Research into Blumhouse productions

Blumhouse Productions

Blumhouse productions is an American television and film company, which was founded by Jason Blum. Blumhouse Productions are the known producers of Paranormal activity, Split, Get Out and insidious. We had to decide if we wanted to use Blumhouse Productions or Twisted Research. As we wanted out opening to maintain professionalism and be a success, we based success off of revenue as we thought that a successful film would gross more. On a whole, Twisted Pictures averaged a higher revenue which is one of the reasons we prefer it to Blumhouse. Also, because our film opening is an independent, low budget project, we could like as much assistance in terms of production as we can get.
However, Blumhouse Productions are known for their extremely popular but low budget films. As mentioned previously Get Out and Split being the most recently popular ones. Both films received high ratings for the intensity but intellectual plot lines.


Get out revenued over 30 million dollars in its first weekend alone on only a 4 million dollar budget. This shows the company's strength and ability in terms of producing films. However, as a group we decided that Blumhouse had great strength in psychological horrors, but Twisted Pictures seemed to be the stronger company in terms of our supernatural sub-genre. Therefore, after much thought we decided that it was best to go with the company that would be more suited to us, which was Twisted Pictures.

-Tibet Keskin

Character Costume Deconstruction

Freddy Krueger - Deconstruction

Make up:

As seen in the photo the SFX make up and mask is one of the most distinctive things about the character.

It is clear from this image that both masking and SFX have been used to enhance fear in the audience and create realism that he was actually burnt in a fire. 

The use of the fake teeth helps to accentuate the rotten look he implies, however, it also helps to show that he is still human and still withholds human features, so makes it more scary for the audience as it creates realism.

However, the obvious reasoning behind the mask, is to show that he has been burnt in a fire and make the storyline seem as believable to the audience as possible. 

Clothing:

In terms of clothing, Freddy Krueger is always framed wearing the same clothes; the stripy jumper and dark trousers/jeans. This allows him to be distinguishable from others for the audience, but also helps him stand out easily as the colours of his top, do contrast to create quite a bright look.

Also, because the predominant colour is red, this signifies blood, danger and along with the black and dark colours, death. This assists in the foreshadowing of the character and his role in the film, although it may be seen as pretty obvious from the onset!

The hat, is to presumably to help cover his scaring on his head, and make it a little more watchable for the audience. But it could also accentuate his human features, and how he went from being a normal living man to a murderer, creating more fear and weariness among the audience.

The hat also often shadows half his face, creating low key lighting focusing on his face. This creates an ominous effect and makes him more fearful to the audience as they can not see directly what he is. 

Hand:

Finally, the hand is one of the most important aspects of the character of Freddy Krueger in all films. The four knives which are attached to a plastic glove, is definitely what completes Freddy Krueger's frightening image. It creates the feeling of brutality and fear among the audience, as they begin to see no one is spared. 

The discolouredness of the glove, also suggests it has been used plentiful times giving the impression that he has killed many.

Also, the concept of the knives replacing the nails creates him to be much more powerful and able than the average human being and almost unbeatable. 

Finally, it is a distinctive prop of the character, so assists to keep the brutal reputation of Freddy Krueger going.

-Tibet Keskin

Location Scouting - Bexleyheath Church

Location Scouting - Catholic Church in Bexleyheath

After a period of deliberation, we eventually decided on our final location being in a church in area close to our school: 

Pros of this location: 

• Supplies a vast amount of mise en scene to work with so we could gather the best shots 
• It is in an accessible location near to our school so we wouldn't have to travel far with the equipment
• Provides toilets meaning we could work for extended periods 
• No noises or disturbances during our filming hours so it is completed without interruptions
• Permission to use this church was easily granted
• In a safe location
• Has prominent stained glass windows which work perfectly to gain some effective shots 

Cons of this location:

• A lot of natural light which could vary throughout the day
• The church was only open for particular hours of the day meaning we may have to alter our school scheduled in order to go there
• Services and masses may effect the timings and availability of the church
• Lack of electricity to charge our equipment

It is evident that this location provides far more positive aspects rather than negative thus it is likely that we will use this for our final location to film in.

Editing Research

Research on Editing 

Editing software

Normally I would use Sony Vegas Pro but seeing as Final Cut Pro was the only available software within the school computers, I had to adapt and research ways to edit, as I was familiar with editing techniques but the methods in which I could achieve these techniques were completely different. Editing research was useful to me , as final cut pro was not an editing software I was familiar with.

