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.
Wednesday, 10 March 2010
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 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
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.
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.
Monday, 8 March 2010
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.
Wednesday, 10 February 2010
Preliminary
Above is our final version of our preliminary task. The aim was to show an understanding of camera angles and shots. It consists of a variety of camera angles and shots such as, shot reverse shot, panning and close ups.
The 180 Degree Rule
One example is the 180 Degree Rule which consists of two characters in the same scene that exchange dialogue. Without the 180 Degree Rule continuity would be lost as it would make the scene confusing to follow.
The Match on Action
Achieving this method was particularly challenging due to timing the shots so that they would be in sync. We conquered this problem by using 2 cameras filming the same shot simultaneously. Basically match on action is to connect two shots cut together establishing continuity.
Shot/Reverse Shot
This shot was used when the characters were communicating. This helps demonstrate who each character is talking to. This was brought about by using over the shoulder shots in sequence, each time the opposite character was talking.
Problem
Whilst filming the preliminary we faced a common problem. When we filmed the first time, we ran out of time. After uploading the footage the second time, one of the cameras corrupted. We therefore had to re-film the footage that we had lost. This meant that we had to wear the same clothes the next time we filmed so that we could achieve continuity. Thankfully, there was plenty of time to re-film.
Overall
We used the software iMOVIE to edit the footage. The software was easy to use and made editing a quick task. Our group are pleased with the outcome for this task.
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