Film Analysis - By Melissa Erwin

Analysis of the first 10 minutes of a Horror film - Stephen Kings “It”.

Stephen Kings “It”, is a horror film that was made in 1990 and is a 15 certificate. It is about a clown who preys on, and murders young children.

The titles for this film appear at the very beginning and are in black and white, with the information of director, editor and actors, appearing one by one. Music is played in the background at the same time. We have also used this quality in our film “Welcome to the Circus”, as the music adds effect and a more dramatic tone.

At the beginning of the film, there is an establishing shot of a house and a street, to show the audience where it is set which then changes into a medium long shot of a little girl riding her bike and innocently singing a nursery rhyme. This is followed by a high-angle shot looking down on the young girl. I think this is really effective as it shows her looking vulnerable, which is quite common of the victim in horror films. There is then a close-up of a children’s doll, followed closely by sound effects of children laughing and music beginning to build up. When the stalker/clown first appears in our film, we also added sound effects and loud music to add a dramatic effect. When the clown “Pennywise” first appears in this film, it is very quick glimpses of him, however they are normally close up shots to show vivid detail used to shock or scare the audience. The clown is in a traditional colourful costume, which we associate with clowns/circus and his face is mainly red and white, with a hint of black and purple. The mask that we had designed was similar to this, as we also wanted it to look traditional, although with an eerie touch to it.

After the murder of the young girl, there is a fade to a different scene and the cuts seem to slow down. I think this is to show the audience that people are reacting slowly to the news and don’t quite know what to do or think. There is then a medium close-up of one of the main characters picking up the same doll featured earlier in the film, which links back to the fact that a young, innocent girl has been murdered. There is then a close-up of a picture of a boy, (who we later find out was also murdered some time ago), and quiet, dramatic music is played over this. This is then closely followed by a voiceover of one of the main characters and this is used to tell the audience how he is feeling – “something that makes my skin crawl”. These are both qualities of our film, as we thought they would be very effective in describing what has happened, to the audience.

Whenever the clown appears, the lighting seems to be bright, or set in a darker place and the clown, “Pennywise”, lights up so he is the main focus. This is not a typical feature of horror film, however cleverly links to the theme of clowns. He also seems very friendly however has a low, croaky voice and seems quite intimidating, which he uses to his advantage as he preys on young children. He also never blinks which shows him to be weird/abnormal and might make the audience feel uneasy.

In the first 10/15 minutes of this film, there is a flashback used which also tells the story to the audience, without being too obvious. The film also cross-cuts back and forth between both of the main characters lives; to show how they have recovered from the murder.

Eye line matches are used in the beginning of this film, to show the audience what the character is looking at, and how they’re reacting to it. For example the young boy looks at an object in a dark, creepy cellar. Here, you see a close-up of the object, and then a cut back to the boy looking quite scared and nervous; however leaving the audience feeling suspicious as to why.

In contrast with our film, before the clown appears for the second time, the music that is playing seems quite jolly and fantasy-like, although it gets louder before slowing down and stopping completely just before the clown arrives. Fast-paced editing is used to complement this music and shows a continuous pace.

A dungeon bell sound effect is used when the character “Bill”, looks on the floor and sees blood. We have used a dungeon-like sound effect in our film as well, because it creates a dramatic shock for the audience.

Coming up to the end of the first 15 minutes of this film, a graphic match is used between the young Bill, and the older Bill. This is very effective as their face and hands are in the same place and this creates a sense that the older Bill, is feeling/thinking the same things as when he was a young boy.

