KS: The Hole

Unable to find opening sequence but here is the trailer.


'The Hole' is a 2001 psychological thriller film directed by Nick Hamm, based on the novel 'After the Hole' by Guy Burt. The use of flashed imagery and jump cuts is very sucefful here to create a disjointed surreality.


Iconography is very important in this clip with the use of props including the alcohol to represent the rebellious teenagers but also the sharp objects and the blood to create a terrifying setting for the audience. A warehouse and hospital room are two stock locations used in this clip as traditional places for horror sequences to take place.


The digetic scream works very well to create a dramatic setting and create fear for the audience, I think when it comes to creating our film opening we should sound mix the dolls laughter to give the character the fear factor. This also made me think of an idea of non digetic sounds of the winding of the doll with a key to pronounce their speech. I also think we should definitely use a sound bridge to hold the various flashes and lines of action together by tensional punchy music similar to the soundtrack used in 'The Hole'. I also love the last few seconds where the title is screamed and echoed to close the opening to a black background, a technique we should consider using.


The flashes of black at white lighting create an unnatural and horror sense, with lines of action bridged by music, character interaction and screams and flashes of directional light. Also the use of handy cam and a quick flash of video cam shooting are interesting techniques to present an eery yet personal response to a horrific experience.


The birds eye view shot I particularly like as it draws the audience into the film with a direct presentation of a characters feelings and creates a disjointed affect by the setting and movement of his body language whilst laying flat looking at the camera.


When we create the scene of our main character in her psychiatric unit we could base the setting on 'The Hole's' all white hospital room with the use of heavy directional light, where we should use a chair rather than a hospital bed. I believe this will be very successful as it will contrast the dark lighting in the other scenes and the flashes of black lighting; similarly to the structure of 'The Hole'. And lastly with the use of an increased cutting rate and juxaposition of shots the audience feels involved in the dramatic moments by increasing suspense and creating a disjointed horror feel to a psychological thriller.

KS: Camera Framework : Lovely Bones

These are two interesting shots taken from the psychological thriller 'Lovely Bones'(Jackson,2009) where the killer looks over the dolls house. The shots are placed together in the sequence, the first we look from the dolls house to a close up of the unlooker, the second a medium shot where we can establish the setting of the house, the dolls house and the characters emotions and make-up. I think these will work very well for our film opening with the creepy doll looking over her house she believes she belongs in. The close up shot, of her eye peering through the windows will be haunting but will draw in the attention of the audience and create a dramatic opening. We can also present the dolls costume and traditional rigid body language through the medium shot where she will be hunched over the house, with a strong facial expression.

KS: Thriller research : Black Swan

'Black Swan'(Aronofsky,2010
Variously described as a psychological thriller or a psychological horror film, its plot revolves around a production of Swan Lake by a prestigious New York City ballet company. This is the particular subgenre and genre combination we have been researching also with a soft light theme of a ballet dancer which is transformed into a dark production of a horror/thriller style piece. With our idea of the dolls and a possessed young girl by haunting nightmares and influences we can draw similarities between elements from the 'Black Swan'. Although I was unable to find the opening of the film as it is a recent release the trailer has many styles of mise en scene and non verbal language I like. 

• Firstly the credits set against a dark feathered background works very well to create a calm yet sinister feels and so elicit great tension and power; we could use doll like iconography for a background to the credits in our opening sequence such a overlaying of ribbons. 
• The music is also particularly poignant building up in pace, starting with a calm atmospheric tempo of instrumental music then building up to a fast beat soundtrack to increase intensity and tension. 
• The make-up of the main woman is successful in producing an enchanting yet haunting face; we will be using heavy make-up similar to this when we portray our characters but with a darkened background lighting to create a more horror feel than the light-hearted ballet performance here. 
• I particularly like how the main woman is looking softly into the surroundings then grasps strong eye contact with the camera' drawing the audience in and creating a thrilled yet anxious feel to the sequence. I think when it comes to our opening, eye contact through close up framing is a great way convey emotion and grasp the audiences attention.
•  Again the film uses strong flashes of imagery and cleverly juxtaposes story lines with a montage edited feel similarly to 'Se7en'. The colours of the sequence are based on black and white contrasting shades which I believe works very well in portraying the difference between the black and white swan. If our narrative is based on dolls we could particularly use reds and pinks for the costume yet black and white for the mise en scene to connote the personalities and sides of the doll, the good vs the bad.
• Mirror reflections and smashed mirrors were also ideas we considered which are used here, however we would need darker directional light to intensify the setting. 

