Research and Planning

Love Field Short Film Analysis

Analysis of the title, ‘Love Field’ is a contrasting title. It is contrasting as ‘fields’ are associated with horror, isolation and abandonment, which is the complete opposite of ‘love’, which is associated with never being lonely or feeling abandoned. Already there is controversy on what genre this film might be due to its perplexing title.

The establishing shot that opens the film is a wheat field, which foreshadows the title ‘Field’. As a sixteen-year-old viewer I assume that this film is going to be horror as stereotypically murders happen in Wheatfield’s in horror or thriller films, some examples being ‘The Lovely Bones’ and ‘Signs’. Furthermore the opening music was menacing, creating a sinister feel to the film. On top of that the film title was written in a thin, silver font, which felt cold. In addition the sky shown in the establishing shot was grey and cloudy, this could be pathetic fallacy indicating to the audience that the film will be gloomy and the characters will also mimic this.

The camera movement is slow edging closer to the Wheatfield as the music continues to be menacing and gradually gets louder. This crescendo in the music was perhaps used to help build up the tension in the audience and make them gradually feel more involved with the films events. Same effect with the close ups of the wheat, as it makes the audience feel as if they are in the scene of the film and grow a connection with the location.

There is no one to be seen in the field, which creates the feeling of abandonment, another convention of horror. There is a sign that squeaks when the wind blows it. This creaky sound is another stereotypical sound effect that is found in horror/ thriller films, some examples being the creak of a rocking chair in films like ‘The Conjuring’ or creaky floorboards and so on. This adds to the evidence that this film is a horror/ thriller. 

There is a crow on top of the sign. Stereotypically crows are seen in the media as being a sign of death such as in the horror films ‘The Birds’, ‘Molly’s Crows’, ‘Messengers’, ‘Wrath of the Crows’, ‘Scare Crow Slaves’ and ‘Husk’. Naturally the audience’s schema of Crows is sinister which will make them assume the film is a horror like the ones listed above where Crows are an important element. 

Alternatively, in literature, birds in general are a symbol of freedom an example being ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’. However in the bible, crows are a representation of magic and miracles from the bible story ‘His Eye is on the Crow’. The continuous close ups of the crow throughout the film makes it clear to the audience that he is there to represent something whether it be good or bad.

The film jumps to a worm’s eye view of a bleeping phone and money lying on the crushed wheat on the ground. The positions that are seen on the ground are considered important and stereotypically they are items that would be stolen again suggesting a thriller genre to the audience. Sounds of a girl crying emerges, she sounds in pain which makes the audience think she is being hurt or murdered as all we can see is the worms eye view of her feet struggling. The use of the worm’s eye view angle was perhaps used to make the audience feel useless in this situation, as they don’t really understand what is happening in the situation and therefore cannot really help.

Suddenly a sharp sound cuts through the music playing and an unidentified weapon gets stabbed in the ground. The sudden sharp sound was used to make the audience jump which is a convention of horror films adding to the evidence that this film is a horror. The use of the weapon prop further suggested that there is some sort of murder, which would have been predictable in an empty Wheatfield. The hand that put the weapon in the ground was smeared in blood that again suggests death. The fact that the screaming was clearly from a woman also adds to the convention of horror/thriller films that girls are usually the victims of murders some examples being ‘The Lovely Bones’ and ‘scream’. Critic ‘Bellaonline’ suggested “Horror films are famous for portraying women as hypersexual damsels in distress who are usually murdered as a punishment for their indiscretions”.

A man is a shown wearing denim dungaree; this use of costume is a stereotypical representation of a murderer. He has a tattoo of a skull on his arm, which again could be foreshadowing the death. The film jumps into a mid shot of the man standing in the wheat this could be to show the audience that he is alone and again emphasize the pathetic fallacy.

The camera them jump cuts into he man running, this action is an indication that he has done something wrong and is trying to get away.

Finally the man returns to the wheat filed with a blanket in a low angle shot, which indicates that he is the powerful one in this situation. The film cuts into an over the shoulder shot of a baby in the blanket. The over the shoulder shot was perhaps used to make the audience feel more involved with the film and create a feel of proximity with the characters which was lacked until this point. The music changes into a soft tune that is uplifting which is moist likely to make the audience feel at ease with the situation which wasn’t as it seemed. The music is the main element that creates the watershed in the film transitioning it from its horror sense.

The use of the crow was all along a sign of a miracle as the woman had given birth which is the miracle of life. The crow’s role was used in a similar way as the bible story.

I think the main message of the film was to not jump to conclusion in situations. There are stereotypes, which are built by the media and other sources such as literature, but sometimes they are the exception like in this situation. The overall message is that things are not always as they seem.                                                                         It could also to be to not always assume the worst. Psychoanalyst John Milton says that there is psychological evidence that humans always assume the worst in everything this is due to past experiences in bad situations that they become the expectation, it is also due to the natural levels of anxiety humans have that makes them function adequately. He suggested, “The mind is its own place, and in itself can make a heaven of Hell, a hell of Heaven.” In light of this, perhaps the message of this film could be to teach people to not always assume the worst about people or situations and look more on the bright or alternative side.


