On location, we discovered that there were problems with some of the original decided features of our scene:
When filming our test shots, it became apparent that the path we had originally chosen for the victim to follow around the Royal Naval College into the foot-tunnel would cause difficulties. We had to block out a separate route through the grounds ensuring that no restaurants, passing visitors, sign posts for the gift shop or shots in which the glass casing of the Cutty Sark were visible. This proved difficult due to the lack of lighting upon the foot-paths in the area and the obvious commercialisation of the location.
On our original storyboard, no filming was included from the individual view of the victim as we decided to film the majority in CCTV format due to no intended empathy being felt towards the victim as an emotional bond between them and the audience as their character is insignificant as part of the plot.
The skyline shots we are using within our scene originally were not planned and were added as a decision during filming. We had planned to include establishing shots to determine the importance of our location as an anonymous city (London) but originally of the college and Cutty Sark itself but on location, we found the brighter and more definitive example of London as a location would have been better represented using the skyline shot of the City buildings across the Thames as a universal symbol.
Our first plan depicted the entirity of the scene filmed in the tunnel to be produced in black and white as CCTV footage but due to the supernaturality of our plot and our intention to emphasise this, we can now chosen to switch between colour during these shots to distort the image.
Dubbing an actor's voice with an alternative, often used for characters during possession and usually with a more sinister tone to increase fear.
(This could be beneficial for us to use if we chose possession as a focus to easily create a differentiation between the two speakers inside the body and also to allow the evil itself to address the characters without any confusion of who is speaking. This also acts as a device to increase fear as the voices chosen are usually deep and unsettling, highly in contrast to the previous.)
Often within horror, the evil is able to communicate with the victims through an item or a location and their voice is heard as whispering.
(A whispering voice can connote sinister intentions and by using many different whispering voices at once and overlapping them, it can isolate the victim from everyone else around. This technique can also effectively be used to signify no hope of escaping as once the evil gets to your mind, it can consume you. In terms of production of our own opening scene, this technique would be easily to duplicate as it could be added in as diegetic sound during the editing stage of production.)
Transmitted communications causing speech to cut out and be received in chunks often used to signify severe danger from the other end.
(This technique when used with a long cut out of silence causes the audience to be on-edge anticipating what will happen next, focusing entirely on sound. This would be useful for us as it would allow us to increase the audience's involvement within the scene and acts as a reminder that they are only communicating through technology and now, they cannot be helped.)
This theme song is extremely haunting as it uses a techno bell tune at the beginning which is played repeatedly until the song changes to more up beat/ R&B style. The effect of the techno bell tune is that it is quite creepy and by having this repeated tune all the way throughout the song it signifies this movie as a possible psychological thriller as the bells make the song slightly uncomfortable. I think this is a good source of inspiration because the tune is the same all the way through out and therefore shows that you don't need to make a complicated tune in order to make it really effective for the viewer. Also I like the techno bell tune at the beginning which is quite common in horror films (The Exorcist) and its quite haunting and scary as it sounds childlike for example when you wind up a jewellery box and the music plays which also makes the audience feel uncomfortable because it can be related back to something that should be seen as innocent. The music also relates back to the name of the film 'ONE MISSED CALL' because it can be listened to as a phone ring tone as it is repetitive and has a modern sound.
Instruments used;
Piano
Drum
Clapping
28 Weeks Later John Murphy
This piece of music has been created in order to build up suspense and was placed cleverly in the movie in order to make the audience think 'will he leave or will he stay' and also whilst the Zombies where running after him. It is used repeatedly through the film in order to create suspense in particular parts where the audience will not know what is happening next. It is a good source of inspiration as it again uses a repeated tune all throughout the entire song but it increases in sound in order to increase the suspension. Therefore the music has been created in order to make effect on the audience rather than just titles music of the film. It is quite rememberable music and therefore not only makes it good but also people will remember the film because of it. Again it also shows that you do not need to create 3 minutes of completely different music for it to be effect and that possibly fading in to build tension is a good technique to create a successful score.
