BA7 | Concept & Pre-Production #03

Okay, lets get this research started!

I’m not really 100% sure where to start this research document. I mean I know what I want to do, I know what I want my research report to be on, and I have various research documents together already I just don’t know where to begin my blog/reflective journal version…

Right, that’s it, lets start with DOOM!

Doom (film, 2005)

Okay so as we all know now, I am researching horror for my dissertation (aka research report) and one of the key areas of my studies is the concept of horror fiction in film and how it translates into games.

I decided, therefore, to begin with a horror film analysis. Well, I say horror…I picked Doom (the film) because it is based on the horror game of the same name developed by ID Software, however the film is slightly more sci-fi in genre but has horror elements none the less.

Doom came out in 2005 and was directed by Andrsej Bartkowiak. The story is loosely based on the video game series whereby a group of space marines are called to mars on a rescue mission.

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I decided to use this as a warm up to my research report studies. I chose the film because it is based on a famous horror game series. Whilst I was watching I took notes in my paper journal on why I thought the film was scary, what visual techniques the film used to create and emphasise fear and I also tried to consider any games that mimicked the technique. 

My Notes

Here are the notes that I wrote down whilst watching the film. 

• Various sequences in the film have corridors that remind me of the Dead Space ship environments - sci-fi horror, dark, foggy, specific colour palettes (yellow, blue, red). I know these screen shots are blurry and hard to see but I struggled to find any proper stills from the film that helped me to demonstrate my observation. 

Images From Doom (film, all 3 images below are screen caps from the trailer) 

  Images From Dead Space (Games)  

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• Limited use of colour and light.
  
• Character who has lost their mind, tears off his own ear  and is covered in blood, this unusual behaviour is used to unnerve the audience. This is again, similar to sections in Dead Space DLC The Awakening where by the player encounters chanting NPC’s who have seemingly gone crazy.
  
• Soldier takes lords name in vain and to repay his “sin” carves a cross into his arm, why is religion often related to dark subject matter?
  
• Creepy animal cages, abandoned and bloody.
  
• Textures are grungy, dark, worn, dirty, unmaintained.
  
• While in the sewers, the light on the characters gun torch starts to flicker - a commonly used mechanic to evoke fear, suspense and anxiety in the audience.
  
• The sewer scenes in the film are incredibly dark, shadows are slowly of a monster. Using trickery to confuse and disorientate the audience so that they feel nervous.

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• In the scene with the female archaeologist is examining the unidentified body the lights begin to flicker and fail leaving her in darkness, this is very reminiscent of the beginning of Dead Space 2 where the protagonist and two storyline NPC characters become trapped in a room where the lights fail causing panic in the player.  Using light to disorientate the player and evoke feelings of panic and discomfort is a commonly used tactics in the horror genre. (Skip to 6mins 45secs for the specific part I am referring too, unfortunately I couldn’t also find a video of the sewer scene from Doom, so this will have to suffice).
  
  

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• Audio - ambient noise to trick the audience into hearing things, audio flashbacks are often used to link the narrative but also used to create obscurity and unusual emotions in the audience as sound becomes warped.
  
• Blood splatters on the floor, horror narrative technique.
  
• The lighting allows for the audience to be spoon fed details, often not able to fully see a monster or a gruesome death. Often what we think we see is scarier than what is actually there.
  
• In film, flashbacks are shown to the audience on screen while in games cut scenes can be used, often details are given back to the players through notes, diaries and journals. This is extra information the player can acquire on the narrative, film cant replicate this because it is up to the players discretion whether they read them or not, however these texts can often have an impact on the players emotions and causing them to feel uneasy.
  
• When a character goes back to find his sister he is given a timer. This timer is given out by a female announcer on the space station on Mars. This is a commonly used tactic in horror games such as the Resident Evil series whereby the player is given a specific time to complete a task often forcing feeling such as panic, fear and anxiety as they struggle to complete the task. 

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• A really cool scene in the film is the 1st person perspective section. The film pays homage to the Doom game series by implementing a short first person perspective horror gameplay mode. A lot of horror games are in first person perspectives because its scarier for the player to consider themselves in the characters shoes as if it was them in the game. Doom, the film, pays respect to that design. 

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• The film uses a lot of visual trickery in terms of colour, lighting and shadow to confuse the audience and cause tension and fear, this is also a technique often seen in video games where by the developers want to manipulate the player using the aesthetics of the game to evoke specific emotion.

Conclusion

Did you watch that Resident Evil 3 video? Gosh I love Nemesis :D ANYWAY…I have another two film horror film studies that I plan to write up similar to this but I want to discuss my topic further with my tutors tomorrow before I begin writing anymore up as I need a little direction. 

However, I do plan to go onto researching legitimate horror film techniques, learning names for specific lighting set ups used both in games and films, looking into literature that has inspired horror films and games, understanding why etc, but that’s research I’m still yet to do…