Narrative Analysis Opening

The Grudge- In the first 10 minutes of 'The Grudge' a none linear narrative has been created, we know this because of the first scene at the beginning where a man commits suicide and the audience are left questioning why? We then are introduced to a carer and the main setting where most of the suspense is created. She looks after a very suspicious woman who looks unstable. The carer puts the woman to bed and walks up the stairs to make a phone call. This is interrupted as she hears animalistic noises from above, she goes upon an investigation where she becomes a victim of danger.

From watching the introduction to the film we are left questioning what has killed and whether it affects the man from the previous scene.

This film is set in Japan. The introduction is set in natural daylight as it is in the middle of the day, but as suspense occurs the lighting becomes darker and the threat becomes more prominent.



Poltergeist- In the introduction to the film a little girl is awoken by the television. She then walks downstairs to what we see is her answering questions from something within the television that we are not aware of. The family are awoken by her shouting to the television, they are very confused as so are the audience, because we are left wandering why? This is a Linear and restricted narrative, keeping the suspense throughout.

We think that the girl will continue talking to the 'television' and threat, this will then make the atmosphere become more disruptive as the narrative progress's.

This film is set in a typical American domestic household. The lighting is naturalistic as it is set in the evening/night time, when everyone is asleep. We are aware of the threat (which is the television) but we are not aware of the impact it will cause at this point in the film.


The Haunting- We are introduced to the story of an old house, which straight away we are told it is haunted by what we believe as a narrator. We are then told a timeline of events of the deaths that occurred in the house previously before present times.

After watching the introduction we are left guessing that the team of investigators become involved in the hauntings which will end tragically.

It is set in a large old mansion in a remote part of England. The film is in black and white which creates a larger contrast between light and dark. We are unaware of the threat and the victims involved as this keeps us in suspense.


The Orphanage- The introduction to this film gave the audience no answers of the narrative which will be occurring further on into the film. We are first introduced to a group of little girls who are in an Orphanage playing happily, one is about to be fostered into a new family but is unaware, this provokes tension as the audience become unsure about what will happen to her. The titles are then played for us to be also introduced to a new family whom we don't know a lot about. This creates suspense because the little boy keeps having troubled nights.

Because this is a restricted narrative we are unaware of what could happen in the film.

It is set in a spanish village or town, around family like characters. We are unaware of the threat and victims because of the restricted narrative, which keeps the audience guessing.

Analyse Horror Film- Ryan Oldham

      

The camera angles are typical of this genre as it involves numerous close ups to show emotions and reactions of characters. However, it is also used to show threat to the audience, at (7:17) in the clip a close up is used to show the 'ghost', although it only last a split second. This is typical of the horror genre as reactions and emotions being shown to the audience are a curtail part of creating tension and horror. 

The lighting towards the end of this clip could represent pathetic fallacy from the woman looking around the house. As she comes towards the noises in the roof the lighting gets darker. This could be because it represents evil and the unknown, this creates tension from the audience as it is seen as a natural instinct to be scared of the dark. This is because we can not detect threats as well without the use of our vision. This is typical to the genre of horror as darkness is a effective visual tension builder and can be used in numerous ways to scare an audience and put them on edge.

The music and soundtrack are a play a important role in the opening of 'The Grudge'. The music used on the title sequence at the beginning shows the audience what type of film they are watching and gives us an insight to what might happen later on in the movie. The use of little dialogue is also effective in this film, this is because it leaves the audience to rely on sight for what is happening and gives nothing away. This links back to tension being created because of dark lighting and not knowing what is in the surroundings. This is also used a lot and is conventional to the horror genre, it is more frequently used in the psychological and ghost sub-genres to create tension as more thinking has to be done by the audience than that of zombie or physical/visual horror films.

The location is conventional to the horror film genre as it is a domestic setting, this could create psychological horror to the audience after they have watched the film as they may think that some aspects of the story could affect them in reality (flickering lights, floors creaking etc.). The house is also located in japan, this is sometimes used in horrors as the fear of the unknown may be affected by surroundings that the audience aren't familiar with. The mise en scene also relates back to the point of a stereotypical british or american audience not being familiar with a different culture and setting, this could make the audience question what is happening and put them on edge. 