Instruments used:
Drum (suppling a constant beat)
Various Guitar (is the main part of the score, what makes it so effective)
Piano
Base (add depth)
Shaun of the Dead The Blue Wrath
I chose this piece of music because although it isn't horror again it uses the repeated action of having a tune and then playing it over and over. Plus it has a techno sound to it by using a piano which is shown in the ONE MISSED CALL score however they contrast each other as in the first one it was used in order to create a horror/ haunting effect whereas in this one it is used for comedy value during the credits of the movie. Also there is the use of voice within this score which is distorted in order to further add to the comedy value of this piece of music. The words are simply 'la la la la' but with the effect on it and the pitch being higher it makes it more effective within the music. It also has dialogue at the end of it which is what makes it prominently different to all the others which ends with 'ITS NOT THE END OF THE WORLD' which therefore foreshadows the idea that it is and that it has been placed there for comedy value; tying this in with the 'la la la la' perhaps its to show stupidity within the movie but this will be comedic which is shown through the main riff of the song. Therefore the song sets up the movie to be a comedy about something that may end the world.
Instruments used;
Keyboard (for the techno sounding tune that plays all throughout.)
Voices
Sound Effect
Dialogue
Jaws Hans Zimmer
This is an iconic piece of music and although it is very Hollywood it is another example of music that is used in order to build tension within a scene. The iconic part of the music is simply made by using two keys of a piano and playing repeatedly whilst getting louder. Again another example of using repeated beats in order to create something very effective when put together with the correct film. Also the music makes the viewer sit further forward on their seat and anticipate the next part of the scene. The music is also very deep in pitch and this mirror the idea of the sea. The sea is deep, dark and unexpected and I believe that this music reflects this and therefore shows that you need to think about not only the genre of your film but also where it is being filmed as the music needs to reflect this. By having it going from staggered to increasingly faster beat in then also mirrors the shark getting closer and closer. The music traps the victim within the scene as when it is slower with the pauses it reflects that they have time to get away, but by the time there are no pauses this reflects that time has run out. However the rest of this piece of music is very complicatedly composed and therefore shows that the most simplest bit of the music is the most effective and that the rest is there in order to back it up. Simple is better.
Instruments used;
Orchestra (is the main body of the music)
Piano can be used in order to create the main riff easily - however violins are used in this piece of music.
Dorian Grey Immediate Music
This piece of music has been used for effect in order to want the viewer to watch the film. The music is very well composed with an orchestra and therefore would be hard for the group to recreate to the extent that this was created. However the reason that I have chosen this particular piece of music is because it shows that music has to make an impact of the viewer in order to not only make the music stand out but also the movie. When I listened to this piece of music for the first time it made a great impact on me and that is also another reason why I chose it as one of my sources of inspiration. It is very dark and mysterious with ever changing pitches and volume in order to emphasise different parts. It also uses voice as well in order to make haunting sounds over the top and therefore shows that it doesn't all have to be instruments and making a rememberable beat; voice can also be used in effective ways which can make the music much more powerful. Sounds are sometimes also distorted more towards the end of the music in order to make an effect of something falling apart possibly.
Instruments used;
Orchestra
Voices
Braveheart James Horner
This song has a softer more romantic tune to it which singles it out from the rest as it isn't as intense. However I chose this piece of music as it uses different instruments in order to create other sounds that just a piano or an orchestra because at the beginning there is the soft tunes of the flute which create a dream like land but then it advances into the bagpipes which are more harsh in their sound and create really nice swooping sounds. Therefore this shows that you don't need to use just one type of instrument within your music and that going between different types of instruments can create different effects on the song and therefore it is a good idea to swap between them. What I like about the song is that is carries a bit more of meaning with it than the others as though a sort of story was written within it that makes it more effective than the others. Also again the music mirrors about the film as it is set in Scotland and therefore has the national instrument as the main sound within the score, showing that location can also be identified through a piece of music.
Instruments used;
Bagpipes
Flute
Violins
Piano
Requiem for a Dream Clint Mansell
This song is the best example of a repeated beat that is extremely effective in the film that it has been used for. Violins are used in order to build up the volume of the music and therefore it shows the tension building and building until it cannot go any further which reflects the movie where they take drugs and reach the point where the crash because they cannot go any further. I think this is a amazing piece of music which has been used for many things although it is just a beat being repeated. This could be remade through a piano and therefore isn't a piece of music that isn't hard to take creative ideas from and this is why I have chosen it as a source of inspiration.
