Paramount Pictures, Alfred Hitchcock, Psycho

Paramount Pictures is a production company that has become a well-known success in selling films, it was founded in 1912 by Adolph Zukor and has generated an Operating Income of $300million. It has created some well known horror films such as ‘Paranormal Activity’(2009)-(2011), ‘Friday the 13^th’(1980)-(1989), ‘Psycho’(1960) and ‘The Relic’(1997).

As well as horror films it has also created many successes outside of the horror genre including ‘Star Trek’(1979)-(2009), ‘Jackass’(2002)-(2010), ‘King Kong’(2005) and ‘Mission Impossible’(1996)-(2011). Paramount also co-produce with other film companies for films such as ‘Kung Fu Panda’(2008)-(2011), ‘Transformers’(2007)-(2011) and ‘Titanic’(1997)

Alfred Hitchcock

(13th August 1899 - 29th April 1980) was a British producer and director who used many praised techniques, when filming the psychological thriller genre, to put his audience in suspense and discomfort. He began by producing silent

films and in England, he then moved to Hollywood and became an American citizen where his career took off and his directing ability was more appreciated. This well known style of directing became successful and distinct; he would use camera shots and movement that would force the audience to experience voyeurism. This would generate many emotional links between the audience and the film, whilst his artistic skill enabled him to create great suspense, which gave him the title ‘The Master Of Suspense’. The plots he used often-contained things relating to crime, violence and murder however there will often be thrilling twists surrounding the subject, also a lot of the characters in his films have a form of psychological problem.

His most successful work include films such as ‘Psycho’(1960), ‘The Birds’(1963) and ‘Rear Window’(1954), the increasingly well known techniques used in these films are the perfect representation as to why Hitchcock’s work is appreciated so much.

Psycho is a horror film released June 1960, it was directed and Produced by Alfred Hitchcock and distrib

uted by Paramount Pictures and Universal Pictures.

It is about a woman who steals some money and runs away from here home place; she then stops her journey to rest at a hotel where the owner unexpectedly murders her as he obsesses over his dead mother. The murder, shower scene became very famous and one of the reasons why this is one of Hitchcock’s greatest films, the film was also n

ominated for four Academy Awards. The film is based on the book by Robert Bloch, which was inspired by the crimes of a serial killer named Ed Gein.

The Ring(2002) - Gore Verbinski

Luke did his presentation on 'The Ring', he looked at a scene from the film and discussed the connotations of various aspects that represented the atmosphere of the scene, some of the points he mentioned were:

- Near the beginning of this scene the woman is filmed through a window, this represented ideas of her being trapped in this situation and the red light surround her showing danger and death. These points clearly foreshadow coming events

- In the next shot we see the woman with her hair very messy, this can suggest how she doesn't have any control over the situation and it is becoming very stressful. The idea of the film is creating a horror that cannot be tamed, so her hair represented this well, with this shot there is soft non-diegetic music which creates a very contrasting atmosphere of being calm and controlled when the reality is the opposite. Possibly suggesting that there is potential for her to do something

- Towards the end of the scene they both look down a hole, the light contrasts can represent heaven and hell, with the mysterious creature being in the dark hole, giving ideas that it is a 'devil' like character with evil intentions. The shots used here with the TV cleverly make the TV look very dominant over the two characters, this is the case in the film, but for an inanimate object to look more powerful than able humans requires good camera shots.

Film Title

We came up with our film title after research into current titles and relating them to film content to decide how psychological horrors fit themselves to titles.

Majority of titles were one word or a few shorter words that create a title of 3 or 4 syllables.

Repulsion(1965)

This psychological horror is about a young girl who is harrassed by the demons of her past.

This is relevant to our film and the title contains a short 3 syllable word.

Similar titles with 3 syllables include The Aura, Misery and Anamorph. All films represent a psychological horror and the 3 syllables appeals to me in creating a professional sounding film.

After that we also discovered that a descriptive word can be used to hint towards the film or have a contradictory idea through the title.





Frality(2001)

This is a horror about the relationship between brothers and their father who believe killing demons is right by God.

Frality means a weakness in a persons morals. This comes through the characters whilst remaining a short 3 syllable word.

Other similarities to this include Possession and Paranoia.

So when we thought about the film we felt that 'A Lack of Innocence' would be too long, and 'The Possessed' seemed to sum the film up in the wrong direction as it sounds like a group of people rather than the one girl. This encouraged us to cut out the 'The'. Following that we like the idea of Innocence from the first idea and thought that on it's own sounded punchy and mysterious.





