Opening Sequences In Horror Movies

Tim Burton is easily one of my favourite directors - his style is instantaneously recognizable and his opening sequences always strike me the most and immediately entice me. Burton will never show an actor to distract the audience from producers, screenwriters etc involved within his usually massive productions. Burton will always tell a story within his opening titles played along with the movie's main musical theme. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2005) shows the process of the "golden ticket" behind packaged and sent across the world to be opened by kids. In Sleepy Hollow (1999) we become aware of the air of ghostliness surrounding the small desolate town of Sleepy Hollow. In class, I presented the opening of Sweeney Todd: the Demon Barber of Fleet Street - in the opening titles, Burton uses his signature not-real-not-animated cartoonish look to follow the track of Sweeney's victims through the chair and down the shoot, then being cooked and made into pies whilst the blood is washed down the gutter into the River Thames. The blood is shown brightly and sickly sticky on the screen making the audience uncomfortable before the audience ever sees Johnny Depp.

Sweeney Todd (2007) Opening Titles

What Makes Your Skin Crawl?

Horror movies is a guilty-pleasure of mine. I love the skin-pricking thrill of being terrified at the movies, but, what makes a horror movie successful? There is an unnoticable abundance of low-budget-bad-acted horror movies that I can say are not terrifying but soothe the bloodlusting slasher movie geeks. Below is a moodboard of what entices me, what scares me and what makes me fall in love with the horror genre all over again!

Here are a few examples of horror movies that have scarred and shocked me (in a good way) and have upheld the classic and orginiality of the horror movies.

(The Shining - 1980)

(Rec - 2007)

(Psycho - 1960)

(Ils - 2006)

There are three key things that I really enjoy in horror movies right now: the first is the sense of "this-could-be-you" in horror movies. Successful horror movies, in my opinion, have always been set in relatible environments e.g motels, your own home and the city. Making a movie in an environment the audience can recognize (as apposed to the Moon) gives that deeper sense of fear. Another thing that makes my skin crawl is the never revolutionary use of hand-held equipment that gives the camera a first person view of what is happening like the movie has been filmed all on a camera-phone or a camera that has just been picked up. And the final aspect is forgein languages - languages that I do not know adds more of a sense of confusion, Rec (Spanish) and Them ("Ils" - French) adds to the sense of mystery and confusion withint the plot.

Analysisation and Mise-En-Scene

For a project in class we had to analysis a scene from a movie and break it down in its technical terms - Guillermo del Toro is a brilliant film maker and pays valued attention to detail, therefore, I chose to analysis Pan's Labyrinth - an Oscar-winning masterpiece. Throughout this scene there is a strong hellish theme, fire, red, diabolical creatures,    Pan's Labyrinth "Child-Eater" Scene 

The girl is looking upwards - this has a type of 'Alice In Wonderland' feel of overwhelming and uncertainty that the audience can relate to.

The room is lit with a fire and candlelight - this is the only visible source of light and symbolises hell and the hellish creature sitting at the head of the table in a dormant manner. There are no soft materials in the room - everything is cold stone and brass, harsh materials that do not show comfort to the girls' intrusion.

A feast of warm coloured food (browns, oranges, reds and golds) is on the table (the box which the girl needs to open is shown subtlety behind her) the feast looks otherworldly with goblets and chalices and large lavish platters. Dark and very little lighting is used to represent the sense of confusion but stillness of this table.

This is where we meet the monster. A dormant and terrifyingly ugly creature - he does not jump or make a sudden movement as the audience expects which is what makes him just so terrifying. He is also missing eyes and does not look human. The girl seems calmed by the fact that he doesn't move and the audience is consoled by this too.

The girl finds his eyes (however, in this shot it is now clear that he has no eye sockets). The hellish fire is ever prevalent and roars mockingly in the background diegetic music.

The camera cuts away to the ceiling where there are Grimm-type fairytale depictions of a child-eating monster (this monster) and shows what happens to children if they do 'something' to awaken the monster and his wrath (which we soon find out). The story pictures are shown in hellish colours and are gruesome for any wall mural.

The girl finds a pile of shoes - children's shoes - and cleverly within the same shot is the girl, the diabolical fire and the hellish creature. This is foreshadowing what almost happens to the girl. All the children are eaten by the monster and only their shoes remain. The warm light from the fire is taunting and becomes very haunting.

A simple but effective shot linking the fire, the girl and the monster and its feast all within one shot.