Scream Analysis by Lauren Smith

I have decided to analyse the first 12 minutes of Scream, which was Horror film that was about a masked killer who enjoys tormenting his victims with phone calls and movie references. The killer's main target is Sidney, a teenage girl whose mother Maureen fell victim to a brutal murder one year earlier. The film takes on a "whodunit" mystery, with many of her friends and people from her town being fellow targets and suspects. Scream revitalized the “slasher” film genre in the late 1990s, similar to the impact Halloween (1978) had on late 1970s film, by using a horror style storyline with added humour as well. At the very start of ‘Scream’ you immediately realise it is a psychological horror. ‘Scream’ is aimed at an 18 audience and above because not only does it contain strong language and violence but it contains scenes of a gruesome nature that could cause distress to some people. Scream is quite similar to our film because it is a psychological horror and features a masked stalker character.

film starts with opening title of Scream coming in with the noise of at first a thud, blended with the noise of a telephone and finally into a scream which then blends back to a telephone ringing. The titles then shot towards the screen and fades to the scene where Casey hears the phone ringing. The titles create some suspense at the beginning because of the changes of sound it builds up then the sudden change of sound to the normal noises of a room makes you suddenly jump. It then cuts to a close up of the telephone that is ringing and Casey the female character goes to answer it. The editing is normal in this section as it appears to be quite a “normal” situation. The conversation continues, but the audience soon realises that Casey doesn’t know the mysterious caller and the situation is not going well. The use of a canted angle shots whilst Casey is on the phone suggests hat something is not right. When Casey puts the phone down to continue her tasks, which are filmed using a dolly shot the phone rings again and Casey is drawn into a conversation with the mysterious caller. When Casey puts the phone down again, the Director uses an establishing shot of the house which sets the scene and shows where the character is. The shot also shows Casey’s isolation because the house is miles away from anywhere and the audience becomes the person looking in like a point of view.

Soon Casey realises the mysterious guy is much more sincere when he says “I wanna know who I’m looking at!” the voice of the speaker is slightly strange, it could be described as a voice changing as it sounds computerized in some ways. From this sentence we Casey realising she is being watched. The editing picks up pace as Casey locks all the doors, looks out of the window, walks into the other and suddenly the non-diegetic music stops and the door bell rings. This scares both the audience and Casey because the noise it unexpected and tension has been built up. The Mise-en-scene in Scream creates the image of a normal American House that can be linked to the year of release which was 1996, so Casey’s clothes link with this time period.
The Mise En Scene also shows a horror element in the film an example of this is when Casey is playing with the knife whilst on the phone creating a horror element, she mentions another horror movie where the killer used a kitchen knife as the murder weapon, and this shows us some dramatic irony.

From this point onwards Casey begins to panic as the caller threatens to kill her, to create more suspense we then find out that Casey has lied to the caller and does have a boyfriend which the caller identifies and tells Casey to turn on the lights of her back patio. At this point we get a point of view shot from Casey to convey what she is seeing, Steve her boyfriend is tied up on the back patio and the caller says to save his life she must answer movie trivia. The use of a close-up which shows Casey opening the door adds tension, because the audience can’t see what’s happening outside.

After killing Steve because Casey answered a question incorrectly the caller torments her. A chair is thrown through a window first, which again makes the audience jump. Then we see a medium shot of Casey looking around the house, then a point-of-view shot from Casey looking around and finally we see Scream. In a medium long shot, he is dressed in a black costume with a white ghost mask over his face. In this scene the use of non-diegetic sound is used to create tension which again puts the audience on edge.

The masked character then chases Casey across the lawn while she screams (a stereotypically feature of a women) just as her parents pull up into her driveway. They do not see her, but the audience gets an close-up of Casey’s face in a canted angle which again shows something is not right. Casey in this stabbed in chest and left unable to scream. We then see her parents looking around the house for Casey, the house is a mess and smoke fills the air this results in her parents frantically looking for her. The editing picks up pace and her mother runs outside. A sudden scream and Casey’s father appears to see the problem. The camera zooms into their faces and the audience is left wondering what it going on. A point-of-view shot reveals Casey hung from a tree in the backyard. The shot at first in a long establishing shot which zooms in to Casey’s face, the editing in this section is quite accelerated.

