Our Inital Storyboards

Alex's

~Posted by all

How our planned opening fits with our Research

Codes/Conventions

• In our opening sequence we have set up many exciting blood rushing enigma's. The killer in our opening sequence is up to no good and is very mysterious, we wanted to end our sequence with the audience unsure of what is going to happen next in the story. We give them clues throughout but they don't actually get to see where the killer is off to next, but they are left with ideas. This is how our opening sequence connects with other horror and crime movies.
• We have many technical codes to relate to our genre throughout our sequence. For example we use POV shots for the killer, giving the audience a sense of insecurity. We also use many close ups and long shots for the detectives which is like other crime films because it's important to be able to know what they are investigating. We also use fast cuts near the end, which many horror movies use in their films. The use of sound bridges attract the audience and create a optimistic "3D" world.
• Also in our sequence there is a variety of lighting. We have filmed some daytime scenes, and some nightime scenes. This is because of the hybrid genre we have chosen. The nightimes scenes show the audience that it is party "horror" and the daytimes show it is party "crime. So we decided to have some jumpy scenes that attract the audience, but also some normal daytime ones to make it less boring and to introduce the good and more "hero" like characters, just like other horror or crime movies.
• The props used in our sequence relate to our genre and props theory. They include a knife, guns, map,article,gloves,glasses,hats,bag,mobiles,magnifine glass,body bag,coats. These relate to our characters and genre. The knife,guns and gloves relate to our chosen horror/crime genre and represent the ideologies within the opening sequence. The map,mobiles,hats,glasses and magnifine glass show that there is also crime within our sequence and are props used in most crime/horror movies. We tried our best to give off conventions and use many codes.
• The settings also are related to our genre. The forest,office,alley and house all give off different atmospheres and introduce key themes of our opening sequence. The forest gives off the theme of danger and relates to other horror films, as well as the alley with graffiti, relating to crime, our setting shows that our film is a crime and not just a horror. The house is a good opertunity to show the killer's personality and gives the audience a good idea of the things he gets up to in his everyday life. However, the office shows there is business within the opening sequence, and allow the audience to get to know the detectives. Also in our chosen location there is a train that goes by every 15 minutes, so therefore we will film that to show it is a slight busy area which juxsaposes with the quiet area that the girl wakes up in.
• We have used dark and light clothing, a variety really. The dark clothing used to show evil and a dark personality, however the lighter the cloth wear the more innocent the character, just like most horror movies do.
• Also the colour of the girl's hair as well as her age shows she is a typical dumb blonde victimised in the situation.
• We are going to show our title of the film at the end with credits running on black throughout.This creates interesting pauses throughout the sequence.
• We have used a written code by making an article. The article is about a missing girl which are used in many horror or crime movies, there is always some kind of unexpected written code within a film, so we decided to include this so the audience aren't sure if the girl has gone missing or dead.
• Throughout our opening we have titles running through it telling you who the producer, editor,sound producer, and director are. 

~Posted by Lauren

Treatment/Pitch

Treatment/Pitch:  The basic plot line to our opening sequence is based around how a certain person's upbringing can shape the person they are for the rest of their life.It is set in the 1990's, the same time the scary movie named "Scream" was set. The killer however,is the main character but you don't get to see his childhood, the detectives only find out clues about him, and data on him later on in the story, but you don't get to see this in our opening. We hope our movie will sell, because of the typical codes and conventions we used for our genre. We could advertise our movie with posters, and DVD film covers etc to increase a selling rate. Using the Todorov theory, our films selling rate is very high, as a lot of films who use that narrative structure are well known and popular.


~Posted by Lauren

Reasons to our specific idea.

Why Crime/Horror?


Our group thought that using the genre crime or horror would be most interesting and luckily enough, all of us agreed with the same genre very easily with no argue.  Us as a group thought that crime and horror is a great genre for the opening sequence that we are going to create because we thought that it would be nice to engage the audience with something interesting which would attract the audience and impress them.

