Mirrors Intro Analysis

I will be analysing the intro to the film ‘Mirrors’ which was released in the year 2008. Mirrors was directed by Alexandra Aja who has directed horror movies before, which gave her some experience in the genre. The reason I am analysing the intro to this film is to gain an insight into how horror films are put together. This will help us to put our own horror intro together. It’s is rated an 18 so it’s aimed towards adults who are into horror films. 

The introduction is 3 minutes long. It starts off by fading into a shot from below a man running. The camera isn’t kept still, its handheld to put us into the film and make it seem more realistic. From his face expressions you can tell that he is very afraid and must be running away from something. He is in the subway and in the background you can see that the walls are graffitied on suggesting that he is in a rough neighbourhood. He comes to a gate that is locked so he’s trapped on the other side. This was clearly shown because the camera was behind the gate where as he was on the other side trying to get through.

The cameras movements are still very jerky as he carries on running still looking very scared. It flicks through lots of angles to give it a quick pace, to almost make us feel out of breath just as he is running. The camera sometimes zooms onto him very quickly to say that something is defiantly happening to him, it’s putting all our attention on him. We get wide shots showing us the whole setting, which is still in a subway because of the trains. The lighting is very dingy to create a scary atmosphere. The music is scary music (violins) to make the audience very tense about what's going to happen next. It has high-pitched long notes to drag the running out, to put us in his position again. 

He comes to a door that’s padlocked so he grabs a fire extinguisher to smash it off. The bang sound effect has been added for dramatic effect, if it’s added they can make it louder and change the pitch etc to exaggerate the effect. He is now in a room with no way to get out except for the door he came through. The clips are now longer than before which shows the running is over. There are lots of lockers with mirrors in that open up to face him. You can see his reflection in all of them with a point of view shot seeing into the mirrors. This puts us into his shoes to see what it feels like with all of the mirrors pointing at him. The lighting in the room is very dark and a light is flickering on and off which really sets the scene. It makes it seem like something is wrong in the room. 

When he gets upset the camera gets really close to his face to emphasise the fact he is scared for his life. The camera keeps changing from the mirrors point of view to an over the shoulder shot of the mirror. They are putting us in both places, the monster and the man. They are giving us a taste of what it feels like in both places to see what it feels like. When the mirror kills the man he falls to the floor and there is suddenly a loud bang noise that was added over the top, it then goes straight into saying ‘Regency Enterprises Presents’. I guess its saying you have seen the beginning of the film which was very scary and to watch the rest at your own risk. It’s like an invitation to watch the rest of the film. 

After analysing this film’s intro I have learnt that to create a brilliant horror film we must: Have tense music to slowly scare the audience, hand-held and still camera shots to make it seem more realistic, loud sound effects to exaggerate the effect and to make it more scary, and finally to set the scene with good lighting. Good lighting can determine what the genre will be.

by Ben Schramm

Preliminary and Main Task Comparison

By Bradley Merle

In our Prelimimary task we created a short comedic sketch called 'The Cupcake', it was filmed and edited in around two hours. However in our main task we decided to film a short intro sequence to a zombie horror film, this took around seven hours to edit and we filmed on two separate days. Although there are the obvious comparison that I have just pointed out like genre and filming lengths and editing times there are also many more complex and subtle variations to them both.

First of all The Cupcake lacked costume and makeup which helped create the mise-en-scene of our main task. Without it the preliminary lacked the realism and gore value that made the main task look professional and thought out. Unprofessional acting mistakes like looking into the screen were avoided by ensuring multiple takes happened on filming days. We also used multiple effects like blood, gunshots and title sequence effects. These were used as rarely as possible and help create a shock value to the audience when used, unlike in the preliminary which lacked these effects and general care that we put into the final film.

