Update on Progress

Today (16/03/15) we had to film the new ending for our opening sequence. This took place in a small media room with all of the blinds down to make the room darker. Unlike the last ending we made we wanted the new one to focus more on the psychological horror theme. We had the figure show up for a third time before disappearing once again and the computer suddenly turning back on with the words "YOU SHOULDN'T HAVE DONE THAT" on the screen. However the whole opening sequence ends with the protagonist waking up back where she started before hearing the knock that starts the sequence over again and to get to this point the protagonist needed to die. As the murder scene in our old ending had to be removed as it took away the suspense we were unsure on how to kill our character but also make it tense. We decided that after the screen turns back on, their would be a point of view shot of the killer lunging at the character, this way the audience will not see the killer's face. We are still unsure whether we will use the shot as it is a sudden transition from the last shot and it still might not match the genre. We will decide whether to keep it in the editing stage.

There were some minor issues when filming such as the wrong outfit however we managed to work our way around this with a very similar replacement and as the room is dark it would be hard for the audience to see a difference anyway. We also ran out of time when filming the last few shots and were rushed to come up with our death shot.

The Message Shown on the Computer in Our New Ending

New Ending

Ben Drowned

As our previous ending went against our genre we had to plan out and film a new one. Our new ending is:



Girl runs into the static room and looks around, the static then turns off on every computer except one. She walks over to the screen and turns it off. She turns around to walk back and in the background of the shot a silhouette however when the girl passes the shadow the figure is gone. Her name is suddenly whispered out and she turns around to see the computer has turned back on and says "You Shouldn't Have Done That". We might add some sound effects to this part to make the tense atmosphere. When she turns back around there is a close up of her gasping and then she will wake up back in the science room where the whole experience is repeated.

We got the inspiration for this from the videogame Silent Hills P.T as it is a psychological horror game. We will also use similar sounds from the game to create a tense atmosphere. We also got the "You Shouldn't Have Done That" from the creepypasta "Ben Drowned".

Silent Hills P.T - Corridor

Our Opening Sequence





Shoot Location

We shot our opening sequence in our school's science block, one of the media class. The two pictures below is the corridor where in the film our main character is running out of one of the classroom (below left) as she hears a knock.

                                

Our Storyboard

This is the original plan for our opening sequence which we kept to quite well, we did cut out some of the scenes drawn in the storyboard and added others in replacement.

Filming Photos

During the filming process we captured 2 pictures and a quick video to show the our work while it was in progress of being filmed. This is the first picture we took:

 This picture shows the initial set-up that we were going with. We had the camera on a tripod to keep it steady and make a nicer shot. This setting was later changed to a room that we could make darker but still looked like a school classroom.

The second picture we took:

This scene is the close up of the girl getting grabbed. The camera light was automatic but it gave the scene a nice effect. The hall was also dark creating a tense atmosphere. Behind the girl is the killer/stalker however they are not in the shot as only there hand is.

The short video taken:



The video is a 7 second video of the shot of the picture above ending. This is a small blooper because as soon as the camera cuts we all laugh. It was a interesting scene to film and this small video shows that the footage was fun to film.

Starting to Export & Edit Footage, and Using Garage Band.

Now that we have filming out of the way, this lesson we are able to start rendering, exporting and editing the footage, and actually create the opening sequence.

What we are using:
We are using Garage Band to create our own music (in order to avoid copyright) and we are using Premier Pro to edit.

What we are learning:
In order to export the footage, we have to export the videos clip-by-clip, which makes the process time consuming.
Garage Band doesn't have the most creepy music in the world, and what we've learnt about psychological horror is that the non-diegetic music has to set the scene. If it's the wrong type of music, it completely destroys the effect of the scene, hence making the opening sequence a failure.

Characters and Their Story

Creating characters that are going to be in our film opening. They had to suit the genre and help the story progress.
We want to use stereotypes so that the genre can be established in the first few seconds.

Our first character idea is:

A male college student that studies psychology that sometimes hear voices in his head. Losing all his friends after he told them about the voices he is now by himself. The most recent voice told him that he would witness his old friend be hit by a car (vaguely). Not believing it he walks home and sees his friend get hit by a car, EXACTLY WHAT THE VOICE SAID!!!!