Another reason for why we chose crime/horror because of the available props that we had already. For example, Daniel and Alex already had suits and we thought as a group that it worked well in our preliminary task so therefore we decided to include those props in our opening sequence. Not only did we have props like suits, but we also had simple props such as electronic devices that could be used (i.e. laptops, phones etc) and fake weapons.

• We found that it would be an easier genre to do, instead of a comedy or romantic opening sequence. 
• We found that if we did crime and horror it would be easier to create an enigma effect within the narrative of the opening sequence.
• Crime/Horror is a not the most popular hybrid, therefore we thought it would be interesting to combine.
• Our ideas fitted best with these two genres, rather than just the one of them, and we want to make our audience satisfied.
• We like the idea that crime/horror use fast cuts and we wanted to experiment this idea as it creates questions in the audiences mind. 
• The fact that horror is not an easy genre in some ways such as filming at night and in unusual places that we are not familiar with, meant that we had to set ourselves a challenge to get a good film. 

What we are hoping as our main outcome?

We are honestly hoping to create an amazing, eye-catching, adrenaline film/production, that will make our audiences blood rush with thrill and excitement. We want the audience to leave wondering what will happen next in our story, and we want them to be able to get involved. We hope to tackle codes/conventions well, and to learn more about the whole filming process.

~Posted by all

Filming Schedule and Plan

Here are some images of the filming schedule that us as a group created so we could be organised when we were going to shoot our scenes for our opening sequence. We thought as a group that this would be a good idea because it kept us organised and made sure that we were producing some practical work for our opening sequence (e.g filming etc).

An image of the filming schedule sheet that we were given,
as you can see we added the date of when we were going
to film, the number of scenes that were going to be filmed that
day, what parts of the opening sequence that we were filming
and the time that we were filming at.

Even though we had a filming schedule, to be sure that we had more time to film, we decided as a group to meet up at an earlier time, instead of the times shown on the filming schedule sheets. We thought it would be a lot better as we would be able to produce a lot more work and go over and play back some of the shots that we took to make corrections to our work and to make any adjustments if needed.

~Posted by Lauren and Daniel

Shooting Plan

~Posted by Lauren

Prop Safety and Filming Issues

Prop Safety:


As a part of our filming, we decided that some of our props were going to be weapons such as guns and knives, but of course they were not going to be real. Even though the props were not real, we had to be aware of what peoples reactions would be if they were to see us with a black spray painted weapon such as a gun. As a part of the prop safety, we made sure that there was no-one in the area, or very little people so they did not see the props. For example, when we were filming in the dark, we made it hard for people around us to see the props and made sure we practice filmed when there was no one around, that is why we decided to go out late to practice our shots, just to be sure there was hardly any public around the area we were practising with the camera in.

Us as a group understood that it was not a great idea to bring out props that looked like real replica's of weapons from a distance as the public may have got the wrong impression, that is why we went out at specific times to make sure the amount of people in the area was minimal and luckily, only one or two people that walked by were not too bothered about what was going on as we made it clear by showing the camera most of the time and we made it look like we were having fun instead of being serious with the weapons just to be sure the public didn't get the wrong image of what was going on at the time.

Another part of prop safety was the fake knife that we were using. Even though it was plastic, it still had a pointy edge and it had to be cut down a bit so it wasn't as sharp. We did this to make sure that Lauren did not get hurt in the process when filming some of the shots and to ensure that if was safe enough to swing the object around without anyone getting hurt.

Filming Issues:


Before any of the real shooting happened for our opening sequence, we took out the camera for some practice too see if we could find any problems before the actual filming begun. There was quite a few issues that we had to deal with and plan before it was too late. Here is a list of the following issues that we came across when practice filming for our opening sequence:

• The camera's light was not bright enough to film with when the area that we were taking shots in got too dark.
• The battery for the camera ran out quick which can decrease the amount of time filming as we had to go home/back to school to recharge the battery on the camera.
• When zooming in and out with the camera, it sometimes didn't focus properly and become fuzzy and unclear to view.
• If it was windy, the camera would only pick up the wind sound instead of the sound of the characters footsteps or important noises.
• When it was day light time, there was more people than there was in the dark which sometimes made it a little hard to film, even though it wasn't in particular that hard as there not many people in the area.
• The tripod that we were using was sometimes not high enough so we sometimes had to hold it with our hands which made the camera shaky and unprofessional.
• Depending on where we wanted to take a shot, it was hard if we were filming in the night, due to the fact that there were shadows and you could sometimes see the shadow of the person that was filming the character acting.

