Similar Films and their Reviews

As a psychological thriller, there are many films that have a similar storyline etc. 

Some similar films include:

• The Butterfly Effect
• Trainspotting
• Pulp Fiction
• The Ring
• Thirteen

           

The Butterfly Effect:

Storyline

Evan Treborn grows up in a small town with his single, working mother and his friends. He suffers from memory blackouts where he suddenly finds himself somewhere else, confused. Evan's friends and mother hardly believe him, thinking he makes it up just to get out of trouble. As Evan grows up he has fewer of these blackouts until he seems to have recovered. Since the age of seven he has written a diary of his blackout moments so he can remember what happens. One day at college he starts to read one of his old diaries, and suddenly a flashback hits him like a brick.

Characters

The film includes the main character (Evan Treborn) at 3 stages in his life, at seven, thirteen and in adulthood. He is shown more in his adulthood looking back at his younger years as he suffers from flashbacks and memory loss and when he finds his diary he tries to change the past and what happened but his retains his mind in the present. Before he tried to change his past, he is smart, studying psychology at college. He is the main character throughout. The other main character is his love interest from a very young age, we see her as a different type of character in each flashback and age due to what has previously happened. However as a young child/teenager she was seen as shy and timid however she had a rebellious side to her, she doesn't wear make up often and has a natural look to her.

Mise-en-scene/Cinematography

The lighting changes throughout the film, if someone bad is happening then the colour palette would be more blue and dark whereas in normal day life it is normal colours however a dirty gritty filter can sometimes be added. If he is panicking, he is usually in a blue colour palatte and a dark background. Not much make up is used as it is a psychological film and it is working through your mind rather than trying to scare you through make up and costume. Usually the props used are what you use in everyday life so nothing looks abnormal. When he is having a flashback, it is edited as the words he is reading start to shuffle and move as if we are moving in time with him.

Review: 

On IMDB, The Butterfly Effect received 7.7/10 on rating. It had made  $96,060,858 in box office. It was nominated for 3 awards and won one. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0289879/?ref_=nv_sr_1

Insidious:

Storyline

A family in search of help for their son, Dalton, who fell into a coma after a mysterious incident in the attic. Little do they know that there is much more to this endless sleep than meets the eye as they explore the paranormal, and rediscover the past; the key to getting their son back once and for all.

Character

The young boy in the film, Dalton, rarely speaks, he is possessed and his family do not know how. His father, who had the same condition when he was younger, but unaware and his mother are in search of wanting to 'cure' him; both of the characters are nervous and worried however they neglected their son for a short while and let him wander off when they was sorting the house out. The woman who helps them in the end, is older than you'd expect and is quite temperamental as you would be scared of her because she is an intimidating character.

Mise-en-scene/Cinematography

The film is based in a house which is old and they have only just recently moved into, it's not in a suburban area but far away from other houses. The colours used are red, black, white which all have connotations of blood, danger etc. Iconography has been used such as an old grandfather clock, photographs. It is a dark and gloomy atmosphere throughout due to the low-key lighting. The rooms in the house are ideal and look like everyday rooms which you would be in a house making the area look innocent and as if nothing would happen. The mother in the film wears minimal make up and looks natural as the dad looks normal too, just like all the human characters however the demon character has a costume and make up for effect and it makes the audience know that they're not meant to be there.

Review: 

On IMBD, Insidious received the rating 6.8/10. It had made $97,009,150 in box office. It was nominated for 8 awards and won 2. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1591095/

Individual Research into Genre

Chosen Subgenre: Psychological Horror/Thriller


A psychological thriller is usually a fictional story that emphasis the psychology of its character and their unstable emotional states to build tension and to cause trauma. They usually have element of mystery, drama, horror etc. The fear created is usually within the mind of the character and it has an impact on the audience.

Similar Films with this genre: 

• The Ring
• The Shining
• Black Swan
• The Sixth Sense
• Gothika
• The Changeling
• Butterfly Effect

Similar Storylines:

• Trainspotting
• Pulp Fiction
• Thirteen
• The Conjuring

Characters:
Usually in a psychological/horror film, the main characters are usually younger people who have just hit adulthood. They are usually suffering from their own personal problems: maybe alcoholism, anxiety, being lonely etc. The characters emotions/fears are played with in the film, to the extent where they can go insane. Either the character finds out the problem and over comes it or they are defeated. 

Mise-en-scene:
Setting: The location of most of these films are usually in a small, lonely suburbian area with no sense of community, most of the people in the area are oblivious to what is happening or they make out they don't know. The setting usually is dark and has an eerie vibe to it. Everyone in the community is usually not aware what is happening and carrying their lives on as usual.  
Lighting: Most of the lighting in these typical genres are dark and mostly grey scale, they usually give a dark atmosphere so it looks eerier and more mysterious however they have to have a normal/daylight for the parts where everything is normal and nobody knows whats happening.  

