We did some research into what some of the titles' meant, for example the name Thana means death.
Sunday, 13 February 2011
Planning - Film Title
We decided to do a brain storm to come up with possible titles for our film. We looked at the plot and tried to come up with a title that linked in well with our plot.
We did some research into what some of the titles' meant, for example the name Thana means death.
We did some research into what some of the titles' meant, for example the name Thana means death.
Tuesday, 1 February 2011
Planning - Scripting
There is very little speech in our opening scene as it is mainly just shots of the little girl who has murdered someone, and the victim as the opening scene is just a flash back. It shows what has happened as a result of events within the film as our film unfolds and shows why this has happened as explains to the audience why this has happened and shows everything leading up to it. The only thing she says is "If you go down to the woods today, you're in for a big surprise" This links in with the plot of our film as the victim is murdered by her in the woods.
the girl is walking through the woods and only her feet can be seen, the shot then switches from her to the victim lying in the woods, then to the little girl walking down the church steps. This is repeated with each shot getting closer, for example the camera becomes closer to the victim, the little girls feet can be seen walking towards the camera and the little girl is also walking towards the camera in the church
as there is a close up to the girls face she says
' if you go down to the woods today, you're in for a big surprise '
Although we dont have any speech, we do have background music to add tension to the scene. Once we've filmed we are going to have the sound edited to fit in with all the areas of our opening film. This sound clip was made my Mat so that we would have an idea of what we can work with and would have something to adapt to when making our film.
We realise that line 'If you go down to the woods today, you're in for a big surprise' may be subject to copyright.
Copyright is a set of exclusive rights that is granted to the author/creator of an original piece of work. This includes the right to copy, distribute and adapt the work. This is the symbol for copyright: ©
We did some research to see whether we needed permission to use this in our film, but we found that this song is public domain, meaning that anyone can use it. It is not copyright protected and therefore we did not require any permission to use it within our film.
the girl is walking through the woods and only her feet can be seen, the shot then switches from her to the victim lying in the woods, then to the little girl walking down the church steps. This is repeated with each shot getting closer, for example the camera becomes closer to the victim, the little girls feet can be seen walking towards the camera and the little girl is also walking towards the camera in the church
as there is a close up to the girls face she says
' if you go down to the woods today, you're in for a big surprise '
Although we dont have any speech, we do have background music to add tension to the scene. Once we've filmed we are going to have the sound edited to fit in with all the areas of our opening film. This sound clip was made my Mat so that we would have an idea of what we can work with and would have something to adapt to when making our film.
We realise that line 'If you go down to the woods today, you're in for a big surprise' may be subject to copyright.
Copyright is a set of exclusive rights that is granted to the author/creator of an original piece of work. This includes the right to copy, distribute and adapt the work. This is the symbol for copyright: ©
We did some research to see whether we needed permission to use this in our film, but we found that this song is public domain, meaning that anyone can use it. It is not copyright protected and therefore we did not require any permission to use it within our film.
Planning - Characters
We started by making the little girls dress. We covered our hands in fake blood and pressed them on the dress to leave a hand print. This makes it look like their was a struggle between her and her victim. We also cut up the dress to make this effective.
In this photo, we started to apply make up, we used a very pale face powder to make the character look very unnatural and almost Ghost like.
To make this character of the little girl look realistic we also applied the same pale powder to her arms to match her face.
This picture shows when we put hair gel on becca's hair to flatten it across her head and over her face. Giving it a wet and greasy look. We also thought that when her face is not fully visible because of the hair, it creates tension and fear within the audience as it is this idea of the unknown. This picture shows the eye make up that we did,
we applied very dark black eye shadow to achieve this effect. We thought we would do this as at one point in the opening scene, there is a close up of the little girls eyes, therefore we wanted to make them as frightening as possible. This is what it is going to look like overall, the hair will be over her face but her eyes can still be seen to give a more creepy effect.
Planning - Camera Angles
Before we filmed, we considered what was actually going to happen in our opening scene and therefore what angles are needed.
We found that the most appropriate and effect angles would be:
- Eye level
- Oblique angle
- Low angle
Eye Level - this is a fairly neutral shot; the camera is positioned as though it is a human actually observing a scene, so that the actors' heads are on a level with the focus. We decided to use this shot as it goes well with the genre that we are using. We are able to maintain eye contact with the character but also it appears as if other characters within the film are being watched.
Oblique Angle - This is when the camera is not placed on horizontal to floor level and is tilted. We managed to achieve this by using a handheld camera. This shot suggests imbalance and instability which is what we wanted. The little girl that is coming towards the camera is very unstable as she is capable of murder, therefore we thought this shot would convey this idea.
Low Angle - helps to give a sense of confusion to the viewer as it is at a unusual angle, the background tends to be the sky or the ceiling, in this case it is the ceiling of the church which adds to the disorientation of the veiwer. This may make the audience be fearfull and is only focused on the dominant character of the shot.
