IMDB Research - Sorraya Begdeli

The Shining:

It is clear from this user rating that males are watching these films a lot more than women, specifically those aged 18 - 29. At no stage are females commenting or rating this film more than males.











Rosemary's Baby:

Once again males are producing more comments and ratings for this psychological horror, especially those (once again) between 18 - 29. There is a higher rating from non US viewers than US viewers.












The Blair Witch Project:

Here a pattern is beginning to show as once again similar results to the previous films are present.















Silent Hill:

Similar results again, higher ratings from males rather than females, specifically those aged between 18 - 29.















The Grudge:

Once again, similar results to all the previous psychological horrors.

















To conclude this research, it is definitely the case that Males aged between 18 - 29 are the main population of viewers watching and rating psychological horrors. This tells me that people that fit this criteria should be the main target audience for my psychological film. Overall, psychological horrors are mostly popular outside of the US.

Narrative Analysis Questions

The Sixth Sense

What has happened?
Two people are living in a house and they go up stairs to have sexual intercourse. While they are up stairs the ladies realises that the window is broken and she then see that her phone is on the floor. From this point both characters are confused until the ladie screams as she feels a shadow run across the room in the bathroom. The camera moves into the bathroom, where we see a naked person standing up who has a mood disorder. both the naked man and the male house holder start talking as they realise the know each other from a bad past which lead to the naked man shooting the male house owner and then is self.

What do you think will happen next?
I think next, the scene will be filmed at a funeral, police station or hospital. This is due to the fact that a person got shot in his chest and that the other character did suicide. I picked these places because when you die you have a funeral service, when you get shot you go to hospital and because the was a shooting and death was involved, the police may of wanted to ask questions if investigating.
How has fear been created?
Fear as been created in a psychological way as the sound of the wind, the broken glass and the darkness creates tention. They have done this by making the audience scare thereselves, such as when we see the shadow run across the room we actually create and cause adrenaline to be realised as imagine/think about things that are not there.
Where is it set? How has it been lit?
It has been set in a empty house surrounded by trees. We know this because as the character look at the broken window, it allows us to have a quick look at outside where we carnt see nothing except for leaves hanging off tree's. The lighting is used in the bathroom which then shines on into the bedroom where the character are, giving it a dull colour and low lighting which automatically tell us that something is about to happen or appear.
Do we see the threat/victim?
During the film, the camera shots and angles allow the audience to see threat/victim. This is good because it allows us focus onto the victim and create feelings for him so that when he is hurt we automatically feel so sorry for him and it also make us feel more scared. This is also good because when the victim get shot it also allows us to see that happen which also make us think and feel yet again scared.

Horror Film Opening

Character (age, gender, etc):

The character we should use in our film should appear to be older as the victims within the films we watched weren’t usually kids, they tended to be young adults or middle aged. As the majority of people who would feature in our film would be aged 16 – 17 we will have to use someone that appears older and focus a lot on costume and makeup to give them the appearance of age. We believe the gender for the main character should be female as these are stereotypically seen to be the helpless victim within a horror film as they are often seen as weaker. This promotes fear as the audience of our film will be able to recognise who the victim is. An example of female victims is Wendy from The Shining:

                                   

 

Narrative (storyline for the opening):

It is most important for our opening to either introduce the character or the films location (or both). This is because it sets the scene for our film and allows the audience to become familiar with their surroundings and characters. For example, our opening could show visuals of inside woodlands (which is where some of our film will be shot) and use various camera shots to show the full location to the audience.

Costume:

Once again we feel we would need to provide a costume that reflected an older person’s style as the victim we would use wouldn’t be very young. Also, from previous films we have noticed that the characters clothes are quite normal as the most targeted victims are usually normal people that have become under the influence of a supernatural evil. We feel our costumes should represent that the person is a victim or has suffered something in her lifetime, for example we could use a hospital gown to imply that she is mental.

Lighting and Setting:

We feel the lighting should be natural or very little as the films atmosphere is quite dark and tense, this means that no added light should be used as it would be quite unusual to use a lot of light and we want to make our film as realistic as possible. We feel that our film should be set in the evening as the darkness implies that there is a presence nearby and it sets the audience into the horror mind frame as they become prepared for any shocks that may occur. This is represented in psychological horrors such as The Strangers as it is set at night time and the fire and lamps are the only minor sources of light provided.

1408 Wordle

The words that are the largest are the ones that are the most important to the film. This is things such as ‘Mike’ who is the main character in the film 1408 and he is the character that the film is all based around. Other words that are written in a larger font are ‘hotel’ and ‘room’ these are key features to the film as it is the setting of the film and it is also the hotel room where the psychological horror happens. The word ‘dolphin’ is also to do with the hotel because that is the name of it. ‘60:00’ and ‘hour’ both appear in the wordle, this is because there is a time limit which is very effective as it makes you uncomfortable and on edge as you wait for something to happen. ‘Death’ is a word that stands out as something we are afraid of, so it instantly makes the film something you will be slightly afraid to watch.

wordle for horror - the strangers - Kaine

According to this film, in my film I such have things associated with trapped and locked in to show that the character in scared. I also should add loud creepy music to create fear and tention and also the film should be filmed in a house to show isolation.  

