Wednesday, 30 January 2013
Conventions of Psychological Horror
Psychological Horror films differ slightly from the stereotype of Horror.
Weapons- In psychological horror films, there isn't often a main weapon like a knife or a chainsaw. The killer generally plays more mind games and tricks to disturb the antagonist rather than physical weapons.
Setting- Generally places that the audience can relate to. It makes it more realistic and the audience can then scare themselves as they begin to put themselves in the characters positions. E.g. woodland, large houses, abandoned buildings, isolated areas, hospitals, warehouses, schools, desolated towns/villages.
Characters- The antagonist is normally quite disturbed or twisted. They have often experienced something quite traumatic. Generally, the people who have been killed or harmed are innocent, and a majority are females as they are viewed as helpless, weaker, and in need of care. Children are also used in the main story-line to make the audience more sympathetic for them, and want to help them. By using Women and Children, it plays on the human instinct to want to help and protect them; as they cannot do that themselves.
Sound- Throughout horror films, the use of non diegetic sound is quite common, as tense and dramatic music is added to create tension and get the audience on the edge of their seat.This is sound that the characters cannot hear, and has been edited in.
The use of diegetic sound is where the characters can hear it too. This can be used when the characters are trying to be secretive and not get caught by the killer, or when they are loudly screaming and running away from the killer.
Sight- The thing with psychological horror is that there isn't so much gore and physical violence, it is more to do with mind games and things that will stay in the audience's mind for a long time, even after they've watched the film. It exposes the audience as they are made to feel fear and vulnerability. There are often flashbacks to show the killers past, or what the antagonist is remembering.
Weapons- In psychological horror films, there isn't often a main weapon like a knife or a chainsaw. The killer generally plays more mind games and tricks to disturb the antagonist rather than physical weapons.
Setting- Generally places that the audience can relate to. It makes it more realistic and the audience can then scare themselves as they begin to put themselves in the characters positions. E.g. woodland, large houses, abandoned buildings, isolated areas, hospitals, warehouses, schools, desolated towns/villages.
Characters- The antagonist is normally quite disturbed or twisted. They have often experienced something quite traumatic. Generally, the people who have been killed or harmed are innocent, and a majority are females as they are viewed as helpless, weaker, and in need of care. Children are also used in the main story-line to make the audience more sympathetic for them, and want to help them. By using Women and Children, it plays on the human instinct to want to help and protect them; as they cannot do that themselves.
Sound- Throughout horror films, the use of non diegetic sound is quite common, as tense and dramatic music is added to create tension and get the audience on the edge of their seat.This is sound that the characters cannot hear, and has been edited in.
The use of diegetic sound is where the characters can hear it too. This can be used when the characters are trying to be secretive and not get caught by the killer, or when they are loudly screaming and running away from the killer.
Sight- The thing with psychological horror is that there isn't so much gore and physical violence, it is more to do with mind games and things that will stay in the audience's mind for a long time, even after they've watched the film. It exposes the audience as they are made to feel fear and vulnerability. There are often flashbacks to show the killers past, or what the antagonist is remembering.
Wednesday, 16 January 2013
Focus Group
I spent the afternoon doing a short focus group in which I asked 5 people to take part in.
-Ruby Chadwick
-Ben Tomkins
-Anerley Cartlidge
-Alex Peckham
-Charlotte L.G.
Topic 1: - If you saw the poster on a wall or as an advertisement somewhere, would it interest you and would you go over to see what it was about?
R- Yes, however for me it needs bolder writing as I have to go over closer to see what it says anyway.
B- Yes, I wonder what it would be about and whether it was a movie for me or not. Although it is a bit bright and so may attract the wrong audience.
A- I don't like the font and it just looks bad, personally I wouldn't go over to see it.
A- Yes I'd like to see more of the stuff based on it and more information on the poster.
C- Yes, I would go over to see it out of interest as I like photography and would be curious to see what it was.
Topic 2: Do you like the Title? Whether you do or you don't, what would you suggest would improve it?
R- Yes it seems like my kind of psychological horror film and it would interest me.
B- Perhaps change it to 'Innocence' instead, or maybe a child's name since the narrative focuses on a young girl.
A- Capital 'I' as it annoys me when its all lower case. Although I do like the backwards letter 'e'. It needs to be bolder and perhaps you could add a shadow to make it more effective and look more sinister for a horror movie poster.
