Saturday, 10 December 2016
Thursday, 8 December 2016
Wednesday, 7 December 2016
Monday, 5 December 2016
Sunday, 4 December 2016
Thursday, 1 December 2016
Wednesday, 23 November 2016
The Purge Anarchy - Textual Analysis
Camera angles:
Firstly, there is a close up shot of the woman picking up the money and place it in her pocket. This can imply that she has just taken the money for herself in preparation for the night ahead. This could be money that she will spend on protection or possibly money to do the opposite which could be to partake in the purge. This leaves the audience wondering what will happen to Eva further on into the narrative.


An over the shoulder shot is used when Eva looks into the kitchen worriedly at the women in the kitchen on the phone who seems to be the manager and tells them when they are allowed to go home. This shot is taken in order to emphasis the nerves and distress of the characters and their anticipation to get home as soon as possible.
Editing:
Firstly, the institution title sequence for 'Blumhouse Productions' appears which is a very successful institution that the audience are likely to recognise and assume that the film will be worth watching. There are also credits included which establish what type of horror sub-genre the film is going to be. The credits are in a font which is seen as being associated with the government. Factual information is presented which gives the audience a sense of realism and possibly make them a passive audience. The dark blue background connotes mystery and darkness which makes the audience aware that the horror will be suspenseful and dark.
At the beginning, there is an establishing shot of inside a cafe with one male customer sitting down at a table. This sets the scene and gives the audience a sense of realism and normality. There is then shot-reverse-shot editing between the man and the waitress in the cafe as the man pays for his meal. This focuses of both of the characters emotionless expressions which make it difficult for the audience to know what they are feeling and thinking.
Sound:
The non-digetic music during the title sequence very gradually builds up, but when 'The Purge' title appears, the music suddenly becomes louder.
The dialogue between the customer and the women accounts for the feeling of the unknown due to the man saying "Stay safe". This can make the audience wonder where he is just a protective, caring man or whether is actually going to partake in the legal crimes. Therefore, he knows what is likely to occur later on. The accents are American which notifies the audience on where in the world it it set.
The news reporter creates suspense due to the informative information he is stating. The tone of his voice is wise but also concern amongst the city. This informs the audience on what the purge is and what people must be aware of to stay safe.
Suspense and tension is created when the three workers and discussing the situation and the male worker says " I might kidnap Eva this year" as a joke. However, the tone he say it in is mysterious which makes the audience question whether he is actually joking or not. He also is not showing any signs of nerves or worries as he says "Calm down we've got plenty of time". Whereas the two females are desperate to leave. As he is so calm, this can leave the audience paranoid as to why he is so calm.
Mise-en-scene:

In the background through the window, a large American flag is blowing around in the wind outside. This flag, confirms where the film is set and the respect the citizens have for their own country. This is a way the Americans in the film support the idea of the purge being beneficial for the country.
The money that the waitress takes and discretely places in her pocket can suggest that she is financially unstable and is desperately in need of more money.
Hush textual analysis
At the beginning of this scene, the lady, who is completely deaf, opens her sliding glass door, leans outside into the darkness of the night and shakes the dog food bowl to attract her dog to come. From the medium long shot of the woman, I can see that she is wearing a very pale pink vest top and dark grey jeans. Her outfit connotes her characteristics of being quite girly but not too girly and portrays her tenderness and vulnerability
. Her 'tom-boy' traits are supported by the woman as she has neat brown hair pulled back into a pony-tail. At this point there is both digetic and non-digetic music. The digetic sound added was the sound of the dog food shaking, the sliding door and the sound of crickets. The sound of crickets allows the audience to realise that the house is in a wooded area and not in an urban, busy area. the crickets also suggest that she is in a quiet, isolated area so if anything bad was to happen, she is alone. The non-digetic music is synchronous as it is mysterious and adds suspense which suits the scene.









