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.