The Evil Dead

The Rationale

I have chosen this movie as the other two movies I have analysed have a mix of gore, psychopaths and monsters in them. I found that a lot of people liked the gore in horror movies they have watched, especially the younger generation that watch horror movies (teenagers). So I think that the ‘Evil Dead’ has a good amount of blood and gore (which can be seen in the opening titles) and a mix of monsters and psychopaths (demons). It also has elements of a supernatural nature which is also supposed to provide a great deal of terror within the horror genre.

The analysis

Well the main theme of this opening title sequence is definitely blood. The red colour is obviously associated with blood and danger, which are the major themes of this movie. The colours red and black are seen as negative colours and the blackness of what seems to be flesh in the sequence could signify death and the flesh being impure and contaminated or dirty. Also, the overwhelming amount of blood could suggest an overwhelming amount of death and destruction in the film which in certain cases attracts the audience as we are aroused by this gore. We want to see this in a horror movie.

The props in the sequence are mainly blood, flesh and weapons which are all violent things. The way that the scene shows the cutting of the flesh and dismemberment of limbs just shows that this movie is going to be a gore-fest. The over-emphasis of blood is really used to fuel the audience’s love of gore. The shots of the sequence are mainly close-ups which look closely into the detail of the blood dripping, trickling and hovering down stairs and through collapsing floorboards, into the basement. The basement is the key setting of the film and the fact that in the opening sequence, the basement is where the blood accumulates, shows an insight to the amount of terror that will fill the basement in the movie to come.

The lighting of the sequence is low-key and is used to show the emphasis of the bright rose-red blood. The blackness of the background makes the blood look fresh among the darkness of the flesh and floorboards.  

The Walking Dead Opening Titles

 

 

The opening titles of The Walking Dead series signifies a horror genre as the Mise En Scene such as the props and composition of the scenes are horror-like. Such as the Tombstone and the Zombie eye in the scene. These props/costumes signify death and darkness within the programme to come. The name hints at the idea of zombies so the picture of the zombie backs this up and shows the viewer what is to come.

The derelict settings used in the sequence show despair and chaos as there are no humans to be seen in the title sequence which possibly suggests the idea of a lack of human life. The centipede used in the opening credits show a form of life, however, an insect could be seen as disgusting and minuscule, so the fact it’s alive could imply that only the disgusting are walking the earth (zombies and insects). The badge on the floor, show a chaotic element to the story as this signifies no law or order and the prop is a key affect to show an insight into the life in a despaired world.

The title sequence attracts the audience as the destruction and violence in the video attracts people. Humans are somewhat aroused by this violence and death. Also the derelict places also attract the audience because they want to see what it would be like if the world ‘stood still’ and had no order. The idea of something abnormal and against the ‘run of play’ interests us as people as we like to see what could happen.

The target audience of the TV series are teenagers and adults that enjoy blood and gore. Teenagers and young adults are stereotypical viewers of this television programme as they are more likely to enjoy watching this sort of programme due to the action, chaos and graphic nature of the series.

AMC are the producers and they are shown at the start of the sequence before anything else. This is seen with the first title next to the abandoned car. This places the importance of the producer as they are first.

 

 

Opening Title Analysis

SE7EN
The opening titles of Se7en are very unique in terms of being spontaneous and random. For example, the way the writing of the credits flicker throughout the scene could imply that throughout the movie there will be distortion and distress as the flickering has no real sequence and seems to happen with no pattern. Also the font of the writing is white which could signify multiple things like 'hope' an the blackness surrounding signifies the overwhelming evil. Which could be why the writing is somewhat blurred into the background, suggesting the good is overwhelmed by the evil.

The lighting in the opening titles are low-key and there only seems to be a primary light focusing on what the person is doing. This could imply that all the attention is around the doings of the person. Also, this dim lighting can also suggest that the setting is a place with no background lighting (windows,doors) which means that the person in the scene may be in somewhere such as a basement or attic where they may not necessarily want to be found or discovered. Showing a deal of secrecy and mystery to come.

 

The props also used in the scene seem to be old fashioned and unique. Such as the film reel and weapon-like instruments such as the razor blade. These props are meant to show an indication to the viewer that violence and gore may be included in the movie, giving a little insight into what the movie might have to offer, gripping the audience like any title screen should. The fact that as humans we like to be disturbed and distressed via film is used to the scene's advantage as the different sharp objects used to cut human skin is disturbingly arousing to the viewer. 

The soundtrack plays throughout the title screen and starts of slowly and picks up a speed and become more tense which could also be said about the actual movie itself. The track begins with the sound of clunking machinery and then is followed by a loud scream-like sound. The music seems to pick up pace when the 'victim's' eyes are crossed out which could suggest that the story will pick up some tension when the first victim is killed. Lastly, the track ends with the words 'You bring me closer to God' which could possible signify religious motives of the killer.

 

Joe G

Preliminary Task (Complete)

 

 

This is my groups completed preliminary task and you can tell that there are some obvious areas to improve on however i think that it's not too bad in terms of mise en scene, setting and the overall story. The sound is also not too bad given the equipment we could use.

 

The lighting wasn't a strength as we didn't know how to properly work the lights we used so we made do with alternating lights that took some of the effect away from the scene and looked unprofessional in some areas. It made one scene look different to another and it wasn't symmetrical, making the overall presentation look off.

 

Also, the camera shots were blurry and this also made it look less professional again. The focus was out in some areas and the differences in shots could be noticed again making it flow less and easy to watch. The editing wasn't too bad as in it flowed well in some areas however there were some times that the scene transitions could be trimmed a bit more to make the continuity in the segment better.

 

The good bits are the lighting in terms it's originality as not a lot of people would think or actual record their scene in pitch blackness and it would have worked well to add more atmosphere to the recording if we sorted out the problems. The sound was okay considering we only had a camera to record the sound with. You could hear the speech and also not TOO much background noise.

 

Ryan Clarke- Actor, script writer director

Harry Clarke- Editing

Louis Chamberlain- Camera man

Joe Gamble- Double, camera man

Match-on-Action

Match-on-Action is an editing technique in which one shot cuts into another shot portraying the action of the first shot also in the second. (Confusing?) 

For example, when someone opens a door and the first shot is looking at the person's hand opening the door, and then it goes to the second shot to a view from inside the room looking at the door open. (Still confused? Just look at the amazingly drawn picture). 
This technique is to show to show a continuity in the scene and to create a 'visual bridge' which is supposed to take viewers' attention away from from slight editing issues or cutting problems.