Tuesday, 22 November 2016
Scream textual analysis
At the beginning, the logo for Miramax and Dimention films was shown which the audience can recognise. As they recognise the institution, it can excite the audience. The 'Scream' title then quicky appears in white, bond letters. The white connotes innosence, purity and life. Then the font splits and returns back together but is now shown in red which represents blood, angre and gore. This title sequence can foreshadow what will happen during the film such as innosent peoples lives ending as they will get brutally murdered. Also, the outline of the font used for the title is quite staggered as though it were cut.

After the title disappears, only the sound of the phone ringing is heard and the shot focuses and shows a close up shot of the phone immediately. This is so the audience focus on the phone because the phone calls are an important prop throughout the film. The camera then follows the woman's hand as she brings it up towards her face. The audience are now able to see the girls face and clothes. The girl has blond hair, blue eyes and natural makeup on. The blond hair can be a conforming stereotype where the audience immediately think she is ignorant and dumb. Her makeup is very natural, however, she has dark red lipstick. As the girl looks as though she does not have very heavy makeup on, this can connote the idea of innocence but the red lips can represent and foreshadow blood and gore. Continuing with the mies-en-scene makeup and costumes, the audience is also able to see that she is wears a cream coloured knitted jumper which can also convey innocence in the character.
The mans voice of the other end if the phone is low and sounds very clear and mysterious. This means that the mystery in the mans voice informs the audience that he may be dangerous. The voice also asks many questions and does not give any information about himself to contain the mystery. However, a stereotypical aspect of girls in horror films show that they can be oblivious and show ignorance. After a while, she finally hangs up without suspecting that anything is wrong. Then, when she's walking away which is shown by a short tracking shot, the phone rings again. She turns around and the camera zooms in on her face. She now has a slight look of worry on her face but ignores the feeling. She answer the phone and the show changes to a slightly tilted angle. This can represent the thought that something isn't right about the call.
The camera angle also shows a large glass door and window in the background as the camera slowing zooms in on her, keeping the window in focus. When the girl then walks away after hanging up, she leaves the camera shot and the large glass doors are shown in the background.This can make the audience feel as though something is outside or watching her. We can also now see that it is dark outside which can be a common fear for people and foreshadow that something bad might happen outside.
The shot then cuts to outside and reveals a tree. The camera then slowing tilts down to show the entire house with a moving swing in the shot which can make the audience feel as though someone was there. The house is also shown be be isolated which is very common code of convention in horror films meaning no one is able to help her. Non-Diegetic sounds of crickets and the creaking of the swing is added to create suspense. The shot then suddenly cuts to a shot of fire where she is making popcorn which is also a code of convention in horror films to illustrate the characters being oblivious to the situation.

The phone then rings again and she answers. The girl is then shown on the phone in a long tracking shot. Then tracking shot then captures her leaning against the kitchen counter next to a large knife stand with several large knives. These knives are in the centre of the screen and the girl begins to fiddle with them whilst in the phone to ensure the audience notices them.
An iconic moment then happens as the mysterious voice asks what her favourite scary movie is. She replies with the film 'Halloween' where a man with a white man stalks babysitters which are most likely young woman who are alone downstairs in the house.
The camera then quickly cuts to the popcorn which can mirror the suspense building in the scene. The tracking shot continues as she walks down the hall to the living room where she locks only one glass door in the process. This can also support the idea of the stereotype of a 'dumb blond'. The tracking shot also captures the mise-en-scene of the setting which is a house with many large windows, illustrating that the house isn't a very safe place.
Another stereotype of a female is put to use as she begins to flirt. However, this isn't for long until she her emotion switches as she is now aware and it has now been confirmed tot he audience that she is being watched. When she notices, the camera zooms in oh her face which now looks scared. Whilst this is happening, the camera also captures another glass door in the background. Quiet, low non diegetic sound is also introduced to emphasise the suspense of the realisation.

