mind maps for film ideas

Uploaded images of mind maps for horror, thriller and rom-com

Research into existing products- Horror

In 1974 Christian Metz wrote a book entitled language and cinema. Contextually his book stated that every genre goes through four stages: experimental, classic, parody and deconstruction.

The experimental phase is the innovation of the genre, where the rules and conventions are devised. In the horror genre these are films like The Cabinet Of Dr Calagari (1919) and Nosferatu (1922) which was the first screen play of Bram Stoker’s Dracula. These are both examples of German Expressionist films. This movement was a period of art and films that were dark, shadowy and atmospheric to signify the trauma felt, especially in Europe, from WWI. The trauma of the great war on film makers inspired them to explore dark themes and devise the horror genre.

The classic phase of a genre is when there are solid rules and conventions which it follows and the genre is at it’s most popular and successful. For horror this was in the early 1930’s. By this time the dark themes of the German expressionist films had made it across the Atlantic to Hollywood. This allowed horror films to be made with A list casts and big budgets making them more appealing to a global audience. Examples of classic horrors from this time include Dracula (1931) and Frankenstein (1931). Both these films were made by Universal studios which is stereotypically considered as a horror studio.

The parody phase would create films that mimicked horrors with comedic elements. This came about because Universal in particular had lots of exhausted horror franchises such as The Wolfman. To overcome this they introduced the comedy duo Abbot and Costello to the horror storylines and the Parody was born. This has continued since most notably with Carry On Screaming (1969) and Scary Movie (1999).

In the 1950’s Hollywood entered a period of austerity subsequent to the invention of television.  This allowed British studios like Hammer studios to prosper and make films Dracula (1958) and The Mummy (1959). These films kept the horror genre going through the austerity period of Hollywood.

The deconstruction phase takes the generic elements of a horror film but adds sub genres. An example of this is the psychological horror Se7en (1995). The film incorporates classic horror conventions like murder and mystery. But you don’t see any of the murders occur, all the action is in your head. There are many other sub genres that have been added into horror films such as skatterpunk horrors like Hostel (2005) and religious cult horrors like The Exorcist (1973).

Halloween opening sequence analysis

Halloween was made in 1978 by John Carpenter. It was an Independent film so had a small budget of $320,000 in today’s money that is around $1.5million. It grossed $47 million which today is around $150 million.

The Film is set in the fictional suburban town Haddonfield, Ilanois, USA. This was different as previous horror films had been set in city’s or foreign countries. But because of it’s setting it was relatable to The American audience giving the horror a greater effect. 

There is non diegetic eerie incidental music playing on a black screen. The titles then begin changing colours between red and yellow. This adds a sense of fire. A pumpkin then joins the titles in frame juxtapositioned to the left of the frame and there is a forward track into it’s eye. This shows that the film is set during Halloween and implies a sense of being watched.

The film starts with a long take handheld sub pov, This adds a sense that the occupants of the house are being watched. The first thing in frame is a large white house, this connotes purity that nothing wrong could happen there. There is diegetic ambient sound adding realism for the audience.  The camera moves to a window and we see two teenagers kissing. This contradicts the sense of purity the house emits. This is reinstated when the teens ‘go up stairs’.

The camera then returns to the front of the house where we see an upstairs light go off implying the teens are about to have sex. When the light goes off there is a loud non diegetic screech which generates tension. This is followed by an eerie tune on a piano which thickens the atmosphere. 

The camera then enters the house through the back door which gives a sense that the person behind the camera doesn’t want to be seen. The subject then goes into a draw and pulls out a knife. It enters the centre of frame for a prolonged period of time, showing it’s deadly nature. By this time the piano has been replaced by a long high pitched non diegetic tone.

After this we see the male teen go down the stairs putting his shirt on, further connoting sex. The subject then goes up the stairs, when they reach the top a clock goes off. This suggests that time is running out for the female teen.  The camera moves across the landing and the person behind it picks up a clown mask. Clowns cocotte fun and laughter which is the inverse of what is about to happen. Once the mask has been picked up the audience see through eye holes too increasing the realism.

When the subject enters the female teens room we se her sat naked with ruffled sheets which confirms that the two teens had sex. When she is approached she identifies the subject as ‘Michael’ this shows that she knows who he is. We then see the knife move towards her and her struggling, when Michael steps away we see her bloody corps on the floor, showing the violent nature of her death. Michael then goes out of the front of the house where two adults greet him and remove his mask. This reveals a child which surprises the audience as the whole sub pov sequence was shot from adult height. Additionally his actions go against the stereotype of a child being naïve and innocent as he just committed a violent murder. This is framed with a crane reverse tracking shot showing the distance between him and a normal child.

