For primary research I have watched various horror movies. Three I have made notes on are, IT (2017), The Shining (1980) and Berberian Sound Studio (2012). The reason I chose these specific movies is due to there inspiration and help towards the project.
IT (2017)
The film was a great adaption to the original book and movie. It consisted many forms of suspense, tension and development of characters. This allowed the audience to become emotionally connected to each characters before they become in danger.
The movie started of with its first killing of little George who was playing out in the rain, this allowed us to understand what the plot of the film is and how powerful Pennywise (the villain) is, this technique is very common within horror movies, allowing us to witness or foreshadow later events that will happen. They created this through the use of music, building up before the big attack.
Throughout the movie we can see clear use of fear to allow the audience to stand on edge, this is created through the use of music and cinematography which personally stands out to me as unusual to the normal dark and gloomy scenery of modern horror movies.
In this scene the music starts peaceful and happy, then you can clearly hear the change in music when he meets the clown in the drain. This has inspired me to create a just as alluding opening scene for my FMP.
The Shining (1980)
The Shining was a very different type of film due to the fact it was a Psychological horror movie instead of the usual blood and gore seen within many horror movies. This allowed the movie to have an emotional effect on the audience instead of a physical effect because of its link showing how we can all go crazy.
The movie started with a very different and sinister intro, suspenseful music and the stalking of a car to its final destination of the hotel on a mountain side. This shows the viewer how isolated it is from the outside world creating foreshadowing for later events.
As the movie continues we are introduced to more characters as well as learning about the past murders and other events that happened to allow us to understand the paranormal activity we are about to witness.
Finally, the movie ends with a character going crazy and becoming a psychopath aiming to kill his family so they can live at the hotel ‘forever, and ever, and ever’, this shows us that even the most innocent of people can turn vile and how precious many things can be, this allows me to think about even the smallest of details.
The director, Stanley Kubrick also uses various forms of different shot angles. From long shots of corridors to the view from certain characters eyes. He still managed to pull off a technique he mostly uses called One Point Perspective.
Below you can find some of my notes of ‘The Shining’:
Berberian Sound Studio (2012)
Berberian sound studio is a very different form of horror, full of plot twist and showing the secret behind the sounds of how Foley sound for horror movies are created. This was a huge help towards my FMP making various notes on how I can import and create horror sounds myself using Foley.
The opening scene featured lots of red and suspenseful/dramatic music, this allowed the director to set the scene for the audience and allow this atmosphere to be within the air throughout the entirety of its running length. This allowed me to see the importance of music and how it can set the atmosphere you’d like to capture.
As we continue to watch the movie we get introduced into the characters and immediately the action and superstition starts to happen. With various sound effects being created through use of Foley sound such as the sound of broken bones through vegetables or fruit.
Finally, the movie features a huge plot twist at the end, this allows the audience to leave with a shock and is seen more commonly now with modern movies having more of a plot twist, such as ‘Love,Simon’, this makes sure that your film is less forgetful and shuffle its way into your memories.
Below are some of my notes on ‘Berberian Sound Studio’:
Omen (1976)
Omen was a rather funny horror movie due to it being outdated, but if you put that behind you the idea for it is pretty clever. It is full of strange events that have to make you think and a long wait till the events start to happen. It showed how with little budget in the late 70’s you can create a well made horror movie.
The opening scene featured dramatic music and the credits of who stars in the movie, before this happens there is a scene where we are introduced to the main character Damian who we later find out is the devils child. Is also started with thunder, lighting and rain which is a typical weather scenario for horror movies during this time period.
As we continue to watch the movie there is little development of characters and understanding of what was happening in the scene, this made it difficult to put the pieces of the puzzle together. There was also various scenes that where very badly filmed with obvious mannequins in shots.
Finally, the movie ends with all the characters dying except for Damian who gets re-adopted into another family. This leaves a cliff hanger for the other 2 movies which I have not had the time to watch. The movie may be outdated but it was a top quality horror movie in the late 70’s time period which shows how far we have come within the making of movies.
IT
This film helped me to understand how effective an opening scene can be and inspired me to think about which type of colour grading will be useful within the making and editing of my own project.
From watching the film I saw how a certain characters death at the start of he movie allows us as an audience to make an emotional development with him before his death scene. This is a very useful idea and I’ve considered a similar opening scene with the Cult who summon The Man In Black ending in death.
The Shining
This film was mainly watched to help with considering how effective different types of angles can create a huge impact on a movie. Through its use of one point shots and long shots the movie creates a unique personality of its own.
Due to this it made me think about how I can consider a variety of different shots and angles to give the movie a more surreal and eerie nature. Therefore, from capturing the various use of angels I can draw in the audience’s attention and make the scenes different and new each time.
Berberian Sound Studio
The film was a main priority to help create a more realistic manner for the movie through use of sound. It shows you how different forms of horror sound effects are created using lots of daily objects you can get from the shops.
It was important to watch this as it allows my mind to open to ideas of sound effects that can be used when creating the project, allowed you to see things the way they may not seem when creating a horror. This helped me a lot and was recommended by one of the lecturers.
Omen
The Omen was a good film at showing what is achievable at a low budget movie. This is mostly due to the fact it’s a 70’s film so money was different but also it shows how to create fear in a more older generation for example.
It was very useful because it showed me what is achievable within creating a horror movie. It also allowed me to understand how I can make a basic opening scene or title sequence by putting text over a video of a landscape or an event happening in the background which was rather effective.
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