The review was made using Adobe Photoshop, content was created after looking into secondary research into other film reviews from magazines and the images are screenshots taken from the film itself.
We drew 2 rough ideas on Photoshop to help us decide how we wanted to lay out our poster and what we wanted to include. We had 2 main ideas. From comparing these drawings we decided as a group that we wanted to layout the our poster like our second design.
In order to make a film poster for our thriller short film I decided to research into existing thriller film posters to see what was included and how to make it clear we are advertising a thriller film. 'The Purge' Film Poster'The Woman in Black' Film Poster
In our short film, we had a prop as the main character. Mercy is a china doll, we used a china doll as they are known to be in horror films, and they are effective in those films. Examples of the films which use china dolls are, SAW, Chucky and Poltergeist, these are all big and well known films which incorperate China Dolls, which are used effectively to create the scare factor. We used a more realistic and more human looking doll as it was meant to look like and replace a child. We believe it was effective as it was similar looking to a child. For the piece we were able to photo shop photos together, using real life photos of normal people, and then editing the face of the china doll into the pictures, making them look realistic and creepy. It also makes it clear to the audience what we was trying to get across (that the doll, is taking the place of the human child). The pictures was important as otherwise the audience may not understand that the doll is the child. We looked through different websites to find scary but real looking china dolls, then settling on this one, she has dark hair which is seen a lot when using china dolls for an evil purpose.: In our short film, the owners of the house leave the key under the mat. There is a close up of the key we used (On the right), its a big old one almost like this key shown. The key of a house can show a lot about it. A big old key generally means its an old, mysterious house. It can also mean theres something supernatural or different going on in the house. The key in this film (The Skeleton Key) is connected and related to scary events throughout the film. You dont normally see normal-modern looking keys in horror films as it doesnt show anything abnormal and strange going on, and the audience will look at it as something normal and non-suspicious, where-as if the film makers use a bigger and older key, it isnt as normal and they will begin to realise something is going on and something about the house or the key is abnormal.
This is a picture of the house used in the short film, during the day. The reason we used this house is because during the night it looked quite eerie and old. This made the audience and the character feel like it was abnormal and strange. The street is also full of houses which are old and victorian looking, making it seem mysterious. We decided to film during the night as it would create an eerie and mysterious setting. Its also a common code and convention in horror films, as it is generally during the night when things go wrong and problems arise. As the road also had no one on it, it made it look quite secluded and that no would would help if needed. Abandoned buildings and isolation are also common codes and conventions of horror films and create a scary atmosphere, the audience will also start thinking something abnormal is going to happen during the films.
SoundtrackThe most important element of sound we had to focus on for the making of our final production was the soundtrack. We discussed as a group what points of our short film needed music and what we wanted the music to sound like. We mind mapped various ideas that we all came up with in order to help us create suitable music. From this we then gathered a good idea as to what sounds we wanted to include to compile our soundtrack. We went on GarageBand and familiarised ourself with the programme in order to use it as efficiently as possible. By spending time on this we managed to create a list of potential sounds to include in our soundtrack. We explored all the different sounds focusing mainly on the 'dark;, 'distorted' and 'piano' sounds as they were most fitting to what we wanted. Sound Effects- laughterOnce we had the soundtrack sorted, our next main focus was the sound effects we would be using in our film, paying most attention to the sound of laughter coming from Mercy the doll. The sound of her laughter is going to be a key element of the film adding to the fear factor and mysteriousness of our film overall contributing to the horror genre. The sound of a child's laughter becomes scary simply based on the context. When something as innocent as a baby's laugh is played in an unnatural setting it instantly becomes scary. I researched conventional sound effects of children's laughter typically found in films as well as children's laughter found in famous horror films. This gave us an idea of how effective the sound would be and where we wanted to include the sound effect in our film to be as effective as possible. After my research we then went back to Garageband and discovered the ' small child giggle' sound effect which we then edited to make it slower and higher pitched to make it as scary as possible. Sound Effects- VoicemailAnother key aspect of sound within our short film is the voicemail played at the beuinning of the film, triggering the rest of the narrative. The voicemail is from the mother who is an old woman. This meant we had to find a voice which would fit accordingly to the character. We tried and tested several people to see which would fit best. To decide we got audience feedback and asked our peers and teachers which voice they felt appropriate.