Make-up: Usually the protagonist are pale-faced and have dark eyes or they wear minimal make-up to show how weak and tired they actually are. 
Costume: Usually the characters are wearing everyday uniforms or clothes because it's meant to be psychological rather than obvious to the world. More dark colours are warn by the main characters. 
Props: Most films of this genre use props which are used in everyday life as they are thrown about or have a meaning. 




Iconography:
This genre uses a lot of iconography in different ways. In most films of this genre, dark corners and dead ends are used, this lets the audiences own imagination run wild as you can't really see whats happening so they have to imagine themselves also usually they can run away no further. In horrors which are mostly gory, a lot of weapons are used such as: knifes, guns, axes, chainsaws etc and you instantly, as the audience, think murder and death. In the films, a lot of blood can be used to give the feel or danger, harm or murder. It has a lot of interpretations. Depending on the film itself, different techniques and strategies are used to link to psychological horrors. For example, mirrors might be used which scares the audience for it's own personal experience, it usually represents the characters inner self. This is done in Black Swan. Moreover, innocent children are after used when it is a family based setting who are the ones who usually spot whats going on first but have no idea. 

Title Sequence

Title Sequence Research

Usually the title sequence is the first thing your audience sees on-screen that introduces them to the story, which means that it has to capture its tone and prepare your viewers for what is about to unfold. It also introduces the cast and crew, who produced it etc. It is the film equivalent of a book cover

Se7en

Se7en is a psychological crime/thriller. The story centers around two detectives who hunt for a serial killer who uses the seven deadly sins to justify his crimes. I found the title sequence on Youtube via this link: 

The music gives an eerie feeling as if sense someone is being watched highlighting the film genre.

Throughout the title sequences there are amplified screams which imply danger and insecurity, generating the idea of helplessness, giving it the thrilling feeling. 

A a lot of close up shots are used suggesting that these objects are a main part of the psychological thriller and it will appear again throughout the film. Such as the close up of a book, this suggests it is related to the story 

Pictures of surgery are shown this suggests there is going to be involvement of psychological disorders, linking back to the genre of the film. 

A close up of the villain is used which gives a sense of anonymity therefore the psychological plot the film can become prominent as we do not who caused the crime therefore it plays on our minds.


As the title sequence continues, it speeds up which builds tension and the rising action within the film. The filter used is sepia which gives a dirty/gritty impression causing the audience to feel uneasy, again, linking with the genre of the film.

Possible Distributors

Possible Distributors

I think our possible film distributor should be Momentum Pictures as it is one of the leading independent film distributors in the UK and Ireland. As our target audience is British audience then it would work well.

Momentum Pictures are known for distributing films such as:

• King's Speech
• Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
• Just Friends
• The Illusionist
• P.S I Love You
• Dark Skies
• 21 & Over
• The Woman in Black
• Sinister
• Insidious

I think this distributor would be good as they don't do psychological thriller movies often so it would be new and exciting and I think it may gather more attention as the audience wouldn't be expecting it. They have also won a lot of awards such as BAFTA's. This shows they have experience and know what they're doing when working with independent companies

Research into certificate of our film

Certificate Research

Different films have different certificates for what ages can and cannot watch a film. We have chose our film to be a 15 as throughout there is an involvement of drug use, however the BBFC allows the use of drugs in a film as long as "drug taking does not promote or encourage drug misuse "which we are not doing. Our final film will have no portrayal of sexual activities or sexual nudity whereas there may be frequent strong language. We want our audience to be wide so our target audience is young adults whilst sticking to the guidelines of the BBFC.

Most psychological thrillers are rated a 15 rather than a 12A (where a child no younger than 12 can watch the film unless accompanied by an adult.) As there may be strong threats and menace as long as they are not sadistic or sexualised which are not appropriate for younger than 15 year olds.

To keep between the guidelines and to our 15 certificate, other factors contribute and these show the difference between a 12A and a 15:

• Strong violence
• Frequent strong language
• Portrayals of sexual activity
• Strong verbal of sexual activity
• Sexual nudity
• Brief scenes of sexual violence or verbal references to sexual violence
• Discriminatory language or behaviour
• Drug-use

 

Title Sequence Research

A title sequence is used by films to introduce the title, main cast and/or production crew involved. In a way it is the movie equivalent to the cover of a book. The theme or genre of the film is usually depicted in title sequences to create a first impression for the viewers.

Insidious

Insidious is a supernatural horror film. The story centres around a family whose son falls into a coma upon moving into their new home. It becomes apparent that the boy acts as a vessel to another dimension for demons and spirits.

