Backing Tracks

Firstly, I decided to look at common types of instruments/sounds which are used in supernatural horror.
I particularly liked this sound as its echo effect is effective for supernatural horror as it gives the impression of distortion. As well as this, the whisper is also effective as it helps to add a mysterious and sinister atmosphere. I also liked the low pitched piano keys as it creates a harsh sounds and further adds to the sinister atmoshpere. Whilst the symphonies help to create an innocent child-like impression, I feel as though the singing takes away from the suspisious atmosphere which we are trying to create in out opening.

Religious Backing Tracks-Church Scene

As we want a song for the church scene, I decided to look for a backing sound which could be used for this.

I feel as though, if played at a low volume, this could be effective in our Church scene as the low pitched chant gives a more sinister portrayal. Also, this alongside our location and priest, further subverts common conventions and would be more effective for our audience when they discover that the priest is the antagonist.

I feel as though with is clip, we could manipulated this to make it seem more sinister. For example, similarity to the above, we could add an effect to make this more echo-y and slowed down in order to make it sound more distorted, which would therefore allow us to conform to supernatural stereotypes.

Finding background music

My task was to find and manipulate background music to our film opening originally we found a child singing and when we put it to the footage that we had edited it did not fit very well. Another idea that we had was to find s child singing hymns as it would be appropriate for the genre and work well as we have a priest in our film opening. But we could not find any legal free background sounds like this so I then looked for background music that was eerie and would work well with the visuals that we had. 


I found a website which provided this. I then downloaded the sound and layered it over our footage. 

The music did not need any manipulation as  it seemed to fit the footage very well. I also found another sound effect from the same website to add to the flashbacks. The sounds work well together. 

The strangers deconstruction

At the begining of the sequence there is heavy breathing which puts the audience on edge as they know that the main character is scared. The diegetic clangs of metal which start at 0:09 get more frequent which heightens suspence as you do not know where they are coming from.  There is an eerie sound at 0:48 which builds in volume and foreshadows what is about to happen. It is suddenly a lot louder when she put the knife into the curtain which conveys danger to the audience. There are a few moments of complete silence which contrasts with the sharp metal noise which has been amplified and the scream. The hand banging on the window at 1:12 is contrapuntal to the scene. 

The diegetic music that turns on has a very old fashioned repetitive style which paired with the deep knocking is quite effective in freaking out the audience. The  noise of the locks opening at 1:23 plays on the audiences idea of safety and is very relatable. Before the door opens there is a very deep noise which could represent the dark nature of the being/person behind it. From 1:36 onwards the eerie music builds from earlier in the sequence. The knocking that you hear at 1:59 is a lot more human like and less mencing, but the audience would find it hard to differentiate between the two. The shriek in the main characters voice shows her despertness and want for normality. The music on the record player slowly increases in volume before abruptly cutting out.

Creating sounds

We could use the creaky chair as a diegetic noise in our film as we have the main character being tied a chair. The noise could show her struggle. The heaving breathing would be useful in the forest scenes as we want to show her to be very agitated. We could also use the wind blowing to give an eerie feel to the woods scenes layering the sounds over each other would work well. I would also like to use a high pitch sound but would need to find an online sound for this. We would also need to make sure that the sounds would be able to be converted from sound cloud into a format that final cut pro can use.

Woman in black deconstruction

The scene starts with a high pitch neighing sound of a horse which puts the audience on edge as a common convention of supernatural horrors is that animals have a sixth sense. You can see that Mr Kipps is agitated and the audience empathise with him. It is very dark in the house as it set at night, with only the the light of candles as in the time period there would not be electrical lamps. The fact that Mr Kipps has a axe with him suggests that he is afraid. His loud footsteps are parallel to the silence that you hear which makes them seem more pronounced and harsher.  The house is very large and quite dirty which is a common convention of supernatural horrors. 

The weather is contrapuntal to the scene as there are occasional booms of thunder and the rain reflects the emotions of Mr Kipps throughout the whole film. When the high pitch non-diegetic sound starts the sound of the rain decreases, this means that the audience focus more on this sound. It is unnerving because Mr Kipps can see something mysterious in the distance. 

The scream that you hear is not expected which makes the audience jump. The sound is very short but sounds quite pained. The heavy breathing of Mr Kipps also foreshadows this. As the figure gets closer the non-diegetic high pitch sound builds in volume.   

The barking of the dog is very worrying and keeps the tension high. The metal doorknob banging together is quite ominous. There is also a low pitched non-diegetic sound which adds to the drama. Mr Kipps tone of voice is very agitated. 