Lilli, look at the time 110-115 where the reflection in the mirror changes but she doesn't, I love this technique but I'm not sure if we could recreate something similar, also the music here with the mix of her heavy breathing and the wooshes of dramatic movement underline the psychological distress she is feeling. This is a great combination of digetic and non digetic sounds.

LH: Thriller Timeline

"Safety Last"( Fred C. Newmeyer, Sam Taylor, 1923) was one of the first Thrillers to be made. The film is about a man who organises for the 'Human Fly' to climb the building where he works for a publicity stunt. The film takes a turn when the 'Human Fly' cannot do the stunt; the organiser of the stunt is then forced to climb the building himself.



"M"(Fritz Lang,1931) is a crime-thriller set in Germany, where children are being killed by an own known killer. When other criminals in the city become subject to the police, they group together to find the murderer.


"Gaslight"(George Cukor, 1944) is a psychological thriller featuring a scheming husband plotting to make his innocent young wife go insane, in order to acquire her inheritance.

"Rope"(Alfred Hitchcock, 1948) was Alfred Hitchcock's first film to be shot in technicolour. With the chilling tag-line of "It begins with a shriek... It ends with a shot!", it follows two friends who kill a fellow classmate for an intellectual thrill. It is up to their former teacher to discover their secret.

"Niagara"(Henry Hathoway, 1953) is a film-nourish film. The film is set around a femme fatale played by Marilyn Monroe. It shows her on her honey-moon to 'Niagara Falls' and her plans to murder her husband.

"Psycho"(Alfred Hitchcock, 1960) is the classical thriller set in a motel. With its iconic music and shower scenes, this films is a stencil for thriller films. The story follows a women who steals $40,000 from a client and her stay at a motel whilst on the run.

"Taxi Driver"(Martin Scorsese, 1976) follows the story if an unstable Vietnam war veteran as he takes up the job of taxi driving. The tainted city in which the film is set pushes him to lash out. He must try and help a young prostitute, to give her a better life than the one she has.

"Fatal Attraction"(Adrian Lyne, 1987) is a film about a married man who has a one night stand. That night comes back to haunt him as the women becomes obsessed and begins stalking him and his family.

"Se7en"(David Fincher, 1995) follows two detectives, one a rookie and the other a veteran, as they try and stop a serial killer from performing more murders. All of the murders follow a pattern; each on is applicable to one of the seven deadly sins.

"Donnie Darko"(Richard Kelly, 2001) shows the life of a troubled teenager. After an aeroplane engine falls onto his bedroom, he begins to see a large bunny. The film shows his struggle to find out about time-travel and the crimes that he commits whilst being manipulated by 'Frank'.

"Shutter Island"(Martin Scorsese, 2010) is set in 1954 on an island that houses a hospital for the criminally insane. Two detectives hop on a ferry to the island to investigate the disappearance of one of the patients.

LH "Clueless"

Even though we are verging on choosing either horror or thriller, I thought it best have to have a look at teen-drama just to make sure. This film uses montage in the opening sequence. It starts with a bubbly slide show of the title of the film which then cuts straight to the main characters. They use a birds-eye view shot to show the characters as they are driving. It then cuts to a medium shot of a girl walking along with various shopping bags. This introduces to who the main character is and what they are like.

There is a music-video feel to this opening sequence. This is not only due to the loud pop-music but the montage of the group of friends hanging out at cafés and by the pool. This is uplifting and shows the light hearted aspect of the film. It then cuts to a medium shot of a girl brushing her hair in the mirror. Voice-over is then used as the girl introduces her way of life to the audience. This is followed by an introduction of her father.

What I think is effective in this clip is how they set a tone and keep to it. The whole sequence is uplifting and enjoyable as we get an insight into this girl's life. I do believe though that this type of film will be hard to achieve in my surrounding because of the American influence being so strong.

KS: Ju-on: The Grudge

'It is said in Japan that when someone dies in extreme sorrow or rage, the emotion remains and can leave a stain upon that place. Death becomes a part of that place, killing everything it touches.'

