Standing Over Bed Scenes Deconstruction

As we are having a scene in our trailer where the protagonist is standing over the victims bed for a long length of time. But sped up by effects and editing after we have filmed. Many horror movies have done this, especially ones that are filmed realistically. For example Paranormal Activity.

In this scene, Katie the possessed character is watching over her husband for hours on end. We know this because of the clock in the bottom right corner which is styled like a home camera.

This is the kind of camera angle we want to shoot from in our bedroom scene. We would need to consider lighting and also how to position camera for the perfect shot.

We would definitely need to use the tripod for steadiness.

Another film that has a similar scene is orphan, It is a completely different style from paranormal activity, it is more realistic and close up. It is lighted, with no night vision needed. It is from a down to up angle and you can clearly see the two characters faces.

Trailer Name Deconstruction

After alot of thought we have decided to name our movie "ULTIONEM" it means a variety of different things, all with something to do with our storyline. Firstly, it is a latin/italian word for revenge. It is also related to being vindictive and arguments.

We had thoughs of calling our film "VENDETTA" but there was a film called "v for vendetta" not that long ago. We wanted to have a fresh new name which hadnt been used before. We researched into Ultinoem and there was no previous films related to this name.
It really fits the theme of our movie, and it frames the storyline and plot. As we are not giving much away with our trailer, we didnt want our title to be too obvious either, as it is foreign we do not expect that our audience would know the plot just from reading the title. It gives the whole vibe a really mysteruous feel and we think it makes people want to watch the trailer to see what its about.

"Ultionem" ,we decided for this, because it was not well known and when researched into, was not easily recognized, so will not be a commonly known word. Information about the word / title was extremely limited.

Stop Motion Animation

• Ensure the lighting doesn’t change
• Use a tripod to keep the shots steady
• Nothing can change e.g. the background things surrounding it, so every shot looks continuous
• Take more than enough pictures to make sure you have plenty to choose from
• Take a different picture every time you gradually change the image instead of taking a few showing big changes otherwise it wont look right
• When imported onto Imovie put them all in order
• Select all the pictures and drag them into a new project
• Change the length of the slide to less than a second so that when you play the still shots all together it plays fast in order so you can’t notice the stopping in-between the shots

Vendetta media coursework:

• Theirs didn’t look professional when they tried to use stop motion animation
• Instead of it appearing on the wall to look scary it looked as if they did it using the paint accessory on windows using he graffiti pen
• It didn’t look as if it has been written on the door properly, looked as if it appeared from nowhere

Last House On The Left Sound Deconstruction

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2EZyJxabVck

• There is a lot of dialogue used in the trailer
• Starts with twinkling type of music, sounds as if it would be a rom-com genre of film
• Abruptly there is a turn in the music a loud sound is used to make the viewer jump as it’s very unexpected, there is no building up to it.
• Series of loud ‘bang’ with periods of silence inbetween
• After when the shot the gun shot is repeated  throughout the trailer
• At a point when the trailer changes and the parents find the body and then pick up  the backing sound to ‘sweet child of mine’ is played till the end
• The sound is contrapuntal  to the shots being shown, the song sweet child of mine isn’t usually what would go with a scary trailer
• They subverted the usual convention of using sounds to create fear throughout the trailer that compliment what’s going on in the trailer, instead it gives it a more sinister feel of happy music being played when they are showing blood and death etc
• Continuous loud bangs are still played through the trailer and a loud scream over the top of the backing sound track

The Possession Sound Deconstruction

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0gBeG31fX40

• Throughout the trailer is a lot of equilibrium and disequilibrium which makes it tense and keeps the audience engaged 
• Starts with quiet background music while characters are speaking, sounds similar to a piano type instrument with the 2 same keys being played alternatively
• Darker/deeper sounds are introduced which makes it seem more mysterious and wary
• Short period of silence when the one of the main characters is opening the box, could signify its an important part as they want us to focus on one thing instead of sound combined
• Extreme weather noises, rain and wind, represents pathetic fallacy
• Everyday noises such as using a knife and fork while eating dinner are exaggerated, we start to hear as if they’re lots of whispers in the background which start to build up to a loud noise
• First big noise of the trailer when it fades out, there is a silence and a type of beat carries on noise again
• The whispers come back, everything is building up sounds like a car crash, screaming, goes back to the whispering voices
• Constant background noises getting louder all different sounds are being introduced; as this is happening the montage of shots get faster and quicker.
• High pitch sounds builds up louder, then followed by a silence to make an impact
• The last thing we hear are the strange noises talking and whispering this conveys the idea of the girl being possessed and the voices are the spirits all around her
• During the trailer the music is reflective of what is happening like building up the tension when the action is rising to create more of a dramatic impact

