Title Sequence Evaluation question 1
- 1. EvaluationQuestion 1: In whatways does your media product use, develop or challengeforms and conventions of realmedia products?
- 2. From theresearch I did surroundingreal horror film media products, I got a real understanding and knowledgeof how films inthe particular genreare made, from the 1930’sto the 21st century. Each member of mygroup chose to analyse one horror film title sequence in great detail andalso semi-analyse, one or two othertitle sequences to give ourselves a wider rangeof ideas andtechniques wecould use inour own personal title sequence. I myself chose to analyse“The Omen” title sequence indetail, not because of its simplicity, but because of how something quite simple could havesuch an imposing effect on the audience throughthe use of special effects lighting, imageryand mise-en-scene. Fromthe analysis I took away the importance of low keylighting and techniqueslikebacklighting to highlightthe subject in the shot, commonly the antagonist by makingit look likeno light escapes them. To assist inthe production of the film I decided to half analysethree individual horrorfilm title sequences of some varyingsuccess. Theywere: Shaunof the dead; Childs play; TheShining. Shaun of the dead, being a successful WorkingTitle film, stood out to me the most as it was directed by Simon Pegg a renowned individual with obvious directorial skills. Thesequenced stressed how valuable a trackingshot canbe in conveying the surroundings/location of the film, instead of havingto use an establishing shot. Research This analysis and research helped outline to me the common/popularconventions of films inthe horror genre,a few being the household, deadly murderweapons and the outlandish costumes the antagonist wears, the low keylighting, mysterious sounds and a series of different audience theories followed to meet the expectations of the target audience.
- 3. Mise-en-scene:Setting comparisonstorealmediaproducts Thesettingwedecidedupon wasnotone thatmetthepopularconventionsofpsychological,slasherhorrorfilmasthey areusuallysetinsecluded,uninhabited,ruralareaswherethevictimismilesawayfromhelpandtheantagonistisfar awayfromjustice.Filmslike TexasChainsawMassacreorThehillshaveeyesfollowthisconventionclosely.Insteadwe chose asimilarsettingtoShaunofthedead,TheExorcistandScreamfilms.Thiswasbecausethelocationfitwellwith theplotnarrative,anditdidn’tmakemuch senseforaclock typeobjectbeingrelatedtothewilderness.Theurbansetting makesthefilmmorefamiliarandrelatabletothetargetaudienceof16 – 21yearolds, andusestheideaofpopulated areasbeingsomewhatsafe,tosurpriseandshocktheviewerwhensomethingbadinevitablydoeshappen.Thefactthat thevictimreacheshis house andtheaudienceexpecthim tobe safe,inhisownhome withhisfamily,andtheantagonist isjustwaitingthereforhim showingthatnomatterwhereyouareyouareneverreallysafe.Thesettingwehavechosen isnotverypopularwiththetypesofsubgenresthatarefilmfallsinto,usuallyurbanareasareusedinZombiehorror filmstoshowthemountingoddsofdeath,themorepeople turnintozombies.However,thetimingofwhichourtitle sequenceoccursmakesup forthisbyhavingveryfewpedestrianswalkinglateatnight,anlotsofcars drivingpast,too busytostopandhelpsomeone,especiallyinthenext settingonnarrowback roadsandallies.Althoughwewentagainst afewhorrorconventions,wemanagedtomake itworkby successfullycreatinganatmospherecontaininglow key artificiallighting,ambientsound, non-diegeticanddiegeticsoundtrack.Wemadetheareaseemisolated,byhavingmost oftheactionhappenon theothersideoftraintracks,underaflyover,blockingthevictimofffromtherestofsociety whenthemostbizarrethinghappens.The lastpartofourtitlesequencewassetinthevictimshouse,providingthe audienceandthevictimwithafalsesenseofsecurity. Exorcist Shaunofthe dead Pallium Pallium Thedifferencebetweenthehousein ourfilm,and theone in “The conjuring”.Oneisin asecluded,hardtoaccessarea,;theotherin a denselyhousedandpopulatedarea.
