Music Research

Our chosen piece of music for the opening is Kevin MacLeod's "The Escalation":

Kevin MacLeod is an American composer and music producer. He lives in New York City and is best known for his contribution to Royalty Free Music, through his website Incompetech.com. He creates film scores, production music and video game music. 

Process:

Whilst searching for music we had to bare in mind the copyright restrictions and appropriateness that come with all types of sound. Any copyright tracks containing explicit lyrics or produced by authorised bands or artists were strictly ruled out, as these songs would not be appropriate or permitted. 

At first we was unsure of what vibe we wanted our music to project - wether it was to be slow, suspenseful, tight with tension or fast paced. We looked at various tracks on Royalty Free Music (http://incompetech.com/music/royalty-free/) searching through the collections of moods and atmospheres: 

The Escalation is part of the Horror Soundscape collection, tempo Moderato, and fits into the categories Intense, Action, Dark, Driving and Horror. The build is long, but gets fuller and more exciting towards the end. 

Instruments used: Percussion, basses, strings.

We decided we wanted a fast paced track, but one that builds gradually too, with a drop before the tempo quickens. The Escalation was perfect for this, and it was one of the very first tracks I came across, whereby I instantly visioned our opening plan fitting with certain parts of the music. 

Because the second half of our opening consists of a chaotic, confusing, heart-racing montage, the quick beats of the track and ricocheting clacks of instruments used in the piece will give an effective non-diegetic enhancement, synchronous to the action that will be happening on screen. 

Another great aspect of the track is it's powerful simplicity at the beginning - large, low bellowing drum hits, followed by a gradual tinging sound that vibrates like an echo throughout the entire track. The drum beats speed up significantly and change in pattern. We intend to fit these pattern alterations with the visual video so that it plays parallel and in time to the rhythm for ultimate impact. It keeps the sound interesting, and because the sound to any film is hugely important, we wanted to make its effectiveness a priority, due to our actual idea being relatively simple - the score needs to emphasise our montage, not slow it down in any way or make it become disjointed. The main idea is to fit the rhythms with the jump cuts and special video effects we use (any reversed clips or manipulated durations) to create an overall continuous, fluid movement on screen, and we are doing this by making sure each cut or change of scene commences on a beat, in time, precisely with the different sounds. 

Sound...

Within Psychological Horrors the convention with sound is to use diegetic contrapuntal sound, one that contradicts and contrasts to the actions that are happening on the screen. Below are some of the best examples of contrapuntal sound, that we are aiming to take inspiration from:

• A Clockwork Orange- Here the non diegetic contrapuntal orchestral string instruments, oppose the violent kicking and slashing of the main character with his counterparts. It uses the slow motion action, to elongate and accentuate the classical sound; almost condoning what the males are doing, and highlighting the insanity they experience.

• The Birds- Whilst the female protagonist, sits with a cigarette, tension is built as she spectates isolated birds instead of finding the flock behind here. During this action, especially once she discovers the birds behind her, there is a class of primary school children singing over the top: despite, the innocence of the children demonstrated in their pitches and volume, it adds a sinister aspect to the piece helping to build the tension. 

• American Psycho- Using 'Huey Lewis and The News' 'Hip to be Square' it demonstrates an alternative contrapuntal sound where the use of an optimistic song, with a distinctive rhythmic beat, determines the joy of the male in his killing, yet again recognises his insanity. The use of "Square" emphasises his happiness in being a contrasting character to the distinctive norm.

•  Layer Cake- Using a popular 80's pop piece 'Ordinary World' by 'Duran Duran' with electric guitar being the predominant instrumental influence, sorrow is depicted especially for the victims as they are both murdered at the same point: again the title of the song contradicts with the actions on screen as clearly from the scene we can distinguish that this world for these characters is the opposite of ordinary. 

• WATCHMEN- The use of the jazz tune "Unforgettable" by Nat King Cole, it juxtaposes with the action, fighting that elevates to torture and murder. The slow rhythm presents the sadness at the superhero's murder, whilst the lyrics depict his unforgettable legacy from saving humanity on numerous occasions. Its slow close demonstrates, the inevitable end and death of the male hero; its effect with this scene for the audience to demonstrate sorrow, one that is normally depicted since in fight scenes we usually expect the antagonist to win.

Considerations for producing a horror genre film opening

To achieve an effective finish for our film opening, we as group have to consider the various implications that could arise pre-production, whilst filming, and during the editing process.

I have explored the various aspects we need to include in order to create a successful opening, taking into account codes and conventions of the horror genres and sub genres - at this stage we have not yet decided on our sub genre. 

Music/ sound - the diegetic and non-diegetic sound must be effective for the piece. In order to achieve this, we need to pick appropriate sounds for the sound scape, such as an eerie ambient sound for any characters involved, incidental music and volume control to set the atmosphere. If the sound is weak or ineffective, the piece have less impact and not depict a real horror opening - tension needs to rise and we want apprehension to build via the music used. 

Location - although currently undecided, the location should be strong and denote a place of fear. The area will bring setting, atmosphere and visually effect each scene, so this is really important to get right. Some ideas we have for a phycological sub genre are hospitals, or dark abandoned tunnels, outside at night. 

 

Saw

The Exorcist

Costumes and characters - to produce a really successful opening, skilled actors are required to portray a convincing role. We want to form a strong character(s) who can really connect to the audience. Especially for horror genres, good acting combined with costume can show the large difference between something that is quite amateur or weak (a running screaming girl) compared with a truly petrified or possessed human being, who is almost monster like and uncontrollable. 

Lighting - for the horror genre in particular, low key lighting, hard lights and bottom lighting are commonly used. This is to achieve a menacing, eerie, dark textured image, so we plan to incorporate these styles to help give a sense of time and place, and to set a sinister atmosphere. If the wrong type of lighting is used it may take away the professionalism of the piece. 

Bottom lighting used in Insidious

Narrative - we don't want to reveal too much information, as it's only an opening, therefore the short amount of time should provoke intrigue and interest, but still leave some mystery to the story for people to want to continue watching. For the opening to be strong, we need to devise a sequence which would suggest continuity and to make the opening seem more realistic, projecting meaning and intrigue for the audience, leaving lots to confusion, mystery and anticipation (this is important for the horror genre as it ignites the watchers attention, which we need to happen in order to make an impact). 

Deconstruction of '28 Days Later' Opening Scene as a Monster Horror.

For me, the opening scene of 28 Days Later clearly demonstrates many of the key conventions that are expected from a monster horror. At this point the only backstory we have is a rage virus being released and after 28 days, a carrier patient (Jim) wakes up from a coma. I chose to deconstruct and break this film opening down to illustrate the concepts used when making a monster horror (in this case, the monster being zombies).
Sound:
In the background throughout this scene, there is a low and quiet soundtrack playing which helps to build suspense and give the film an ominous theme to it, this ties in with the genre as horror films need tension/suspense to foreshadow what is to come.
Jim's desperation is shown when he calls out and the echo that follows shows his loneliness from the world as there is no contact with anyone else at this point, this builds tension as no one would want to be in a situation where you are on your own.
Location:
Another technique of note is the location that has been used. In the vast majority of zombie horror films, the location will be either an isolated and empty cottage house/outback forest area where human activity is at a complete minimum. In this scene, Central London has been portrayed as trashed and abandoned. The contrast from a city filled with life and constantly being kept clean going to empty streets covered in litter. To carry this out, streets were blocked off and collected bags of trash were used to cover the streets.
Camera Shots:
A lot of the shots in this scene are extreme long shots apart from those used to show Jim's facial expression, which are all medium shots. By using the extreme long shots, thereby making Jim appear small and insignificant, the weight of the situation is expressed. By showing a now empty city, an ominous atmosphere is created and tense as we wait to see some other sign of life that we are deprived from in this scene.