Lovely Bones Film Deconstruction

The lovely bones deconstruction 

Camera angles:
·         In one of the first scenes when we are introduced to the murderer, suzie and her family
·         The camera angles however don’t actually show him as face on, so doesn't reveal his identity
·         At first he is out of focus, in the background so we can’t see his face properly only a figure
·         They then use a close up on him yet you still don’t see his face straight on as his hand is covering his face
·         They show a medium shot of outside his house and him shutting the curtains as if to close off the camera from looking into his house

Mise en scene:
·         Mainly everything in this scene that is focused around the man  is very dark, connotes feelings of mystery and fear
·         The house looks very clean and everything is in its place, shows a weird contrast someone who is a murderer but keeps their house tidy everything in the right place
·         It shows him drawing sketches where he is planning his den in the field, this gives us an indication of where the plot is heading
·         He dresses in very dark formal clothes, this contrasts what suzie wears
·         Suzie is shown riding around on her bike outside laughing with her parents, showing an everyday normal life
·         She is wearing bright coloured clothes which reflects her bubbly personality and provides a stark contrast between her and the man

Editing:
·         They use cross cuts between the man in the house and suzie with her family inside and outside the house
·         Builds up the tension
·         Shows the obvious difference between them, everything around the man is dark and gloomy but with suzie its more bright and happy
 
Sound:
·        Music sounds sinister around the house to create a suspense  for the audience
·        Echoing of her voice every so often to heighten the atmosphere
·        The music used is quiet
·        You can still hear loud footsteps contrasted to the quiet music, enhancing the dramatic effect

 

Camera angles:

·         They have used a high angle shot when she is first in the den to make her look inferior, she looks even more younger and smaller and therefore more vulnerable to what he is going to do with her
·         Close up is used of her face to highlight how scared she looks, audience feel sorry for her
·         Another close up is used when he grabs the bottle opener, this is done to show how intimidating he is to her
·         A medium shot is used to show the struggle of when she tries to escape but of the den but he grabs her to pull her back down
 
Mise en scene:
·         Suzie is wearing young basic clothes to reflect how young she is, she doesn't try to look older than her age
·         In the den its obviously very dark so there is limited lighting  the only lighting is candles, it creates an unsettling atmosphere, makes us feel uncomfortable
·         He wears the same clothes
·         They show lots of little figurines in the den. We associate young girls having figurers such as dolls to play with which could make the audience question why he has them
 
Editing:
·         They use lots of shot reverse shot to show the conversation between them
·         They keep the camera on one of the actors for an extended amount of time to show the awkwardness between them 

Camera angles:

•  In the final scenes they use a  lot of close up shots, to focus on main points such as the clock telling the time, suggesting she will run out of time before the man finds her creating an unnerving atmosphere to the scene
• The close up of the opening of the floorboards is emphasising a critical moment in the film

 
Editing:

•  In the scene towards the end when the sister is searching through his house they use also fast pace cross cutting between the man coming back in his car approaching the house and the girl in the house, this creates a tension and the audience feel scared for the girl in case she gets caught
• 
  

       Sound:

•       They don’t use much backing sound when they are both in the house, it's dead silent but every movement and creek is emphasised to be a lot louder to show how every momvement is critical to not be found
•           When he is chasing her out the house the music builds up again to enact the fast paced chase and builds up the atmosphere of her trying to get away from him quickly

Character Profile

This is the character we hope to use, to play the role of the mother in our trailer.
We chose Susannah as we felt she looked like a typical mother, brown hair and dark features. This is appropriate as we want our character to appear completely normal at a glance.

Here in a close up of her face you can see the makeup I have used ever so slightly to create dark shadows on her face to give off a more sinister effect. This will be applicable later on in the trailer as we see the character under go distress.