Eye Level - this is a fairly neutral shot; the camera is positioned as though it is a human actually observing a scene, so that the actors' heads are on a level with the focus. We decided to use this shot as it goes well with the genre that we are using. We are able to maintain eye contact with the character but also it appears as if other characters within the film are being watched.
Oblique Angle - This is when the camera is not placed on horizontal to floor level and is tilted. We managed to achieve this by using a handheld camera. This shot suggests imbalance and instability which is what we wanted. The little girl that is coming towards the camera is very unstable as she is capable of murder, therefore we thought this shot would convey this idea.
Low Angle - helps to give a sense of confusion to the viewer as it is at a unusual angle, the background tends to be the sky or the ceiling, in this case it is the ceiling of the church which adds to the disorientation of the veiwer. This may make the audience be fearfull and is only focused on the dominant character of the shot.
Planning - Storyboard
I have put together a storyboard to show the main events that take place within our opening scene, it indicates where and what is going to be filmed in what sort of setting,
When looking at the results of our questionnaire, we discovered that the main features that the audience enjoy most of a Horror film is firstly blood and gore, and secondly Psychological, and we've managed to apply both of these features to our opening scene.
Blood/Gore - we included this by having a man that has been stabbed on the floor, with lots of blood and a wound that in one part of the scene is shot up close.
Psychological - the killer that is the little girl is slowly getting closer and closer to the screen with interruptions of a fuzzy screen. Each time the screen goes fuzzy and then comes back, the little girl is one step closer to the camera, until she ends up very very close. This causes tension and will unnerve the audience.
These scenes may not go to plan as it depends on how the filming work goes, whether we get the right shots, angles and whether the setting is right. After the filming is completed we will be able to produce a much more accurate storyboard of our opening scene.
Planning - Location
In our opening scene, we are not just having a whole acted out scene with out anything else, we are including parts where titles will be shown, parts when the screen goes 'fuzzy' and then flashes of acting. Therefore we saw this as an opputunity to use different locations to film the parts where actors are involved. We filmed in the nature reserve and at the church which are both in Whittlesey. We decided to use these places as they are very lonely and darkly lit areas, creating a lot of suspense and tension.
The Church
In the church, we used the stairs which were going up to one of the towers, there was very little light and it was an enclosed space which made it even more of an intense setting. It was very dusty, with lots of cobwebs and you could see how old it was. This is often scary for people to see and old setting. We thought this would be a perfect setting as it consisted many of the features we needed.
This particular setting was used to film the character of the 'little girl' walking down the church steps, in the darkness and becoming closer and closer to the camera.
The Nature Reserve (Forest)
Again, people often associate a forest with being a very isolated and lonely place, somewhere you would not want to be on your own which just that in itself creates fear for the audience. Many weeds and dead plants were surrounding this setting which gives it a rough and old look which often unnerves people.
This setting was used to show feet walking through the grass and another character 'dead' on the floor with blood around them.
The Church
In the church, we used the stairs which were going up to one of the towers, there was very little light and it was an enclosed space which made it even more of an intense setting. It was very dusty, with lots of cobwebs and you could see how old it was. This is often scary for people to see and old setting. We thought this would be a perfect setting as it consisted many of the features we needed. This particular setting was used to film the character of the 'little girl' walking down the church steps, in the darkness and becoming closer and closer to the camera.
The Nature Reserve (Forest)
Again, people often associate a forest with being a very isolated and lonely place, somewhere you would not want to be on your own which just that in itself creates fear for the audience. Many weeds and dead plants were surrounding this setting which gives it a rough and old look which often unnerves people.
This setting was used to show feet walking through the grass and another character 'dead' on the floor with blood around them.
Friday, 21 January 2011
Audience Questionnaire
This questionnaire is based around the genre of Horror which allows us to discover evidence about people's views on this genre. It will also help us when it comes to creating our opening scene as we know what sort of requirements it must have.
We started by creating our questionnaire in a Microsoft Word document and printing out 20 copies, we then got other people in our media group to fill out this questionnaire.
Here is our questionnaire:
1. What gender are you?
Male Female
2. What age range do you fall into?
Under 12 12-14 15-18 19-25 26-50 51+
3. Would you watch a Horror film?
Yes No
4. The majority of 'Horror' films you watch are rated what age?
12 15 18 R+
5. How often do you watch 'Horror' films each month?
5 or under 6-10 11-15 16-20 21-25 25+
6. Favourite elements of a Horror film?
Suspense Blood/Gore Psychological Death Supernatural
7. Which age group do you think Horror films are aimed at?
Under 12 12-14 15-18 19-25 26-50 51+
8. What is your favourite Horror film?
________________________________________
9. What do you expect from a Horror film?
________________________________________
________________________________________
________________________________________
10. What emotion do you expect from a Horror film?
Fear Sadness Anger Happiness Lust Shock
We felt it necessary to ask all of these questions as they cover different areas of the 'Horror' genre. We also used a range of different question formats including close ended questions (multiple choice and Yes/No questions) and open ended questions.
After taking in the results of the questionnaire, we put the results into graphs. We did this by entering the results into an Microsoft Excel spreadsheet, highlighting the results then putting them into a graph format.