When I researched it the closest I could find was 'The Innocents'(1961) which was a psychological horror that used deep focus moments and specific music and lighting to gain the interest of the audience. This film was nominated for 2 BAFTAs and generated $1.2m at the box office. The relevance and success of this similarly titled film suggested that it was a good idea.

Jennifer's Body(2009) - Karyn Kusama

Another presentation was shown, again looking at the 4 areas of film. It was presented by Becky, Amber, Harri N and Harri L, they discussed the opening of 'Jennifer's Body', some of the points they made include:

- The establishing shot at the beginning of a country house was a clear convention of the horror genre, with the credits appearing pale and ghost like, and the music creating an eerie atmosphere with whispering and echo sounds. This fit the typical expectations of a horror and immediately demonstrated the genre to the audience

- The first shot is inside the room of one of the characters, it is girly and pink like a typical teenage girl bedroom, this is extremely contrasting to the previous convention and represents the idea that the film is a slightly different take on typical horror films. The contrast of this also makes the scene feel more sinister

- We also have a low angle shot of the bed, this relates to the childhood idea of the creature under the bed, it can relate to fears of the audience and is also a stereotypical horror convention.

- When she attacks the doctor the increased tension is reflected through the faster paced shots and handheld camera, creating a confusing atmosphere. Her weakness is shown through a contrasting shot of her trapped in a dark room, with a high angle shot making her look vulnerable, this shows the two sides of the character

Silence Of The Lambs(1991) - Jonathan Demme

We also watched a presentation about another film opening, again discussing the same things. This presentation was done by Dom, Toby, George and Ben, they analysed the opening of 'Silence Of The Lambs' and explained many good points about the representations of various things within the opening. A few of the points they mentioned were:

- The first shot with the trees in the foreground that almost completely cover the background could show how the characters might be covering up their true side/inner feelings and what you can see doesn't reveal the complete personality

- There is a tracking shot which follows the person running through the forest, allowing the trees to some between the camera and the person creates the sense that we are secretly watching her and the trees are almost used as a form of cover to hide behind, i suppose this could also link with the other point

- The use of the obstacles that she has to go over on her track could be there to represent the challenges she has to overcome, also the lighting has been designed to make one side brighter than the other possibly relating to when she has defeated a particular challenge everything is better and brighter for her

- A good religious connotation was when she goes down to the cells that hold the bad criminals there is a red, glowing light present that could be a metaphorical representation of her going into hell because the criminals down there would be going to hell and the typical dangerous, firery colour is associated with that religious idea. As well as this they also noticed when she is actually down there how there is a white light shining down from the exit, this could be to say that she leaves this hell like area going back to heaven, well the 'good side'

Silent Hill(2006) - Christophe Gans

Other groups also analysed a different film openings, one of the groups analysed 'Silent Hill', in this group were Akshay, Georgia, Emma and Catherine. They made some points about the films discussing what they represent and how it relates through the film, some of the points they made were:

- Most of the shots of the woman had the man in the background which showed the dominance of her role and how the dad took a 'background role' as he also isn't as close and connected with his family as the mum and daughter

- When the mother is chasing the daughter at the very beginning she finds her daughter's teddy bear on the floor, obviously the child had dropped it which can also represent how the mother is losing grip and control of her daughter. It also makes the scene more serious and increases the tension as soo as the audience discover there is a child involved

- They also pointed out how when she is walking through the forest you can here the sound effects of birds and trees etc. that you would always here when walking through the forest at any time of day however the darkness adds a whole different, more scary side to these sounds

- Also the way that the parents get to their daughter in the opening apparently represents their way of thinking throughout the film, the mum follows the daughter's footsteps exactly even it there is a higher danger element, where as the dad takes a slightly more logical view however isn't as quick with actions

The Grudge(2004) - Takashi Shimizu

We have looked at some horror film openings to learn techniques and get a better understanding of a good opening sequence, for my own analysis of an opening i chose 'The Grudge'.
The Grudge is a 2004 remake of a Japanese film called Ju-on: The Grudgeand is currently thefirst film in a 3 part series, which should change to a four part series next year, it was directed by Takashi Shimizuwho also directed the original, Japanese version. The Grudge describes a curse that is created when someone dies as a result of a powerful rage or extreme sorrow, the curse then goes on to kill anyone who encounters it so it is reborn to kill another victim, as it peruses this endless chain of murder.
We looked at the mise-en-scene, camera angles and movement, editing and sound there is a video of me doing my presentation in class where i go through the majority of the main points, i haven't got hold of that yet but here are the notes that i used, and the link for the video that i used to analyse:
I began the video at 3:20
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u-Kjg6jLgQ8
Notes

3:20 - The credits are coloured with red and black relating to death and bloodetc. Thestrange patterns of the black lines almost look like hair and slightly sharp, could be togive the sensation of annoying presence which would be similar to the grudge.
The screen then gets covered in the black pattern as it represents the grudge it could be showing how it overpowers it’s victims and black is commonly associated with death so by combining the two ideas you get the idea that the grudge is kills people.

