Original Storyboard

This is the rough storyboard we made for our film. The original one was drawn on paper and gave us a rough idea of what shot types we were going to use and the story we were going to portray. The sheet allowed us to do rough drawings and annotate it with shot types and various sound motifs we wanted to include in that particular shot. Of course, these have changed as we have been filming and as the process has continued on, however, we tried to stay as true to these plans as we could. 

The Final Script Draft

Below is the final script for our film. We tried to include as little dialogue as possible as we feel that would leave room for sound motifs and music to create tension and mystery throughout the opening two minutes. Although we have tried to keep to the script, it may differ during the filming as the actors may have changed odd words or phrases to fit what feels most natural for them to make the film look as realistic and the characters as relatable as possible. 

Practicing Opening Titles

In order to make our film opening effective, we need a professional looking opening titles to show at the beginning of the film. We wanted it to represent the genre of the film without being too cliched and without it looking childish. It needed to be scary but sophisticated at the same time. To create this effect, we decided that we should keep it simple with black and white. The white font on the black background looked more scary than black font on a white background. We then looked at different fonts to see which one stood out to us as our favourite. We ended up with the three below. 

The first title is effective as the font isn't too big and daunting. The letters have a slight old feel to them which, along with the colours, makes the font seem scarier than it would in other circumstances. The way the letters are thin in some places and thick in others make it look like they are sitting at a slight jaunty angle, creating a more mysterious vibe from the font.

The second title is effective because the font is bigger but thinner. This gives the font a stretched look which could work well with a horror effect to fade it out. The letters are quite close together and the slightly curly ends of some of the letters give the font a more sinister look without looking too over-the-top scary. 

The final title is effective as it uses a classic horror font to create evil and demonic connotations. The slashed nature of the font makes it look almost like it's written in blood, which we could use as an effect to transition through the titles. This font immediately shows the audience the genre of film which is effective as it draws people in to watch the film. 

Mood Board

This is the mood board we created for our film. It was created for our original idea so is not completely accurate to our film now as we have had to change things due to circumstances when it came to filming. Instead of residential areas, we will be using school grounds due to lack of filming location and it will all be filmed in the day due to lack of lighting equipment and timings. 

However, most of the aspects we wish to use and achieve remain the same. The annotations on the mood board show what we wanted to achieve through each of the images and methods represented. The film will include cliches and a cliffhanger to make it more ominous and intriguing to the audience. These things are what we believed would work well in our film as well as draw in the target audience. 

Production Influences

The film we are making will be a low-budget horror film. We will not have as much sound and lighting equipment as bigger budget films so we will have to focus on how we use our camera. This means that we will need to use effective camera shots and angles to get the story to the audience and to create tension within our film. 

A couple of effective uses of camera that we hope to incorporate into our own style and that will inspire our filming techniques are from "Luther" and "Scream". 

"Luther" was a TV show aired on the BBC. It used clever camera angles and used the camera conventions of a thriller to entice the audience and increase suspense. They used careful framing and extended shots to create this effect on the audience. The extended shots would be useful as the shot would pause on a moment until the audience felt as uncomfortable with the situation as the characters in the show were. This was effective as it let the audience step into the situation and into the characters shoes. These moments are shown in the clip below. 

In this clip there are also some very interesting camera shots. When Luther is walking towards the crime scene, the use of the blurred background makes it clear to the audience who they should focus on within the scene. It gives him prevalence and makes the audience focus on what he is saying rather than get distracted by the rest of the crime scene. The dramatic high angled match cut when he walks through the white sheet is effective as it shows him to, again, be the one you should focus on as a high angle usually represents power and dominance. The match cut to a plain background uses the same technique as the blurred background. It keeps you focusing on him and his facial expressions as you watch. The expressions along with the jaunty angle of the shot makes it more mysterious and makes the audience slightly uneasy. The slow panning of the room increases the tension and uneasy feeling of the audience.

"Scream", released in 1996, was directed by Wes Craven, a very influential horror director. In the opening, Craven uses the same technique of lingering on moments as they do in "Luther". He does not directly show us the threat to any of the lead characters but shows us things throughout which we can focus on to make the audience themselves feel threatened as if they are in the film. 

In the clip above, Craven chooses to focus on the girl on the phone rather than her surroundings. Much the same as in "Luther", we don't get to see immediately what the characters are seeing, creating tension and suspense within the clip and setting up the rest of the film. The use of close-ups increase this tension as we still don't see what she is seeing. Her expressions show us that she is getting increasingly worried and scared about what she sees, yet the audience don't see it creating a fear of the unknown for the audience as well as the character. 