1.What gender are you?
We started by creating our questionnaire in a Microsoft Word document and printing out 20 copies, we then got other people in our media group to fill out this questionnaire.
Here is our questionnaire:
1. What gender are you?
Male Female
2. What age range do you fall into?
Under 12 12-14 15-18 19-25 26-50 51+
3. Would you watch a Horror film?
Yes No
4. The majority of 'Horror' films you watch are rated what age?
12 15 18 R+
5. How often do you watch 'Horror' films each month?
5 or under 6-10 11-15 16-20 21-25 25+
6. Favourite elements of a Horror film?
Suspense Blood/Gore Psychological Death Supernatural
7. Which age group do you think Horror films are aimed at?
Under 12 12-14 15-18 19-25 26-50 51+
8. What is your favourite Horror film?
________________________________________
9. What do you expect from a Horror film?
________________________________________
________________________________________
________________________________________
10. What emotion do you expect from a Horror film?
Fear Sadness Anger Happiness Lust Shock
We felt it necessary to ask all of these questions as they cover different areas of the 'Horror' genre. We also used a range of different question formats including close ended questions (multiple choice and Yes/No questions) and open ended questions.
After taking in the results of the questionnaire, we put the results into graphs. We did this by entering the results into an Microsoft Excel spreadsheet, highlighting the results then putting them into a graph format.
1.What gender are you?
Our first question in the questionnaire is What gender are you. Although it was inevitable that more females would fill out our questionnaire as there are more females in our media group, this could also show that just as many females are interested in the genre 'Horror' as males are. As from previous research it has shown that men enjoy 'Horror' films more than women.
As we did not distribute out our questionnaire evenly between males and females, we cannot generalise our results, but we can still get the idea that women enjoy Horror films just as much.
Therefore, by analysing this question, we must make an opening sequence that both genders will enjoy and find frightening.
2.What age range do you fall into?
Again, because we could not distribute our questionnaire evenly, the majority of people filling out our questionnaires were 15-18 years old, but this is the age range we will most likely be targeting as the majority of horror films are rated 15/18.
3.Would you watch a 'Horror' film?
This particular question will enable us to understand whether the genre of Horror is popular within this age range, and in this case it is, the majority people we asked said that they would watch a horror film, therefore concluding that we should continue to plan and film our opening sequence so that it is suitable for ages 15 to 18.
Since we have found that our demographics are 15 to 18, we can continue to make this film. If we did not have demographics there would be no point in making this film.
4.The majority of 'Horror' films you watch are rated what age?
The idea behind this question was to discover how much violence, gore and graphical this clip should be. The idea is that a film rated 18 would contain more graphical gore than 15, therefore these results suggest that the more gore and violence and horror in the film the better. This will help us to know what to include to create a successful opening scene to a Horror film.
5.How often do you watch 'Horror' films each month?
From these results, we were able to see how popular Horror films are and how often they are viewed by our target audience.
6. Favourirt elements of a 'Horror' film?
This question will be very usefull when constructin out opening scene. We can see what elements of the whole horror genre are most popular amongst our audience. The three most popular elements are blood and gore, Psychological and Suspense. By doing this we are now able to incoporate these areas into our film to meet the requirements of what the target audience feels makes a good horror films.
7.Which age group do you think 'Horror' films are aimed at?
We felt the need to find out what age group our audience thought that Horror films were aimed at, once again to make sure that we had chose the correct audience. The majority feel that horror films are mainly aimed at the age range of 15 to 18, again this reassures us that we should definitely construct our film so that it is suitable.
8. What is your favourite 'Horror' film?
For question number 8, we asked what people's favourite 'Horror' film was so that we could take into account all of the films that people enjoy. We can also consider what all of these films have used to be successfull 'Horror' film.
Dorian Gray - 1
Saw - 10
Wrong turn - 3
Paranormal Activity - 3
Sweeney Todd - 1
The Crazies - 1
Amityville Horror - 1
As we can see from our results, the 'Horror' film that the majority of film enjoy the most is 'Saw' with half of the overall votes. Saw is a 2004 American-Australian horror film which contains a lot of violence, blood and gore, suspense and shock. From these results, we can take into account what sort of things these films contain and apply the same idea to our film opening.
9. What do you expect from a Horror film?
We felt the need to ask this question as we felt it would be very useful when creating our opening scene. These different factors are all part of the horror genre and we will do our best to include most if not all of them within our plot and opening scene. The most popular answer was 'blood and guts', second was 'Jumpy' and joint third was 'Unexpected', 'Scary', 'Suspense', 'Death', therefore we will be sure to attempt to make sure all of these factors appear within our opening scene.
10. What emotion do you expect from a Horror?
This question was asked to find out what emotion a Horror film is expected to give to the audience. The main emotion was fear, followed by Shock, therefore we feel that we do not only require a frightening opening scene, but also an emotive plot to create the sense of anger and sadness, allowing us to cover all of these emotions.
By doing this Questionnaire, we can not use it to our advantage and it will enable us to create a opening scene that is suitable and successful for our demographics.
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