The use of the wet towel on the wall created more of a
slapping sound then the punching sound I was striving for but the effect it has
is effective as it is realistic and can also be used in out opening scene, the
idea was easy to carry out and execute, it can also have different depths of
sound dependent on what angle you hit the wall.
I used bacon as a red meat.
I slapped it against the counted and it made a ore realistic
slapping sound then the towel did, this was probably because it was a closer
consistency to human flesh than a towel is. We could also use it to create a
deeper sound, if I hit the bacon then it gave it the higher impact sound of a
fist instead of an open palm, both methods can be used to create a more diverse
sound choice. This was the most effective method out of all the ones tried. It
could be improved if I removed the packaging so it didn’t have the crack of the
plastic effecting the sound.
Snapping the celery again gave a slapping sound instead of a punching one but was not as effective as the towel. There was a distinctive sound gave out that I found wasn't as convincing or effective as the other methods that I tried, it was also to shot as a sound, the crack it gave out was small and unconvincing.
Using a stick to hit a small pile of newspapers was more effective then I thought it would be, the smack was clean but didn't cut out as early as the celery making the sound more believable as a slap, it also carried an echo that, depending on the circumstances used could help the scene or make it unimpressive.
Using the stick on the mattress or sofa made a hollow sound that , like the newspaper, could be effective or just short of good. The method is easy so it is a high contender and we could mix that effect with the others tried. Although it was recommended to me as a punching sound I find it more like a kicking effect.
I feel that the most effective sounds were the first two I tried, the towel and the bacon so we could use these in our final coursework piece. The idea of the celery was popular but I found that the sound was hard to manipulate or make a slapping or punching sound and the use of the stick on the sofa could be used for kicking effects instead.
In our coursework we are considering using a fight scene as a flashback/dream which means there will need to be cuts and bruises which I am going to try out. To create these fake wounds I have found tutorials on YouTube.
Bruise
To create the bruise I used a make up sponge with little pieces pulled out of it to add texture. On this make up sponge I put red lipstick to get the general colour and shape of the bruise. After this I added detail using a dark purple eye shadow for the idea of veins. Finally I used green and yellow eye shadow to highlight the different colours in a bruise. To finish this bruise I went back in with the lipstick on a sponge to darken the bruise.
Here is the final product:
Cut
For the cut I had to make a wax to cut into for this I used Vaseline and flour. I also made my own fake blood so that it ended up exactly how I wanted it to look, for this I used treacle, honey, glycerine and red food colouring. To create the cut I started by putting the wax on my arm and spreading it into my skin so that where the wax joined my skin was hidden as best as I could, to hide this further I used a sponge to cover the wax in foundation to match my arm. Once the wax was hidden I used the blunt side of a knife to cut through the wax which would be the main size and shape of my cut. I then used more foundation and a sponge to smooth the edges of the cut. I then used a paintbrush to pool to fake blood inside the cut so that it would run like normal blood to make the cut seem bigger I used the brush to spread the blood around the cut. The video I have made will not upload so here is the tutorial I used (it is the first cut she demonstrates).
Here is my final product:
Evaluation
Overall these are the fake wounds I made. I think they look good and could be used in our coursework for after the fight. The bruise looks more affective from a distance as up close it is clearly make up however we could probably add more to it so it looks more real. The problem we would have while filming with this cut it that the fake blood is quite runny as you can see in the image below it is running down my arm, this adds to the realism as blood is runny however it could make a big mess while filming as it will run everywhere.
It is possible for us to use these fake wounds in our film opening as we plan to have a fight scene so having the fake cuts and bruises will add to the realistic side of our film opening.
Inspired by the urban issues like violence commonly seen in both psychological thrillers and urban dramas, I wanted to explore fight scenes in both genres as we are still undecided of our genre.
Consequently, I will look at "8 Mile", "Fight Club" and "The Purge" which are shown below:
Genre
"Fight Club" and "The Purge" are psychological thrillers and hence in these fight scenes there appears to be more gore which is conventional of this genre. However, "The Purge", "Fight Club" and "8 Mile" include more urban confrontational scenes, including locations like urban streets, alleys and urban car park complex. In "8 Mile" this seems to be more like a gang rivalry, where as in "The Purge" it appears more like a mass of crimes over an area. Both of which use stereotypical urban areas and conform to some conventions of urban thrillers or dramas. On the other hand, "Fight Club" in this scene portrays less urban drama conventions compared to the rest of the film which includes crime and urban night life.
In "Fight Club" it conforms to conventions of psychological thrillers by having the fight between the narrator and their alter ego Tyler Durden. This presents the instability of the narrator's mind, a convention of psychological horrors. From my previous blog, where Elliot is unaware of his alter ego of Mr. Robot, this unawareness of the protagonist's instability is what us as a group wanted to portray to create an original opening unlike common 'slasher' horrors, hence why I furthered my research to corresponding fight scenes. However, this may be a complex plot for such a short film opening scene. Also, to include a fight scene like "Fight Club" at the start of the film may give too much a away as thrillers build up to usually a plot twist.
Nevertheless, I deconstructed ways that this fight scene shows instability of the mind and compared to the fight scenes of the different genres and plots in the other films.
