Analysing Films - Insidious

Insidious is a 2011 independent American psychological horror film. Written by Leigh Whannell and directed by James Wan, the film featured Patrick Wilson, Rose Byrne, Lin Shaye, and Barbara Hershey in starring roles. The story centers on a couple whose son inexplicably enters a comatosestate and becomes a vessel for ghosts/ demons in an astral dimension. Insidious was a very successful horror movie.
The characters in insidious make the movie very scary, this is because they make it seem real, they make the viewer on edge because they are terrified of what’s haunting their son. The old women (Lin Shaye) who tries to help their son because she’s seen it before, defiantly adds the scare factor to this film, this is because she is weird in the way she works, she evidently adds to the horror genre. Also the demons that play in this film, are terrifying, some horror films like ‘Paranormal Activity’ don’t show who the ghosts and demons are, but Insidious does which makes it even more terrifying.
The sound in this horror film also makes it scary and mysterious to the viewer; sound can play a massive part in horror movies and does in Insidious. The creepy soundtrack’s build up suspense and make the viewer think something bad is going to happen. Also when the sound goes from quite to very loud instantly (for example the shout on the baby monitor) it would make the viewer jump. The diegetic sound (speech) in this film is very intriguing and frightening, when there is speech from the demons it is very scary, and also when the adults and doctors are talking it’s also frightening because they don’t know what is up with the boy. Jump scares are a typical horror film convention in ones which are psychologically scary. The lighting most defiantly plays a part in making a horror film scary. In insidious the dark scenes often make the viewer think something bad is going to happen, and because of the dark it can be unpredictable. Also when it is daylight in horror films the viewer almost feels safe, however in Insidious some of the scary and mysterious scenes happen in the light, this is good because the viewer would not be expecting it.
Overall, Insidious is a very scary and very fun haunted house thrill ride. It depends on characters, atmosphere and sneaky happenings. It has been labeled as the “Most Terrifying Film since The Exorcist", and the Exorcist was one of the most terrifying film’s of its time (1973).

What makes an action movie or any other captivating to you ?

After asking our class what makes an action movie or any other movie cpativating to them, we got these certain words in response. We have made them into a wordle to be presented in a more interesting way. Asking our class benefits us as they are at the particular age of our target audience so we know our research will be solid and reliable.

Action Genre - Film Distribution Company

This company could be a possible choice that would fit our genre and would be the best option to distrubute our film.
Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. (CPII) is an American film production and distribution studio. Columbia Pictures now forms part of the Columbia TriStar Motion Picture Group, owned by Sony Pictures Entertainment, a subsidiary of the Japanese conglomerate Sony. It is one of the leading film studios in the world, a member of the so-called Big Six. It was one of the so-called Little Three among the eight major film studios of Hollywood's Golden Age.
The studio, founded in 1918 as Cohn-Brandt-Cohn Film Sales by brothers Jack and Harry Cohn and Joe Brandt, released its first feature film in August 1922. It adopted the Columbia Pictures name in 1924 and went public two years later. The name is derived from "Columbia", a national personification of the United States, which is used as the company's logo.
In its early years a minor player in Hollywood, Columbia began to grow in the late 1920s, spurred by a successful association with director Frank Capra.

Here are a list of films that columbia production company have distrubuted over this year alone. they have distrubuted almost thousands of films over the years starting in 1930.

Filming Production Schedule

We plan on filming tomorrow during lesson time and will meet at school.
This is the plan we will follow through out the day, this will save time and keep everything organised.
We plan on filming everything in one day as most of the scenes are around the same local area and are easy to get to.

Locations:
- Office shot in School classroom; 9am -10:30am
- Car scene near business; 12am - 1:30pm
- Kidnapp scene; 7:30pm  - 8:30pm

Props:

- Office; phones, parcels, drugs
- Car scene; Car, bag, balclava's, gun

- Kidnapp; Balaclavas, car, parcel, bag

Costume:

- Office; work clothes, shirt, tie coat, bag

- Car Scene; suit, sunglasses

- Kidnapp; Balclavas, dark clothes, jackets

Actors/ Actresses:

- Office; Dom as Danny Stevens, Adam as John Peters, Roberto as MailBoy

- Car Scene; Dom as Danny Stevens, Brad as Steve Graham

- Kidnapp; Dom as Danny Stevens, Brad as Steve Graham, Adam as John Peters

Equipment:

Camera, Tripod

Time frame for filming:

1 day

Time frame for editing:

3 days

Production Analysis

The production part in media is the actual making and filming of the film. This is when the film has been given the go ahead and they can get deep into and concentrate purely on filming of the film. However it’s not this simple, there are in fact many different stages of production and different things to consider. It all begins with the producer, he gets everything together and organised, for example the cast, the idea, the development and the crew. Then in order to film the idea and the script must be good! then the package, this is where the screen play needs to be written, need to sort out the budget. Attracting investment this is where the producer meets other producers across the world, this is essential because without the investment the film will not be made. The planning is very important, they should make sure time is kept for the harder and longer scenes when shooting. Also the budget is very important, this is based on the investment and when they have this they need to draw up a financial plan showing how they are going to pay for everything. Above and below the line costs, above the line is the script, screen play, actors, producer, director and below the line is the designers. They also need to consider their audience so they need to consider the location and who will want to see the film. Finally the marketing, this costs more than making the film, they need to find a gap in the market for their film.