Representation in the Film

Stereotyping in films is considered to be negative in some ways, as it pulls on things that aren't necessarily true to the role but are easily spotted by an audience trying to get the know the characters. The female characters in particular are seen as victims and are mainly the first killed. This is because they are seen as weaker than men and cannot stand up for themselves and fight. This is something we wish to subvert in our film by including some more independent and strong-willed female roles, including a female antagonist. 

To look into representation in horror films, I looked at the opening scene from the 1996 film "Scream". The opening scene features Drew Barrymore as the naive teenage girl left home alone. This is very overused in horror films and is very cliched, however it lets the audience in on the fact that something unusual may happen. 

When you see girls in horror films, they are usually young, beautiful and quite naive. The stereotype of blondes, especially in film, is innocent and lacking common sense. This is shown in "Scream" by the girl continuing to answer the phone to the man she doesn't know. She continues to pick the phone up when it keeps ringing, and even gets into a conversation with the man she doesn't know. This is cliched yet lets the audience know that something is definitely going to happen to her as she is the ditsy blonde who doesn't have enough common sense to stop answering the phone. The audience knows not to pick up the phone - another cliche of horror films where the audience knows something that the characters don't - which is what makes the scene so tense and intriguing as they want to see what happens to her. 

However, she subverts stereotypes by going to lock the doors and the windows after realising who she is speaking to on the phone. This is subverting as she is trying to keep herself safe without the need for a male protagonist going to save her. She is doing something sensible and something that the audience would do as well, subverting the dumb blonde naive teenage stereotype. 

In our film, we would like to subvert stereotypes with a female antagonist and strong female characters throughout. Although we are going to have a male protagonist trying to figure out the murder of his friend, we open with a predominant focus on the female characters. The victim, however, will be a bit naive and oblivious to conform to some stereotypes of the genre in order to keep the audience interested in the rest of the film.

Character Profiles

THE VICTIM (HARRIET AUSTIN)

The victim is the character who is oblivious to a lot that goes on around her. She is a bit of a recluse, though she does have a group of friends who care about her and vice versa. She is very focused on doing well at school and in life. The victim is someone who the audience should feel sympathy for and who the audience should primarily focus on throughout the film. The character as a victim conforms to stereotypes of girls in horror films as the victim who needs saving. 

THE BEST FRIEND (ALEX BATEMAN)

This character is the classic best friend. He is caring and worried about where his friend is. He feels close to his friends and vows to protect them from all harm. He is very hopeful and optimistic about life and the people around him, making him quite a naive character at the same time as being quite brave. This character is someone the audience could possibly relate to the most out of the three as he is someone that every person either knows or hopes to know at some point in their lives.

THE ANTAGONIST (SAMMIE-JO BRETHERICK)

The antagonist is portrayed as a classic stalker. She is someone who is close to the victim, but the audience doesn't know it. She is stealthy and is out to get revenge by slowly following the victim's every move. Having a female antagonist, which is revealed in the rest of the film, subverts stereotypes s it usually a man who portrays the villainous roles. The antagonist is hopefully portrayed as someone the audience shouldn't warm to. 

Actor Interviews: Sammie-Jo Bretherick

Sammie-Jo will be playing the antagonist role. Above is the interview we conducted with her. The questions we asked were specifically about her role and how it relates to the target audience.

Actor Interviews: Harriet Austin

Harriet will be playing the victim. Above is the interview we conducted with her. The questions allowed us to ask specifically about how she feels about her character. 

Actor Interviews: Alex Bateman

Alex will be playing the victims best friend. Above is the interview we conducted with him. We asked each actor different questions as we felt it would give a better range of answers about the film in general. The interview allowed us to ask him questions about the film and his character.

Props Research

Props are used to provide extra information about a character and allow the audience to learn more about them. Props are also used to add more detail to a character's costume. Some examples of stereotypical props used in horror and thriller films include knives, saws, masks and dark clothing. These are because they are objects that may be lying around and easily accessible for the antagonist within the film. This makes the audience feel even more on edge as they are probably items that they own. Dark clothing and masks help to keep the identity of the antagonist a secret from the audience as well as from the protagonist. It is common for a horror antagonist to have one specific weapon as a trademark to their character. It makes them recognisable during franchises or even just throughout the film. The use of things such as dark clothing create a contrast to the protagonist so that they easily stand out to the audience. 

