Iconography was effective especially the explanation of psychos hand and his costume
Dependent location
Intercutting is good editing technique for our concept
Problems/Questions
Who will be filming when you are both starring? We don't feature in the shots at the same time so when one is acting the other will be behind the camera.
Will you be able to keep the props/set on location if you need to reshoot anything? Yes, as it's all being filmed at Elliot's house we can keep everything set up where we are filming and reshoot if we need to.
As a result of completing this technical analysis of the first two minutes of Cube opening I have learnt some techniques and ideas that are used in psychological horror films which we can take into our own production.
The majority of shots feature the protagonist however at this point in the film we don't see an antagonist as it is still very early on, we will bare this in mind when creating our film opening by making sure most of the shots have the protagonist in them.
Titles are included before any shots begin, they indicate the films production company in white font and capital letters on a black background across the top of the frame, the film title itself doesn't come until about 4 minutes into the opening.
To begin with the average length of shot is around 13 seconds however the cutting rate increases with each shot being on average about 3 seconds, this increases tension and builds the heart rate of the audience as they have to focus more on the shots in the scene.
Camera movement is mostly still however as we become placed with the man it starts to move so we can see more of the location and puts the audience in his shoes as it is jerky as if its been filmed in a handy-cam style from an onlookers point of view.
In terms of framing, the man is mainly placed off centre in the shot, rule of thirds is applied a few times which creates an uneasy feeling as we wonder why the character is not centred which helps to build tension in the scene.
What we will take from this clip especially is the use of extreme close ups and handy-cam because it increases tension, also the use of continuity editing which we have had practice implementing in the preliminary task, this will be used to tell a story and help set the scene. In terms of mise-en-scene, the location isn't what we plan on using however it will be dark like in this clip as it creates a sense of mystery and adds a bigger fear factor. We will also use similar sound effects because they have an eerie and mysterious affect on the audience to make them fear what's coming next in the sequence.
Duration of shot
Camera distance, angle and movement
Mise-en-scene and sound
Starts at 21 seconds after black background and titles.
Lasts 15 seconds.
Extreme close up of eye twitching, blinking and slowly
opening. The camera is still while the pupil dilates and changes shape.
The eye takes up most of the frame; half of the frame is
light while the other side is darker.
Sound includes a dull whistling in the background which
starts to build.
8 seconds
Mid-shot of man lying on the floor waking up. Its a birds
eye view shot and the camera remains still throughout.
Rule of thirds applies as the man is not centred in the
frame he is slightly to the left.
Sound is eerie and mysterious.
16 seconds
Low angle showing the cube at a wide angle, the man comes
into the shot from the bottom and them the camera pans up to view more of the
cube and back down again.
Its dark, the cube can be seen and the silhouette of the
man but its hard to tell any features in detail. Sound is the same as
previous.
13 seconds
Cuts to mid shot of man standing in the cube, low angle.
360 degree spin around the man, the movement of the camera is jerky and
irregular, connotes the uneasy nature of the shot.
It’s dark but we can see the mans face and his emotions. Sound
echoes around the man as the camera does, it sounds like creaking machines in
the background. Heavy breathing is also faintly heard.
18 seconds
Mid shot and low angle of man opening vault, camera stays
still.
Sound of footsteps and the opening of the vault.
5 seconds
Close up and eye line match, the mans face moves into shot
from the left side of the frame, camera pans left as the man moves along.
More lighting on mans face, the location remains enclosed
and boxy.
Sound is the same.
3 seconds
Still camera, long shot.
Different location, looks the same as previous cube but
blue.
2 seconds
Cut back to close up of man, still camera.
Mise-en-scene and sound the same as previous.
2 seconds
View of blue cube, long shot, mans head comes out of shot
in centre of frame but very far away, continuous to previous close up shot.
Same as above.
10 seconds
Low angle, mid shot, camera still.
Rule of thirds is applied, man is in left third of frame
near the bottom.
9 seconds
Birds eye view shot of man opening another vault, camera
is still.
long shot and zooming
into the bathroom where the man is stood.
character blocking of
a skinny man standing in a old rundown looking bathroom. The scene has
dark lighting.
the sound is diegetic and
non-dietetic we can hear noises of scraping and also a noise of suspense
building which is non diegetic
13 seconds
There is then a close up of the man’s hands in an over the
shoulder shot
The skinny man isn't wearing anything on his top so we are able to see how thin he is and is putting post it
notes on the wall.