Blood and Chips Analysis

I did an anaysis if the short film 'Blood and Chips' as part of my film research for the course.

Initial Ideas

I used an app called 'Grafio Lite 3' to create an interesting mindmap that helped me lay out all my initial ideas for my short horror film.

Horror Movie Montage

I have created a horror movie monatage that consists of conventions for the genre. I made the video on a software called 'imovie' on my Mac computer. 

Why have I picked these certain clips? 

I have picked these clips carefully as they are evidence that horror films have these certain conventions. I have tried to pick clips that demonstraight conventions that appear in most horror films 

How have they inspired your ideas?

They have inspired my ideas as they have helped me see what is most common for certain sub genre sof horror. For example I want to do a psychological horror short so looking at these clips I can see that psychological horrors include more use of weapons (The Shining, Scream, Friday 13th, Psycho). They also have less reference and theme of religion unlike supernatural horrors (Carrie, The Exorcist, The Conjuring) as religion is more concerened with the paranormal, beyond death, afterlife, ressurection etc... They have inspired me to use a key weapon in my short.

Horror Movie Conventions Collage

I have made this conventions collage in addition to the montage above to include more conventions of the horror genre. 

As you can see I have mentioned the use of 'doppelgangers' in horrors. Doppelgangers are characters that act as parallel or an alter ego to another character. I have included the examples from 'Dracula', 'An American Warewolf in London', 'The Shining', 'Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde' and 'Black Swan' in my collage. This is because doppelgangers play a large role in them all, The twins in the shining are parallel to each other and create an eerie feel of illusion. Similar, 'Black Swan', 'Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde' and 'An American Werewolf in London' use the doppelganger effect to creata an alter ego of the character. This alter ego usually appears when the character looks in the mirror, this is another rreason why mirrors are an essential prop in horror film. When Nina the ballerina from 'Black Swan' looks in the mirror she sees the black swan instead of the white swan in which she is. David from American Werewolf looks in the mirror and sees his dead human self as he has been turned into a warewolf, Same situation in 'Dr. Jekyl' when he looks in the mirror he sees Mr Hyde who is the warewolf he's been turned into.

I have also mentioned the use of the 'uncanny', this is when a person or a thing is not quite human yet we feel at home with it. As you can see i have included the examples of werewolves (American Warewolf in London), witches (Macbeth), Vampires (Dracula) and mermaids (Pirates of the Caribbean). These creatures are considered to look human like and have human features and can commonly discuise themselves as humans (Mermaid traids tail for legs, Warewolf only by night, vampire hides it fangs). The uncanny effect is very popular in horror as it again creates a feel of the unknown and illusion which is considered scary or fearful. It also introduces the supernatural which is commonly a theme of horror.

 Finaly I have included the popular topic of the 'Sublime', this is the sense of being over awed by nature or obsessed with its beauty. I have added pictures from Alfred Hitchcock's 'The birds' and the 'Black Swan' for the Sublime as both films are concerned with animals of nature (birds). Nina from Black Swan is over awed by trying to transform into a black swan, so much so it turns her psycho. I have also included various different stills from horror films that show a gothic side of nature (dark woods, full moons, crows) that make the audiecne sublime in the nature. there is also a still of a man in the rain, he looks sad and the weather is bad, this is an effect called 'pathetic fallacy' which is an element of the sublime that reflects the characters feelings and helps the audience indulge in the nature. For the character their mood could be influenced by the weather, therefore being awed in the sublime.

Looking at these elements of horror, they have helped further inspire my ideas. I am keen on including an doppelganger in my short film as I think its a really important element which would also be fun to think of a doppelganger situation. 

Analysing Three Different Short Horror Films.

SKYPEMARE

Skypemare Analysis from elihusseinxx

Exploring Narrative Theories 

I have researched into some narrative theories that apply to my genre of horror, to help me create a story line for my short film and to consider key elements and objectives. 

Vladimir Propp's Theory

How can I apply this to my short film?

I could apply this to my short film by including all the characters Vladimir has proposed and put them in a situation where they will all be needed.

For Example: Set in high school, there is a psycho (villain) who starts killing all the girls in the school (This would reinforce on the idea of women always being the victims ). The school popular boy (hero) has to save his girlfriend (princess) with the help of his two friends (the helper and the false hero). Having one friend be the false hero would stick with the common convention of betrayal or revenge in horror. A teacher (dispatcher/ doner) would offer wisdom and insight to the teenagers about the schools history to help them destroy the killer. This situation with these characters proposed by Propp would create the perfect psychological/ slasher horror film.

From looking into this theory i think I would like to play on the stereotypes of the characters and perhaps make the female the villian and the 'princess' a male.

Noel Carroll Theory

How can I apply this to my short film?

This theroy is quite straight forward to follow and create a horror film with, more so as it is aimed specifically at horror films. I will definatly try to incluse these three stages in my short film as it woulod clearly help the genre be clear to the audience.



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