Questionnaire - Our feedback

George Myers

Upon recieving our results back from our questionnaire, we finally decided to go with a zombie horror film. This was because our key question, that defined our USP, came back positive and almost 90% of our volunteers would pay to see a zombie film that promised to diverge from the average zombie flick. In terms of what emotions to try and trigger in our film, we chose suspense, panick and fear. This was the three most commonly raised answers from our feedback and so we thought it was key to implement these emotive targerts into our final piece of film. Another aspect of our questionnaire that we decided to use in our film was blood... A lot of blood. When we asked, through our questionnaire, what was looked for in a horror film, perhaps the one thing that came through in almost 95% - 100% of responses was blood!

This was what we chose to implement in our final piece of film upon feedback from our questionnaires.

Night of The Living Dead - Textual Analysis - George Myers

By GEORGE MYERS

Night of the Living Dead is a classic zombie horror film released on October 1^st, 1968. It was written and directed by zombie flick legend, George A. Romero. It’s clear to see that this films intended audience is adults and essentially anyone over the age of 18 seeing as it’s a zombie horror film, stereotypically meaning it’s going to be full of blood, gore and strong language. Also, for its time way back in the 60’s, age ratings on films were a lot stricter than they are today. The institution behind this film is ‘Image Ten’.

The opening sequence for this film is roughly 2-3 minutes long and within this introductory sequence we are just introduced to 2 characters, one being male, the other, female; both seemingly middle-aged.

The costumes used are fairly basic and don’t give too much away concerning the rest of the film. The male character is wearing what seems to be your average black and white suit, the female, seemingly basic casual 60’s wear.

In terms of the voice work, just for the introduction there isn’t any. This can be argued to create a tenser atmosphere as the audience is required to create their own perception of what is going on and this can be a technique used to engage the audience successfully.

As for the soundtrack, the musical score used in this introductory piece of filming is very unique. The introductory music piece is orchestrated and is a rather sharp piece of music; it’s very tense. It’s obvious that the electronically created music used today was not available back then, so orchestrated pieces was the way to go. However, it’s also widely considered that orchestrated music has the best effect for building suspense and tension in a horror film.

The cut rate in this introduction is fairly average. The amounts of cuts are fairly consistent and each cut is roughly the same length as the previous.

Concerning the camera work, some very effective shots and angles are used in the opening sequence. We see the car travelling along to what seems to be a grave yard and its journey is the entirety of the introductory sequence. The camera never rises above the subject or lowers below the subject. It neither pans nor tracks the subject. The camera is fixed at the subject’s level and the camera is positioned along the cuts at various different angles throughout the cars journey. The use of the long shot and wide shot and often used during this sequence.

The mise-en-scene in this sequence is very y chilling and defines everything the horror film stands for. The deserted, isolated forest and graveyard setting is has a very high scare value, and may make the viewer feel uncomfortable and even vulnerable. The music is orchestrated, sharp, tense and eerily slow paced. This just builds up the suspense and really makes the viewer, especially me, want to see the rest of the film; the ultimate purpose of any film introductory scene, regardless of genre.

The text used in this sequence is very basic. We are only exposed to the basic introductory credits, such as the director, writer, cast etc. and all of which are presented in a bold white font.

This is my textual analysis of Night of The Living Dead.

Hard-Ware and Software

Hard-Ware

• High Definition Video Camera
• Tri-pod
• iMac

Software

• iMovie HD
• VisionLab
• Garage Band

by Ben Schramm

The Grudge - Textual Film Analysis - George Myers

By GEORGE MYERS

The Grudge is remake of the horror mystery thriller “Ju-On”, written and directed by the original Takashi Shimizu. The film was released on the 5^th of November, 2004 in the UK and starred the likes of Sarah Michelle Gellar (Buffy the Vampire Slayer) and Bill Pullman (Alien Autopsy). The intuitional logo of this film is Columbia, a Sony pictures entertainment company, and shows a woman holding a touch upon a raised platform.

