Story board revisited! New outline of the story.

The story board for our film has been re-thought and changes have been made.

-Scene one : The couple leave the shop carrying a bottle of vodka.
-Scene two : Next the couple walk past the shop and go round the corner.
-Scene three : The couple walk to a fork in the road, hug and walk their separate ways.
-Scene four : The girl enters her home up the side passage.
-Scene five : The girl is shown walking up the stairs from the raised view of the top of the stairs.
-Scene six : The girl is shown drinking, and doing drugs in her room. the camera shots become choppy to show how the girl is feeling.
-Scene seven : The girl receives a text message from her boyfriend asking her too meet him in the usual place.
-Scene eight : The girl leaves the house and on the way to meet her boyfriend she finds a shoe on the path.
-Scene nine : The girl follows the path and eventually sees her boyfriend lying face down covered in blood.
-Scene ten : The main title appears across the screen.

First idea for film story board.

The first rough draft of a potential story board for the Horror/Thriller that is currently being planned and produced.

The rough idea:

-A girl is shown tied too a chair in a derelict building.
- The film then cuts back to how it happened and shows the girl walking, being abducted in a car.
- After the walk through of what happened in the form of a memory, the camera will switch down to door level, and see a man's legs clunk into the room and stop, and show the girl on the chair weeping on the other side of the room.

AS media studies, continuity piece.

This is our continuity piece for our AS media studies group. It shows basic camera shots such as over the shoulder, close ups and long shots as well as editing skills such as slow motion, titles, and adding voice overs.

However, the continuity piece could be improved. If we had the chance to repeat the exercise we would make the speech clearer and make it more in time with the video footage, as well as introducing more camera shots into the production.

still photos for potential setting selection.

These are the potential setting we have in mind to film our short horror/thriller introduction. the location was thought about because its eery, deralict look adds to the feel of a hideout, something with a mysteryous past and fits the conventions of a classic horror setting.

Alfred Hitchcock's 'Psycho', essay

Describe and discuss some of the ways Hitchcock creates tension and suspense in the film ‘psycho’.

The film psycho was released in 1960 and is still regarded as a respectable horror/thriller even today by audiences of all generations. This film is a good example of Alfred Hitchcock’s skill in film making with his use of suspense and mystery to engage the viewer. The films popularity can be explained because it addressed important issues such as adultery, theft, and murder set in atmosphere of suspense which enhances the story line.

Firstly, Hitchcock creates tension and suspense in the film with the strong use of blurred imagery. He uses this technique so that the killer’s figure is obscured meaning that the viewer cannot see the complete image of the person. By doing this the viewer is left wondering who the killer might be. A good example of this use of the blurring method can be seen in the shower scene of the film, where the killer is only faintly visible behind the shower curtain which gives the viewer only a chance to speculate the true identity of the person and to be left questioning could this be a man or a woman?

As well as the blurred images to conceal the murderer’s true identity, Hitchcock also uses very dramatic music to create tension within the audience of psycho. The scene is set using diagetic sound then suddenly it cuts to the use of high pitched orchestral music combined with only a close up of the weapon in hand and the expressions on the victims face. The combination of this use of sound puts viewers under the impression they have seen something horrific and as soon as that music starts later in the film they know something terrible is about to happen to the victim.

Hitchcock gives the audience two clear options to choose from when they are trying to guess the killer’s identity. Is it the son or could it be the mother? However by continuously twisting and turning ideas and giving snippets of information that are misleading to the audience they consequently have no clear idea of who the murderer actually is throughout the film. This is probably the best way that Hitchcock creates suspense and tension in ‘Psycho’ as it is a continuous theme from when the first murder takes place and leaves the audience in a state of anticipation.

Another way Hitchcock created suspense and tension was by deliberately choosing to film the production in black and white, rather than choosing to make the production in colour. As well as being more cost effective, it enabled Hitchcock managed to create an eerie atmosphere throughout the film. The lack of colour enhances the shadows etc, in a way that colour picture could not and has the effect of making ordinary scenes look creepy. The darkening of the background helps to imply something sinister is about to happen.

The name ‘Psycho’ itself incorporates suspense and tension into the film so before people have ever seen the film they wonder and anticipate about what could happen. The word psycho means mad, crazy, deranged and dangerous which of course is a strong title that reveals what the film could be about to the viewers before its even started and maybe even intimidates the audience as they never know in what way the film is linked to a ‘psycho’ or when he/she will strike.

My conclusion is that Hitchcock interlinks several ways to develop and create suspense and tension within the audience. His clever use of mind twisting ideas and false leads mixed with his use of image cutting, non-diagetic sound and use of black and white colour makes Psycho a production full of confusion, suspense and tension. This is designed to draw the audience into the story using varying levels of anticipation. The early death of what the audience first perceives as the main character is a well thought out ruse to challenge the audience and throw them off balance and helps to develop their sense of anticipation of identifying the murderer. The style adopted by Hitchcock means that ‘Psycho’ has an ongoing interest to a wide range of audiences.