Music Research

Music in a film plays a major part as it reflects what is happening and has a huge impact on the audience.For our film opening we need some sort of background music to add to the suspense of the stalker-(Billy) following the dancer(Elle).We have been told we need to create the music ourselves using GarageBand so we have been researching the type of music we want. There are four types that we particular like;






Although this piece of music has a voice over it, it still fitted well with our film opening as it consisted of drums violins and pianos. All these added to the suspense and reflected the happenings in the film opening and we played this piece over our work and it worked really well.







We also discovered the Saw music and found that this fitted even better ! It added suspense like Massive Attack but this piece did not have a voice over so it was more effective. Also, where the chase actually begins and the characters begin to run, the music builds up to add to the tension of this scene.



Rihanna's latest released song really appealed to us as we thought it would make great background music to our film opening. We also played this piece over our work and found that it also created suspense as it consisted of loud heavy beat drums.




Emma came across this song my Eminem and told us all about it. We thought this could be another one of our background music options as you can actually hear a music box being wound up and this reflects one of our scenes. Also, if the lyrics are muted the rest of the song is the sound of a music box which reflects our title.

These four are the first four pieces of music we have come across during our research and I am sure we will discover some more to add to our option list. We are hoping to use aspects of all the music we have researched so far and on GarageBand create a piece of music that will reflect our idea and create suspense successfully.

Paranormal Activity

Yesterday on 07/12/09 me and about 10 other girls from my media class and Ms Foster all went to the cinema to watch Paranormal Activity. I wanted to watch this film anyway and seen as though Ms Foster had suggested we all go as part of our research I thought I would go along.

Once the film had started the first 10 minutes which are supposed to grab my attention did the completely opposite as I was beginning to lose interest and found it quite boring. It was in high key lighting so did not scare me at all and I was quite disappointed. But as I had seen the trailer beforehand, there was the bedroom shot which was evident throughout the film and as this shot came on screen I instantly became scared as I knew something scary was going to happen.

Most of the scary scenes happened in the bedroom shot at night and as it was in nightmode it added to the whole scary effect. The thrillers began mildly and gradually built up night after night until it reached the end that was so scary I was screaming out loud and jumped out my seat !

The first few bedroom shots were just the couple sleeping but no scary action, the reason for this was that they wanted to build the suspense so that when something does happen it appears shocking. The first scare was when the bedroom door shut slowly. Then it gradually built up with faster door slamming, heavy breathing, footsteps and shadows. The ones that I found the scariest were when Katie was dragged out of bed by the demon, when the footprints were seen in the powder and when Katie was standing watching Mika for hours and hours. I found this creepy as it made me think why she was doing it as it was really strange ! The footsteps were effective as it was revealed slowly by the use of a light. When Katie was dragged out of the bed I found it really scary but as Sophie was already laughing I ended up laughing as well!

The build up and suspense as to what was going to happen next was effective as whenever the bedroom shot came up I was guessing what was going to happen next as I had gathered that the scary action was going to increase night after night.

However, the camera angles were shaky and unsteady to show a real life home made video and although it portrayed this idea well it was annoying and uncomfortable to watch. The editing was also appalling as I mentioned to Ms Foster and she said it was meant to be like that but it annoyed me as I am currently in the process of editing our two minute film and we want it to perfection but there editing was terrible.

Everything the audience sees on screen is what is being filmed by Mika so if he is not holding the camera filming then we do not see what is happening. During one of the night scenes, Mika and Katie hear a noise and go downstairs as they are curious as to what it is. When Mika was heading downstairs trying to find the demon or some trace of it everything is seen through the video camera and the camera is used as a light source. I was constantly shouting 'Put the light on!' as it made it increasingly scary as we did not know what was to appear on screen next as we relied on the light source.

The end was the scariest as it was jumpy and I definitely found it jumpy as I jumped out my seat, screamed out loud and even scratched Ms Foster ! It also left us on a cliff hanger as the text appeared on the screen at the end with 'Katie's whereabouts still remain unknown' , this sent shivers up my spine...and then the lights came on ! The whole group had mixed opinions about it, some girls were saying ' That was so rubbish! ' whereas the likes of me and Trisha were still shocked by the end and Ms Foster was frozen !

