Planning: Mise-en-scene

This is Erin, an enthusiastic, idealistic, and creative teenager. She is able to do almost anything that interests her. Great people skills. Need to live life in accordance with her inner values. Excited by new ideas, but bored with details. Open-minded and flexible, with a broad range of interests and abilities. Also the girlfriend to Ben.

Friendly, adaptable, action-oriented. This is Ben, he is focused on the present living in the here-and-now, he is a  risk-taker who lives a fast-paced lifestyle. Impatient with long explanations. Extremely loyal to his peers, but not usually respectful of laws and rules if they get in his way. Also Erin's boyfriend.  

 

 

And finally we come to the anonymous murderer. He was bullied at school by everyone, he was isolated and started to fantasise about killing the teenagers that bullied him, he then worked at his fathers construction yard for 20 years with his father. But then his father got run over by a teenage couple who driving erratically. He then killed this couple and this started his killing spree.

  

Planning:Casting

Why is Casting important?

In my opinion, Casting is one of the most important processes in Pre-Production and requires a high amount of care when doing it. Casting involves running auditions from the potential actors, to find the most suitable person for your film. It is important that you find someone who is not shy in front of a camera, e.g someone who will not burst out with laughter when filming. This is important as it gives us the edge toward creating verisimilitude in our production.

This is Darren, playing the role of anonymous murderer. He was good for the role because of his height and build, making him suitable for the role, simply because the use of someone smaller as a murderer may not have worked as well in our production.

This is Tabitha, playing the role of Erin. The reason why she was chosen is because she is doing a level media at South-fields and has strong acting skills. She is not camera shy and can improvise if needed. She can also remember lines quite well. 

This is Daniel, playing the role of Ben. Daniel is Tabitha's boyfriend in the movie and real life, so it is easier to picture them camping together. He also does media so they both have very strong acting skills. 
















This is Kofi, he is one of the directors and equal to Matthew Hope's role in the production. Kofi is also playing the part of anonymous murderer. We thought he was suitable for the role of the murderer, as he is a calm and collected individual which would work well in our production. His height is also beneficial because it means he is able to help in certain scenes when Darren is not around.

Planning: Location Planning

The location we considered was a wooded area close by. This location needed to be a heavy wooded area, so it would be suitable because horror films are meant to be set in a secluded location. This creates a sense of isolation for the character, so there is more of a fear factor as they feel that they are not near civilisation and cannot scream for help.

The first location we considered was the Brambleside woods. The location was a possible option that would fit the requirements needed for our and opening, because it was a well wooded area which was able to fit into our originally decided location and premise. This was also the most appealing to our group, mostly because it was the closest place to film, and easiest to access. The location was also quite large so we were more flexible in terms of which area to choose to film. This could come in useful in case we needed to re-film at all, perhaps due to lighting issues in particular. With the benefit of the size comes a possible flaw to the location, with the potential for audio problems. This is due to the road that is in vicinity of the area we want to film, and could be very busy while filming. 

The second possible location that was considered was an enclosed area that was also dense with trees. The location was able to fit the category in terms of isolation that is felt in the background location. This area in comparison to the Brambleside, is more difficult to access as the entrance is not as well maintained as the Brambleside entrance. This location is also not as close by as the previous one, meaning some further complication could be caused in the scenario that we need to re-film.

We decided on this location because it was abundant in trees that were needed for the wooded area we wanted to recreate for our original plan. It also provides the shady settings suitable for the dark ambience needed for our scene. The location is relatively nearby, and also well secluded so there would be no problems with interruptions.

Planning:Filming Schedule

Our group plan is to start filming our horror opening on the 14th of February, in the half term. We will work from midday until we are satisfied with the end footage. Throughout the day, we will make sure to have photographical evidence of taking part in the filming. We will also be sure work efficiently as we need consistent lighting in our production. 