- 4. Mise-en-scene:Lighting comparisonstorealmediaproducts Inregards to the lighting, I did not haveanyof the professional means to influence the lighting in shots dramatically, however therewere a few ways inwhich we dealt with this problem of being low budget. Firstly, in some areas the camera madethe shot darkerincomparison to what wecould see with the humaneye,to counterthis each memberof mygroup used the light on theirphones to aim at the subject on camera, and light the shot up as muchas possible and was needed without getting the phone inshot. An example of wherethis is necessary is the shot of the antagonist on the bridge. Secondly, dueto the title sequence being set lateat night wecould usethestreet light to ouradvantage, in lighting upcertain shots, specifically the two shot of dialogue between the victim (Max) and his friend (James) to help see the communication, was shot directly undera street light, providing a spotlight effect. Finally, we acknowledge whilst filming that although some shots could not be lit up anymorethan was possible to us, we could increasethe lighting throughthe editing process by manipulatingthe ratio of dominant colours in certain, extremely naturallow keylit shots. An example of whenthis was done is thelong shot in whichthe victim (Max) begins to run away from the antagonist, special effect lighting was used, as youcan see incomparison to other shots. Theshot was initially extremelydark, as it was filmed undera flyoveron a narrowbackroad with little to nostreet lights. Considering all of this westill managed to conform to the conventions of the horror genre,by each shot being artificially low keyinthe lighting aspect. I used the shot from Shaun of thedead wheremost of the lighting comes from windows on a door (top left corner, highest image) , as inspiration for a mid shot of the door in the victims house, using the artificial street lighting from outside. Thisshot then usinga backlighting technique oncethe victim has entered and is stood directly in front of the door.
- 5. Mise-en-scene:Costume&Propcomparisonstorealmediaproducts After doing my research I came to the conclusion that almost everyantagonist in a psychological, slasher horrorfilm has an iconic, distinguishable costume andweapon. For example, Scream has a killerina Halloween costume and Skull mask with a carvingknife ordagger, and Jason inFriday the13th is suited ina mechanics jump suit and usually armedwith an axeor machete. Our title sequence and film narrativeincludes an antagonist that is a sort of hybridbetween these two villains, however instead of it being a full body cloak it wears more of a hooded cape, along with black clothing and a mask leaving the question unansweredto whether it is humanor not. Similarlyto Jason ourantagonist is armed with a machete, which is incrediblyjarring to the victim a such as weapon is not used in urban areas, let alone in rural areas of the United Kingdom. Inregards to the conventions of costumes and props, wehave conformedto them closely, includingthe useof a dark coloured costume on the antagonist and the mixtureof dark and light coloured clothingon the victim and his friend. The victim (Max) is relatable to the target audienceof 16 – 21yearolds due to himwearing a popular fashion of clothing at this point intime, e.g. skinnyjeans. Theblack colourof the villains clothing represents a kindof lifelessness, lackof emotion, mysteryand power. Themask it wears makesit hard for the characters inthe film and theaudience to tell if it is humanor not, the only basis of the assumption that it is humancomes from its humanlike shapeand features. Thefact that the antagonist will attack someone like Max suggests that hedoesn’t discriminate and will attack anyoneof anyage, based on the popular view of the public that even adolescence arestill childrenand have a long life to live. Scream Fridaythe13th Pallium
- 6. Camerashotsandmovementcomparisonstorealmediaproducts From myresearch I have gatheredthatthe majorityofcamerashotsand movements used in horrorfilms are:closeups,mid shots,long shots, dolly/trackingshots,high angle,low angleshots,handheldshotsandPOV shots.Afterwatchingalot ofhorrorfilms over theyears,andrecently I have acquiredagreaterunderstandingofshotsandmovements usedin horror films alongwith theiraffectsonthe viewer. I haveimplemented someofthe mosteffectiveshotsandmovements fromotherhorrorfilms into ourtitle sequence.Oneof theseshotsis thehigh angle shotof thevictim (Max) walkingup stairs,which is similar tothe shotusedin Shaunofthedead, showing thecharacterasbeing vulnerableandinferiortothe antagonist.It makeshim seem like preyto abird,waiting forthe mostopportunemoment tostrike.Anothervaluableshotwe usetoconvey emotions,suchas fearand confusionwasa closeup ofthevictims faceafterhe hasseen theantagonist, showing zeromovement fromthecharacterashe isfrozenwithfear.Initially wedid haveanestablishingshotatthe verybeginning ofourtitle sequence, which wedecided tocutoutas ittookalong time foranythingto happen withthis shotandalso itwasn’tvery usefulin thegrandschemeofthe title sequence. TheOmen(1976) Shaunofthedead