Production
As discussed all clips include somewhat urban locations. Yet, in "Fight Club" and "The Purge" these are seen as more remote creating isolation and emphasises the feud between victim and perpetrator. In "Fight Club" juxtaposition of Tyler Durden and the narrator increase the vulnerability of the narrator to the stronger, dominant and more confident alter ego. In "8 Mile" there are more group shots presenting the fight as a gang rivalry, a more common convention of the urban drama genre. Also the characters include black Americans, conforming to representations that male black Americans are involved in crime.
The gang wears hoodies, associated with criminals as also seen in "The Purge". We cannot see the faces of those in "The Purge" because of these costumes, creating a more eerie, fearful effect where anyone can be seen as murderers. Furthermore, the prop of the gun conforms to conventions by presenting violence and crime in urban dramas. Although there is physical fist fighting, the gun is a weapon which produces quick death and less gore, and so is more stereotypical in urban dramas than horrors where gore is more present and so emphasised by lengthy extreme close up shots of brutality extended through punches and kicks as seen in "Fight Club".
Post-production
In "Fight Club" the use of CCTV effects portray the truth of the situation showing that the fight is potentially happening in the narrator's head. This sense of realism is also seen in "The Purge" through the use of the CCTV distortion effect. Unlike showing instability of the protagonist, the CCTV adds credibility to the attacks in "The Purge", creating a sense of fear for the victims compared to feeling sympathy towards a vulnerable protagonist that fails to understand their insanity. As influenced by my urban issues, if we were to do a psychological horror, we want the audience to see the protagonist as vulnerable in their situation to raise awareness of mental illnesses in gangs. Therefore, the use of visual effects etc. in "Fight Club" would be more suitable.
The use of CCTV also indicates crime in both of the films, another convention of both urban dramas and psychological horrors. This difference in perspective through visual effects is not seen in "8 Mile" though. This could be because it is an urban drama, where conventionally there is less visual effects. However, the lack of seeing the fight through CCTV perspective creates a more character driven plot, a common convention in urban dramas. This helps us connect to characters and connect with them rather than being voyeuristic and analysing their instability like in the other clips.
In all clips fast paced editing is used to create tension. However the editing in "8 Mile" becomes slow paced with the introduction of the gun. Again this emphasises the surrender of the characters compared to prolonging the gruesome tension of victims being murdered and beaten up in psychological horrors.
In "The Purge" the horror and disgust towards the coldblooded murders is enforced by the contrapuntal orchestral slow-paced music, which is tranquil to the crimes. This juxtaposition between the events and non diegetic soundtrack makes us as an audience feel uncomfortable and disgusted by the somewhat disrespectful peaceful soundtrack completely opposite to the violence.
I have chosen to look at "Mr Robot" influenced by my previous blog post that revolved around urban issues. I felt this TV show sometimes portrays the gritty urban violence I wish to create. Yet, using a character, Elliot, that suffers with a mental illness allows for a greater impact of emotion and vulnerability without being in bad taste. This is explained in the below video:
As a group we are undecided between creating a psychological drama/thriller with urban drama conventions similar to "Maniac", or an urban drama. Therefore, I felt "Mr. Robot" does this fairly well and could help create a complex plot and protagonist similar to those seen in psychological thrillers. This is because Elliot conforms to the complexity of characters commonly seen in psychological thrillers by having an alter ego called Mr. Robot.
Personal Comments
The only issue is creating such a complex plot for a film opening and making it either seem like a short film or make the genre hard to identify. Consequently, I want to focus on the violence and urban drama conventions as I feel that will be easier to convey. I could look at ways to show some slight instability of the protagonist's mind by deconstructing fight scenes from psychological films like "Fight Club", where like Elliot, the character has an alter ego. However, I feel the mixing of genres like in Mr. Robot may be confusing. Nevertheless, deconstructing violence from different genres may provide conventions which can make our film opening's genre more identifiable if we were to include a violence.
In my previous blog post I deconstructed a psychological horror which includes urban drama elements. In this film the antagonist and main character was a male young adult person. The young antagonist killing vulnerable females in an urban city inspired me to focus on problems associated with youth in urban areas. This further allowed me to research into urban dramas specifically, which usually use urban struggles to portray the main characters in a situation and is vulnerable. Urban dramas always seem to raise awareness of an issue in society revolving around urban areas. For instance, below are examples of some of the following issues seen in this genre of film.
In order to conform to psychological horror conventions, we can use some of these issues to help depict and convey a motive for an obsessed killer, which is a common convention in this sub genre of horror, as explored through previous blog posts. However, I felt that this was not executed well in my practical blog, so just to portray an issue that makes the audience comfortable without gore etc. would be successful and 'gritty'. This is similar to social realism films like "Trainspotting" and other dramas.
Genre
In the majority of films of the urban drama and also crime genres, there usually is a criminal involved in the drug industry or supplying banned substances. If not, the characters seem to be influenced by drugs and alcohol, especially in urban dramas. To depict a character being on drugs or drunk in a scene methods for distortion are used, this can include:
Filters and effects like ghost trails are used in conjunction with the manipulation of lighting, saturation and hues. These depend on what drug was taken or the state of the character. Below are some examples from "Skins" and "Project X":
From top left to top right to bottom: A low angle mid shot, an over the shoulder shot and an extreme close up.