As a part of the improvement for the issues, we try to adapt with the issues. As for the lighting problem, we set up a few torches so that place that we were filming in was a lot brighter than before so we could see the characters movement, instead of just pitch black darkness. If the tripod was not high enough, we would have used a box or something to lift the height of the tripod, just to make the shot look a lot better than before.

As a whole, I think that us a group didn't expect some of the difficulties that we were going to encounter and we think that we were not prepared for what was to come and if we were to take media next year for A2, we would have learnt from our mistakes and expect the worst and work from there.

~Posted by Daniel

Inspiration to our film: series/openings etc

Texas Killing Fields:


Texas Killing Fields has inspired us to create our opening sequence due to the plot of the film. Us as a group thought it was interesting with the way the trailer was shown. We thought it look interesting with the dead body and hand and we got the idea of making a body bag of some sort or finding the dead body in a place least expected such as dumped somewhere secret or in the woods laying up against a tree. Not only did we get the idea of a body being place in a certain spot, we also got the idea of the detectives finding the body and then searching for the suspect that had done the crime. Of course, we would not have the money to get the props such as cars and professional lighting, but we knew that we could do something similar to this.

~Posted by Lauren and Daniel

Meeting #2 - Practice Shooting - Friday 28th January

Our first go at practice shooting in the dark:


On the Friday 28th January, us as a group decided to meet up and practice with the camera's in the dark where were going to shoot our first scene for our opening sequence task. We decided to bring a few props such as the suits and glasses shown the images , just in case we wanted to start filming on that night.We had great fun practising with the camera and dressing up with the props and preparing for our actual filming and getting the shot locations ready for the angles and shot styles we were going to use.

The location that we first went to was Malden Manor. We thought this was a good area to start shooting as it was such an ideal place to shoot our planned story boarded opening sequence. In Malden Manor, there was an area where there was a lot of fields, woods, a river, a train track overhead and dark alley ways and tunnels. We thought this would be a great area to practice our filming for our opening sequence but the downside was the amount of light that was available to us when it got extremely dark.

Because it was dark and there was as much as little lighting for our shots and there was no electrical sources nearby to set-up powered lighting, we had to use the light on the camera. The light on the camera wasn't that bad  but we thought that we could have had a little more light just so it was easier to see the characters such as Lauren whom will be playing the victim of the story.

An advantage of the area that we were filming is, is that there was not many people that walked by. This gave us an advantage to how much time we could freely film without any distraction or anyone getting in the way of the camera. This saves a lot of time and gave us more time to practice for our real shooting for the opening sequence.

In conclusion, the night was great, as we had much fun with all of us practising with the camera's, using the props and getting used to the area and our surroundings to where we were going to film for some of the shots of our opening sequence task.

~Posted by Daniel and Lauren

Actors/Cast

Cast:                                                                                                               Actors:


Daniel Walter                                                                                           Detective 1

.

Lauren Vlahos                                                                                      Olivia Watson 

Alex Griffith

                                                                                                         Detective 2













Daniel Walter
as killer too.
                                                                                                                

        ~Posted by Lauren                                                                                                 

Location #1 & #2 Forest and Alley

From my location research, the location we chose suits our genre very well. The graffiti on the walls de notate crime telling us a bit about the past of the place, which shows that bad things have been present. The graffiti gives off connotations of danger and shows the audience that our location is a crime genre. Many thriller/crime films have used similar signifiers to their locations as ours. Also forests/alleys ways are seen to be the most popular set as it gives off a risky feel to the audience, also the audience will be expecting something bad to happen.




