Target Audience research

The target audience for our opening title sequence will be predominantly eighteen and above, but not particularly suitable for ‘older’ age viewers.

This is because our chosen genre is a psychological horror, which younger viewers may find distressing, and older viewers may not appreciate as much, or in the same way as eighteen to forty years might do.

The target audience is predominantly eighteen and above because this genre is only really suitable for that age, and the fact that most horrors have a certificate of eighteen may show this and that it is a popular type of movie for this age.

The sexuality of the audience who choose to watch this genre will be generally straight males, this is because the dominant ideology is that they behave in quite a feminine way and as such won’t appreciate this genre as much.

No ethnic group could be insulted in any way by this genre and psychological horror is suitable for any ethnicity. 

Our time plan

Se7en analysis

The opening sequence to “Se7en” clearly reveals that this film is a horror. The extreme close-ups, chiaroscuro lighting and disturbing images make this film aimed towards adult males as it’s not really suitable for the younger viewers.
The opening sequence to any film needs to establish the genre, tone, character type and also should offer other information about the film. The opening sequence to “Se7en” is very dark. We don’t really see much of the surroundings or the person as everything is in close-up but we do see a characters hand as he is working on a table. The mise on scene is very crowded at this point as there are loads of files and paperwork often containing disturbing images and also objects like razor blades. The credits are thin and scratchy and contrast to the black background they are shown on and flash and move quite quickly. When these two elements are used together the tone and genre of the film becomes very clear.
The use of close-ups throughout the opening sequence emphasise important objects and what the character is doing. Due to the close-ups throughout the sequence it makes it very difficult to understand what’s going on, this gets the audience to get involved and try to work out what may be happening. Almost as if the audience have to play the role of a detective. This links to Roland Barthes’ hermeneutic code, the elements of the story that are not explained so become a mystery to the audience.
The non diagetic sounds are very eerie. It is a collection of noises which played along side the images and actions shown make the opening sequence very tense and scary. There are short stabs of sound when significant objects are shown, for example the razorblade. The sound gets faster towards the end of the sequence which can be linked to Roland Barthes proairectic code and this may indicate to the audience something else is going to happen.
The chiaroscuro lighting put all the important objects that the viewer is meant to see in light and the surroundings in darkness. The setting is very dark and we don’t quite where it is as there are no indications because the close-ups prevent us seeing around the room. This makes the audience wonder why he is working in the dark and raises questions like, why is he there and has he done something wrong? The disturbing images make the viewer fell uneasy and uncomfortable as they are shown in a very strange way. The man is slicing skin from the end of his fingers with a razor blade. This also links to the proairetic code because it makes the audience wonder what he might be about to do. The close up shot of a male, it seems, with a large amount of blood beside him, is very effective. It prompts different questions into our mind, especially, what happened to the male? Why did they do this to him? Have the detectives noticed yet?
There are a lot of cuts during the sequence which make very short takes and flashing images. This makes it very intense to the viewer as some of the images are strange and hard to make out so they have to pay a lot of attention. The sequence is full of short takes which make it very intense for the viewer.
The opening credits quickly inform the viewer of the main actors, director and the name of the film. All of which are important factors that need to be put into the opening credits.

genre research summary

 The font style is created using a hand drawn almost "scratchy" effect or changing the colours for example Halloween is red and orange. The transitions are very effective as they vibrate and shake as they are on the screen and Halloween slowly change colour, this gives a very eerie feel to the film. The text appears and disappears quite quickly as the text is always moving. The amount of text is very short only giving the name of the film and the names of the main actors.




















The music used in both films are very eerie sounding. Se7en is more like sounds created and Halloween is actual music they both give a sense of fear and make the viewer feel uneasy.
http://www.artofthetitle.com/media/film/70s/halloween_480p.html?keepThis=true&TB_iframe=true&height=414&width=874
http://www.artofthetitle.com/2008/03/26/se7en/


We don't see the characters in either of the title sequences as either close-ups are used which don't show the face or there are no characters at all.  In Se7en we only see the characters hands and in Halloween a pumpkin.













In Se7en the only props we see are the pictures, books and tools on the table. The whole title scene is just that table. In Halloween however the mise en scene is very bare on only a pumpkin can be seen. The mise en scene is very good in both films as they get the viewer to think about what is there and what may happen during the rest of the film.

There are loads of close-ups throughout Se7en that create an enigma and a few in Halloween, these make the sequence tense and mysterious. The music is very tense and fast cuts throughout Se7en create a sense of fear, on the other hand Halloween has no cuts during the filming with the pumpkin. These are 2 opposite approaches to the opening sequence however they both work very well.

 








The genre is established through the eerie music, extreme close-ups that are difficult to understand, chiaroscuro lighting and scratchy or dark fonts. These all help to create a scary feel to the film and show that its a horror.

Evaluation.

There are many factors to consider before deciding if our project was an overall success.

The planning of our practical work went very well, considering there was a number of absenses from group members. We first outlined the camera/filming techniques we would need to use and added them to our blogs, this gave us a clear idea of how we needed to use the camera and where to position it in the room etc.

We then came up with a plan view of the area in which we would be filming our short film, and keeping in mind the Line of interaction, we roughly planned the position in which our camera would be, this made it much easier when it came to the practical stage.

One of the most important things about our planning was the risk assessment. Aswell as being a legal requirement, it aslo gave us a clear idea of all the hazards and potential risks in our work space, and what we should do to avoid these.

I thought the filming and editing stage of our project went very well considering we had members of our group absent on a number of occasions. We managed to get a number of good shots on all parts of the role play, despite a number of interuptions, the camera work itself was done very well. It looks as though we placed the camera in exactly the right position on most occasions which made the final outcome a much higher quality than if we had just placed the camera in a random position. Things such as eye line level and tracking were enhanced through the camera work.

The editing stage of the project was much more complicated that the other stages the project inlcuded, but once we managed to understand and use the software we could easily edit the film in the correct places to make the scene run smoothly and make it a high quality. Making sure to include techniques such as match on action.


Overall i think we did very well in making our short film and i am very pleased with the final outcome.

Story Board