Mise -en - scene

Costume:

Below are 3 pictures of the killers costume. We went for the traditional killer impression by choosing dark clothes that connote danger and a sense of detached emotion. The only slight problem we faced was that the overall costume did not look how we expected, as the actual clothes designer was not the typical villain outfit. On the other hand, it signifies that the horror is set in a modern era and helps create realism by having a more believable killer.






Below is an image of the victims clothing. We chose these clothes to display a generic female teenager - the typical victim in horror films, i.e. "damsel in distress". These clothes reflect modern day, again creating realism.



Props:

One prop that we used was a shovel, this was used for the killer's weapon.
The prop was easy to get hold of and strayed away from typical traditional weapons. E.g. Kitchen knives.

One of the problems we faced with our prop was the effect it produced whilst the killer was holding it. Our expectations of how we thought it would look were very different as we expected it to be more menacing.
Then again because this prop isn't necessarily associated with weaponry it helped build suspicion of the killer, rather than make it obvious like a knife would've done.


A second prop was the victims MP3 player which she is listening to at the beginning. We used this prop to create realism by showing that the victim is just an average person living life generically.

Film schedule

1st Weekend:

Today we filmed shots for our opening rough cut. The weather was raining and suited our conventions of our horror. However, this may be a problem when we return to reshoot clips for our final opening. This is because weather is unreliable and waiting for similar conditions may prove to be some time.
The rain got too much so we eventually gave up for that weekend.

Whilst editing our opening we identified several problems. Firstly, some footage contained props that shouldn't have been in the shot. We were unable to crop the footage to remove the prop from view because it was in the centre of the screen. We also discovered that some of our filming could be refilmed to improve the quality of the shot. Finally, when editing, we noticed that more clips/camera angles would vastly improve the quality of our final product. We therefore planned to refilm a few shots and also film the odd new camera angle/shot.


2nd Weekend:

As planned we refilmed certain clips and filmed new footage.
Annoyingly, this time round we had sunny weather which then decided to rain once we had pretty much filmed most of what we needed to. However after replacing most of the shots, and filtering them all on the computer, the difference in weather became hardly noticeable.
Filming didn't take as long as before because we had a clear idea of what to film after having a group discussion, whereupon we included a wider variety of shots and more interesting camera angles.


3rd Weekend:

After criticisms of our opening being too short we met up again to film more shots to introduce to the beginning of the opening, to make up the two minutes we needed.
The weather was again different and the sound of the wind kept being picked up on the microphone. However luckily we are muting the sound on all the shots so as we would just have a soundtrack.


Setting:

The main problem we faced with our filming schedule was finding days when we were all free. Because only one of us lived within walking distance of the setting the other group members had to arrange to get the one group member's house. It would've been easier to film if we all lived closer so as we could then film on weekdays and/or weekends.
We overcame this problem by planning in advance the weekends upon which we would film; organisation therefore helping filming run more smoothly, and deadlines to be met with ease.

Film Opening Synopsis

The 2 minute horror extract follows a young female victim (Jodie) being followed and eventually chased through a wooded area by a dark clothed killer (James).
The victim runs further into the woods seeking help where she comes across a fork in the path and decides which direction to take. The killer runs down the other route to cut her off, he begins to hide behind a tree waiting for the victim to run past, and as expected the victim runs past the killer's position whereupon the chase resumes.

Eventually, the victim discovers some old steps which she runs to the top of to find that it is a dead end with only a "locked" gate ahead of her, which she begins to bang upon.
The killer reaches to within a few metres of the victim and as she turns round to check where he is the shovel is swung at her - this is where our shots end and are then reversed quickly to give a "flashback" effect.

Target Audience/Certificate by BBFC

The target audience for our film is people between the ages of 15 - 30. The reason for this is due to the fear and violence that is involved. Due to the content involved, we can assume that our horror opening would receive an age certificate of 15. We do not feel it would be an age certificate of 12 as it would expose younger audiences to inappropriate material and could therefore influence them, e.g. hypodermic needle and copycat theories.

When filming, we will therefore keep in mind our target audience and what content is suitable for their age. For example, we cannot use brutal gore as our film would most likely be classed as an 18 and therefore our target audience (15) would not be able to view the film.

We have also chosen to specifically aim our film at the male category as it is typical for males to enjoy violence and being in an unnatural situation.

The typical codes and conventions of a horror/thriller have an equilibrium and disequilibrium. The film would start off without any disorder to the story but as it progresses, the disequilibrium will gradually be introduced to the story line. A horror thriller film will typically have a killer (or killers) and victim (or victims) in the story, normally, there is only one main killer and a group of victims, and example of this is from Shrooms, a group of teenagers go to the woods and are killed off one by one.

Following stereotypical themes, the killer is normally male, Shrooms however abandons this stereotype and makes the killer role female, however, other characters in the film allow the audience to suspect that they are the killers. This follows an effective twist, connecting to the thriller genre by introducing that the killer was one of their friends murdering them on account of taking the wrong drugs.

Our target audience would watch our trailer because we also use the typical character and gender roles, there being a male killer to connote dominance and power, and a female victim to connote weakness and submission to the killer. Though this is commonly used in horror or thriller films, we felt that this would prove more effective in attracting a teenage audience.