I love the clip, it is similar to the style of 'Se7en' but the narrative is driven by characters rather than the actions they are doing in a book. With the use of a blue colour wash instantly the audience is positioned in a eery exterior location and is then drawn to experience the horror inside.  Handy-cam is successfully used to create a disjointed surreality and reflect the creature in the clip scuttling across the house. With heavy make-up and clever styling of the cannibalistic myth like creature, the opening tracks the interior of the house as if it is searching for something, then directly cuts back to the creature to show its influence in the scene. The non verbal language of the creature creates a sense it is possessed with a lowered head and a still trance. Tracking is used along the floor to locate the iconography such as the blood and smashed glass. Lilli, look out for the zoom and selective focus camera techniques where the setting is blurred but the character is revealed. Although this opening is very creepy, I think we could create something similar. I previously had an idea of multiple flashes and over layers of different close ups of a face particularly the eye, and similarly the grudge uses it. I also feel we could create a character with similar possessive and cannibalistic traits with the help of make up of blood to create a horror and dramatic piece.

KS: Amityville

Film opening research-Amityville
I love the use of the iconic weather in this opening, with the mix up in volume of the thunder and lightning to create dramatic and intense setting for a horror film. Particularly the flashes of light work very well through the scene to reveal the movement of the killer and the text 'based on a true story' creates a real sense of horror and personal fear. I think we should attempt to use atmospheric lighting similar to this when it comes to creating our film opening.

(Unable to find a clip)

LH "American Psycho"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uF9rP1w2sCE

What I liked about this piece is the way the idea of a normal day-to-day routine could be warped into something estranged, disturbing and unnatural. They achieved this by the use of the voice-over and props. The monotone voice describing their routine was chilling, and this was mirrored in the blank expression on the characters face. The use of the mask did not just show the man's routine but hinted at the characters anomalous personality, and his psychopathic traits. And as we find out later on in the film, the man is a serial killer. The classical music brings the sequence back to earth and creates a calming atmosphere, which is juxtaposed with the character.

I like how the sequence starts; the classical music with the camera navigating around his apartment as if it were searching for the main character, which is what the audience is doing. During the sequence I noticed that the camera never shows the character face on. There is no moment that the audience can connect, this creates a distance between the main character which shows how estranged he is. His face is either shown in a mirror, wearing a mask or he has his eyes closed, therefore the audience are made to observe.

LH "The WolfMan" 2010

I chose to look at 'The WolfMan' as it uses very iconic symbols of horror. The theme for this clip is werewolves and they stick to this by using lots of iconic imagery such as a full moon, folklore and the werewolf itself.

This opening uses a common setting for horror films, the woods as well as it being at night. From previous experience with horror films, the audience can sense that something bad is going to happen.

The use of sounds in this clip is very good, especially the diegetic sound.There is a strong sense that the man is not alone in the woods, not only through the man's actual lines but through the noises of animals and other creatures that are hidden away. The use of the creaky lamp is effective as it gives the sense of danger and age, as if something is wrong with it. The sound of the crunching leaves is also very prominent.

In this opening sequence there is a good use of an anticlimax as the man looks around the woods. He first becomes scared by the noise of a branch snapping, thinking everything is fine the man turns around only to come face to face with the werewolf. This is our first encounter with the archetypal villain. The werewolf then claws the man twice causing him to run through the woods in fear.

I think this clip is a good example of a stereotypical horror film. As this is the case I don't think it would be appropriate to use this style for our piece as it is a little too predictable, but using something like the anticlimax may be good. What do you think?

LH "Donnie Darko"

'Donnie Darko' is a cross between a Teen-drama and a Thriller. I like how the sequence starts of peacefully with sounds of birds tweeting and an establishing shot of a hilly landscape. The camera pans across the view to look onto a road. This changes the tone of the sequence as an unnatural noise, similar to what we can hear as a plane goes over us, begins to sound as we notice a boy in the middle of the road. This is a clear contrast from the natural beauty that we saw from the landscape as we now see a boy lying in the middle of the road which is unfamiliar and makes the audience question the scene.

As the camera continues to track in on the boy, he starts to wake up. As he sits up we hear a piano playing. The music is made up of mainly high notes which adds a dreamlike sentiment to the already surreal sequence. As the camera pans around him we have the chance to identify with the character. This allows us to understand that he is the main character and that we will be positioned with him during the film.

There is a use of a fade out in this sequence as Donnie Darko walks out of the shot and the main title appears on the screen. They then use a bright light to fade out into another shot. The fade signals a change in the opening sequence, with the next shot being at a different location.