Disobeying the 180-degree rule for more 'jumpier' cuts and making the audience aware of the camera flicking around and them being a voyeur, hence, making them uncomfortable.
Shakier pans and tilts or handheld point of view and reaction shots to put the audience in the characters condition, as seen in some of the shots from "The Wolf of Wall Street":
Sound can be manipulated to perceive the character as vulnerable etc. For instance, if diegetic sounds are distorted by non diegetic sounds like ringing etc. which parallel the character's state, the audience can further understand the situation. Non diegetic sounds can be parallel or contrapuntal to further represent the character's state, for example in the below "Breaking Bad" clip:
Well planned mise-en-scene, as with the use of props, costumes and make up we can see the character's state. In the following clip of "Forrest Gump", the character is skinny and pale with prominent eye bags, we associate that this is because of the drugs she depends on as we clearly see props of needles, pills, cocaine lines etc. to depict this:
These can also help show the vulnerability of the character in such an intoxicated state. Especially casting an already vulnerable young minor as the character intoxicated, then it makes us worry for the character.
In the film industry, we can either see these characters as vulnerable but we can also seem them as disrespectful and aggressive similar to how we stereotype the modern working class, drug addicts and alcoholics. However, in the media industry, clips etc. are purposely manipulated so a common representation of a character is conformed to/subverted. This forces us to decide what we feel for the characters. This is done by the how the techniques bullet pointed above are utilized.
For example, if the intoxicated character is a troubled drug addict, the directors could portray them as vulnerable and struggling with addiction by using colder hues, shakier pans, high angles, more muted sounds to present that they use drugs/alcohol as an escape from the world and perhaps shots of them desperately collecting money on the streets. While, if they want to represent the addict as disrespectful and aggressive they would involve them with violence and could use red hues and the sound of smashing glass etc.
For our film opening, if we chose to include the plot of an attack by a psychopathic killer, we could portray the targeted victim as someone 'who deserves the impending attack' by showing them dealing drugs and making them seem 'shady' and criminal through dark exposure, disrespectful diegetic dialogue, stereotypical gang costumes and them actually supplying drugs. Or we could make them seem vulnerable and innocent perhaps of high angles, them being peer pressured into drugs, cleaner more formal clothes.
In order to have a complex motive for the killer we should probably portray the victim as what real people see as 'scums' as if the killer has a real hate for the representation of the modern working class and gangs. As an audience we would feel some sort of pity or grief for the victim, despite, many usually looking down on the misrepresented modern working class and gang members. Doing this would be like criticizing society and the media's prejudice.
If we were to chose this plot, we would have to include violence. We could also include violence to make the victim seem like a deserving, stereotypical modern working class target that is violent.
Although the below music video for "College Boy" by the French band "Indochine" is not an urban drama, its meaning, symbolism and graphic crucifixion of the bullied victim has inspired me to explore targeted assault. This is linked below:
This video was directed by Xavier Dolan, who in films like "Tom at the Farm", "J'ai Tue Ma Mere" and "Laurence Anyways" stirred up some form controversy. The director is known to be blunt about issues. However, in some movies he uses techniques like aspect ratio etc. to covey issues more subtly. This music video is censored in France, however, holds a lot of meaning and emotions towards bullying. In response to the censorship, Dolan replied with:
"It seems absurd to me that the clip is censored,” said Dolan. “Is it really more violent than all the movies that arrive on our screens every day? The question shouldn’t be – did I go too far? It should be – what’s stopping a group of teenagers from going this far, given how powerful the gun lobby is in the U.S."
This made me query the abuse of young targets specifically in gangs. As mentioned above, in most films violence is shown very swiftly yet powerfully with guns and knives. If we were to create a fight scene we could draw out the brutality of the situation by making the audience watch a longer fight scene, where by the victim is beaten or strangled etc. Done right, this would not only heighten the fear of the audience but also, to link to psychological horrors, show the killer's need for pain.
In this video the group of bullies crucify their victim. This is similar to an opposing rival gang and their conflict in urban dramas. The use of an old method of death relating to Jesus contrasts the relatively modern setting. Thus, this contrast is so intense and effective that the torture becomes memorable. For our film opening, if we chose psychological horror I would like the killer to have a memorable and effective signature way of killing, this would conform to the conventions of psychological horrors explored previously.
The symbolism of the witnesses of this crucifixion wearing blindfolds and filming the abuse can represent the fact that people refuse to speak up about the issues and instead blindly watch it develop. This idea of unusual but thought provoking props to symbolise a powerful message is something we can plan around for our film opening. Due to previous posts, perhaps this could include the removal of eyes suggesting 'see no evil'. Furthermore, this would add to the killer's motive and make them a more complex character, which as mentioned earlier is a common convention in psychological horrors.
On the other hand, as the props I created were poor quality, perhaps we should scrap the idea of a psychopathic killer to get attention on the unfair stereotypes of modern working class and instead just focus on the power of sympathy. We could focus on an abused young gang member or a homeless teenager etc. Urban dramas are usually character driven so this would make the film opening easily identifiable rather than having the confusion of a combined horror and urban drama.
