Planning : From Initial Ideas To A 60 Second Pitch

This is all of the year 12's 60 second pitch, to find my group, start at 0:50 and finish at 1:37.

To plan and carry out our 60 second pitch we first started with a mind map and wrote down various characters, sceneries, plots, working titles etc. this would allow us to clearly see the options we had and make a decision on the best idea to be presented for our 60 second pitch.

After we had finalised our idea to pitch we gathered and thought of how to word it so we do explain the whole movie as you were going to watch it and more like giving a brief explanation of what the movie will bring. After we had managed this I would read the script and see if it close to 60 seconds. After some changes to and additions to the script it was close to 60 seconds. We split the pitch script into four sections and assigned ourselves a section.

Research : The Importance Of Sound In Horror Films

The sound in horror films plays a huge role in making the film scary. This can range from sound effects to emphasise the terror, or creepy and eerie non-diegetic music that creates a feeling of suspense. For example a person walking down the street could either be made into a relaxing and uplifting stroll or a sense of "something bad is going to happen" just by the choice of music. There are many variations of sound used in horror films but below are some of the most effective.

An example of some of these techniques dates all the way back to the classic horror film, Dracula. Strong dark chords and unsettling tones are one way of creating a scary piece of music for a horror film as shown at the beginning. But the use of high pitched, screechy sounds are just as effective as shown at 0.50 seconds in.


Below is a very famous scene from the horror film names Psycho in which it is compared with and without music. This clearly portrays just how important the music in a horror film is, without music it lacks the build-up of tension that is vital in any film in the horror genre to seem scary in any way. Use of high pitch sounds created by string instruments (that almost sound almost like a swarm of bees which will also connotes to danger) is very effective here as it portrays a negative mood for the whole scene. Also in this clip there are several sound effects used which make the whole thing a lot more effective.



Another iconic piece of music that creates tension is from Jaws. Only two notes are mainly used which is simple yet effective as it has become so well known. The two notes begin long and heavy gradually increasing in pace which has been said to naturally change people's heart beat to match the pace. This results in an increase of the audience's adrenaline meaning more enjoyment. Also the build-up of irregular and alternating beats and high to low pitches creates a feeling of heightened suspense and impending doom. This use of change in pitch can be seen clearly below as I have used Sound Cloud to present the sound clip. Prof Daniel Blumstein reported that horror films commonly have an extremely high amount of shifts up and down in the pitch compared to any other genre, this shows that change in pitch is likely to have a big impact on the audience.

Research: The Importance Of Opening Titles

Before considering what our opening titles would include and how it would be displayed in our short film, we felt it was necessary to do some extensive research on it. Doing this would allow us to understand how certain features of the titles will affect the overall outcome and atmosphere given to audience. When we acquire this knowledge it will tell give us a good idea of what to add to give a scary and horror like opening title.

When researching the importance of opening titles I first went onto the website http://www.artofthetitle.com then I looked at opening titles of several movies to get an idea of how they are presented and in which order they show the names of the people that were involved in the making of the film. This would give us an idea of what common opening titles are like which would help us to know what names should go first, how long, what font, colour and what size to make it.

I then went on watch the opening titles of the movie Se7en to do some further research on horror opening titles and learn how they are significant in films. This movie in particular would a clear idea and better understanding of how horror movies portray their opening titles in terms of font, size and colour, which would directly help us as that is the genre we are using for our opening.

I then took sheets of A4 paper to do my research.

Next I wrote down every timestamp of when an opening title appeared on the movie Se7en. From this I learned how frequently the opening titles would appear in a horror movie's opening titles. I found that there were on average 1 title every 4 to 5 seconds and that all the main people involved in the movie were shown towards the beginning.

Next I explored the typography of opening titles in the movie Se7en by talking about the background, font colour, font type and size. From this I had learned that the style, colour and size of the font really makes a difference to the atmosphere of the movie.

Next I turned off the sound, watched the opening titles of Se7en again and with detailed described all the visual elements I saw excluding the titles themselves. From this I had learned that the things shown in between each title give a deeper meaning to the movie and gives you a brief idea of what the movie is like.

Next I watched the opening titles of Se7en without displaying the actual video and described everything I heard. From this I had learned that the sounds within an opening scene adds to the sense of movie, give an emotion to the audience and create a clear atmosphere of the movie to set the scene for the film ahead.

