BBC Tour Movie

The Storyline

After putting her son up for adoption 16 years ago, Helen is now a very successful working lady. Today is just a normal day for Helen. As she is driving home from work, she is listening to the radio where a radio debate is taking place about having the right to find your child that you put up for adoption. As the radio debate is taking place, Helen has flashbacks of putting her son up for adoption and becomes very distressed. When she gets home everything is still normal as she makes a coffee. However, as these normal, everyday things are happening, not to Helen's knowledge, her son that she put up for adoption has found her address and is on his way to seek his revenge. The rest of the film shows the horrible boy that her son has become and how he goes about seeking his revenge. 

Key Conventions of The Horror Film Genre

- Setting:

Horror films are often set in small communities, isolated places, dark streets/alleyways, large cities or urban environments. For example, dark woods, abandoned houses, haunted houses/hotels, graveyards, scary/dark churches and anywhere else dark or isolated.

- Iconography:

Horror films often include dark colours, like red and black which links the film to evil and danger. Also, low-key lighting can create a dark environment, shadows and unfamiliar shapes that create suspense. Props and other common objects that are seen in horror films are things like weapons, masks, religious symbols, knives, chainsaws and supernatural images.

- Technical codes:

Different camera shots can create, fright, terror, suspense, panic, alarm and a fear of the unknown. For example, high and low camera angles can emphasize the power of the villain or the vulnerability of the victim. Handheld shots can make it difficult for the audience to know what is going on and portrays a fear of the unknown. Extreme close up shots can also convey raw emotion, for example a screaming mouth or fearful eyes. Sound is also very important in horror movies. Disturbing sounds like footsteps, a heartbeat and deep breathing can make the film scary to watch for the viewer.

- Characters:

Characters that are often included in a horror film include heroes/victims, policemen/women (good or bad), stalker, villain, monster, serial killer, strange children, stalker, ghosts, demons and werewolves. 

Information from: http://www.slideshare.net/marine18/horror-genre-conventions

Horror Genre Directors

1.    Alfred Hitchcock (Born:13^th August 1899, died:29^th April 1980, aged 80)

·         Hitchcock was an English film director and producer of films but mainly famous for his horror and thriller films, e.g. Psycho

·         He began his film making career in 1919 illustrating title cards for silent films at Paramount's Famous Players-Lasky studio in London. There he learnt scripting, editing and art direction, and rose to assistant director in 1922

·         His first completed film as director was The Pleasure Garden in 1925

·         Hitchcock then went on to produce

·         In physcho he created one of the most iconic scenes in the history of the horror film genre. This is when a woman got murdered in the shower and the music that was created for this scene is still used today in horror films.

Information from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfred_Hitchcock

    http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000033/bio

2.    Wesley Earl “Wes” Craven (Born: 2^nd August 1939, age 73)

·            Wes is an American film director, writer, producer and actor

·            He was best known for his directing of horror films, e.g. A Nightmare on Elm Street

·            Craven wrote, directed and edited his first film in 1972; The Last House of the Left

·            Craven also directed the entire Scream series, The Hills Have Eyes and many more well-known horror films

·            Craven is most famous for A Nightmare on Elm Street and the Scream series for their box office hits and being so successful that they created him a cult following

·            The most recent film that Craven directed was Scream 4 in 2011.

Information from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wes_Craven

    http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000127/bio

3.    Oren Peli (Born:1970, age 41-42)

·            Peli is an Israeli American film director, producer and screenwriter

·            He is most famous for his creation and directing of Paranormal Activity in 2007 a very successful and well-known horror film

·            He also produced Paranormal Activity 2, 3 and Insidious in 2010 and 2011

·            Peli is in the process of producing Paranormal Activity 4, which is due to come out this year

·            Peli is most well-known for the production of the horror film Paranormal Activity, which was a box office hit, even with a very low budget of only $15,000.

Information from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oren_Peli

Horror Genre Mood Board

I have created a mood board with iconic images from horror films as a springboard for my research for the horror genre. 

Preliminary Task Evaluation

In completing my preliminary task, I learned a range of skills. Firstly, I had to create a storyboard to show a breakdown of each shot that would be included in my task. Secondly, I researched what was meant by the 180 degree rule, match on action and shot/reverse shot as I needed to demonstrate these three camera rules in the task. Furthermore, I learnt how to use the video camera and tripod. Here I practiced how to use the spirit level on the tripod to ensure that my shots were not at an angle but all correctly aligned, how to work the video camera (e.g. how to film) and how to attach the video camera to the tripod. Before actually filming the task for real and editing it, I also learnt how to direct a team of actors/actresses. After having finished filming the task, I learned how to edit it on the Mac using Final Cut Express. However, before being able to edit the task I learnt how to import the task from the camera to the Mac onto i-Movie and convert the i-Movie project to edit in Final Cut Express in which i used the razor tool to edit clips in the timeline. In editing my task, the main thing I learnt was how to tell a story smoothly and ensure continuity was not an issue. The last thing I learnt from this task was how to convert the final edited task to a file that would be compatible with PCs and upload it not my blog.

Once I had uploaded the finished task to my blog I was quite happy with it. However, when reflecting on it and criticising it I realised that there was much that I could improve on. I think that the main thing that I could improve on was the fact that I did not fill the frame when filming. This meant that on some shots I had too much headroom above the characters head and cut off their legs. Also when the character walked in the door, across the room and sat down I should have panned the camera to follow the character to ensure that she would always be in the centre on the frame and that there was no irrelevant material surrounding her and also have followed the character when she sat down which was also to fill the frame better. Another way I could have improved by filming would have been to make sure that the characters eye lines match up to the camera and I’m filming at eye-level with the people sitting down opposite each other whilst filming shot-reverse-shot. This will help with continuity because it will ensure that the actors are the same size in the frame. The final main issue that I noticed when reflecting back on my preliminary task was that there seemed to be a lot of unwanted space and background between the characters, which again did to fill the frame very well. To make sure this does not happen again when filming I need to make sure I don't leave too much of a gap between the two people talking when filming shot-reverse-shot.

Overall, I think that my preliminary task wasn't too bad as this was my first time ever filming and editing anything. I feel that I have learnt a lot of new skills that range all the way from the three camera rules, to filming to editing. Although I will be taking into account what I have realised that was wrong with this task and learn from the mistake I made, I now feel much more confident to film my film opening and be able to do it to a better standard.

Preliminary Task

We were set a task to film a character opening a door, crossing a room and sitting down in a chair opposite another character. The characters then exchange a couple of lines of dialogue. This task demonstrates:

- Match on action, 

- Shot/reverse shot, and

- The 180 degree rule

Preliminary Task Storyboard

Shot-reverse Shot, Match on Action and The 180 Degree Rule definitions

Shot-reverse shot: this is a film technique where one character is shown looking at another character and then the other character is shown looking back at the first character. Since the characters are shown facing in opposite directions, the viewer assumes that they are looking at each other.

Match on action: this is a film technique where one shot cutes to another shot portraying the action of the subject in the first shot. This creates the impression of a sense of continuity and creates a "visual bridge" making it easier for the viewer to watch and drawing their attention away from continuity issues or slight cutting errors.

The 180 degree rule: this is a filming guideline which means the characters in a scene should have the same left-right relationship to each other. The filming can only take place one side of an imaginary line half way through the characters in the scene (180 degrees to one side of the characters). This allows the viewer to have a greater sense of the characters location in the scene.




Shot-reverse Shot

Match on Action

The 180 Degree Rule