Initial Ideas for Costume and Makeup

From my research into makeup and costume I came up with the ideas that I will use a female lead to in some ways go against the conventions of the Proppian character of the Villian as they are more often than not a male.
In terms on makeup I tried to achieve a pale face look using a small amount of white face paint. I found in certain films like 'The Others' this was very effective and common in psychological thriller films so continued this convention in my own film.

 In addition to this, I applied dark browns, blacks and reds to create a really 'tired look' to convey the idea that she is almost dead-like. This idea was inspired by my research and the film 'Gothika' in which the main character had very dark circles under her eyes and I found this suitable for the genre therefore recreated it when coming up with the ideas for my charcter.






The costume was a very simply process due to the fact that in my research none of the costumes were extravagant and just featured a long white/blue dress or gown. I found this in the psychological thriller film 'Gothika', 'Shutter Island' and the thrilling series 'American Horror Story: Asylum'.
Personally, this was very daunting and creepy. I also feel like this would fit perfectly within my opening sequence so the costume I used was a white/blue hostpital gown. Likewise, this will also help the audience to understand the narrative from the use of this type of costume and understand that she is in an Asylum/Hostpital.

Initial Ideas for my Font and Title

Here I have found 8 possible ideas of the font that will feature in my opening sequence. In order to decide which one will be the most effective I will show this to my focus group to get the reponse directly from my target audience.
I thought these examples of font were the most ideal to portray that the film is based upon a mentally challenged young girl and that it is a psychological thriller film.
As for the title, I feel like this name creates a great deal of mystery. However, I will be asking the focus group how they feel about the title and if it is suitable for the film.

Costume and Makeup Research

In order to create my costume and makeup idea I researched psychological thrillers in which followed a similar story to my initial ideas, for example an 1920's setting and featuring characters who find themselves in an asylum.
I researched the psychological thrillers that are: the Silence of the Lambs, The Others, Shutter Island, American horror story: Asylum and Gothika.

Through researching both costume and makeup within this genre it allowed me to understand that makeup isn't very intense and it very minimalistic, usually featuring dark circles under the eyes and a very pale face, I like this idea of a dead, basic look and will hopefully achieve this makeup look when creating the look of my character.

As for costume, again nothing too much is standing out in all of these films. The colour of the costumes consist of one colour and it seems like white/blue is a common convention. The costume in the pictures above show the costume as being dirty and hospital like which I want to continue through my opening sequence.

Due to the fact that we have chosen for our film to take place in the 1920's-1930's the old fashioned costume will help us get across to our target audience that our film is set in the past. The 'old fashioned' look is composed of simple, dull, vintage clothing which can be seen in the psychological film 'The Others'. 

Target Audience small Feedback

As a group we came up with a small selection of question to ask to a small number of target audience in order to get their opinion and feedback on our initial ideas of our opening sequence and film idea. We identified that there was a slight confusion with the name ‘The Subject’, this will definitely be an area in which we focus on and improve.

However, we believe we could create a bigger focus group consisting a wide range of males and females and a bigger group of people in order to get more detail and more input into our ideas. We also realise a few questions wasn’t enough to get the response we wanted. So again decided to become much more prepared and ask our next focus group their opinions on fonts, costume, location ideas and makeup ideas. By doing so it will make it much easier to decide what needs to be changed in our initial ideas.

Research into Font

Usually, the fonts that film companies chose and revolve around the plot line of the film. Examples of this is ‘Saw’ where the ‘w’ is in the form of small spikes which represent the saw itself.

Another example is ’The Ring’ (a psychological horror film). The font referring to the child due to the fact it is in a childlike written font.

Other film companies tend to use more common font, this may not have the same impact as other font. However, when combined with colour and effects even the more simply fonts can be effective. Eg. ‘the Grudge’

case studies:

Psycho: the font which is shown on the ‘Psycho’ poster is almost like broken glass which suggests the broken wave lengths of someones brain proposing the idea of a ‘psycho’.

By doing this broken glass effect it makes it much easier for the audience to recognise the font which makes synergy and cross media platforming much easier.

The yellow colour of the font matches the women in the key image which because it is so big compared to anything else on the poster catches the audiences eye and suggests for the film that she is the ‘psycho’ giving the audience a hint as to the narrative

The other charcaters which feature in the poster are in red which connotes gore and danger, protraying a negative appraoch for these characters.

Orphan: the font of the ‘Orphan’ resembles a childs writing, jagged with edges which makes the font much more eerie. On the poster for the orphan it is put over the top on the child who we associate with innocence and purity, however this font throws those stereotypes away and makes her come across as frightening and strips her innocence.

This is help when it comes to my initial ideas for my original fonts for my film. As a group we have decided that for now we feel the name ‘Subject 13’ would be well suited for our film. We are yet to decide how we will show this as a font but this research has given me many ideas in which I’d like to portray the film through its font.

Initial Ideas

From all my group and I's research and planning we have come up with our first initial ideas for our psychological horror film. We are using this as a guide towards our filming but our ideas will not stay fixed. Our ideas might change due to our materials such as our camera and tripod, this might not allow us to achieve the things we want out of our opening sequence. Also further research into our genre might chnage our ideas on our narrative theory and camera work ideas.

Framing and Composition, Camera position and movement in the Opening Sequence of 'The Silence of The Lambs'

At the beginning of the opening sequence of ‘Silence of the Lambs’ the frame is symmetrical and is deep focused. By putting the entire image in focus it makes the opening calm and tranquil, making the audience laid back and settled (0.02). A tracking/Steadicam shot is also used within the same time period giving the audience a detailed tour on following the character and understand the character herself.