Sound Effects

My task was to find several sound that could be used in our opening to contribute to the effect of our chosen supernatural horror genre. I found this hard as without the final clip being edited, it is tricky to work out which particular sounds are needed, and also what may and may not work. I found and manipulated three different sounds, one which sounds like demon 'music', the second is an eerie song sung by a young girl and the final is a demonic scream which was achieved by layering and manipulating sounds.

To create a demonic scream I was able to layer different sounds to create the final product. I used the sound of demons growling, layered with other distorted and un-natural sounds, before finally layering the sound of a pig 'screaming' to make a disturbing demonic scream. I manipulated the sounds by adding an 'echo' effect to the demon sounds, before adding a 'large room' effect to the pig scream to distort it.


The 'demon music' could be used throughout the whole of the opening clip, to give a disturbing audio element. It can be played quietly so other sounds can be added over it, as it creates a distressing mood which adds to the supernatural horror genre. I manipulated the music by adding an 'echo' effect, which distorts the sound and allows it to sound more unrealistic and therefore more disturbing (linking to the supernatural horror genre.)


The non-diegetic audio of the little girl singing is the most effective. This is because children are a symbol of innocence and youth, and the use of them to represent evil is un-nerving. The little girl singing links well to the young girl used in our film opening. I manipulated the girl singing by using a 'muffled' effect, to make it sound quieter yet more sinister.

Creating suspence with sound

I created this clip using iMovie. Originally I tried to use the effects that come with imovie but you could not elongate the clip or have it appear more than once in the video, I had to use sound clips downloaded from the internet. I downloaded the effects and dragged and dropped just dropped them over the top of the video file. I then adjusted the audio clips: how much they faded in or out and the volume which they moved towards. I then just copied and pasted the sound clips to where they were supposed to be, to make the sound seamless you overlap the clips and get rid of the fade in and out so that it sounds like one continuous sound all the way through. To get rid of background sound you select the clip and go the inspect and the audio settings and put the background sound to 0%. This means that you can film with background sound and it will not appear in your sequence which will make it very professional.

Diegetic Sound

In our final preparations prior to filming, I have decided to make some diegetic sounds which we may have to use as we don't plan to use any background noise from our actual filming, therefore we will need to remake some of these diegetic sounds.

Running in Leaves

 To create this sound I have bunched together several plastic shopping bags and scrunched them with my hands.

Heavy Breathing/Gasps

Heart Beating

Evaluation

If I were to do this again, I would try to be more creative with how I made the sounds, for example, by using a range of different objects to create the heart beat sound. As well as this, I would also try and make the sounds more defined, for example, when making the sound for running in leaves, I would have liked to have manipulated the plastic bags so that it sounded more as though it was footsteps.

Editing Practice

Editing Practice

As a group we have practiced using iMovie to edit our pre-lim, which we found quite easy.  Although we have found out recently that finalcut editing software is much better to use because it has many more settings and gives a more professional outcome.  So before we use finalcut to edit our real film opening, I wanted to practice using it to get a feel for the software.  

 Once I had imported the first clip I realised that it was too dark so I went onto the side bar for colouring.  First I put up the exposure and then decreased the saturation lightly to create a darker tone for the horror genre.   I also wanted there to be no background noise so I went on the audio option and made background noise removal 100%.

I wanted to add some slightly sinister background noise to the clip so I went onto music and sound and eventually found an appropriate sound called Bass FX D3. .After editing the size of the clip using the blade tool the clip was an appropriate length, was visible and had effective sound. 

I then wanted to practice creating a flashback for our film opening.  So using the transitions side tab I picked the flash transition.  This looked effective as a conventional flashback.  I then layered some audio beneath it of a flash.  I also merged the two audios so the cut between them as not too harsh. 

I then imported the second clip and dragged it onto the timeline. Then using the blade tool I cut it down to the length I wanted it.  Next I experimented with multiple audios to find a "Cardboard box packing" sound which simulated normal movement in a home, then a gasp and boom when the camera went up to the ceiling.  After listening I saw this was not enough sound and so I layered another metal and glass crashing onto the clip.

                                                                              After importing and cutting down the last clip I added audio of a woman's heavy breathing to make the POV shot more realistic.  I also put in running footsteps audio to increase the realism. At this point I also put in walking footsteps into the first clip to match.  Then to end on a scary tone I put in thunder audio to give the shot an ominous feel.

To evaluate I think that the editing process went quite smoothly and I enjoyed experimenting with all the different audios.  I came across some technical problems because I am not very experienced in using finalcut but these problems will go in time.  One downfall of this practice is when I had saved and uploaded the video, the sound was not as loud as it was on the software.  I will have to look at this when we come to editing our final piece as not all the layers can be heard.