 

Just Like Heaven opening sequence analysis

Just Like Heaven is a romantic comedy made by Dreamworks. The genre was made apparent early on when the traditional Dreamworks music was replaced with a soft soundtrack, the incidental music is typical of a rom com.

The camera pans down from the dream works logo into a garden in the clouds. This connotes heaven, there is an angelic girl sat in the garden. She has blonde hair and is wearing a dress, this gives her a princess quality to the audience. There are a few shots with dissolves between them implying that she has been there for a long period of time. During this sequence there are titles in pink, blue, yellow and red. These are warm colours that reinforce the nature of the film on the audience.

There is a jump cut away from the garden to reveal the same girl wearing medical clothes in a hospital showing she is a doctor. This job is highly commendable which contradicts the stereotype of the blonde haired blue eyed female. This is reinstated by the fact she is the typical rom com protagonist as it further defy’ s the stereotype as this kind of female is usually vulnerable and insecure. In the following sequence we see how professional she is with quick cuts of her teaching patients and her having good bed side manor joking with patients. But we see all the female doctors conversing in the toilet shot together as they all share male relations but the central character Elizabeth isn’t there initially, hinting that she is single. She walks in and doesn’t contribute much to the conversation, as the other doctors leave they tell her she’s lucky as she only has work to cope with which directly contradicts her viewpoint. This shown by her looking at her reflection with a realisation that she needs change.

  Her professionalism is further highlighted in a discussion with her boss where we find she has a promotion and has worked a 26 hour shift. There’s a jump cut, showing a pass in time, to her in the car park getting into her car. She sees the person she beat to the promotion and makes sure he is ok, highlighting to the audience that she is a good person. When she is driving she’s listening to the song ‘good times roll’ which juxtaposes the immanent future. A lorry comes into frame as a sub POV with the headlights rushing towards the camera before dipping to white which has heavenly connotations.

http://youtu.be/gAljpQSxgJs

Seven opening sequence analyse

Se7en was directed by David Fincher and was made in 1995. Ficher and Brad Pitt have worked together on many films including Fight Club.

At The start of Se7en we see a man of retirement age in a household setting. We see him making coffee and can here hectic city noises like traffic, this is the classic connotation of New York which has a famous police department and there are many different detective television programs and films set there. The audience later learn that the man on screen is detective sommerset.


In the opening sequence and throughout the film he is wearing a suit. This implies that he is an intelligent well educated man, this idea is reinforced by the prop of a chess board on the table. There are also tribal sculptures around his home suggesting he is well travelled. The opening sequence begins with Sommerset getting ready. We see objects that he needs like pens laid out in a methodical way connoting that he has a very strict routine that he sticks to everyday and has been doing it for a long time. It also adds a sense of O.C.D.

Sommerset then enters a crime scene where he is greeted by a gruesome corpse. But this doesn’t phase him at all showing the audience that he deals with death regularly and informs them that he’s a detective. He begins to survey the surroundings when He has a conversation with another detective who doesn’t like how much detail everything requires saying ‘your always asking questions’ continuing the idea that he is a very methodical person. The conversation goes onto discuss the fact that he is retiring and his replacement is outside.

When Sommerset goes outside we see that it’s raining implying conflict, that he and his replacement won’t get on. His replacement is detective Mills played by Brad Pitt. He is wearing a scruffy shirt showing he doesn’t have the same attention to detail as Summerset and a leather jacket which has the stereotype of rebellion. Sommerset is more sharply dressed giving him power over Mills. Despite this clash of personalities we know they will have to work together as they are in frame as a 2shot.

  The next scene shows Sommerset at the end of the day getting ready to go to bed. We see his house is still tidy and he has laid items out for the next day again showing his precision and attention to detail. But when he goes to bed we see him set off a metronome. This implies he has trouble sleeping. This could be because he has things on his mind or he can’t tune out from his stressful working environment.

The titles then come up which is irregular to have pretitle sequence, this could be hinting at the strange nature of the film. The titles are hand written implying someone watching the detectives. Someone hand making films and razors in frame suggests the dark mind of the antagonist. Some of the contextual features within the titles foreshadow the graphic murders in the film. The man in the title sequence does lots of tasks like film making by hand connoting he is independent and resourceful. Flickers in the titles give them a handmade quality. Se7en comes into frame at the end of the titles in dark writing with a red undertone, this connotes pain, death and darkness. It also hints that the crimes that will be committed correlate with the number of days Summerset has left before he retires and the seven deadly sins.

http://youtu.be/SEZK7mJoPLY

Dark Knight Rises Opening Sequence Analysis

The Dark knight rises was made by Warner Bros in 2012. It had a budget os $250 million and grossed over $1 billion at the box office. It had such a large budget to enable a more glamerous cast and sophisticated special effects to make it more appealing to audiences then the previous two films in the trilogy. It was directed by Christopher Nolan who assembled a cast which on the whole were British like him.