The sound of a dog barking is also heard from outside which gives the audience the thought that the dog is barking at something or someone outside. She then switches on the porch lights and looks outside. This is shown by an exterior shot which symbolises the idea that she is caged inside of the house. This is then followed by a point of view shot which can make the audience feel more involved and feel as though it is them in this situation.
Furthermore, during the point of view shot, the editing technique used was shot-reverse-shot. This exaggerates that there is danger outside and that she can be seen but the mysterious caller cannot. This then causes suspense and tension amongst the audience. There is then a close up of the girls hand locking the door.

Camera cuts to popcorn again and it looks like it is able to explode which, again, can represent the danger getting closer and suspense growing in the scene.
The phone rings once again and she answers with an emotion voice as though she is about to girl which is seen as being a girly trait. She also says "What do you want?" which is a very popular line in all horror films.
A tracking shot is used once again, filming the front of her walking back into the kitchen as she wipes away a tear. Phone rings and her upset state quickly switches to anger and she shouts on the phone. However, her bravery is quickly knocked as the voice is now angry and demanding as he says if she hangs up again he will gut her like a fish. The girl is now terribly frightened which is exaggerated due to the camera movement zooming in on her expression.
Now, the music has become louder due to the mood of the scene changing.Music then becomes extremely fast and loud as she runs down the hallway locking all of the doors which is shown in a tracking shot. Another point of view shot is used as she looks out of the small window of her front door. All of her bravery has disappeared and she is not seen as a classic damsel in distress waiting to be saved. This then make the audience feel sympathy towards her.
Thursday, 17 November 2016
Updated narrative
In our film, we have used Todorov's theory of equilibrium. The young woman making tea in the kitchen then goes and sits down to watch the evening news. When the girl walks past, we get a quick glimpse of a man looking through the window of the door. As the girl sits down, a mysterious figure is seen faintly through the window. The couple are still unaware that the are being watched. Whilst the couple watch the news, it is the top story that murder clowns are on the loose around the UK. They then decided to switch the TV off and go upstairs to bed. Unfortunately, the oblivious couple have forgotten to lock the front door which hasn't been shut properly. The couple walk upstairs into the darkness. Sounds of a window breaking are heard and and mysterious figure with a black tracksuit on with the hood over its head slowly enters the room where the couple are sleeping.
Wednesday, 16 November 2016
Editing log
Log of when editing took place and whom by-
After re-film:
11/11/16.
11/11/16.
Editing by Callum Ison.
Start 19:00
Finish 20:30
Start 19:00
Finish 20:30
What took place?
The clips filmed on this day were added to WeVideo and then we merged them together without any sound yet. The clips were added together to gather a sense of continuity and establish what was happening in the film in a smooth way.
12/11/16
12/11/16
Editing by (main) Callum Ison, (Subs)Joe Deighton, Harriett Folan and Jade Moon
Start 14:25
Finish 15:20
What took place?
We edited the diegetic and non diegetic sound into the film in order the film more scary and also link the film to the horror genre further.
15/11/16
We edited the diegetic and non diegetic sound into the film in order the film more scary and also link the film to the horror genre further.
15/11/16
Start 11:15
Finish 12:10
What took place?
Sound was re-edited in order to make the tension in the film build as the music begins quietly and gradually becomes louder. More news reporter voices added in order to make the action seem more frantic and make the audience begin to panic.
16/11/16
Smile feedback
After showing our opening to our peers who are aged 16-17, we then received feedback on what they liked and disliked about our film. They then used their likes and dislikes to give us a level from 1 to 4 on what they thought of our film.
From looking at the feedback, we received an average of a level 3. The key idea to make our film better was to alter the sound in order to make it more suspenseful. Therefore, me and my group will carry out more sound research and change our sound in order to build up to a level 4. Also, from our feedback, we realised that teenage interests in horror are mainly suspense and being on the edge of their seats throughout.
Insidious textual analysis





