The Shining Remake

To practice creating a horror film, my group attempted to recreate the hallway scene from the cult horror film "The Shining".

On watching our final film, I felt the end result came out very well. From doing this, my knowledge of media has widened enabling me to understand camera angles, filming techniques and editing techniques. I will take this together with what I have previously learnt to apply to the opening scene of the horror film that I will be creating. From doing this remake, I also found problems that I will look out for when making our horror opening. The main problem that I will look out for is the audio. When filming our remake we filmed it inside a school corridor, with classes taking place. We found we picked up background noise from the classes that made the main audio hard to hear.

The Shining Remake Video

The Shining (1980)

Mise-En-Scene: The Shining (1980)

The shining was a film released in 1980, directed by Stanley Kubrick. The shining tells the story of a writer, Jack Torrance, who accepts the job as the winter caretaker at a hotel that always gets snowed in during the winter. Whilst his family look around the hotel during the day, the hotel staff leaves. Danny's psychic abilities, or "shining," are discovered by the hotel chef. The shining is the ability to see things in the future or past, such as the ghosts of murdered people in the hotel. When the hotel becomes snowbound, Jack Torrance trades his soul for a drink, and, on the advice of a ghostly butler who did the same, tries to murder his wife and son.

I watched an extract from the film and analysed the mise-en-scene. At the start of the clip the audience hears extra-diegetic sound of wind. Wind sound denotes the scene as being spooky and eerie to the viewer. The first shot of the clip is a mid shot of a man talking. Throughout this clip the camera does not move making the audience pay full attention to what is being said.

When the audience first sees the male character, he is wearing a blue shirt underneath a red jacket. The red jacket denotes the sign of blood, death and hell to the viewer. This could also tell the viewer that he may have been planning to go out side. The blue colour of the shirt makes the red fabric of the jacket stand out because the colours clash together. In doing this, Kubrick has led the viewer to believe that this could be a bad character.

The lighting in the scene is shown as low, dim and dark giving the impression of menace and fear. Around the male character are shadows. The closed door is illuminated by the lamp, making it lighter than the other objects in the shot. Consequently, when the male character is shown standing in front of the door, his shadow creates a dark and menacing silhouette. The lighting looks realistic; the lighting angle giving the impression that the room is being lit by a lamp.

In the first scene the male character uses large facial expressions to demonstrate his feelings, almost looking like an actor from the silent movies. He uses exaggerated eye brow movement to show the emotions of the character. He does not move his body, just his face. His eyes never leave the door, giving the impression that he his watching the female character behind the closed the door. The male character uses the well know story of the Three Little Pigs to terrorise the female character. He uses a deep voice that is very quite and soft at the begging of the shot but then becomes louder as the scene progresses. His voice and facial expression give this fairy tale a very sinister feeling. The role is completely believable.

The second shot is of the female character that is in the bathroom. The bathroom is a small place but is shown as being very bright. The female character is wearing light coloured clothing to give the impression to the audience of her innocence. The woman is shown to be very pale in the face demonstrating how scared she is of the male character.

The lighting in the bathroom is very even and there are no bold shadows in the location. It is a stark, bright light in comparison to the lighting used in the previous scene. The cold effect of the light and the expression on her face tells the audience that she is terrified. The lighting looks realistic throughout the shot.

The viewer hears very little sound from the woman. The only diegetic sound is of the knife being grabbed from the bathroom sink. The extra diegetic sound of the music becomes very eerie, making the viewer feel anxious. The sound used plays a big role in the scene because it builds tension and atmosphere.

Camera angles play a major part in this shot because they show the fear in the woman. The camera tracks the left hand throughout the shot. Her left hand is in the centre of the scene the whole time. This use of camera angle allows the audience to clearly see the woman use her left hand to snatch the knife from the sink. It uses eye line match between the shots of the male character and the female character on either side of the door.

