Analysis of Titles.

The titles which occur in Edward Scissorhands have influenced me to use similar effects within my opening sequence.

As you can see, the use of the white writing over the black background creates an on edge creepy effect, which is again conventional for horror. 


I also like the white writing over the top of different objects which is shown in the bottom right hand corner, the use of the snow on the black background with white titles over the top has also influenced me to do something similar, as i feel it creates a good effect.

Before i came across these titles, i had an idea to have my title "The Unexpected" appear over the top of the window in Sophie (Brogans) room, this will show the darkness and enable the audience to realise where it is all situated, and it will also allow the audience to imagine something bad will be happening, due to the empty window, with no light what so ever. Therefore, after i found the titles to Edward Scissorhands i think i will defiantly do this, as it illustrates similar ideas have worked in the past.

As well as this,  i think the font type works well with the film, the angle of the titles create a dramatic effect which i think i might decide to try out similar effects. I will mainly have my titles appearing in between different shots presented on a black background, however as i have mentioned the title of my film will be shown over the top of one particular shot, due to my own thoughts and after looking at these specific titles.

Filming Process

Overall, the filming process was fairly successful, i managed to follow my animatic and the shots which i thought would be effective. However, there were a couple of shots which i decided to change the angle of, in order for it not to be a sudden cut. For example, i had to change the angle of when Brogan was walking into her brothers room, to make it flow better. I tried to use continuity techniques to create varied effects which i thought would enable the audience to relate to my narrative.

Audience Feedback for My Animatic.

After looking at everyones animatic, we now have feedback, initial comments and targets for each of our animatics.
The positive comments i got back from my animatic consist of the following:
- Most people like the music which i decided to choose as they said it suited the genre i am doing.
- The varied shots and the particular use of the long shot at the end is effective.
- They said they thought the Story line was explained well and was just enough to leave you in suspense.

The main targets i got back from my animatic are listed below:
- The use of either adding more titles or spreading them out a bit more.
- The music could fade out at the end

After taking the following targets under consideration, i could possibly add more titles in to my animatic as the feedback i received suggests i should do so. As well as this, it might be beneficial to fade the music out at the end in order to create a more tense effect. 
Another possible target i could give myself, could be to include some different sound effects such as the phone ringing and the cry which Sophie hears, this could add to the effect and whilst watching my animatic, you could relate to it easier. This was not something which was mentioned through my audience feedback, i however feel this could be benefical.

Below is my animatic:

Storyboarding.

I have just finished my storyboard and am now starting my animatic. I have found it fairly hard to put all my ideas down into the right shots which i feel will create the right effect, although i am quite happy with my final outcome and feel that the shots i have chosen should work well together. I need to make sure my opening sequence creates tension and keeps the audience on the edge of their seats. I have tried my best to make my ideas as realistic as possible.

All in all i have 48 shots. I wasen't sure how i was going to end my opening sequence as i didn't know whether to give it a more significant ending, or let it just end casually after the two mintues, i tried my best for it not to seem like a trailer! I have decided the end of my opening sequence to be Sophie walking out the house and the door closing behide her, i don't feel that this will make it too much like a tralier. I am hoping this will simply let the audience realise there is something not right and something could be in the house, making them want to watch more and creating enigma codes.

I am going to use a range of shots to create varied effects, such as extreme close ups, close ups and long shots, these all being conventional for horror.

Props and Costumes.

The props and costumes which are shown within my opening sequence are extremely important as they set the scene and allow the audience know to know the social class of the characters.

Props

The props within my opening sequence consist of the following:
- Telephone

- Laptop

- Makeup wipe

The use of the telephone is very conventional throughout horror films, it adds to the effect of suspense and creates extreme tension. In this case, it shows the audience that Sophie is extremely worried and upset when she realises her mum could be in danger.

The laptop is used simply to show that Sophie is unaware anything bad is going to occur. She is happy in her room talking to her friends through her laptop.

A make up wipe is used for Sophie to take her makeup off! like the laptop, this has no real meaning to it, just to portray that Sophie intends this evening to be just like every other night.

Costume

I only have one character who is introduced within my opening sequence, this being Brogan who is known as Sophie. Sophie is portrayed as a normal, down to earth, everyday school girl, therefore the clothes which she wears needs to be kept simple and to the point, this will then convey that what is happening to Sophie can happen to anyone! aswell as making it seem realistic.  I think Brogan will be wearing either leggins or black jeans, with a simple plain top.

Questionnaire Analysis.

As i have briefly mentioned previously i have asked 15, 15-35 year olds to answer my questionnaires, 10 of them being male, making 5 of them female. I did this on purpose as my adiuence is mainly targeted towards men. Below i will be analylising my results to the most significant questions out of all 10.

Question 1
The first question being "what do you expect from a typical horror storyline?" gave me the same answers throughout, everyone stated they expect to see a murder and there will be a typical victom.

Question 2
My second question is "what type of music would you expect to hear in the opening sequence?" the feedback i got back from my answered questionaires were either slow, creepy, eerie or tense/creating suspence. None of the answers were upbeat and fast or classical, which were my other options. This means that i will have to make sure the music which i include within my opening sequences is slow, which will then create suspence, whilist keeping it creepy to satisfy my audience.

Question 3
"would you say it is more important to see the location of the film within the opening sequence or the main character?"
the majority said they would prefer to see the location of the film rather than the main character, this being 7 out of 15, i had planned to have an establising shot of the house before the opening sequence offically gets going, this would obviously be a good idea as the adiuence would like to see the location so it can set the scene. 6 people said both of them are equally as important as one another, this shows that the main character does also need to be a significant part of my opening sequence, this is also good as my opening sequence will be based around my main character.

