Opening Jump Editing

After researching different horror films, especially those of the supernatural horror genre, we concluded that a scary 'jump' into the camera by the possessed character is usually used at the height of a suspense-filled build up within a scene. This is designed to scare the audience by appearing suddenly very close to the camera in a single,quick movement. The effect of this part of a sequence is crucial as films of the supernatural horror genre generally rely on very scary and jumpy parts to make the film successful as it conforms greatly to the genre.

First we located the raw footage of the possessed character performing the jump. Our main objective to make the jump successful in the way it would affect the audience was to speed up the actual jump in the clip and cut it off to keep the character in shot for a very short time, causing it to feel very abrupt to scare the audience.

Although we wanted to speed up the physical jump within the sequence, we wanted to leave the build up where the room and bed are both empty at normal speed to make it look natural. In order to speed up the jumping part of the but keep the build up at its original and normal speed, we needed to separate the clip just before the jump in order to work with two separate clips and apply the different speeds accordingly. We did this using the programme, 'Final Cut Pro' and used the 'blade' tool to separate the clip. 

We then experimented with different speeds for the jump part of the clip and decided to speed it up to '147%' in speed (with 100% being normal speed). We thought this speed was effective as although it was scary and would bring out a reaction from the audience, the speed does not make the movement of the girl seem too unnatural. During experimenting with the clip by applying different speeds, we found some speeds (such as x2 the original speed) that made the jump seem unnatural and amateur-looking. 

We also decided not to apply visual effects to the general clip such as a darker filter to create a more eerie atmosphere, however we decided against this as we wanted the clip to visually fit into the finished opening of our film. We also understood that non-diegetic sound is a crucial part in creating a successfully scary effect and feeling however we have not yet created original sounds to accompany this part of the opening sequence and therefore could not yet add it into the clip until later on in the post-production stage of our opening sequence. 

Evaluation:

To get our chosen speed, a few trials had to be carried out. After noting that 'x2' wouldn't work well along with the other 're-time' options, we figured out that the percentage speeds were the best option. By changing the original percentage speed to 147%, this appeared more realistic and appropriate for the supernatural genre. Overall, although a few tests had to be carried out in order to identify our correct speed, the task went well, having finally selected our correct speed.  

Sound Deconstruction of The Woman in Black

This sequence is taken from the 2012 horror film The Woman In Black directed by James Watkins. 

• The sequence starts with non-diegetic sound consisting of a high pitched whirling sound along with occasional, quieter low-pitched drum beats (from 0:00) which plays in the background. This high-pitched whirling sound creates an instant eerie tone and creates suspense for the audience. The low-pitched non-diegetic drum beats also build tension and suspense as they allude to the climax on-screen. The single and double drum beats also hold some connotations of a heart beat which adds to the tension being created by the other sounds being played over the visual. 

• The diegetic mechanical sound of several automatons being started also begins at the start of the sequence (also from 0:00). These raw, metallic sounds contrast audibly with the high-pitched non-diegetic whirling sounds although they also add to the eerie and quite sinister feeling created within the scene. Children's automatons are commonly used in horror films, especially those set in the Victorian Era, to create eeriness and the sound they make add to the ghostly and mysterious effect. Some of these automatons create a more melodic and peaceful sound (e.g. 0:15) which is contrapuntal to the scary nature of the scene however again create eeriness. 

• Arthur Kipps, the main character of the film, mutters the words "Come on" under his breath at 0:25. The way the character says these words makes the audience feel the same anticipation as he does in the scene which adds to the general suspense of the scene.

• The exaggerated diegetic sound of Arthur Kipps' foot steps (0:45), which is heard after the diegetic and non-diegetic sounds of the background music and that of the children's automatons has stopped, conveys to the audience his anxiety due to the situation he's in. It also adds to the build up of tension and suspense as this is the main sound the audience hears as they watch the events unfold on screen.