     

In our film, we will be using dark clothing for the antagonist and a classic weapon at the end. This will help the audience to identify the antagonist from the very beginning of our film up until the ending. It will also keep the antagonist's identity a secret, which will add to the tension and impact of the opening. We will also continually use a mobile phone throughout to connect with the target audience as our generation are very much glued to their phones. This, along with our actors and setting, will help the audience to relate to our film on a more personal level. 

Behind the Scenes: Location

Below are photos that I have taken of our chosen location for the film opening. These are photos from around our school. We have chosen this location because we think it is suitable for our story but also because it is readily available and easy to access at appropriate times to film. Using the free periods we have, we are able to film without anyone in the background or anyone making too much noise. I have taken photos of areas around the school that specifically relate to the opening of our film and of places that are tangible for us to film in during school hours. However, these locations are not for certain, as we may have to change our minds due to possible circumstances on the day. I chose to take photos of the general school, of the girls toilets and of one of the computer rooms as they will all feature in our film. 

Production Titles

   

Above are the production titles that we made for our film. We used Adobe Premiere Elements to create these and to make them look as professional as regular production titles on other films. We started by each finding an image that we thought would look good as a title. We then thought of a name to go with the pictures. Putting the image into Adobe and adding the title was quite easy, as it was entirely our opinion on how we wanted it to look. Choosing and adding an effect made our titles look more professional. We chose effects that we thought would make them look polished and create a smooth transition. 

I like these titles as I think they look like any other production titles on a regular film. I think we used Adobe well and have started to learn how to use it more effectively, which will help when coming to edit our opening two minutes. 

Opening Title Sequences Research and Analysis

The usual order for an opening title sequence is:

Name of the studio that is distributing the film.

Name of the production company responsible for making the film.

A (Producer’s Name) Production.

A Film by (Director’s Name).

Starring (Main actors’ names).

Film title.

Featured cast members.

Casting by.

Music, composer, or original score.

Production designer.

Editor or Edited by.

Producer, produced by, and executive producers.

Writer or written by.

Director or Directed by. 

The opening titles for "25th Hour" are very continuous in the way they look. They are all the same font, possibly to connote to continuity within the story of the film. The camera moves away from the blue light throughout the credits, creating an establishing shot of the city but also making the audience wonder what it is. It creates the feeling of moving away from something, also connoting to the story within the film. The contrast of the white of the font with the primarily blue scene makes it stand out to the audience. The thinner and condensed font makes it look neat and together, but also is small enough to not take away from the scene. The line under '25th' is reflecting a date as well as the time. This gives the audience context into the film. The ominous nature of the title makes it seem appropriate for an older audience. The way that the titles are avoiding the light is interesting as it makes it seem reminiscent of something and like a light at the end of the tunnel, reflecting the drama in the film. 

The opening titles for "Monsters, Inc." encompasses what the film will be about. The use of the doors throughout hint at a possible theme within the film. The bright colours against the black background hint at the child target audience but also the black background hint at the nighttime and monsters underneath beds, as the film shows. The colour draws the children in and makes them want to watch more. The font throughout is very curly and looks as if it has been written out. This, along with the drawings of the doors and the monsters, connote to the target audience which means parents are more likely to let their children watch further into the film. The dark blue of the font against the black in the top picture stands out against the coloured doors. The blue blends into the darkness just the same as the monsters in the film. The eye in the door instead of the letter 'p' in the production title is important as it also connotes to the theme of monsters in the dark.

The opening sequence of "Vertigo" is interesting as the font is very different to other thriller movies. The font, in white and capitals, reflects more of a sports team or something more action rather than thriller. The white against the redness of the background throughout the sequence makes it stand out to the audience. The way the eye spirals into more of the titles, creating a wave of patterns, shows the audience that it will be a psychological thriller and will play with their minds. The red also connotes to the idea of blood and death, showing that the film is for an older audience. The close ups of the facial features, specifically of the eyes, make it also seem psychological, like its focusing on the inside workings of the person, i.e. in the brain. The list of names against a more solid background is very classic for older films though now it has become of lesser use. In this film, there is no establishing shot sequence as with most films now, making it seem even more mysterious whilst watching, as you don't find much out about the story.