Research Essay: Codes And Conventions In Existing Horror Films Aimed At A Teenage Audience

Codes are an arrangement of signs which generate a denotation of what is being represented. These codes can be separated into two categories, technical and symbolic. Technical codes are all the methods of which equipment is used to tell a story in a media text, for example the camera movements, shots and angles, the editing and the use of sound (diegetic and non-diegetic) in the clip. Symbolic codes show what is beneath the surface of what we see and is not as evident and technical codes. These codes are usually seen through the aspects of mise en scene, for example, a characters decisions or actions will show you what the character is like and how they are feeling, their clothing and how much they wear can be decoded to help us better understand what type of person they are and certain props have suggestions or connotations which can have a common meaning interpreted by the audience. Some codes fit both categories, non-diegetic music for example, is both technical and symbolic.

Conventions are generally accepted ways of doing something. There are general conventions in any medium, such as the use interviewee quotes in print article, but conventions are also suited to specific genres. For example an action movie convention would be a large explosion. A few examples of conventions in horror movies are a secluded location, someone inexplicably falling over and having a small group of people.

. The ag the woods of  location gWrong Turn starts off with two characters, one being male and the other female rock climbing in a secluded location that are soon killed by a ferocious cannibalistic man lurking the woods of west Virginia. Beginning with the technical codes; the use of camera in this film was limited to a lot of high angle shots of the characters and location which gives a sense of power looking up towards the other character, establishing shots of the scenery to give the viewers a good idea of the location and distance from safety and extreme close ups of facial expressions and objects when struggle or danger occurs. In the editing there was a fade transition between the opening titles and the climbing site which gives a sense of how far it was. The diegetic sound used in this movie was simply things like the sound of the wire moving or clasping a hook, although the non-diegetic sound really gave the film a sense a danger as the tempo of the music picked up rapidly and increased in volume. Moving onto the symbolic codes; in terms of mise en scene the costume used shows the female being slightly underdressed which will make the audience relate a bit more, blood on the body to show it was a vicious attack and a vehicle being used as a prop to show the safety. The main conventions found in this is a secluded location and a person running through trees and ends up falling over.

Dead Wood begins with a male character running for his life through a bunch of bushes and trees that ends up being faced with a jump he cannot make and dies by the creature chasing him, then cuts to his friend shouting his name. Starting off with the technical codes; the use of camera In this film included a lot of close ups to show facial expressions when the intensity kicked in, tracking in mid shot to show the struggle of him trying to escape from his point of view and crane long shot to show how alone the other character was. The editing involved several quick cuts in between the chase to build suspense and slow-motion of the male character leaping across the ditch. The diegetic sounds used in this movie were the branches snapping, leaves rustling and possibly the bird’s tweeting which gave the audience the sense of nature which could be interpreted as danger or safety. The non-diegetic sounds use in this were the eerie piano notes which symbolised imminent jeopardy and a long deep cello note in the background which made it sound like someone had already died. The tempo also increased when the chase began. Next with the symbolic codes; for mise en scene the costume . The ag the woods of  location g. The ag the woods of  location g. The ag the woods of  location gused showed the male wearing a Hawaiian t-shirt which can be interpreted to show him as a bit of an idiot, the female wore tight clothing which kept the idea of the female character dressing slightly inappropriate, the props that were used was blood on the males face to show he has been in grave danger and the tent to show the source of safety that the male could not reach. The main conventions found in this is a very secluded location, no signal and a small group of people.

Dead Mary begins with a blonde girl trying to receive signal on her phone, trying to start the car and trying to get a radio signal while she waits for the other character to return with something useful, although between all of these minor events there is someone or something stalking the two victims from a fair distance and gradually gets closer to the two characters, yet they do not suspect a thing. First of all the technical codes; the use of camera in this film includes a lot of mid shots of the character, extreme close ups of items in the vehicle that did not necessarily work and a long shot towards the end of the opening of the other character reaching the vehicle. The editing in this film involved a lot of focusing shots that would start off very blurry and various cuts in the vehicle showing each specific item. The diegetic sounds were simply the sounds of nature and sound effects of what she was doing this gave the effect of her almost being stranded and extremely far away from anyone, the non-diegetic sounds was a deep note that played throughout the scene of seeing the stalkers point of view. Moving on to symbolic codes; in terms of mise en scene the costume used shows the female yet again dressed with very little clothing to show she is a teenage girl, the props such as radio’s static noise and the phones empty signal really showed how distant they were and the car not starting up told us they were stranded for the time being. The main conventions used in this film is secluded location, small group of people and no connection with other people.