Horror Wordle Sorraya Begdeli

The largest words highlighted within the horror wordle are the words Danny, Jack and Wendy. These words are important because they are the names of the main characters in the film The Shining. Several key words are featured within the wordle such as premonition, murder and killed. These words not only relate to The Shining itself, they also relate to many psychological horrors due to the supernatural aspect of premonitions and the violent features of death. Another important word is snowfall, this is because the type of weather influences the way the audience feels. The fact that snowfall is present during this film gives the audience a feeling of fear as it is usually associated with coldness, darkness and being locked inside during the snow. Frightening and frantically are also good words to look at as they highlight the tense atmosphere of the film.

Second Piece of Title Research - Sorraya Begdeli

The Wicker Man

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XbHExrZxF3o

In this title sequence we are given quite a lot on institutional information, several names are featured and these names include actors, directors, editors etc. As per usual, the actors are named first and then they are followed by crew members.

The text is presented to us quite simply in a plain white font to stand out amongst the background, the letters are all in block capitals and the font size tends to vary when stating a crew members specialty (smaller) to mentioning their actual name (bigger). As it is quite an old film the title sequence is quite plan and uninteresting, I believe this is due to the lack of special effects that are present today. This is why films such as The Wicker Man showed their institutional information whilst screening the opening of the film. Although not as interesting to the eye for the viewer, it still catches their attention as the colour it uses stands out against the background.

The visuals we see during the title sequence are of a man taking off on a small plane to another destination, the entire sequence shows the view whilst the man is flying over the sea and over hilly land. Due to the low populated areas he is flying over, we can assume he is going somewhere unknown which is true to the films actual plot as he arrives at quite a secluded island. The visuals show the man travelling and the opening scenery is quite a nice introduction towards the film, it is quite ironic as the films ending is very twisted and morbid and this is such a difference between the peaceful title sequence.

From this title sequence we can learn how to use irony within the title sequence and how to present text to the audience in a simplistic manner whilst being able to make it stand out enough to be noticed. Due to the lack of special effects within the title sequence, the most important part is the visuals and this implies that the visual aspect of the opening sequence is enough for the viewer. This means that for our piece we would also have to focus on providing the viewer with a good visual aspect which keeps them entertained whilst the institutional information is provided to them.

Sorraya Begdeli - Art of the Title Research

The Shining:

The first use of institutional information within the title sequence is the mention of the films’ director, Stanley Kubrick. ‘A Stanley Kubrick film’, this instantly informs the audience who made the film and allows them to receive an opinion on it as some viewers may recognise the name. It then states the names of the lead actors, one of which being Jack Nicholson (another largely recognised name). Shortly after, the films title is shown to the viewers before then continuing to show more actors names. Finally, towards the end of the title sequence the institutional information changes to information such as who the executive producers are, the story it is based on etc.

The text is presented to us in a bold, stenciled font which is of the colour blue. The writing features on the title sequence by being positioned in the centre of the screen and moving up from the bottom towards to top of the screen till it eventually can no longer be seen. This is quite effective as the fast past movement of the font above the background imagery  helps us to focus on the institutional information that is given, especially as it uses a colour that stands out for the viewer.

The visuals featured are the most effective part of the title sequence as we are introduced to the movie by it showing a yellow car driving along rocky and unsafe mountains. The frequent use of high angled shots implies that the main characters in the car are weak and inferior to this higher being watching over them. This is perfect for the psychological genre as it focuses on the idea that something is causing bad things to happen and is playing tricks on the mind however that ‘something’ has no physical presence. This is a major aspect of the title sequence as we are constantly looking over the car which is positioned in such a potentially dangerous and isolated environment and we get the feeling that something is there. 

From this title sequence we as a group can learn to focus on the aspect that even without the use of including the ‘enemy’, we can portray someone as a victim and create horror within a film. The Shining’s title sequence is able to do this with the simplistic use of filming a car driving and therefore we too should be able to look at ideas surrounding how to create fear without actually giving anything away. The title sequence is very powerful as it is so effective in creating fear through it’s use of music and location, this means that when looking at filming our project we should focus a lot on after effects such as music and planning such as finding a location as well as focusing on what we actually film.

Ideas

The Strangers: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cigDRzYngM0
We believe that this clip instantly creates a sense of fear, the use of sound from a 'stranger' banging on the door is a very tense aspect which gives us ideas on how to create fear within our film. For example the aspects such as the oldern style music, dark tense atmosphere and sense of isolation are good contributions which could also be carried out in our film.