Ideas for Non-Diegetic Sound

In horror and thriller films, the use of sound and music is important to create different emotions in the audience. It is also used to create tension and the feeling of sitting on the edge of the seat, which draws people in to see the film. To create these feelings, we have looked in to different non-copyright sound sequences we could use and edit into our film. The main things we would like to include are high suspended notes to create tension as well as louder more dramatic sounds for an increased impact on both the characters and the audience.

The beginning of this sequence is slow and boring and not at all something that we could use in our film to create tension. It sounds quite childish and almost like a nursery rhyme until 1:16 when it crashes and you hear what resembles a scream. This motif, in particular, would be very effective in our film as it is dramatic and creates a lot of tension and suspense. The bass notes would be effective in showing danger within the film.

In this sequence, it begins quite slowly but in an effective way. It is quite mysterious and ominous, making the audience want to know what is going to happen. It keeps the audience on the edge of their seats, which is exactly what we want. This type of music is used a lot in horror and thriller films and, although it could be considered a cliche, it would create a lot of tension and suspense in the early parts of our opening. However, this particular sequence only continues through the first 2 minutes. After this, the sound is not something we would like to use as it doesn't introduce enough tension for our film, much like the first clip in the beginning.

We could use both of these clips together, as they both have aspects which would work very well in our film. We would like to include suspended notes to create a built up tension, but also use loud bass notes to emphasis a danger or discovery for the audience. The fact that they are both non-copyright is also good as it means we can use them for our opening without incurring any issues with uploading it online. 

Soundtrack Research

In this scene from "Taken", sound is used effectively to create tension in the audience. It begins with ambient noise, to set the scene and the conversation. The bass notes come in when the men start to take her friend. These resemble a heartbeat, creating a faster pace for the film. This heartbeat makes the audience start to get tense as they know something bad is going to happen. This makes their hearts beat faster too. There is also a repeated symbol screech throughout the phone call. This also makes us believe that something bad is going to happen as it is a cliche horror motif. Suspended notes are then added to create more tension. Deep piano drops are added followed by more bass notes. This creates a confused nature for the audience as there are so many sounds at once. This resembles the mindset of the female character at that moment. The sound gets quieter as the woman goes into the other room. As she starts to whisper the sound gets almost silent. The silence creates an atmosphere of calm for the audience before she starts to scream. This makes the scream even more effective. There is no sound whilst she is screaming to emphasise the fear and shock. The silence continues until a suspended note sequence is played throughout the male character's monologue through the phone. This is effective as it shows the dedication and care the man has to find his daughter. The use of heavy instruments with abrupt noises reflect the nature of the film. It reflects the danger of the situation and creates tension for the audience. 

In this scene from "Luther", sound is used effectively, also to create tension in the audience. The upbeat music playing as the car pulls us bridges across the cross-cuts from him to the man with the child. This helps to make the scene seem continuous and show that the two shots are connected. The loud sound of the glass smashing stops the music to almost silence. From this point on in the scene, we can hear suspended notes of string instruments. These are considered more gentle instruments yet create an enormous amount of tension. The strings get louder throughout and, with the addition of bass notes and increasing the pitch towards the end, it creates a sense of urgency about the scene. This is effective as it makes the audience panic and worry about the safety of the children. The music in the background as well as the men shouting add to this panic. However, these instruments are also quite sad, possibly to reflect how Luther is making the man feel about his actions. 

Audience Profiling

Above are the statistics of a profiling for a film similar to the one we intend to make. This film had the same target audience that we wish to target our film towards. It is interesting to see who went to see this film when it was released as we can see who the film would initially be popular with. This will help us to target our film correctly towards the audience we wish to view it. 

From the table, we can see that the main age range of people that went to see it is between 15 to 24 years old and was seen by about the same range of males and females. The fact that it appeals to both genders and a wider audience in general shows us how that specific age range choose to spend their time, at the cinema specifically. It shows us that the age range we should be targeting is around 15 to 30 as the film was most popular with this age range. We will most likely make our film a 15 rating because of this. 

A 15 rated film means only people aged 15 and above are allowed to view it in the cinema. These films are allowed to showcase drugs and violence but should not encourage such actions. Violence such as hanging, suicide and self harming also shouldn't be shown graphically or in much detail. Weaponry involved should also not be shown graphically or only in context of the film. Strong language used must be limited and the amount depends on the manner in which it is being used. Horror films are allowed to show limited nudity but is generally not used as a part of this genre as it deters the audience. Threat can be used as this creates tension in all horror movies. Injuries in horror films should not be extended images or extremely gory. 

