Genre research: public survey

For research into our chosen Genre, we did a survey for the public on the genre of psychological-horror films and here were our results...

We quickly discovered that the majority of our target audience of teenagers and adults were the ones interested in the survey.

despite the favourite genre being comedy, we know that horrors were still favoured by a group of our target audience.

the conventions of a horror which was mostly expected was the ones which we were planning to include in our opening sequence, and let us know which not to include, alternatively, we could consider including a less expected convention to make our opening sequence different to all the others. 

most of our target audience said that they enjoyed the idea of a psychological-horror

our film idea is massively suspenseful, so the results here reassure us that our film would appeal to our audience. 

this result encourages us to try something new and steer away from the typical codes and conventions of horror films so that our audience is shocked and surprised at our ending. 

Influences on our film: Setting, Time, Other films

Our initial plan for the film was for it to be set in two main locations of a mental asylum, and a forest, and the plan was for the film to switch between the two settings through flashbacks. However, after some deliberation, we decided the opening sequence would be held in a 'mental asylum' mainly, which we will create our self from an empty room, and will have short snippets of the girls childhood, in a garden. These images show the sort of ideas which have influenced us in choosing the setting of a Mental Asylum.

However, there are going to be two views of the room in which the girl is in in the opening sequence, one as an every day psychiatric hospital room, matched with the same room looking similar to the images above. The aim of this is to show the target audience two sides of the girls mind, how one side of her is completely normal and regular and the other is inane and dark. The fact that the opening sequence is going to be flashing between the two settings will create enigmatic ideas for the audience. 

This is an example of how we want our 'regular', 'every-day' hospital to look like. Even though this looks extremely awful for an every-day hospital, this fits in with our film being set in the 70's and contextually, the lifestyle and standards in psychiatric wards were not very good, and they were treated very badly, which is what we want to get across in our opening sequence: that the life of this girl was faced with constant neglection no matter where she went.

We want the lighting of the room to be extremely low-key and dark, to reflect the neglect which the child has faced. It will also reflect all of the darkness and pain which she has gone through and will immediately make the audience feel sorry for her before making a judgement on her darker side: they might simply feel sorry for her. However, they will then question the girl when they see her in a more disturbing setting and think that she deserves to be neglected if she is locked up and she is a danger.

Because the film is set in the 70's, there are many props that we have taken from the 70's fashions and want to use them in the settings of our opening sequence. 

The use of props like this will show the audience what time the film is set in due to the associations which surround the props and they will establish that the film is set in the 1970's. It adds to the feeling of the film being an old fashioned horror film which explores psychological films: the fact its set in the 70's makes it more of a enigmatic film to the target audience as the time and themes together add to the sense of horror. 

Other films influences

There are also many other films which have influenced our idea for our opening sequence such as "Girl, Interrupted", the Ring, Insidious and the Blair Witch Project. Each of the films involve some aspect which we have taken inspiration from whether its setting, costume or even certain lighting and sounds. For example, in Girl, Interrupted, the setting is a mental asylum, which obviously we have taken influence from, Additionally, the film also explores psychological themes which shows there are some similarities between that film and our opening sequence, which is why I did my research into that film specifically. The images to the right are taken from the movie itself "girl interrupted" and they both reflect our idea of the mental asylum which we want to appear in opening sequence. It was also set in the 70's which shows how the setting should look in that time period, rather unclean and majorly lacking luxuries. 

Costume and make up research

Because our opening sequence is part of a psychological horror movie, the costumes and make up is a large factor in the genre and horror films especially have many conventions which are involved in the appearance of the characters. I have researched potential ideas which we can use in our opening sequence through the codes and conventions of psychological films combined with horror films.

Firstly, the main character is a young girl who has no identity and is a patient in a mental hospital. This means she is probably going to have long, dark hair which is over her face as well as a long white hospital gown. These images reflect the potential look we are going for.
The make up is probably going to be kept to a minimal, with being pale and dark around the eyes: this will make the character look ill and mentally ill due to what it connotes.


The make up used on the actors in the movie Girl, Interrupted very much reflects the 'messiness' convention which we are aiming for our main character to look similar to.

An Idiots Guide to Camera Work: learning the basics as a Media student

With Mrs Sheehan, I researched the basics of Camera work and produced an 'Idiots guide to camera work'

Initial ideas of our opening sequence

Here are a few of our initial ideas regarding our pitch ideas for our opening sequence

The Blair Witch Project: Analysis of Opening Title Sequence

The Candy man: Analysis of Opening Title Sequence

Camera usage practice: The short life of a Kit kat chunky

This is a video of myself and my group practicing camera angles, shot types and editing in a simple video about the short life of a Kit Kat chunky. 

We used a range of shot types such as low angle shots, close ups and behind the shoulder shots, despite not knowing the purpose of the use of these particular shot types at this early stage of my media course, we knew the effects they had on a film and wanted to experiment with them ourselves. 

We also got to work with a tripod and a camera which was practice for when it comes to filming our preliminary task and our final product- the opening sequence. 

I found it quite difficult at first to keep the camera steady when filming by hand but when using the tripod it was much more easy to get the different angles and keep the shot steady. 

When it came to editing on final cut pro, we really had very little experience when it came to how to edit a short film so we all figured out how to use the soft ware and experimented with different edits such as transitions and zooms and slow motion. We ended up including a few fading transitions between shots, a filter to show a change of mood, sound effects and slow motion. 

I found the entire process of filming this short film extremely helpful in all aspects of my media course from learning the camera angles to editing on a computer software. 

Genre research: other films

For my research into opening sequences before I begin to make my own, I looked at many opening sequences which are also psychological horrors, such as Blair Witch Project, Insidious, but here is just one opening sequence from Girl, Interrupted, a psychological-horror film made in 1999, set in 1967. Being set in 1967 means it is similar to my own idea for my films opening sequence.

Here is some screenshots from the opening sequence of Girl, Interrupted:

Looking at films which are also from the genre which my group and I are interested in will allow us to explore all of the codes and conventions which surround that genre. It will also make it clear what sort of audience we are looking to target.

groupings and initial ideas

Groupings and Initial Ideas

My group is Kate Fleury, Sophie Carolan, Lucy Carter and myself. We are going to create an opening title sequence for a psychological-horror film called 'The Subject'. 
Our Initial ideas:
> a young girl who was neglected as a child, is sent to a mental asylum due to many psychological problems. she has no name and no identity and is therefore referred to as 'the subject' hence the name
> the film is set in two locations: the 60's Britain in an old-fashioned asylum, as well as a forest
> there will be a musical theme of jazz music running throughout the film, acting as an Omen for the scares of the film
> the opening sequence will show the girl flashing in and out of the asylum to the forest, with a convention of teddy bears, an old radio, and squeaking doors. 

An introduction to me

My name is Charlotte Crewe, and I am 16 years old, currently studying Media at Wellington Sixth Form. I chose to study Media because I find the camera work enjoyable and also have an interest in the analysis of media texts. I look forward to running this blog which will be filled with all of my course work and research in Media.

04|10|2016