similar products and conventions research post

similar products and conventions

Looking at our opening scene and the genre it fits into, we decided it belonged in the horror genre. The horror genre is one of the biggest genres and is split into a variety of sub genres, so its important to identify the category in which our film fits into. Ours fits into a satanic horror type genre.

We had to look at a variety of films that were in the same category (a horror) as our opening scene. the films that we chose were:

- scream

- stranger things

- blare witch project

- IT

SCREAM: 

Looking at the character types within horrors in general and the movie Scream. Something that is the most noticeable thing is that there is aways a victim within the narrative (horrors). We have followed these conventions of a stereotypical horror. Within our opening scene a man who is oblivious to the massacre that has taken place. He comes across the bloody scene and it ends with the indication that something happens to him. Within Scream, the victim is spending the night in her home, making popcorn and wanting to watch a film. This is what makes these killers so effective, as it is unexpected by the victims but expected by the audience. This is what the similarities are to our sequence, as this man didn't expect it at all.

As we are doing a horror theres not really a direct theme to our opening sequence. Horror is the main theme as there is a narrative, blood, disturbance etc. Within scream this is quite similar as there isn't a direct or key theme that can be associated with it. As horror is the main theme of it.

When looking at the narrative, and what we decided to do. The beginning of our opening scene is the man walking through the forest on a dog walk. Its simple and easy to achieve, juxtaposition of whats about to occur. Scream follows a narrative of a young girl, home alone, making popcorn. She suddenly receives a call which turns into her being tormented by a male killer, and ends up dying at the end of the opening scene. Comparing this to our opening scene and the similarities between them, our character in the beginning is unknown to the danger that is further along. He ends up coming across this bloody scene, which ends up being the connoted death of him.

The setting of Scream takes place in the young women's home, she is alone which is what makes her so vulnerable within the scene. It is at night which is another contributing factor. Within our scene the main character of the scene is male. stereotypically you wouldn't (as an audience) fear for the mans life, yet what ends u happening is he is scared, and you suddenly change that opinion. This goes against the stereotypes and conventions of a horror. Overall Scream and our opening scene are quite similar yet also differentiate. Our opening scene takes place in the woods. The woods location is quite an abandoned and lonely place, you are most likely not going to get help if you need it. This created tension as there is no one to help him, he is alone with whoever is out there (cult like predators)

We are filming in the day so lighting isn't a huge deal as we will be using natural light. Just incase, we will be bringing portable tightening tubes which are small lights to brighten up the darker parts of the shoot. Within Scream it was filmed in a house so they were able to use artificial lights that the house had already, as well as high key lighting (set lights). Looking at the two opening sequences the props that were used are surroundings of a house and a woods location. The set in scream was the basic necessities of an urban house, while our opening scene is just simple necessities of the woods. What we have in common, is using what is around us to the advantage. We are using twigs, sticks, the tree foliage etc. 

The camera angles in which are similar to Scream is the variety. Within horror its important to not give too much away so that suspense is built at all moments. we have talked about the capturing of facial expressions, which scream do quite well with the use of close up shots. One of the key shots we will use is establishing shots as they are contributing factors to the introduction of a location. Scream do this as if the young girl is being watched, which is something we will be trying to achieve within our opening scene. We want to communicate the idea as if he is being watched and is not alone.

Lastly looking at the way we want to edit our opening scene to create effect, it would be very similar to scream. Both the concepts and ideas of scream and our opening scene are quite similar in the sense that there is a lot of quick cuts in place. Again the idea that we don't want to give too much away to build suspense. There won't be a vast amount of transitions, quite similar to scream (keeping it simple). Overall the editing will be quite simple and kept to a minimum, to make sure that not much is given away that ruins the scene.

BLARE WITCH PROJECT:

The characters of Blare witch project are 2 men and a woman who go on a trip to discover a certain area of the woods where paranormal activity has taken place. They are completely unaware to what is going to take place. Similar to our actor and character, he has no idea what is about to take place within the forest and is going in thinking he's on a dog walk. The man is young, probably in his thirties. The actors within Blare witch project end up screaming and are terrified of what is taking place. Similar to our opening scene, this man will be exposed to something he's never seen before and will shock and terrify him. Overall its similar in the sense that these characters are exposed to things that they had never even imagined, which is what makes the events so powerful.

Similar to the last paragraph on the theme of our opening scene. As it is a horror the is the theme. There isn't a specific (theme) category that I can put it into as it follows the basic conventions of a horror. So both the blare witch project and our opening scene would just be classified as a horror.