I suppose it is the type of film that you either love or hate-I definitely loved it. For a low budget film that only took $10,000 dollars to make it is one of the scariest films I have ever watched.From watching this film I have learnt that buliding suspense throughout a film then ending with a shocking ending and a cliffhanger has such an effect on the audience.

Research:Lighting and Sound

In the outside scenes of our film it will be nightime so the type of lighting will be low key lighting. This is because it is a thriller film and adds a feeling of mystery, builds suspense and makes it appear spooky.

When the man is typing on the typewriter, he will be in a pitch black room so that the idea of darkness runs throughout the film. So that the text is visible there will be a spotlight moving along the text on the paper this will be achieved by the use of a torch. We are thinking of perhaps using a red sweet rapper in front then shining the light so that it produces a red light and will support the idea of thriller as it will bring about connotations of murder and blood.

There is a scene where the girl gathers that she is being followed and so has a flashback on what she has previously seen, this will be presented in sepia mode as it will represent the fact that it happened in the past.This will be achieved by the use of imovie during the editting process.

When the girl is running along the Enfield Town bridge, there are vibrant lights that run along the outside edge of it and change throughout the night. This will make the bridge appear dominant against the nightime and will be the main focus in that scene.

Sound plays a major part in a film as it is the key to building up suspense. So, when the music box appears in the scene it will play the music it produces. During the other shots, there will be a haunted music box song playing in the background which I have included further down in my blog posts. We will use this example as an inspiration and we hope to produce something similar on GarageBand.

Towards the end when she realises she is being followed, there will be rapid transitions when she flashbacks in sepia mode which will have a sharp sound on each changing transition to reflect the rapidness.On the bridge when she turns around there will be the sound of a fast heartbeat in the background to show her fear.

Research:Props

Our film will include a limited amount of props:

• The Music Box=This is the main prop in the film as it symbolises the psychotic mans presence and will be used at several different times in the film.Also, our film is named after this significant prop.

• A newspaper=This will be read by the psycho man on a bench in the park. The purpose of this is to hide his face so that only his eyes are visible and so that the audience do not have a clear visualisation of him and so adds mystery and suspense.

• A typewriter=Plays a significant part in the film as it is the first prop the audience see and so should grab their attention. The purpose is to show the title of our film, tell a story and show the closing credits. We decided to pick a typewriter rather than a computer/laptop because the way the text comes up on the paper along with the sound it makes when the typewriter returns for a new line makes it immensely creepy.

Research: Actors and Costumes

In our production have three characters:

• The main character who is a female in her late teens, she is a ballet dancer and the victim.This role will be played either by Emma Kozlowski or Elle Hutchkinson who are two girls in my group. Throughout the film, they will be wearing the same outfit which will be a ballet outfit; a leotard, tu tu, tights and ballet shoes. The reason for wearing the same outfit throughout is to show continuity. The outfit will be the same one as the ballet dancer is wearing in the music box so when we do the fade in/out shot it will be very effective.

• The next character is the psychotic man and will be played by a male in his late teens. He will not be presented directly and the audience only see parts of his body. He will be wearing black attire to make him dominant as he is in a block colour and a hooded top so that his face is not visible. He will also be wearing significant black gloves that will hide his identity.

• Our final character will be played by Sophie Mcnamara another girl in my group and will play the role of the next victim of the psychotic man. She will also be wearing a ballet outfit but obviously a different coloured one. The pastel colours of the outfit will symbolise her innocence as she is the next victim.

Research on locations

For our film production we will need several locations to show the places the main character walks through on her journey home.

The first scene will be of the typwriter and will be filmed in a pitch black room.

Then, there will be a scene in a bedroom with the man on the typewriter.

The first scene in the flashback will be in a car with the man winding up the music box on the dashboard.

This then blends into a ballet studio surrounded by mirrors and will be filmed at Bodens Studio & Agency.

The next location will be outside Enfield Grammar Lower School and the focus will be on the ballet girl walking down the steps.

She will then begin her journey home where she first walks through Enfield Town Park by the lake.

This will then lead to a Jack The Ripper style alleyway which is situated in Central London.

The next location will be on a set of escalators with one ascending and the other descending and will be filmed at a London Tube Station.

Finally, the last scenes will be filmed in the multi storey car park in Enfield Town in a lift and across the bridge that connects the car park and shopping centre.