Furthermore, I found research to show what life is really like for youth in gangs. The above examples of violence and drugs etc. in gang culture can lead to struggles with mental illnesses, as highlighted in Sarah O'Connell and Sarah Bell's 2016 BBC article. They commented that there isn't enough education and research specific to the mental stability of members of gangs etc. Perhaps, this is because of the stigma towards them, that many see their aggression as threatening rather than understanding that it could be due to their mental state. Within the article there was the following comment:
"There is very little research on the mental-health impact of gang violence, but a 2013 study of 108 gang members found half had an anxiety disorder, more than 85% a personality disorder and 25% screened positive for psychosis."
This evidence came from Professor Jeremy Coid, "lead study author" who stated "exposure to violence was the likely cause of their mental-health problems."
This is a very real issue that I would like to address due to people's dogmatic prejudice to the idea that gang members are aggressive 'CHAVs'. So, as we at first wanted to include psychological horror elements, if we were to portray the killer as completely 'insane' and brutal this would only encourage the aggressive stereotypes. Therefore, I believe the idea of focusing on a young victim is more suitable.
If my group still wish to do a psychological horror, we could do this by actually making the killer a vulnerable protagonist instead. The character could perhaps be even unaware of, say, a violent alter ego created by their fears and paranoia from being caught up in gangs etc. This has somewhat been utilized in iconic films like "Fight Club", " Donnie Darko" and "Shutter Island" and TV dramas like "Mr. Robot", which are very successful in intriguing the watcher and playing with their thoughts, like a psychological horror should do.
Some of these even break the 'fourth wall' to further this interest and ambiguity with the audience by presenting ideas and the characters' thoughts. Doing this also presents the protagonist's psychosis and displays their vulnerability as they rely on gathering their thoughts and analysing situations with us. This can develop a bias towards certain characters as we are forced to listen to the protagonist. I hope to use this for our film opening if we still wish to do a psychological horror. This idea would conform to conventions of psychological horrors due to the strange mind set of the killer.
Further studies show that the following mental illnesses and disorders are common for young people involved in gangs. This is evident in the August 2013 report "Understanding the Mental Health Needs of Young People involved in Gangs" mainly written by Doctor Vaishnavee Madden. This explained the issue and the report's purpose in the following summary:
"Street gangs and associated serious violence have been a growing concern in the UK over the past decade. They are concentrated in poor, urban areas with high crime rates and multiple social problems. The mental health needs of young people involved in gangs have until recently been overlooked. This report is an attempt to address this situation, and to provide recommendations for local commissioners."
The following statistics were published in this report:
"In a sample of 100 young gang members, it could be expected that:
86 will have conduct problems (<18 years) or antisocial personality disorder (18+ years)
67 will have alcohol dependence
59 will have anxiety disorders (including post traumatic stress disorder)
57 will have drug dependence (mainly cannabis)
34 will have attempted suicide
25 will have psychosis
20 will have depression"
As 86% are to have some form of conduct problem or personality disorder, I would like to mainly focus on this, and other symptoms like insomnia, depression and psychosis, as a result its consequences whether that be through violence, drugs, alcohol or homelessness.
Perhaps, we could focus on the aftermath of something, where the protagonist is in a bad place. We could use homelessness to convey this.
The 2012 French-American remake of the 1980 film "Maniac" casts Elijah Wood as an obsessive serial killer. Below is its opening scene:
Genre
From the props of the hedge trimmer and jars of anatomy shown in "American Horror Story: Murder House" and the complex motive of the killer in "SE7EN", I wanted to explore the convention of the villain having some sort of signature style or plan to their murders. This was explored in my practical task but I wanted to see how it can be portrayed in a film opening, especially one that conforms to some urban drama conventions.
Consequently, despite "Maniac" being labelled as a 'slasher', I chose to deconstruct this opening because of Elijah Wood's character, Frank Zito, which seems to conform to the conventions of a serial killer in psychological horrors like, "SE7EN" and "American Horror Story: Murder House".
Within this opening there is also a focus around the night life in urban settings and issues of homelessness and violence. The film also uses the villain's experience with prostitution and sex to deteriorate his mind set. This is slightly shown through the creepy caress of the female victim's face.
Issues like these are usually addressed in urban dramas. The constant locations of urban areas in this clip also can suggest this. But the murder supports that rather than being an urban drama, "Maniac" is much more a horror based in urban areas, as the main plot lies with the struggle of Zito's mind and its consequences rather than gangs etc. shown in urban dramas.
I like this combination of both genres and initially I hoped to create an opening scene that addresses very real urban issues, which are usually ignored, by giving them the most attention through disturbing psychological elements. For instance, through the villain's mind set and memorable signature murders. I experimented with this in my previous practical blog, however, I felt it didn't work so I wanted to see how "Maniac" made this combination of gore and urban dramas work.
Plot
The scene starts with a pan to two female young adults that appear to be coming from a club as they talk and laugh over the non diegetic bass like sound similar to the muffled and distant sound of club music, which you can hear when you are outside a club. We cannot clearly hear their conversation as we are watching them from a distance.