It is clear to see that the intended audience of this film is the mature adult audience, considering the fact that it is a famous Asian horror film. In addition, the Asian horror films have the tendency to take the supernatural sub-genre approach and are also widely considered to be the scariest.

The opening sequence of The Grudge is approximately three minutes and within this time zone, we are exposed to a lot of plot hints, settings, as well as some shocks and scares; for example when the male character of whom we are introduced to suddenly plunges off a balcony to his death.

Within the course of this three minute introductory piece, we are introduced to two characters, one male and female. The female, we see, is seemingly rather young and is lying in bed in what seems to be a small apartment located somewhere in Japan, probably Tokyo. The other character we are introduced to is a middle-aged male character, Peter, played by Bill Pullman, who I mentioned earlier, who we find overlooking the apartments surrounding area shortly before plunging of the balcony he is leaning against and falling to his sudden, untimely death.

The costume work in this introduction is fairly basic. The woman we find in the bed is typically wearing bed clothes in the form of a white nightie-type gown. The male character is wearing basic clothing. Typical pyjama bottoms accompanied by a light grey long sleeved t-shirt.

In terms of voice work and dialogue, we see the female character talking to the male character, Peter, and her dialogue essentially questions Peter’s mood and then states he’s awoken earlier than usual. “Peter, are you ok?” and “You’re up early today” are the only pieces of dialogue spoken throughout the introduction and both sentences are spoken by the as yet unnamed female character.

With reference to the cut rate and transition use, the cute rate is very slow and the transition between each cut is steady and calm. This, I feel sets the mood for the film and unnerves the viewer in a clever attempt to lure them into the film and immerse them.

Now, moving onto camera work. There are a wide variety of shots used within this segment of film. The most noticeable and longest used is the over the shoulder shot. The camera starts it’s filming with an over the shoulder shot. It is used to show over Peter’s shoulder and gives us the impression that we are seeing exactly what he sees. He is initially looking over the balcony at the busy streets and surrounding area, and that is exactly what we, the viewer, is seeing. The implementation of the close-up is also used to give the viewer a clearer, more defining view of both the female and male characters of whom we are introduced to. Another shot that is very cleverly used is the point of view shot. This is use as peter is falling to his death and thoroughly adds effect and highly cranks up the shock value and suspense that is struck into the viewer; a cracking piece of camera work. Other shots such as the pan shot and tilt shot are also used towards the end of the introduction when we are exposed to Peter’s dead body lying on the street floor and the locals flocking around him.

The mise-en-scene is very overall very calming and ‘realistic’, something of a rarity in the horror field. The setting takes place in Tokyo and we are exposed to the bustling streets and busy roads. We can hear the sounds of cars hooting and people nattering as well as the fateful wind crackling. This mise-en-scene is actually rather deceiving as it is not something commonly seen in a horror film and really tricks the viewer into feeling calm and relaxed, leaving them vulnerable to scares and shocks. This is a clever piece of film making.

The text used in this introductory sequence such as titles, names etc. is used to great effect. Perhaps the most iconic and profound use of text is the beginning explanation of curses. We are exposed to a black screen with red text appearing which tells us that curses are the result of a rage-filled death and how that curse remains in the place of death. Because this message is given in text form rather than speech, it makes the reader concentrate more and perhaps give them a better, more concise understanding of curses and maybe even hint them as to what the film to follow is all about. Text is also used towards the end of the introduction in which the title of the film is exposed after a mysterious is shoved into a pool of red, blood-like water. This also adds to the scare factor of the film and begins to take the viewer out of their calm state of mind that they were once in.

This is my textual analysis of the horror mystery thriller, The Grudge.

Update: Title of film confirmed!

George Myers

We've finally decided on a title for our production...

The piece of film shall be called 'Infection: 2010' and this was the result of long group descussions and an overall agreement. We decided upon this title because we thought it had a good link with the whole zombie sub-genre as zombies are portrayed to be created through a form of infection.