A- I like it, I really like the backwards 'e' as it just adds something to it.
C- It works, its quite contradictory to the story-line of the film.
Topic 3: What do you think of the tagline? Personally I feel it is quite suggestive and perhaps inappropriate, what can you suggest?
R- I think it works well. I think it implies that something or someone is going to take their child away, and that whoever is reading it is the next one in line for this to happen to.
B- It's quite hard to tell what its about, is it about virginity or someones child, I find it hard to tell. Perhaps you could change it to a Nursery Rhyme to fit in with the child thing, or if you did decide to call it a child's name, for example Mary, you could use the 'Mary Had A Little Lamb' nursery rhyme as the tagline.
A- The full eye implies something to do with it, I don't know what to suggest just something less creepy.
A- Perhaps do something like Ben suggested? It's quite a good idea if you did it properly.
C- I think something like 'The jury is out' to go with the whole innocent thing. You could play on the guilty and innocent side of things, and also include the devil or God as part of it, depending how you want it to turn out.
Topic 4: What are your likes and dislikes of the mock-up poster piece?
R- I love it, the eye is good and I like the combination of colours and cracks within it. It doesn't look too over the top either, it's good.
B- I like the typography, but I think to fully emphasize it all you need to give it more darkness to make it more mysterious and horror like.
A- I think you need to make the eye more central and focus on the viewer so it looks like the eye is staring right at them, that way it would be more effective.
A- I agree with the emphasis on darkness and making the eye more creepy by staring at people. I also think you could include more writing on the poster to get a better understanding of what its all about and who its aimed at. That way it would look much more like a poster.
C- I like the layering of the images together, its a good close up shot, but I don't like horror films so I find it quite hard.
Topic 5: Do you approve of the colour scheme used and chosen?
R- I like the black cracks, but not the red so much. It needs to be either more dull, or more bright not just stuck in the middle. Go to one of the extremes.
B- Make it darker again so it has more horror features and brighten the red.
A- It needs to have clearer colours so you can see exactly what is what.
A- I think with what Ben said, you shouldn't brighten the red otherwise the blood won't look as realistic and believable and people then may think its one of those dodgy parody movies.
C- It needs darkening, as much as I like it, as its for a horror film it definitely needs to be one of the extremes like Ruby said. Personally I would make it darker.
Topic 6: Do you like the cracks added to make the eye bloodshot and crack/shadow the face?
R- I like it all apart from the red, it isn't realistic enough. I just don't like bloodshot eyes and its creepy.
B- I like the cracks in the eyes but I don't like it when they go onto the skin it just doesn't look quite right, though I like the shadow effect it gives.
A- I'm not sure, I just think it looks too fake but I don't think many people can make it very realistic unless they're professionals or have expert equipment.
A- I think it works well, you just need to only make the red cracks on the whites of the eye and not go onto the iris otherwise it doesn't look right.
C- Yes but the black one looks more like a shadow than a crack and I can't tell if the crack has split onto the face, or if its a cracked eye and then its a shadow coming down the face.
-Ruby Chadwick
-Ben Tomkins
-Anerley Cartlidge
-Alex Peckham
-Charlotte L.G.
Topic 1: - If you saw the poster on a wall or as an advertisement somewhere, would it interest you and would you go over to see what it was about?
R- Yes, however for me it needs bolder writing as I have to go over closer to see what it says anyway.
B- Yes, I wonder what it would be about and whether it was a movie for me or not. Although it is a bit bright and so may attract the wrong audience.
A- I don't like the font and it just looks bad, personally I wouldn't go over to see it.
A- Yes I'd like to see more of the stuff based on it and more information on the poster.
C- Yes, I would go over to see it out of interest as I like photography and would be curious to see what it was.
Topic 2: Do you like the Title? Whether you do or you don't, what would you suggest would improve it?
R- Yes it seems like my kind of psychological horror film and it would interest me.
B- Perhaps change it to 'Innocence' instead, or maybe a child's name since the narrative focuses on a young girl.
A- Capital 'I' as it annoys me when its all lower case. Although I do like the backwards letter 'e'. It needs to be bolder and perhaps you could add a shadow to make it more effective and look more sinister for a horror movie poster.