I particularly like the next shot as we are placed directly in front of Donnie Darko as he rides this bike. The initial cut prompts a change not only in the music but in the pace. The movement of him cycling on screen shows us that the film will be progressing, unlike the first shot which had a distinctive melancholy feeling. The shot reiterates the fact that we will be placed with this character during film.

I like this clip because of its surreal feel and the creative use of location and editing. The use of sound in the piece is particularly good because the second piece of music doesn't only create a change in pace but it identifies the era of the film.

KS : Art of the Title: Carivale

http://www.artofthetitle.com/media/tv/2003/carnivale_credits_480p.html?keepThis=true&TB_iframe=true&height=526&width=882

I think this clip is really clever, we could use some of the animation elements but with a more thriller style twist. The zooms through the layered imagery really draw the audience into the piece, a very original opening with the cards laid across a surface the viewer is sucked into the past storylines creating a traditional authentic feel. I particularly like how the faces merge from dated to traditional society. For our opening we could try filming creepy heavily made up faces then with a dissolve transition merge them together. The music cleverly reinforces the old fashioned sense with traditional digetic sound. Although this opening is created solely from animation and the layering of imagery we could create a similar effect out of filmed faces, and re-enactments of issues in history. Also I like how the title is revealed by the cards being blown away by the wind to see it underneath whereas previous clips have used flashes of text.The clip made me think of an idea where we could have a series of still characters with little dialogue dressed as freaky carnival people, such as a doll, a bird woman, a giant and with dark lighting we could track between them with flashes of close up facial expressions of various emotions.

LH "Halloween"

The first thing to notice about this clip is distinctive well-known 'Halloween' Soundtrack. The dramatic use of contrasting the high-pitched notes with the underlying low notes, creates suspense and makes the audience feel uncomfortable so they question what is going on.
There is a black background which highlights the glowing pumpkin to the side of the frame. Throughout the clip the camera ever so slowly zooms in, until it stops when there is an extreme close up of its eye. The flickering light inside the the pumpkin is chilling and highlights what the film is based around.
The theme of Halloween is shown clearly in this clip with the use of the traditional carved pumpkin, the orange writing and the use of the children singing about Halloween. The use of the children's song creates a false sense of familiarity as the audience can relate to similar songs or singing as a child.
The clip states clearly the location, time and date after the opening credits by using text and showing that it is night-time in the frame.
I particularly like the use of handycam in this opening sequence. I like how the camera is at eye-level so we are seeing from someone's point of view. The fact that we don't know who this is is unnerving. This feeling is reiterated as the camera tracks in towards the house until we see the inside of the house through a window whilst the people inside are oblivious to this persons presence.

KS: Research task: TEEN DRAMA

This conventional TV Drama narrative style has a linear structure formed of 3 sections to the opening. First the characters are established and ask to meet the girlfriend, next we meet her, and finally the title animation. The characters are traditionally introduced with a series of mid shots and the use of text on the side so the audience is able to develop a visual presentation then are given the characters name and personal information. The form of this clip included a non digetic voice over, a traditional technique to position the main character with the audience and to develop his perspective on the narrative; the establishing of location and stock characters, and lastly the use of titles on a graphic background and the special effects which create a game style to the piece. 'Scott Pilgrim' represents post modern styles, a break with conventions with inter-textual references to 'Star Wars' and the art of gaming.

KS: SAW 111- Evidence of both 'Horror' and 'Thriller' genre

‘SAW 111’(2006)Darren Lynn Bousman
I have been researching openings of films under the genre ‘horror’ and ‘thriller’. The sequence of films ‘SAW’ instantly came to mind, crossing over both titles. Horror films are usually unsettling movie's that strive to elicit the emotions of fear, disgust and horror from viewers. They often feature scenes that startle the viewer through the means of macabre and the supernatural. Horrors also frequently overlap with the thriller genre, where horror films deal with the viewer's nightmares, hidden worst fears, revulsions and terror of the unknown, a thriller however is a genre of film that uses suspense, tension, and excitement as the main elements. The primary subgenres are mystery, crime, and psychological thrillers.