This bathroom is a very small and confined space. This makes the viewer feel small and trapped by the sound of the man ranting the other side of the door. This scene could have been filmed in a real location as the set used was very realistic.

The female character plays a very realistic role. Her facial expressions and body language make her appear to be terrified through the shot. When she grabs the knife, she is seen to move very fast and with force. The viewer can see the panic in her eyes as she makes a grab the knife. By the end of the shot you can feel her fear and panic as she buries her head into the corner of the wall as if trying to hide herself.

The third shot is a continuation of the first shot showing the male character. The music used in this shot is very unnatural with high and low pitches of musical instruments. The sound gets louder and louder reflecting his voice getting louder and louder. The male characters voice gets deeper in pitch as he talks. This makes the viewer feel small and weak in comparison the male character. When he first swings the axe into the wooden door you can hear the cracking of the wood. As the wood splinters you can hear the woman scream “nooo”. This is repeated another three times in this shot. The wood cracking makes the viewer think the woman has not got a chance of survival and it gives the viewer a feeling of being chased and trapped and of needing to escape – causing an adrenalin rush.

The costume used, along with the use of the prop of an axe, showed the male character dressed as a lumberjack. The costume looks like it has been worn for sometime as it looked un-ironed.

The lighting in this shot is from a bed side lamp making a soft light. The light given off from the bed side lamp is a reddish colour, lighting the walls with red light. This has an impact on the audience because red gives the impression of death, blood and hell. The back lighting from the lamp makes the male character look dark and sinister.

Camera angles are used very effectively in this shot. The first shot is of the male character facing the door; the audience can now see that the character has the intention of smashing through the door. A side shot of the character is used while the camera is panning with the axe as it is travelling through the air. When the axe hits the wood the camera shakes and comes to an abrupt stop to give the impression of how much force is being used to cut through the door.

The male characters’ body language is very aggressive and can be seen as being a psychotic. His eyes are very wide and when he is axing the door his expression makes him look like he is enjoying it. The viewer has no sympathy for the male character because he is being aggressive towards a woman. The role is very believable; the posture of the male character is seen as aiming an axe aggressively.

After the axing of the door we see the female character still in the corner of the bathroom crying for help. The sounds used throughout the shot give the atmosphere of extreme tension. The viewer can hear three multiple sounds. Firstly, the woman was screaming for help; secondly, the sound of wood cracking from the blows of the axe and finally, the music playing. The woman screaming makes the viewer feel scared and upset. The sounds and the images of the wood cracking play a big role in this shot. From the start of the shot the wood cracking is a thud, by the end the wood sounds like its tearing apart. The extra-diegetic sound of the music builds tension in the clip. In doing this the viewer feels more scared about what’s happening.

The woman is evenly lit from one side, to create a more 3D look to the face, and thus making her emotions clearer to the viewer. The lighting is hard - there lots of hard edges in the scene.

The camera does not move at all in this shot which shows just the door and the woman in the frame. The female characters’ body language in the shot is terrifying to watch. Her emotions are very realistic. You can see so much fear in her eyes while she is screaming as the axe smashes through the wood next to her.

In the last shot we return to the male character. After the male character has made the hole in the door, beams of light from the bathroom shine through and this gives a feeling no hope for the woman. Although looking tired the male character walks up to the door. The next shot is in the bathroom where the female character is. The camera does a close up shot of the mans face poking through the hole in the door, his face being illuminated by the brightness of the lighting in the bathroom. As he says his line a close up shot of his facial expressions are seen as terrifying. Although we cannot see the woman in the corner, the viewer is given the sense that he is looking at her by his use of expression and eye movement. The camera does a close up of the male character putting his hand into the bathroom to open the door. As he does so, the female character uses the knife she had grabbed to cut his hand. A great tension was created by the careful use of lighting, camera angle and music, making the viewer anticipate a major injury. Although the audience had been made to expect a deep cut, the injury was very small.

Preliminary Task Evaluation

1,
I believe that the film that our team produced demonstrates good continuity throughout the piece. The continuity worked well because we managed to create an effect of smoothness between shots. One particular sequence which I feel particularly demonstrates where continuity worked very well was at 0.10 when the wallet was passed along the desk. This had been mainly difficult to achieve because we had to edit at just an exact point so there was a smooth transition between the master shot and cut away shot. We experienced this problem throughout the whole film but mainly in the closing scenes. The final scene was filmed twice because the actor got his lines muddled. As a team, we had to decide upon a certain point where the two takes looked identical. We finally made it appear to be one continuous scene through the process of precise matching.

2,
We filmed each shot twice; once as a wide angle shot and then again with close ups of the actors to show expression. We jointly decided to do this in order to solve the problems caused by the room that we were working in being rather small and cramped. Another problem we encountered was when we needed a pan shot of one of the actors. We discovered that we could not film the close ups with the wide angle shot at the same time due to the room being small. We used the 180 – degree rule throughout the film. We made an invisible line that we created while filming. We used a low angle shot to give the impression of power in the actor at the begin scene. of he was the main However this was effect was lost once the main character sat down as both he and the other character became on the same eye-level.

3,
The group I was a part of worked very well together and each member of the group contributed ideas throughout the making of the film. After working with them I can now recognise each person’s strengths and understand what each one may have found hard to achieve. We supported each other throughout the project, teaching each other new things. I feel that my strongest achievement was the video editing. I have background knowledge of the software we used and do video editing for a hobby.

4,
If we were going to make this film again, I consider that we could add in more scenes to make the plot stronger. The film is very short however I feel that the addition of an introduction would improve this, enabling us to show the location and more information on the characters lives.

Another possibility is to work on the sound. The sound produced from having to use three cameras caused the continuity of the audio to be varied. Some shots echoed whilst others were very deep in base. We could over come this by using a shotgun microphone plugged into an audio recorder. We would then be able to sync the audio with the film. This would have taken longer to complete but would have created a better sound.

5,
As a team, we feel that we planned the film well. Although we used a script that was given to us to work from, we had to make some changes script, for as it was intended to be acted by a man and a woman. However, because our group included two male drama students, we decided to take advantage of this and to use them as the actors, and so changing the cast to two men.

6,
In our film we used transitions at the beginning and the end. We successfully used a fade in and fade out for the title of the film and the end credits. We experimented with different transitions to fit into our work but jointly felt that these spoilt the mood and effect of the film.

7,
I have learnt a lot about Adobe Premiere Elements 7.0, I had a large amount of knowledge of the software already because I use it at home on my short films. I showed my group how to use the software including the basics and short cuts. However, I have definitely widened my knowledge of the software by using the audio effects. I took the lead role in working on the audio in the group, making sure that I made good use of their opinions. As I have already discussed, it was hard to do because the sound quality changed from camera to camera. To overcome this problem I taught myself about how to use treble, bass and pitch effects. I felt satisfied with what we had managed to achieve.

8,
The process of making this short film has given me the opportunity to use different technologies. The cameras we used to create the film where made by Samsung and we found them to be easy to use. However, we needed to record the film three times because one of the cameras was faulty. We did not know this at first and thought that our problems were caused by the SD card. We put a new SD card into the camera and re-filmed but again it did not work. We deduced that the camera was defective and used a new camera to complete our work.

Preliminary Task Film

Analysis of opening scene of Freddy VS. Jason - Document

Typical conventions of Horror

Horror films are unsettling films designed to; frighten and panic, cause dread and alarm, invoke our hidden worst fears, captivate and entertain us in a cathartic experience and often conclude in a terrifying shocking finale.

In horror films fears are created. For different types of audiences it can deal with our fears; nightmares, fear of death, terror of the unknown and loss of identity.

In horror films there’s always a lead character, which often results as the survivor in the film. The killer/ monster often has a trademark characteristic in the way he kills, for example the people he kills or the weapon he uses to kill them. It’s usually good against evil, the two characters conflict. The outcome in most cases is the good person survives or defeats the “bad guy”.

Freddy Vs. Jason

Introduction

I have chosen to analyse the horror film “Freddy vs. Jason” which is a 2003 American crossover film directed by Ronny Yu. The main characters of the film include horror icons Freddy Krueger, who starred in the film “A Nightmare on Elm Street” series, and Jason Voorhees, who appeared in the film series “Friday the 13th”.

Costume

The first character we see in the opening shot is a little girl, who is wearing a blue dress with white sleeves. The blue in the dress shows the innocence in the child. This makes the audience worried that the child is in danger. When the audience see the male character (Freddy) who is the “bad guy” in the film, we see him wearing a brown leather jacket with brown trousers. This reflects the lighting and background colour of the shot. Everything looks rusty and old. On his hand he has finger knifes. They are a different colour to the background to make them stand out more.

After, we cut to a shot of an angry mob outside his home. They are wearing normal clothes, for example coats and jumpers. This tells the audience that they could be a part of the mob and could interact with the real mob. Following this shot we cut to a scene where we see a child jumping out of a window and children watching in horror. They are all wearing Pyjamas. The pyjamas are all white to show the audience how frightened the child is and also to show the innocence of the child. Consequently, the audience feels scared that Freddy is looming over the building where the child is. Freddy is wearing his costume that he wears throughout the opening of Freddy vs. Jason. He is wearing a Brown hat, black trousers and his iconic red and black jumper. The red on the jumper could represent blood from the children he has murdered through the other films. The black on his jumper could show the audience the darkness in Freddy. The audience could relate back to a well known children's TV program “Dennis the Menace”. Dennis was a child who was very naughty and did bad things. The viewer could think that Freddy was an older version of Dennis the Menace.

From 1:33 minutes into the clip from YouTube we see a montage of children being murdered and adults trying to kill Freddy. The children are wearing their pyjamas. The audience can tell this is set at night time. Night time can be portrayed as being a scary time and place. The adults who are seen in the opening are all wearing normal clothes.

Lighting

The lighting in the first shot of the opening scene is dark in the background but objects in the foreground are light. This could be from a fire or a lamp. When the furnace is opened, fire rages out. This bright light from the fire makes the audience more awake and makes them feel something going to happen. After, we cut to a shot of a young girl who is in the background. However, she is lit from one side from a spotlight that could represent a fire or a lamp. In doing this, the little girl is given more of a 3D look. The foreground is darker so the audience’s eyes are lead in one direction.

In the fourth shot of the opening scene we see the main character with his back turned to the camera. His back is lit from the glow of the furnace. There is light being cast through the windows from the moon or a spotlight. This gives an eerie feel to the shot. The lighting in the shot makes it look very old and rusty with the orange and browns being cast onto the walls and main character. This type of lighting is used throughout the shot of the little girl.

The last scene of the little girl is very interesting. There is a backlight on Freddy who is not in the shot but the viewer can see his shadow. This shadow is cast over the little girl. This is very effective because we can see the little girl’s fear on her face but also what Freddy is doing. The shadow that is created is large so when he opens his hand to reveal the blades it is the same size as her.

In the following shot, the viewer can see an angry mob attacking Freddy’s home. The flames made from the house burning are shown effectively. The mob is standing outside Freddy’s home; the flames are in front of them, the camera pans past the people. The back of the people are in darkness, the fire makes a silhouette of the mob. The viewer gets to see the fire in all its glory.

Next, it cuts to a close-up of Freddy’s burnt face. The lighting on Freddy is shown as 3D. Only one side of his face is lit from a light. The audience gets to see more detail and because of the lighting, the audience has to look into his left eye. The lighting throughout the montage is all equal. It is all set at night so there is a small light source. There are lots of shadows and dark patches in the montage. This gives the viewer a sense of a frightening experience.

