The Cabin in the Woods

This is the opening of the horror film 'The Cabin in the Woods' with my annotations added on top. It was made in the software Windows Movie Maker. It comments on the camera angles, the Editing Techniques and the sound. of a horror opening from 'The Cabin in the Woods'. 

The Happening

The Happening Timeline: Editing Sound Effects, Events, Angles, Credits

 

The happening has a lot of editing and sound effects that happen in the first four minutes. So a lot goes on really, there are many different camera angles, edits, sound effects and different views. It's a very busy film opening. At the very end of the opening you see a women stab herself with a knitting needle. This is really good at making the viewer want to continue watching so they find out why she did that to herself. This would be a good idea to add into my own horror film opening, essentially it's a cliff hanger and it's a very good one too. 

This is a shot of the subject stabbing herself with a needle at the very ending of the opening, it's a really close up shot of the woman's frightened face and the needle with her hand in the background. This creates suspense really well because the audience wonders what she's doing with this needle pointed at her neck. This is something that I should think about adding into my own horror opening, close up shots of the victims, villains and other actors witnessing the situation to show their emotions or feelings on the situation. I have ideas of showing one of the little girl's worried faces before she gets kidnapped by the dark and mysterious villain. This will help the audience to feel worried or scared for the little girl which will bring them into the film in a way which will help to build up the suspense really well.

This is another shot of the opening, it's a long shot showing the people in the park walking backwards. This is also a point of view shot. This is effective at building suspense in the opening as it shows a lot of what's going on around the two female characters. It brings the audience into the film itself as they now see what one of the characters is seeing. These types of shots are important because they work so well at creating suspense. This is another type of shot that I will think about interpreting into my own horror film opening. It will build suspense if I use the victims point of view as she gets lost and starts to worry.

Institution

There are many institutions in the world today, some examples are:

• Warner Brother Pictures
• Walt Disney Pictures
• Pixar
• Universal Studios
• 20th Century Fox
• Tristar
• Paramount
• Touchstone
• Dreamworks
• Columbia
• BBC Films
• Summit Entertainment
• Metro Goldwyn Mayer
• Lionsgate

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Twisted Pictures is going to be the name of my institution. I Chose it because the word twisted provides connotations of creepy, eery, messed up and frightening. My original idea for my production company is for the logo to be animated. What I want to do is to film myself drawing the logo. In the editing I want to speed up the footage of me drawing the logo and add in sound effects of birds chirping, trees swaying and the wind whistling. This.This will help to build up suspense before my film has even started. What I have chosen to incorporate in my logo is the image of a tree with all of the leaves having fallen off showing only sharp branches. The tree is what links to the word 'twisted' as trees can often be seen as twisted and haunting. Below are some examples of twisted, scary looking trees that provide inspiration for my institution logo. When filming my production logo's animation

I am going to tape a piece of plain white printer paper to a plain wooden table so that while I am drawing the logo the paper won't move around ruining the footage. I will not need to pay attention to any sound being recorded because in the editing process I can simply cut out any sound that was recorded and add in the sound effects afterwards. When filming I will place my camera on a tripod to steady the camera as I don't want the footage to be all shaky. The camera will not move at all during the filming and the angles will not change either. I want to keep the same angle throughout the whole filming process.

My second idea for my logo is to have the logo of 'Twisted Productions' look like it is being played on a bad TV. On final cut pro there is an animation that looks like a TV turning on with a bad connection therefor having gray and white fuzzy lines. After this animation I want to have the logo in the centre of the screen with a bad TV effect provided by Final Cut Pro. This will look really frightening and with the sound effect of a TV Fuzzing it will look really good and create some tension, leaving the audience on the edge of their seats waiting for the film to begin.

I will try both of my ideas and then choose the one I like the most after they are both complete. This will enable me to make sure that I have the best possible institution and Institution logo/animation possible to ensure that my audience knows that the film is going to be scary.

To the left is my first drawing of my production company/Institution. As you can see the 'T' of 'Twisted Productions' is a tree that has been twisted and looks creepy. The rest of the letters have vines and branches growing out of them to incorporate the idea of twisted trees into my logo. My other logo idea is designed on the computer using the font 'Ghastly Panic'. Using Photoshop I put the font in white on a large black background so that in Final Cut Pro it would fill the entire page.

The History of Horror Films

According to the website www.HorrorFilmHistory.com, Horror films first began in the 1860's with what's called spirit photography which was accompanied by a narrative style from the Grand Guignol Theatre Company and drawn from Gothic literature. They tell tales of folklore and old myths and legends from Europe.

Spirit Photography - The practice of using double exposures on a camera to create ghost looking people/objects within the frame of a film
To the right is an example of Spirit Photography.