The girl has arrived with a task - to open one of these three boxes and retrieve a trinket that she needs for later - this is a distraction from the monster and the audience losses concentration on the location of the monster.

This short cut to the hourglass drenched in blue light (showing a different location [safety]) gives the audience a sense of urgency for the girl to get out and be quick about it.

The girl has chosen wisely and retrieved what she came here for.

The feast now represents temptation and the creature is its guardian. The girl came here for what she needed but the feast is what she wants. This part of the story plays with need and want and the monster is the wrathful avenger of greedy children.

The girl stops in her tracks - the monster leaning practically over her shoulder totally unmoved - she looks towards the feast and marvels at it. Need is fulfilled but now she is wanting.

Here we see the fine detail of the feast - the juicy and ripe fruits which are tempting to both the audience and the girl.

This is an over the shoulder shot which suggests two things: choice and temptation. The girl is checking to see if the monster has moved or awakened - just as the audience would - and then choses to take a piece of fruit because, to her, there seems to be no danger. In this shot the fire and the hellish monster are coupled together in relation to the girl - the fire is in between them and foreshadows the consequences yet to come.

Close up on the juicy and shining fruit, bulging freshly, it is tempting. And the girl gives in plucking off a piece of fruit that seems so small and insignificant but enough to awaken the monster.

The girl eats the fruit, close up on the satasfactory look on her face, the fire is out of focus behind her.

The Importance of Using Photoshop

Where would Cinema PR be without photoshop? Would we be handing out hand draw flyers for the next big Blockbuster hit? Would we be taking pictures of movie stars and then writing on all other details? - We may never know, because Photoshop is a lifeline to the Cinematic World. Using the many tools of photoshop, anything can be manipulated, contorted and superimposed. Photoshop uses text, imaging and editing to create a Blockbuster Movie Poster. We learnt how to use the Crop tool, Hue/Saturatuon (CTRL + U), image size (CTRL + T) and layering.

Basic Stills Camera Work and Composition:

Composition:

Photography brings a visual language that is universal in understanding. We must then understand its vocabulary which consists of shapes, textures, patterns, lines, colours, shade of light to dark and sharp to blurry images. Just as we must learn to arrange words in a coherent order in order to make sense when we write or speak, so too must we put visual elements together in an organized manner if our photographs are to convey their meaning clearly and vividly.

Composition means arrangement: the orderly putting together of parts to make a unified whole; composition through a personal, intuitive act. However, there are basic principles that govern the way visual elements behave and interact when you combine them inside the four borders of a photograph. Once we have sharpened our vision and grasped these basic ideas of principles, then we will have the potential for making our photographs more exciting and effective than ever before.

The Rule of Thirds:

The Rule of Thirds is one of the most basic yet most important rules in both photography and film. The Rule of Thirds is about composition and positioning of the subjects within the camera's frame. The Rule of Thirds are imaginary lines that are drawn dividing the image into thirds both horizontally and vertically - just like a tick-tack-toe board.

The Rule of Thirds allows moods and an atmospheric feel to consume the camera. For example, within a horror movie, the Rule of Thirds is used to foreshadow an event by placing the main character into a third and a murder weapon or a cracked open door into another third.

Doctor Who Trailer:

My Doctor Who trailer:  Dr Who Trailer

"I'm Not A Wannabe... I'm a Gonnabe!"

"I'm Not A Wannabe... I'm a Gonnabe!" - this phrase is screamed every morning at 9 am when the doors to Disney's Hollywood Studios open to the general public and these words have stuck with me ever since I was a little girl in princess dresses and bobby socks. From a very young age I knew that my greatest love was Cinema, its enticing majesty and awe-inspiring technology has always amazing and influenced my work. My name is Courtney Madincea and I want to become a screenwriter and a director as soon as I can, but for now studying media helps me come to grips with how the industry really works, through the glitz and glamour into the more technical and nitty-gritty side of things. Some of my favorite films which have deepened my passion for film include: Jurassic Park, Pirates of the Caribbean, Murder:Story of a Murderer and Waltz with Bashir. I love an array of films - more independent movies that focus on story telling rather than summer blockbusters that focus on easy plots and easy money. Film for me isn't a form of entertainment, it is an art form that many can try but few really succeed at. Film is about transporting the audience into an alternate reality and enticing them into the world of fictional characters and magical beings. I love film.