The Messengers Film Review

The Messengers starts with a grey-scale screen of a family being killed and tortured by an unknown entity. The screen then flicks to a coloured screen with a family of four driving towards the same house. Little do they know the dark occurrences that  happened in the house years before. It was six years since the Rollins family left with no reason (even though we know from the opening sequence they were killed)  The Soloman family then move in to the house to rebuild their lives after their young sons accident which caused him to be hospitalised due to Jess' (Kristen Stewart) drunk driving. When they settle in to the house strange occurrences start to happen which seems to have an affect on the youngest son. Jess to realises something strange is happen, but her parents will not believe her. The Soloman family meet John Burwell a drifter, but Jess soon finds out something about him that will change everything, could he be what the supernatural creatures want? and why? And what are the significance of the crows? Can Jess persuade her parents that something terrible is happening? Can she save them? 

I like the Messengers as it is full of mystery and horror. It also makes you want to watch more as it makes the audience question everything. I also liked how the film started with a grey-scale colour grading to inform the audience that the opening scene is set in the past and then flicking to a screen full of colour to signify the present. I also liked how one of the Rollins family is dragged away in the opening sequence, this makes me want to use this in my own film opening and also it makes me want to think about whether I want my own film opening to be in greys-scale or in colour to represent the past, present or possibly the future. Lastly, I also like how the audience is kept in the dark about what is attacking the Rollins family in the opening sequence of the film. The audience will assume that it is a ghostly or supernatural entity that is attacking them, but by the end of the film they will learn that it was something very very different, which will shock the audience as all the questions they were asking will finally be answered. 

Here is the Film trailer of The Messengers: 

The History of Horror

Here are some facts about the History of Horror:

• Horror films first found their inspiration from Gothic Literature.
• The term "Horror" was not used in films until the 1930's.
• Several experiments were carried out on silent film-making in the horror genre. This included the first Frankenstein which was adapted by the Thomas Edison studios in 1910 and Dante's inferno by Giuseppe de Liguoro in Italy in 1911. 
• Horror is an ancient art form. 
• Since the first communication in man, the horror genre has been used to scare and frighten others.
• Horror is not just in the form of films, it is also in the form of novels, comics, stories and television shows.
• The 1920's and the 1930's were the first decades to show scary films. In this period, there were remakes of classic stories, for example: Brams Stoker's Dracula, Nosferatu, Frankenstein, Bride of Frankenstein and The Mummy.
• In the 1940's there was a steep decline of horror films. There were however some horror films released such as; Wolf Man, Cat People, House of Dracula and House of Frankenstein.
• The 1950's saw films such as; The Wasp Woman, The Beast from 20,000 fathoms and It cam from beneath the Sea being released.
• The Birds, Carnival of souls, Blood feast and Night of the Living Dead were released in the 1960's.
• In the 1970's films like; The exorcist, Jaws, Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Carrie, The Omen and Halloween were released.
• The 1980's saw Hellraiser, Nightmare on elm Street, The Fly, The Thing and The Shining being released.
• Horror films such as; Se7en, Silence of the Lambs, Misery, Candyman and Sixth Sense were released in the 1990's.
• Lastly, in the 2000's films such as; Final destination saga, The Ring, The Grudge and the descent being released.

The Horror Genre is very popular, especially amongst teenagers and young adults. I could use inspiration from all these different films, to use in my Film Opening to make it more lively. Also, I like some of the ideas used in these horror films and therefore want to use them in my own. 

In my opinion, horror films have got more complex and scarier over the decades because of the increasing number of fans and the increasing amounts of different technology they could use to edit the films to make them scarier. 

Here is a trailer from one of my favourite horror films, which was released in 2012. This Horror film is called the Woman in Black based on Susan Hills story:

Top Ten Camera Shots

Here are 10 different camera shots I could use in my Film Opening for the genre, Horror:

Top ten camera shots from Kathryn Thornton

Evaluation of My Preliminary Task

For our Preliminary Task, we had to film two people in conversation with each other, one walking through the door in the first few shots. Firstly, I filmed Alainah walking through a door, then I cut the shot. Then I filmed her walking through the door again, this time I was on the other side of the door filming her coming in to the room. In the next shot, I filmed her walking over and sitting opposite Lauren before cutting the shot again. I then filmed Alainah in conversation with Lauren from behind Lauren. Then I did the same thing but this time filmed from behind Alainah, therefore I could edit this into a shot - reverse - shot conversation. Overall, I found the task relatively easy to film, but slightly more complicated at the editing stage. I found editing the conversation to make it a shot-reverse-shot , as it was difficult to section each line in the correct places.

In order to film my Preliminary Task, I used two actresses, Alainah and Lauren, I used a school video camera and a Tripod, a door and a Desk and two chairs. In order to use the Camera and Tripod correctly, we were taught to attach and detach the camera from the Tripod and also how to adjust the tripod in order to gain the correct height for filming with. We used Movie Maker to edit our film. As I was new to Movie Maker, I was taught how to use it, after that I learnt howto edit each shot to gain the shot I wanted and the order I wanted it to be in. I also learnt how to cut out or silence sounds that I did not want in my film, and replace them with new sounds over the top.