Planning: Target Audience Feedback

https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/3MRSYWB
This is the first question on the survey to gauge how many people would be interested from different age ranges.▼▼

A lot of the people dislike horror movies, this is probably because of there fears which are stated in the next question.▼▼

This is carrying on from question 3, it states people fears, this was useful because we could use this information in our production.▼▼

 

This question was to judge which opening the audience would prefer, and also to tailor our production towards this one. ▼▼ 

This question was asked because we wanted to know why they preferred it and to help with the filming process. ▼▼

This was our final question and we asked this because we wanted to get a good idea of what we can use from the different films, e.g Alien has alot of jump scares in it and 3 people said that was there favorite horror. ▼▼

 

Planning: Potential Openings

My group and I thought of the possible openings we could use for our horror film opening, Breakdown.

Key:

Kofi

Matt

Opening 1:

The first opening starts off in an abandoned quarry at 08:12 pm, on a Saturday in the month of June. Bruno, who is a year older than his seventeen-year old partner called Monica. Bruno is a college student is in his final year, while Monica is out of education, but with a job.

The villain looks through at the two campers out of view, while Monica leaves the tent in search of fire wood. Going near a bush unsuspectingly a hand shoots out to grab her. Attentively she wriggled herself free, only too clumsily trip up. The villain then attempts to clutch her leg in a similar fashion, but is kicked in immediate response giving time for Monica to run in the distance. Bruno is then left in precarious situation,  without knowledge of what has taken place.

Opening 2:

The second opening starts off in a desolate forest at the late hour of 09:09 pm with two campers exploring an uncharted area of the map to acquire some water. The male counter part falls behind, the female returns to find a mutilated body in his place. The sight drives her into a frenzy and she releases a blood-curdling scream. Looking to escape her foot is unknowingly caught in a bear trap, and impedes her progress. When it looks like she is free, she is suddenly impeded by a spear deafening any sound of hope. 

Planning:Codes and Conventions Essay

In horror films more specifically teen horrors, in the opening few minutes a variety of codes and conventions are implemented that are directly associated with the genre. Codes are usually broken down into technical and symbolic.

Technical codes refer to things such as camera angles, camera shot, camera movement, lighting and framing perspective layout.

Editing and sound like background music, sound effects diegetic and non- diegetic all come underneath technical codes. These are generally common ways in which equipment is used to tell the story.

Symbolic codes mainly consist of the phrase “mise-en-scene”. This literally means what is put in the screen, for example the props used in filming, costumes worn, and setting all apply to this code. These contribute to how the audience regards the mood of the scene, or in the case of characters their personalities and how they come across to the audience, can be conveyed without dialogue. In teen horror films an example of this would be a revealing outfit worn by a female. Without dialogue she may come across as flirtatious to the viewers.

Conventions in film are widely recognised styles, content and ways of doing things expected in a certain genre. An example of this in horror films is when the main threat is not revealed and captures the victim at a point which the audience thinks he or she is safe. 
The three films I analysed were 'Dead Wood', 'Dead Mary' and 'Wrong Turn'. These three films are not at all the identical, but they all have things in common but they all share the use of diverse codes and conventions.


Dead Wood- Synopsis                                                                                                                                       Four friends leave the city for a relaxing camping weekend in the woods. Once they get settled, a strange young woman enters their campsite looking for her lost boyfriend. One of the four himself goes missing and the rest are pitted against mysterious forces in a fight for their very survival.

Dead Mary- Synopsis                                                                                                                                          Kim and her boyfriend Matt have just broken up, but they travel together to a cottage nearby a lake to spend the weekend with their friends Eve, Dash and his wife Amber and Baker and his new girlfriend Lily. The atmosphere becomes heavy with the situation between Kim and Matt, and one of them suggests them to play "Dead Mary". Matt, Eve and Dash summon the evil witch repeating her name three times in front of a mirror with a candle. Along the night, Matt hears weird noises, is killed and returns to life, while part of the group is possessed by the fiend. Without knowing who is possessed, the rest of the group fights to survive.