Visual effects

A 'fantasy eye effect' on my eye to highlight the 'unknown' essence within the scene. This could have be done via Photoshop for every single frame within the short shot but that would be extremely time consuming, so using Final Cut Pro and I assigned two glossy eyes to some frames which tracked accordingly with the eye. Points were added on my eyelid so that when my eye opened, the glossy eye showed up with it. This ensured that the effect looks realistic and subtle. I found that the close up shot of my eyes coupled with the 'fantasy eye effect' had the most effect on the audience as I had asked several people if it was better with or without the effect and if it should be in a different camera frame.

Flashback

 I also had to research what would be the best way to represent a flashback and found that the 'flash' effect on Final Cut Pro would be the best to show a flashback. I also discovered via editing that a slight change in the colour, saturation and hue would be best to convey a flashback. Near to the end of the scene we thought that it would be most suitable to use quick cut editing using short clips as a montage to increase the tension in cohesion with the music. 

Transitions

The definition of a transition is 'the process or a period of changing from one state or condition to another'. In the context of film making, a transition is what the editor shows between 2 shots. The connection of the scenes is the transition. Transition can be the next consecutive scene, or it can be a fade or image change. To create our flashbacks we had to use transitions to change from one scene to another.

Target Audience

Who is our Target Audience?

Seeing as how it is typical the younger generation that enjoy watching horror films, we decided that our target audience was going to be that of teenagers and young adults.

Certification

However, seeing as our film fit the criteria for being an 18 certificate, we had to debate whether a film aimed at teenagers yet is an 18 certificate is a contradictory statement. After discussing whether we thought this would be an issue, we decided that a vast proportion of our audience would be teenagers aged 18 and 19, and young adults in their early twenties. Furthermore, we subtly acknowledged the fact that although slightly younger audience's would not be able to view our film in cinemas, the unfortunate inevitability of younger audiences viewing our film at home is apparent.

What do our target audience want to see?

Costuming

• subtle costuming
• realism rather than extravagance
• casual, stylish clothing
• modern, contemporary clothing

Imagery

• visceral yet thoughtful
• controversial (perhaps a focus on taboos)
• set at night-time
• violent scenes
• lots of tension build-ups and releases
• unpredictability 

Audience Feedback after our Final Piece

Consumer Feedback After Release of our Final Piece

How did we spread the word of our opening and promote it?

Due to this being a small project, we mainly targeted our film opening towards our friends and family - however this is justified due to the majority of our peers being teenagers and therefore members of our target audience.

To raise awareness of our video, all four of us shared the link on social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter and WhatsApp. Doing this invited people to watch, like and comment on our video which made us realise the effect social media can have on the promotion of real media.

The Feedback

The audience feedback was mostly positive for the opening. As you can see we have got almost 430 views and we have got 34 likes and zero dislikes. There was also 14 comments.

Upon reading through the comment section on our video, we realised that people found our video suspenseful and scary, which is what we wanted. We also received positive feedback on our overall editing, highlighting parts such as the music, framing and sound effects.

Overall, we have come to conclusion that our film opening was a success, as many members of our target audience gave incredibly positive feedback. We also received verbal compliments from members of our school community as the link to our video was shared around.

Costuming Research

Costuming Drafting and Research

Colour

There is only one character in the opening scene of our film, thus leaving us only one costume to think about.
In the end we decided to use all black clothing for the costume. Black is usually associated with formality, mystery, death and evil, which is all closely relevant to the opening scene. The colour black is also associated with the unknown and usually has connotations which are negative. Death is usually also associated with the colour black as usually you would wear all black to a funeral. Due to the simplicity of the opening, we decided to use black and make black the only colour within the costume. Seen in the gif, the all black shoes and all black coat shows uncertainty and is mysterious. On the jacket there is a small laurel wreath which was something given to victors in ancient Greek Olympics. All black Air Max 93's are also used which had a Nike logo on it which had no relation with Jesus Christ or our genre of horror and we found that if the Nike logo was visible that it would take away from the mystery of the opening so using lighting and camera framing, we decided not to show the Nike logo.

We also thought that black would blend in well with our low-key lighting in the cellar, and would not distract the audience in the way white or pale-coloured clothing would.

Style

The jacket is very simple, with a plain cut and hood - typically associated with the teenage generation. We wanted a costume that would not be distracting, as the protagonist is supposed to be representative of a 'normal' teenager.

We chose our final costume because the target audience of our film is predominately teenagers. We wanted our protagonist to be a character the audience can relate to, so we felt that it was important to dress him in stereotypically teenage contemporary clothes.

Use of Photoshop within our Project

Use of Photoshop within our Project

For the film logo, I used Photoshop and DaFont for the text available. The logo initially consisted of the writing only but after some serious consideration, another addition was needed so the symbolic image of Jesus Christ was added. The 'T' in 'The Crypt' seemed the most suitable place for the image to go as the 'T' is very similar to the cross of Jesus Christ and seeing as the whole of the project is about Jesus Christ and stigmata, it was deemed suitable. 