The face and the flickering candle slowly fades away into complete darkness. The the large title 'INSIDIOUS' appears in bold, red capital letters. The letters have sharp edges and look similar to devil horns. The title is flickering just like the candle that the mysterious woman was holding. This makes the audience feel even more uncomfortable and aware that the woman holding the candle is important throughout the narrative.
After the title disappears suddenly slow, haunted pictures of the house appear along with the red credits that have the same smokey effect as the credits at the very beginning of the opening. All of the pictures used in the sequence are black and white to support the gothic and paranormal themes. As all of the pictures are focused around the house, it gives the audience the assumption that the narrative is based around the house which appears to have a long, haunted history. Some of the pictures in the sequence have a shadow of a person standing but you can not see anyone standing there. Therefore, it supports the idea of the film having a paranormal theme.
Monday, 14 November 2016
Changes made in main brief
After gathering feedback from others, we were then able to make changes to our opening to make it better and more appealing to our target audience.
We decided to remove some extras which played the dead people. This is because one of the main points we gained from one of our peers was that it looked more like a trailer and trailers can give the plot away. Therefore, this was not our aim and we thought the dead bodies gave too much away.
We also thought that we should catch moments of the clown stalking the two people instead of skipping to the clown breaking in. By adding the stalking shots, we are able to add more suspense and tension to our film which would frighten the audience more. Also, by making this change, we are able to add more camera angles such as point-of-view shots.
Another change we decided to make was to add in the kettle where the girl is making tea. This is a typically horror film extra where it can convey the characters ignorance. This can also link to the stereotypical actions that a girl is known for. An example of this is in horror film, 'Scream' when the girl is making popcorn whilst being watched by the murderer.
We thought that we should make alterations to the lighting also. We used a variety of different lightings from it being bright in the kitchen to when they walk up stairs where it is dark. We thought that it would be a good idea to portray the suspense with the lighting. Therefore, at the beginning, the light is bright meaning that nothing bad is going to happen yet. However, as we move further into the opening, the light darkens more and more due to the danger becoming greater. Then, when they are followed up stairs, it is dark.
We also focused more on the baseball bat which the clown is holding throughout. This is because when we filmed the rough cut, you are not able to see the bat clearly in the camera shots we filmed. The only evidence we had for the bat was the sound as it was being dragged along the stones of the drive way.
We decided to remove some extras which played the dead people. This is because one of the main points we gained from one of our peers was that it looked more like a trailer and trailers can give the plot away. Therefore, this was not our aim and we thought the dead bodies gave too much away.
We also thought that we should catch moments of the clown stalking the two people instead of skipping to the clown breaking in. By adding the stalking shots, we are able to add more suspense and tension to our film which would frighten the audience more. Also, by making this change, we are able to add more camera angles such as point-of-view shots.
Another change we decided to make was to add in the kettle where the girl is making tea. This is a typically horror film extra where it can convey the characters ignorance. This can also link to the stereotypical actions that a girl is known for. An example of this is in horror film, 'Scream' when the girl is making popcorn whilst being watched by the murderer.
We thought that we should make alterations to the lighting also. We used a variety of different lightings from it being bright in the kitchen to when they walk up stairs where it is dark. We thought that it would be a good idea to portray the suspense with the lighting. Therefore, at the beginning, the light is bright meaning that nothing bad is going to happen yet. However, as we move further into the opening, the light darkens more and more due to the danger becoming greater. Then, when they are followed up stairs, it is dark.
We also focused more on the baseball bat which the clown is holding throughout. This is because when we filmed the rough cut, you are not able to see the bat clearly in the camera shots we filmed. The only evidence we had for the bat was the sound as it was being dragged along the stones of the drive way.
Thursday, 10 November 2016
Forecast for refilm of main brief
10th November
Sunrise: 7:11 AM
Sunset: 4:17 PM
Sunrise: 7:11 AM
Sunset: 4:17 PM
From checking the forecast on 10th November, we then new that the sun would begin to set at 4:17pm. Therefore, we decided to begin our refilming when it was completely dark for continuity to make our opening look professional.