Question 4
"what do you expect the main character to be like out of the following..?"
- Young teenage girl
- Young Mother
- Older women
- Young teenage boy
- Middle aged man
- Older man
- Other
Out of the options, the only two which my particpants selected were young teenage girl and an older women, below is a graph which shows this:

As you can see on the graph, 13 people said they would expect the main character to be a young teenage girl, and only two said they would expect the it to be an older women. Out of all of the options i listed, my target audience feel these two are the most relevent, both of these options are of the same gender aswell. This is a positive answer, as my main character is a young teenage girl, therefore i know i will be showing my audience exactly what they want too see.



Question 6
"How would you expect the titles to show up?"
- In between different shots (appearing on a black background)
- Over the top of shots, fading in and out

As you can see on the graph, 11 people out of the 15 whom answered my questionnaires stated that they would expect the titles to appear in between different shots on a black background, leaving only 4 people to say they prefered the titles to appear over the top of shots.

Therefore, this means when i start editing my opening sequence, i need to make my titles appear on a black background in between various shots.



Question 7
"Where would you prefere the location to be within the opening sequence?"
- In a house
- In the woods
- In a car park
- Other
The only two options which were chosen are in a house and in the woods, below is a graph which shows this:

As you can see, 11 people said they would prefere the location to be within a house in the opening sequence, only 4 people said they would like it to be in a woods, and these were the only options listed. Therefore, this shows us that i should have my opening sequence located within a house, this was my orignal plan so luckily i can stick to this.





Question 9
"For the opening sequence, would you like to know the main plot striaght away or to be left wondering what is going on?"

As shown on the graph, everyone who answered my questionnaires said they prefere to be left wondering what is going on rather than knowing the plot instantly within the opening sequence, this means that i need to make sure my opening sequence doesn't reveal too much. Most people said they like to be left in suspence, they think it makes it more intresting, it keeps it more of a mystery! as well as creating enigma codes. My ideas for my opening sequence should enable a cliff hanging start, therefore my opening sequence should be of what my target audience want to see.

Question 10
"What do you find most interesting about horror films?"
The answer for this question is extremely repetative, everyone said they loved the following:
- The thrill of it
- The tension it creates
- The twist it has
- Feeling of suspence
- Creating a sence of fear
- Unknowing of what will occur
This shows that for my opening sequence, i need to make sure the audience get a sence of fear and the feeling of suspence, i will do this by having the phoncall between the mother and Sophie which will put the audience on the edge of their seats, the uncertaincy of what is going to happen is also important, the fact that my opening sequence will end when Sophie is out looking for both her mother and brother or when she finds her mothers car, will leave the audience not knowing what will happen next. The fact that Sophie is very close to her mother and brother, makes the audience feel sympathy towards her as she doesn't know where either of them are.

Conventions of Horror.

Most horror films end up sharing similar if not the same conventions, although this may make the genre fairly repetative, it also adds to the scaryness of it all, and keeps you in suspence as although the conventions are similar, the plot is most definantly different.

Sound
- The music is expected to be scary, slow and very tense.
- Diegetic sounds such as the televison on very quite, or the use of the phone ringing is a typical convention. For example, in Scream and The Ring both of these conventions are used.
- If music or the use of props are not used, sounds such as children singing can be seen as disturbing and can put you on edge, this is shown in Stephen Kings It, for example.

Titles
Inter-lay titles, such as having white writing on a black background is extremely popular in horror films, as it stands out and adds to the effect, having either the writing or background red is also a typical convention- red portraying the colour of death or blood. If none of these conventions are used, usually something will be shown such as pictures like in Stephen Kings It, which relate to the film from past events or characters. The titles are also completed fairly quickly, to concentrate on the real meaning of the film.

Locations and Lighting
The typical location of a horror film being a big house out in the middle of no-where, there is normally one person left within the house to create a more tense effect, if the location is not within a house in the middle of no-where, it would be outside in the middle of no-where! for instance in the middle of a woods. The use of these locations allows anything to happen, if you are alone with not many people around you then the killer can get away with anything, if you are in a big house there are many rooms and areas the event can take place, and the same for being in the woods.
The lighting which is used is very dark, usually the most scary scenes will be filmed in the night time, natural light is not normally used. This is the case due to the fact that the killer will not be seen in darkness, making it much more scary for us!

Main character

The main character in a typical horror film would be a young, dumb, blonde female. She would be portrayed as innocent and defenceless, therefore this makes her an easy target for the killer! it also makes us feel sympathy towards her, which is the intention. If the main character was a big man it would be less shocking and far more boring. A perfect example of this is Scream.

Camera Shots

Obviously many different camera angels and shots are used in all horror films. However, the most significant shots which are used are establishing shots and close ups, these show the audience the location and the importance of it, aswell as showing the emotion the character is experiencing.

Props

Props are extremely important in horror films, as they more often than not they foreshaddow future events, the main prop which is used in most horror films is the use of the phone ringing, it keeps the audience in suspence as you are unaware who is on the other line and almost expect it to be someone bad, a good example of this is Scream. 

Enigma codes

There are many enigma codes which are raised for horror films, usually at the beginning of the film throughout the opening sequence. This creates servere suspence for the audience as it makes them want to watch more and find out what is happening, it keeps you on edge and awake!

I came up with these conventions due to the three horror films which i analylised. I thought about what was the usual occurance within the opening sequences, and then i looked at horror films in general.