Sound Deconstruction

Sinister:

1. The first thing which is heard  is a creaking sound, which at first, is put alongside plain black screen, so that the audience are unaware of what is going on and therefore creates a mysterious atmosphere.
2. Next, a continuous higher pitched  piano-like sound is heard, before subtle organ/string like instruments are added to create an eerie sound
3. This is then accompanied by a sudden loud non diegetic sound of a thud-like noise as the projection of the victims are shown.
4. The contrasting loud 'thud' and high pitched eerie sound repeatedly fade in and out, with each increasing in length the more they reappear which also helps to create the eerie sound.
5.  As we see the victims being hanged there is a short pause before the eerie sound continues.
6. When the victims reach the top of the tree, the thud-like sound appears louder than before which could be to startle the audience.
7. After this, the non-diegetic sounds which can be heard is more faint and slower as the diagetic sound of the  projector 'humming' which reinforces the mysterious ambiance.
8. As the projector is turned off, the sound is cut out which is also alongside  plain black screen once again. 

Unborn:

1. At the beginning, there is a low and continuous non-diegetic sound, which is accompanied by a high pitched string and piano sound after a few seconds as an establishing shot is on screen, which has an inexpressive affect on the atmosphere. This immediately contrasts the mellow sound heard in the title scene prior to the opening. 
2. Next, a wind-like sound is heard as the camera zooms into a woman's face.
3. The diegetic sound of the woman's heavy breathing as she runs is merged with a low pitched sound which begins to create a sinister atmosphere for the audience.
   
   
4. Following on from this, there is a sudden louder drum like  low pitched sound with the addition of chimes when the lady sees the gloves which heightens this change in atmosphere.
5. As the audience see the mid shot of the boys face, violins are added to non diegetic sound
6. When the lady turn away and looks back to find a dog with a mask on, there is a sudden drum-like thus which again, could have had the purpose to scare audience members.
7. As she walks through the woods, the violin music is taken out and there is a continuous low hum like sound which adds the peculiar atmosphere as she moves into a more isolated area.
8. The instruments fade out as she picks up the mask.

Psycho Deconstruction

Genre: Thriller, Slasher, Horror, Mystery 

Camera Angles, Sound and Editing

The sequence opens with a mid shot of the female character which cuts into a close up shot of her getting into the shower. There is then a mid shot of her in the shower, which occasionally cuts to a point of view or close up of the shower head. There are the on-screen diegetic sounds of the door opening, getting in the shower and closing the shower curtain as these are all common sounds. The on-screen diegetic sound of the shower running continues throughout the whole sequence. This all builds a realistic scene that everyone can relate to, making the events that happen occur even more distressing. The scene begins to build tension and add suspense as it continues. 

The long shot of the shower allows the audience to see the approaching shadow through the curtain. The sudden drawing back of the curtain to reveal the murderer along with the non-diegetic high-pitch violin screeching is a frightening reveal to the audience, and links to the thriller and horror genre.

There is a close up shot as the girl screams (on-screen diegetic) which cuts to an extreme close up of her mouth. The are various straight cuts that build and get faster as the intensity of the scene begins to increase. The non-diegetic high pitch violin music increases throughout. There is a mid shot of the murderer with a knife which cuts to a high angle shot of her getting stabbed. This shot is blurred due to the fact that the certificate is a 15. The closeups of her face, the murderer and body parts along with the high angle of the blood in the water portrays the scene to the audience in a less obvious way, allowing the audience to use their imagination more, which is a common convention of the horror genre. There is the on-screen diegetic sound of the girl struggling and screaming as the non-diegetic music continues.

The mid shot of the back of the murder leaving the room keeps their identity concealed, which is a typical convention of horror movies, in which the villain is either revealed at the end (or sometimes never completely revealed.)

The extreme close up of the hand grabbing the bathroom wall combined with the mid shot of her sliding down it gives the 'deed is done' impression to the audience, who have just witnessed the vicious and distressing attack on the victim. Eventually the non-diegetic music deepens, which makes it sound much more sinister, adding to the disturbing mood and linking to the horror and thriller genre.

 

 

 

There is an extreme close up of the victim grabbing the shower curtain, which jump cuts to a high angle shot of her crippled and injured in the bath before returning to the shower curtain as it breaks when she tries to pull herself up. 

There is then a close up of her laying dead over the side of the bath. As the girl falls out of the bath the music slows down and gets quieter until it fades out, with just the diegetic shower and plug sound being heard as it has been the whole way through. 