We are then brought back to the scene with the typewriter in the bedroom.

To finish the production the final scene will be back in Enfield Town park by the lake.

Research for typewriter shot

During my research on how we could incorporate the typewriter in our production I came across this advert which is advertising MasterCard. The typewriter includes a shot at 0.06 seconds and although it is completely irrelevant it is exactly the kind of shot we are after for the opening credits to illustrate our title, 'The Music Box' and for our closing credits.

When we include the typewriter as the first scene of our production we hope to achieve a shot like this because it is a point of view shot and does not include the fingers of the person typing. Together with the content of the film and the sound it will add suspense and present the thrilling scene that we are hoping to portray to prepare the audience for the rest of the film.

The typewriter idea will be portrayed through the type of shot I previously mentioned as well as the following type below. This is a music video and on 1:17 minutes for about two seconds it includes the idea that we want for overlapping the text from the typewriter onto the flashback for a few scenes.

Sound research

During my research on sound I came across this piece of music which instantly grabbed my attention.



I found this piece of music particularly creepy and eerie because it is quite high pitched and has a distinctive rhythm.

Me and my group took great interest in this piece of music and we will use it as an influence as the music for the music box in our film opening and we hope to produce something similar on GarageBand.

Researching a target audience

Whilst deciding on a target audience for our film opening I researched a few thrillers and their target audiences. I researched; Prom Night, Final Destination 2 and Black Christmas.



This is the trailer to Prom Night and shows how a typical teenage prom turns into a living nightmare as a psycho man who is obsessed with females comes to kill a girl.




This is the trailer to Final Destination 2 and shows how a young woman experiences a premonition and tries to escape death. It is an ordinary day and she is driving when she has the premonition.




This is the trailer to Black Christmas and shows a group of teenage girls in a house together on Christmas eve. One of them is kidnapped in the house and the kidnapper gradually kidnapps and kills them all.

All three of these thrillers are aimed at teenagers and young adults as the actors that play in them are young adults and teenagers. So the target audience are attracted to these type of films as they feel they can refer to them because themselves and the actors are within the same age group.

So, because our film opening has a female teenager as the main character we have decided to aim our film opening at the teenage/young adult age group as they will be attracted to it, able to refer to it and so therefore will enjoy it to the maximum.

The Art of the Title Sequence

http://www.school-video-news.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=453:the-art-of-the-title-sequence&catid=44:edit-post-production&Itemid=111

I visited this website and read the interview by the two people who created a website on the key points about opening credits and I learnt many key points that make the opening credits to a film effective.

I took these into account so that I can carry them forward and include them in my own opening two minute to a film. They said that it needs to be original and clever with a lot of thought put into it. Also, rather daring and challenging to grasp the viewer immediately so that they have a positive attitude towards the rest of the film.

To add to the effectiveness it should tell a story either straight away or in an abstract way and delve into the core of the story without relvealing too much.

The first few minutes can do many different things, it can either draw us into the film immediately or lead us away giving us a negative view for the rest of the film. So it is immensely important that the first few minutes are the most effective as they function as a key to the rest of the film.

I have taken all these considerations into account and will be definately carrying them forward to help me and my group create effective and successfull opening credits that achieve all these criterias.

Thriller and Chick flick genre

Thriller films are types of films known to promote intense excitement, suspense and tension. A thriller film pursues a single minded goal to provide thrills and to keep the viewer cliffhanging as the plot builds towards a climax.
The tension ususally arises when the main character is placed in a menacing situation or mystery, or an escape or dangerous mission from which escape seems impossible.Plots of thrillers involve characters which come into conflict with each other-the menace is sometimes abstract ot shadowy.
Within the genre thriller there are many different types for example, suspense thrillers(Taken),sci-fi thrillers(Alien), crime-caper thrillers(The french connection), western thrillers(High noon), film-noir thrillers(Double indemnity) and romantic comedy thrillers(Safety Last).


Chick flick films sometimes known as romantic comedies is slang for a type of film asually aimed at a female audience. They usually consist of heavy emotions and themes that are relationship based, they are also commonly known for being melodramatic and soap-opera-ish. Most chick flick films are light hearted and comical, but sometimes some suspense films fall under this genre for example, What lies beneath.
They also consist of mis matched lovers, female relationships, family crisis', empowered females and female bonding situations.