Drag Me To Hell (2009) - Opening

This opening scene opens with a long shot of the house which could be represented as significant in this film. There are many close shots in this film which show the father and mother of the son who is a possessed child. Their appearance represent them as a typical villager in the town or outside town. The lighting on the characters shown are low key lighting. During the scene

Settings

Settings

The location for our opening 2 minutes will be Ashtead Common because it is an open space where the group of teenagers could camp. There is also a wooded area where the villain could hide away. It would be a recognisable setting to the audience as it follows the conventions of the horror genre. There will be diegetic sounds in the common such as the wind, trees rustling and birds which will provide an eerie atmosphere which can create tension in our opening 2 minute film. The mise-en-scene will feature an open space with camping equipment and the teenagers in a group hanging out; the lighting will be created by the sun setting and torches used by the characters. Also the mise-en-scene will feature the teenagers walking and looking amongst the forest and trees trying to find the missing person. Ashtead common is an ideal setting for this as it has a mixture of open spaces and wooded areas. we need to be careful when filming the scenes as we want to create an eerie atmosphere but we need enough lighting to see the action and the characters. Therefore we need to ensure that we film during dusk so that we get enough natural sunlight.

Character list

The Characters in our Opening Two Minutes


The different characters and age groups we will be using will be 16+ as this is the age of general teenagers and they can relate to the characters due to the same age. There will be mainly only boys as we don't know what girl would get involved in our film, we don't have a girl in our group this is also why. There would be two people camping out and one filming, whilst a weird man (one of us) is lurking in the woods. The guy lurking in the woods will be in dark clothing creeping around barely visible to the camera. The two campers can be in normal clothing doing as they wish. The audience will relate the characters by either being the same age, which would make them be able to relate. The costume and props which will be used for the characters will have will be hooded clothing (dark) for the guy creeping in the woods so this hides his identity. The props needed in this film will be camping equipment due to the two people acting out setting up camp to stay the night.

Mise-en-scene

MISE-EN-SCENE

Mise en scène encompasses the most recognizable attributes of a film – the setting and the actors; it includes costumes and make-up, props, and all the other natural and artificial details that characterize the spaces filmed. In other words, mise-en-scène describes the stuff in the frame and the way it is shown and arranged.  We have organized this page according to four general areas: setting, lighting, costume and staging. The term is borrowed from a French theatrical expression, meaning roughly “put into the scene”. At the end we have also included some special effects that are closely related to mise-en-scène.

Top Gun legendary opening scene and credits

Top gun opens with slow motion movement of men walking on an airfield, there are shots of air craft moving into position to take off. You can not see the characters appearance or face due to the dark lighting, this could mean they are either too important too see or not a significant character in this film. The light changes when the planes are taking off, you see the flight instructors when the plane engine turns on, the camera focuses on his face for a second and switches to flicking images of planes moving around and flight instructors ordering the planes where to go. There are many long shots and close up shots of the pilots faces, these would represent them as important in this film and a main part in the flight process. There is many non-Diegetic and Diegetic sounds in this opening, for example at the start of the film there is music in the background, themed like Vietnam army music. There is non-diegetic sounds such as the planes and the sound of the engine turning on. The lighting comes from dark to light which could mean the producer wants you to focus on what you can see first, then adjust to the surroundings. There is a combat scene later in the film which is very chaotic there are many long shots of the planes and close up shots of the machine guns shooting. There are close up shots of the navy men in the ship reporting back to the pilot. There's another close up shot of the rockets being shot then followed until the enemies plane has been shot.