A close up shot of her feet reveal blood being washed away in the water before there is a tilt shot to the plug hole. From there the camera begins to zoom into the plug hole, before a transitioning into the victims eye as the camera begins to zoom out again. 

The camera continues to zoom out until the dead girl is revealed, with only the diegetic sound of the shower being heard. There is then a panning shot to the door, and the sequence finishes.

The orphanage deconstruction

In the opening titles you hear this orchestral music which uses string instruments and has a very sad depressing feeling to it. The audience may be able to tell that this does not have a happy ending from this. There is also the ripping of wallpaper which gives the sound more depth and is very poignant, there is also some symbols added which creates a dark tone. The piano like music through out the beginning  builds suspense as it grows slightly louder as the sequence goes on. The pace of the non-diegetic the increases which gives the tone a sense of urgency.

The creaking of the old wooden floorboards create the idea that the house is old and it is more likely to inhabit demons than a younger house. The high pitch sound creates the sound of old equipment being used it does not put the audience at ease but peaks their interest about what is going to happen. As all the machines are turned on the non-diegetic orchestral sound builds. This creates suspense for the audience. The man's voice is very calming as it is soft in tone and slow in pace, which makes the audience feel at ease. When he is counting own you can hear non-diegetic orchestral sound which builds suspense as they  are about to go into the unknown. throughout you can hear breathing which unnerves the audience. There are strange echo-ey sounds which you hear that are never quite explained.  The children s voice are effective in scaring the audience as they do not know where they come from. The high pitch noises are synonymous with something strange happening to the equipment being used. The crying that you hear is very emotive for the audience as children are very vulnerable. while children are screaming there is a build up of an echo-ey sound which builds tension as it gets louder. This ends in a crescendo of orchestral music which is contrapuntal to the scene.

 

In  conclusion the orphanage uses very effective non-diegetic sounds that fit well with the tone of the film. The sounds are very appriopriate to the genre of the film and some of them could be easily recreated in our own film sequence. If you take away the sound from the film, it would not be very scary and sound is a very important feature in horror films.

Strikethrough

Title Scene

0.03

The beginning of the title scene introduced the audience to the production company with a background of an aerial shot of the setting for the opening scene. The shot also adds a sense of isolation (which would be appropriate for the genre of horror) as it is of the sea.

0.06

This is followed by the name of the editor with a background of several black and white pictures, which presents a psychological horror sub genre as the several  images make the antagonist seem obsessed. 

0.11

The cinematographer appears next with the background a close up shot of one of these images which show the antagonists obsession intensifying.





The following screenshots show the shots after this which all have similar backgrounds (which emphasises this obbsession) whilst presenting the actors as well as the producer and casting director.

0.15

0.30

0.18

0.26

The title scene ends with the directors name and a contrast in lighting from high key lighting to low key lighting. Again, obsession is highlighted here as the audience continues to see images of the same girl.

Sound

Throughout the title scene, there is a slow, continuous but unspecific sound as it is the instruments have little distinction which creates an ominous setting. This is juxtaposed with the fast paced drums which appear when we see the girl running.

The build up of suspense is highlighted even more in some areas of the beat as the fast paced drum rhythm in more rapid at some points as well as by the diegetic sound of the victim breathing heavily. As she is running, the rhythm is also shown to be in sync with the antagonists tapping on the desk which could be to heighten tension as well as to symbolize their control.

Furthermore, throughout the opening, there is a reoccurring eerie non diegetic sound of a high pitched string/violin sound layered with piano chords, which fades in and out of the music. This is on top of a string sound which starts off at a low pitch before quickly increasing in pitch.

Camera Angles/Movements

As the girl is running,the unsteady camera during the POV shot, heightens the suspense and sympathy for the victim. As well as this, the long shot of the girl running at the beginning of the opening, is framed with several branches which helps to add an isolated atmosphere and presents the victim as vulnerable.

Panning shot

tracking shot

Furthermore, there is a panning and tracking shot of the victim running which also helps to present obsession as it is as though the victim is unable to get away and as though she is being followed.

The mid shots showing the camera behind a bush as she runs past also helps to highlight the obsessive antagonist. The mid shot also showing the camera out of focus behind a gate also does this as it appears to be peering. I liked the way in which these camera angles have been used to creatively put across possession, also, some of these camera angles could be incorporate in our own opening scene to emphasize the tension in our supernatural horror opening.

Sound Task

My initial sound task was to produce a scream. After researching further, I realised that sounds surrounding the idea of demonic possession were more un-naturally disturbing. This is not something I had looked realised or looked into before, and so thought that it would be more productive to focus on this.