Scream links in with our film quite a lot, the main similarities are the use of a mask to hide a person’s real appearance. Also the use of fast editing can be linked with our film, because when we film our scene with the stalker standing above our main characters bed we want to accelerate the pace in which she gets up. This film does differ from our film as well, because we don’t want to show any bloodshed in the first two minute as we want to convey a psychological threat at first rather than a physical threat. This film will serve quite well as inspiration for our film because the conventions used in this film can be applied to our own; this should then create quite an effective psychological horror film.

Film Analysis - The Strangers - Brett Cooper

Title Sequence
The title sequence first shows the production company but they are already giving us an insight to what genre of film this is because they are making the sound and images sharp and sudden making the viewer nervous and jumpy. As the titles begin to come a sound track begins to play which is very erry and makes the viewer unaware. We are still yet to see any images of where the film is to begin or where we are but as a viewer we are worrying about what is to come. All this is down to the music and how it makes us feel. From the music alone I can start to believe this is a horror film because the music is not happy or fast it just makes the viewer tense.
We are then told by voice over and text on the screen that the film was inspired by true events this again is a good key element to put into the start of a horror film because it scares people to think that it actually happened adding a realistic effect. Also the voice that is used doesn’t seem real and doesn’t warm us as a viewer we can establish that it is a males voice but it is given an almost robot effect again making us unsure of who or what this is.
The scene is now being set again by a voice over telling us what the characters have been doing before we are shown them. This is a good idea again because as a viewer I am now unsure what state I am to find them in. Also this shortens the build up to the story line for the film because we are given brief information about the events that have happened.
The film then goes to black space but we hear a car engine, the mind of viewers begins to work and to try and figure out what is happening and the first instinct is that we are in a car travelling somewhere. The shot then fades in and we see houses pacing as though we are in the car driving past them. Showing us how the streets are going from filled with houses to one every mile or so as an estimate. The film is beginning to show us some sense of destination. Personally I believe that we are travelling with someone looking for a quiet place maybe some killer or stalker. Maybe it is showing us how these people find the perfect spot for their murders.
The film then takes us back to black space and we her a 911 call a woman says whilst crying ‘There are people here’ the 911 call assistant tries to ask where she is by asking for a address and name and if she is in danger. While this phone call is going on the film fades into a shot of a car windscreen smashed and two young boys stood looking at it. The boys then find themselves in the door way of a house that has been left open. Music is playing we know this from a shot of a record player, also a shot of a ring box with petals around it makes us wonder is someone has got engaged or is this just a present. The key shot a knife on the floor with blood stains on it now we understand that some kind of violence has happened here maybe it is the events we were told about in the title sequence. The producers are now making us worry for the two young boys which have entered the house through our thoughts we try to tell them to leave. The director has already grasped us and, made us part of the film making us make decisions for the characters. Blood guns are all show in separate shot but still no clues to what has happened just as we think that we are going to find out we see the black space again this is becoming a space of insecurity for us we don’t like to see it because we are still not up to speed with what has happened we are thinking about what we have seen and what is to come.