The narrative of the blare witch project is as they go deeper into the forest and get lost etc, they start to see more abnormal situations occur. Their friend gets kidnapped, they lose their map etc. Its the idea that as they go deeper into the forest and further along the narrative everything starts to go wrong and gets worse. Similar to our opening scene, the further he goes into the forest location, it begins to go wrong and the audience are exposed to abnormal details such as symbols, signs, meat etc. The man doesn't notice it but the camera works and shots will make it so that the audience notice it immediately.

With the set and location. The whole of the Blare witch project takes place in some woods in America. The whole of our opening scene takes place in the woods. The great thing about the woods location is that in both sequences it isolates our characters. no one can save or hear them within the woods and it makes them more alone without help. It can also give the idea that anyone could be watching at all points, which is something we massively want to take forward. That is why in some ways our opening scene is most similar to blare witch project as it is based in a forest location with no one else to help them. Something else that can be compared, is that within the blare witch project, they slowly separate and lose each other like in our opening scene. The dog there is almost a false sense of security, and then he runs away and the man is left alone with this mess. The costume, lights, makeup and hair is a difficult one as there isn't much. We are filming outside so the lighting will be at a minimum as mentioned before. Within the blare witch project they film at both night and day which we will not be doing. We will only bet filming in the day which does benefit us, as we can use the sunlight as our main source of light. The blare witch project was set in the style of a documentary, so they were able to use the natural sunlight and it wasn't questioned. Where as if we need (as mentioned previously) we are bringing small lights incase of dark scenes.

The way we are filming will be slightly different to the blare witch projects filming, because as mentioned theirs was filmed in the style of a documentary which meant that most of the shots were hand held shots. Where as we will only be using a few hand held shots to reinforce the idea that someone is with him in the forest but it is unknown. For example we will do a shot behind the tree through some leaves to do a pov of someone else (as if he is being watched). The hand held shot will make it more believable. As well as the end we will have the camera quickly go to him and then it cuts. It is the same method as the blare witch project and communicates some of the same ideas. 

With editing and the choices that we are going to make most of the transitions will be quick cuts as mentioned before. But with the use of sound and what we can add in post production. There might be the use of sound effects but mostly things that are ambient sounds (similar to the bare witch project). Most of their sound effects or recorded sound was trees rustling, leaves moving (ambient sounds). Which is something we will only add if we weren't able to catch it efficiently on the day of shooting.

STRANGER THINGS: 

Within stranger things and the way the characters work, there is the group of friends who are the victims of a paranormal monster known as the Demogorgan, especially two of the friends eleven and will. Something that is already comparable is the idea that this man specifically is the cult/ monster creatures new victim. At the beginning of stranger things it is the idea of the unknown and the question of what is out there. Similar to our opening scene it is the constant question to what is out there and as an audience should we fear for the character. Within stranger things some of the things that take place are questionable and most of which can't be answered. Within our opening scene the massacre is unexplainable and the audience is left on a cliffhanger without any explanation or answers to what happens.

As we are doing a horror theres not really a direct theme to our opening sequence. We can just link it to the satanic theme and the horror itself.

The stranger things narrative is based off of the idea that a boy goes missing and no one is able to give his family any answers to where he is, what has happened or what danger he is in. This ends up being a discovery of monsters, paranormal activity and unexplained situations. This is obviously the whole narrative of stranger things not the opening scene. Within our opening scene, a man wonders through the woods and comes across something that he wasn't suppose to, he ends up being faced which is suggested satanic/ cult like/ creature. But it is never explained. Similar to stranger things, within the first episode not much is explained, and the audience begin to have a variety of questions and want to know more. Which is the similar concept we are running with.

Within the first episode of stranger things it takes place in multiple locations, one of which is the forest. The forest within it has been made to look frightening and nowhere anyone wants to be (mainly set at night in the dark). We are obviously not working in the dark but working in a forest location. With the use of props and added items we can still create the same effect. The friend group within stranger things start to figure things out on their own but they always have each other. As mentioned before the man within our scene has his dog which means he isn't alone. Thats why it isn't great when the dog runs away. Looking at the costume, props and lighting. The lighting within our set will be natural lighting. This is different to stranger things as a lot of the lighting they use on set is artificial lighting. But at times they use natural lighting outside (as a lot of the program takes place outside). The props in which they use are very 50's themed so this isn't very comparable. I found that this is one of the things I can't massively compare to my opening sequence as it is just too different as well as costume. But with every other part of it im able to compare to it.