Wrong Turn                                                                                                                                                         The film opens with two friends rock climbing, when all of a sudden they are both killed by a vicious and mysterious unknown force. Six friends then find themselves trapped in the woods of West Virginia, hunted down by "cannibalistic mountain men grossly disfigured through generations of in-breeding."

Editing in all of the films was used effectively and correctly to suit the opening and helped establish the tone further in different points of the scene. 'Dead Wood' starts off the scene with slow paced editing, likely done to go in hand with the establishing shot from above. By doing this a sense of mystery is created because of the lack of knowledge about the surrounding, from the slowly paced editing. The audience is then gaining more knowledge about the area as the camera pans and editing quickens. All of a sudden when the male victim comes crashing through the water, pace is injected through fast paced editing techniques that are incorporated. Running away from whatever is chasing him, the editing is consistently fast paced and shaky to reflect the mood and also to make it more difficult for the audience to gather information. The opening to 'Wrong Turn' is another example of how editing picks up, but in this film it builds up as soon as we move to the main characters in the scene, which is almost immediate. Diegetic sound is constant between the man and woman when they are rock climbing, the slow editing shuns any thought of danger. In the same way the non-diegetic sound is used and creates confusion when the dialogue ceases. When the convention of blood appears the audience is able to detect danger. The editing begins to increase and the shots become more intricate and detailed, with close ups when the female is struggling to repel the force pulling her up the rocks. 'Dead Mary', the editing is the unchanged throughout. The shots follow the actions the female character like picking up her phone to check it has reception, throwing her phone back in the car, her adjusting the radio etc. However, the camera always returns to a close up of her face. They have edited it this way because she is the primary character. 

In “Dead Wood” the camera is displays the surroundings with a crane shot, permitting the audience to know that it is a secluded location. While panning down, we are introduced to the forest with a murky puddle, maybe signifying blood and that could arguably represent the foreshadowing of a death. After the death the use of a crane shot shows that the female individual is now in danger, because of the loss in power. Just as this shot is used to start the scene it as also used to bring it to a close. Wrong Turn also has this identical feature, and it is used to establish the setting of the scene.
In Dead Mary this is apparent in the first scene, with the female being openly exposed and at first thought completely alone. All three females are dressed in this way. This is a typical convention that is done to show a female in a vulnerable position. Danger is further implied when the female throws her phone down, as a result of lack of signal and is conveniently places at a time when we are shown POV shots from a peculiar view of the character. Deadwood is similar and follows suit with a man dressed in clothing unsuitable for the surroundings. The female in Wrong turn is shown to be weaker, than the male counterpart when climbing the rocky area, so all three films share the convention of female vulnerability, common in horror films.

In conclusion l, I think 'Dead Wood' made most use of the technical and symbolic codes and conventions. This is because of the variety included from the jump scare at the start, to the “mise en scene” make up blood. The camera uses much variations and super ceded “wrongturns” chase scene with the way it flew across the wooded area and is makes the best use of all the shots whereas the wrong turn camera work was a bit too cliché in comparison. This film not only challenges many conventions like the female victim it also manages to get the technical codes to match them up.

Our 60 second Pitch

We were asked to pitch our film idea called "Breakdown". In this pitch we mentioned what the film was about, who it was aimed at and why people should go and watch it. We also included our planning concerning how we would go about constructing the film opening.

Research : The Importance of Sound in Horror Films

When looking into sound for horror films, we first looked at Bernard Herman. Herman was responsible for the orchestral score of the "shower" scene in Psycho. The reason it was so memorable wasn't just to do with clever use of the intense screech of violins, but it was cleverly built up to through the use of increasing volume and quickening pace of the violins. These aided and complemented the use of editing within the film that added to the atmosphere. We first watched this scene without sound to begin with, and found that it created a shrouded ambience. This was most likely due to the lack of non-diegetic sound in the scene. However when the scene had non-diegetic sound playing over it, a added factor of mystery was added early, and the enhanced the emotions felt.