diegetic and non-diegetic sound of the notes being put on the
wall but suspense music is still there
7 seconds
pull focus of over
the shoulder to bottle of bleach on the toilet seat
bottle of bleach on the toilet is significant and it is related
to the notes he is putting on the wall. Rule of thirds means the audience can see the man and the bleach in the scene
diegetic and non-diegetic
3 seconds
Long
shot of man opening the cupboard
Tall cupboard that the man is looking into
Diegetic and non diegetic
3 seconds
medium Close up of the man opening and closing the cupboard in
over the shoulder shot
There are lots of tooth brushes in the cupboard kept for reasons
we don't know. we also see the numbers written on the notes on the cupboard
door.
diegetic and non-diegetic
6 seconds
close up of tooth brush scrubbing camera moving with the
toothbrush.
dirty cracked tiles being scrubbed by the tooth brush covered in
bleach
diegetic and non-diegetic
4 seconds
Medium close up
Man scrubbing a dirty floor very carefully with a dirty toothbrush and
bottle of bleach which we can see in the background
Diegetic and non-diegetic
4 seconds
long shot at a high angle
The rundown bathroom is shown in dark lighting
diegetic and non-diegetic
5 seconds
Medium close up
This shows his face when he realises that he has run out of bleach and
he is angry
Diegetic and non-diegetic
6 seconds
medium close up over the shoulder shot
The note pads are used, we can see him writing on the note pad a
reminder to himself to 'buy bleach'
diegetic and non-diegetic
11 seconds
long
shot down the hallway to the fridge
there is an old styled fridge and the
note is stuck on it. the camera is looking from a darkly lit room.
diegetic
and non-diegetic
8 seconds
All of the shots seem to feature the protagonist this is because there are no other characters in this sequence, because the protagonist is in all of the shots it gives him prevalence in the sequence it also means that he motivates the cuts meaning he is a important dominant figure in the sequence.
The average length of shot in this sequence is about 10 seconds we can see that there is a big difference between the length of shots as some shots are much longer than others. the pattern between cutting rate is that in the middle of the sequence when we see the protagonist acting in a obsessive way then the cutting rate increases to connote the panic in the scene and this can be incorporated into my piece as we can use this to help the audience to understand inside a psychopaths mind.
Camera movement is incorporated into this piece such as the first scene the camera is zooming into the man standing in the bathroom to reveal him to the audience in a sinister way. Pull focus is used in a way that we can incorporate into our film opening this is because it is a way to show the audience two things in a scene without cutting the scene.
Continuous editing is used in this sequence, this helps the audience to understand that every detail in this scene is very important to the character in this sequence. this whole sequence is given a blue wash this makes the shots look more 'chilling' and gives it a effect which is commonly used in horror/thriller genre. this is useful to see in play here in psycho subgenre film as this is the subgenre I intend to make my film in and seeing it very successfully used means I can consider using it in my film opening.
It is dark.
The girl sees a letter addressed to her with her name on it on her doormat, she
slowly reaches down and picks up the letter. She cautiously opens it and begins
to read the hand written letter. The dark lair of the psychopath is revealed,
there’s a red light in the corner creating a eerie glow throughout the room and
there is a male hand writing the letter. The girl is reading the letter, it is
effecting her emotionally, she is distraught at the fact her best friend has
killed herself. Inside the lair of the psychopath there are maps and photos of
the locations depicting where the two girls have been.
The girl
continues to read the letter, she is becoming panicked. She opens the front
door. Warily she looks around the in the dark with the icy, cold wind hitting
her face and a tear dripping down her face. There’s no one outside, the air is
soulless. She turns back into the house, leaving the door open. She is
vulnerable. The other girls dead body is sprawled across the floor in the lair
with warm, sticky blood dripping down her hand. The psychos knife is cleaned
and returned to the collection of tools placed on his desk. There’s an axe,
sharp knife, coping saw, hammer, spanner, screwdriver, chisel and crowbar. They
are crooked and rusted but are placed in order obsessively on a white cloth. The
maps with pictures of girls are covered in a thick layer of dust and there are
lines drawn and pins to locate the girls in specific locations where they have
been photographed and followed. Photos of other girls are crossed out by the psychopath
and he crosses the photo of the previous victim in a dark red marker pen. The
photo of the girl reading the letter is circled. The psycho gazes upon his prey
and his next target, the dark shadow conceals his face but it is obvious to see
his overbearing figure looming in the room.
Back in the
house, the girl finishes reading the letter, in her disbelief she releases it
from her hand. It gently floats to the floor and the insignificant noise of it
hitting the floor seems to echo around her. Without warning the door slams
shut. She freezes with fear and her body stays put however her head begins to
turn to see what could be behind her. She is unaware of what is about to
happen. A bag is forced over her head and she is plunged into darkness.
We continued to develop our concept and documented our ideas on a mind map. It outlines one of our ideas as well as thinking of possible locations, titles, sounds and special effects that could be used to create a psychological horror sequence. We also considered some of the narrative codes that would come from our piece as well as representation and ideology. Following on from this we can look back over this development and improve on our ideas.