Horizontal Integration

A horizontal integrated company owns or has shares in lots of different companies and these companies can be used to produce, market and supply products. For example a film can be purchased as a feature at the cinema, rented on DVD, purchased as a download and finally purchased as a DVD.

Vertical Intergration

Vertical integration is when a company oversees the planning and creation of a product, through to the marketing, advertising and distribution and then on to the retail of the product to the public. A company which is vertically integrated has control over all the stages of a products life. In media this means they have control of three processes; production, this includes writing, planning and the creation of the product. Distribution, taking the finished product to the retailer and marketing the product. Finally exhibition, the point at which the product is sold to the consumer.

Synergy

Synergy is the process through which media products derived from the same text are promoted in and through each other and throughout the subsidiaries of a media conglomerate. Synergy is closely linked to convergence as the coming together of the separate companies associated with different technologies within a conglomerate allow for synergy to happen. Synergy works on two levels; the main text is promoted using the many subsidiaries of the conglomerate, and the individual products used to advertise the main text are linked to each other.

Convergence

Convergence is the term used to describe how technology has been brought together,  previously separate media channels. For example, a mobile phone and a camera work independently from one another but since early 2000's the two technologies have converged and most mobile phones now include a camera. In the film industry digital recording and distribution methods mean that previously separate forms can be bought together or converged. The digital content produced during film making is compatible with other digital media so can be used on websites or in games. Convergence is just the coming together or merging of two things.

Possible Target Audience

After doing research on possible target audience for our genre, we have slowly built up a target audience profile, this will enable us to know, who we are aiming at and what they would be interested in. Being in the particular age group and gender our selves we know that young males are the typical audience for these types of films. This has made it easier for us to research and understand what they are interested in. We know that the genre is extremley popular with young males between the ages of 16-24. We know that males are more tolerant and express more enjoyment when watching violence and action, this makes them the best audience for our piece.
This is an example of our target audience:

These are some of the covers of action movies released previously which were very successful. All have dark imagery and weapons, they all have a mysterious look to them.

Analysing Film - Taken

This is a famous action film called Taken, it is popular because of its constant drama and action. I am going to be analysing its mis-en-scene and the techniques it may use to portray its genre. This will guide us in the right direction as to what we would try to encorporate into our film. This is a trailer and not a film opening but still consists of scenes from the movie which include alot of action and drama. Most of the scenes when action and crimes occur are in a dark and mysterious lighting which makes it more anxious for the viewer as to what will occur. The start is in a brighter light, this is because there is no drama but just innocence from the young girls. The music allows the tention to build up so you know something bad may happen, creating the typical action image. The movie contains a kidnapp, this is great for us as we plan on using one in our film opening, the girl witness's a kidnapp first and is scared, the men are in dark outfits and we barley see them to add mystery. The girl then gets kidanpped, there is alot of noise and screaming at this point. We plan on using a kidnapp in a similar way, the criminals will be in balaclavas and dark clothes. The music in teh background gets intense and adds suspense in certain situations. Also the use of quick snap shots gets used adding pace and drama and keeping the audience on edge.  A gun gets used later on in the film this is a key piece in most action films, its a weapon which shows criminality and action. Fighting occurs through out, keeps the film intense and interesting and is stereoitypical feature in action films.

Story Board

We have decided to now make a story board now we have all of the information we need, this is on eof the final steps before going out to film. It is not a very well drawn story board, but we know from the writing and the shotlist wht we need to do and in what order. The picture contains just the first 8 scenes of the storyboard.

Scripting

Adding to our preperation before heading out to film, we have created a script which the actors will learn beforehand. There is not much dialogue in our film opening, just enough to let the audience know the vital storyline. We have labelled it in different scenes which is based from our storyboard, this means it will be clearer and easier when going out to film, what needs to be said. In some parts of the script we have also included directions as to how the the speech is suppose to be said, this will keep the acting in each scene as to how we imagined it to be. We have made scripts like this one for the whole film opening.

Shot list

This is a picture of a section of our shotlist. We have made this before we film so we can go out and film accuratley and in order so we know what we are doing, this will save time and will minimise mistakes. This will also be quick to film as will have seperated the shotlist for different locations, that way we wont need to keep travelling back to locations to film other bits. The shotlist contains different areas, number of scene to show the order, the shot titale so we know roughly what it is about and the overal description to show what will exactly be going on in the shot. Also we have included an elements section this includes the vital elements that will be encorporated into the shot aswell as some of the camera shots we feel will work well. Following this we plan on making a story board to show the different scenes in picture and how the story will flow.