I made the door sound by slowly closing my bedroom door. I then made the demonic sound by breathing heavily and growling slightly into a glass vase. Before this I had tried many things to make different sounds, such as a guitar for a scream and a balloon as a squeaky door. 

I recorded several clips on my iPhone and uploaded the best couple onto iMovie. From here I was able to adjust the clips and create a simple way to showcase them.

I dragged the sounds from my documents to iMovie, and trimmed them to the length that I wanted them, for example I opened my door in various ways several times in one clip.

After this I made sure the door sound was first, as I decided to make it sound as though the source of the noise was entering the room, a demonic creature entering a child's bedroom for example. To enable it to be shared, I had to make it part of a video, and so I decided to use blank titles (T.)

 

I chose plain black, so the audience would pay much more attention to the sound than anything visual.

 The demonic sounds link directly to the supernatural horror genre, which would be disturbing and adds tension as is a convention of this particular genre. 

I added simple white text that reads 'Demonic Sounds' so people listening are able to understand and add context to what the video is trying to achieve.

Finally, I shared the video on Youtube. This enabled me to embed the final video onto the blog.

Here is the final video.

 

 I am pleased that:

•  I was able to create something that sounded appropriate and was effective for the intended purpose.

 To improve:

•  I could have included a scream somewhere, although I am not sure how I would make this sound. 
• I could change the pitch and tone of the sounds to see if anything worked better than what I have already done.

Film Opening Deconstruction: Drag Me to Hell

Genre: Thriller, Horror

0.01: The sequence opens with film title 'Drag Me To Hell'. The font is non-symetriacal with an off white colouring, making it look old. The corners are jagged and sharp, giving it the look of gothic perfection, yet the edges are uneven and letters are scratched. The text is bold and in capitals for emphasis, getting bigger to the sound of non-diegetic dramatic orchestral music.

0.09: The background fades to black and as the main actor's name 'Alison Lohman' appears, a variety of string instruments begin to play, creating an eery effect that links directly to the thriller/horror genre of the film. The music will also help to start and create an unsettled mood within the audience.

0.15: The black taking over a piece of lightly-coloured cloth can be the symbolism of evil taking over life, which would link directly to the genre. The credits continue to appear, with the supporting actor 'Justin Long' being shown next. It is in a white text against the dull and dirty coloured background.

0.20-0.24: The scene before leads up to the close-up of a traditional book, where the credits now appear as a product of the black 'smoke'. The use of a traditional book gives the audience an old and creepy feel due to the dark brown colouring and dusty texture, which can be un-nerving.

0.37: There is then a straight cut to the inside of the book. The first page shows a sinister demonic figure and a powerless lady. The use of black and yellow in the style of a classic book illustration makes it look more authentic. The credits continue to appear, all in the same style and colour of the main title.

0.43: The next page shows a demonic figure and a frightened lady, which looks like a traditional old illustration that depicted evil and demonic symbols and figures that became the topics of ancient myths and tales. The credits continue to change as the pages keep changing.

0.49: The panning shots across the pages act as a transition, with the black smoke sometimes guiding the way (or being used to fade out also as a way of transitioning between segments.) Straight cut edits are also used throughout the film as they are quick and effective to move to the next part of a sequence.

0.54: The audience are able to gain some information and background, for example- '3 days for the curse to develop'.  The black smoke reappears as the unnerving orchestral music continues, building suspense and tension which links to the genre.

1.03: The black smoke then creates a shape that is hand-like and pointy. The un-natural look of it can be distressing to the audience as it is unrealistic and a twisted version of reality, helping to create an un-settled mood surrounding the film and its events. 

1.15: The pages from the traditional old book are laid all over a dark and dusty cloth. This gives the impression that someone has been conducting research from that particular book, seeming as though they are trying to gain knowledge on a particular topic- demons and evil spirits (which links to the supernatural horror genre.)

1.27: The image of a fly is significant as it is a commonly known dirty insect, and is most likely to be a representational link further into the film.

1.45: The image of a girl screaming through bright orange flames is a direct illustration of the title, 'Drag Me To Hell'. This gives an idea as to the characters that will be involved. The detail in the face is distressing as it looks panicked yet slightly demonic at the same time. 

1.52: The flames engulfing the girl then take over frame, and the writers 'Sam Raimi and Ivan Raimi' appear in black jagged text that stands out well against the bright orange/yellow of the flames in the background.

2.00: The flames then fizzle out into black, and the final credit appears- 'Sam Raimi' who is the director. There is a final build up of the non-diegetic orchestral crescendo that has been playing throughout the sequence, which ends as the main film begins.

2.02: The music reaches a climax and suddenly fades out- the movie begins.