The Orphanage: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2butfPWygZ0&feature=related
This clip is very useful as it builds a lot of tension for the audience as we are waiting for something to happen, this is something we would like to enforce into our film as the viewers will be on the edge of their seats waiting to see what happens. Even though this may appear more paranormal we believe the film has psychological aspects such as the large use of silence and darkness to create an uncomfortable atmosphere, not only this we think it has elements that would make any horror film good which is why we've chosen to use this as an example of what we would like to feature.

Psychological Conventions Mindmap

This is the mind map our group have created to help plan for our film, this mind map looks at the typical conventions that are seen in a psychological horror and from doing this we are able to ensure that we too include these conventions. We have subheadings relating to the most important aspects of films such as sound, camera shots, lighting etc. Within these subheadings we have wrote what we expect from them within a psychological film. 

Final Coursework Group

For the final coursework piece, our group members are: Kane Anson, Samantha Whawell and Sorraya Begdeli. Together we chose to create a Psychological film as this was our preferred genre. Already as a group we have discussed similar ideas for our film and created a mind map in which we looked at many possible aspects that could be included such as location, costume, makeup, characters etc. As the weeks progress we will be doing more and more research to put towards our final piece, this weeks piece of research being to look at films from our genre and analysing it in terms of how they create effect, this allows us to introduce the skills used into our own film.

Sorraya's Evaluation

The preliminary assessment task set involved being seperated into small groups and recreating roughly 30 seconds of footage recorded by previous AS media students. My group (including Samantha Whawell and Francesca Shilton) chose to reenact the psychological 1 film entitled ‘Reflection’. Previously we had chosen a 30 second time frame which involved two characters, but due to last minute circumstances, we had to alternate the 30 second time slot slightly so it featured just one character. The overall sequence involved the main character (Samantha) stumbling into the woods and walking through them shouting for help, a sense of isolation is also present. 

In terms of the use of camera, our previous preparation in lessons taught us the basics of both setting up a camera and using it. As for holding a shot steady, I found certain difficulties as I had to film the entire sequence and there were certain elements that I found  I had problems with. A reason for this was the fact that we were filming on very unsteady ground meaning that even with the use of a tripod, it was hard to keep the camera both straight and steady especially when moving. For example, from about 10 - 14 seconds in which the camera follows Samantha, there is quite a lot of unsteady movement in filming.

                                                                                                                                                                                                          

                               

However, I do believe that the majority of the time, the shots were steady when filming as I was mostly able to keep the camera still. When looking at the framing, I believe the only major error involved in this was once again the 10 - 14 second timing as it features a lot of headroom which could be open space for more focus on Samantha. Although this is an error, I believe the rest of the footage uses appropriate framing as Samantha is alone in the woods in this sequence without the use of any props, this means that there wasnt a lot to focus the camera on, and the main framing had to focus on Samantha and her surrounding. In doing this a sense of loneliness is highlighted.

The reenactment uses a large variety of shot types, these included Close ups, Long shots, Mid close ups etc. In doing this, I believe it enabled the viewer to get a good perspective of the sequence due to the different shots showing elements such as background, reactions and emotions.

I believe that continuity editing was the biggest flaw to our assessment as a lot of the cuts do tend to jump slightly, although they arent strong negative aspects to the footage, they are noticeable to those looking at continuity. It is because of this that the main aspect I feel I need to work on for my final piece is producing a fluent film and practicing how to edit as best as possible.

                      

                                                                                             

An example of bad continuity editing is the cut from 4 - 5 seconds, I find the cut to be very jumpy and evidently obvious that it is has been made. The transitions from shot to shot seem to be appropriate as they all feature different types of shots which (as previously stated) enable the viewer to get a different perspective of the film. 

In my opinion, I find that the finished work shows that we as a group were able to choose a good use of costume (no makeup/props needed) for our piece as Samantha dressed up in her pyjamas and this mirrored the original piece in which the main actor was in his dressing gown. The location chosen was the area I had suggested in our pre planning recee worksheet and this was suitable for our film as it was originally shot in open spaced woodland and this is evidently what the location has. Not only this, we found that my location was most suitable to conduct our filming in due to it being the most practical location for us to get to in terms of closeness to the college. I believe that Samantha was a good actor for our assessment due to her previous drama experience and this was clear in the sequence as it looked very natural and realistic.

My input for the preliminary assessment involved filling in preplanning sheets such as the recee homework which involved finding the appropriate location (Bramcote Park woods) and the costume homework which required information on what costumes would be used and why. As for the actual filming, I filmed the entire sequence myself whilst Samantha did all the acting. However we both edited it together. When it comes to filming my final coursework film I will ensure that I focus a lot more on getting a steady shot as I think I lack skills in that area. In terms of improvement for our preliminary assessment, it would be    better if the continuity was worked on a lot more as that seems to be the main issue in our film. This looks at the editing process which means when editing in the future I should spend a lot more time trying to ensure that it is fluent throughout. Overall, I believe the preliminary assessment was a good piece of filming and was mostly accurate to the original piece, however I am now aware that I need to work on a lot in terms of both filming and editing before I work towards my final piece.

Sorraya Begdeli.