Horror Opening - Audience

 To understand which audience to target I researched how films are rated and from there I was able to decide the age rating of my film.

Here is the Film Rating system:

From the table above I have decided to target an audience of people aged 15 and older. This is due to the genre of the film; horror and the psychological and supernatural nature of the film. 

I have found during my research that nearly all horror films are aimed at people aged 15+ and 18+. 

Here are some examples of famous horror films with the age rating 15:

Horror Opening - locations

/iframe> In order to find the perfect location for my horror opening I first thought about what type of house I would need:

Typical horror locations: 

  Here is location I will be using:

Horror Opening - Finding the Actors/ Actresses

After I had finalised my ideas my next task was to find Actors and Actresses that are suitable to play the roles of; Sam, the woman/ mother and Teddy. I decided to choose:

Charlie for the role of Sam, because he is a young boy that fits the role perfectly, he looks small, adorable and innocent, this means that the audience will form a bond with the child and hope that he will not come to any harm. Charlie is one of my mothers friends grandchild, and so I needed to write a permission letter to his mother to ask whether she would allow him to play the role. I also needed to ask this woman about using her house as a location for my opening.

Here is a screenshot of the letter that I sent Josie:

I then set about finding a mother for Sam, I wanted a young woman who looked motherly and who would fit with Phillip. I chose my sister, Michelle Bethell because she fits the type of character that I have in my mind, she is also an english teacher and so, has to some extent some acting skills.

Here is a screenshot of the email that I sent Michelle to ask her whether she would be will to play the role of the Mother:

Finally, I looked for somebody who could play the role of Teddy, this man would have to be mid 30's and have an element of madness about him. He must be able to act and be reliable, I chose Ben Raza, as he fits all of this criteria. 

Alongside the emails and letters that I have sent I attached a copy of the script and a shooting schedule to inform them of exactly what they are required to do.

I WILL NO LONGER BE USING THESE ACTORS/ACTRESSES

Horror Opening - Characters, actors and costumes

Sam -
(Played by Charlie)

Sam is a regular five year old boy, he will be wearing a shirt and jeans and some smart shoes to show that he is from an upper class, rich family. He will be happy throughout and is sweet and innocent, this boy has no idea that he is not supposed to see Teddy or be afraid by him.

Charlie will be wearing his own clothes and have his on teddy, this teddy will have a white bow tie.

 woman/mother -
(played by Michelle Bethell)

The woman is a rich house wife that is dressed in a smart casual outfit. The house will be spotless, giving the idea that the woman has an element of OCD about her. She is friendly and smily throughout, until she realises that Teddy is real. She must appear vulnerable, her husband is out of town and she is alone in a big house with her son.

Michelle will be wearing my dress and cardigan, with her own scarf, tights and shoes.

 Teddy (played by Ben Raza):

A intelligent looking middle to old aged man, he will embody the 1920's with his costume and manners. He will have a moustache to show his age and will have a slight glint in his eyes and consistent smile that shows he is not completely sane and is fairly evil.
             

Ideas of outfits:

      The orange shirt              The white shirt                 The Red shirt             The black shirt                                                   

We chose the first option; brown striped suit, orange shirt, black tie and brown cowboy boots.

Ben had the suit and shirt; however, I had to buy the bow tie and hat from Harlequins costume shop in Baldock. 

THESE CHARACTERS WILL NOT BE IN MY FINAL OPENING

Horror Opening - Script

Please click on the script to enlarge it

I WILL NO LONGER USE THIS SCRIPT DUE TO TECHNICAL ISSUES

Horror Opening - First Ideas

Preliminary task - Evaluation

    Overall, I think that my preliminary task went fairly well, in terms of fulfilling the requirements. The exercise was primarily to practice a variety of camera angles, and I believe that my angles flowed properly together and worked well.

*insert talking*

Preliminary task - final video

First attempt:

Second attempt:

Preliminary task - Storyboard

 

Preliminary task - final idea

Shot types:

Notes on the shots:

Birds eye view -  This shot will be above he actresses and will look down at them.

Match on action shot - where a shot can be taken and stopped. The next sequence of events continues the events continues the film without the viewer being aware that the shots were taken at separate times. where a shot can be taken and stopped. The next sequence of events continues the film without the viewer being aware that the shots were taken at separate times.

Wide shot - This will mean that the audience can see the situation, the surroundings and the mise en scene.

Medium close up - This is halfway between a mid shot and a close up.

Close up -  Emphasizes the facial expression of the character. 

Zoom - The camera moves quickly towards the character or point that needs a close

Over the shoulder shot - This is where the camera has he perspective of somebody and looks over their shoulder, you and see their shoulder in the shot.

Shots I will use: 

Shot 1   - Lauren walks down the corridor towards the camera
Shot 2   - Lauren pushes the door open and walks through, this shot is a birds eye view and match                 on action shot with shot 3.
Shot 3   - Match on action shot, Lauren walks through the door towards the camera.
Shot 4   - Extreme wide shot of Lauren walking to K block from the Sixth form block.
Shot 5   - Medium close up of Lauren walking through the door and towards the camera.
Shot 6   - Close up of Lauren opening the door, goes to match on action shot.
Shot 7   - Lauren walks through the door and past the camera to a chair. Georgia says "you're late",                Lauren replies with "why not?"
Shot 8   - zoom in on both characters.
Shot 9   - Over the shoulder shot of Georgia, who says "well maybe you shouldn't be in my class                   then"
Shot 10 - Over the shoulder shot of Lauren, who says "well maybe I don't even care", gets up and                  walks out.