I planned the task by using a storyboard to carefully plan each shot of my film. I drew each shot out and wrote down what the actresses were going to do, where they were going to stand and what they were going to say in each shot. I used the storyboard to get my actresses to do exactly what I wanted them to do. Having a storyboard helped when filming as I could get the filming process done quickly and how I wanted it to be acted, with little mistakes. However, I did revert slightly from my storyboard to include the 180 degree rule. In my storyboard, I had Person 1 (Alainah) walking in the door in front of Person 2 (Lauren), In my actual film I decided to have Alainah coming in from the door at the side, so I could incorporate the 180 degree rule. Overall, I stuck very strictly to my storyboard during filming.

I faced little challenges throughout the planning and construction of my Preliminary Task. However, I did face some challenges whilst editing it. After re-watching some of my shots I realised that Alainah and Lauren had started talking once Alainah had sat down, when I just wanted Alainah to sit down before I cut the shot. I overcame this during the editing. During editing I completely cut the sound out of that shot to silence the talking. However, when I watched the film I noticed that it was too silent after the previous shot, as the previous shot had background noises. To overcome this, I cut and pasted the sounds from the first shot into this shot to make it sound more realistic and it fitted together with the rest of the film.

Mrs Williams' friend Axel, came in to watch our Preliminary Tasks and to give us feedback on them. He said that one of the main issues with mine was the headroom with the first shot. He said that the top of Alainah's head was too low down from the top of the door. To overcome this problem in the future I will make sure I film from lower down to reduce the headroom. He also said that there was too much space on the right side of Lauren and Alainah, in future if I am filming two people talking, I will film them sitting at a diagonal to each other. The last thing he said about my Preliminary Task was that the camera was too high. In my actual film opening I will make sure that I film at the same level as each persons eye-line. I found his advice very  useful and I will make sure that I include all of his advice in my actual Film Opening.

Overall, I am very pleased with the outcome of my Preliminary Task as I learnt new camera techniques and how to use the tripod and video camera correctly. I have also learnt that you need to draw out each shot on the storyboard in great detail as it will help your filming easier on the day. I can apply all the camera techniques that I have learnt in order to film to best possible film opening.

Here is a picture on shot-reverse-shot:

Harry Potter Tour Film

Here is short video of our tour around the Warner Bros. Studios, the making of Harry Potter. Here is some of Mrs Williams' footage from our trip. We had a lesson and learnt about the different marketing techniques that companies such as Warner Bros. did to promote their films.

Conventions on Film Openings

Here is a short slideshow on what I found about Conventions of Film Openings

Conventions of film openings from Kathryn Thornton

Help from a camera man

On Wednesday in our lesson, Mrs Williams' friend who is a camera man came in to critique our Preliminary tasks and instruct us on how to make the perfect film opening. He also showed us how he would film our Preliminary tasks and corrected us on our mistakes. 

What I learnt from him about how to make the perfect film opening:

• To maintain headroom and to either have a mid shot, close up or a shot of the whole person, not in between, especially as they were walking away from the camera.
• To film at each persons eye line.
• To use up as much space as possible to avoid empty spaces which are not needed.
• To call for action after rolling the camera in order to capture all of the action - you can always cut the director saying "action" during the editing stage.
• Never cross the 180 degree line.
• Finish each shot completely before cutting. 
• Frame the shot when a person sits down. 
• Have the camera at the correct height. 

Foley Sounds

Foley sounds are sound effects which are added to a film or any other media source in order to enhance the quality of the audio. Foley sounds are created in the editing stage.  These sounds can be:

• Swishing of clothing or wind.
• Footsteps.
• Squeaky doors.
• Shattering glass.
• Knocking.

Foley sounds are used in the film Hunger, especially when the doctors puts the duvet over the main character. Foley sounds are also used through footsteps in the hallway in some scenes of the film. However, we would expect to hear these sounds as they sound realistic and they contrast whats happening to the main character. This contrast is the noise of the hallway compared to the silence that surrounds the main character when he is on his deathbed. 

I can used Foley sounds in my horror movie to enhance how realistic it is. For example; I can use footsteps to increase the tension of some scenes in order to make the audience feel tense and scared. Knocking can also be used to create this tense and scary atmosphere I intend to accomplish when making my film opening. 

Here is a trailer of the Film Hunger:

Warner Bros. Studio Tour

On Thursday we went to the Warner Bros. Studios where the film Franchise Harry Potter was made. We toured around the studios and saw all the different props, costumes, make up and sets that were used in the making of the eight films. It was interesting to see how many props and costumes were made for the characters or sets in the film and how many props that were expensive to make but hardly ever appeared in the actual films.

We also had a lesson on film marketing where I learnt how they story boarded each scene in each movie very carefully and with lots of detail. I also learnt that the director used cardboard models of various sets to plan out what he wanted it to look like and also where he wanted to stage the actors and actress and where he wanted them to move to throughout the scene. This was a good way to plan in advance so both the directors, producers, actors and cameramen knew where to move to and which spots they should be standing or sitting in. This plan would also be helpful to the cameramen so they know where to position their cameras to get the best shot.

I can apply what I learnt to my own Film Opening as I can plan out exactly what I want my actors to be doing the day I film my Film Opening. This will help me film the scenes more accurately and easily. Lastly, I will storyboard in great detail what scenes are going to be where and how I want each scene to be acted.

Here are a few pictures I took on my tour around the Warner Bros. Studios: