research of different films

My ideas for my practical work are to make the opening two minutes of a horror film. I have decided to analyse three different horror films to get inspiration on what my film opening could be like. The film openings I will analyse are all from different times the oldest is Halloween which was made in 1978, scream which was made in 1996 and then saw which was made in 2004. I will analyse films from different times to see how horror has changed over time.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lFILFAaE39U

http://www.blogger.com/%3Cobject" width="425" height="344">25 best horror movies
The website that rated 25 of the best slasher films rated Halloween to be the best saying ‘the film that started it all exquisitely executed, from the direction to the acting to the creepy score that Halloween has become legend.’

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pFCStOMqpfk&feature=related

Scream once again made slasher popular after it had lost popularity by the end of the 80’s. Scream built upon the generic conventions that other productions had made before it. The first thing you hear is none digetic noise of a gunshot noise and then the title SCREAM comes up in big bold white letters that stand out from the black background. There is non digetic sound of a phone ringing and a heartbeat. There is a red fade on the back of the white writing which comes on in sequence to the heartbeat noise to show that is supposed to be the heartbeat. There is then a scream and a gunshot noise like the noise when the words came up. The letters then turn red to represent blood. We then see the phone with digetic sound of the ringing but still none digetic sound of the heartbeat until the girl picks the phone up to show the importance of the phone call. The girl is very relaxed on the phone even though the person that she is talking to asks strange questions. The phone then rings again straight after she puts the phone down and the camera zooms in on she face to show her reaction. The girl also pauses for a second before she gets the phone to show that this is not normal so it builds tension. The person asks strange questions again and she hangs up again this builds tension because the person seems so weird. The camera goes to a long shot of the house but in front of the house is a swing that is still moving to show that someone has just been on it this builds tension because it is dark so people don’t normally go on the swing when it is dark. The phone goes off again and she picks up. Half way through the conversation the person the girl is on the phone to says ‘I want to know who I am looking at’ and the camera zooms in on the girls face to show that she is scared by this builds tension and the audience now know why they swing was still moving. A digetic sound of dogs in the background can be herd to show that someone is trespassing on their land. The girl puts the porch lights on but can’t see anything and then puts the phone down again this builds tension because she doesn’t know where the person is so the audience don’t think the girl will be able to stop him. The camera zooms in on the girl locking the doors to show that she is scared. The phone then rings again and she puts the phone down after a few seconds to show that she is scared now and doesn’t want to speak to the person now. The phone then rings again and the person says ‘if you hang up on me again I will cut you like a fish’ which adds tension because you now feel that he will actually kill he now whereas before you just thought that he was just a bit strange. The person then says it’s more of a game than a joke and then not digetic music of low pitched thud noise is added to build tension. Then the person says the colour of her hair and the music becomes a lot louder and the camera follows her as she runs to lock the doors to show that she is really panicking and this makes the audience feel uncomfortable and tense. She then looks through the windows of the front door and the person says ‘can you see me’ to show that he can see everything she is doing. This adds tension because you feel like the person could attack her at any time he likes. The person then says that the cops will never make it we are in the middle of nowhere. This also builds tension because the audience feel like the girl can do nothing to stop the person. The girl then asks what the person wants and he replies the he wants to see what her insides look like. The girl starts crying and puts the phone down again. This adds tension because audience feel that the person is going to attack her now that he has told her the reason he is there. The door bell rings and she screams to show how scared she now is. The person rings again and says the name of the girl’s boyfriend and a loud non digetic thud sound is played to show that he knows a lot about her and builds tension because the girl was relying on her boyfriend to protect her but now he knows about the boyfriend. The girl is then told to turn on the porch light and she sees her boyfriend strapped to a chair with blood on his head which adds tension because the audience now knows that the person will kill try and kill her because he has already hurt her boyfriend.
The website that rated 25 of the best slasher films rated Scream to be the second best saying ‘perhaps the ultimate slasher’

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Opz1kxZSk10

Saw made horror even more gory and gruesome to scare and shock an audience that is rapidly getting used to seeing killing in horror to be normal so the new films have to find new ways to make it shock. The first thing you hear is very loud thunder and then a very metallic sound such as a knife being sharpened when the words LGF are brought up. You then hear the metallic sound again for twisted pictures when the barb wire is coming into the picture. The first thing you see is a small light going underwater and everything else is black. The light pauses on something red which looks like blood. You then hear non digetic sound of a high pitched distorted sound which gives the feeling that something wrong. The title then comes up in bright white writing to stand out from the white background. The words are also distorted to emphasis this feeling of something is wrong. You then see the small light. There is then a close up of someone’s face under water. This builds tension because the audience first think that the person is dead due to the nature of the genre. The person wakes up and gets out of the water choking which shock the audience and make them jump because it is very fast from him having his eyes closed to him jumping out the water. The light goes down the drain so the man is left in the dark. This builds tension because the audience feel that there could be anything ready to hurt or kill him in the dark. There is a low pitcher non digetic sound in the background to build tension. The man starts shouting and there is no answer for a few seconds this builds tension because he is alone in the dark so there is no way of defending himself if someone was trying to kill him. In the background you can hear chains which adds tension because the audience don’t know why there is a chain sound. There is then an answer so the audience doesn’t feel as bad because they aren’t alone. The lights then get turned on and they are too bright for comfort. As they are turned on there is non digetic sound that is high pitched and an irritating noise to show that turning the lights on isn’t what they wanted to do. There is then a P.O.V. shot from the man who was in the water and his camera is fuzzy to show that the lights are really bright. This builds tension because the still can’t see very well so they could be easily attacked. We then see a mid shot of the person that answered to the man who was in the water. The other person looks scared and doesn’t know what is going on this builds tension because neither of them knows what is going on. The camera then has a tracking shot where it goes back from the man who had got out of the water so then we can see a person laying dead on the flour. This builds tension because the audience now feel that they are going to get killed whereas before the audience only felt that there is a possibility that they could get killed. The irritating noise then gets louder and we see close up shots of the dead persons head with the blood and a gun this adds tension because the person had a gun so and he still died so the audience feel that there is now way of protecting them protecting their selves. The men try and walk over to the dead person but they are chained up which adds tension because the audience feel that there is definitely no way of protecting their selves because they are in chains. The non digetic noise then gets gradually louder and the people start shouting and pulling their chains.
Overview
The things I can take from analysing these films are the importance of non digetic music in the background to build tension. I could also use some of the camera work that they used such as in scream they mainly used mid shots to build tension because the audience don’t get to see a lot in the background so they couldn’t see where the killer was. The three films I studied mainly used mid shots and close ups so the audience didn’t get to see much of the background this built tension because the audience couldn’t see much so they feel that the killer could be anywhere. The settings that these film openings use are big dark rooms and houses. The mise en scene is quite empty or has normal things you would find in a home so it keeps the audiences attention on the main things. I could also use the way the opening films show their trailers. The credits from scream are in bold white letters with non digetic heartbeat sound and a red background to the words flashing in sequence to the heart beat sound. There is also a non digetic sound of a phone ringing and screaming. The words then quickly change to red as a gunshot sound appears and the screaming gets louder. The heart beat in the background gets faster. These are all very fast paced and they all help build tension. The credits shown in the saw opening has a very loud thunder and then a very metallic sound such as a knife being sharpened when the words LGF are brought up. You then hear the metallic sound again for twisted pictures when the barb wire is coming into the picture. The actual credits for the film have no sound and are just white writing on a black background. The words fade in and out and stand out from the background.
My target audience is aged between late teens to mid twenties. This is because this age group mainly watch horror slasher films and they go to the cinema more often than people of an older age