Sun and some clouds with a shower in the area.
7°c
Precipitation 41%
Precipitation 41%
We thought that due to the clouds and the showers, the filming conditions would suit us best as it would get darker quickly and we can gain digetic sounds of the eerie winds when we film our exterior, point of view shots.
Monday, 7 November 2016
Positive and negative feedback on rough cut
Sunday, 6 November 2016
Saturday, 5 November 2016
Main brief editing
After our first successful filming session for our main brief, we came together to make a start on the editing and fitting all of the shots together. We watched the videos we filmed of each shot and chose which ones was of the best quality.
Sound research for own piece
Sound is very important in horrors as without it, suspense would not be very effective and scare the audience. Therefore, we must take into consideration the type of sound used and when to used them throughout our opening.
Due to our film being based on clowns, we decided that to end our film, we were going to incorporate this theme by adding clown music. However, we soon changed our minds as we found that it seemed to take away some of the suspense which made it less scary which was not our aim.
We also decided to add a digetic sound of footsteps as the girl is walking down the hallway. We included this in order to create more suspense.
Due to our film being based on clowns, we decided that to end our film, we were going to incorporate this theme by adding clown music. However, we soon changed our minds as we found that it seemed to take away some of the suspense which made it less scary which was not our aim.
We also decided to add a digetic sound of footsteps as the girl is walking down the hallway. We included this in order to create more suspense.
Friday, 4 November 2016
Filming day
November 4th - Our first filming day
Once we arrived at our filming location, our main actor and extras began to get their theatrical make-up on whilst we set up the camera and prepared everything ready to start filming. We ran through our storyboard once again to remind us what shots we want to get. We began filming at approximately 4:30pm and by this time, it was dark outside meaning we had to take into consideration continuity throughout to give it a sense of realism. It rained whilst filming but luckily we had finished all of the shots we needed outside before the rain started. We finished filming at around 6:00pm.
Thursday, 3 November 2016
News reporter audition
After holding these auditions, as a group, we came to the decision that candidate one would be ideal for the role of the news reporter.
Wednesday, 2 November 2016
Tuesday, 1 November 2016
Film title for opening credits
Most horror film titles are bold yet simple. For example, the title for 'Mama' only consists of two main colours, black and grey. However, it is still effective and noticeable.
Due to the horror film logos being simple, we also made ours very simple and onlu used four different colours. We followed a very simple design which suited the narrative of our film very well as the main antagonist is a clown. The redness of the nose makes the logo stand out and the title is incorporated into the logo as being the smile of the clown face. We created this logo using Abode photoshop and the font can be associated with the circus and children.
Institution logo design
For our own institution logo, we included a cloudy night sky background to be associated with the horror genre. We also included dripping bloody on the institution title which would ensure the audience that our film will be a horror. The colours we decided to use connote gore, danger and mystery. We created this logo on Abode photoshop and the moon and the bird had been edited before embedding it onto the background in order to make them darker and fit the darkness of the background.
Monday, 31 October 2016
Tuesday, 25 October 2016
Main brief recce pictures
It was my responsibility to provide the recce pictures as we plan on using my house as the setting. By using a house, we can convey the sense of realism, innocence and safety to the audience. However, the people in the house are not safe. The audience may feel scared and uncomfortable as they come to realise that there are large windows which can be easily smashed and people are able to see into the house.

By filming in a house, we are able to easily change lighting whereas outside can be difficult as the lighting can change quickly. We are also at an advantage because we do not have to worry about what the weather may be. If we were to be filming outside, we would have to avoid the days where it is due to rain to prevent the filming equipment being damaged.
The narrow hallway can portray the sense of being trapped with no where to escape. The living room is where the dead bodies will be as well as a shot of the clown being inside the house, standing amongst the bodies.
We decided to make use of a bedroom in which we will include shots as they are asleep and the mysterious clown person sneaking into the room. This will create suspense due to the characters being unaware which results in the audience being on the edge of their seats.
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