As you can see Susannah is wearing normal day to day working clothes- a shirt and knitted jumper. We feel this is also important to include in the trailer as it adds to the character profile and the normality we wish to portray. 

Lighting Analysis 3

In the third test I did, I used two covered photography lights, this was effective as it gave out a good amount of light but again didn't create any specific mood, I feel this or one photography light is light enough to see detail, but as I said before a filter on the camera would set more of a mood, and this is what we will use in our final shooting.

Lighting Analysis 2

In my second deconstruction I used one photogrpahy light but I covered it, to see if a dimmer light would create more of an effect. I felt this was more effective in setting the mood but it was quite dim, depending on the content of the clip in our final shooting and importance of seeing the detail, this lighting may or may not be appropriate.

Lighting Analysis

I did a lighting test in one of our locations, to see what strength of lighting would suit the size of our location and would set the right mood.
In the first test i did, I used one photography light which gave out a good amount of light but didnt set the mood in any way, after watching the clip back I have decided using a coloured filter over the camera would be effective and would set a better mood than just a plain light.

Possessed People Research

The Apparition Poster Deconstruction

·         Dark black /grey background convention of a horror poster, can’t see much of the background

·         Picture of the girl takes up the majority of the poster, it’s positioned in the middle so our eyes immediately focus on her

·         The hands all around her body almost grabbing her look like could be something like zombies, they look old, grey and skeletal  

·         She looks quite a pretty teenage girl, with dark curly hair

·         Stereotypical to have a young girl as the victim, they are portrayed as being more vulnerable and weak

·         However the girl doesn’t look too scared, so it doesn’t make the audience feel scared or worried for her

·         The title is capitalised so that it stands out  and the title is white to contrast the dark background

·         The tag line ‘once you believe you die’ is also capitalised it’s quite ambiguous which is done to intrigue the audience

·         It has the release date in the bottom of the poster in quite small font but in an orangey colour to stand out

·         We assume the genre of the film could be about possession because of the hands all around her, as if they are controlling her and the hands covering her mouth like an evil spirit of force could be controlling her

·         There is a slight glow around the edge of her creates a paranormal/ supernatural atmosphere

The Machinist Poster Deconstruction

The Last Exorcism Website Deconstruction

Insidious Website Deconstruction

The Last Exorcism Poster Deconstruction

Insidious Trailer Deconstruction

Insidious Poster Deconstruction

Production Company Research

Sound Deconstruction- Sinister Trailer

Sound deconstruction of sinister trailer:

·         It starts with a fuzzy cutting out of a television news report being played back, this sets the tone for the rest of the trailer as when something goes wrong  in a film the recording usually cuts out to reflect this

·         Then goes quiet for a few seconds

·         Continues with speech between the family

·         Quiet yet high pitch sound in the background developing

·         When he has opened the box it sounds quite mechanical, and while playing the tapes a clicking noise of the film is exaggerated

·         Same noise as before comes back

·         Then big loud noise as if the noise has cut out on the film, then goes to speech and quiet background,  it later occurs when he is talking to the officer

·         There is a quiet background noise again followed by a silence, it uses an anti-climax as we expect a big jumpy noise to come afterwards but it just goes back to the low background sound

·         High pitch constant ringing noise

·         Sounds like tyres breaking in the road and helicopters

·         It builds up and the tension rises,  we can hear a scream in the background

·         There are a combination of noises such as just a muffling sound, then with a heartbeat, car tyres breaking on the road and speech is over the top of that

·         Children screaming

·         At the end of the trailer they use a clicking breaking up connection type of sound which reflects the movie they played at the beginning. As well as screaming in the background also

The Amityville Horror Poster Deconstruction

The colours of the poster are very dark and mysterious; there is a house which looks haunted highlighted with the effect that the man is shining a light on it. He appears to have a weapon in his hand or some sort of unknown object.

The title is in red, with AMITYVILLE larger than the other words. This accentuates the title all together. Using the word horror in the title makes us know the genre of the film. Underneath the red title, there is a line of white text that says “based on the true story”, making it seems more realistic and scary. On the wall on the left it says “Katch em & Kill em”; it is self written and looks really realistic. It could suggest that there are killings and gore in the film.