- 7. NarrativeandTitlecomparisonstorealmediaproducts Inthe creation of our film wedecided that wewould challengesome of the conventions that we view as quite old fashioned and not representative of todays society. One audience theory in particular that we disagree with and challenged was the final girl theory. This is thetheory in which the protagonist and main victim of the film is a female characterand is usually the onlysurvivor at the end of the film. Ourtitle sequence does not containanyfemale characters apart fromthe mention of thevictims mother, but therewill be females inthe actual film itself. Wechoseto go against this because times havechangeda lot since the theorywas first established inthe 1930’s-40’s,and women havegainedmany rights to gain some equality with men, appearing as professional athletes and politicians, by conformingto this theoryit would enforce theview that all women areweak and all men arestrong, which in fact is not true. Having the main characterbea male individual is a popular idea that is beginning to makeits wayinto newhorror films, such as the film “Sinister” and “Woman in Black”. Therearestill only a few of thesefilms though, which gives our film some individuality, uniqueness and sets it apart from the most popular horror films of the past. However, ourfilm does not challenge all the conventions as it would not bea horror film if it did, and conforms to Levi Strauss’s theory of binaryopposition. This theory suggests that thereis always one extreme vs another, e.g. black vs white and good vs evil. It follows this theory because our title sequence contains an evil characterstalking and killing a good character.Due to our film being in the horrorgenre,it suffers great criticism based off of the desensitisation theory, meaning we haveto create a structurethat throws the audienceoff slightly throughout thefilm and title sequence, doing something unexpected keepingthe viewer on edge. SydneyPrescott inScream, following the final girl theory. Max in Pallium, challenging the final girl theory.
- 8. The titles in our title sequence are a mixture of red and white and of varying size, switching from 55 to 77 and back. The colour red is symbolic of the blood that will be spilled as well as anger and animosity of the person or thing doing the killing; the colour white represents the innocents of the victims and the ‘divine’ place where they will be going. Our title sequence contains a heavy use of sound, specifically ambient, non-diegetic, diegetic, contrapuntal and dialogue throughout the title sequence and relies on this along with a mixture of shots and movement to cause a reaction from the audience. The sound should create tension, suspense, intrigue and anticipation. The interest should be developed from the dialogue and suspense by the gradual increase of the ticking speed. The varying speed of ticking compliments, the fade transition, cliff- hanger ending where it fades to black yet the ticking continues for one more second before stopping at the reveal of the films title. This makes the viewer want to continue watching, as they want to know what happens next in the film and who this death affects. A comparable title sequence I watched to influence sound decisions was “Child’s Play 3” due to is repetitive high pitched non-diegetic, mechanical noise throughout the sequence. This gave me the idea that the ticking should be present throughout our title sequence and slowly escalate until the end. We also downloaded two royalty free soundtracks from the website www.purple-planet.com, to accompany the characters journey before he meets the antagonist and after. Narrative, Title and sound comparisons to real media products continued…
- 9. The name of our title sequence is Pallium, meaning Cloak in Latin, a dead language making it a mystery of what the film is about, influencing people to continue watching and try to make an inference them self. It is also more eye catching than the word cloak. The film is closely linked to the title sequence, with the victims friend slowly discovering the reasons why he is dead and who is committing these murders. The only real special effect we used in the editing process was the manipulation of lighting, by the colour contrasts giving the shot a distinct tint in comparison to the other shots. Narrative, Title and sound comparisons to real media products continued…