Script

Georgia (angry)             - You're late!
Lauren  (impertinently)  - Why not?
Georgia (Frustrated)      - Well maybe you shouldn't be in my class then
Lauren  (Disobediently) - Well maybe I don't care


Characters and roles: 

The troublesome school girl - Lauren Rule

I have chosen Lauren as the troublesome school girl because she is an excellent actress and is available at the time of filming, she has the right facial expressions for this character and will already be dressed in school attire, so will fit the role.


The teacher - Georgia Adcock

I have chosen Georgia as the teacher as she has a commanding voice and is able to exude authority. As this task will be filmed during school hours, Georgia will be in smart attire and will look suitable for the role of a teacher.


Camera person - Rachel Bethell

I have filmed and edited this task by myself. My main job was to direct the characters to inform them as to what to do, I also had to get the right camera angles.


Locations:

School - The sixth form block
               K block


Shooting Schedule:

Tuesday 26th November

I will film this in my media lesson period 5, so, at 2:30 - 2:45

Preliminary task - first ideas

(Please click on image to enlarge)

Institution Research

An institution is the entertainment industries involved in producing and distributing movies.

Seen above is a Institutions Compilation, this includes:

20th Century fox

C2 PICTURES

Castle Rock Entertainment

Columbia 

DC COMICS

Dreamworks

Hollywood Pictures

InterMedia

Jerry Buckheimer Productions

Kinowelt

Lionsgaye

Metro Goldwyn Mayer

Miramax films

New Line Cinema 

Paramount

Paramount Vantage

Pixar Animation Studio

REGENCY

Studio Canal

Summit Entertainment

TriStar

Universal 

Walt Disney Pictures

Warner Bros. Pictures

HAMMER PRODUCTIONS

An institution well known for being Gothic, Hammer film productions produce Thriller, Sci-Fi, film noir and comedies, later on producing television series. Hammer productions has become a successful and worldwide distribution by dominating the Horror film, this success was partly created through the partnership Hammer held with Warner Bros.

Hammer produced films such as: The Curse of 'Frankenstein', 'Dracula', and 'The Mummy' which were all major hits.

Hammer began with horror in 1955 by experimenting with Nigel Kneale’s BBC Television series 'The Quatermass Experiment', directed by Val Guest. The title of the film was changed to ‘The Quatermass Xperiment’, from where the X certificate for horror was introduced.

 

Lionsgate

Dreamworks

Audience Research - why do people watch horror films

In order to find out why people watch horror films I created a questionnaire and asked a range of 30 people to fill it in, this meant that I was able to collect a fair set of results. By doing Audience research I will be able to determine what style of horror film could appeal to a wide audience and possibly formulate ideas for characters in the answers.


Please click on the image below to see the questionnaire more clearly:

Results:

Secondary research

How has my research helped me?

With this research I have been able to determine what style and genre of film I should try to make. I now understand that blood and gore will not look effective or realistic, that children effect people the most and that it tends to be young people (teenagers) who watch the most horror films.

From this I have decided to base my film around a child and a realistic scenario, ie. something that could happen. 

Editing worksheet

1. What does editing do?

Editing assembles every shot that is taken and needed to create a whole piece; meaning that each shot will flow effectively.



2. How does it work?

Editing requires precision, therefore films and videos are time-coded, with; minutes, seconds and frame numbers, meaning that the piece will flow in chronological order and enable the frames to be put together easily. In the editing process, shots that work or fit in our section, are cropped to the correct length and placed together in sequences. After the video has been created a soundtrack of other effects are added.

3. Describe each of the following editing terms:

Cut: This is the most common transition from one shot to the next. It happens with one shot that quickly replaces another. Within a continuous scene, shots are usually strung together by cuts.  

Dissolve: This is where one shot fades out while another fades in. During the dissolve, both shots are on screen at the same time and are visible through each other.

Fade: There are two types of fading effects; a fade to black, which is followed by black screen, or a fade up or fade in.

4. How does the shot reverse shot help the narrative or generate meaning?

For example, the shot/reverse shot pattern ensures a sense of spatial coherence, meaning that the audience feel as though they are in the room/conversation. It enables the audience to feel as though the camera isn't jumping from one character to another.

5. Why is the 180 degree rule important?

It enables the space and movement to seem effortlessly understandable; to help hide edit points and to help to contribute to the action.

 

6. How and why is the point of view shot used?

The audience appear to look through the eyes of a character and so, sees the perspective of the character. The point of view shot can also be created through the use of a mobile camera; this is often used in the horror and thriller genres, to suggest to the audience that someone is spying on someone or something else within the horror film.

 

7. What is parallel or cross cut editing?

An early development of the continuity system was parallel editing or cross-cutting between two, sometimes three or more, simultaneous actions taking place at different locations.

 

 

 

8. What editing techniques are used to generate suspense?

Cross Cutting is an editing technique that is used to generate suspense. For example, a victim approaching monster/villain suspense will be generated and this is usually a shot with a movement towards closer shots of the victim, each time the audience cuts back to the victim, the shot has a close up.



9. Explain in your own words how the mouse sequence creates tension.

It creates tension because; firstly the suspense is built using different editing techniques, then the sound becomes silent, building tension because the audience is eager to know what happens. Finally, all of a sudden there is a big crash or a sudden noise which makes the audience jump.

 

10. Why is timing important in editing?

Timing is important in editing because it creates suspense and is crucial in the flow of the piece and so that crucial narrative details take place at the exact moment they should.

11. Explain in your own words what the continuity system is?

An edit, generally used with cinemas, that cuts from one shot to another without appearing as though it has been edited. This could be by invisible editing, eye-line matches, and cutting on action.

12. Why does editing strive to be invisible?

If editing wasn't invisible, then the film wouldn't have the same effect on the audience, this is because it would seem unrealistic and unprofessional. The clips would not flow properly and would look like an amateur production.