Film Opening Brief

As well as doing a film opening brief, considering the film as a whole we decided to do a brief for the film opening:


Kristen Blackley has been murdered, the masked serial killer is still on the loose. The obsession is just beginning.

By Jess Wilding

Research on Script for News Report Opening Scene

When deciding the script for our opening news report for the murder of Kristen Blakely we went on YouTube to get an understanding of a murder news report that has previously been aired.

By Looking at different News Report for Murders we can get an idea of how to introduce Kristen's murder on the TV in the frame. It helps us to know how to put together a script of what to say and make it sound professional. We will need to choose someone who would fit the character of a News Reporter. They would need to wear a suit to look professional and clean cut.

Examples of people for the news report would be:

Andrew Castle

 

Andrew Castle is seen during weekdays on GMTV, he is an example of a television news reporter. However, the only problem with having someone like Andrew castle is that he is seen early hours in the morning and probably not doing a murder news report.

Trevor McDonald

 

One of the most well known news reporters on News at Ten, ITV. He can usually be associated with telling stories consisting of murder and crime. Unlike Andrew Castle mostly on GMTV for the morning. In our opening we would want someone as serious like Trevor McDonald to play the character, he wears a suit, very professional and has the right voice for the part.



Inital Ideas of Props for our Film Opening

For our film opening we have to consider the different types of props that we will need to be inkeeping with the genre of horror and to make the film seem more professional. Even though we as an audience may not notice every prop that the film directors and producers put in they are all needed in this way to set the scene and to make it look like they haven't put them there on purpose. For example, if you were filming in a house, in the kitchen there would be utensils that there would be in a kitchen. Even though the audience may think or say they could have just gone into a random kitchen and filmed, the producers and directors have to be really careful about props. Even some props can foreshadow what can happen to characters. In certain films there will be props placed like road signs to connotate and foreshadow the death of another character. Therefore, in our film we have thought very carefully about our props:

Crime Scene Tape: This will be used when we see the girls that have been killed at the scene of the crime in the jumpcuts from the television being panned across the room. This will make the scene of the crime more realistic as if they were the pictures that the police have taken as the 'at the scene of the crime' photographs.

Fake Blood: This fake blood will be used across pictures, on the girls clothing to make their death more effective to the audience. This will also be used on the serial killer's hand when he crosses out the photographs.

A desk or chest of draws: This is the kind of furniture that we will need when filming the opening. This will just be needed for the television to sit on as we can't have the television laying on the floor as it wouldn't be realistic and very hard to film if we are to pan across the room.

Knives: We will need a couple of knives maybe lying around the room on the windowsill, perhaps with blood on just so that from the blood on the killer's hand and on the knife it will give the connotations of death in the opening.

Television: We will need a television in the opening of the film as we will need to hear the news report through something. Without the television we would just hear a voiceover of the news report which would seem unrealistic.

Photos of victims: In our film opening sequence we will need a lot of photos of the victims on the wall to create the storyline of the film and to tell the audience that these are the girls that the man has killed. Without the pictures on the wall I feel it would be hard to give the audience an element of knowing where they are and the location would be very confusing.

Post by: Jess Wilding

Our Ideas on Props for the filming

These are pictures taken from our location. These props have been noted and will be discussed on which may be used. Strengths and weaknesses of the props will be considered and the one well suited to our setting and genre will be used.



1. The prop discussed is the chest of draws that the television is sitting on



Strengths:  It's believable that it would be in the stalker's home as it's home furniture.

Weaknesses: It's a bit too tall for the camera and we'd have to pan a lot, may shake too much and cause the opening to look less professional.



2. The prop discussed is the television



Strengths: Modern day television will seem more realistic, there is a DVD Player on the side which will be handy for when we have to insert the disc from the news report.

Weaknesses: There are some stickers on the television which will need to be removed in order to make the opening more profession. This however, will not be a problem.

3. The prop discussed is the piece of furniture the monitor is sitting on

Strengths: Plain piece of furniture, realistic as it's homely.

Weaknesses: It's too tall aswell and there is a hair band to support the doors from opening which may be a problem.



4. The prop discussed are the chest of draws that the television is sitting on



 Strengths: They are small enough to not be an issue when filming, realistic.

Weaknesses: Might not fit in with the genre, if too light when filming and not fitting in with the darkish atmosphere, may have to put a dark blanket/sheet over the top of it.

