Upon some test shots, we came across some problems within filming our shots specified on our storyboard.
Shot 6; because of the size of the room, the camera will be more focused on Morgan as she enters the room and sits down rather than showing the whole room. Since the TV is important in a later shot, it will be established as being in the room by Morgan switching it on and by the diegetic noise it produces.
Shot 7; Rather than the killer appearing at the window, as he would be difficult to see, he will instead stand in view on the other side of the living room door. Also, this helps establish a first person view shot later in the scene, as we can see now that he is already in the house.
Shot 12/13; Once Morgan reaches the top of the stairs and goes into the little girls bedroom, the camera will follow her from a first person shot, designed to make the viewer think she is being followed. We also found that this will be done while holding the camera in hand, and the creaks from the tripod were distracting plus the shaky movement looks like some one is watching her.
Good progress here! I'm glad to see that your idea has evolved into a clear sequence, although you only have two minutes so you need to think caerefully about how tis will work. You will need to storyboard this carefully paying close attention to the timing of your shots. I'm hoping you have done this by today (as i requested last week) so that i can check and offer advice. You need to get going on this asap. Good research and evaluation of your prelim task. (Mrs A)
Synopsis; A suspicious murder of a young babysitter occurs in the quiet town of Burnley. No evidence is found, no trace, no DNA, no fingerprints, only a drawing of a clown. The drawing, reminiscient of a murder victim, that took place some years ago shocks the local police as they try to hide the events. However, it is up too a friend of the deceased babysitter to solve the mystery before anymore lives are taken.
Characters; Babysitter; played by Morgan. The babysitter will be the typical first victim, very young, innocent and naive. Killer-'The Clown'; played by Matt. We decided to go with a 'clown' theme, based on the Joker from Batman, to enact on the wide fear of clowns in an audience. Has a very disturbed look, general look should create some enigmas; as with most horror movie killers. Child; played by Lucy, Morgan's sister. Mainly the character is used to set up the job of the babysitter. She also creates one of the story's enigmas, as she is responsible for the drawing of the 'clown'.
Time&Location; Time; Set in the year 2009, modern. Opening sequence will be set at night, typical cliché setting for a slasher flick murder victim. Location; The sequence shall be filmed at Morgan's house. We shall do an establishing shot of the street and house to set the location. Very important shot, as this shall be done following the killer to the house.
Enigmas; By convention, our opening sequence must set up a number of enigmas. We hope to achieve the following enigmas; *Who is the killer? *Why is he targeting an innocent babysitter? *Why does he look the way he does? *How did the child manage to draw a picture of the killers face? *What happens to the babysitter?
Costumes; Morgan; simple normal teenage girl wear. Will help establish the time of the sequence (modern day) 'The Clown'; we aren't going to dress him as a typical clown. We are basing his appearence more like 'The Joker' from Batman, with a messily painted face, to give him a disturbing look. His clothes will either be of a varied range of bright colours, maybe dirtied to tie in with the clown theme, or something along the lines of a suit, to give the clown a more classic dark look.
Lighting; To set the scene, and make the equilibrium seem normal, the house will be very well lit. However, for the scenes in which we try to induce fear, more low key lighting will be used. We have to be careful with low key lighting, as to ensure everything in the camera frame is visible. We are trying to get some silhouette shots of the clown, to show him as a dark figure, which should be feared.
In our horror movie, myself and Morgan have established that there will be a killer, featured in the opening sequences. Killers play a pivotal role as the antagonist in most horror movies, providing a main source of horror for the audience. I am going to briefly analyse some famous killers in horror movies to see what features our killer should have. 1.Hannibal Lecter;Hannibal A brilliant yet a sadistic madman. Unlike many psycho killers, he is a genuis. He lacks any sort of weapson such as a chainsaw or knife; a deadly stare or the tone of his voice is enough to shock both the characters and the audience. 2.The Jigsaw Killer;Saw Another killer that relies more on chilling acting and tense atmosphers to invoke fear into an audience. He developed traps for his victims or 'subjects' to pass, based ironically on the qualities he thought they were missing. 3.Freddy Kruger;Nightmare On Elm Street A sadistic killer that haunts the dreams of children and kills them from within. One of the most iconic killers in history, his burnt fleshed face and his infamous claw hands which he stalked his vicims terrified the 80's audience. 4.Michael Myers;Halloween Michael Myers started the whole slasher craze, he set about killing off the neighborhood’s promiscuous teenage population. He spent his childhood locked away in a mental institution after stabbing his older sister to death, but no treatment could cure his urge to kill. Michael possesses a strong will, stealth, and most importantly, immortality — traits that would be emulated in many future horror movie killers.
CONTINUITY EDITING In our film, we must make effective use of continuity editing in order to convey the message of horror to our audience.
180 Degree Rule; The 180° rule is a basic film editing guideline that states that two characters (or other elements) in the same scene should always have the same left/right relationship to each other. If the camera passes over the imaginary axis connecting the two subjects, it is called crossing the line. The new shot, from the opposite side, is known as a reverse angle. Stanley Kubrick was often known to break the 180 wall, sometimes a filmmaker will purposely break the line of action in order to create disorientation.
