Storyboard

The reason we did a story board as part of our research and planning is because it gives us a clear starting point of what we will be making for our horror film opening sequence. It links our planning to our filming by allowing us to visualise images and ideas and put them in an order which will create the beginning of a story. Apart from showing images, our storyboard also includes shots, action and graphic matches, timings and sound. This gives us a better technical awareness and understanding.

Reflection testing

On our first shooting day before we set off with recording Matt and Jordan decided to do some reflection testing in the mirror above the fireplace which they could incorporate as some type of shot in the storyboard of our opening. They thought that they could capture the protagonist exiting or entering the room from one of the following angles. Therefore by doing this they can also show someone else in the mirror  or in the background behind her which she cannot see. As after researching into mirrors in horror films we know that they sometimes present paranormal, souls and ghosts to be trapped in mirrors or a mirrors a gateway to seeing these spirits. For example:

And this is Matt and Jordan's interpretation of a relfection shot:

The reason we decided to try out reflection testing is because we think it creates a really good effect and  would fit in with our horror film opening as it can look scary if done properly. 

Our setting

For our setting we wanted a slightly upper classed house hold so we could target our audience and bring the tension in the scene into the audiences houses and make it relatable by having a stereotypical household . Therefore as a group we looked at each others houses and came to the conclusion that Lauren's house was the best and almost perfect for what we wanted. This was because she had a nice spread out house with a kind of spooky surrounding to her house which can also add to the horror element of our thriller-horror. This is because her house is situated within black park and has a very open garden with trees surrounding it. Furthermore she also has other aspects of her house such as baby equipment, baby room, fireplace with mirror above and old fashioned kitchen. This was just what we were looking for. With this stereotypical slightly upper class house establishing that this family and surrounding should be safe and secure as stereotypically the rich white families in films and especially horror films are more safe than ethnic ones. On the other hand this is also stereotypical of other films with similar surroundings and allows the audience to prepare themselves for what the film is about in this opening scene with the use of any establishing shots. I think this surrounding and location is typical of the type of film we are trying to create and therefore reflects on what we want as well as create the scenes and tone that we are aiming for.

Openings - mise en scene

Mama

Character(s): little girl about 4 years old, man in his 30's, baby

Costumes: black hat, coat. Black suit, white shirt and black tie. 

Setting: large house down a private road with trees at the front and back. Car parked out the front with the drivers door open. Large childs bedroom with various toys and things to play with. Pink wallpaper with birds on. Dining room down stairs with crystal chandelier hanging above the table. Snowy woods with a small shack deep within it. 

Props: teddy bear, cot, blanket

Psycho

Characters: young man. Young woman. Two business men. Female secretary. 

Costumes: long skirt, shirt, trousers, suit, tie, hat

Setting: big city. Cheap hotel. Office with indiviual desks

Props: thick pile of money, paperwork

Exorcist

Characters: priest, 40+ year old man

Costumes: black trousers with a long black coat. White shirt, silver watch, red tie

Setting: rowing in a big lake with trees all around. Small town. Office in a house, many pictures of the same woman. Night time in small town, lots of fog, few street lamps on. Empty church, crosses, flowers, candles. 

Angels and Demons

Characters: priest, 4 men, hundreds of people, catholic leaders, pope, news reporters, nuns, vicars 

Costumes: black priest outfit. Red priest outfits. Pope costume with a yellow hat

Setting: open area in Rome outside the popes church which has been set out into paths so they can carry the coffin down a certain way. Inside the church where there is a large cross with jesus on it, candles, red drapes, benches.  

Props: coffin, hammer, crosses, cameras, golden cup on a chain, silver chalices

To summarise my findings, I can see that all of these films are set in upperclass areas with large houses and the characters 

What we need to do

this is a list of things we need to do in preparation for creating our horror opening, which are to do with research and planning. 

Horror questionnaire

Please may you fill out this quick questionaire. Thank you.

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1Hl_3IOKZr5p_J973ko0egFDMpKZd6SKRHwOPsd7nu7s/viewform

Horror ideas

Group Members workIn the lesson the other day we started to talk about the idea in my previous post further and discussed in ways of which we could actually film and make this story as well as starting to come up with shot lists. However the further we looked into this idea the more issues we noticed with it.

First of all we began to notice how we would need a bunch of children to help us film this as we were planning on having some possessed children. This we then thought would be too hard to accomplish as only I had a younger brother. Furthermore we also realised that a lot of the shots and technical aspects of our story that we would want to do, would be very hard for us as we do not have the professional equipment for it. For example we cannot do a steady pan shot or tracking shot in the woods as there is no hard flat floor to balance the tripod on. As well as this we decided that having more than 2 or 3 people in the entire piece would be too hard as well as be too complicated just for the first 2 minute opening. We then started to discuss how having only 1 or 2 characters makes the opening broader and more of a thriller with mystery so therefore we came to the conclusion that we had to come up with a new story idea.

We now know and have come to the conclusion that we only want 1 or 2 characters and for it to situate within a household to make it easier. As well as this we also realise that as it is a horror thriller it is good to be inside a home as it brings the danger to your home and makes it scarier and anticipating for the audience. Furthermore we want a very mysterious start with not a lot happening or a lot giving away as this will add to the tension and give the thriller the horror tone we want with the mysterious vibe. We also want to add to this with the loss of sound and when there is sound it is quiet so when something does happen it comes as a big shock which adds to tension. Furthermore we were thinking of using sound to sync with the editing. So when the beat heats or it gets faster the cutting syncs with this to add to the dramatic of the opening and create tension. I was inspired with this after watching and analysing the shutter island opening. We thought the sound could be incorporated with the editing to gain tension like a typical thriller and then maybe this beat or editing can get faster to heighten the tension or vise versa. Therefore we have learnt that before jumping to conclusions with ideas we must thoroughly see them through of how we can do it and if it is possible. I feel this was a very good learning curb and we now know exactly what we need to do.

Audio blog

The following link is a link to a mp3 audio file of our conversation of ideas and what we are going to do, as well as what we think is a good, bad and why we think this. However to listen you have to download the mp3 file by pressing the text saying "download" in blue.

Audio Blog Link

final cut

Continuity Task - Final Cut

Video to be uploaded

http://youtu.be/jYqmuPusu5M

With our final cut we decided to re-film all our scenes as none of them were good enough before. When re-filming our continuity task we looked at all the problems we faced and made sure we saw to the previous problems to make sure our continuity task final cut is majorly better technically. We have included all the shots that we needed to like: shot reverse shot, match on action, pan and tilt shots as well as keeping the 180 degree rule, which we broke in the last cut. In this final cut we also used a variety of other shots like higher and lower angles and had a longer clip and more footage. With our final cut we improved a lot technically and our story even improved.