Time Management Update

This is an example of our group's time management. We decided to use Google Calender to keep our tasks up to date, and so we can keep a record of what has been completed and what is still outstanding.

Organisation, Props and Costumes

Thomas: Normal teenage clothes - hoody, jeans, shirt, trainers (Casual) - Nobody needs to be in charge because most of us will have these kind of clothes


Kieren: Dark clothes to create sinister atmosphere - Black hoody/coat, dark trousers, boots - George

Update

Tuesday 14th Dec - We now need to book a camera and agree a collection and return date.

Risk Assesment

Risk	How to avoid it
Household injuries (we are filming in a house) – falling etc.	Be really careful around the house and make sure care is taken whilst shooting movement – as we are filming downstairs, there shouldn’t be a problem.
Tripping over equipment	Don’t leave camera/props/costumes in any ridiculous place (middle of floor/in the middle of a shooting area)
Electricity	Don’t go near a live switch at any time.

animatic

This is the animatic that our group has created, it was not filmed with the correct props, clothing or at the correct location.

Shot List

As a group we drew up a story board covering the shot type, duration of the shot, the angle and whether there is audio place over the top of the sequence to create a sense of mystery and suspense.

shot 2 was a extreme close up of kieren Barr tying his shoe lace with a duration of 3 seconds with creepy music played over the top.

Shot 3 was Mid shot/Over the shoulder shot of tom evans looking in the mirror.

Shot 4. Close up/P.O.V of Kieren putting his glove on as music is played over the top.

Shot 5. Also a Mid shot of Tom doing his hair in the mirror.

Shot 6. Extreme close up of Kieren opening a door, he then walks towards the camera and blocks the shot so the main title can appear, the shot then cuts to the living room of Tom's house, using Kieren as the cut method.

Shot 7.  this is a shot showing the murderer in the Room, but how did he get there?

Shot 8. Close up of tom, focusing on his facial expressions.

Shot 9. its a Pan shot of the curtains blowing on the room to create suspense.

Shot 10. Long shot of the murderer walking towards the door.

Shot 11. Mid shot of tom looking around.

Shot 12. High angle shot of the hall way focusing on Tom looking around suspiciously.

Shot 13. Mid shot and P.O.V of Tom walking towards the kitchen. Also there is a focus on the Knife holder as one is missing.

Shot 14. Mid shot of Tom looking through a gap in the door.

Shot 15. Also a Mid shot of Tom stood, staring in front of him to show his confusion and the fact he's nervous and scared. Also Kieren shoots across the back of tom.

Shot 16. Mid shot of Tom twisting, trying to figure out what's going on, as he turns in confusion. It then jumps to a Close up of of Toms face to show expressions.

Shot 17. Lower angled close up of Kieren looking down on Tom to show he's the bigger persona and the main Focus of the clip.

Planning: story board

This is the storyboard that we are using to help us film our opening.

Synopsis

As the film opens, the audience are shown the preparations of a sinister and mysterious figure through a series of fast cuts and shots. As time goes on, it becomes apparent that the figure is preparing for murder. At the same time, someone else is also seen to be getting ready to go out. The killer then appears at the victims house, and the victim looks around the house suspiciously. As the victim is about to leave the house, the killer attacks. 

We have managed to find the cast for our video, We have casted Thomas Evans (right) as the victim and Kieren Barr (left) as the murderer.

Genre research Summary

After reviewing our research we have found that there are many different sub-genres of horror, and each of those are different in many ways.

1. What do the titles tend to look like?

In general titles tend to contrast highly with the background. Colours such as red, white and black are most commonly used. The font in which the titles are written can vary between different styles of horror movie. Movies such as "a nightmare on elm street" uses a normal font, but it is uneven and wonky. Whereas in "Halloween" the titles are written in a font with sharp edges and points, this could relate to the knifes featured in the movie, or the teeth on the jack-o-lantern. 

2. What kind of sounds feature in the opening?

In general, sounds tend to be of heavy breathing/gurgling. The source of the noises is usually not shown so the audience is unsure as to what is making them. Music is usually high pitched and slow paced, this takes the audience out of their comfort zone as the sounds are unfamiliar and strange. The opening to "a nightmare on elm street" is a good example of this. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zQrZMoWaAZQ. 

3. What types of character do we usually see?

In horror movie openings a character is not usually identified. Sometimes victims and less significant people feature in the beginning, but the killer/villain almost never is. In the opening to "halloween" a murder is witnessed from the point of view of the killer, this adds a sense of enigma as the audience does not know who commited the murder even though they were so close to it. 

4. What kind of mise en scene dominates?

The settings in horror movies can change dramatically depending on the sub genre, but darkness is almost always featured. Large houses, hospitals and woods are used extensively throughout the genre. Although not all openings are intended to scare the audience, some of them put the audience in a sense of security and comfort to make the initial scare more shocking. 

5. What narrative codes are used?

Close ups and cut aways are used to create enigma, tense music and a slow pace of editing can create this, although it can also be done with  fast paced editing. There is usually a large build up to the first killing, this is done using throbbing music and giving the audience a narrow field of vision making them feel claustrophobic. 

6. What types of cinematography and editing styles are used?

Fast and slow editing speeds are both used, to different effects in horror movies. They can create enigma and suspense, or a fast paced exciting opening. The different speeds do not usually change according to the sub-genre. 

Focus Group - Audience Research and Meeting Analysis

After we had created our moodboard, we got our group together to discuss and to comment on it. Admittedly, we had to rush our focus group meeting to meet the deadline, and so our meeting wasn't as smooth as we would have liked, but we did our very best with the circumstances put in front of us and analysed our group's comments as well as we could.


Our Focus Group:


Callum Moore
Isaac Jeeves
George Murphy
David Perkins
James Linsey




These were the comments they made on Facebook...

George Murphy

could you please comment on this moodboard telling me what you think is good, and what needs to be improved.

about an hour ago ·  · Comment · 

• • 
    

    Isaac Jeeves you have a good layout of pictures of various different types all making there own sense of horrific ideals. the eye in the corner makes you read the writing and works well with the black writing and as the main background they all overall create a excellent horror ideas and put them across well with the shady figures and the looks they bring to horror style. they are all horrific and well used images. the only thing i could say to improve is that the red writing distracts from the images and would be better if it was black.
    

    about an hour ago · 
  • 
    

    Callum Andrew William Moore The Lighting and dark colours are good for the theme, pictures are relevant and set the scene for a slasher. Perhaps, to improve, the house may need darker colours to as not to clash with the other colours
    

    about an hour ago · 

We analysed the comments carefully and decided that Callum's point about our "haunted house" idea was a valid one. No one finds a house spooky in the daytime. Therefore, the house, if there is to be one, needs to be filmed at night. We had previously planned on filming the house in the day for practical reasons, but if our audience doesn't agree with that, we have to take that on board and alter our plans.

Target Audience

We, as a group, have decided to target 16-19 year old males, from a C1-C2 background who are individualists and some mainstreamers. This audience is quite large and gives the group some lee-way in terms of the content of our film and we aimed at this audience because those were the people which were able to comment on our ideas. Therefore, we believed we could achieve the most effective outcome if we used this target audience. 

We asked the audience a number of questions as to what their interests and likes were. We then put together a moodboard using photoshop to demonstrate this:

Our target audience's overall preferences (by virtue of majority)