Example Film Research Analysis

'Dead Silence' is a film about a widower who returns to his hometown after his newly wed is brutally murdered after she receives a ventriloquist doll from an unknown source. In an attempt to uncover the mystery of his wife's death, Jamie returns to Ravens Fair to prove that he isn't a suspect to his wife's murder, but instead a Woman named Mary Shaw who was a ventriloquist but was murdered by the townspeople after she kidnapped and killed a boy who called her a fraud at one of her performances and now she haunts Ravens Fair to seek revenge on the townspeople and their families.

• We thought 'Dead Silence' was a useful film as inspiration to help inspire our production because the concept is similar regarding the use of dolls and possession conventions. The opening of the film was effective because it set an example as to what production companies we could use. The first shots after the context, starting in the 25th second shows the titles of 'Universal Pictures' and 'Burg/Koules/Hoffman each showing for 3 seconds, claiming that there is no priority over each company.
• The typography in the opening sequence is also a good example as to what our typography will be like because it links well to our horror/possession themed genre. The text is of a vintage, robust look, coloured in red to signify elements of gore. The robust text effect is a common convention of horrors as it gives the illusion that the film has an old origin, adding to the horror genre to make it more frightening.
• At the beginning of the opening title the non diegetic music is of a music box, which is a common use of iconography to add to the horror genre. Ours is similarly linked as we also include a music box. The diegetic sounds are not commonly used in all possession horror films, Greys Anatomy, for example, 'Insidious' uses percussion at a slow, subtle pace, whereas 'Dead Silence' uses drums, xylophone as well as percussion instruments.

To finish, 'Dead Silence' led a good example as to what typography and production companies we should use in our opening as the use of these conventions worked well, however the music wasn't appropriate for our opening, and wasn't a good inspiration.