• The non-diegetic sound which starts at 0:54 is similar to the high-pitched whirling sound featured nearer the beginning of the clip. This is the height of the clip in terms of suspense and reaching a climax and this very mysterious and sinister sound adds a huge amount of tension to the audience, especially when the scary visual plot line of this scene is taken into account. The low-pitched drum beats are heard again, however this time they get louder and create a crescendo, and is parallel to the suspense being created on screen. 

Film Opening Additional Shots

While reviewing the storyboard and the raw individual shots we filmed for our opening sequence, we decided that we needed to include some more, and different, camera angles. These camera shots will be used for the part of our sequence where the young girl character is shown to be physically possessed. The main reason for the addition of new camera shots is that we do not want our sequence to be too short as we are aware that the film opening has a minimum time limit, as set by the exam board. Another reason for this is because the possession part of the sequence will be presented with a series of quick cut edits which means that we would need a larger quantity of shots to use during this part of the sequence. 

The first camera shot we added to our opening sequence is a high angle shot off-center to the mattress. This was shot with my Nikon D7000 camera, which was also used in the majority of other shots in the sequence apart from the corner shots, and mounted on a tripod. A still of this shot can be viewed below.

• This shot is effective as it allows the audience to view the whole body of the possessed girl, giving a clearer view of the girl and the possessed situation in general. 
• This shot also acts as a contrast to other shots included in our opening sequence, especially close-up shots. This creates a range to the shots used in the sequence and adds variety.

Another shot we decided to add was an extreme high shot, again of possessed girl. I filmed this shot by attaching the camera (Nikon D7000) to the tripod and extending its legs fully and collapsing them so they were together. I then held the tripod by the bottom of the legs which meant that the camera was as high as possible looking down on the subject. A still of this shot can be viewed below.

• This shot is effective as it gives the audience a clearer view of the possessed girl and is again a contrast to other shots used such as close-ups and extreme close-ups.
• This shot also makes the possessed girl seem very small which although holds connotations of vulnerability and less intimidating creates a visual which compliments the general feeling of the sequence. The idea that the subject is less intimidating reminds the audience that the main character of the sequence is a little girl who would normally be associated with innocence.

Deconstruction Of Exorcism Scene In The Conuring

The following is a deconstruction of the exorcism scene in "The Conjuring". Below I have deconstructed the opening in order to select certain elements to use as a source of inspiration in our opening. Our opening starts of with an exorcism of a possessed girl. Therefore, I have focused for possessive conventions to use.



Mise En Scene

• The sequence firstly denotes a woman who is showing signs of possession. Her body language and facial expressions signify possession. Makeup show bruises on her face. Low key lighting connotes a negative occurrence.

• Paranormal activity is then shown through long shot of the woman flying around and objects moving. Tracking camera movement is used in order to follow the woman's possessive movement.

• The Exorcist is a male, fairly young. Props such as the crucifix and bible represent an priest type figure. A low angle, close up shot has been used to make the Exorcist dominant.

• A long shot shows the woman tied to a chair. A white sheet has been thrown over her to restrain her. A zoom is used which helps the close up to denote blood appearing through the sheet. This is a common convention seen in exorcism scenes, which usually happens towards the end as a way of building climax.

 



 Sound

• The on-screen diegetic sound of the woman screaming connotes that she is possessed.
• Diegetic dialogue and the absence of non diegetic sound create realism.
• The diegetic sound of the object rattling is synchronous.
• The use of the silence after the woman has stopped screaming, creates suspense.
• Sound effects have been used such as bone breaking. This is a convention audience expect to see in supernatural horror films, which therefore conforms to the genre.

From this deconstruction, my group and I will use a cross and bible for our priest. We will also use various camera shots from different angles to denote the possessive movement. This will make our opening more intense and active, as the audience will be receiving a view from multiple angles. In terms of makeup, we shall create bruises and cuts.