A- I like it, I really like the backwards 'e' as it just adds something to it.
C- It works, its quite contradictory to the story-line of the film.
Topic 3: What do you think of the tagline? Personally I feel it is quite suggestive and perhaps inappropriate, what can you suggest?
R- I think it works well. I think it implies that something or someone is going to take their child away, and that whoever is reading it is the next one in line for this to happen to.
B- It's quite hard to tell what its about, is it about virginity or someones child, I find it hard to tell. Perhaps you could change it to a Nursery Rhyme to fit in with the child thing, or if you did decide to call it a child's name, for example Mary, you could use the 'Mary Had A Little Lamb' nursery rhyme as the tagline.
A- The full eye implies something to do with it, I don't know what to suggest just something less creepy.
A- Perhaps do something like Ben suggested? It's quite a good idea if you did it properly.
C- I think something like 'The jury is out' to go with the whole innocent thing. You could play on the guilty and innocent side of things, and also include the devil or God as part of it, depending how you want it to turn out.
Topic 4: What are your likes and dislikes of the mock-up poster piece?
R- I love it, the eye is good and I like the combination of colours and cracks within it. It doesn't look too over the top either, it's good.
B- I like the typography, but I think to fully emphasize it all you need to give it more darkness to make it more mysterious and horror like.
A- I think you need to make the eye more central and focus on the viewer so it looks like the eye is staring right at them, that way it would be more effective.
A- I agree with the emphasis on darkness and making the eye more creepy by staring at people. I also think you could include more writing on the poster to get a better understanding of what its all about and who its aimed at. That way it would look much more like a poster.
C- I like the layering of the images together, its a good close up shot, but I don't like horror films so I find it quite hard.
Topic 5: Do you approve of the colour scheme used and chosen?
R- I like the black cracks, but not the red so much. It needs to be either more dull, or more bright not just stuck in the middle. Go to one of the extremes.
B- Make it darker again so it has more horror features and brighten the red.
A- It needs to have clearer colours so you can see exactly what is what.
A- I think with what Ben said, you shouldn't brighten the red otherwise the blood won't look as realistic and believable and people then may think its one of those dodgy parody movies.
C- It needs darkening, as much as I like it, as its for a horror film it definitely needs to be one of the extremes like Ruby said. Personally I would make it darker.
Topic 6: Do you like the cracks added to make the eye bloodshot and crack/shadow the face?
R- I like it all apart from the red, it isn't realistic enough. I just don't like bloodshot eyes and its creepy.
B- I like the cracks in the eyes but I don't like it when they go onto the skin it just doesn't look quite right, though I like the shadow effect it gives.
A- I'm not sure, I just think it looks too fake but I don't think many people can make it very realistic unless they're professionals or have expert equipment.
A- I think it works well, you just need to only make the red cracks on the whites of the eye and not go onto the iris otherwise it doesn't look right.
C- Yes but the black one looks more like a shadow than a crack and I can't tell if the crack has split onto the face, or if its a cracked eye and then its a shadow coming down the face.
Wednesday, 9 January 2013
Focus Group Plan
Demographic- Age, Gender, Ethnicity, Occupation.
Pyschographic- Emotions, Likes, Dislike, Hobbies, Interests.
I will record the focus group so I can listen back to it without missing out any key information. I shall then write up what their responses were, as well as the voice recording of the discussion.
I want it to be more of an open discussion rather than just a question and answer session.
I am going to show people in my focus groups my ideas and plans for my production.
I will include:
-Mock Ups
-Typography
-Narrative Plot
-Planning
I will then ask them for their responses to my work and also for their:
-Opinions
-Interests
-Age
-Occupation (if not in education)
-What they would like to see
-What interests them in Horror
-
Pyschographic- Emotions, Likes, Dislike, Hobbies, Interests.
I will record the focus group so I can listen back to it without missing out any key information. I shall then write up what their responses were, as well as the voice recording of the discussion.
I want it to be more of an open discussion rather than just a question and answer session.
I am going to show people in my focus groups my ideas and plans for my production.
I will include:
-Mock Ups
-Typography
-Narrative Plot
-Planning
I will then ask them for their responses to my work and also for their:
-Opinions
-Interests
-Age
-Occupation (if not in education)
-What they would like to see
-What interests them in Horror
-
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