children of men opening

The opening to this scene shows a group of people staring into the sky, you can not tell what they are looking at until a man walks in, this would mean he is more important in this scene as he is the focus of attention. As he is a lot bolder and stands out more he is noticed straight away. The camera shots which are shown in the opening are medium shots of this group of people focusing on the TV. The Camera follows the character in and out, he glances towards to TV in the café and the Camera is aimed towards it, this could suggest this story on the news is part of the film as it has some significance if they were to show it. When the man leaves the café the camera follows him from behind until he puts him coffee on a stand and spikes it with alcohol, this could suggest that he is an alcoholic. The mise-en-scene in this shows that the lighting is very dark suggesting that this is a very run down around in the centre of London. Also the characters appearance represent him as quite mysterious as he has a very long coat which covers most of himself. At the end of this opening an explosion happens, which is un-explained, a woman comes walking out injured and looking around in despair. The shots used when this camera is turn 180 degree round focus more on the background than the man, this is why we were more surprised when we saw the explosion and the woman walking out near to death. The sound used in this film are diegetic and non-diegetic, for example the explosion at the end causes a bang, this would be diegetic sound. A non-diegetic sound would be the music in the background setting the setting which is around the area.

Research Feedback

Revisit the email you received to your student account before half-term. You need to evidence further evidence of research in order to achieve your target grade. Lots of areas of study from this term have not been addressed in your blogging.   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0OYBEquZ_j0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gLeix0ZYSCE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1JfS90u-1g8

Props for film

We are going to need to use camping equipment for our props, as this will be a main part of our short film. We are using this to set up a camp site and be attacked by a mental person from our school that we barely speak to. We will need these items to set the setting as we will be in a woods at night or at dusk. The tent is used to show where the characters will stay, this is a typical prop which horror films use in these kind of films. The audience will be able to relate to the camping equipment as teenagers often go camping, also tension can be created through the camp scene as the teenagers are vulnerable to their surroundings in the environments.

Questionnaire

what is your name?
Josh
Jordan
Will
James




How old are you?
17
17
16
16


do you like horror films?
yes
No
yes
no


if so why do you like them?
give you a cheap sense of thrill and excitement

Thrilling and tension



what do you expect from a horror opening?
familiarized with the scene and the main characters
Someone dying
scary atmosphere

What is your favorite horror film?
Insidious
Paranormal activity 3
Cabin in the woods



Where do you expect a horror film to be set?
Woods, City, Countryside 
Abandoned building or woods
Cabin in the woods
haunted house




What do you expect a villain in a horror film to look like?
dark and scary, supernatural
has a mask on with a chainsaw
covered face, dark




What do you think the victim should look like?
innocent, young, vulnerable 
innocent, dumb



What is your favorite horror opening?
Cabin in the woods
Cungering
Saw

Target audience profile research

	Age:	%:	Gender:	%:	Class	%:

	4-6	0%	Male:	67%	AB	30%

	7-11	0%	Female:	33%	C1	29%

	12-14	0%			C2	23%

	15-24	42%			DE	18%

	25-34	22%

	35-44	21%

	45+	15%

I found these statistics on the pearl and dean website which shows me the gender, ages and class of people who went to watch this film. The typical audience of horror films are male gender at 67% due to male being more confident and less scared to watch horror films. the main ages which went to watch saw were 15-24 as the target audience was aimed at these type of people due to the release date of the film. Also more teenagers enjoy watching scary films. this shows that horror audiences include men and woman, however men may take more of an interest in horror movies as they are more known to get a thrill or an adrenalin rush when watching films. This research was to find out who enjoys horror films the most and what age, gender or class enjoys horror films.


Saw

Released:	1st October 2004
Genre:	Horror, Thriller
Price:	D
Estimated box office:	£2,500,000
Director:	James Wan
Film cast:	Cary Elwes, Danny Glover, Leigh Whannell, Monica Potter
Certificate:	18
Distributor:	Entertainment
The Story:	When Adam (Leigh Whannell) is jolted back to consciousness after nearly drowning at the bottom of a filthy bathtub, he finds himself chained to a rusty pipe inside a dark torture chamber. There is someone else in the room. Dr. Lawrence Gordon (Cary Elwes) has also just regained consciousness and is chained to the opposite side of the space. Between them, a man is lying in a pool of blood after apparently shooting himself in the head with the pistol in his hand. Adam and Dr. Gordon piece together the clues left behind by the deranged criminal mind that has brought them together and finally realize that they, too, must make a seemingly impossible set of choices for their lives. Debuted at the 2004 Sundance Film Festival.