We have made this age rating decision upon the basis of the BBFC guidelines who suggest that;

Storyboard/Shot list

Here are the five sheets of our film opening storyboard.


Sheet 1:

This explains the start of our opening from the victim beginning to be followed up until she starts becoming suspicious of her stalker.
We achieved this sequence via several long shots and and over the shoulder shot.
We used a vast majority of long shots to introduce the characters and cause the audience to be instantly suspicious of the killer, much like the victim was.
The over the shoulder shot used gives the audience a view of the prop the victim is holding, the MP4 helps to reflect modern day and represent the character as a typical teenager.



Sheet 2:

This sheet demonstrates the start of the prolonged chase scene up until the beginning of the wooded area. The killer and victim eventually run down separate paths, the victim to escape, the killer to try and catch up.
We achieved this sequence again via several long shots, however we began to incorporate more interesting shots and angles, for example a close up shot with a tilted frame and a low angle tracking shot.
We used the tilted frame to represent the scene as not usual, the close up was used to focus on the prop (MP4) the victim had dropped.
The low angle shot was used for the killer to dipict him as the dominant character in the opening.
Long shots were used this time round to show where the characters were running to so as the audience did not get completely confused by the constant running around.



Sheet 3:

This sheet demonstrates the killer overtaking the victim and hiding behind a tree waiting for them to pass, it also includes two credit slides to start introducing the characters with.
Upon this storyboard less long shots are used because the audience has already met the characters and has worked out the setting they are in. Instead we used a point of view shot (from the killer's point of view) to give the idea he was running to hide behind a tree, we also used it once the killer begins to chase the victim again; to emphasise how close he is to catching upto her.
An over the shoulder shot, which eventually pans round, demonstrates the killer is watching the victim and gives a quite intimidating feeling because we cannot see the killer's face.

Sheet 4:

This sheet demonstrates several running scenes using a range of camera shots and angles.

In this instance we used mainly medium shots of the legs of the victim followed by the killer, the aim of this was to insinuate more of a frantic chase scene.

Sheet 5:

This sheet demonstrates the finale of the narrative. A wide range of camera angles have been used at this period as we would like to create as much tension as possible by using unordinary shots. E.g. Slow motion shot of the trainers.

Shot List:

1. Long shot - Victim is walking through an alleyway.

2. Long shot

3. Over the shoulder - Victim begins to change the song she is listening to.

4. Long shot - Victim looks over her shoulder.

5. Long shot - Killer walks around the corner and begins following the victim.

6. Very long shot - Victim and killer are shown walking out of the alleyway.

7. Long shot - Victim is shown walking down a road.

8. Long shot -Victim begins to run whilst being chased by the killer.

9. Long shot

10. Close up/tilted frame - Victim throws her MP3 onto the ground.

11. Long shot/tilted frame - Victim and killer run off into the distance.

12. Long shot - Victim and killer are shown running.

13. Long shot - Victim runs in the right direction.

14. Long shot - The killer runs to the left.

15. Low angle/tracking - The killer shown with the camera aimed at his face.

16. Long shot - Killer is shown running down steps.

17. Point of view - Killer runs behind tree.

18. Long shot - Victim is shown running round the corner.

19. Credit "starring"

20. Over the shoulder - Killer is shown watching the victim.

21. Over the shoulder/panning - Killer is shown watching the victim.

22. Credit "James Austin"

23. Long shot

24. Point of view

25. Point of view

26. Medium close up

27. Medium close up

28. Credits "Jodie Randle"

29. Point of view

30. Medium panning - Victims is shown to run around the corner and begin running up the steps.

31. Long shot - Victim is shown running up the steps.

32. Long shot - Victim is shown running up the steps.

33. Medium long shot - Victim is shown running up the steps.

34. Extreme close up - Killers shoes are shown.

35. Low angle long shot -Victim is shown to reach the gate.

36. High angle close up - The victim is shown looking through the fence.

37. Point of view - Victim watches and the killer swings the shuvel into her face.

38. Reverse all shots - Shots are shown in reverse order.

39. Credit "Title"

Images of setting

Possible Location 1: The Woods

This image shows an empty, yet peaceful setting. The surrounding trees and the ivy gone mad give a maze affect, as if there is nowhere to run. Everywhere the victim runs will just lead herself further into the woods and thus further into trouble. This shaded setting will compensate for the fact that we will not be filming the footage in the dark - the trees will block most of the light out.

The above image shows an old flight of steps and the scenery to where our two minute horror opening will end. This image we have concluded that the steps leading to the top will allow the victim to feel that she is running to safety. However, little does she know that in fact it leads to a dead end as the gate at the top will be made out to be locked. The moss on the steps and the trees growing wildly additionally portrays a cold emotionless atmosphere, it shows the steps have not been taken care of nor the surrounding nature. This all mounts up to a perfect scenery for the murder to take place.

Possible Location 2: A Suburban Home

Here is a very popular location used in horror films.
Due to the home being classed as somewhere "safe" horror films play upon this sense of security by scaring the unwary victims into thinking not even their own homes are safe, this also affects the audience as the majority of films are watched at home. Horror films set in a home, although a less probable place to be attacked, create a more believable setting for the victim to be in.

Mood Board

Our mood board consists of a collection of images of the genre horror. These consist of weapons, settings, classic conventions and similar films. The reason for the mood board was to inspire us on our ideas of our film and ease our planning.