Sounds to use in our Opening

Last Sunday we filmed the majority of our coursework film opening in my garage, our idea is about a possessed girl so we had to film a lot of scenes with my sister with her kicking and moving her body around a lot which we could then make look effective using editing techniques and adding in non-diegetic sounds. The type of sounds we are looking for are cracking and popping noises to make it seem as if bones are breaking, and be built up when the possession becomes more violent. I looked for these types of sounds I could use on the internet to see what we could possibly use.

I came across the website freeSFX.co.uk where they had a long list of different bone clicking, snapping, crunching and cracking available to download. I picked a few that I thought sounded the most effective and what I think we should use in our coursework.

 

 

These are the five best noises that I chose which I think we should use:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Shooting Script 26/01/14

Attending
Jake- filming
Mia- mise en scene
Holly- mise en scene
Gaurav- filming

Day - 26th January 2014
Meeting Time - 5pm
Location - Townley Grammar. Then walking to Mia's house/garage.

Filming Begins - 5.15pm - 6.30pm

Props to bring -
Camera and Tripod: Jake
Pillow cases: Holly
Rosary: Gaurav
Costume and Make-up: Mia

To be shot-

• Close up shots of Neve which show her arms.
• Panning shot of Neve acting possessed.
• Extra possession scenes from different angles.

Evaluation of filming -
The day went well, I made sure I set up the extension lead and got Neve ready in her costume before everyone arrived to save us time so we could begin filming straight away, we met at Townley at 5 and everyone was on time. It was a lot more organised than our first day of filming as we didn't have to wait around for Neve to come home, we knew exactly what we had to do so got it done quickly and efficiently. We put the bruise make-up on Neve's arm then got all the extra shots done as well as the ones that we needed to redo from last time.

Evaluation of filming

Today we met at 5pm to film a few extra shots that we felt needed to be re-done and also a few more shots we decided to add, just in case. We started by setting up the set just as before, the mattress, the restraints and the pallets. We also had to set up the light exactly the same, luckily, the bucket we used to place the light on was in the exact same place so there should be no continuity errors.

We also decided to use make up on the arms this time. We added a dark foundation and purple eye shadow for a bruising effect and also a little fake blood as this is a common convention for a horror film. We decided not to re-shoot everything as the light makes the makeup seem a lot lighter and we thought that it wouldn't be seen through much of the 'fast' possession shots. Instead, we refilmed some of the close ups just in case the arms could be seen. 

We tried a variety of shots, some which can be seen below:

This first shot was a kind of tracking shot as it moves up Neve's body, which we used before but wanted to re-shoot to include the new make-up.

This was a new shot from a high angle looking down, which we didn't film before. We just thought it would be good to have more angles of the possession and this was one we hadn't experimented with before.

Evaluation:

Shooting today was successful as we got the re-shoots that what we wanted to do done, with added make-up, as seen above. We managed to do this promptly with no fuss which meant we kept to the schedule and finished on time. We also filmed a few extra sequences which we may or may not use in our opening, depending on the length. We also discussed using fast straight cut edits between different angles of possession, which is something we will look at when it comes to shooting. We were fairly good when it came to mise en scene this week as we managed to set up almost identically to how it was the first time we met to film. Next time we will shoot the beginning scene with the exorcist as Mia's dad was at work this time. Also we would still like to do some shots of objects moving so that is something we can look to do on our next day of shooting. 

Editing To Create Possession

In my groups final piece, we want to be able to convey possessive movement. From my research into supernatural horror films such as 'The Devil Inside', possessive movement tends to be quite sudden. Below I have shown a step by step process of how I edited part of our preliminary filming to show possession. I used Final Cut Pro.  

I firstly uploaded our preliminary footages to Final Cut Pro.

I then selected the clip I wanted to use and inserted it into the editing bar.

By right clicking on the footage, a tool bar appears. I clicked on 'Retime' to adjust the speed of my footage.