Sound

At the start of the clip the audience hears extra-diegetic sound of burning. After the camera pans down it reveals that the sound is from a furnace. The audience hears a narrator talking about the history of the main character. This is a very deep and unsettling voice to hear. This makes the audience feel scared and makes tension in the clip. In the second clip we hear metal being sharpened. This is a very high pitch sound that can make the viewer unsettled, waiting for what happens next. The following shot is of a dolly in a fire. The viewer can hear the plastic melting and at the end of the clip the audience can hear a little squeak from the doll. The viewer could think the little squeak was a child crying. Music starts to play that creates tension and a building tone. This makes the audience feel that something horrible is about to happen. This is diegetic sound. The music stops, the audience hear blades rub against each other creating a sharp loud tone. Also we hear a little girl worrying. We can hear her breathing heavily and at the end you hear a scream from the little girl.

We cut to a shot of an angry mob outside his house. The viewer listens to a bottle being lit with fire. The narrator is still talking about the history and what can be seen. A loud sound of glass smashing is heard. This loud sound makes the audience more alert.

We then cut to an extreme close up of the main character. The viewer can now understand that the narrator is the main character. The extreme close up is of the narrator. After, we cut to a montage of clips. The viewer can mainly hear children screaming and other sound effects. The sound effects give more horror to the shot. Music is being played in the background to add tension and atmosphere to the clip. We then see another montage of clips about the parents trying to kill the main character. The sound heard is strong and loud. This shows there is hope for the children in the film.

Camera Angles

Camera angles used in the opening of Freddy vs. Jason are mainly close-up’s and mid shots. The first shot is a pan down from eye level to a furnace. We then see the young girl walk behind the furnace. The shot is a tracking shot with a high angle following the little girl. After, the camera trucks forward onto the main character at a low angle. The following shot is of the main character and the camera is tracking his left hand. Meanwhile, we cut to shots of a dolly burning. This is a close-up from a high angle. This tells the audience that something horrible is going to happen. The shot continuing from this is a clever shot. The camera uses a high angle shot trucking forwards into the little girl. The audience feels that they are looking through the eyes of the main character.

When the angry mob throws a bottle through the window, the camera tracks the bottle when it gets thrown through the window. We see the mob outside. The camera pans behind the people to let the audience see the fire. This shot is at a low angle.

Next shot is an extreme close up of the main character’s eyes. The audience has to look into the main character’s eyes making the audience feel scared, seeing anger in his eyes. After this we have a montage which includes footage of children being murdered and adults trying to kill the main character. When watching the montage, it mainly consists of close ups and mid shots. This makes the audience feel scared and with the close up’s, the audience can see a lot of detail.

Set and location

The first setting is a scene in an old factory or warehouse. We can tell this by the large furnace placed in the room and the large metal windows. The colour of the location makes it seem old and rusty. When we see the mob they are outside the building. It is very dark so the background of the location outside cannot be seen. In the montage that follows, we see the children being murdered in their bedrooms and where the adults are trying to kill Freddy, they are located in a factory. We can identify the location to be a factory where Freddy is being attacked because of all the piping and the colouring of the shot.

Performers/Body Language

The body language of the main character “Freddy” is very relaxed. The view can tell that he has done this many times in the past and is not afraid of killing. The little girl in the first shot is very scared. The viewer can see that by her facial expressions and the way she is standing. She is up close to the wall trying to push it away to escape from Freddy. We cut to a shot of Freddy looking in an album. We can see some sadness in his eyes but at the end of the shot he laughs to himself.

The mob outside the building looks angry. The viewer can see this by looking at there facial expressions. The woman, who throws the first fire bottle, throws the bottle with force to break through the window.

In the montage of footage, we see Freddy looking very angry. The first shot in the montage we see him laughing when the child jumps from the window. All the children in the montage have the same expressions, all are shocked, scared and in pain. The adults’ expressions look very aggressive in the montage. They use all their force when trying to kill Freddy.

Analysis of opening scene of Freddy vs. Jason (2003)