Se7en

The film Se7en starts with an exteme close up of a opened book on a table, the camera is facing it from the side so it can take a couple of seconds to take in exactly what the picture is, which gives the viewer a slight sense of confusion right from the start.
Almost straight away, the titles start coming up on the screen in a small white font that looks nearly handwritten. The letters ysed are tall and thin and with the music used in the background, its obvious from the start that the film is going to be a thriller/horror.
The music used is very eery and creepy, which builds tension right from the beginning. As the credits go on, close ups of hands are shown working with metal objects, the music in the background is very scratchy at this point, like the sound of drills, which creates the impression that someone is making something.
The lighting used throughout the whole opening credits scene is very dark, only black and white colouring is used, with red occaisonally used for some shots.
More close ups are shown at the beginning, the music also goes with this as its still scratchy and almost sounds like writing.
A close up is then on the screen showing what is actually being wrote on the page and a black pen is shown crossing certain words out.
As the credits get closer to the end, the pictures on the screen speed up, at the same pace of the music which causes further tension for the viewer.
Images showing torture are also placed on the screen, quickly changing from one to the other in very flickery and flashing transitions.
Although its quite obvious from the opening credits that this film is a thriller, its still quite unclear what the film is actually about as the quick shots, flickery images and music creates enigma for the viewer. These factors all used together confuse the audience as it's not totally sure what is going to happen in the film and therefore, they won't know what to expect.

In contrast, Emma looked at Wild Child which can be seen here.

Choosing a media institution distributor

When creating the story line for our video we used other video film openings for inspiration. We also looked at media distributors and who they were, this gave us an idea of our target audience. We had decided the genre of our film previously, as a thriller/horror, and that we wanted to give the impression of somebody being watched or stalked. So we looked at films similar.

New Line Cinemas

New Line CInemas is an American film production and distribution company. The films they produce are high budget, and include thriller/horror films such as Se7en, A Nightmare on Elm Street and The Rite. Se7en is the main inspiration for our video. though of film is about a girl being stalked man, this film is similar as the main character is constantly being watch, and studied. Which eventually ends in the death of his wife. This film, although far fetched, is realistic, with a mass crazed murderer. Our film is also realistic. As this distribution company have more experience with similar films, I would choose to use them instead of an English company because English companies generally focus on the obvious side of horror, rather than the unknown.
This is the trailer for Se7en.

Filming

As our media lesson takes place after school hours, it's provided us with a great opportunity to get our filming done as we'll be able to use the big space of the school but without having lots of students and teachers around.
We filmed each scene in order of how we wanted to put it together in our final piece. We started off in the study room which was quite busy as it's used quite a lot after school but this didn't affect our work as we were able to use a corner of the room where nobody else was working. We filmed the scene three times to ensure that we didn't miss anything important.

Afterwards we went into the corridors of school as most people had left by then, and anybody who was still in the school were in meetings or in after school clubs so weren't walking around. We were able to film quite easily out here as we had a lot of space to use and a lot of room to film from. Originally, we were going to show Emma sat with her friend in the stairwell but we found a seat in the corridor which provided us with much better lighting and gave us clearer footage. It was also easy to film from a high angle because of the different levels in the school.

Filming the scenes where Emma was in the projection room was probably the hardest part as it was quite dark. Also, because the room is like a box outside of the wall, it was very hard to find a place to film. We ended up filming from the balcony outside but it was quite hard to film good quality images as the zoom made the room look very fuzzy.

We had quite a fun time filming, and all four of us gave input and used our initiative if we thought we should change or develop something. It was quite a long process, but we still managed to finish it within one session.

Plan for our filming

We are going to film our whole opening scene in our school as its very big and has many different types of areas we can use, for example we can use classrooms, bathrooms, the outside spaces and the hall.

We are going to start filming in our sixth form study room where there are lots of computers, Emma will be using one of them and we will use a handheld camera to zoom into her.

From here, we are going to use an above angled shot of Emma meeting her friend on one of the corridors. Again, the camera will zoom in on her. The use of a high angled shot will make Emma appear vulnerable and let the audience know that she is the victim.

Then we will use some quicker shots of her sat with her friend and the camera zooming in, and then showing her walking down the stairs on her own.

We thought the projection room in our hall would make a very good setting. It's also quite dark so we can make the film look more eery. We will film the projection room from the balcony outside and Emma will be seen talking to her boyfriend.

Her boyfriend will be seen standing up and leaving the room, and the camera will quickly cut to to door of the projection room where her boyfriend will be seen leaving.

Finally, the camera will have a lot more movement and will get closer to Emma sat inside the room, as if the person filming is walking towards her.