Final Idea Treatment

Our film centres around the surprising and unexpected death of the female lead (played by Harriet Austin). The antagonist will later be revealed as someone close to the victim, while her best friend is featured throughout. The film is aiming to be in the horror/drama genre, with many conventions and a few subversions of the genre. It is aimed towards teenagers as we believe this will be an appropriate age to relate to the location and the actors. The rating will be a 12 or a 15, depending on how the film changes throughout production. 

PLOT

In the opening two minutes, we will start off with an establishing shot of our first location, which cuts to a smaller room with a focused medium shot on the protagonist. We match-cut to a close up of her phone as a gloved hand comes and takes it. She doesn’t notice, however, as she is listening to loud music on a computer. This scene has limited sound, but possibly will include a suspended note to add tension to the scene. We will then cross-cut to a medium shot of her friend in a busy room where he is trying to call her. There will be some dialogue here as well as general ambient noise. This will cross-cut to a long shot of the lead walking outside and back to the friend, now giving up on phoning her. When we cross back to the lead, we see a long shot of the antagonist behind, following her. During the times where the antagonist is in shot, there will be some bass notes to emphasise the danger the girl is in. After this, we will cut back to a shot of her friend calling again. This time, it will cut to the protagonist in the toilets. There will be multiple shots of her washing her hands etc. with the antagonist hidden from her but not from the audience. A cross-cut to her friend again, and then a long shot of the protagonist dead on the floor of the toilets. This will match-cut to a close up of the phone ringing, and then to a low angled shot of the protagonist leaving the room. The titles will then come up, leaving the opening on a cliff hanger. 

As for the rest of the film, if it were made, we could possibly have her friend find her dead body and hunt for her killer. The horror we initially intended, would turn into a crime/drama type of film. However, we could also enhance the horror nature by continuously killing the group off until the audience discovers why that certain group were killed. 

CHARACTERS

The Female Lead - played by Harriet Austin, the lead will be quite secluded and keeps to herself. She is seen as oblivious and possibly too focused on doing well at school. She is the victim.

The Best Friend - played by Alex Bateman, this character is a classic best friend, with all the concern for where the lead has gone. He is over the top and dramatic and wont stop until he finds what happened to his best friend and avenges her.

The Antagonist - played by Sammie-Jo Bretherick, the antagonist will always be hidden. Until the very end, the audience will not know who this character is or why they are doing what they’re doing, adding to the tension of the film. 

KEY LOCATIONS

We will begin the filming in one of the sixth form study rooms. This will show us who the lead is and is important in the storyline of why she isn’t picking up her phone. This will be the scene where the audience will know more than the character but will also introduce the fact that she is in danger. 

In another scene, she is going to walk outside. This will be the scene where the audience will definitely know that she is being followed and is in danger. This is the first scene where the antagonist is revealed to the audience, though not totally revealed as to who they are.

The death will happen in one of the toilets around the school. This is important as it changes the thought of her as the protagonist at the beginning of the film. This will also be one of the last shots of the opening which means it will make more of a statement on the rest of the film.

GENRE CONVENTIONS AND SUBVERSIONS

We will conform to stereotypes of the genre by including classic horror cliches such as a hooded follower. We will have a concerned friend trying to figure out what has happened. A bathroom scene is always common, such as in Psycho, in which the protagonist is always on their own. The girl will also be the victim, which is common in horror films. 

We will subvert stereotypes of the genre by ignoring some cliches of the horror genre. We are not setting our film in a rural area. As it is in a school, there are lots of people around, creating different circumstances of the murder. There is also a murder in the opening two minutes. This is very uncommon in horror films as it usually gives away the plot and is usually less tense. 

Changes Made to the Film

As we started planning when we were going to film and how we were going to put our film together, some problems arose. We found that it was hard finding a place to film and time to do it. The sunlight fading early was a major issue as we needed light to film, which meant we couldn't realistically film in the afternoon after school. We also couldn't find anywhere to film after school. Due to these issues, we have decided to film on site during the school day. This meant we had to re-think the story idea to suit the location and also the genre. 

      

Changing location created some problems as our group of people involved don't have all the same periods free. This made us re-think our filming schedule to make sure we all were equally involved in the filming and knew exactly what we were going to do to get it done on time. Above are some images of our timetable and new filming schedule as well as a brand new rough storyboard.