One of the girls, Stephanie, gets a taxi while the other, Judy, remains on the pavement. Unaware, a man creeps up to Judy and pokes her, which causes her to jump. He begins to flirt with her and invites her into his "limo" but she is defensive and rejects him. During this interaction we can hear breathing and the non diegetic speech "leave her alone" muttered. This, along with the voyeurism through tracking shots, allows us to realise that we are actually in the point of view of another character.
When Judy tells the man to "f*ck off" and we can hear the non diegetic sound of an engine starting; the tracking shot of her walking away seems more significant to us as we realise that as we are following her so is the stalking character which must be driving in the car that we heard being started.
Judy calls for a taxi but it immediately leaves, making her more isolated and vulnerable. Despite her somewhat aggressive state shown by swearing, when she looks into the camera she appears scared and worried. Along with the non diegetic speech of "I see you too", this confirms that we are indeed watching in the point of view of her stalker.
She starts walking once again this time less confidently as she looks over her shoulder into the camera. She begins to quicken her pace and, due to her nervous disposition and her high heels, trips in the middle of the road. Judy runs now but the stalker stops tracking her, still watching her run off. They then say "okay, I know where you live Judy" before turning down another street whispering "see you later".
The point of view shot then turns from Judy running in the distance to the rear view mirror, where we can finally see who the stalker is. The glimpse of Frank Zito menacingly looking into the mirror, and therefore the camera, fades into many shots of the city and implies that he is driving to her house. This scene seems more like a title sequence as the credits are shown and there is no real plot.
With a high angle tracking shot we can see a taxi pull into the road from what seems to be an apartment due to the railings. Judy then appears from the taxi on the phone and walks over to an apartment block. We then see wires of a fuse box being cut by a knife by Zito, and the power cuts out.
Judy walks up a set of stairs while the stalkers seems to be waiting on the corridor at the top of the stairs shown by the tracking shots, which are repeatedly in Zito's point of view. Coming to the corridor, Judy realizes that "the lights are out on [her] floor" while the camera and, therefore, Zito decreases in proximity with Judy.
Frank follows her down the corridor only stopping when neighbouring residents exit their apartment. When Judy reaches her door and unlocks it she abruptly stops perhaps hearing what was the non diegetic breathing sound of Zito behind her. She slowly turns around confronted by the stalker saying "please don't scream, you're so beautiful".
As soon as Judy begins to scream, a knife is forced into the underneath of her chin and through her mouth cutting her diegetic scream off. Zito then begins to caress her face and hair. He then grasps a hold of her hair before removing the lodged knife and cutting off her scalp. Within this graphic scene shots of a silhouette of a girl running away is shown. Judy's body finally drops to the floor while Zito remains holding a section of her scalp. The title "Maniac" is then shown, while the camera's image fades to black.
Production
The locations of the scene include an apartment and streets which we assume are of the city and the city outskirts as Zito is seen driving to the city, where Judy's apartment block is located. The streets are lit by bright lights and we are shown litter and graffiti. This directly presents that the area is not cared for and could be considered as 'rough'. The fact that there is also many taxis being called suggest that people do not wish to walk through the streets at night, hence, supporting the idea that the location is 'rough'. This, therefore, portrays Judy as vulnerable as she is alone running down the roads being stalked by a serial killer.
Above: Montage of long, establishing shots.
There are also many extras who act as homeless people. This not only denotes the poverty of the area but further making Judy appear vulnerable despite being in a fairly busy street, as the homeless people would most likely be helpless if a situation did present itself, for example when the stranger approached her there was no signs of support by other pedestrians only Zito muttering "leave her alone", which is equally as sinister.
Judy's costume is also not fit for the situation, as she is wearing high heels and a short tight dress, because she was out clubbing with Stephanie. This conforms to conventions in horror where the unprepared female victim is usually making silly mistakes and can be seen as fairly 'ditsy'. This is developed as she trips in said high heels when running from Zito who is following her in his car.
Above: Point of view long shot.
Judy's death is uncomfortable to watch because of the special effects of her scalp being precisely removed by Zito. If there was no gore and she was to just be stabbed it would not hold the same effect on the audience. The death would be fast and would be like a poor conclusion to the building suspense throughout the scene. The removal of her scalp also develops our disgust and opinions of the killer.
The prop of the knife foreshadows this death and once again increases the tension, as the prop feeds us with ideas as to why Zito is following Judy. When the fuse box blows it acts as a jump to fuel the suspense and is like an introduction to the climax. This scene helps create fear.
When the fuse box blows the jump is produced by leaving the audience in the darkness, giving us a moment to worry and anticipate the impending events. This dark lighting removes the safety usually felt by warm lighting of a house/apartment. Despite, the scene being lighter at the start, the sickly yellow hues of the street lamps and harsh bright lights of the street locations still make the scene uncomfortable to watch.
Above: Point of view close ups.
Post-Production
The majority of the film is filmed in the point of view of the killer. At first we are unaware of this. The fact we cannot clearly hear the two female characters conversing, but we are still focused on them through the tracking shots of them makes it uneasy to watch as we feel like a voyeur. Finally we realise that we are acutally in the point of view of the antagonist. This is more unsettling as the character is stalking Judy.