Ideas for our work

After all doing some research, our group decided to sit down together and come up with some possible ideas for our opening scene. We decided that we'd use a female as our main character as that is the easiest way of showing a vulnerable person and the audience will recognise straight what type of film we are trying to create. We want to use a stalking theme but as we are only producing the opening scene we are going to use camera angles to create the feeling that the girl is being followed, without actually showing the stalker. This will also create a feeling of suspense as the audience won't know what is happening and make them want to keep watching.

Questionnaire

We are going to create a short opening for a thriller/horror film, our target audience will be older teenagers and young adults. To give us a better idea of our target audience, and what they want from a thriller/horror film. We can then use all of this feedback to develop our product. This questionnaire was carried out with 20 participants, 10 female, 10 male.

How often do you watch horror/thriller films?
Rarely - 3
Sometimes - 6
Often - 11

What type of music is generally present during the opening of a thriller/horror film?
Diegetic - 4
Non-Diegetic - 13
Both - 3

Do you feel that music and sound effects are important for creating tension in thriller/horror film openings?
Yes - 17
No - 3

What do you feel is the most appropriate setting for a horror/thriller film?
School - 12
Theme park - 4
House - 4

What time of day is most effective for a horror/thriller film?
Day time - 9
Night time - 11

Do you feel the best type of victim for a horror/thriller film would be male or female?
Male - 2
Female - 18

Evaluation:
This questionnaire has helped us to decide when, where and who to use for our video. Most people thought that the use of non-diagetic music was more effective than diagetic sound. I think this is important as it means that we should use more non-diagetic music in our film, for example exterior music like a soundtrack placed over the top of the film that the characters can't hear as they're talking. I think this will work well with a thriller film as we'll be able to use tense music to build suspense. Music is an element I will definitely use as it is a very effective way of creating a certain feeling or atmosphere, and my questionnaire also shows that most people agree with this. Over half the people we asked thought that the most appropriate place for a thriller/horror movie setting is in a school. This is very beneficial to us and we have a lot of access to our school and so will be able to make a suitable looking project. The majority of people felt that night time was a more effective time for a horror/thriller film but there wasn't too much difference in what time of day people thought the film would look more effective as many people also thought that daytime would look good too. I think this means that a mixture of daytime and nighttime shots should be used to create a project of good quality. Finally, 90% of people thought that a female character would make the best victim which is what we as a group all decided would work best.

Research into our chosen genre.

As a group, we have decided to produce a film opening to a horror/thriller film.
I decided to research the codes and conventions of both types of film, starting first with the horror genre.

Horror Films
Films in this genre include:
Saw
The Shining
The Exorcist
Dawn of the Dead
Scream

In a lot of these films, there is at least one victim who appears vulnerable. For example, a lot of films use teenage girls as victims, not only is the traditional representation of females quite vulnerable and dependent, teenage girls also appeal to the young men and teenage boys as thats the target audience of horror films. There tends to be a lot of blood and gory scenes in these films, and the killer also has a 'trademark' about them and the way they kill their victims. In Scream, the famous white mask is used, whilst in Saw, the victims are killed in a very disturbing way.


The mask used in Scream.


Dark lighting is used quite a lot, and eery music is used to create suspense. In some films, like The Blair Witch Project, a hand held camera is used which also creates a sense of fear as they are quite shaky and give a point of view shot which makes the audience feel as if what they are watching is real.

The characters in horror films are often similar to one another. The girls are quite vulnerable but also have an element of sex appeal about them which is quite a traditional approach. The boys on the other hand come across as quite strong and very masculine. However, at least one of these boys are killed in most horror films which makes the killer come across even stronger. Eventually, one of the good characters finds a way of killing the killer or at least getting rid of them.

Thriller Films
Films in this genre include:
Se7en
Momento
The Godfather
Pulp Fiction

Thriller films take a more psychological approach rather than using gore and lots of blood. They're often more realistic looking than horror films, for example the way that the characters are dressed is a lot more casual than the characters in horror films. The characters in thriller films are often older than characters in thriller films and also act a lot more mature and less dramatic. Some horror films use humorous aspects, for example, in Scream some of the characters joke about what might happen whilst thriller films tend to use more serious storylines. Thrillers like Se7en use close ups of certain objects, like books or of people's faces, this creates tension and feelings of fear as it blocks the audience from seeing everything and makes their imagination work harder to think about what might be happening. Flashbacks are also used quite a lot in thriller films, in quite an abrupt way which disorientates the audience and puts them on edge.

The main difference which I have found between thrillers and horror films is that horror films place more of an emphasis on the actual killings or torture whilst thriller films focus more on the story of what is happening. I think that creating an opening scene for a thriller film will be much easier to do because of the limitations of location and time we have. Thriller films also use a lot of different shot types and camera angles to create the atmosphere of their film which will mean we can do more to make our work look more like a horror film.