Sound - There is the sound of rain to open up the piece showing its dull and gloomy. There isnt any music in the background at first and the main character walking through her apartment, then flicking the switch on and off. There is the sound of the switch. When the monster/creature appears infront of her, she screams and the non-diagetic music adds to the surprise. There are creaking floorboards through the piece, making the audience believe it is a old and creepy house. We hear and see the lights go off, along with the creepy floor boards making it clear there is someone else in the house other than her. We can hear the light flickering adding to the suspence. Lighting - The lighting is quite simple, changing between dark and light. They use the change in lighting to show different things happening throughtout the short film. It shows the audience that the frightening changes happen during the dark, rather than in the light. Because its filmed in a enclosed area which is shut of, and because she is living alone it makes the short film more frightful as she cant get help. As it progresses we notice she is not alone in the apartment. During the switch between light and dark we notice someone is there, the character also notices. Dark colour schemes are a stereotypical code and convention of horror and thriller films, hence why they used the darkness and isolation of the apartment. The Camera - The low shot camera angle shows an apartment and a gloomy atmosphere. This sets the film up, showing the audience its going to be a gloomy and dark short film. The camera follows behind her until she turns of the switch. It then switches to the antagonists POV shot, although the main character isnt aware that it is actually there. The mid shot of her face shows she is now slight more aware that someone else is there. She is curious so she continuously turns on and off the switch. The close up shot shows she is scared as the creature or person comes nearer. A wide shot reveals a small dark room with a single bed and light in the corner. The lack of furniture shows how she is vaunrable and has no where to hide if something happens, this makes the audience then worry for her and her safety. The wide shot of the open door, then zooms in as a creaking sound starts, making it obvious that its the door. The ending shows a midshot of the protagonist looking around happily, thinking no one is there, then looking to the light and seeing the monster, then turning of the light. Mise-en-Scene -
The short film is set in a isolated and small location which is a typical code and convention of a horror piece. Its claustraphobic and a small contained place which means if something happens she only has a few escape routes, they can still get blocked of though. The opening to the short film shows its raining, its a dull and dark setting with is a common code and convention to horror and thriller pieces which this clearly is. Its includes aspects from both horror and thriller pieces making it a horror-thriller. It isn't completely a horror as there isnt any gore in the short film and it lacks that. Flickering lights near the end where the antagonist is getting closer is a typical code and covention of thriller and horror pieces. It builds up suspension and the audience become more frightened. We began filming at 4pm when it began getting dark so we had the right lighting for shooting our scenes To film the blood scene, we placed layers of cling film on the floor to ensure the blood (food colouring) didn't stain the floor. Once placing the cling film we used a straw to blow the blood, which in turn looked as though it was coming out of the dolls face. By using a straw it enabled us to make the blood flow without our hands being in shot. While filming, the only problem we encountered was the china doll breaking during shooting the throwing scene. However we managed to work around this having already filmed the shots we needed with the china doll's face in, so the doll breaking didn't affect any of our shots. We also worked around the problem by supergluing the face back together. This worked in our favour as the doll looked more creepy with a cracked face when filming the blood scene. In order to fully begin to visualise the mis-en-scene of our short film, I decided to brainstorm some typical key props used in films of the horror genre; in particular ones we are interested in using or are relevant to our story line.
Due to how a common code and convention of 'horror' is blood and gore, weapons are often used as a prop in part of the narrative, as they impend not only pain and injury but fear to both victims and audiences. They are an interesting prop to feature as they can clarify either the 'bad guy'/villain trying to do wrong, or the innocent victim trying to defend themselves. Unsure of how to make a weapon relevant to our idea for our narrative, we are going to definitely include some degree of pain or injury, whether it be cause by a weapon or not, as the connotations of blood and gore will fulfil the criteria of typical horror films.
A very simple, yet fear invoking prop often used in horror films are ringing phones. Often with a shrill and loud ring, phones can fill both the characters and the audience with dread and fear, particularly when there is a mystery as to who is on the other end. This is a particularly relevant prop we can feature in our story line, as our idea involves a baby sitter. Therefore the mother of the child needing babysitting can call our protagonist; thus we can utilise the element of a phone ringing. However, a typical convention of horror films is old fashion phones ringing, therefore we will challenge this by modernising it using a mobile phone, preferably an iPhone, and still try create tension with it.
