bonus if I don't have to.

Things to keep in mind:

• Sound - I need to listen to the audio to asses the quality so I know whether I need to record some more. It may be a case of re-recording the dialogue and putting it over the top of the shots.
• Timing - The sequence is only aloud to be two minutes long. It is important for me to bare this in mind when editing to make sure I use the time wisely.

The Titles - revised

I did some more work on my titles today:

• I updated the names of my actors so they are correct (Ben isn't starring as my titles previously said, Dom now has the role of the Antagonist). 
• Due to Dom now acting I couldn't really use his name in another part of the titles so I have changed 'Dom Clarke Productions' to 'Shuttleworth films'.

These titles still have the same font, colour and are presented in the same way.

The white font flickers on the black background.

As the actors names are presented on the same screen I staggered when they appear and their position. I really like the way they flicker as it gives an unstable disturbed feel. It is important the the titles reflect the genre and keep the tone of the sequence so they don't disrupt or ruin the mood. This is especially so as the genre is horror because any slip up or disruption of the tone could ruin it for the rest of the sequence and take away the over all effect I am trying to create.

First Heidi appears and then flickers twice.

Then Dom appears and flickers.

Heidi fades away and Dom flickers once more
fading away.

The next thing for me to do is start editing the footage and add in the production cards I have made (Typeface Productions and Lunch Time Film). I am really exited to see all my work come together and take shape.

The titles

I have been developing the titles that will go with my horror opening sequence. For this I have been using the program LiveType.

My titles will be placed in between the action. I had a bit of trouble using the program as I am not familiar with it at all. After some struggles and some help from other students I came to a result I am happy with. All of the names are the same white font on a black background whereas the title of the film 'Bloody nightmare' is in a deep red colour and has its own font entirely different from the other titles. This is to establish its importance.

 Here is the title, 'Bloody Nightmare' on Livetype. It squirms as it is drawn on the screen in a blood red font. I like how it twists and writhes giving off an uncomfortable distressing feel. I think its really in keeping with the tone that I am trying to create throughout the sequence.

Similarly to this the other titles, the names of the actors, director, musician and such are in a white font that flickers. The white really stands out against the black background. I chose for the font to flicker for the same reason that the title squirms as it enters the screen: it contributes to the unnerving feel.

Today I watched: The Exorcist

I have decided to watch some more existing horror films to further familiarise my self with the genre so today I watched The Exorcist.

The start of this film was extremely slow. The opening sequence was around 11 minutes long and it was set in Iraq  It started off by showing of a boy running through an archaeological dig site to report that 'something' had been found. When (who I assume was the leader of the dig) went to investigate he found that amongst the small items found was a strange head of a small statue. It then cuts to him sitting at a table at a cafe, he takes a small pill with a drink, he shakes as he does so until he swallows the pill. 

If I was watching the film without knowing what it is I would not have known it belongs to the horror genre. Nothing particularly conventional of the genre has happened and definitely nothing scary has happened. At this point in the film it looks like it could be an Indiana Jones type movie where the protagonists have to go searching for artifacts.

The man next walks past three men working in a forge hammering a sheet of red hot metal. A forger with one eye turns to the man and wipes his brow of sweat. The man looks startled to see this and then the shot cuts to the next; A close up of a grandfather clock. The location is now in an office of the mans son who is cataloguing peices of statues. He speaks softly to himself "evil against evil" as he looks at a strange coin and the statue head . The grandfather clock then stops ticking, his son stands up and we learn that the man has to go somewhere. Where? we do not know. He embraces his son and leaves on foot. 

I still wouldn't have guessed this is a horror film, it still feels like an adventure film to me due to the locations and props. My own horror opening is incredibly different to this. My locations (dark woodland) and props (bloody knife) are more conventional.

As he walks through the town the camera movement goes unsteady and the man is nearly knocked down by a horse and carriage. He finally arrives at some ruins at which he is drawn to a particular statue. Here the sound intensifies, there are dogs snarling and fighting nearby, the wind gets louder and louder and sounds like screaming. There is an underlying note that also gets louder and louder at this point. I really liked this use of sound and how it intensified the feeling that something bad is about to happen. The the shot cuts to a bloodred sunset and fades to the next location. The location of where the story will take place.

To be honest I found the lack of convention in these first ten minutes extremely frustrating. There was no evil antagonist, helpless victim, dark low key lighting or anything I was expecting. Neither the Mise-en-scene was frighting or the tone. However, later in the film this changed and it was truly horrific. It wasn't scary though, it was just really strange and unpleasant. Not even laughably unpleasant. I didn't even get to the end of the film and I don't plan to.