In some shots the image is obscured by faded silhouettes of car mirrors, railings etc. showing through the point of view of Zito that he is hiding from the character.
Above: Point of view long, establishing shot.
Occasionally the reality of watching in the point of view of Zito is interrupted and distorted by jolty cuts. Sometimes the camera switches in proximity, despite the character having not moved. This can develop the audience's uncertainty and discomfort. And like the abrupt cuts in both previous title sequence deconstructions, could display the mentally disturbed state of Zito.
From left to right: Point of view extreme long shot and a point of view long shot.
At 00:00 - We can hear the diegetic conversation of the two female characters the camera is focused on over some non diegetic sounds like the muffled bass of club music.
At 00:41 - The non diegetic sound of a car becomes diegetic as a taxi pulls up and away. When it pulls away a man touches Judy causing a diegetic reaction of "what the f*ck" and hence the start of a conversation.
At 01:15 - Non diegetic mutter of "leave her alone" is quite protective but also sinister as the character seems to not know her as watching her being flirted with by the man from a far like a jealous stalker. During the interaction between the stranger and Judy, the stalkers non diegetic breathing also becomes louder as if they are getting angry.
At 01:22 - There is a non diegetic sound of a car engine starting, but as we are aware we are watching through the point of view of the stalker and a tracking shot follows Judy we realize that the engine sound is from the stalker's car, which they are driving in. Later, the car also screeches to a halt and Judy looks up into the camera after a taxi pulls away. The non diegetic dialogue of "I see you too" adds to the discomfort of a stalker.
Above: Point of view long shots.
At 01:56 - When Judy realizes she is being stalked, she becomes more scared and the diegetic sound of her high heels clicking shows she is rushing. She begins to run and even trips heard by her heels 'scuffing' and cursing.
At 02:20 - Non diegetic voice over of "okay, I know where you live Judy" and "see you later" is very intimate. The character's whispering so loudly for the audience develops the discomfort felt by the non diegetic dialogue's meaning.
Above: Point of view long shots.
At 02:33 - A non diegetic sound track plays using digital sounds of a melodic echoic drum, a rhythmic loud 'bow' sound and like a whirring sound in time with the initial drums which increases in volume. An almost synthesizer sound is played over top.
At 03:23 - The non diegetic score develops with a maraca sound while another synthesizer with a more robotic almost retro video game style sound plays in the background and gains volume. This quietens with a final digital ringing note (at 04:01) as the plot continues.
At 04:10 - We can hear the diegetic sounds of Judy on the phone and exiting the taxi.
At 04:22 - Compared to Judy loudly talking on the phone, when we are watching Zito about to cut the fuse box wires it is pretty much silent. This emphasises the sound of the fuse box blowing, which rings out at the end. This also allows us to understand the significance of doing this and its consequences it would have on the victim. The non diegetic ringing echo sound continues as we scan the corridors, this parallels the spooky dark setting and the impending death of Judy.
Above: Point of view close up shot.
At 04:50 - The ending of the call with the diegetic speech of "oh crap, the lights are out on my floor" develops the fear felt as Judy is vulnerable and now alone. There is a sudden opening of a door and some talking as neighbours exit, but apart from this the suspense created through the stalker's breaths keeps the audience on edge until confrontation.
From top to bottom left to bottom right: Point of view long shot, another point of view long shot and a point of view tracking shot.
At 05:42 - The breaths of Zito become all too loud and intimate and we assume are diegetic as Judy slowly turns around. The intimacy of a creepy stalker breathing and saying "please don't scream, you're so beautiful" increases our discomfort. This is also supported by the parallel non diegetic echoic ringing sound.
At 05:52 - Judy begins to piercingly scream, yet this is suddenly cut off by the sharp, metallic cutting sound of the knife silencing her. We can also hear Zito grunt as if he is relieved; his breaths also become more relaxed and slower as he begins to caress her face. The fact that the killer seems more at rest and almost pleasured by killing someone makes us incredibly disgusted and unsettled.
Above: A point of view close up shot.
At 06:00 - There are some sort of flashbacks shown with contrasting loud non diegetic sounds including a female gasping, muffled smashing of glass and echoes. These ring throughout the final scene where the knife is dislodged with another metal sound. Finally a digital non diegetic sound increase in volume and becomes layered with a piercing high pitch sound which increases in pitch. This continues as the diegetic sound of the victim's scalp ripping off and a sloppy quiet thud of her body falling to the ground plays. The title "Maniac" is displayed with a lower pitched non diegetic artificial sound and fades out with the camera's image.
The credits are presented in a small neat white font. This font glows around the edges with a yellow hue. This happens randomly but can be seen when text fades in and out onto the screen. The neon light can be linked to the bright lights of urban night life presented throughout the clip.
From top to bottom: Point of view extreme long shot and a point of view shot.
The only other font shown in this scene is the final film title. "Maniac" is suddenly shown in bold red capital letters. In contrast, to the earlier small font blending with the aesthetic of the bright lights in the dark urban setting, this title is more prominent and significant, especially with the context of Zito just killing someone. The contrasting colour as well as the short, snappy one word title signals danger and that the film is most likely a 'slasher'.