The first image did not fit so I had to use photoshop on the image and use the warp tool to stretch the arms and legs so that it would fit on the whole of the 'T'. To maintain professionalism the black background within some of the text had some white in it which contrasted which disrupted the consistency of the colours. 

For the shot above 'The Crypt' logo, there is what is called a 'fantasy eye effect' on my eye to highlight the 'unknown' essence within the scene. This could have be done via photoshop for every single frame within the short shot but that would be extremely time consuming, so using Final Cut Pro and I assigned two glossy eyes to some frames which automatically moved with the eye. Points were added on my eyelid so that when my eye opened, the glossy eye showed up with it. This ensured that the effect looks realistic and subtle.

Mise en scene

Mise en scene

In our film opening, there is two locations. One is in a church and the other is in an unknown cellar-type location. Considering the horror genre of our film, after some further research, we decided to
keep the mise en scene subtle but effective.

Candles

As you can see from this image, a few candles would have added to the eerie atmosphere within the church.The candle would symbolise light within the darkness of life and would also represent illumination. It it the symbol of holy illumination within the spirit of truth. Candles were normally lit in times of death as they signified the light in the next world, Christ being the light. Due to the candles actually being a source of light itself, it also inputted to the lighting within she scene even if it was a small factor. Due to the candles being associated with Christ, we thought it to be a suitable prop for our film opening which is a reason why candles were used in both the scene in the church and the scene in the unknown cellar

Props within church

Due to one of the scenes being inside of a church, some of the mise en scene was already there but we had a choice of which things we deemed suitable for our scene and some of the images on the wall were what we used. There were also large wood carvings and showed this in our opening in the short flashbacks to maximise the tension felt by viewers. A religious symbol belonging to Christianity is the cross. The Cross is used religiously to represent the crucifixion of Jesus Christ but used correctly in horror films  and it can be used as a force against evil. The cross works well with out opening as it relates to stigmata through Jesus Christ. Due to this, the cross was used in both the church and the underground cellar scene. As there was imaginably many crosses in the church, unlike the underground cellar, we didn't have to make one ourselves so we just used the ones maybe in pictures in the walls or the ones in the wood carvings.

Rosary Beads

Here is a Rosary bead necklace with a  cross. A rosary bead is used by Christians and is used as a form of prayer in the Catholic Church. The beads are used to count the component prayers. People devote their lives to the rosary bead and Pope John Paul II called it "among the finest most praiseworthy traditions of Christian contemplation". Popes and scientists have highlighted the meditative and calming values and elements of the rosary bead. We thought rosary beads would also be suitable as it also directly relates to Christ and is a form of prayer and plays a big role in Catholicism .

Research into colour after opening

The importance of colour within film

Natural colour

The further research done on films, the further the knowledge on the importance of colour expanded and the group quickly came to a conclusion that colour played a significant role in film production and film development. Colours convey emotions usually either subtly or very explicitly. Light and colour go hand in hand, seeing as colours are the components of light. Anything that is a source of light or reflects it has an effect on what it's seen on and on the colours of the scene. We thought about our scenes we were going to film in and the lighting that they were going to be in. After some serious consideration we decided that we would use dull colours like grey or black, very simple colours not many bright colours in the scene. The way we could implement these colours is via props and costuming. Colour is vital as it can divert the way someone thinks or cause certain reactions. Certain colours can even suppress your appetite or raise your blood pressure. Colour can be used as a form of communication as the colour black universally has connotations of death and the unknown.

Colour in costuming

For costuming we found that all black clothing was suitable as we thought it would be best applicable for our genre of horror. Due to the simplicity of the costume, this allowed us to manipulate emotions of the viewer using colour. By only using the colour black in the costuming, we expected a uncanny atmosphere from the scene and a sinister nature of the costuming itself.

Colour in editing

We found that the most effective way to set a mood was actually post-production editing by editing the hue, contrast and saturation of the scene to generate a 'film look'. This film look allowed the film opening to maintain professionalism. Several people were asked about the opening with or without the change in contrast and saturation and they said that they preferred it with the change in both contrast and saturation. Changing the saturation can make the scene more vivid or muted.  

Film Certification

Film age ratings

U: Universal age rating 

• suitable for all audiences ages four and over
• set within a positive framework
• should contain reassuring counterparts to any violence or discrimination
• no references to drugs, sex, violence, nudity or antisocial behaviour

PG: Parental Guidance

• general viewing,  but some scenes may be unsuitable for children
• discrimination is very unlikely unless in historical context
• no reference to drugs unless they carry an anti-drug message
• No glamorising imitable behaviour
• Mild violence is acceptable

12A & 12: Suitable for 12 & over

• misuse of drugs must be limited and infrequent
• no promotion of imitable behaviour either 
• strong language may be allowed but not too frequent or too explicit

15: Suitable for 15 & over

• The work as a whole must not encourage discriminatory language or behaviour, even though there may be homophobic or racist themes
• Sexual activity may be shown but not in strong detail. May be strong verbal references to sexual behaviour but the strongest references are unlikely to be acceptable unless justified.
• The violence shown may be strong but not prolong the pain or injury. Strong gory images are unlikely to be acceptable and the same goes for sadistic violence.

18: Suitable for 18 & over

• Clear images of real sex, strong fetish material, sexually explicit animated images, or other very strong sexual images will be allowed and will be confined to the R18 category

R18: Restricted 18 

• Restricted 18 films are only to be shown in specially licensed cinemas, or supplied only in licensed sex shops, and to adults only
• The R18 category is a special and legally-restricted classification primarily for explicit works of consenting sex or strong fetish material involving adults.

Props research

Music and Sound

Music & Sound

Here is a mini soundtrack I made for our coursework. We may not use it in the end product but just playing about it will help so I can see what is suitable. I found that a guitar was not very suitable so I may use a glockenspiel or a music box as this gives a creepy effect. Violin is also a Sound is very important in horror films as this creates certain atmosphere allowing us to feel the movie more emotionally. Disturbing & unexpected sounds can heighten suspense and terror.
Non-linear sounds
Non linear sounds range from distorted sounds to small squeals that may not be normally taken notice of. A recent study shows that horror films have the loudest female screams, whereas adventure films had screams more from men. Horror films also had a more variety of pitches and sudden changes in pitch. This was reported in the Royal Society journal Biology Letters.
In film, audiences are capable of listening to both diegetic and non-diegetic sounds i.e classical music, which may allow the audience to feel &experience the movie in a different way. The majority of horror films have a specific melody/tune which allowed the viewers to recognize the film.
Sound effects
Sound effects are also very useful as they create tension for example a quiet creaking door accompanied by a violin soundtrack in the background, is used to create tension within scenes when there is a key moment that is needed to be highlighted so that the audience figure out if there is any pending danger for characters. Music, accompanied by sound effects is used within the horror genre so that the audience can have a connection between the film and themselves so that the film can play with the viewers emotions and allow them to experience the movie in its fullness.

Nightmare on Elm Street - Film Deconstruction

Lighting -  Generally throughout the film, low-key lighting is used. Lighting is used to manipulate the shadows in scenes to make Freddy look superior. Lighting is used to foreshadow up coming tragic events. Lighting gives the viewer a sense of fear of terror. Here is the first view of a victim in the film. Short hair, blonde, attractive which is the stereotype first victim in most horror films. Because the shot is so close to her face, the fear is very distinctive and viewers subconsciously may think that she will be first to get killed off.
This shot is also a shot from Freddy's POV. This shows how vulnerable the girl is. She turns and is face to face with Freddy

The lighting in this scene gives a sense of being trapped and shows the the lady cannot get out. The rusty metal and dust around adds to the sense of mysteriousness. The music also in this scene is a violin and could make the viewer feel uncertain about what is going to happen next.

Film Deconstruction - Exorcist

Film Deconstruction - The Exorcist



For the majority of the film 'The Exorcist',low-key lighting. This means within the scene, there is one main light which allows the shot to have dark shadows and creates a eerie and scary look to the film. Through out the film,they use artificial lights mostly from within the house.

This film is very old (1972). The way they took advantage of lighting seems much too advanced for the year the film was made in. The decoration in the room is very minimal and creates a simplistic mood. The plain walls and plain bedding seem very abnormal to be in a child's bedroom and gives the essence of ambiguity. Due to the surroundings being so bare, the viewer feels alone and helpless. Make up is used to create horrific images in the Exorcist. In horror films, the lighting is dark most of the times which contributes the the mise en scene and this makes the perspective of the audience blurred and they are not fully aware of what's going on; doing this creates fear within the watcher because there is a sense of ambiguity.

Linda Blairs body language would not be so scary for the viewer if in broad daylight buy when it is combined with the lighting & makeup , it is almost impossible not to feel queasy.

CART Media Logo

Project Logo Design

As a group we decided it would be a good idea to create a group logo. Using Adobe Photoshop, I trialled a number of logos. Upon discussion with my group, we decided we liked the logo shown below the most. The use of a consistent logo will make our project seem more professional and polished.

CARTmedia logo created by Tibet Keskin