Today we brainstormed to find a title for our film. We thought about what we are going to present in our film and the ideas and meanings we are going to include. We didn't end up with a title but amongst other things we considered how a large part of our film could be presenting the difference between wilderness and civilisation. An obvious way of doing this is by contrasting the character who puts on his suit and the character who camps in the forest, possibly using the theory of binary opposites, which we can write about in the exam; for example wilderness, insanity, and the animalistic against social order, sanity and humanity.
In relation to this we considered the novel Heart of Darkness and the film that it influenced, Apocalypse Now. We thought about relating the camping character to Marlow, the protagonist of Heart of Darkness. We wondered: what draws him into the wilderness? What are his attitudes to it? Does he succeed in finding what he is looking for? Also by referencing these texts our film will have an element of pastiche, and will be more postmodern as a result.
Wednesday, November 24, 2010
Sunday, November 21, 2010
Progress after first filming session
During our recent lessons we have spent lots of time editing our first collection of footage into a rough edit of the teaser. There were some problems with the footage which we are in the process of solving currently.
Watching back the section where the hand turns off the fuse box was not convincing, because of the texture of the blood on the hand being too gloopy and an odd colour. Also, even if the blood looked realistic, there was an agreement between everyone in the group that the scene did not properly convey the nature of the monster (since it was just a human hand that could not properly be shown to relate to the woman in the house within the restrictions of the shots. Also the nature of the action in this scene did not provide the shock tactics we were aiming for in the final teaser.
To correct this we have pulled the scene altogether. As teasers generally last between 30 seconds and 1 minute and 30 seconds this has provided us with more space to develop the content of another scene which I will describe next.
Our most conventional scene and the most popular scene within the group consisted of a young male character dressing up in a room with the walls covered in mirrors; one minute everything would be normal, and by intersecting this scene with the one set in the forest, we can make the moment where his dead ex-girlfriend appears more shocking with the accompaniment of a very quick fading transition and an alarming sound effect. Because there is no visual description of this scene on the blog as yet, here is a basic explanation (click to enlarge):
The way that it looks like there are several copies of the girl in the room give an effect of the male character being surrounded. The girl is intended to be a form of the monster, built up from the male character's subconcious, because he is grieving his ex-girlfriend, and she is what he is thinking about at that time which is what creates the particular form the monster assumes. This is what leads to the problem with this shot. At the time of writing, we only have a static sequence where the girlfriend suddenly appears. Our feedback after showing this to our teacher was that if she was a construct of his mind (to some extent), we have not made this clear in what we have filmed so far.
To solve this we could do a number of things. After some research, a common way of taking the viewer into the character's mind is a close-up shot. But we could take this further by zooming in to the character's face (or even their eye, for example if we were to be explicit in showing this is in the character's mind) and when the shot reaches the level of zoom we want it to, the shot can suddenly change and reveal the girl, making it clear that after we have passed through the character's mind, we see what he imagines.
Alternatively, we could use editing to solve this problem. Warping the shot or soundtrack in a very subtle way could give the effect we are looking for, by distorting the reality of the shot which we have at the moment, the audience can tell it is being skewed in some way and the obvious assumption is that the character's mind is perceiving events that are not reality.
The camping/forest scene that was partially described in the storyboard post was believed to be effective by our group and teacher, but one issue was that it would have been a lot more unsettling and conventionally frightening if it was shot at night. Our experiences last year of filming at night were that we needed some kind of low-key light source to make sure that the fact it is being lit is not distracting from the action. The location of the camping scene was far from any street lamps or unnatural light, so it is very difficult to make it light enough to see, but not look like it is artificially lit. Currently we are thinking of re-filming this scene as well, by adjusting the white balance on the camera we think it will enable us to shoot a visible scene at night.
Aside from these main issues, there are instances in our footage where a camera is visible in a reflective surface, for example. To iron this out at the editing stage compromises other elements of the shot if we are cropping, so we have decided to film this section again. This also gives us a chance to improve the connection between the two characters in the sequence and give a greater sense of the action happening in the male character's mind.
Watching back the section where the hand turns off the fuse box was not convincing, because of the texture of the blood on the hand being too gloopy and an odd colour. Also, even if the blood looked realistic, there was an agreement between everyone in the group that the scene did not properly convey the nature of the monster (since it was just a human hand that could not properly be shown to relate to the woman in the house within the restrictions of the shots. Also the nature of the action in this scene did not provide the shock tactics we were aiming for in the final teaser.
To correct this we have pulled the scene altogether. As teasers generally last between 30 seconds and 1 minute and 30 seconds this has provided us with more space to develop the content of another scene which I will describe next.
Our most conventional scene and the most popular scene within the group consisted of a young male character dressing up in a room with the walls covered in mirrors; one minute everything would be normal, and by intersecting this scene with the one set in the forest, we can make the moment where his dead ex-girlfriend appears more shocking with the accompaniment of a very quick fading transition and an alarming sound effect. Because there is no visual description of this scene on the blog as yet, here is a basic explanation (click to enlarge):
The way that it looks like there are several copies of the girl in the room give an effect of the male character being surrounded. The girl is intended to be a form of the monster, built up from the male character's subconcious, because he is grieving his ex-girlfriend, and she is what he is thinking about at that time which is what creates the particular form the monster assumes. This is what leads to the problem with this shot. At the time of writing, we only have a static sequence where the girlfriend suddenly appears. Our feedback after showing this to our teacher was that if she was a construct of his mind (to some extent), we have not made this clear in what we have filmed so far.