A prop we are particularly interested in incorporating into the mis-en-scene of our short film is old, vintage style mysterious toys. Due to how different old toys from a few years ago seem in contrast to modern toys children play with today, featuring old toys will appear unusual, eery and odd to audiences. We are keen to use old toys in shots at particularly angles and times of the plot to enhance the scare factor and even shock audiences, for example we had an idea of using a jack-in-a-box as a jump scare. This suits our narrative ideas that we have had so far particularly well, as the babysitter can be walking round the mysterious house she's never been to that she is baby sitting at and find the toys lying around, for example stepping on a squeaky toy.
Along with the old fashion aesthetic mentioned prior to this about old toys, we had thoughts about how old books are often used in horror themed scenarios, as when they look worn out and dusty it heightens a sense of mystery. In horror films, the mis-en-scene often shows old books to give the impression that the location they are in is mysterious and old. As we are trying to use old toys in our narrative, we should be able to pair this with old books to emphasise the fear we are trying to inflict.
Another typical feature that pairs well with old books and old toys is old photographs. They can portray mystery if they audience or characters are unsure/unaware of what is happening in the photos or who is in them, however they can also reveal things that have happened in that past that the audience or characters may not have known before. We will be able to incorporate photos into our narrative as they can be placed around the house the protagonist is babysitting at. An old, burnt or decaying/damaged nature to the photo will heighten factors of fear also as it increases the tension of why the photo is in that state - has someone tried to destroy it?
Another rather effective convention of horror films is a clock ticking, particularly old fashioned 'Grandfather clocks' as they tend to appear more striking due to their larger size and louder pounding ticking sounds. These clocks are often coated with dust to increase the old, mysterious element. We thought that this would be interesting to incorporate during our narrative, as it can signify when the parents that the protagonist is baby sitting for should be home - midnight being the most 'scary' time for the clock to strike at. Using a print out of our Production logo and a piece of black card with a rectangle cut out, our production logo was able to come to life. Using the conventions seen in other horror specific film production studios we identified that it is common to have a black background, white writing, some form of blood or the incorporation of the colour red and some appropriately suspenseful sound effects. So using garage band we made a short clip of music to be played over the top of the clip. I used two stools next to each other and stuck the black paper and logo so that it was across the gap in-between the chairs. Using a phone light I illuminated behind the paper and filmed from underneath while a friend dripped red food colouring across the logo. I used final cut pro to cut the clip and modify it so it was quicker and to render the music and footage together. This is the first draft of our short film, it has a basic outline as to what the footage will look like and the storyline of the short. It's not the complete story, but we have an idea of how to improve after showing it to our peers. We received feedback, stating that the camera work was alright but some shots needed reshooting and to framed better. The lighting and colours in the shots were good and muse-en-scene was appropriate. We decided to make a list of the parts that needed tightening up and reshooting. A key part in our short is the moment that Rose realises that the china doll is the child. To do this we're having some family photos framed on the wall and where the baby's face would be will be replaced with the face of the china doll. To do this I collected old baby photos from some volunteers, then I had Molly replicate some of the poses that the babies are in with China Doll, Mercy. I used Photoshop to edit on Mercy's face over the babies. I had to warp the photos so that they were regular rectangles and fitted the canvas space. Then I adjusted the exposure, brightness and contrast so that they were visible and looked normal.
The babies faces are in different positions, so Molly had to take a variety of shots that I could use. There was still lots of transforming needing to be done so that the dolls head fitted properly and didn't look weird. Then I had to adjust the colours and vibrancy of the dolls head so it matched the rest o f the photo. Our original actor who had been chosen to be in our short had prior engagements so we had to find another person to act. Luckily we were able to cast Tilly Compton-Stewart, she is a teenaged girl and has a similar appearance to our original actor- Celeste Denyer. Since it's a horror we decided to keep dialog to a minimum as sometimes it can spoil the mood if it's not appropriate or a slightly different tone to the rest of the scenes. Also not having any dialog leaves the audience to project their own expectations of the character so that they can emphasise with Rose more. |
AuthorsMolly Broad Archives
February 2016
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