The Edited, Final Version of Changing Faces

This is the final version of 'Changing Faces.' I

have worked hard trying to make the opening as conventional to a horror/thriller film as possible. There is still no dialogue as the opening is about the main character alone in the barn and the audience will still have to continue to watch the film to solve the disequilibrium beginning.I believe the opening is conventional to three different films th

at I had previously studied:

The first one is the village. (poster is to the left of the text) This film has an eerie location, which I believe my film has. The opening credits of this particular film are of the actors names and the images of trees and branches pass over the screen. My film also

contains images of trees which look eerie and adding the correct music to them sets the film up to look like a horror film.

The second film that I took typical conventions from is 'The

Blair Witch Project.' This film is shot completely on a hand held camera and is a low budget film and this is the catergory that my film will fall into. This film went from being an independent, low budget film. To becoming a worldwide phenomenon, so it proves that my film may start off as a low budget, art house film but over time people will begin to like it and then it would create a huge profit. Look at films such as 'Paranormal Activity.' It did exactly the same as 'The Blair Witch Project', so it can be done. The location of 'The Blair Witch Project' is very similar to mine which is another typical convention of a horror film. Also the use of the hand held camera makes it appear more

realistic than a high budgeted film, because these types of scenarios could happen to anyone. I believe that an unknown cast (which is what I have done) also makes the audience believe that the events are actually taking place.

The director which I chose to use conventions from is Alfred Hitchcock. Originally I didn't want to use music because I felt as though it didn't necessarily fit with the theme of the opening. However, looking back at that I know now that to create the ultimate impact on an audience is to create suspense using music. Alfred Hitchcock used music in his horror film 'Psycho' and the music is well known globally. It still haunts people to this very day and this is the kind of impact I wanted to create when people watched the opening of my film. The music I chose is chilling and un-nerving and fits into all horror conventions.

I also used a shot that Alfred Hitchcock used. When the lead woman is stabbed in the shower there is a close up on her eye and then the eye dissolves into the bath plug hole. You can see this shot in my film where the camera zooms in on the eye of the mask and then the shot dissolves into the eye of the lead females. In 'Psycho' this doesn't happen in the opening of the film however it shows the influence- as a director, that Hitchcock had on other directors (me). His ideas were inspiring to me and some worked well and others didn't, but I believe now, that I have created an original yet conventional opening to a horror film.

Editing the remake

Over the past few days I have tweaked and changed a few bits within the opening of my horror film. For example I have stabilized all of the clips in the film to make the camera shots look smoother and each shot now flows into one another. I have cut a lot of my film as I asked a few people which part of the opening drags on a little and they all said the snap shots at the end. As a result the opening is a little shorter but its just as effective.

The main difference between my previous opening and the re-made version is that I have added music. Even though I clearly stated I would not use music because I wanted my film to be new and un-conventional this choice played against me. As a result I have used basic sounds from www.freesounds.org.uk and then edited them using garage band to make them my own. The music choice doesn't make the opening epic like some horror film openings but it does intrigue an audience and it still plays on the enigma code of what is going to happen. The music choices fit with the dream like state and the use of the nursery rhyme makes this even more so because parents tend to sing nursery rhymes to their children. That particular part of the music is ironic because a child normally feels safe and loved when nursery rhymes are sung to them however, in this version it makes an adult feel nervous because the child takes control of the song and the innocence plays on the audiences' mind. I made a few of my friends watch the opening with the music added and they said it is a lot more intense and they would want to carry on watching it even though the film seems un-nerving. As well as the enigma code the opening of my film still remains as a disequilibrium beginning. This means that not everything makes sense and as a consequence the audience would have to continue watching the film to understand what the dream is about.

Original Score Demo "The Birds" Opening Titles and Melanie's Introduction

I am planning to challenge my original ideas by adding music to my opening sequence. The clip below shows how someone has challenged Hitchcock's opening by adding the eerie music. Looking at this clip shows that you can have the eerie images on the screen along with the ambient sounds and music on top of this. The music will create more of a physiological atmosphere that something isn't all as it seems.

The Birds - Opening Titles

Below is the opening of Alfred Hitchcock's 'The Birds' and here you can see that he, as a director, has chosen not to use music. However, to make the opening of my film more conventional I have decided to add music to it along with the ambient sound. I felt that the images on the screen created enough suspense and set an eerie atmosphere without there being music on top of that.