I found the title sequence on the YouTube via this link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g1e1feo4DUk. The opening title sequence of the film presents an eerie atmosphere parallel to the theme, genre and storyline. 

 

 

From the very beginning of the clip, the colour scheme is very cold and dark. At the very beginning, the film details are on a black background written in red lettering. Red stands out to the audience and has connotations of blood and danger also the animation of the writing moves in a way similar to a liquid, representing blood. The writing holds details about the film such as production details which consist of the production companies Alliance Films and District 6 Films and also the director, James Wan. The first 30 seconds of the sequence draws in the audience by showing an image of the family's son in bed. The camera then pans across a couple of rooms to eventually  show a haggard woman's face wearily lit by the light of a candle. The camera then quickly zooms in on her face then the screen cuts to black.

The film title ("Insidious") then appears in red capital letters to fill the screen. Subsequently, the remaining sequence is compiled of different black and white images of certain areas in a house. Some of the camera angles of the images are canted, disorientating the audience further. Also, each image has red writing over the top which fades out in a way it did earlier in the extract. . This writing states names of the film stars within the movie such as Rose Byrne and also people involved in processes such as casting and music.

Throughout the sequence, the music remains eerie and slow. At certain points the sound peaks in pitch which intends to unease the viewer, particularly when the title flashes on screen from complete blackness. This technique particularly made me jump and made me feel tense.  

Certificate Research

We wanted our film to appeal especially to young adults.

It is rare for good psychological horror films to have a 12A certificate due to the scares being mostly unsuitable for any under 12's accompanying an adult. Psychological threat must be kept to a moderate level and not be too frequent. Most horror film, particularly those from recent year, are a 15 certificate. At this age restriction there can be strong threat and menace as long as it does not show sadistic or sexual qualities.

Drug use plays a major role in the storyline of our 2 minute extract. This would be an issue if the film was aiming for a 12A certificate as according to BBFC guidelines, "discriminatory behaviour should not be endorsed by the film", meaning that the plot should not base itself around drug use. However in 15 films, drug taking may be shown but not to promote the use of drugs which our story does not.

We want our film to acquire a 15 certificate and there are other issues that contribute to the age rating:

• strong violence

• frequent strong language (eg 'f***')

• portrayals of sexual activity

• strong verbal references to sex

• sexual nudity

• brief scenes of sexual violence or verbal references to sexual violence

• discriminatory language or behaviour

Similar Films

The Ring

 

 

Storyline

The Ring centres around a cursed videotape of dark, disturbing images. All witnesses of the tape are killed in horrific and odd circumstances exactly a week afterwards. An investigative journalist investigates the curse which murdered her niece but it is much more than originally seems.

Characters

The main characters consist of an investigative journalist and main protagonist called Rachel and a creepy and mysterious orphan ghost-girl called Samara. Rachel is a strong, intelligent, female character who investigates the curse and eventually saves the day. This consequently makes her a representation of the common "final girl" cliché used within horror films where a female character is the last to die or overcome the situation by outsmarting the enemy. She wears little or no make-up and dresses very casually throughout her time on-screen. Her behaviour is quite stereotypically masculine as she knows how to fend for herself and is very motivated and determined. Samara has a very haunting presence. Her hair is long, dark hair covers her face to conceal her facial expressions and sense of identity. Samara rarely talks during the film so therefore the audience does not know a considerable amount of information about her feelings, decreasing her sense of humanity. As she is just a child, Samara should be seen as innocent and lovely but her actions contradict this entirely.

 

Misé-en-scene/Cinematography

 

The misé-en-scene is very black and dark throughout the film. The colour palette does not include bright colours such as yellow or pink but rather blues, greys and black. However, it is very similar to a real life situation as the characters and settings are relatively normal and not fantasy-like. This makes the film a lot spookier for the audience as it appears that the situation could happen to anyone. The costumes of the main, human characters are relatively casual with usually jeans and jackets. This makes contributes to the illusion that the characters are ordinary people. Nonetheless Samara's costume is a long white nightgown isn't a casual outfit, maintaining the fact that she is not a normal character. Samara's make-up is very pale to give her an appearance which looks drained and spooky in comparison with Rachel's natural facial make-up with a tanned complexion. In one particular scene where a close up of Samara's face, she has is covered in bruises and has large under eye circles to make her look exceptionally haggard. Make-up is also used for special effect especially when the audience sees the odd, distorted faces of Samara's victims.

Response
The Ring was a high success with critics as well as with audiences. It made almost $250 million in box office takings alone. Rotten Tomatoes, the film review website, gave the film a very favourable score of 71% of 180 reviews.