Photos and Posts by Jess Wilding

Film Opening Inital Idea of Storyboard

We have a black screen so it gives something to go from and so that it gives the audience a minute to wait for the film instead of jumping straight in to the film. 

After the black screen there will be writing that will come up in a certain transition chosen by the group at the time of editing. We have discussed this to an extent and will either chose to have to writing in a scary font or to go for a more complex idea of having it look as though it is being typewritten, with a suited sound in the background. The writing will say, 'This film is inspired by true events'.

 

 The writing from the previous shot will fade away, again in a chosen transition, and then writing will come up saying, 'Followed by a series of murders, on March 26th the case of Kate Young appeared. The events that took place are currently unknown. The masked serial killer is still at large.' This will give the audience an element of fear considering the killer is still on the loose and gives away the storyline to the audience in the case of confusion.

The next shot will be in a dark, eerie room with the television at a long shot. There is a mask on top of the television to give away the location to the audience. There is a news report on so we can tell that someone is present, the mask also tries to give away who is in the room watching.

The news report is still playing and there is a close-up of the television to hint to the audience the significance of the news report.

The news report is still playing on the television when a hand violently turns the television off. You notice that the hand has blood on it, this has connotations of death and murder. 

The television will then get turned off by the stalker/serial killer and will then turn fuzzy, a static noise will follow over the top to make the audience jump and to give off an element of terror.

The camera will then pan to the left on a long shot from the television

The camera will keep panning until it comes to a stop and the actor playing the stalker/serial killer will seem to be staring at a photo of a girl on the wall.

There will then be a close-up of the photo on the wall and the stalker/serial killer will appear to have blood on his hand and will cross out a picture of a certain girl.

The next shot will be of the killer looking at a picture on the wall it will carry on to zoom, what the audience will figure out is that this girl is the next victim; Kate Young.

The final shot in the film opening sequence will be of a swing, we have decided that we could go 2 ways about this and either having Kate Young on the swing, or have the swing just rocking back and forwards to leave the audience to question what it is about, the film will then go on to explain everything that happens to his next victim.

Feedback

The type of feedback that we got back was from our target audience (15years and over) we thought this would be the best way to get feedback if we were to get it from the selected age range we have aimed at.

Our feedback that came back was that we had a good storyline and we shouldn't change it too much. We should change how long the news report goes on for so that the audience have a bit more background to the girl that has just been murdered, we also put in input and asked the audience on our new plans for the opening being that we should have static noise e.g. from the film white noise and the ring, with jump cuts of the victims, they liked this idea and it was noted upon. They also told us that we should put creepy music in the background to set the horror.

Considering our feedback that we got from others in this lesson we have changed the storyboard slightly and there will be a second initial storyboard to be uploaded with the changes on them. This includes jump cuts of the girls at the scene of the crime.

Post by: Jess Wilding

Storyboard by: Kat Ransom

Ideas: Whole Group

First Initial Idea; Script Of news report

This is our first inital script for the opening of our film. This will be carried on as a voiceover through the scene until the news reporter has finished.


NEWS REPORTER: Breaking news! Another body has just been found dismembered in the Chelmsford region in Essex. The body was found in Highlands park, the famous location of the V Festival, at 11pm last night. Witnesses believe they saw a man approximately 6ft tall wearing a mask escaping the area, police suspicions leads to believe this could be another attack from the notorious Ransom Ripper.


We will need to make sure we choose the correct character to play this part, the character will need to be well spoken and look presentable eg suit as this is a stereotypical news reporter and that is the look we are going for.

By Alex Cockburn

Mise-en-scene Ideas

As a group we have decided on an idea, it is a horror film and we have to show the generic conventions of a horror film e.g. blood, knives etc.

In our first scene there is a News Reporter on the television being portrayed in a what seems to be bedroom. The voice of this will be made to sound quite an echo, this will add to the horror and the feeling of unknowing and tension. On the TV there will appear to be a mask, this is shown to give away the setting and location of the film opening's whereabouts. The news report will be about a "masked killer" it allows the viewer to work out this is in the killers house but doesn't give away their identity and keeps the fear. The lighting in the room will be low level, the TV should be the source of light, when the mans body comes into view and illuminated by the flicker of the TV it will become more chilling. The props used in this scene will be all normal household items. Using these props will show how the killer is an average human being but all isn't what it seems. On the wall will be seemingly nice pictures but when looking closer the camera will show that the pictures are covered in blood. It is this change from the norm to the scare that we are aiming for. We will either have an eerie soundtrack or have the news report continuing in the back ground, this will create tension.