I want my opening sequence to be very different from this film. I am going for more of a typical slasher movie whereas I feel this story is a bit more serious. I want my horror film to be scary, enjoyable to watch and not too heavy. I feel The Exorcist is very different from what I am trying to achieve but I am still glad I watched it

Animatic changes

Based on the feedback we were given we had the chance to edit our animatics. Here are some suggestions and my justifications for keeping it the same.

The pace is a bit slow when she is approaching the door
I have slowed down the pace down in contrast of the fast action at the start of the sequence. This is very conventional of the horror genre as it builds tension. The audience wants to get it over with but drawing out the time makes it scarier when something inevitably happens, in this case Heidi opens the door the reveal the Antagonist from her dream waiting for her in reality.

Possibly show a bit more of the antagonists personality
I have presented the antagonist as particularly illusive to make sure he comes across as scary as possible. Familiarity is comforting, the less the audience knows about the character the scarier he will come across because whilst we know nothing anything is possible.

Could use a dissolve transition when she wakes up
The quick cut is needed to show the urgency of her waking up from this terrifying nightmare. If I used a dissolve transition the pace would be too calm an not represent the emotions of the character, it would come across like she is gradually waking up after a nights sleep than waking in terror.

Could involve some low and high angle shots to show vulnerability
My opening sequence does actually include the mentioned shots but I don't think they come across very well in the animatic.

Filming - the problems

On Wednesday 30th November I did the filming for the opening sequence. Here are some problems me and my actors ran into:

• Space - It was tough (particularly in my room filming the second half of the sequence) to get the camera into some of the positions and angles I wanted. We ended up having to pull my desk away from the wall and I had to squeeze behind it to be able to capture the shot effectively. 

• Props - Getting the phone to ring at the right time was a bit tricky. Also we had to take a mirror off the wall of my room in order to not get mine and the cameras reflection in shot. 

Finally we got the phone to ring at the right time

• Lighting - We filmed at around 11.30am and unfortunately the sun was out with full force. I had to make sure the sun wasn't obscuring anything from view and ensuring that my shadow wasn't in shot.

• Hilarity - My actors (particularly Heidi) were prone to laughing in even the least of funny situations. We had to do about 8 takes of one shot of Heidi just walking because she found it hilarious. This wasted time but I don't particularly mind because we got it all done and had a fun time doing it.

Unfortunately we found pretty much everything extremely funny

Overall I think today's filming was successful. No one got hurt, we completed all of the shots I had storyboarded and some extra ones just for good measure.

Animatic - peer assessment

In the lesson on Thursday did a peer assessment of each others animatics. It was also really insightful to hear what other people thought of my animatic and gave me a good idea of the strengths and weaknesses of my current work.  I found this really helpful as I now am aware of particular areas to keep in mind when filming and editing.

I was incredibly pleased with this feedback as it put my mind at ease as to the certain aspects I was worrying about. For example the music. I thought it needed a lot of work as it was not the piece I had planned to use but it will be a good back up in case I don't get the composition in time.

I was also hesitant about the appropriateness of the pace of the sequence and I now know that the pace of the chase action is effective and doesn't need to be changed whilst the slower pace at the end when Heidi goes to open the door could do with some work. As a result of this I will make sure when editing that I take these comments into consideration.

I'm getting really excited to edit my footage to see the whole sequence take shape and this feedback will be invaluable in me.

Props and costume

What props will I need to use?

A Knife - for the antagonist to hold and stab Heidi with.
Mask - the mask the antagonist wears to hide his face.
Fake Blood - To cover Heidi in for when she is running in the forest.
Mobile Phone - It starts ringing in shot 34, Heidi answers only to hear the antagonists sinister voice.

Are they conventional?
Yes, especially the mask and the knife. Weapons are very often featured in horror films and a knife if usually the first thing in their house someone will think to grab in order to defend themselves. Masks are also conventional of the genre as explained in my previous post on Character Profiles.


Costumes
Heidi - A dress covered in blood
The Antagonist - All black clothes with a hooded mask

Are they conventional? 
Yes, the antagonists simple clothing only embellished by the detail of the mask is conventional of the Horror genre. You don't often see killers in all there splendour wearing elaborate dress.

All of these antagonists wear dull clothes and brandish weapons, both conventions of the horror genre that I will apply to my sequence.