 

The Shining

 

Storyline

The Shining centres around a man, his son and wife who become the caretakers of a secluded hotel. The son sees disturbing visions and hallucinations of the hotel's past using "The Shining". The father begins unsuccessfully writing a novel when he slowly becomes insane as a result of cabin fever and former guests of the hotel's ghosts.

 Characters

The main characters consist of a struggling, alcoholic novelist called Jack and his son Danny. Jack's character seems relatively normal to begin with however it becomes more sinister as the film continues. He is an extremely sympathetic character who toils with his short temper and alcoholism. Jack's facial expressions and behaviour portray as he slowly descends into insanity and the look in his eyes completely changes as the demons of the hotel take over. Danny is the son of Jack and Wendy (Jack's wife). He seems like the perfect child as he is intelligent, well behaved and loving. However, he can read minds and his behaviour sometimes becomes very odd as a result.  

 Misé-en-scene/Cinematography

The misé-en-scene differs from The Ring as it does not have a particularly have a dark filter throughout. A lot of the scary scenes have a relatively bright colour palate including the scene with the twin girls. However, the colour palate includes more eerie colours such as blue and black in tense moments near the conclusion of the film like the axe scene. Kubrick places a lot of small significant props within the film such as teddy bears and uses slightly canted camera angles to enhance the ideas that something is not quite right. The costumes are very much like The Ring in the sense that what the characters wear are normal everyday clothing to make it appear as the family are completely normal. Also, the facial make up of main characters is normal and minimal but in certain scenes make up such as blood and bodily cuts are highly used for a gruesome, gory effect. Also, the setting and items placed within the certain family rooms are particularly normal for a family home maintaining the normality within scenes create scariness as it seems the situation could happen to anyone in the target audience. These items include small household items such as books and washing baskets. The hotel rooms and corridors are a little more peculiar as they hold a less personal touch though they are relatively contemporary and typical for hotels of the time.

 

Response
 

The Shining has become a classic horror film however it had a slow success at the box office, taking around $45million. Newer generations of audiences have appreciated the film more than previous. Rotten Tomatoes awarded the movie a score of 92%.

Psychological Horror/Thriller Research

Our chosen subgenre is psychological horror/thriller.

Psychological horror films use feelings of the characters' fears or guilt to provide scares. Emotional instability of a main character can be highlighted to increase the horror. Psychological horror films have more in common with a typical thriller film than horror films. They are very subtle in comparison to other horror sub-genres but still just as effective. The amount of actual physical harm is very low in contrast to other horror sub-genres such as slasher films because the fear and tension is created within the mind of the character and subsequently the audience. 

Films of the genre

• The Ring
• The Shining
• Jacob's Ladder
• Gothika
• Pi
• Case 39
• 1408

Films with Similar Story Lines

• Don't Look Now
• Pulp Fiction
• Trainspotting

Characters:
The main characters are usually haunted by personal troubles be it alcoholism or mourning for a close friend or family member. Films play with their heightened emotions to make them question what is real and what is not. Main characters tend to be people who have little or no people to consult with about their troubles and issues. The events of the stories either destroy the character physically or emotionally or makes them overcome their personal demons.

Misé-en-scene

Settings, props and characters are typically normal to the target audience's everyday life. Films are usually set in suburban, isolated towns. Isolation is vital for the genre because it makes the main characters feel as though no one can understand the strange situation which makes them question their sanity and psychological state. Characters tend to include either people with children, who are married or in relationships. They have everyday responsibilities that could be completely interrupted or destroyed by the strange events. The colour palates of the film genre are usually dark and eerie colours such as purple, blue, black, white and greys. Red will sometimes appear within the films to represent danger or blood. The lighting is also usually really low and dim. Make-up is left very natural for main characters. Yet for eerie characters or illusions, the faces are left very pale so they look drained and creepy. Also, make-up such as prosthetics and fake blood are used frequently the genre to either show the injuries that main characters have maintained from defending themselves or for characters to look frightening and abnormal.

Iconography
There are many items or things that can relate to a film of the psychological thriller/horror genre. Weapons such as knifes, axes or machetes are easily related to psychological horrors in particular as these items make the audience instantly thing of murders and death which horrors centre themselves around. Blood and liquid of red colour frequently emerges within the films to make the audience make the connection to death and harm. Children frequently occur within these psychological movies. This could be because childhood plays a major part in the development in the audience's psyche and many people have memories within childhood that still scares them or they cannot explain. Dark corners or places are also frequently used. The dark is used continuously because people do not know or cannot fully see what happens in the dark so people's imaginations tend to run wild. Mirrors are also a frequent motif. They could be used as the characters cannot see inside the their mind or what is exactly real but a mirror is meant to reflect what things actually look like.