Horror genre analysis 1

Film: Delicatessen
Directors: Marc Caro and
Distrbutor: Miramax Films
Country: France

i watched Delicatsessen, a French black comedy based on the tenants of an apartment building in Post apocalyptic France, and their desperate bids to survive. One of the main characters has come to replace a previous tenant whose disapearance is unknown. The apartment owner runs a butcher shop which applies for employees whom the butcher lures in and kills and butchers as a cheap source of meat for his tenants.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VtbTe52lmlc

Camera work: At the beginning of the opening scene a low angle shot is used as the audience looks up at the butcher who then swings an axe down on it. This shows the character having power over the audience and other charatcers. Much of the camerawork used is handheld so that the camera can swoop in and out between the different objects, it also zooms in and out to focus on particular objects. It also uses panning shots to scan across all the items and to view them all. The fact that all of these items are in close proximity with each other shows that the area is cluttered, and filled with random objects such as newpaper cuttings and broken CD's.

Mise en scene: The butcher at the very beginning is shown wearing an old fashined butchers outfit, like a kind of apron. His hair is also tied back, this iconography helps to set the scene and make it clear who the butcher is. There is not a lot of colour displayed during this sequence, this also adds to the idea that it is set back in time, rather than recently, like it has yellowed over time, like a newspaper would. All of the objects seem to have been placed on a desk of some kind perhaps in an office, which provides an underlying theme of the plot, that something more sinister is being planned.

Sound: The yell of the butcher and the scream of the victim are the first things that are heard in the opening sequence, which straight away grabs the attention of the audience and keeps them interested.

Thriller genre analysis

Film: Memento
Director: Christopher Nolan
Distributors: Summit Entertainment
Country: United States

To explore different genres i watched the title sequence of the 2000 film Memento. It is a psychological thriller, based around a man with severe amnesia which renders him incapable of storing recent memories.



The opening sequence unfolds in reverse, this creates a distorted and creepy effect which takes a while for the audience to gain their bearings and work out what is happening. It shows a man shooting another man, leaving the audience in suspense and providing an air of mystery to the scene.
Camera work: Close up's are used on each of the objects shown in the opening scene. This allows the audience to make the presumtion that these are signficant objects and relevant to the story's plotline and genre. For example, blood running down the wall and the gun, both of which are basic iconography that are directly linked to the thriller genre. A low angle shot is also used when viewing the killer which gives him a sense of power, and the audience gains the impression that he will be one of the main characters.
Mise en scene: The setting as far as can be told is in an old abandoned building, which is again stereotypical of this genre. The killer is seen wearing a suit which means he is of a particular status and makes the audience think that he has a reason for this murder, and wants to find out what it is. The colour within the scene is quite dark, with only some prominent colours, such as the red of the blood and the blue of his shirt, which draws the focus.
Sound: There is no background music during the opening scene, instead it emphasises certain realistic sounds, such as the sound of the blood running and dripping down the wall, the victim's shout and the gun shot.



Titles: The titles are shown mysteriously, using light and dark to create a mysterious atmosphere. The left part of the screen is mainly hidden in darkness, whereas the right side is less so. It provides glimpses of light, either through shadows or trees or the rain. The audience is left unsure as to what it is, only that there is not a lot of light, and so the setting is unfamiliar throughout the title sequence. There is also incidental music played throughout the opening titles, which adds to the mysterious mood, it sounds like some one playing the piano, gently and calmly. This contrasts with the lack of visibility to create a creepy atmosphere, the sound is clear and concise, but the audience is unable to see where it is coming from.

continuity exercise

This is how the room was laid out for filming, the table was used for the 'interview' with chairs on either side. We did this to create realism, to that the room would look exactly as it would in a real interview.




Our group filmed our continuity exercise and used three different cameras to get different angles and heights. We also took photographs whilst filming which allowed us to capture certain parts, for example our match on action shot.

This picture shows how we set up one of our cameras so that we could view one of the main characters in this exercise. We placed the camera like this so that we could get an over the shoulder shot of one of our characters.








We set cameras at different levels and in different positions so that no other cameras would be viewed in our shots.


This picture shows our match on action shot within our exercise, at this point Lady Rara is handing her CV over to the interviewer. At this point, the audience is at eye level with the characters, which creates the effect of the audience being in the room with the characters, and a feel that they are almost spying on the interview.

Art of the title work

for homework i went on art of the title and analysed two different film title sequences from two different film genres. i looked at Juno, which is a comedy film and dawn of the dead which is a horror.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r0no0HE3xMo
Dawn of the dead

Camera work
- short take: a clip of many people bowing down
- close up: face showing teeth and blood around the mouth, this clip i showing reguarly in between the dialogue
- handheld: depicts realism when showing the news cast

editing
- universal pictures turns into blood which trickles down the screen
- cuts to a newscast, showing fire and people being beaten and attacked by something, the bouncy music in the background means that the newscast isn't taken seriously
- music only lasts for the newscast, then stops, flicking back to just dialogue

mise en scene
- flashes to a man lying in a hospital bed, it is the same man that is shown at the start baring his teeth and covered in blood
- a name of a crew member is shown in between each take

sound
- dialogue: man and woman talking about a virus, frequently interupted by a hissing sound
- sound of people shouting, when the man in the hospital bed needs to be held down
- incidental music during the newscast, more lively and regular, hints at reality

Juno
http://www.artofthetitle.com/2008/04/15/juno/

camera work
- close up of a teen girl drinking Sunny D
- dolly shot used as the girl walks along the pavement, the camera follows


editing
- half animation, half realistic, when the cartoon half is shown, everything is in black and white except for the girl and the titles
- cartoons fade away when the realism comes in and a new scene starts

mise en scene
- wearing jeans and sweatshirt: boyish/ tomboy
- other characters shown, stereotypically: footballers in the park

sound
- theme music: happy, jumpy, love song
- no dialogue
- song links in with the girl, e.g the song says 'if you were the wood.' at the same time she walks through a wood

storyboarding

This is our first plan for our final sequence, throughout our planning stage we made lots of changes to our ideas until we created our final one.
Here is what we first came up with...

we were originally going to film the outside of the house, showing a row of houses with all the lights off, with one light showing in the room where our main character would be, however, after filming this we realized that it didn't really fit it with the rest of our sequence, and so we cut it out, instead beginning in the hallway in the house.

introduction

we have begun work on our continuity exercise. Our group has discussed initial ideas and we have our final one. It is going to be based in a job interview, for an accountancy job. The main character is a spin off from Lady Gaga, renamed Lady Rara. The dialogue used is going to be taken from most of Lady Gaga's songs to create humour.
Here is part of our script

Interviewer (Joe) - welcome, what's your name?
Lady Rara (Kelly) - Rara ahahah Roma romama Gaga ooh lala
Interviewer - What made you apply for this job?
Lady Rara - i'm your biggest fan, i'll follow you until you love me!

In our last lesson, we also decided on the genre for our final title sequence. It is going to be a horror, and we have created our questionaire to hand out. Here are some of the questions we have included.

- What type of horror films do you like?
a) pyschological thriller (e.g. paranormal activity)
b) Blood and gore (e.g. saw 1-7)
c) fantasy horror (e.g. Pam's labryinth)

- What type of setting would you prefer?
a) urban
b) rural
c) coastal
d) other please state

- what is your favourite horror film?

on the questionaire we also asked their age and gender, so we can determine our target audience.