The Film
We cut to a shot of a man sat in his car at some traffic lights he looks down and sad but we cannot establish what is wrong and again where he is. However from the next shot we can see that we are near some woods because the shot if obstructed by trees as the car drives past on a near side road. We can tell by the use of the road that this is a quiet place because we are yet to see another car or pedestrian. For the first time we know that the male was not alone in the car as he pulls up outside what is to be thought as their house. We are shown a woman I believe she is a wife or girlfriend but she also has a sad and down look on her face, I believe to wonder if the couple have had an argument as the man gets out of the car alone and heads for the house.
We are now in the house with the couple after being given a sense of a horror in the title sequence this start to the film makes me as a viewer wonder but however I believe in a saying with horror films and it is ‘the null before the storm’ so I think that the director is giving the viewer a false sense of security.
Now we recognise the petals they are spread all over the house and the male is telling the female character that he had done this for her. Maybe it was meant for a celebration. The male then makes a phone call it is to a voice mail we do not know who it is but we hear that he asked him to call him back this could possibly be a family member.
Change of shot we are not in the same place we seem to be at some kind of a function maybe a wedding the couple are laughing a joking suddenly we realise that this is before an event that has made the couple fall out. They both leave and go outside and the male proposes the same ring box that was on the floor in the title sequence so we now know that it was the house they were in and something has happened either between them two or to the two. But before we hear the answer we are back at the house with the woman in the bath. Maybe the director didn’t need to show us the answer after all if the couple were to be getting married they would be acting like this together.
The director then shows us very normal behaviour like getting ready for bed the male is eating ice cream we don’t sense and events happening or even coming the frame hence the saying I believe we are in the ‘Null’.
Two minutes have past in the film and we now see the couple as though they are making up because they begin to make out we see the couple start to undress but this is soon stopped by a fears nock at the door. The couple jump along with the viewers finally 13 minutes into the film we are now believing that this is a horror movie. Is this the end of the ‘Null’? The camera shots after the knock are all hand held making us believe we are in the room with them this is the director scaring the viewer because he wants us to feel what the couple felt at this point. The knock caries on until the male reaches the door he is very tentative opening the door we do not see a shot of the woman stood at the door until he has opened it and then we can just make out here blonde hair. This is giving us a sense of insecurity again and we begin to worry about who this actually is. Woman then asks is someone is in the man replies wrong house the woman stands and asks are you sure. This is an odd event because usually you would just walk away but she wanted to pursue that this was the right house and at no moment did se look as though she was going to walk away until after a long pause she did.
That was the end of the first fifteen minutes of this film and we had established what type of genre it was before the title sequence had ended but we have only just started to see that genre of film come into the film in the last 30 seconds this is all because the director wanted us to feel the character because of the events that have happened before they have arrived at the house it gets the viewer thinking whether they are going to become stronger as a couple throughout the film because of the challenges that face them.
I liked the title sequence to the film because it showed us the realistic side to the story with the emergency call and the two boys finding the house, and also I think that it set the film really well.
This film is very similar to the film that I have filmed and therefore it has came me many things to look at for the opening two minutes which I have to produce maybe we can get the genre across in the title sequence and not have to jump straight into the scary parts too early just like on this film.

Change In The Mask - Brett Cooper

First Mask

Final Mask

we decided that we would re make our mask because the mask was cheap and looked fake and didn't really give us the end product to our character which we wanted. So we added more red and more muck colors to make the mask realistic.

Choosing our Title Font - Brett Cooper

This is the typeface that we decided to use for the Films title and we liked it because it looks like cut outs from a newspaper or magazine and if the killer was leaving a message he would probably do it like this. Also the font looks erry and spooky which fits in with our theme of our film.

(Also used in the title of the blog)

Title Sequence Music - Brett Cooper

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7lyU3im5feI - Title Sequence music initial idea

The link above is a link to youtube which is then a song which we wanted to use for our title sequence on our film. However we were unable to use this because of copyright reasons but the reason why we thought this was the right piece of music for our film is because t matches the name of our film. Also when you listen to the lyrics it staes 'do you want to be wildly entertained' and also 'want to claim fame' these are things which a serial killer may want to achieve by killing people. So after going away and deciding what we need to do for music one of our group memebers Rachael Whittaker created a piece for us to use and again she tried to create a circus openning theme tune.

Filming The Title Sequence - Brett Cooper

On set for the filming of the Title Sequence

We changed the filmming place to my back garden so that we were able to use lighting to create our desired shot.


This is our stalker in one of the shots for the title sequence but even though the flash on the camera has light the character he still is looking how we want him to look in the film. Also to say that the shot was filmed in my back garden aposed from the woods the shot wooks and dosent give the viewer any sense of where they are.