Dark titles eerie music imply the nature of the film and who makes it. Key colours black and dark blue connotes moody and cold atmosphere. Material of titles metallic signifying the industry of Gotham city. Eerie incidental music sets tone for audience. Then goes to into a close up of breaking ice. This symbolises batman rising from the dead rising from a bad past.

Opening scene is from the last film, it’s followed by dip to black shows the definite end of the dark knight and the passage of time between the films. Christopher Nolan challenges the convention for the opening of a film by not having any titles ie the name of the film and who is in it. This could indicate the ambiguous nature of the film. It could be an air of arrogance as everyone knows what the film is and who is in it. Alternatively it could be a direct continuation from the previous two films in the trilogy.

Low angle shot of CIA agent shows his power over the other characters, it’s heightened his costume of wearing casual clothes and the others wearing military uniforms. There are 3 hooded men implying terrorism. Iconography of prisoners is eastern European gangsters. Aerial shot of plane against inhospitable mountain landscape, connoting a rendition flight. In the plane the roles of antagonist and protagonist is thrown into question as the CIA agent hangs the prisoner out of the door at gun point. This is because they are in a frantic pursuit of the main antagonist bane. Forward tracking onto Bane’s back suggests terrorism hostage situation, even though he is the hostage showing how even in vulnerable positions he is powerful. The CIA agent is now shot from high angle and Bane shot from a low angle showing a power shift. Banes voice is very different from other characters as it has been altered in post production.

Extreme long shot of mountainous surroundings re-establishes scene and shows Banes larger plane, highlighting the power shift. The plane is then hijacked with lots of quick cuts showing the action in the scene. There is loud non diegetic music of drums adding a sense of a cult. There is a blood transfusion from the scientist into a body which suggests the pre planed nature of the hijack, Bane also says he planned to be caught. He also gets one of his minions to essentially commit suicide just by asking him to stay in the plane, reinstating his cult status. The last shot of the opening sequence shows Bane dangling out of a plane over the desolate landscape.

This implies he needs the help of others to complete his plans and that no one saw his actions so he got away with heist.

preliminary task

The 180 Degree rule is a crucial element of film making. It involves filming a scene from the same side of the characters in frame. If you change the perspective it will confuse the viewer as the characters will appeared to have switched unless there is a pan showing this change in perspective. We did this by not crossing 'the invisible line'.
A match on action is a change in perspective to add a sense of real time. It creates atmosphere and can add significance to an object. We incorporated this into a scene between the two main characters where they exchange 'the box'. This coupled with 'the box' always being in frame shows its importance.
An eye line match is a technique used during conversation. The camera is placed so that it is clear that the characters having conversation have eye contact. It helps to create escapism for the audience as it implies a sense that they are in the conversation. We included this several times in our production, in the scene where the central character first enters the building and the scene where the match on action occurs.
The film making process was highly successful in the production of the box. The group discussed different storylines before deciding on one to take forward. We story boarded this idea, considering what shots to use, where to place the camera and where we could film to ensure continuity. We shot all the scenes we story boarded and if possible shot them several times from varying angles and using different shots, knowing that this would help us in the editing process to create realism for the viewer. when filming in the corridors of the college, we shot at the quietest time. We did this because if there are no people around then there will be continuity for the viewer as there'd be no one in the background that would appear to vanish. To further avoid this we shot, where possible, in enclosed, quiet areas such as the community learning facility. I thought that our storyboard was very well planned out and required very little adaptation. other then adding some connecting shots so the production flowed and reduce jump cuts, we followed the storyboards. We opened with and extreme long shot to establish the story line. We used sub P.O.V shots to show the central characters anxiety. He is often shot from behind and his face is never clearly in frame, adding a sense of mystery. The Box was edited using Adobe Premiere. This allowed us to edit our piece using tools like splicing. This cuts a clip into two allowing you to add sound or an effect to one part of a clip but not another. We also added credits, this allows the viewer to know the name of our production and who made it. In this programme we found you can crop clips so dead space is eliminated or the main subject of the clip can be changed. Additionally we could straighten our frames if they were shot at an angle. In Adobe Premiere we could import sound from external sources. We used incomptech.com and garage band. The background music added lots of atmosphere and tension too our piece, enhancing the mystery in our thriller piece. The sound effects we added had the same effect. The minimal dialogue adds to the mysterious feel. We also added transitions. We used dissolves between clips to imply a lapse in time. We used dip to black to connote the end of a scene. Dissolves were used on credits so that they didn't leave the screen sharply, detracting the viewers attention from the action on screen. The sound track was faded out at the end too make the ending feel natural.