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.