Planning: Treatment

The car from the new family is seen driving up the road, happy music playing in the back, two neighbours outside there own house, standing on the pavements looking to the right of the road. The music is playing and credits are fade in and out (white text) all over the screen. The music (Tom's creation), at each beat of the music a photo will flash up, the photos will be of a family portrait slowly burning. The photos will start to show up as soon as the family car gets to the drive, then the photo will flash out after a matter of seconds. We are then shown a clip of the subject washing their hands, once they have turned the tap off, the photo flashes up again only this time there is less of the photo (due to burning) then it will flash back to the car driving again for a few seconds, this switching continues throughout the opening while the subject is walking across the landing, we are then shown the subjects feet and them beginning to walk down the stairs, The picture flashes up again when the subject looks through the window then this goes back to the car shot pulling into the drive. The next shot is the subjects hand pulling back the curtain, you are only able to hear the family walking up to the door but you cannot see them, then you see the door being unlocked and the curtain being drawn back, the final image is then shown and the image is almost gone, this then fades to black as you hear the sound of the door opening.

Planning: Finalising Ideas

For our final opening we have decided to mix a few our ideas.

The car from the new family is seen driving up the road, happy music playing in the back, two neighbours outside there own house, standing on the pavements looking to the right of the road. The music is playing and credits are fade in and out (white text) all over the screen. The music (Tom's creation), at each beat of the music a photo will flash up, the photos will be of a family portrait slowly buring. The photos will start to show up as soon as the family car gets to the

Photo Idea:

Photo of the family that we are using, burning, however the photo that will show will stay the same throughout the film opening.

Final Scene Shot:

Interior of house, behind the curtain covering the front door, film the hand slowly drawing back the curtain, seeing the people outside walking up to the door, unlocking and pulling the handle down, then as the door handle is moving the hand is filmed again closing back the curtain. After this the final burning photograph is shown at its last stage, fully disintegrated.

First Scene: washing hands

Film someone washing and drying their hands (camera from their point of view looking down at hands), camera is shown as the person walking across the landing, pulling the blind cords and looking through. Walking down the stairs (camera showing the actors feet stepping). Gets to another stair window- looks through the window (watching the family stepping out the car and walking up to the house). standing in front of front door curtain, the camera films the character slowly drawing back the curtain and watching as the family reach the front door, enter key and use handle, just as the key turns the character closes the curtain. After this the final burning photograph is shown at its last stage, fully disintegrated.

"Art of the Title"

Here I analysed the opening to "Six Feet Under" which is a T.V series, I chose this because I was familiar with many horror film openings and wanted to find out different ways you can convey horror, for example in this opening images and sound are used in a way so you know briefly of the plot, and despite this typically being classed as more of a crime/thriller show, I feel that the techniques used would be effective if used for a horror film

Planning: Target audience feedback regarding possible openings

I have created a survey to find out which one of our openings our audience will find better, this survey can be accessed by clicking here

Planning: Opening possibilities

We have thought of possible openings for our main task;

1) Simplistic idea. A range of burning family photos mixed with some disturbing images in sepia/black and white, the camera will be scanning across them. There will possibly be flash shots of the car driving to an abandoned shot. The music we intend to use for this will either be ironic- similar to the theme tune for "Dexter" (Something quite uplifting to make the film even more 'deceiving') or an eerie scratchy sounding track that stays in with the whole theme 

2) A first person opening. A Member of the family filming the moment they arrive at their new house, The sound in this piece will all be diegetic

3) One full shot of the house and the road, you gradually begin to see the car driving up and then parking in the driveway, from this the camera pans to the right, revealing the neighbors staring at the new family. The title pops up and edgy music starts to play

4) Various clips of hands, sharpening spears (carving wood) cutting meat to look like limbs (using fake blood in this scene) washing hands, fire, also more images flashing in a darkened room, possibly images of broken windows and other household objects (Similar to the trailer of Se7en)

Planning: Target Audience Feedback

I posted our synopsis to Survey Monkey but I only managed to receive 2 responses, because of this we decided to take a new route and focus more on films which we knew were successful horrors and take a look at their openings. From these openings we watched we managed to gain a good knowledge of what makes a good horror film opening, we plan on sharing our ideas with our target audience and hoping for a better response

Planning: Our 60 Second Pitch

We have recorded our 60 second pitch which can be seen by clicking Here. Our pitch begins at 0:55 and ends at 1:40

To-Do list

We now have 4 weeks until the Christmas holidays start on Friday 14th December. By the time you return - and we start using our fantastic new rooms in the new building - you will have completed the following:

• Research - Sharing Your Pitch With Your Target Audience
• Planning - 2 Possible Openings To Your Film
• Research - Target Audience Feedback Regarding Your Possible Openings
• Planning - Writing A Treatment For Your Chosen Opening
• Research - The Art of the Title
• Research - A Timeline For The Opening Two Minutes Of A Teen Horror Film
• Research - The Importance of Sound in Horror Film Openings
• Planning - Writing A Screenplay For Your Opening
• Planning - Producing A Storyboard For Your Opening
• Planning - Location Planning For Your Opening
• Planning - Casting For Your Opening (if characters are required)
• Planning - Considering Mise-en-Scene For Your Opening - costume and props
• Planning - Producing A Shot List

Planing: 60 Second Brief

Here is a rough draft for our 60 second pitch

Tom: I'm Tom
Michelle: I'm Michelle
Nicole: And I'm Nicole
All: And we are 'Goodfella Films'
Tom: Deception. A fresh and terrifying new horror centering on the fear of mystery and disguise 
Michelle: But what is the plot you might ask, The story focuses on an everyday American suburban family that moves into a new neighbourhood
Nicole: But little do this family know, there next door neighbours are psychotic killers!
Tom: It's the first day of moving in, they want to say hi and get to know their new friends, the first quarter of the film has an innocent atmosphere suddenly the audience forget they're even watching a horror film, until, the husband of this new family discovers what kind of life their new neighbours live
Michelle: Thrill plays a huge part in 'Deception' as the family find out just how hopeless and helpless they are 
Tom: and so the big question is
Nicole: Will they get out alive?

Just a play on photoshop

Planning: Synopsis

A suburban family of 4 want a fresh new start, what better way to do that than move into a new neighbourhood, situated in the middle of nowhere? Little do they know that their neighbors have a secret to hide. The father, Ned, is instantly suspicious of the new neighbours and the behaviour they show and starts to observe them frequently, After snooping around the suspicious house, Ned begins to find various limbs hidden in obscure locations and decides to investigate. His neighbours, Deceptive and Manipulative, turn Ned's family against him and one by one they disappear, Their fate is in Ned's hands...

The film is situated more in a thriller/horror genre as in my survey i found that people like to be scared by sudden jumps/fake scares and atmosphere that a film can build

Planning: Brainstorming

Today we started to brainstorm a variety of ideas for our main task.

We spoke about information that we gained from our survey results and made sure that our film will be appealing to our audience, we thought of some typical horror film ideas and then developed them to make them original and unique to our own ideas

IC: What makes a good portrait?

In our Friday lessons we work on building up basic skills which will help us in our later lessons and our filming/ editing process.

Recently we have been learning about photography rules.
The main rule in photography is "The rule of thirds" This is when you split the picture into 9 sections, helping you focus on the points of interest

For example here is a portrait of my niece taken recently

This is an example of a good photo because you can see the rule of thirds has been used in the image below to try and make the eyes a main focus point, there is also something called "looking space" which is space in front of the eyes to make the image more comfortable to look at

The rule of thirds is available on most cameras and some camera phones and is a very handy tool to ensure you achieve a good end product, This photo has been edited after to get a classic look, I feel this could have been improved with better lighting to enhance some of the features so you are drawn more to a particular section

Research : Dead Mary, Dead Wood and Wrong Turn

There are many typical conventions in a teen horror, some of these include;

• A secluded location
• Characters forget an obvious threat
• Power is cut
• Problem with a phone
• Character investigates a strange noise
• Characters run upstairs
• Characters hides by a window
• Character falls over
• Vehicle wont start
• Fake scare
• Warning goes unheeded
• Someone dies in the first 5 minutes
• x years before/Later
• Stormy weather
• Character takes a short cut

Recently we watched the openings to three horror films, these were "Dead Mary" "Dead Wood" and "Wrong Turn" then we had a check list which we marked and discussed the conventions used in each of the openings, this helped us think of things we could add into our own openings                            

Below are 2 of the openings we watched and critiqued.

 Dead Mary

This opening uses several of the typical conventions you would find in a horror films such as;
A secluded location, Problem with a phone, Vehicle wont start and a slight fake scare towards the end.