This will be set in a medium sized small room, too large and it wouldn't have the same effect on the audience, but too small and would not be practical to film in. We are using the mask to show that this is the masked killer and enables the film to continue after the opening.

Blood is a generic convention in Horror and will be need to be shown during the film opening to give away the genre to the audience. It will be portrayed on the killer's hand when crossing out a photograph of his previous victim and will be shown on the pictures of the victims, on the wall.

Although the pictures will not be framed they will be placed on the wall in random order to give away the location and to give away part of the storyline to the audience.

This is the type of News Report that our group would like to accomplish in our film opening, we are thinking more of a blank canvas in the background (white to connote the innocence of the girls in the murder report), and there to be time in the right hand bottom corner and the subject in the left bottom hand corner.

Post by: Jess Wilding & Will Howlett

Location Ideas



An idea of what type of room we'd like to do our filming in..



For our opening we needed to consider a near empty room with a TV and only a few pieces of furniture so there are room for the props we need to place in the space. We also wanted basic furniture to indicate to the audience that this is a bedroom and someone does live in there. We also need to have a wall spare where we can place picture on, this room has a bare wall so when we are properly analysing which location to film in we must take these points into consideration. However, our film is in a Horror Genre therefore we would have to find either a editing technique or to dim lights when filming as we'd need a creepy atmosphere.

(Location 1)

This would be where in the hallway of where we would film. The next three rooms come out of here. We can set up here and organise who will be filming at different shots so that we can all be involved with the filming and not just assign people to one job. This will not be in our film opening.

(Location 1)

This is the corner of the room where we would place the camera, as the opposite side of the room would be where we would place the photographs of the girls, the desk and TV.

(Location 1)

This is the opposite side of the wall where we'd place the photographs of the girls with the television in the corner. Obviously the picture on the wall would not be there and we would, when filming, have to move the bed out of the room. (It hasn't been decided on whether we'd want to have that sort of furniture there yet, the Monitor is just to show whereabouts the TV would be placed).

(Location 1)

This is the side of the room where when we would pan left we would probably use the window as our source of light and perhaps a lamp behind in case the lighting was too dark you couldn't see anything. Also a good idea that we came across was to put other things on the windowsill of the girls, to make the obsession seem more extreme.



(Location 1)

This is another picture of the room when entering, if we panned all the way to the left and around the room, this is what it would look like. We would change the lighting and the props in the room, perhaps we could keep the mirror for more a realistic effect, however we would have to be careful not to get any equipment reflecting in the mirror.

Location 1-

Weaknesses: The size of the room, moving the bed out of the room would be a lot of hassle but we could do this.

Strengths: Without the bed in the room it would seem more like a stalker's room, would not need a lot of light created by the crew as it has a lot of naturalistic lighting.



(Location 2)

This is the second idea for the location when filming, located in the same house as the first location, a much bigger room which may be appropriate considering how much equipment we will have. Which will be 2 cameras, a dolly and still cameras. This is the side that we would start to film on as we'd need to pan left to the other side of the room, as noted before we may put items on the windowsill to give a more effective look.

(Location 2)

This is the same location as the picture above, just slightly panned to the left. As you can see in this picture there is a small double bed in the room which would have to be removed if used as it takes up too much room.

(Location 2)

This is the same location as the previous two pictures, just panned to the left of the room. Obviously the teddy bears, bed and furniture on the walls will be removed if we were to film in this location. We could improve our film opening by putting more pictures on the wall of girls to create a more obsessive view to the audience.

Location 2-


Weaknesses: There isn't much wrong with this location, it's just finding somewhere perfect. As well as the first location there would have to be a couple of people to help to remove the bed for health and safety purposes.


Strengths: It's a big room and without the bed there it would be perfect with lots of space and we could arrange our props well.

(Location 3)

This is the third location, this room would be good to use as there is a red wall on the furthest wall which would connote death in our film opening. However there is a lot of furniture in this room and would be difficult to get it out. On the right hand side of this photo there is a wardrobe which would be hard to move.