Like in the films previously deconstructed, mise-en-scene is carefully planned to be conventional and interact with the actors suitably. Hence, based of the past horror deconstructions I would like to produce a prop that could be used if we were to create a horror film opening.
Research and Planning
In the previous deconstructions I explored psychological horrors. This sub genre of horror is usually identified through a creepy, complex character that acts as the antagonist of the film. In "SE7EN" we managed to predict by the title sequence that the antagonist kills people based on the seven deadly sins. The obsession is shown through props like manipulating articles and biblical references. In "American Horror Story: Murder House" the obsession of a predicted crazed killer is shown through jars of anatomy, photos of Victorian children and a hedge trimmer.
Instead of doing a title sequence, my group and I have chosen to make a film opening. We initially had ideas of combining the genre of psychological horror and some kind of form of urban drama. So that we can highlight real and terrifying urban issues that are usually overlooked through murders. Consequently, we have ideas of featuring an obsessed serial killer to conform to psychological horror conventions.
For my earlier source of inspiration, I looked at Blake Neubert's art work. From this I came up with some ideas including:
A razor for a weapon.
Props of eyes, teeth, flesh etc. to make the killer seem obsessed similar to the jars of anatomy shown in "American Horror Story: Murder House".
Sketches and actual pieces of similar artwork to show that the killer is planning ways to kill their victims.
I liked some of these ideas, but really wanted to research other ideas, especially to link it back to urban dramas. In order to have a really gruesome and memorable signature style or motive for the killer in our opening scene we planned to create a fight scene with a hooded killer and a victim of perhaps a drug addict or dealer to conform to conventions of characters in urban dramas.
From this we came up with ideas for the killer's motive. Influenced by the book "Stone Cold", where a serial killer targets homeless youth, we liked the idea of the antagonist targeting a specific group of people that perhaps, like with drug addicts or the homeless, are negatively criticized and represented in the media. This would be very similar to the killer in "SE7EN", who almost seems themselves as cleansing the world and teaching a lesson by exposing those they see evil and wrong.
As we want a really violent and painful murder to achieve discomfort and feelings of disgust with the audience, we planned to make the death incredibly slow and torturous but equally intense by producing a fight scene. Consequently, I believe using a weapon like a knife or a gun let alone a razor would be too quick and barely intense.
However, that doesn't mean we could still not use inspiration from deconstructions, as we could still use the razor after the death to mutilate the body in a way influenced by Blake Neubert and the jars of anatomy in "American Horror Story: Murder House". It would be completely disgusting and too gruesome to show it on screen, but we could perhaps end with the killer taking out a razor and then cut the scene and return to like teeth or eyes in a pool of blood or maybe even use the masks created.
Production
Prompted
by the idea of having props of body parts and my mask design inspired by
Neubert, I used the following video as guidance to create a fake eyeball:
In response, is my process of making a similar fake eyeball:
I first used modelling clay instead of 'ellimorph
plastic' and rolled this up into a sphere. When happy with the shape, I used a hairdryer to 'set' the clay so that it won't lose its shape. Upon reflection, I felt that the eyeball was slightly too big compared to the iris I printed out and stuck on with a glue gun.
When using clear nail varnish to create the realistic glossy effect of an eyeball, the colour from the ink of the printed iris started to bleed into the white of the eyeball. At 00:53 you can see me using a brush to act like a mop for the green ink. This meant that by the time I was cleaning up the ink, the nail varnish was drying and due to the disruption of my fingers and the paintbrush, this lead to a claggy and dry effect that usually occurs when you touch nail varnish that is still quite wet.
It was incredibly fiddly and the next step of applying the red wool did not help. In the video, there is a lot of care and delicate placement of the wool to make it look as realistic as possible. I chose to apply the wool when the nail varnish was still tacky so it could stick, however, it was not wet enough to properly stick down and consequently, the wool actually dried to my fingers that were coated in nail varnish. Because of this mess, I was desperately trying to stick down the wool and so placed large clumps near the iris, which wasn't very realistic. I tried using wallpaper paste to finally get the wool to stick to the eyeball not myself.
Finally, I applied fake blood to show that the eye has messily been removed. I felt that this step was the only technique that allowed the eyeball to look somewhat gory and realistic. Yet, this too was incredibly messy.
While I had the modelling clay out, I also decided to attempt at creating some teeth. This was not done with a reference video but instead I used a reference photo to try and model the clay into the shape of removed human teeth with the end of a brush. The below process of this is documented below:
Yet, sadly by the time I started modelling, the clay was already beginning to dry. It was very time consuming to try and create the grooves and 'cusps' of teeth with a large brush. Therefore, by the time the shape was coming together, the clay was already dry and began to crumble. I only managed to produce three very poor looking teeth. I really wish I used better tools to sculpt the more quickly and create better details like a crack in the teeth. I aimed to have really aged and gnarly looking teeth and so used a brown ink pad and some bits of yellow from a highlighter. This was an awful selection of colours, but despite the neon choice and ink that usually stains, the colours were not prominent enough.