The Rite Trailer Deconstruction

Paranormal Activity 3 Poster Deconstruction

·         The typography of the poster is very simplistic. The top line “discover how the activity began” is in a font styled like a type writer in a contrasting white colour on black.

·         The title is in red which is a colour used alot in horror films, but as there are 3 films in the sequel the “3” is in glowing blue to accentuate the sequel number

·         The Blue ties in with the fact alot of the movie are filmed in night vision which is a blue tinge.

·         The tag line is “it runs in the family” this is joining in with the other two films as well, so viewers who have seen the past movies will understand this more and feel the need to see the film

·         It is all very simple positioning,  with the photo covering most of the black background.

·         From this poster you can clearly tell that it is a horror, possibly a physiological horror.    

•   The choice of image is good 

Insidious Poster Deconstruction

·         Movie title is vertical, makes you think and read differently. The ‘SI’ is highlighted red which is a strong colour that represents horror and blood

·         The colour scheme is really dark, for example the sky is cloudy and dark

·         It neatly incorporates ‘from the makers of’

·         A house in the background is suggesting and  could link in with the storyline

·         Figure of a child is dark and mysterious, his eyes are distorted and his whole physique is dark and not very realistic or visible

·         The target audience will be for teenagers or adults, this is definitely not for young children

·         The poster suggests that the genre is horror; it is very dark and looks like the film is going to be scary or horror orientated.

·         “it’s not the house that’s haunted” is the tag line, directly underneath the title. This is a very ominous line and it doesn’t give much away about the storyline. But it does tie in with the house in the background and also it makes the audience think could it be the child which is haunted?

·         Everything is very central, which gives the poster some structure.

The Lovely Bones Trailer Deconstruction

Sound

·         There is continuous background music with a mix of dialogue in different parts. At the beginning of the trailer the background music is quite still, high pitch, but also slow, this creates a calming tone. However the music changes when she says she was murdered to more heavy sombre type of music this is reflective of what is happening at this point in the trailer.
·         It then changes to more high pitch music when she is in her dream world with laughing in the background to convey a difference in what is reality and what is not
·         Towards the end of the trailer when they are showing the build-up of when they’re trying to find out what happened the music gets louder there’s more crashing sounds to build up the pace and excite the audiences, but also a type of hopeful music  as they get closer to finding what we suspect as the person who murdered Suzie
·         A voiceover is used from almost the beginning of the film. The use of the voiceover is effective as it is giving part of a story or some information from one of the dominant characters perspective and from this short clip in the trailer we know this person will have an important role in the film.
·         As the girl has been murdered it could also be acting as a voice from heaven as she is watching down over everything that happens to her family.

Camera angles
·         One of the first shots in the trailer is a close up of the girl holding a vogue magazine, this highlights that she is a typical young carefree girl interested in fashion etc. doing everyday things, but what happens to her in the future is extraordinary which displays the contrast 

·         The close up shot is used to show specific detail. The close up shot used here is to show the emotion in the mothers face, we can see she is crying over her daughter they have chosen a close up shot to create a reaction from the audience as we are supposed to empathise with her

·         The medium shot is used to show how two or more different characters interact with each other, here it shows the mum and the daughter joking with each other and looking relaxed, it displays a good mother and daughter relationship

·         The camera angle of her running across the field is often shown in the trailer. This is where we suspect she is killed as later they show the police looking for a body, an establishing shot is where most of the action is based around.

Mise en scene

·         The girl wears very plain basic clothes and while riding a bike this shows how young she is

·         The shot of the buses arriving to school shows it was a big part of her life just like any other child

·         The scene off the dad in some sort of office/work room shows that he is up late working, due to the minimal natural lighting and lamps that are on in the room it shows he that he doesn't want to stop until he finds answers to his daughters murder, stuff everywhere also displays that he’s quickly trying to rummage through everything he perceives to maybe have a link to her death

Editing:

·         The main form of editing is linear narrative styles of storytelling in which events happen chronologically.

·         It uses jump cuts to add more pace to it jumping from one scene to the next creating more of an atmosphere

·         Sometimes uses flashbacks to the girl when she was alive