Wrong Turn 

This opening  also uses many conventions and I found it to be a much less effective opening than "Dead Mary" It contains a secluded location, the characters forgetting an obvious threat, fake scares and a character dying in the first 5 minutes. it also uses another convention which most horror films rely on, 'The damsel in distress' who struggles and always has to rely on the male figure. I think the second part of this opening is effective because of the camera shots and props used that give away a brief idea of what the film is about, intriguing its audience

The final opening we watched was in many ways terrible, The plot was completely unoriginal and the opening was ridiculously cheesy, it used conventions such as; A secluded location with no power, character falling over and then the character dying in the first 5 minutes with some non-diegetic sound to make it all the more "horrifying" The characters were effortless to say the least and i couldn't even find the opening on YouTube, so here's a trailer instead.

 

 Dead Wood

Research: BBFC

What is it?

The BBFC Stands for British Board of Film Classification, it is an independent, non-governmental body which is in charge of classifying all films since it was set up in 1912 and video/DVD 'since the video recordings acts was passed in 1984

The Categories

The ‘12’ category exists only for video works. No one younger than 12 may rent or buy a ‘12’ rated video work. Mature themes are acceptable with moderate language and nudity, sexual activity may be briefly portrayed but frequent references may be seen as unacceptable 

Suitable for only 15 years and older, drug use may be incorporated but may not be encouraged, horror can be acceptable as threat or menace are permitted unless sadistic or sexual there should not be imitable behavior, there may be use of strong language, nudity and sexual activity may be allowed in sexual content but without strong detail.

No-one younger than 18 can see a film with an 18 certificate The Human Rights Act 1998, at ‘18’ the

BBFC’s guideline concerns will not normally override

the principle that adults should be free to choose their

own entertainment. Exceptions are most likely in the

following areas:

• where the material is in breach of the criminal law,

or has been created through the commission of a

criminal offense

• where material or treatment appears to the BBFC to

risk harm to individuals or, through their behaviour,

to society – for example, any detailed portrayal of

violent or dangerous acts, or of illegal drug use,

which may cause harm to public health or morals.

This may include portrayals of sexual or sexualised

violence which might, for example, eroticise or

endorse sexual assault

• where there are more explicit images of sexual

activity which cannot be justified by context. Such

images may be appropriate in ‘R18’ works, and in

‘sex works’ (see below)

R18 are restricted 18 films to be shown only in licensed cinemas or supplied only in licensed sex shops the R18 category is a special and legally restricted classification primarily for explicit works of consenting sex or strong fetish material involving adults

General viewing but some scenes may be unsuitable for young children. References to illegal drugs or drug misuse must be innocuous or carry a suitable anti-drug message. Scary sequences should be mild brief and unlikely to cause undue anxiety to children, no potential dangerous behavior which children are likely to imitate, infrequent use of only mild bad language. Occasional natural nudity, mild sexual behavior (kissing or references to "Making love") 

Discriminatory language or behavior may not be acceptable unless clearly disapproved of or in context. References to illegal drugs must be innocuous or carry an anti-drug message

No detail of potentially dangerous behaviour which

young children are likely to copy. No glamorisation

of realistic or easily accessible weapons. Mild bad language only, sexual activity may be implied but should be discreet and infrequent

Research: Survey Results

Excluding the immature results I received by posting my results on Facebook, I have gathered a range of useful results in my Survey for Horror Films

 

Here are my results of the general age group that took my survey.
64.0% of these were female and 36% were male

When asked how often they watched horror films, Above are the results I received

I next asked if they liked horror films and got a positive result, 14 said yes but 11 said no

When I asked them why not, I received things like;
"They tend to be more gore than thrills, gets a bit same-old after a while."
"They're scary and I don't like gory things"
"I don't find the genre appealing all that much, as they're quite linear."

When I asked what they liked about horror films they said;
"The suspense and dread of people being caught up in events beyond their control"
"Get you thinking and the adrenaline - I like to see how scared I can get!"
"The gore and story-lines"

I then asked Do you feel that documentary style horror films such as the Blair Witch Project are more effective than purely fictional horror films such as Saw and why? (Results above)
Reasons Why;"Horror is more scary when it's presented as being real"
"It's because something we could somewhat relate to, as they are partially real. Also scary because its based on a fact, the world we live in."
"I prefer purely fictional films as I think the plot moves a lot faster"
From this question I gathered that most people prefer films that are more realistic and relatable and "Realistic" was mentioned in almost every answer


My Final question was "What is your favourite sub-Genre of horror films?"

Here we can clearly see that paranormal films are the most popular closely followed by comedy horrors, perhaps comedy is a close run-up because as you can see in the Paranormal activity trailer people would resort to laughter when being scared as a way to cope with the adrenaline being received. I think I have concluded a good set of results and I feel I know some key elements to use in my main task


I recently read the article posted by Mr Henton and found it quite interesting, you can read it too by clicking here