Smile re-filmed

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 opening starts with the appearance of a variety of institution names that were involved, shown in a vibrant red font which represents the typical conventions of horror. The red connotes blood, gore and danger which the audience can then make the assumption that the film is going to be gory and possibly a slasher. The font also has a smokey effect added which can represent that type of horror genre that the film is going to be. From this effect, it gives the audience a sense of something paranormal, ghostly and mysterious. The text is placed onto a black background which adds to the conventions of horror as black illustrates death and mystery. Due to the colours and effects given to the text, the audience are already uncomfortable and can feel the tension before the film has started.

The font then disappears and the background remains black. A white, flickering circle then floats up to the centre of the screen. Then the directors name 'James Wan' slowly appears in the centre of the circle to attract the attention of the audience due to James Wan being a well-known director of successful horrors such as, 'The Conjuring'. The name appeared in a simple, plain black font which differed from the other text. This circle then turns slowly 180 degrees right and name fades away during the process. Due to the circle turning upside down, this can foreshadow something unusual and what may happen in the film as something upside down can represent things doing wrong. This circle then turns out to be a light bulb on the ceiling.

From this light bulb, there is then a tilting panning shot from a high angle and a boy in the dark, sleeping in his bed alone is shown. This high angle shot makes the sleeping boy look small, weak and vunerable. It is another typical convention of horror as there is normally a character which is portrayed as being weak. As the audience can already sense something unusual, they automatically feel worried for the small child on his own. As their is a tracking shot around the room the mise-en-scene shows that the boy is young as the audience can see a teddy bear, lava lamp, a toy horse and brightly coloured bed sheets. The lava lamp acts as another light source in his room which portrays the innocence of the boy as he appears to be afraid of the dark as many young children are. The coloured bed sheets portray immaturity and youth as the colours are seen as being playful, happy colours. Adults tend to have more formal, dull and plain colours such as white, brown etc. to illustrate their maturity. This mise-en-scene also shows that the film is in the past as there are no sign of modern technology such a TV's or phones in the bedroom. Furthermore, this increases the feeling of isolation and loneliness.

The discomfort amongst the audience gradually increases along with the high-pitched, non-diegetic music. The sound suddenly becomes fast, very high-pitched and loud as the tracking shot then stops on a shadow of someone standing outside of the window. As the shot zooms in, on the shadow, it appears that the person walks away to the right. 

The tracking shot then follows it around the corner to then reveal a person who appears to be an old, pale and angry woman holding a lit candle. The appearance of the women's face and the fast sound of violins makes the audience feel very tense and worried as the scary women is in the house with the young child who is unaware. 

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.

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.

Forecast for refilm of main brief

10th November 

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%

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.

Positive and negative feedback on rough cut

Once we had edited and added the sound to make it scary, we then asked a few of our peers to watch our opening and see what they think is good and what we need to improve on and perhaps change. We were then able for film two people who gave us feedback. From this, we were able to gain an insight on 16-17 year old boys views on horror films and what they enjoy watching. For example, they like how we have used suspense and darkness but would like us to include some foreshadowing in order to keep the audience interested to find out what may occur later on in the film.

Main brief rough cut