Research: 1st Video Sequence - "Mean Kitty-Creature of the Night"

I really like this sequence, even though narrative-wise it is fairly pointless some may say. However through the use of a mixture of digetic and non-digetic sounds (digetic sounds being amplified) It builds an interest that instantly hooks viewers. The build up to events is much more important as it slows the pace, such as point of view shots of the toaster on the floor. The opening seconds realy establish the characters fairly normal and average equilibrium of his everyday life before something ‘spooky’ happens to stamp a different element to the piece. Watching this and the below video ‘The Cat with Hands’ I’m beginning to consider possibilities for what kind of generic characteristics to include in my sequence. I had in mind to film a horror/comedic sequence like ‘Shaun of the Dead’, but I am now thinking of only incorporating humour at the very end to stir the overall product up. I admire the smaller details that make me appreciate this sequence such as the cupboard jarring shut, this build up a certain ‘unknown’ tension. I find usually in a horror genre, the scariest things to an audience are the things not physically visible onscreen, such as the film ‘Insidious’, I thought was brilliantly scary up to the point when it started showing all the spirits which completely banishes the stimulated imagination nurtured in the audience, I thought ‘Paranormal Activity’ was far more successful (and by the same people) as it only hinted at the demon plaguing the characters and never just said ‘right…here is the Demon’ (so to speak). The atmospheric soundscape gives the energy of the film an 'other worldly' effect that truly makes it what it is, when I watch this with no sound it seems boring and strangely un-meaningful.

Research: 2nd Video sequence - "The Cat with Hands"

This is one of my most favourite short film which I stumbled upon on Youtube one day. This is the work of Robert Morgan the film-maker. I don't think I have ever seen something so successfully effective in such a short space of time, the style seems to be shared by people such as Stephen King and Tim Burton. I love the narrative mystery surrounding the cat, it is given no origin which adds to the unknown horror of 'what is out there?' or 'Fear of the unknown'. My favourite shot here is the high angle when the cat steals the boys face, it really gives it a good view and makes the audience sub-consciously think 'What has happened here?', it is a good example of a relationship between the camera and the events. Also a classic technique is used with the cats point of view as he drags the bodies towards the camera, however the camera stays in front of what the audience can imagine the horror that is happening, this is far more haunting than actually showing a consumption. This part reminds me of another classic example of the same technique in Resavoir Dogs, The camera pans away from the on-screen characters as he cuts someones ear off but we are left with the sounds, so we never see it actually happen yet we do inside our imaginations.

Research: 3rd Video Sequence - "Alien Prank Goes Bad"

This is a very clever sequence, because at first you can't tell it is a sequence because of the style. I thought of this because of the sudden 'shock' it used part way through, it is similar to something I want to achieve. This feels like something I would make because of the slight surreal unexpected elements within. I quite like the sequential repetition that gets disturbed toward the end, it is fairly effective in creating a 'laugh at yourself' response from the audience. The end alien scare is very effective because as a viewer I was concentrating on the subject in the distance, so when the alien jumps out it was like it projected from the screen and invaded my space. The sound effects need to be commended in this video, and are especially successful because I wasn't expecting it given the starting equilibrium of the narrative or the deliberate amatuer style. I have a similar style to this because I find when the amateur style is done intentionally it can provide a lot of subtle humour, also I like to create sorts of characatures for characters. This particular video is very viral in style and has 26,976,182 views so I think we can be sure it is popular and therefor successful.

"On the Can"- Chase narrative sequence

A sequence we came up with given the title brief 'Chase sequence'.

Of course this could be improved with more time but as we were on a very tight time scope and optimistic amount of scenes to film.

Ideas & Proposal

IDEA 1
Target Audience/ Delivery
16-25yr olds.

1 Sentence Definition
Arm wrestle done in the style of an epic showdown.

Synopsis/Brief
I will create a sequence involving 2 characters engaging in an arm wrestle, this will be done in an epic way in order to create satyrical comedy, such as earthquake/camera shake and badly dubbed characters in the style of a japanese kung fu film.

IDEA 2
Target Audience/ Delivery

16-25 yr olds


1 Sentence Definition

A character carves a haloween pumpkin, he stops to look at it, suddenly it becomes a human head, He then reacts (terrified/surprised and collapses)


Synopsis/Brief
I will create a dark comedy piece in a haloween theme, involving varied camera angles and perspectives (eg. inside the pumpkin as he carves)

IDEA 3
Target Audience/ Delivery

16-25 yr olds


1 Sentence Definition

A character walks into a room/past a location and sees a man with an orange for a head...the man with an orange for a head tells a story about how he came to have an orange for a head, the shot cuts away to flashbacks as he explains his story


Synopsis/Brief
I will expand on a basic 2-shot with cut aways and reaction shots aswell as narrative based camera techniques.

Brief

Produce a 60 second (minimum) digital video sequence. You must apply multiple cuts and limit the camera movement. The final video must be edited and finalised with the non-linear video editing software 'Final cut pro'. The final video sequence must feature start/end credits and a soundtrack.