I then chose the option of 'fast 2x'. I selected '2x', as speeding the clip up too fast would look unrealistic.
Below is my edited footage.

 

I decided to apply some effects onto my footage. I used 'Bad TV'. This gave the clip a distorted type effect, something commonly seen in Supernatural Horror films. I ensured that the 'amount' was not too high, as this would make the footage unclear.

Evaluation:

• The task worked well, having applied these effects without major errors. My result of my sped up footage appeared to be quite typical of the supernatural genre, and therefore, can be used as a conventional tool.
• For visual effects, 'Bad TV' can be useful as this is also another conventional effect in supernatural horrors. However, I must ensure that I apply it correctly by firstly, balancing the 'amount' used. Secondly, the effect should be used in places appropriate i.e. the possession scenes.

Priest Collar

For my practical this week I attempted to create a Priest's collar ahead of filming on the weekend. After doing some research I attempted making the collar. In our opening we wanted a Priest to set up to camera and then start reading scripture or something similar, so we have to think about costume and what is the best way to get it across to the audience who the character is.

I watched this tutorial by a real priest to see if he had any tips on making temporary collars out of paper:

I tried his method:

I started with an a3 sheet of paper and folded into several times until it was about 1.5 inches wide and completely flattened it so it would be quite thin. I bent it a bit so when it was put round the neck it would be a smooth circle and not have creases. Then I stuck down the sides with sellotape as the priest instructs, and apply tape to one end so I can wrap it around my neck:

At this stage the collar doesn't look very convincing and is too big for my neck.

Evaluation: 

After putting a shirt over the top, the collar looks a lot better and more realistic. Obviously, in the real thing the priest character will be wearing an opaque black shirt so hopefully the collar will look quite good. The handy thing is, that with low-key lighting and hardly any time actually focused on the collar, it should look quite authentic in our final piece.

I also looked online for existing priest collars that we could consider purchasing, for example, I saw these on eBay which could help the costume look more realistic:

However, I think the homemade one will suffice as it would be a waste of money to spend £5 on a collar when we can easily replicate it with a piece of paper, especially as it will hardly be seen during our film.

The Cabin in the Woods Scene Deconstruction

This scene was taken from the 2012 horror film The Cabin in the Woods directed by Drew Goddard. 

• The opening high angle, overhead shot shows the two characters "making love" on the ground. Despite this, the audience immediately gets the feeling that something is going to go wrong, specifically something gruesome and frightening which conforms to the horror genre. This feeling is conveyed to the audience through very low key lighting with the focal characters only lit by ominous moonlight. 

• The non-diegetic background music is quite ominous and consists mainly of two consecutive notes, resembling a heartbeat. This background music crescendos as the overhead shot pans towards the floor. The music also includes a high pitched droning sound which also crescendos to add to the build of suspense and the eeriness of the sequence.
• The non-diegetic background sound stops suddenly at the height of the crescendo which leaves the audience in suspense which leaves them expecting something to make them jump. 
• The camera pans downwards on to the female character's (Jules) outstretched hand as the non-diegetic music comes to a sudden stop at the height of the crescendo and remains as a close-up shot. 

• The quick cuts between shots after Jules is stabbed in the hand make create a very high visual tempo to the sequence. It also makes the sequence have more of an action feel towards it which grips the audience and creates suspense but a different kind to the previous build up.
• The continual and persistent screams, which outweigh most of the different kinds of diegetic sound, conform to the horror genre as these sounds are heavily linked with films of the horror genre.
• The close-up shot of Jules' eyes as she watches the saw move in front of her face makes the audience appreciate the frightening and gruesome feelings the sequence conveys through mise-en-scene. The audience is made to fully understand the horror Jules is going through. The emphasis on Jules' eyes and how upset and scared she looks puts the audience on Jules' side even though they can tell what may happen next.

Deconstruction On Excorcism Scene In The Possession

Mise En Scene (Including Camera Movement)

• The sequence first denotes a medium close up of an Exorcist at a low angle shot. The low angle makes the Exorcist seem quite dominant.
• The audience can identify the man is an Exorcist, as seen through certain props within the mise en scene, such as the bible. Artificial lighting has made this visible.

• The camera pans showing the Exorcist repeating "Abyzou" meaning "female demon", whilst moving his body forwards and backwards. His body language notes the audience that the exorcism has begun.

• A long shot is displayed of a group hugging each other, connoting that they are the affected ones in the sequence.

• The father's leg comes down as well as his hand. The camera zooms into his hand which captures odd figure movement. The father's movement signifies that he is perhaps possessed, and therefore the audience understand that the exorcism is being performed on him.

• The Exorcist begins to shout "Abyzou". The room starts to become windy, causing objects to fly around. This may connote that the exorcism is working.

• A medium close up shot shows the father' eyes popping out. His mouth opens and it seems as though he is choking on something. He then suddenly gets thrown against a wall. The strange eye movement signifies he is possessed.

• The lights start to flicker, leaving low-key lighting present. The switch to low-key lighting has negative connotations which could suggest that something bad is going to happen such as Abyzou actually revealing herself. However because the lighting does switch back to high-key lighting, this could connote that actually something good is going to happen i.e. the exorcism being complete.

• A medium close up displays a hand appearing out of the father's mouth, connoting the demon of Abyzou being awoken.

• A low angle shot denotes a box. The box is appeared as quite dominant on the screen. The box therefore could be the source of possession, where Abyzou actually came from.

 



• The demon is finally fully revealed. The audience see that she is making her way back into the box, showing how the exorcism is nearly over.

Sound

• The audience first hear diegetic dialogue from the Exorcist. He says "Abyzou", which gets louder and louder as the exorcism progresses.
• Off-screen diegetic sounds of glass breaking is heard, as a way of showing the exorcism working.
• Non-diegetic sound in the background is parallel to the action in the scene.
• The audience also hear on-screen diegetic sounds of bones clicking and choking. Other on-screen diegetic sounds include the demon roaring.
• The sequence finishes with silence. This is an effective way in ending the climax.

What to use in our opening:

 

Our exorcist will wear dark colours i.e. black, as this is a common colour used for exorcists. We will use sound effects throughout to build on the theme of possession e.g. bone clicking.  The visual effect towards the end of the lights switching on and off is rather effective. We may manipulate the idea by having a light switching on and off in our opening towards the end (where our possessed character disappears). 

Deconstruction On Possessive Movement In The Excorcism Of Emily Rose

In this clip, I will look for visual and oral signifiers which portray possession. I will also decide which of these signifiers to use in my groups' opening.

The woman appears to be screaming at the beginning of the sequence. Her hair is slightly covering her face and in the background, the audience can denote that the wall is looking rough. Within the mise en scene therefore, a possessed woman is represented.

 Emily starts to scratch the wall with her nails. Already she is signifying signs of possession.

Her body language is very sudden. She moves rather quickly, for example, jumping and leg kicking.

Rose's facial expressions also signify a possessed woman. This is seen through her screaming, making her face look quite tense.

Eyes widening is a common convention audience expect to see in possession films. It connotes perhaps a demon being awoken.

Bones twisting into weird positions is also another convention.  



 

What to use in our opening?

 

For our mise en scene, my group will have a have a rough setting e.g. dirty and old looking. Our possessed character will have a tacky nighty and her hair will be over her face.

 

From this deconstruction, it is clear that body language can be used predominantly in order to signify possession. Therefore, in our opening, we shall ensure our possessed character uses sharp body movement e.g. leg kicking to convey that they are possessed. We will also apply sound effects such as bone clicking for certain body movement to make the possessive movement seem more realistic.

 

For voice, my group and I will apply sound effects such as roars and growls.