Preliminary task
During this task we had to shoot a continuous sequence where a character opens a door and speaks two lines of dialogue with another character, the scene has to show continuity and we had to keep in mind camera techniques such as the 180 degree rule and S/RS. When editing we had to cut on action so that all the clips ran smoothly and the scene exemplified continuity.
After this task we have leant how to use the 180 degree rule effectively and how to continuously edit and how to merge different shots together to create a sense of continuity, we also incorporated sound into our sequence to create tension and suspense in order to effect the audience.
In our production we can use these techniques to show continuous action, we will also keep in mind the 180 degree rule so that our sequence looks as professional as possible.
Order of Titles-
The first titles on the screen are: In association with Stage 6 films, an Alliance Films and IM Global Presentation of a Haunted Movies production. These title are then followed by A James Wan Film. After these few titles there is a short scene in the house where there is no text followed by INSIDIOUS in large, flashing writing.
After these the credits begin: Patrick Wilson, Rose Byrne, Lin Shaye, Ty Simpkins, (and) Barbara Hershey, Leigh Whannell, Angus Sampson, Andrew Astor, Joseph Bishara, casting by Annie McCarthy, Kellie Gesell, costume designer Kristin M.Burke, music by Joseph Bishara, edited by James Wan, Kirk Morri, production designer Aaron Sims, director of photography John R Leonetti Asc, David M.Brewer, line producer Jeanette Voturno, co-produced by John R.Leonetti, Aaron Sims, executive producer Brian Kavanaugh-Jones, produced by Jason BLum, Steven Schneider, Oren Peli, written by Leigh Whannell, directed by James Wan.
Between each title there's about 5 seconds, so enough time to read the names without spending too long on them, each title is the same amount of time regardless of status of person involved in the film.
As they appear the titles start with the actors followed by music, casting, editing, costume and production designers/directors, then there is the executive producer, writer and finally the director, James Wan. The titles build up to the director because they are the most important and significant aspect of the film.
The film title comes before all the names of people involved in the film and after production titles.
Typography-
The font for titles and the film title are the same, capital letters are used for everything as well as the red colour of the font which is generic of the horror genre as red usually connotes danger or blood. The main title is centred and is very large in size, the other titles are of an average size taking up about a quarter of the screen, if there's a description of the persons job, eg executive producer that comes in a smaller font than the name, which makes the name seem more important. As each title leaves the screen, it dissolves away in an almost ghost like way suggesting the film may have something to do with ghosts and spirits.
Relationships between text and visuals- The visuals in the background don't have a direct link with the text, however they do suggest that the film is going to be set in a domestic environment, which is one of the traditional psychological horror conventions.
Own Production
I created this by finding a photo of a stalkers wall featuring photos of girls as we think we may do something along these lines in our production. I then added text on top suggesting that the name of the director is the most important part as it is in bigger writing, I placed in the bottom left hand corner so that you can still take in the visuals which gives the audience an idea of what the film is about.
The first title to appear on screen is 'A STANLEY KUBRICK FILM' the titles then follow: Jack Nicholson, Shelley Duvall. The film title 'THE SHINING' is then put up after these names. The next names are Danny Lloyd, Scatman Crothers, Barry Nelson, Phillip Stone, Joe Turkel, Anne jackson, Tony Burton, Jan Harlan, Stephen King, Robert Fryer, Martin Richards, Mary Lea Johnson. It then repeats Stanley Kurbricks name for screenplay and Diane Johnson for screenplay aswell. Stanley Kubrick is then repeated for distrubution and production.
The spacing between names is all the same apart from the three names Robert Fryer, Martin Richards and Mary Lea Johnson. we can see that these are all put together because they are part of one group.
The film title is after the first 2 names this shows that is significant as Stanley Kurbricks name is also at the begining of this film.
Typography-
The font of the titles and the film titles are all block capitals and written in a blue font. The size of the film title is in a larger font to the other names and 'A STANLEY KUBRICK FILM' is also written in a much larger font this connotes the importance of the directors name and we are able to infer he is the director by the fact his name is repeated in the opening sequence. the fact that the film titile is in a larger font shows that it is important and it means that the film title stands out amongst the other names.
the colour of all the names is the same blue colour and the positioning of all of the names is all in the centre of the screen this is significant because it means that all of the names are easy for the audience to read and the names dominate what is happening in the scene.
Relationship between text and visuals-
The titles can realte to the visuals as they are the same colour as the sky and therefore they could be seen as being in the sky. The visuals do not influence what is happening in the scene and they are not embedded in the sequence.
Own production-
This is my exsample of titles on a film. I have used a a bold white font this is because it stands out from the backround and white is a sinsister colour. i have positioned it on the left hand side this is so that i am applying to the rule of thirds and it is easier for the audience to see.