 

(Location 3)

This is the opposite side of the room from the previous picture, without the bed in the room this room might be well suited to what we were achieving.

(Location 3)

This is the room looking at it from the door.

Location 3-

Weaknesses: There is a lot of furniture in the room and it would be difficult to move them, perhaps when filming there may be too much naturalistic lighting.

Strengths: The wall can connotes different meanings, with the white wall also connoting an element of innocent.

Location of Murdered Victims for Photos

One of the victims shown in the opening has been previously murdered in a bathtub. We can't just choose any bathroom on the moment of filming, we have to take different pictures from a variety of bathrooms to get the best lighting and to see which one looks the best in the photos to understand which one will look more professional on camera.

Location 1-

Location 1

Weaknesses: Although Location 1 is bigger than Location 2 it is still quite a small room to film/take photos of the victim in. The sink does get in the way of the scene so the victim would have to lay the other side (not the tap end)  however there is a radiator getting in the way.

Strengths: The bathroom is bigger than Location 2, looks clean so the blood will show up well and there are no shower utensils getting in the way.

Location 2-

Location 2

 Weaknesses: The bath is dirty around the side, however this could go well with the blood that would be placed on the walls and on the victim. The towels and scrubs would have to be removed and the shower curtain would get in the way. Also the room is too small to film in, there might not be enough room for the group and the tripod + camera to be in all at the same time.

Strengths: Obviously, it is a bathroom and well suited to the scene but perhaps we could find a bigger bathroom.

Location 3-

Location 3

This Location has also been taken into account for the alternative ending and we will be using it for the swing scene. This is to put into consideration if it would look good for the victim's murder.

Weaknesses: There are houses in the background which could make it seem as though she would have been heard and seen however, this will not be seen in the victims photo. This could be good considering witnesses had seen someone run from the scene.

Strengths: It's big enough so that everyone could be here when filming, obviously the grass give it effect that the murder was in a park.

Location 4-

The next victim that is shown in the sequence has been murdered in a bedroom. As like any other location in a film it has to be chosen carefully, there has to be connotations of death and murder recognised and to be planned perfectly. In looking at our first locations for the opening they are all bedrooms so we can take research from this. When looking at the variety of bedrooms we looked over them and decided that Location 3 would be most effective and appropriate.

Location 4

This is location could be used to take photos of the victim dead on the floor as the floor and wall are red, this gives connotations of blood, but also one wall has connotations of innocence. Although we probably won't see these in the photos it's still good to have just in case we change our mind on set on the whereabouts of the body.

Location 5-



Bathroom

Weaknesses: The sink is quite close to the bath, which may be a problem, but we can overcome this.

Strengths: Due to the size of the room, this bathroom is the best out of them all, we could fit the whole group in this room so no-one would get left out and the camera + tripod as well.

Post by: Jess Wilding

Analyse Of a Horror Opening

Scream Opening:

Genre-

In the opening of this clip it comes apparent very quickly that it is a horror. The use of screams behind a telephone ringing shows the similarities between the phone she answers and what will happen next. The theme of horror is shown through the noises used and the font that the title is written in.

Character-

The character shown is a blonde female, this along with the female dressed in all white is to show her innocence. The female is shown through the male gaze theory whilst she is running and looking scared. The use of this character is to heighten the fear as the female shown to be so innocent can not cope or deal with the situation in hand.

Atmosphere-

The atmosphere in the opening is tense, this is created through different factors. With the constant calls from the stalker it creates a sense of fear and unknowing. The popcorn poppy denotes the danger the girl is in. At the start where things don't seem to be going wrong but when the situation accelerates the popcorn pops violently and shows the change in situation. The fast cuts that are used create the feeling of unknowing.

Themes-

The theme of horror is throughout, during the conversation she says she is going to "watch a scary film" she says this whilst playing with the knife, which connotes the presence of a killer and death in the film. Other themes include the use of innocence vs evil, this is shown through the girl being in white which shows her innocence.

Setting-

The setting is made to look like a family setting. The house seems to be a working home, it shows how the killings and calls have come out of the blue and totally opposite to what they have experienced before. The house is large which shows they have alot of money so could give a reason why they have been targeted.

Sound-
When the titles are up on the screen the sound in the background is of screams and other sounds which combine with the telephone ringing to show straight away the big impact the phone has on the storyline. The sound of the phone ringing is made to echo around to give it a scarier edge.

Titles-

The only titles shown is the title of the film 'Scream' it is written in red to connote death and blood. This shows the genre which it is in. As there are very few titles it makes the opening scarier as it looks like its truer to life.

Post by: Kat Ransom

Film Brief

Considering the film as a whole, we had to come up with a film brief:

       

 'A masked serial killer is stalking distinctive women. His next victims been captured. She must uncover the truth to save herself, and his next victims.' 

Character Profiles For Our Main Characters

Our group 'Orange Productions' have decided our film opening will need three main characters. One will be a stalker man, he is mentally deranged and takes pleasure through stalking young girls and playing with their minds. He takes photos and records the girls and posts them on his bedroom wall in a way he is obsessed but so obsessed he could commit murder to have the ones he wants. The man wears a mask to cover his true identity yet dressed in dirty cloths with dirty hand and nails. For this character we need to find an actor who is talented at playing someone mysterious, someone that will terrify the audience and portray the sickness of the character. He will need to create a higher fearful atmosphere and scare the audience. The name of this character is Bill Hasely, we felt this name by itself creates a scary atmosphere it is a fearful name like one such as 'Freddy Kruger' or 'Michael Myers'.  We need to ensure we pick certain qualities from our actors to ensure they play the part correctly and scare the audience, we also felt that the name chosen seemed real it is a name that is realistic and sounds like a real person we needed this as we want the film to be as if it is real and is describing true events this will add a much more eerie and dark atmosphere to the audience and leave them terrified.

We researched into actors that we feel could play this part well:


Males to play the part of Bill Hasely (stalker)

     

This is Robert Englund, he played the part of Freddy Kruger in the nightmare on elm street series. The character he plays is scary and dark and comes across as a psychopath, this is what is needed for our film we need the audience to fear this character. He plays this part extremely well although he is in a costume with a mask he still adds a scary effect through his body language and even the way he talks is low tone and scary adds an eerie atmosphere making the character come across as more terrifying. We feel he would play our stalker character well in our film as he is eerie and gives off a fearful atmosphere. This is a good actor to base our character on due to his body language and tone of voice so when undergoing our auditions we will need to ensure our character will be able to play a character that scares audiences and overall gives out a terrifying eerie and worrying atmosphere.

              



This is Derek Mears, he played the part of Jason Vorhees in the Friday the 13th series. In this film he creates a scary atmosphere not only through the mask he wears but his whole body language. The body language this actor uses is different to Robert Englund however still portrays a scary atmosphere very well. He moves slow around which creates fear. However you cannot ever hear his voice in the Friday the 13th series so this is a downfall to this actor as the voice needs to be low pitch and scary and this is a vital part of choosing an actor to play the stalker in our film opening. The actor is big built muscle wise which also adds more fear to the audience, it shows he has more power as our protagonist is a female the size of our character will clearly show he has complete power over her, creating the protagonist to come across more innocent and help less this creating fear and worry to the audience. The way the actor looks comes across as threatening and scary i feel he would play the part in our film well as our stalker need to have this effect on the audience, the character needs to be feared.


   

This is Nick castle, he plays the part of Michael Myers in the Halloween series, this actor gives the same effect as Jason Vorhees in Friday the 13th, the body language he portrays adds a terrifying atmosphere we need our audience to be scared by our character so i feel Nick castle would also play this part well.


Female:

Our second character is a young girl named Kate Young who is stalked in our film, she needs to be portrayed as innocent and beautiful. She needs to be a stereotypical 'high school cheerleader' she needs to be a popular girl in school that all the boys are after.

This is Reese Weatherspoon she would fit the part well as she has the look a high school girl, she has blonde hair which shows innocence and has all the attributes we would need in our piece.

Jennifer Aniston is a good fit to the character of our choice as she fits the ideal description perfectly. In most horror films the male gaze theory is used so the character would have to be attractive but shown to be innocent. This is the characteristics needed in our film.

 

This is Emma Watson, she fits the criteria for the role as she is shown to be innocent and a lovable character. She would also work in the male gaze theory.

If had the choice we would use a actor like Emma Watson as it would create a more innocent feel to the film. The male character we would use is Robert Englund, he would fit the part of the stalker well and would create fear throughout.

Post by: Kat Ransom