Shot reverse shot; (or shot/countershot) is a film technique wherein one character is shown looking (often off-screen) at another character, and then the other character is shown looking "back" at the first character. Since the characters are shown facing in opposite directions, the viewer assumes that they are looking at each other; this is generally used during conversations.
Axial Cut; An axial cut is a type of jump cut, where the camera suddenly moves closer to or further away from its subject, along an invisible line drawn straight between the camera and the subject. While a plain jump cut typically involves a temporall discontinuityy (an apparent jump in time), an axial cut usually does not.
SOUND Sound is used extensively in filmmaking to enhance presentation, and is distinguished into diegetic ("actual sound"), and non-diegetic sound: Diegetic sound: It is any sound where the source is visible on the screen, or is implied to be present by the action of the film: Examples from horror movies include screaming, running, breathing, talking, phones ringing, creaking, doors banging. Non-diegetic sound: Also called "commentary sound," it is sound which is represented as coming from a source outside the story space, ie. its source is neither visible on the screen, nor has been implied to be present in the action. Conventional non digetic sounds in a horror movie include, narration, chilling/tense music.
Here is an example of non-digetic sounds used in the final twist in the first Saw film. Charlie Clouser's theme; 'Hello Zepp' adds tension to the finale and the music builds up as the secrets and twists are further revealed.
Non-diegetic sound plays a significant role in creating the atmosphere and mood within a film.
The location of a horror movie is very important, it can inform the viewer of the type of content to expect and the type of characters to see, for example;
Scream, pictured above, primarily set in a high school (full of classrooms, corridors, the campus and the students houses can generally assumed to be included) and the typical characters being the faculty staff and the students. The students houses are generally in isolated locations, as if to almost be welcoming the killer into This sets up expectations of a general slasher flick, not relying on clever ways of scaring the viewer.
In the film Gothika, set in a psychiatric ward (full of hospital rooms, abandoned wards etc.), you can expect psychological thrills over blood and gore, and the characters will be nurses, doctors, and insane patients. Other films which rely on psychological horror could include Jacob's Ladder.
Films such as Saw, with it's horror sequences normally set in very isolated rooms, give the fear of making the viewer feel as trapped and secluded as the victims.
In our prelim task we quickly created a short production, this will help to improve on certain things for our full film introduction.
In our actual film introduction we will improve on our transitions in and out of scenes as some used in this clip would not be used in the real production. We will also check the camera is straight when needed to be as some of the shots on this clip are slightly of centre. We also need to make sure we fully use the scene properly as on some shots the characters were not in shot properly and could not be seen or only used one side of the screen.
Through the dialogue the camera angle is slightly high, we will use a lower level so it is more effective in our actual introduction.
The preliminary task, in which we created a short sequences, allowed us to see how we could effectively use the camera, for example camera angles, in preparation for our final product.
Several of our shots were slanted, due to improper use of the tripod, also, in several mid-shots, the characters had their heads out of frame. This was due to the size of the room but also due to not having the camera at the right level.
During the conversation scene, the characters are not positioned in the center of the shots, and the angles were too high. They should be more on face level as to get a better image of the characters emotion.
One of the transitions we used did not really fit in with the theme of the narrative, the 'burning out' transition did not really suit. Simple transitions we used, such as the fade out transition are much more effective and suited especially for opening sequences.
You haven't produced much in the last month. We've only four weeks ledt to complete the coursework so i would like to see a completed storyboard asap then you can get on with filming this. Mrs Abell
In recent years, the target audiences have switched to concentrating on teenagers/youger audiences. This can be evident by the choice of actors used, young and good looking, generally teenagers in high school or college, and with personalities the viewers would want to relate too, for example, Scream, which influenced the slasher genre of films, aimed specifically at a younger audience. Other examples include I Know What You Did Last Summer. With teen audiences, scares are easier to come by and can make use of simple "shock" scenes in order to please most audiences, however recently, films have begun to rely on psychology to invoke horror, such films as The Others which didn't feature gore, Jacob's Ladder etc. Such films may confuse a younger audience, however, films like Saw which have engaged in the use of twist endings provide more stimulating viewing for a teenage audience.
Opening sequences to slasher films generally involve an innocent girl being killed, to shock the viewer. Other conventions include the killer using unconventional weapons such as knives, chainsaws, cleavers, blunt objects; and are rarely seen with, for example a sword or a gun, anything actually designed as use as a weapon. The killer is almost always typically male,wearing a mask (Scream, Halloween) and appears to be superhuman, for example in Halloween, the climax leads to the killer being thrown out of a house from the second floor, yet only seconds later, his corpse has disappeared. The killers are also usually devoid of all human emotions and feelings. Slasher films have helped create many various character stereotypes, including the blonde female victim. Characterised as naive, silly and often getting herself into danger, typically known to run upstairs and search for the killer rather than run out of the house and try and get help, as can be seen in this clip from Scream 2;