Mind map of ideas for Horror Film

The Genre of our film is 'Ghost' so we looked at a few ideas to start us off with how we can create a Ghostly type horror with Mise-en-scene. We looked at the lighting we would use which we decided, colours gels of blue and white to keep the gloomy atmosphere. Also we felt that to keep the suspense the victim should be a female as they seem more innocent and weaker. The mind map shows more of our first initial ideas.

Analyse Horror Film- Georgie Holmes

The film I watched was The Sixth Sense which was released in the year 1999 and was rated a 15. I analysed the first scene to get ideas for my horror film. Whilst watching I found that there were generally a lot of extreme close ups of the victims face. This was effective because you were able to see her full facial expressions and understand how the victim is feeling.
I filled out a sheet which linked in with Mise-en-scene, lighting, and Camera Angles.

Homework Exercise - Marking Previous Work

- Have a look at the mark scheme below to get an idea of each level.

- Then watch all 4 videos

- Now using the mark scheme give each video a mark out of 60 and explain why...?

I would give this clip a level 4 with around 50 marks. I say this as it uses a variety of shots to create tension and drama within the film. However the non-liner structure of the clip meant that it was unclear on what is happening.

I would give this piece a high level 3 with around 45 marks. I say this as there is little sound added and relies on mainly diegetic sound to build tension. Also there is a limited number of shots used (Mid shots, close ups).

I would give this clip a high level 4 with 55-60 marks. I say this as they have used a variety of shots and use sound well to create tension and horror. The lighting used is effectively and creates the situation intended, the titles are also appropriate to the theme of the horror and fit in well.

I would give this horror film a high level 4 with close to or 60 marks. I say this as like on the example before a variety of shot types ares used to create various effects towards the audience. Lighting and colour is also used to develop tension and horror within the film throughout, this is accompanied by sound effects nearly all the way through which further create tension and leave the audience on the edge of there seats. The title sequence fits well with the film and stays conventional to the horror genre.

Individual Evaluation - Ryan Oldham

Use of the Camera
In many of the shots the camera is steady and smooth as we used a tripod to film each clip. However, in the first shot the movement of the camera is quite jumpy, this could be avoided if filmed again with care or if the movement was cut altogether. The last shot is also handheld, this is because there was little space on the landing to fit a tripod, this could be avoided by resting the camera on a stable object or by using a different type of tripod.

The  shows that we can frame a shot correctly as there is headroom and the characters or subject fits well into the shot. The first shot may be seen as bad framing as the characters head is slightly cut off and left out of the frame, this makes the shot seem to close and gives it a bad composition. During the 40 second clip we use a variety of clips, these include: Mid-shots, close-ups, extreme close ups and long shots. This makes the extract conventional and interesting to the audience as reactions of the actors become more exaggerated and shot types add tension. We used composition to help make better shots for the extract, this helped the shots flow together and look clean. We used no transitions as they were not necessary to the editing, only straight cuts are used between each shot or clip.

Use of Editing
Because we only used straight cuts between shots it helped the film flow together better. If fade outs or other transitions were used then it may create the wrong impression and confuse the audience on what emotion or effect is being created. Although only one type of transition is used I think that it works well as nothing else needs to be added.

Selection of Content
Our finished work shows that we thought about make up and costume to help fit more conventions of the horror genre, however most of the costume and props were naturalistic and didn't need much attention. Our location was good as it is an old fashioned style house which fitted with the plot of the video. The film wouldn't work as well if the setting was a well-lit modern home because it would not be convincing or believable. The actors used were appropriate as they played a convincing role and fitted the storyline well, It was essential that the main actor was a female so it matched the extract that we had to interpret. This also made sense for the video as it would not of worked as well if the main role was played by an adult or a more heroic character.

Self-assessment
For the film I helped plan the setting and location for the video to be filmed in, this also included where the shots should be filmed from and what effects this would have on the finished product. I edited various parts of the video and changed some lighting effects to create tension and exaggerate what was happening in the film. If I were to do this again I would spend more time planning where the camera should be placed to avoid some continuity mistakes (reflections in windows, moving/disappearing objects etc.) I would also re-shoot some of the shots a few more times in order to avoid little mistakes such as camera shake or bad composition. For my final film I will spend more time planning the location, camera positioning and overall composition of the film shots. I would also spend more time editing and using different effects in order to create tension or different emotions in the video.