3:41 - She enters the scene coming out of a dark shadow, we don’t know much about her so it could be to demonstrate the fact she is quite a mysterious character. Also black is typically a colour that we associate with fear/the unknown so it sets the mood for the film.

3:40 – 4:07 - This part also edited and filmed with a combination of match on action and jump cuts because by using the locatio

n and setting around her you can see that they are jumping to different places, to savetime and bored

om, however it has been filmed to look like match on action because she enters each shot in the same way she left the previous one.
It is very slow, smooth and long camera movements between cuts which is quite in keeping with her cycling movement. Also the way the camera follows her gives the feeling that we are watching her, and clearly shows who we are supposed to focus on.

4:09 - The house is overgrown with unwanted plants/weeds which can be to show how the house is ‘overfilled’ with life because the grudge is about strange creatures living in the house. It can also be there to show how the house hasn’t had much attention paid to it and is quite old, as it has just been left to become like that.

4:10 - The bar coming across the ca

mera definitely creates the sense that we are secretly hiding whilst watching her, it’s almost as if we are the grudge sneaking around watching her. The slow panning movement makes it feel as if we are trying to move slowly and quietly.
The sound follows a similar pattern to the sound nearer the scary part however this is a lot softer and in tune and not as ha

rsh.

4:22 - The mess and

chaos in the house could be ther

e to represent the clutter and confusion of the old woman’s min

d, it can also show the fact that she has not been able to keep it together and that she is very unstable.
4:26 - Both wearing similar colour but the older

woman is wearing a dark blue and the young woman is wearing a very pale blue, this can show that the older woman has been more effected by the grudge than the young woman. Also the chairs are even darker blue which would suggest they are even more affected, which makes sense as they are part of the house.

4:56 - Again, this also gives the sense that we are looking at her, but this time we are looking down upon her which makes her seem like a much easier target and that we are more powerful than her, which ties with the idea of us being like the grudge.The camera shots do not move with her, they all remain shot from the same place instead of moving as she does, this enhances the sense of watching her.

5:15 - The light in the window shining behind the victim, almost highlighting the target. A long shot is used here which shows the surroundings of the narrow hallwa

y that makes it seem as if there is no escape for her, making her quite small and powerless. However this power suddenly feels reversed when she starts walking towards you as it feels like you were in the same position she was.

5:46 - This is an unusual shot because it sho

ws her from a low angle, which should make her more intimidating but knowing that she is quite scared doesn’t make us feel intimidated. The slow panning, looking up is to show that the creature is above the ceiling, it also gives a slight sensation of disorientation which could be to present the confusion that she has.
The Sound is very high pitched and out of tune, almost enhancing the sense of disorientation.

5:57 - 6:21 - This is a quite a long, drawn out shot between cuts, I think it makes the film feel more realistic, I also think it would have been used to build tension for the audience. Very slow sound, long pauses between notes, enhancing the drawn out shot.

6:23 - It becomes very dark and dull, a sign to show there is more danger approaching, it also sets the atmosphere for the audience as th

ey can immediately relate the lighting to fear.
As soon as she enters this part the sound gets a lot deeper almost as a threatening sound to the audience.

6:33 - Again, another high camera angle, making her seem more intimidating and powerless, also the fact she was in a confined space shows she cannot escape the problems she will face

6:37 - The stringing cobwebs show that the attic has been shut away and forgotten or left alone. I also believe it is a typical horror film design as it can be related to the standard horror film scenes that include the monster.

6:45 – 7:15 - The light created from her lighter flickers a lot and almost gives the sense that she is shaking with fear. Again more cobwebs, they are used by spiders to catch their prey and the presence of them in this scene could suggest the same with the grudge.
The sound in this scene is hollow, eerie and louder and definitely related to the typical ghostly sound.
7:19 - Hair coming over its face showing that it likes to be hidden away or to show that it’s unknown to people, the hair is used with the lighting to create a shadow that almost hides it even more. The light also reflects off its eyes to make them seem more piercing and angry.