In order to establish the scene a pan is used (0.14 – 0.26). this is followed on with a zoom (0.35) this magnifies the image of the character’s convocation making the audience feel much more involved than if the camera wasn’t as close. This then leaves a close up of the individuals face (0.45) but leaves headspace for the character allowing us as an audience to clearly see his facial expression which seems to be a very curious expression allowing the audience to have some sort of suspicion for this character.

A tilt takes place (0.48), this camera movement allowing the audience to see what is located on the tree to follow and create understanding of the film.

The camera is static (1.16) and features the rule of thirds. This allows the audience to see the setting in which the film takes place and identify with the location.

The framing od shallow focus is shown (1.31) this places the audience’s attention on this character’s face to highlight her rushed expression making the audience in fascination into where she is going. This is also a head on shot to see the full scene from in front of her instead of behind her which is what the majority of the previous scenes were.

Tracking (1.39) and panning (1.46) is very common in this opening sequence and features at the end of this opening sequence in order for the audience to see the props in this scene and allows us to follow the character which makes the audience realise the importance of this character and the huge impact she’ll play within this film.

By researching the framing and composition, camera position and movement of a genre which is the same as the one I have chosen, it will give me an idea of the most common and ideal shots to use when filming my own opening sequence.

Analysis of a Psychological Horror: Insidious

How does this media text use media language to communicate and appeal to its target audience?

At the beginning of Insidious, a psychological horror movie, the opening sequence is very dark but features a lamp light, an artificial light creating a single source of light, which spins round to suggest a separation between light and dark connoting the idea of binary opposition between good and evil which establishes the narrative for the rest of the film. This source of light creates shadows following the typical conventions of a horror movie and creates tension for the audience. The lighting throughout is low key suggesting the setting is very mysterious. In some shots there is only certain parts of the room highlighted and the rest is black connoting death and introducing the fear of the unknown. With the key light, it is almost as if something is hidden, creating more elements of mystery and also following the conventions of horror films. Also, for the audience more fear is created. This image uses shallow focus which emphasise on this one image over everything else in the background, this makes us think of the importance of this simple lamp shade and also how significant establishing the narrative is.

Furthermore, in the opening sequence there is non-diegetic sound the transitions of this edit is rhythmic match as the music matches the eerie feel of the house shown in the opening sequence. The low pitch almost scream like becomes much more high pitched when we first see the shadow, through the use of string instruments like violins. By doing this it emphasises the shock of seeing the shadow and creates an eerie atmosphere for the audience. This empathetic sound complements the shallow focus put on the ghostly women who is wearing a veil, blurring the sight of her facial expression and her all black old fashioned costume which frightens the audience as black connotes darkness and death, by doing this it creates more of a scaring impact for the audience. The title of the film appears again with the same high pitched violin music to make the audience jump by catching them off guard, this being an asynchronous sound creating further tension for the audience as they can hear this piercing sound but don’t know where it is coming from. This leaves the audience uneasy and on edge due to the influence the music has. This appeals to the target audience of 16-25 year olds, mostly being males of all ethnicities who find pleasure with horror films. This would target and engage them as creating suspense is a convention of horror movies therefore these people would find enjoyment in this opening sequence.

The setting of this scene took place within a family home and we see multiple different rooms using a handheld camera to create a sense of realism for the audience. Because the rooms are full of low key and filler lighting, from artificial lighting of lights within the house and some natural lighting from moonlight from outside, it makes the audience feel very uncomfortable because this lighting creates shadows which can be seen for example in this image and shadows are associated with evil and darkness in which panics the audience. In addition to this it spooks them due to the fact that it turns everyday household places we class as safe into scary, paranormal places which helps the audience connect with the film and also provides them with a sense of practicality. The rule of thirds is recognised here, this is done to create more tension and interest.

Moreover, the whole opening it sets the scene for the audience and tell them where the film is taking place. However, a close up shot / head and shoulder shot is used on the ghost like women to zoom into her face which is lit with a candle. This star lighting creates shadows and allows us to focus solely on her face to draw the audience into the qualities of her face and builds up enigma. Likewise, it gives us as an audience chance to identify the costume which looks as if she is wearing a black veil and dark old fashioned clothing, this connotes that she is evil and dead like, for the film this gives the audience an idea of the narrative that this character poses the threat towards the innocent looking boy who is alone in his bed in the previous shot. The fact that there is no sound makes the audience scared of the unknown and the fear of what’s going to happen.

Another connotation to this is the fact that when the boy is in his bed a spotlight is put on him through side lighting. This creates shadows all around him suggesting that evil and badness surround him launching idea of the narrative to teh audience that he eventually begins to be engulfed in the shadows of these spirits that surround him. This makes the audience feel worried and scared to what is going to happen to this harmless boy. As for the spotlight it shows that he is a very guiltless and innocent character and in terms of Proppian characters he is the victim, however the women in black is clearly portrayed as being the villain.

The editing within this opening sequence is very slow and almost relaxed panned by the camera which for the audience makes them nervous and on edge. It also gives them a chance to take in the setting and creates more mystery within the beginning of the film. The editing of the title of ‘insidious’ is in a dark red font connoting demons and death for the film which gives us another insight into the narrative. This would appeal to the target audience’s psychographics as the film would feature demons / ghosts. Besides this the title also flickers which create imagery of a fire underneath which creates more shadowing, once again fulfilling the conventions of a horror film. In addition, it connotes to hell and devils which communicates to the audience that it is based upon supernatural events and the film is a petrifying and chilling film, appealing to those with psychographics of enjoyment of being scared.

By analysing an opening sequence which fits into the same genre, psychological horror, to the sequence I will produce it gives me inspiration and ideas to include within my own opening sequence. Not only this but it gives me a wider understanding of the conventions for this particular genre which I can include and incorporate into my own work.