    













Mitchell and Webb radio clip was played so that we could listen to the difference non-diegetic sound made to everyday life. It was a rough experiment piece that helped show how background music can enhance emotions felt in common routines carried out in an normal day. An example of this is when the woman in the clip is asked to accompany the man somewhere. Without conveying to the audience the emotion felt in the scene, the non-diegetic sound heightens the felt emotions of love in the scene.
                                                               
We then looked at Pulp Fiction's at a scene called 'Mia's House'. The clip begins with a sound bridge of a car door closing from the previous scene. This transitions the sound of the car door closing to end the previous scene, straight to Mia's house which helps to stress the connection between both scenes. The sound of sequoias is incorporated to add to the perception of night time. Though small, it further sells the idea of the scene being set late in the evening as it can be identified with. The final instance in which sound is significant, is when the song 'Son of a preacher man' starts playing in Mia's apartment. The song starts playing subtly in the background as the male character enters, and adds to the mood of flirtation that begins. The scene is then made more memorable when the song turned out to be diegetic sound towards the end of the clip and tricks the audience.   



 We looked at the term of a Foley in the terms of film making to begin with, We found out that foley is the reproduction of everyday sound effects that are added to film, video, and other media in post-production to enhance audio quality. These reproduced sounds can be anything from audio made by animals, to the sound of footsteps on different terrain. The foley artists usually go unnoticed by the audience. Foley helps to create a sense of reality with a scene by emphasising smaller sounds not heard without foley otherwise.

Research : The Importance of Titles in Film Openings

When researching about film titles we looked at the first few minutes and opening title sequence to the Film Se7en.

In the opening sequence to the film '7even' we see that the main character is going through his usual morning routine. The pace of editing is rather slow and coherent. The reason for this is because he seems to know what he is doing and is very methodical to the point of being obsessive about it. This is apparent from the way he carefully picks up the items he needs and also picks up the smallest bit of dirt from his bed, showing he pays attention to small details.


In the next scene there is an establishing shot making use of a false jump, with a dead body. We then see Morgan Freeman next to the only source of lighting in the dark room. From this we can decipher the atmosphere as dismal, while the light signifies hope. The pace of editing is slow and controlled signalling there is nothing of out of the ordinary going on. Morgan Freeman's character trait of being particular are further established when he brings up the anomaly of whether a child was involved. He picks this up from studying the fridge in the crime scene.


In the next scene we are introduced to a new character, Detective Mills (Brad Pitt). In the scene Brad Pitts character comes across contrasting Morgan Freeman's character. He wants to be the one to solve the case with ambition of becoming the hero, almost viewing it as a game. While the detectives are walking in the street, Detective Mills appears unfocused from his mannerisms, such as how he was constantly bumping into people and looking at women. This is in stark contrast to Detective Summers, who seemed controlled and more aware of the job in hand. In change of personality Detective Summers suddenly opts to have a drink at the bar instead of continuing the investigation, and Detective Mills seem to be the one steering the pair back on track. This is clever use of the technique juxtaposition. The scene contains the atmosphere of an overwhelming city. This is conveyed with sound of the rain almost drowning out the voices the actors, used for the effect of how vast the city is and signifies the chaos within.

In the final scene we see Detective Summers setting a metronome, in order to help him sleep in the ambience of an argument behind his wall. This is done almost routinely and is also a connotation for the way he drowns out the disorder he has to endure.

Conventions in Titles

• Name of the studio.
• Name of the production.
• Producer name.
• Starring actors.                                                                      Link to  Art of the Title 
• Film title.

We then went on to Art of the title to look at how the film opening is described. The website stated, “its format has been likened to Stephen Frankfurt’s title design for Robert Mulligan’s 1963 adaptation of the courtroom thriller To Kill a Mockingbird.” There are scratched fonts used in the opening title sequence. We learned in our lesson that it was used to mirror the tone of the Se7en as a film.

These are examples of some of the scratched titles in Se7en.