• ‘SAW 111’ has a subgenre of a psychological thriller but can also be named a horror film as through scenes of tortures. With a man coming to terms with the death of his family members and presented with the opportunity to punish those who did not help stop the death of his loved ones; the film has large amounts of gruesome scenes which aim's to both startle and create fear and emotional turmoil for the audience. 
• The sequence has quick flashes of side close ups, mid close ups then an establishing long shot of the setting to instantly create a sense of panic in the scene and allow the audience to identify the character present, and the torture he is going through. 
• The prop of chains are used attached to the actor with the make-up of dripping blood to create a realistic presentation of the pain he is going through. Again a colour wash is used of a mellow yellow to intensify the setting and flashing lights and tables upturned to create a dramatic setting. 
• There are a variety of interesting camera techniques used, firstly the zoom to a close up of the man’s face not only presents the punishment he is going through by establishing a full body shot but by ending in a close up the audience can develop a sense of his terror and anxiety. The camera cuts from different parts of the man’s body as each chain is viciously ripped out. One particular shot of the man has the TV blurred by selective focus in the frame to show who he is controlled by, this is followed by a point of view over the shoulder shot where now the TV is given the prevalence but again the man is subsided in the frame to show how the TV influences the man’s punishment. The camera keeps cutting back to the clock which is counting down, a very successful technique to remind both the man in the narrative and the audience when the time runs out something dramatic will happen. 
• The combination of the screams as digetic sound and the jumpy fast pace music also creates suspense and tension; although the setting, the use of revolting images especially blood and pain derives from the horror genre, the fast pace cutting rate and increasing beat of the music creates a thriller feel of excitement and psychological thoughts rather than an eery setting. 

I think when it comes to us creating our opening we should definitely use some of the particular camera techniques Bousman used, such as the zoom and increased cutting and music rate. The opening credit ends with a plain black image with a white title, contrasting colours. I like how suspense is created throughout the sequence then the film title is revealed right at the end to put the horror into context. However it would be very hard to film with characters present, we would need decent actors to emphasize the pained facial expressions and create a realistic opening.

KS: Art of the Title

http://www.artofthetitle.com/2008/04/03/sphere/

Lilli, I love the opening of 'Sphere'(Levinson,1998)a science fiction psychological thriller film.
Partiularly the eery blue colour wash, the water ripples and movement of the text slowly along the screen, which then also ripples in the style as the water previously did. Levinson also uses contrasting colours of red and blue which nicely merge together when the images are introduced.The pictures of boats and sea creatures further reinforce the nautical sense, and move, flash and flow as the water previously did. Look out for the zoom into the fish's teeth I particularly like as it creates a menacing feel to the scene. The special effects is directly cut to the tracking of a birds eye view sea,what do you think of this? Do you think the transition should be smoother, perhaps a dissolve or do you like the way the animated text and imagery is cut to a realistic scene? This inspired me if we decide on a nautical theme we could perhaps get a close up of dripping colour into a glass tank of water/oil and film how the too merge and move in a dark lighting, I have previously tried it and it looked very interesting, but just an idea.

KS: Film opening research of 'Se7en'(Fincher,1995)

The first research Lilli and I looked at were studying several film openings to find influences for our coursework. The first, 'Se7en'(Fincher,1995) we particularly liked the use of montage editing in the opening sequence, the creative effects of merging non digetic sound effects and music and the animation and overlaying of graphic images.

• The montage editing created a sense of disjointed searility which reinforces the eery storyline and allowed the audience to understand the mind of the serial killer. 
• Music is used throughout the sequence and is mixed up in volume as the clip develops a creepy and uncomfortable atmosphere, with repeated sounds echoed throughout the opening. 
• 'Se7en' uses a series of close ups and extreme close ups so the audience only sees the man's hands, with each finger plastered up so the killers finger prints cannot be detected. We see these hands turning, looking through and sewing pages of the book together which allows the audience to question the significance of it, what is the man planning and creating with various photos of different people? 
• The title credits are an animated font moving around the layout not only to grasp attention but to create a dramatic style of the film straight away from when the name is presented, to hook the audience with the well created design and flashes and smudges of writing underling a creepy sense of the film. The names of the actors are all in a handwritten style font underlining the theme of the film, with flashes of scribbles. 
• Particular camera work techniques of blurring the subject creates a delusional effect, and the use of directional light heavily shadows the setting creating a supernatural feel and eliciting great emotion, fear and horror through the clever positioning of images, font, discordant music and layered affect to create suspense and tension. 

I especially feel the contrasting colours of black and white work very well together, and the use of side angle shots cut to canted angle then birds eye angle merges the different images together perfectly with occasional flashes of red for the audience to elicit disgust over the film with the connotation of blood. I loved this abstract piece Fincher created, with the warm colour wash of the images placed together contrasted by the statement block colours of red, black and white.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SEZK7mJoPLY