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How does your product use or challenge conventions and how does it represent social groups or issues? CCR 1 Martha McAuley
What genre have you made, and what are genre conventions of the genre? Our opening sequence aligns with the typical conventions of a SUPERNATURAL HORROR This is due to the conventional colours, costumes, props, locations, character types, music and narrative of a supernatural horror that we used in our opening sequence As seen below:
Location, character type, music and narrative • Location – dark setting, creepy atmosphere, smoke, etc. • Character type – costume, makeup fits either one of the contrasting characters • Music – eerie, mellow, focuses on the shots, surprised element when the eyes are revealed at the end. • Narrative – as the story progresses the supernatural element only continues to grow.
What films can you compare yours to? • Annabelle – 2014 • Director – John R Leonetti • Possessed, creepy, thriller, etc. Similar shot of central object in the centre, drawing in the audience’s eye
Editing+Camera similarities Here I found a similarity between our opening opening sequence and ‘Annabelle’ as in both we use the shot reverse shots to build tension between the two characters like this clip from a scene in ‘Annabelle’: the editing is also fairly quickly paced to build suspense between the two and show the contrast in facial expressions which can also be seen in our opening sequence.
Sound similarities In this clip I found similarities between ‘Annabelle’ and our opening sequence with the sound as this clip uses non diegetic sound like ours to build suspense and add the element of surprised when the demon/ the witch is revealed.
Mis-en- scene similarities Lowkey lighting similar to our opening sequence, helps create the scary, supernatural genre and connote the creepy aspect of the unknown. In this shot it reminds me of in our opening sequence when the ‘witch’/’demon’ take of her hood and her face is revealed with a close up just like this and the facial expressions connote an evil presence within her
Final destination – 2000 • Director – James Wong • Skull, dark, supernatural, etc.
Editing+Camera comparison the title sequence for ‘Final Destination’ similarly to our opening sequence uses prop shots for the titles however the difference is that in each of the shots for ’Final Destination’ has movement in them – for example in this clip we see the tv screen playing as the titles appear on the screen, in other similarities the titles fade in and out just like our title sequence, doing so makes the title sequence more interesting and engaging for the audience.
Sound comparison In the table are there are sound elements from ‘Final Destination’ the first film, opening sequence and in red are the similarities in what we also used in our opening sequence. In our opening sequence we use an ominous soundtrack as well as low sound vibrations in order to connote the supernatural genre as these techniques are key conventions within horror films
Mis-en-scene comparison I found this clip from ’Final Destination’ and found it very interesting as it completely contrasts with our film sequence, the Mis-en-scene in particular. In this clip the character are wearing normal, daily clothes, doing normal things, etc, in our opening sequence the facial expressions of the characters are a signal to the audience as to what will happen next, as well as their costumes giving some ideas to the audience. Whereas in this clip the heightened suspense is created from the plethora of enigma codes and the lack of knowledge that is given to the audience as it causes more of a surprise at the peak of the surprise.
Insidious – 2010 • Directors – Leigh Whannell, Adam Robitel, James Wan • Dark, possessed, witch-like, lowkey candle lit lighting, eyes, etc.
Camera shots comparison Tracking shot towards the witch like figure is unlike our opening sequence as we used little to no movement with our shots, however I chose this clip to compare our opening sequence with as the ending shot of the close-up reminds me of the shot we used to reveal the witch like character in ours. The lowkey lighting that is found in this clip from Insidious is also a key convention we used in our opening sequence as it engages the audience to keep them watching as they want to see what is hidden within the shadows and darkness.
Editing comparison In similarities the title sequence begins immediately after a black out of a previous close up which is similar to ours, however the title sequence uses a desaturated animated montage in which the titles do fade in and out like ours but are in a bold colour of red to foreshadow danger and horror for the rest of the film, this works significantly well as the desaturation of the images forces the red to stick out even more and catch the audiences eyes.
Sound comparison I chose this clip to compare our opening sequence to from a sound point of view as it shows a big difference in 2 types of conventional technique used in horror genres. In this clip to the right, a technique of contrapuntal music is used, in doing so this highlights the supernatural elements of the film as it throws the audience off guard due to the happy music going on through a scary scene – which usually makes the music seem creepy. In our opening sequence we used a very conventional ominous soundtrack with low vibration sounds too as mentioned previously but this allowed us to emphasise the creepy atmosphere of the film too.
Mis-en-scene comparison In ‘Insidious’ the mis-en-scene can be compared to our opening sequence as of the makeup and effects added to the characters to create further scary aspects for the audience. In both the use of lowkey lighting is used and in particular simple candle lighting is used to engage to audience as it intrigues them and makes them want to be able to see more as the suspense continues to build. Also the makeup on both focuses on darkening the eyes which is a typical horror convention as it creates links between the characters and demons/devil/dark associations.
What are the typical conventions of opening sequences eg intro to a character, titles etc and how have you either used or challenged these conventions? RED – things in our opening sequence Steve Neale's theory of genre – believing that films should use familiar and unfamiliar conventions to engage the audience
What social groups have you represented in your opening sequence? • Specific gender – FEMALE. In our opening sequence we have a female ‘villain’ character as well as a female vulnerable character, relating to both age and gender, as the female empowerment shows contrast to the younger girl and makes her seem more vulnerable. • Specific age – TEENAGERS. Having a young, teenage character interests younger generations as audiences of teens are able to feel a sense of relation to the film. As mentioned, we used a female ‘villain’ character as well as a female vulnerable character which showed a contrast in gender but age too. • Specific interest group - SUPERNATURAL. The use of tarot, witches, demon, etc. in our horror genre creates a wider interest for those in to supernatural things like tarot.
How have you represented these people / groups using camera, editing, mise-en-scene or sound • GENDER/AGE – In our opening sequence we dressed the vulnerable teenage girl in a white top and simple makeup to connote her innocence and exaggerate this vulnerability. This is very conventional for a horror film as it exaggerate the audiences fear since they feel sympathy for the innocent character. The innocent and vulnerable girl wore young, trendy clothes as it attracts the eyes of a younger generation – also making it more realistic for them watching. • The fortune teller was presented as powerful and with a high status and we did this by using lowkey lighting and long paced shots as it made her seem in control of the situation. We also used low angle shots to create a higher status for her. • This relates to Levi Strauss’s theory of binary opposites even when they are the same gender. • This relates to Laura Mulvey’s theory of the male gaze as the girl is wearing a cropped top. • INTEREST GROUP – we used our previous narrative research to help us represent this group in particular as we chose the three darkest sequence of cards possible – so for audiences who know about tarot and have interest in supernatural genres this was very engaging as they would have known the danger of the situation the character was in. – we exaggerated the facial expressions shown to help the audiences who are not aware of tarot card meanings to understand that the outcome was not good and very dangerous for the young, vulnerable girl.
Have you represented any of your characters or social groups in a countertypical way? • GENDER – in some views we represented gender in an opposing way to most stereotypical films where the woman is always in the position of vulnerability, as the ‘demon’ character was in fact a woman, however it can also be argued that this is not countertypical as ‘witches’/tarot/etc. are all associated with women. Witch stereotypes Villain stereotypes (male power) This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND
