FINAL IDEA Group: Alice, Ben, George & Matt
SUMMARY OF PLOT & CHARACTERS: Character 1:
Character 2:
Female Kate Wife Gets possessed Becomes abusive Light Brown medium hair
Male James Husband Gets abused by wife Dark brown hair Begins the scene as a strong minded man loyal
We have broken the stereotype of the male abusing the wife in order to deter from other films and to confront the problem and to make the audience more aware.
Summary of plot: The opening scene is a montage in a nonlinear narrative. • • • • • • • •
The opening scene starts with Kate dead and covered in blood and mud in the forest Husband and wife, James and Kate live in a house together A doll is brought into the house which brings a evil presence with it Kate gets possessed by the doll which compels her to do things she wouldn’t normally do. James is scared of his wife The doll causes Kate to become abusive towards her husband for example, hitting him, and burning him. This is because she thinks he is having a affair and is the reason behind her unhappiness and drinking addiction. These thoughts are all caused by the doll The audience see Kate become distant, and delusional as well as committing acts that she wouldn’t usually do as a loving wife. She eventually becomes a pale, lifeless character which is shown through the makeup. This effects the relationship between the husband and wife along with the abusive actions. This all gets too much for James and when he brings up about Kate not working, it causes a argument in which James lashes out and kills her, however the audience don’t see the actual killing.
MICRO ELEMENTS: Costumes: James – • Starts off in a nice suit as he has just been out with his Kate. • Work clothing ( A suit ) to make him seem like the one with the power within the relationship. • Casual clothes- jeans and a jumper Kate• Starts off in a white dress, with jewellery and her hair done nicely as she has just got in from a night out with her husband. The colour white suggests purity and innocent of the character to the audience, so they think Kate is the victim. • Through the rest of the opening sequence, Kate is in leggings, and a big jumper. • Also we will experiment with Kates clothing gradually changing over time to become more and more like the dolls costume itself.
Makeup: James: • Begins with just some stage makeup on, looks normal • Then as the wife beings to abuse him, black eyes, bruises, burns and cuts begin to appear which will all be created with fake blood and makeup. Kate• Starts of with normal makeup on, but takes it off in the first scene, so just a plain face. • Then as the doll starts to possess her, she will have a pale face which will be created with white paint and makeup. She will also get darker eyes. For example, JU-ON-GRUDGE.
MACRO ELEMENTS: Genre: The genre of our opening sequence is paranormal with the sub-genre supernatural with themes of Possession.
Audience: Our opening sequence is targeted at teens and adults who like possession horror films and it will have the age rating of 15. This is because we will have limited/ no strong language. Furthermore, we will not dwell on pain or injury to a character, so we will not show the killing of Kate, this will also build the suspense. However, we will have a strong sense of threat and horror. Therefore, we will be sticking to the guidelines from the BBFC of a 15 rated certificate.
The Exorcist- 1973 The exorcist is about a teenage girl who becomes possess by a mysterious entity, the film is directed by: William Friedkin and made a total grossing of $4441,071,011. The Evil dead- 1981 The evil dead is abut a group of friends who travelled to a cabin in a forest and unknowingly released a flesh possessing demon. This film was directed by, Sam Raimi The genre of paranormal, possession appeared in 1970’s- Occult horror and involves the supernatural element and the demon is usually the antagonist.
MOVIE INSPIRATION JU-ON-GRUDGE FOR THIS OPENING SEQUENCE WE FOUND INSPIRATION FROM OUR FIRST TEXTUAL ANALYSIS. THIS WAS A PHYCOLOGICAL HORROR CALLED “GRUDGE” ( DIRECTED BY TAKASHI SHIMIZU AND RELEASED IN 2002 ). THIS FILM WAS BASED ON A CURSE THAT LIVED IN AN ORDINARY HOME, AND THE RESIDENTS OF THE BUILDING DO NOT SURVIVE THE DEMONS THAT CAN BE FOUND WITHIN THE HOUSE. THIS PLAYS UPON THE COMFORTING THINGS THAT THE AUDIENCE RELY ON, SUCH AS THE ROOF OVER THEIR HEADS WHICH IS NORMALLY A SAFE PLACE TO BE, HOWEVER THE GRUDGE GOES AGAINST THIS WHICH STRIKES FEAR WITHIN THE AUDIENCE. WE WILL ALSO LOOK AT THE CAMERA ANGLES THEY USED SUCH AS, THE POV FROM THE ANTAGONIST, AND THE DIEGETIC SOUND FOR EXAMPLE, THE DEATH RATTLE WHICH ALERTS THE AUDIENCE TO WHEN THE CHARACTER WITHIN THE FILM IS GOING TO DIE.
MACRO ELEMENTS: Narrative: Our opening sequence is a heavily edited montage and non-linear and it starts of with the climax of the scene, with Kate being dead. We decided to do a montage to keep the opening scene at a fast pace and to keep building the tension until the climax of the horror, we will further do this through quick pace editing. However, to keep the audience questioning throughout the opening sequence we have opted for a nonlinear approach with the climax of the death at the beginning of the sequence and a flash forward to it after another problem is caused by the doll.
Representing: Within our opening sequence we are representing problems such as domestic abuse, alcoholism, and problems within a relationship. However, these have all been caused because of the possessive doll.
Lighting: Within our opening scene we will use dark lighting to imply suspense as the audience will know that something is about to happen. In the first scene, the blinds in the bathroom will be parted slightly to allow light to shine through, and it too look innocent to the audience.
Sound: We will use silence to build the tension, and to grip the audiences attention, this will then quickly change to the running of water and Kate splashing it on her face (diegetic sound ) Furthermore, within the opening sequence we will use a sound track/ effect when things start to go wrong. This will create fear within the audience as whenever they hear that sound they will know that something bad is about to happen. However, we will make our final decision about the sound when editing our opening sequence.
HOW THE SURVEY RESPONSES INFLUENCED Camera: OUR IDEA: Lighting: We will use lighting to imply danger by making the lighting darker when events start to happen and to create tension as this was a big factor in which the responses from my questionnaire said created fear. We will also experiment with the use of flashing lights and my responses said this was effective.
Sound: In our opening sequence we will use diegetic sound, such as the tap running, the TV/ Radio on in the background to create a normal everyday house hold. However, we will use the sound of a ticking clock and the sound of fighting for example, James’ head hitting the radiator to build fear and tension.
From my questionnaire the audience found the establishing shot useful to understand where the scene is shot. Therefore, in the first scene the slow tilt down from the trees, across the forest, to the dead women will show the surroundings. Additionally, we will show a extreme long shot of the forest and the empty forests behind, to show the isolation to create fear. Also from my responses ž of them agreed that not knowing who the killer is and their identity being hidden from the camera built suspense and created tension.
Setting: We will experiment setting some parts of the scene at night, as 90% of the responses from my questionnaire thought that this created a dark eerie feel and produced a atmosphere of danger.