The natural dark lighting is also more popular in thriller/crime genres, this is because no one is around. The forest at night gives us a very different impression when in a film, to when filming in daytime. Forest/parks are seen as a place to relax and enjoy early in the morning, where animals and other creatures come out and also the sunset on the river gives the film a more safer environment. 

However, we chose to film at almost pitch
black using light from the camera, this allows the bright clothes of the victim to stand out, leaving the audience to wonder what will happen to her being alone in this dark place. The location could also relate to the killer's split personality, the forest/river is seen as a more innocent/happy place to be at around mornings, but in contrast is seen as rather evil/severe later in the evening. So perhaps the killer has a good/bad side, but our biggest aim is for our target audience to capture the cruel side of him and give off bad surroundings.

























~Posted by all

Shooting Schedule 1

Shooting scenes 1 & 2 in the dark : Thursday or Friday night

-Alley scene
-Forest scene

Practice: Thursday morning.

Shooting the remaining scenes 3 & 4 or 5 in daytime monday afternoon.
-Investigation scene
-killer's house scene

Editing the left over days next week. Tuesday,wednesday lunchtimes etc.
-Sound etc.

~Posted by Daniel and Lauren

Meeting #1 Storyboarding,Scripting & Props

This meeting consists of: finalising,storyboarding,

organising props and finishing off our script for

our final opening sequence. In this meeting we all worked 

together designing a rough storyboard just to get a great idea 

of the scenes and the order that we are going to film in. 

As a group we decided that some scenes are going to have 

less dialogue than others to make it more of a closed-narrative.

~Posted by Lauren and Daniel

Analysis of a horror poster

Analysis of poster

- The title of the poster is in bold white capital letters which
contrasts with the other colours used in the poster.
The title is the name of the film "Halloween"which instantly gives the viewer a feel it's either a horror or thriller type genre.
- The image in the centre relates to the title and genre of the
film as it is a pumpkin killer with a knife which could mean
that the killer hides his own identity and preferably uses the
occasion Halloween as a oppertunity to dress up like everybody
else to keep hidden while murdering. The sharp sparkle at the end of the knife attracts the viewer's eye and makes the horror fans want to watch the movie.
- At the bottom of the poster you can see the company name of the producers and this may want the audience interested in wanting to explore and look up more movies that have been made by the same company if they found the film interesting, it could also be useful for people who are researching about the particular film.
- The text "The night he came home!" gives us a sense as if it's a warning to the audience that at man is coming.

~Posted by Lauren

Trailer to a similar film

Friday the 13th Trailer Horror/Crime






Analysis Friday the 13th Part 3 3D poster:

• By looking at the poster, we can indicate that it is based around horror. This is due to the knife, blood and the use of the words "terror". 

• We also get the idea that something is going to be bad in the film due to us knowing that the date, Friday the 13th is unlucky.

• The background of the poster shows a shadow figure, giving us an unknown awareness of the film. It also creates a tension and sets a mood before even viewing the film. Us as an audience are to think that the killer is unknown and we're waiting to yet see him or her but by looking at the body structure, we presume it's a man.
• The ideas within the poster relate to our opening sequence 

~Posted by Daniel

Group Roles

~Posted by Lauren

Initial Idea for opening sequence

Here is an initial plan for our opening sequence.


Genre: Horror/Thriller

Title: Silent Serpant or The Slayer

Narrative:

Credits will be running throughout, over black screen. This will be a very good way to seperate each scene so the audience doesn't get confused. At the start and end of our opening sequence, there will be a sound bridge. The first will be of a train, the other the killer's car driving off, but you don't actually get to see where he's going.
Serial killer – kills the woman and then puts her into a body bag and dunps her somewhere (natural dark lighting – filmed in the dark)

Get a scene of the man but do not show the face and then get a close up of wood and a machete/axe chopping into it. (optional)

Dark alley way – women gets dragged into darkness by the killer (covered on the mouth so the woman cannot scream) – very dark, but able to see the bodies moving slightly) – creates tension/discomfort/excitement

Moves onto a scene with news article – girl missing? – use the laptop to research for the missing victim?

