Feedback - Miss Spencer

First Cut Feedback

There are some fantastic elements to this film, the pace is excellent, giving a feeling of a slow start with a build up towards the end of the opening. There is a variety of camera shots, angles and movement and your narrative is starting to become clearer.

In order to help with progress think about the following:

• Sort out the sound glitches and differences in volume.
• Think about adding some more ambient sound to the opening
• the music makes it feel too much like a trailer - think about losing this entirely and replacing with interesting sound effects
• build up your flashback scene, using an after effects zoom into the eye. This will help the narrative flow better. Ensure that this part has a clear colour differentiation so it is clear this is a flashback.

Widows Creek-First cut

Story board

Horror-Genre research

The history of horror
Horror movies first began to arrive in the 1920's as silent movies designed to evoke fear into their audiences. These silent movies could not afford to let out on visuals, as they were the only means to for-fill the objective of terrifying their viewers, due to a total lack of sound in all forms. Whilst visuals were a key focus in the movies, visual affects were almost none existent at the time, and technologies available today that could be used in order to adjust lighting in an area and give off shadow affects simply had not been invented yet. As a result of this, most horrors of the time would have had to have been filmed in broad daylight, having the potential to greatly reduce the fear factor of these films for modern day movie goers. Despite the limitations of these films, early, silent film, horrors placed down the foundations and the conventions of the horrors that we see today. For example, the grizzly beasts that we see in today's horror flick spawned from their use within early horrors. An example of an early 20's horror film would be the cabinet of doctor Caligari.

 The film had more of an eerie feel as opposed to one of absolute horror, giving a tale of exploration through the mind of a man stricken with insanity. This film is a good example of how visuals were used to a great extent at the time in order to give off both the narrative of the movie, and to install a necessary sense of fear into the viewer, due to sound not being present at the time. Lighting and shadows were used to great extents to allow for characterization to be constructed, with the binary opposites of dark and light working together to show the narratives of the different characters present. However, it is never truly clear which character is indeed the "hero" and which the "villain".

Carrying on into the 1930's horror movies changed dramatically with the addition of sound and with more realistic imagery. Sound added a vast new dimension to the horror genre, now with music able to greatly increase suspense in certain scenes, and dialogue which could give the film more representation, allowing for movies to have understandably less cryptic visuals designed to show characterization among other things. Costume was also put into greater emphasis during the 1930's period of horror, with actors often having exaggerated make up and outfits, despite the addition of dialogue which could have given less dramatic characterization. Like the 20's horror counterparts, color was still not prevalent within the films, meaning that the binary opposites of light and dark were still used heavily. A classic example of a horror from the 30's is Dracula.

Conventions of horror

Sub-genres of horror

Feedback - Miss Spencer

This is a better analysis Harry, you have embedded the film, used images to illustrate your points (but you still need many more!) and thought about the audience reaction at times.

However you are still being too descriptive of the narrative. Try to avoid this and make sure you are using much more media language and talking about:
Sound Mise-en Scene, Editing and Camera movement/Angles etc
See me if you are unsure about these elements.

The Lord of the Rings analysis

Though not inherently a movie of the thriller genre, the lord of the rings has the ability to very often at times dispense feelings of intensity and even dread into its viewer. The story itself is also extremely villain driven, with the tales antagonist constantly bombarding the protagonists with obstacles to triumph over, also giving it lots of ties and similarities with the thriller genre.

The first 58 seconds of the film are simply a jet black background, overlaid by a woman’s notably dreary voice, and intense, almost whiny orchestral piece. The voice speaks of a seemingly impending danger, describing subtle differences in the world around her that just aren't right, such as an odd feeling in the water, and an unfamiliar taste in the air. A voice, quieter and more menacing than the woman’s, can be heard whispering an ancient language, and it is unknown to the listener exactly what the voice is chanting. This darkness of the pitch black background is used to paint an image of utter despair within the viewer’s mind, craftily giving them an idea of the movies disparity without actually showing them anything solid to go by yet. The woman’s weary voice, and the woeful music also work to engage the viewer with the frightfulness of the world that they are yet to see, with both the voice and music working hand in hand to create an image of changed world, devoid of prosperity, and simply filled with darkness and despair. The subtle whispering is an excellent device to install a sense of great fear within the viewer; however it also causes a psychological effect on the viewer, as they are forced to question the voice. What could it be saying? What is its purpose? This ties in perfectly with the thriller genre, as it is causing the audience to put things into consideration, whilst also lavishing a veil of mystery on top. Is the voice a plot point? Something important for the tale to come? Only time can tell. After 58 seconds, a title “the lord of the rings” emerges on the screen in gold lettering, and just as it does, violins screech a higher pitched segment of the original song playing in the background. This is particularly chilling, as the title fades in slowly and the sudden raise in pitch of the violins sounds particularly menacing, and is unexpected. 

After that, a close up shot can be seen of a tool dragging molten metal from what appears to be a furnace. A cut is then made to another shot of the same tool pouring molten metal into a mould. The voice of the woman from earlier proceeds to give context of how “it began with the crafting of the great rings”, to which the shot cuts one again, this time to an extreme close up of three laid out hands, each wearing a different spectacular ring. The use of close-ups for the period of these scenes create a tense feel, taking the viewers out of their comfort zones whilst still surrounding the situation in an air of mystery and confusion. This confusion is encouraged further by the line, “it began with the crafting of the great rings”, which does not give an entire depiction of the situation, intentionally leaving out context for the viewer to be thrown into a sense of wonder.

Similar shots occur until the 1 minute 36 mark, all taking advantage of the use of close ups and extreme close ups in order to discomfort the viewer. The woman’s voice continues to give more and more context however, as rings are gifted to the other races of middle earth, slowly painting a greater picture of what truly going on for the audience. The entire time, brownish tint overlays each shot. This tint is used to give a clear understanding that each shot is in fact a flashback of a time before. This makes sense in consideration of the context being given simultaneously to the tinted shots.

After explaining who each ring was granted to, a panning shot then goes on of a map of middle earth (the land in which lotr is set) being scoured, 

until the camera reaches Mordor, a kingdom within the universe. The woman’s voice states how the holders of the rings were all “deceived”, to which the music takes a sudden change, becoming much more menacing and dramatic. This sudden contrast installs a sense of excitement within the viewer as well as an uneasy feeling of dread due to them not knowing what’s coming next. The camera then goes to an establishing shot of the barren landscape of Mordor, with a giant volcano spewing molten rock in the distance, a black sky choked with ash and soot, and grey sheet of intimidating rocks and crags covering the ground below. This shot gives the audience a sheer feel of how monstrous the land is, and the absolute scale of its terror.

The disembodied voice speaks of how the dark lord Sauron (the antagonist of the story) crafted a ring in secret, and as it does, the camera cuts to a shot of the lord himself. There is a red/orange filter covering the shot, enforcing the sense of dread from the music in the background and the fiery imagery surrounding the dark lord. The camera begins to rapidly zoom on his face to which flames burst force on the screen, where the shot then cuts to an extreme close up of his hand bearing his ring. The woman then speaks the films slogan aloud, “One ring to rule them all”.

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