Our second character:

A female college student stays late at school to study. She is alone and stays until dark not realising the time. She hears a bang from outside and checks the time. School is shut. Leaving the classroom she goes to the gate to leave but finds that it is locked. She tries to call someone but there is no signal and in the corner of her eyes she thinks that she sees someone but when she looks back there is no one out there. She rushes inside but suddenly someone grabs her. When she frees herself there is no-one there. She runs into a classroom and hides her face in the face in the door and when she turns around there is no one.

We put more prefer and put more thought into the second character and her story so we will be making the plot for this story into more detail.

Psychological Horror - Content (Lucy)

Horror is a large genre as a whole having many subgenres, one being psychological horror. Instead of constant scares and visual horrors it relys on creating a tense atmosphere and making the audience believe that they are seeing things when in reality there is nothing there. These play on the audience's fears such as creepy sounds, flickering lights and shadows in distance, small things that will make the audience feel tense about what is happening in the scene.

These films focus on metal state of the audience by making them feel just a vulnerable as the character in the film and they are looking for every detail to avoid being scared. These kind of films play mind tricks on the audience playing on common fears, however unlike regular horror films these fears are subtly shown to the audience instead of making the audience jumps and scream.

Some differences between regular horror films and psychological horror films are:

• Horror films are more likely to show the audience the threat during the film (such as killer, antagonists) whereas they will be subtly show the threat to the audience will sounds and images rather than showing it to the audience upfront.
• Psychological creates a tense atmosphere through out the film to keep the audience on the edge of their seat whereas a horror film will build up to a dramatic scene.
• Psychological horrors usually contain  plot twists to throw the audience off guard and make them re-think the film.
• Psychological uses small scares such as strange lighting and shadows, sounds and sudden movements to scare, usually in the same place as the character whereas in ordinary horrors' the can see the horrors first hand and sometimes before the main character.

Research on Psychological Horror (Jasmine)

What is Psycholgical Horror?

Psychological Horror is a sub genre of horror fiction. They are often based around video games (as a narrative; one example of this is 'Silent Hill'). This genre relies on the characters' fears and emotional instability to build tension.
 Some of the greatest psychological horror films include:
- The Silence Of The Lambs
- The Butterfly Effect (One of my personal favourite films)
- Se7en
- American Psycho
- Jacob's Ladder
- The Blair Witch Project
- Dorothy
- The Conjuring
- The Omen

Opening Sequences

Sequence 1: The Butterfly Effect Opening Sequence

How is genre introduced? 
The non-diegetic background music, more than anything else, represents the genre.  However, the music co-notates with the text, even though the opening sequence is just credits. The text does, somehow, indicate part of the genre.

0:00 - 0:07; It tells us who the producers of the film are. The text flickers, which gives the sense that the motive isn't clear. As we find out later on in the film, the flickering is iconic because it gives us an insight of the main character's main problem- He finds it difficult to remember things, so his thoughts are always flickering about- and therefore aren't clear. Furthermore, the opening sequence is representative of the main character.
The music is also very dramatic, and it starts to get intense and creepy, once we get to the 'notepad part' of the credits. The text creates enigma because the first piece of text you see on the notepad is "how do i fix it?!" and "you never lost me." This will make the audience ask questions, which will be answered, eventually, in the film.

0:08 - 0:13; We find out that this is an Ashton Kutcher movie. The music stays the same, giving it the same feel as before.

0:13 - 0:18; The music drastically changes- less dramatic, more creepy! The pace of the text accelerates, as well as it starts to flicker (which, we said before, is using iconography and representation of the main character's mental state.)

0:19 - 0:23; A new transition is used after we get introduced to Amy Smart & Melora Walters' text. The transition changes- it fizzes out. (This is also representative because the main character subconsciously, fizzes out important memories, so he can't remember.) This may imply that they are victims of what happens in the movie- maybe, due to his mental well being?

0:24 - 0:28; We see a new piece of text, "do i have the power to heal them?" which creates more enigma. "Power? Power to control who?"

0:28 - 0:30; More enigma is created- "CUT THE ROPE". (Don't forget, the music is still creepy, it hasn't changed)

0:31 - 0:40; "I WILL COME BACK FOR YOU" is repeated, and then faded. This may give the impression that the character writing the credits is almost psycho-like? "took my shirt off" is repeated too- does that mean that the main character is somewhat desiring love?

0:41 - End; We get the name of the movie.

The reason why this opening sequence is psychological horror, and not just horror is because the music is the main factor messes with your head. You think something is going to happen, when really, nothing actually does. This is why the certificate on this film is 15+.