Detectives me and alex – in an office, using a map with pins and strings – photos of lauren/how she looks etc – perhaps a guess scetched picture of the killer/kidnapper

Then we get shots of pictures of the scene area – detective alex and Daniel taking pictures, making phone calls etc to each other trying to search for lauren

Go to the woods – find a body bag of body parts – finds lauren dead , gory blood everywhere

Alex and Daniel getting in the car to try and go after the killer/kidnapper

Forest in Richmond park – where lauren will be found by alex and Daniel and then a fade out onto another scene with a pov of the killer – killer putting on gloves – moves onto a scene where the door closes and it ends – Title. – before all of that - killer hacks into the missing victim account – talks to her best friend saying that she doesn’t want to see anyone else apart from her. “hey, how are you, I miss you etc – do you want to meet up tonight? – where to meet up and they both agree– then killer turns off the computer and walks out of the room/house they are staying in. – maybe the sound of a car moving off into the distance? – camera stays inside the house and hears the car moving away. Heavy breathing of killer when POVing inside/outside his house.

Mis en scene:

Costumes:
Suits
Leather jackets – for the killers
Articles
Knife – for the killer
Fake police badges
Black glasses – if we want
Watches
Balaclava
Victim – white dress – makes the blood stand out and the darkness contrasts
Blood make up
Black gloves – for the killers/the detectives

Props:
Guns and holsters
Fake badges
Laptops for the detectives
Mobile phones
Knife – for the killer
Material bag to cover the victims face
A big map to post onto the board
Flashlight
Binoculars

Language/Accents:
Detectives use British Accents

Sound:
Scary/ eerie music for the start before lauren gets kidnapped
When it change to the detectives, the motion of the music speeds up like action
The music suddenly stops and thumps when lauren is found
And then it changes back to slow when the killer gets ready again, DEFINITELY get sound of the killer breathing.
When watching the victim from the killers pov, use breathing noise.

Camera movement:
Pov – point of view
Closeup of lauren against the tree – camera facing the torch light
Slow movement when the detectives are moving towards the dead body then fades and switches to fast cuts of the board finding the killer etc (inc flashing)
Slow-mo of some cuts
Spying – looking out in suspicious areas to find the killer

Locations:
Forest – where the victim will be found by alex and Daniel
Alley – can be found in various places depending on the lighting we want
House – where the killer is getting ready/lives
Office – somewhere in the school

Themes:

Genre: 
Crime/horror

Cast:
Killer – Daniel (temp)
Detective 1 – Alex
Detective 2 - Daniel
Victim – Lauren


Audience:
Our target audience 15-30 year olds, this is because all the product placement that are placed in there for the advertisment which is aimed for that age range. From our research we found out that horror/crime genres are aimed at teenagers and adults, because the story plot may appeal more around that age range, as well as some materials might be inapropriate and too complex. Younger audiences may also be encouraged to do bad things and this would be because of their lack of understanding. On the other hand, adults are more trustworthy and sensible, aswell as older teenagers.

~Posted by Daniel and all

Rough Planning of Initial Ideas - Opening Sequence

~Posted by Lauren


.

Preliminary Task

Feed The Fish - Preliminary Task



The preliminary task was a practice for us to get used to the camera for the first time and to use editing software and to get aware of the types of effects and the transitions of video editing. The editing software that we used was iMovie on the Mac.


The preliminary task was just a piece of dialogue and script that we were given by our teachers to perform. Us as a group decided to make it a "business" type genre hence the suits that were used in the piece of clip.

When editing the piece of video clips in iMovie, we had to cut down and trim the shots so they would flow smoothly and continuous rather than being jumpy and stuttery. Not only did we trim the clips down to run in order. Before taking the shots we decided to record the sound of traffic to place it over our video at the start where Daniel is walking with a phone. We also added a mobile phone sound at the start and make it in time with the characters (Daniel's) motion.

Because we filmed on different days, the shoes changed in the clip which was one of the mistakes that we made but we had no time to do anything about it.

If we were to do the preliminary task again, we would go somewhere more quiet where there was no classes to give it a more secret and suspicous view from the audiences perspective.

~ Posted by all :)