The way that stranger things have used camera angles and editing is again quick cuts tome the scenes along at a good pace. As this is an opening scene it is what is the decider for the audience to keep on watching or to stop. We have to make it intriguing in any way possible, that is why I believe that quick use of cuts would be the best decision as stereotypically fast moving scenes are easier to watch than something slow. The editing techniques that we might possibly use, is cross fading in order to blend the scenes together so that the sound sounds more natural. There will be a lot of leaves and ambient sounds, so it is important for it to sound naturalistic and not fake.

IT

The characters within IT follow the key conventions of a stereotypical horror as there is the stereotypical character types. There is the victim and predator creature, which touts and disturbs the victims. This is very similar to our opening scene and the character style/ placement within it. We have a predator which is unknown to the audience which makes it more scary. The predator ends up (or what is suggested) going after the main character. This follows they conventions of a horror, and are similar to each other. The clown Pennywise, is this creature in which the audience fear. He is a symbol of danger which is what we want the props to represent within our opening scene. As we are doing a horror theres not really a direct theme to our opening sequence. We can just link it to the satanic theme and the horror itself.

The narrative of IT is about the person eating clown who torments young children. They work together to defeat the clown. Within the opening scene of IT, the small child is left alone with the clown, this links to the idea of our opening scene. And how the man is left alone with the predator. Like Georgie the young boy from IT, he looses his boat which is what leads him to the clown, like in our opening scene the man looses his dog which is what leads him to the massacre. Although the characters are different (age, personality etc) it still follows the same concepts and ideas. The location of the opening scene of IT is based outside in the streets on a rainy day. This is similar to our scene as it takes place outside. Even though they are in different locations outside they still use the same idea of it being outside. The outside connotes the sense of danger and what can take place, which is what the forest connotes. There is no one that can take them. As mentioned before stereotypically you wouldn't expect a man to be traumatized as those are the stereotypes of men within movies. But this opening scene goes against the stereotypes. 

The costumes used within IT suit the location. For example, the young boy is in a yellow rain coat (perfect for the rainy evening). The yellow also connotes a sense of purity, happiness, and all things that can be associated with a young child. Like our opening scene we have dressed our actor in jeans/ trousers a black jacket and boots. This fits our character (a male in his thirties) connotes the dominance and stereotypical masculinity with the dark color palette. The lighting within the scene of IT, is quite dark with some editing they were able to emphasize the gloominess of the day and present a certain atmosphere. This is something we are going to try as the weather and colouration of the scene does reflect the mood and atmosphere of our scene.

The camera techniques used in IT have been close ups and mid shots as well as the odd establishing shots which present to us the location of the scene. The establishing shots are so important as they introduce the location and atmosphere to audiences so they understand where it takes place. The close ups of the Childs face make us feel more sympathy and love towards the character. That is why it is important for the close ups to bring out the detail. We are going to include close ups for our actor (smiling, laughing, calling out his dog). This way the audience are introduced to the actor and feel for him on a deeper level. And lastly the editing techniques in which we will use, will be mostly the adding of sound within post production, of ambient sounds etc. There is not much to say about the editing of what we want to achieve as I have listed it above. But we have decided that we want the editing techniques to be simple yet effective so that we can get the best out of what we are doing.

IN CONCLUSION:

To conclude the things in which they have in common and something I notice massively is the fact that they all follow the key conventions of a horror. The idea that there is always a victim, and a predator. There is also the use of the unknown, that something could always happen. The fear that the audience feel is something that keeps them interested and entertained. The audience always have questions and want to know the answers to them. That is why they keep watching because they have to know. The reason all these conventions are in my opening scene, is because we are targeting a specific audience. The horror target audience are people who love the gore and the fear so we have to present that in some sort of form. The reason movies and studios earn money is due to the audience watching the movie. If the target audience don't watch it, then they won't earn the money they need. That is why sadly today, majority of movies aren't made for creativity they are made to please a mass audience. The elements in which are different are the types of horrors in which we picked. IT the clown focuses on monster horrors, where as ours is a basic horror that doesn't typically go under a sub genre. If we had to narrow it down, it would have something to do with satanic cults/ or groups. The blare witch project is something that is most similar as it never actually reveals something, which is the concept in which we want to follow. Finally, these products gave us inspiration to how we should film and whats best to do. It emphasized that we need to make sure our camera angles create suspense and intrigue our audiences.