Outcome
Below are stills of the video to show the outcome of the props:
Personal Comments
Despite,
the process being fun to do, the result failed as it was
tacky and looked extremely fake. I would definitely blame the mistakes on my
lack of detail and persistence, but I was glad I tested out what gore and anatomy would look like before including them in our film. I definitely think that perhaps instead of gore, we should focus on the actual urban drama aspect. Although gore is used in psychological horrors, shown by "SE7EN" and "American Horror Story: Murder House", I believe it needs a lot of planning and carefully selected ideas around it to make sure that it is actually needed in the plot rather than just using poorly made eyeballs and teeth for an immediate recognition of the horror genre.
I would love to attempt this
again and would even try out make up
effects to hopefully show the brutality of the fight along with these props to create perhaps a really 'gritty' and brutal attack between the victim and the complex killer. However, I think we should focus on the whole idea of targeting certain victims like the homeless, and therefore, link to urban dramas.
I composed my flashback edit in Sony Vegas 13, I used various different clips that I found in YouTube and went for a deep, insightful type of flashback to invoke an emotional response from the audience. The actual flashbacks only begins near the middle of the clip and is achieved with a video FX and a transition effect called "Colour Correction" and "Flash".
For the beginning and end of the video and audio clips I faded them to enhance the effect.
I used two different audio clips in this practical, one was a non-diegetic soundtrack and a diegetic motivational speech. I had to change the volumes of the two clips at different times of the video this was done by clicking on the audio track and pressing v. A line would then appear where I could freely alter the levels of sound.
Having hands on experience with Sony Vegas is great to improve my skills and knowledge to use for my final movie.
A flashback is a scene that takes the narrative of the film back in time from the perspective of a chosen character, often used to recount events which happen before the primary sequence of the story to fill in crucial backstory developing or giving a deeper insight into a character.
Examples of flashbacks are in films and movies such as Bedlam, Star Trek, Robocop, Terminator, Old boy and other major hollywood movies. Flashbacks are often edited by stringing together a sequence of events with a white blur or whitish glowy effect around the video to make it distringusible as a flashback. Or the movement of the events would be very sporadic and glitchy to show the process in how the character is remembering the events.
This is generally what a scene would look like when shown as a flashback, the white effect layered over with other colours gives the effect of a fog. Flashbacks are often used also when a character has amnesia and has lost his/her memory recently, relying only on spontaneous flashbacks to piece together their memory and the events that unfolded before losing their memory. In this case the fog type effect is a perfect way to convey a flashback as the fog represents the shroud in which the character is unable to voluntarily recall such events and so everything is a mystery.
However flashback scenes do not always have to be edited a certain type of way, Oldboy does a good job of showing that as once the man is holding onto a hand he remembers the time he held "soo-ah's' hand in the past to try and save her. Oldboy simply uses a stock video after an event but has a clear distringuisable way of recognising that it is a flashback, the hand holding. I think incorporating flashbacks into our final movie is something that we should consider as replicating the effect itself isn't hard (you will see from my practical) and allows the audience to see things through the perspective of a character strengthening the connection between them making the movie that much more enjoyable and immersive.
The Greenwich foot tunnel is a possible place for us to film
out coursework, the tunnel itself is out more likely location but the issues
that come with the foot passage are hard to ignore although there are issues it is the most likely place for us to film as it has all the criteria that we are hoping to look for in our coursework.
As the foot tunnel is a public space we might be disturbing some
of the public with our filming. This is a major factor to think about as we don’t
want to disturb anyone whilst we film the scene. it could also be used to our advantage though as the publics noise could be used to make the scene more disorientation for our character.
The tunnel itself has the atmosphere and sound quality we
want, the size is also effective as we could use it to make the character more vulnerable
in the scene. Since the character will be placed on the floor we could use camera angle to make him seem smaller as the tunnel has a high ceiling.
For our genre of a drama the location fits, the idea of the character
being in the foot tunnel is fitting and effective. The idea of the more run
down parts of London featuring could also back up our idea of the more ‘urban’
drama. By including this in the storyline we are trying to introduce we can
manipulate the scene to create effectiveness with the lighting and sound.
The day I visited the tunnel, the foot traffic was heavy so
the echoing and sound quality were unobtainable at that time, the tunnel itself
is long so it is a major factor in the filming, the sound is highly likely to
echo so it will have to be edited to cut out any background noise and
disturbances which may be an issue, but since there is no dialogue in the scene
we could completely edit the sound out and add in subtle breathing effects and
a possible score, where this would take the authenticness of the scene it could
create a different effect for the film opening.
The lighting could also be an issue as the lights are very
yellow and uneven in their brightness, this could cause the effect we want or
it could be a factor that will hold us back in our coursework. As the lighting
is easily edited it could end up being a small issue but it could also finish
looking tacky as we can’t have exact same lighting in each shot due to the fact
that a minuscule difference could cause a huge issue in the openings looks.
The metal stairs and strip lighting create an abandoned effect, as does the rusting effect the tiles on the ceiling seem to have. The old tiles have come out in some places and created an effect that mirrors one of a water ridden, old bathroom where the tiles have come up and all the metal underneath has rusted and the copper colour has leaked out to give the holes a metallic look. Where the floor is concrete it also makes the tunnel seem cold and cruel, the idea of that chilling floor will help create a vulnerable feel to the character.