Email to confirm location

This is a print screen of the email we sent to the local business Olympus House to allow us to film on their property, we emailed last week. We also have informaed our local police station about the kidnapping and the prented gun being used, having explained that it is for educational purposes. They swiftly agreed and gave us the heads up to crack on with our filming. They are now alert what is going on and in what locations in case anybody from the public those see and feel threatened in any way.

Sound

It has come to our attention that the audio is going o play a very important role in our film opening. It will be used to craete an emotion in a certain scene and to introduce the genre at the start. We will switch between digetic and non-digetic sound. The digetic sound will be mainly when the dialogue occurs, although we are considering have very quiet intense music playing in the background, this will constantly add tention and build up to the main plot.
The intense music we plan to add wil be fast paced to match the action and drama and style of the shots which are short and snappy. The music we plan to use will also be eery and will create a sense of mystery and feel the audience with the emotion of anxiousness we would like them to feel to emjoy our film. Doing some research we have found a particular artist with some certain songs we are taking in to consideration to use. These songs have previously been used in famous action movies such as 'inception' so we feel they will be perfect for our film.
We plan on emailing the production company to see if we have permission to use them, evidence of this will be published in due course.
A couple of examples of the audio are below:

Analysing Films - Vantage Point

In this trailer we can see how the camera flicks into different points of view showing you the whole where abouts, and the main characters in the film. It introduces by opening with an establishing wide shot settimg the scene to allow the veiwer to see, whats roughly going on and where. The lighting seems to be quite bright this is maybe to allow you to see it is a happy environment and a good event is taking place. It then introduces you to the characters which seem to be the bodyguards which give you the impression something bad is going to happen as their role is to protect against bad people,  it focuses on them alot and their suspicious looking faces. We then get to see faces of some members of the public seeing there faces we can establish for ourselves what we make of them and how we label them before we actually understand whats going on. Suddenley the president gets penitrated into the chest and we realise he has been shot  as he calapses slowly to the ground. We don't know where the bullet comes from. This adds mystery and suspense this huge impact of what has happened keeps viewers on edge for what is going to tak eplace next. The whole of this is very fast paced and quick snappy shots, exactly what we would like to include in our film opening as it seems to be a recurring theme in all action movies so we see it as an important feature we should most deffinatley incorporate whilst filming. The us of guns and violence also again occurs another stereotypical symbol in an action movie. The music playing over the top of the video is very intense as it has a slow but built up beat, makes it feel as htough it is leading to something big.

Created a Youtube Channel

This is a print screen of our Lunatic productions youtube channel, we have uploaded our Preliminary Excerise on to it this is gain feedback from others and members of the public of their views on what they think went well and what did not as much. This will help us achieve a well filmed and put together final product and will help us improve our skills. We will use the feedback given to the best of our ability and will take all comments into further consideration when filming our final piece. The youtube channel is created for all of us in the group to have access to if we need to upload or reply to any new comments.

Risk Assesment

Carrying out a risk assessment helps us determine any risks not just to us but the community and other students and to eliminate these aswell as we can and to prevent any from happening to the best of our abilities.
Assesing the situation of our production and what we would like to achieve and carry out we have analysed and made these decisions.
We have made sure that whilst in our car scene we are not exceeding speed limits and instead will just edit it to make it look like we are going faster.  Also we are making the kidnapping as real as possible so any members of the public will be informed that its a educational video before hand so they do not feel threatened or even alramed enough to inform the local authority. It has been brought to my attention that we need to ask permission of the land owners to film on there property and therefore will be drafting a letter to them and will be posting it on here as soon as we are able. These letters will mainly be going to the Olympus House which is a local company which we plan to film out side and the view of their building.
Also because we are using a fake gun the local police have to be informed this is for the saftey of other residents in the local area which may see this and belive they are in danger.
Aswell as all of this we realise they we could be putting our own selves in danger whilst filming, we will make sure tht the knife is always kept in safe places and we concentrate and film small parts at a time so it eliminates the chances of accidents and mistakes ever occuring.
Our detailed plans should also help with all of this.

Main Props

We have managed to gather together a number of vital props we feel will be important and will add to the genre of an action film. These all are usually seen in action movies so we thought that they were the most important props to include in ours to try and portray teh genre aswell as we could.


The fake blood capsules we have purchased are goind to be used in the interrogation scene to make the attacked look more realistic.

The balaclavas are a typical prop used in a criminal attack, so we thought they would be nessescary when carrying out the cirme of the kidnap.

The Duct Tape is used to retain John Peters in the interrogation room.

The pen knife is a weapon used by John as he escapes his way out of the duc tape

The car is used for the kidnap and is most probably the most important prop as allows the kidnap to take place and for them to get away.

The gun we are using is very realistic and will be used to threaten John, again a prop in lmost every action film so an important thing for us to include.