The website HorrorFilmHistory states that according to the records the first ever horror film is 'Le Manoir du Diable'. It was created by Gorges Melies in 1896. The film is a silent film and involves: bats, magic, disapearing smoke and more spooky things that one might find in a horror film. Obviously, being the first horror film one can not expect this to be particularly frightening. Compared to present day horror films this isn't scary at all. Although this film may not be seen as scary now, it would have provided the audience (in 1986) witht he same suspense and thrill as a modern horror film would to it's present day audience now.

Since then, more horror films have been produced. early examples are as follows:

• The Cabinet of Dr Calgari (1919)
• The Golem (1915/1920)
• Dracula (1931)
• The Monster Walks (1932)
• The Black Cat (1934)
• The Walking Dead (1936)
• Buried Alive (1939)

Another well know horror film is Nosferatu which was created in 1922. The film is a well known German Expressionist film, directed by a man called F.W. Murnau. The film includes actor, Max Schreck as the vampire Count Orlok. The film was based on Bram Stoker's Dracula however without the permission needed which meant that the names of the characters and details had to be changed as Murnau was unsuccessful in obtaining the rights to the novel. The film actually had a score written for it which the orchestra would play while the film was screening. Sadly the score was lost and all that remains is other musicians improvisations or their own versions of the official sountrack to accompany the film. This shows that even some of the very first films had music to accompany them and create suspense. This makes me think more about including my own music to my horror opening which will enhance the horror element and build suspense and fright.

Location

This is the location where I have decided to shoot my horror film. It is really easy to get to, it takes about 5 minutes to walk to from my house and has a lot of different areas where different shots can be taken. Because the location is so local, transportation would not be an issue and it will be very easy to transport the equipment to and from the location. The 'abandoned farm' is also in a public location meaning that I would not have to acquire permission to shoot here. My actors/actresses are also local which means transportation would not be a problem for them either.

This is an ideal location for me because it's somewhere with a lot of hiding places which fits my storyboard/plot very well. It is also right next to the woods which means that I can shoot both the hiding scenes and the police scenes in the same location which really benefits me.

What I particularly like about this location is the paths demonstrated in the bottom right picture. It winds round a bend which would be perfect for a tracking shot of one of the little girls running to hide. It would indicate, mystery of where the path leads to which also helps to create suspense in the opening. Something else I like about the farm is the tall grass and weeds that can be seen in the photos above. This is ideal for my villain who I want to shoot snooping around in the tall grass so that he is not clearly visible.

A negative of this location is that there are not any wide open spaces where I could shoot the police crime scene. What I wanted was to have a large space in which I could put up police tape and have pieces of the victims clothing swaying in the wind. However, there are certain paths and structures that I could use to stick up the police tape, I will just have to modify the camera angles to become close ups instead of wide, panoramas.

Apart from this minor detail this location is pretty much perfect for my horror film opening. The buildings are all rusted and starting to decompose so they look very old and haunted which is perfect. It will really help to add to the horror setting and create suspense which is exactly what I want.

Target Audience

From my survey, I have come to the conclusion that I am going to aim my horror film opening to those of both genders aged 16 to 21. This is because about 58% of those who answered my survey were aged between 17-21 and I personally being a 16 year old feel as though I may also be able to contribute my own personal opinions. As a teenager, I often find my piers watching horror films because it excites them. They love getting scared and uneasy.

I personally, am not a huge fan of horror films however, when I am given the opportunity to watch one there is something that draws me to watch one! There is something about the horror genre that entices the teenage/young adult audience because they are dangerous and exciting. It's almost as if watching a horror film is proving how brave you are and that is a big reason why teenagers and young adults love watching horror films.

The reason I have chosen to focus my horror opening towards teenagers and young adults is because those younger than 16 are very rarely found watching horror films. Either because they are simply too young or because they have no interest in them. As you start to reach 21 and over you begin to mature a lot more and realise that horror films aren't actually that exciting after all.

To appeal to my target audience I will have to make my film interesting, unique and exciting. The scarier it is the better.

Horror Opening StoryBoard

This is my drawn story board of my final horror film opening. This has been made before shooting any scenes for my final opening so that I have a good idea of what shots, angles and characters that I want to get in my opening so that when the time comes to film I will know what I am doing and can be prepared. As you can see I have colour coded some different factors of my storyboard which clearly highlight the camera angles, transitioning, editing, sound and mise en scene. This way I can clearly see specific features of my film opening when I come to editing and filming.

 

Below is another version of my storyboard that I made on an online programme called ' www.Storyboardthat.com' . It is really useful as you can add in characters, backdrops, quotation bubbles and props. The website doesn't have all the props, characters or backdrops you want to have in your film but you can get a rough idea of the different scenes you want to appear in your film opening. In this storyboard you can see what characters I want, where I want them and what I want them to be doing in each shot. This will come in handy when I film my horror opening and when I start to edit it.