To solve this we could do a number of things. After some research, a common way of taking the viewer into the character's mind is a close-up shot. But we could take this further by zooming in to the character's face (or even their eye, for example if we were to be explicit in showing this is in the character's mind) and when the shot reaches the level of zoom we want it to, the shot can suddenly change and reveal the girl, making it clear that after we have passed through the character's mind, we see what he imagines.
Alternatively, we could use editing to solve this problem. Warping the shot or soundtrack in a very subtle way could give the effect we are looking for, by distorting the reality of the shot which we have at the moment, the audience can tell it is being skewed in some way and the obvious assumption is that the character's mind is perceiving events that are not reality.
The camping/forest scene that was partially described in the storyboard post was believed to be effective by our group and teacher, but one issue was that it would have been a lot more unsettling and conventionally frightening if it was shot at night. Our experiences last year of filming at night were that we needed some kind of low-key light source to make sure that the fact it is being lit is not distracting from the action. The location of the camping scene was far from any street lamps or unnatural light, so it is very difficult to make it light enough to see, but not look like it is artificially lit. Currently we are thinking of re-filming this scene as well, by adjusting the white balance on the camera we think it will enable us to shoot a visible scene at night.
Aside from these main issues, there are instances in our footage where a camera is visible in a reflective surface, for example. To iron this out at the editing stage compromises other elements of the shot if we are cropping, so we have decided to film this section again. This also gives us a chance to improve the connection between the two characters in the sequence and give a greater sense of the action happening in the male character's mind.
Friday, November 19, 2010
Wednesday, November 17, 2010
Horror/Thriller Poster Research
Horror is one of the least respected genres of cinema, and yet it portrays much of today’s culture and values within its context. These movies show heavy symbolism, especially in the portrayal of women and femininity, through images of fear of castration, and the strength of females. Horror films are famous for portraying women as damsels in distress who are usually murdered within the first five minutes as punishment for their indiscretions. They are also portrayed as antagonists, which can be seen as a reflection of men’s pathological fear of women. Horror is a genre that rarely features women in a non-exploitative way, even with modern movies such as the new ‘Friday the 13th’ being extremely sexist.
There are however positive female characters in this genre and these films are usually much more respected by critics and the public. In movies such as ‘The Descent’ and ‘A Nightmare on Elm Street’, women can be seen defeating typically male villains and exhibiting strength and intelligence, moving from victim to heroine.
The female subject is shown in horror movies in different ways through time. Women are beginning to come into their own in the horror genre, showing that they are as strong as men and are not the sexual objects they were once perceived.
Thursday, November 11, 2010
Wednesday, November 10, 2010
Hammer Horror
Hammer Horror studios was very prominent in the 1950s through to the 60s and early 70s. During this time they produced dozens of films that redefined the genre. One of the most famous stars of this era was Christopher Lee who took up the mantle of Bela Lugosi in playing Dracula. The studio bridged the gap between black and white films and technicolour. The films were groundbreaking and controversial in the amount of blood and gore that was shown on screen resulting in many of the films being heavily censored, or even banned.
In modern horror films the influences of Hammer are clear to see, from the camera shots to the music to the now classic clichés that have been used over the years. The studio recently released its first horror film for over 30 years after going bust in the 1980s.
In terms of Hammer's influence on our film and how it could be similair or different, Hammer films are generally overtly melodramatic. This aspect of style would be out of place in our teaser because we want to create a serious and genuinely frightening atmosphere, but the bold visual style of Hammer films could work for us because it would be ideal for us to show some blood and gore as they are so famous for doing so that the film can easily be identified as a conventional horror in that respect.
In modern horror films the influences of Hammer are clear to see, from the camera shots to the music to the now classic clichés that have been used over the years. The studio recently released its first horror film for over 30 years after going bust in the 1980s.
In terms of Hammer's influence on our film and how it could be similair or different, Hammer films are generally overtly melodramatic. This aspect of style would be out of place in our teaser because we want to create a serious and genuinely frightening atmosphere, but the bold visual style of Hammer films could work for us because it would be ideal for us to show some blood and gore as they are so famous for doing so that the film can easily be identified as a conventional horror in that respect.
The Male Gaze
Powerpoint of the Male Gaze
This powepoint describes what the Male Gaze is and how it links in with movie planning.
This powepoint describes what the Male Gaze is and how it links in with movie planning.
The art of film title design
Hitchcock by Matt Terich
This font is useful for making a similair impression to the start of Hitchcock's films. It can work as both a typographical homage to his films or to make the following film fit into the classic thriller genre more easily, which might work for us but our film is not purely a thriller nor is it in the classic style, so the font would be at odds with the content.
This font could be appropriate for our film; in particualr the regular capital line saying "OCEAN VOYAGES" or the one saying "MAGNA CARTA". The reason for this is that because of the thin lettering and the similair size of each letter, it is clear and draws attention to the title; it is easier to read, so subconciously people are more likely to pay attention to it. It also seems timeless, and not specific to one person, which is important to our piece as the occurences in the plot happen to different people.
Futura by Paul RennerThis is ideal for our film for the same reasons, but because it is Stanley Kubrick's font of choice. The advantage of this is that people who see the font in our film could be reminded of films like The Shining, which is another movie in which the character has a "monster" (in this case the presence in the Overlook hotel) that exists in part because of their mind processes. Despite this font suiting our film it is only available for sale but it gives us an idea of what we are looking for.
Monday, November 1, 2010
Film Monster Concepts
During a media lesson we brainstormed various ideas of what the monster in our film could be. We wanted to produce a high concept film, so we ruled out any kind of traditional monster, i.e. Godzilla, King Kong etc. and instead decided to feature a monster that takes the form of the victims subconscious thoughts. This is similar to the Mexican myth of Chupacabra, which Finlay has described in a blog posting below.
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