As we were going to create a horror genre film opening we needed to consider the sounds that we will use in our piece.
I researched into the generic conventions for sound for the horror genre. Firstly I created a qucik questionaire that I asked 10 people what sound they would expect to hear during a horror opening.
What pitch sound would you expect to hear for a horror genre film?
High pitch - 1
Low pitch - 2
Mixture - 7
The answers differed most people answered that there should be a mixture between high and low pitch sound but it would be at a slow pace. The use of this creates a mysterious and frightful atmosphere and also builds suspence towards the audience. So with this in mind when creating our horror genre film opening I need to consider the sound that I will use, We will need to ensure it fits with the Horror genre conventions and creates the correct effect on the audience.
I watched a Horror opening and analysed the sound that I heard:
In this clip you can hear the mixture between high and low pitch sounds which creates a scary atmopshere. There is also use of non-diegetic sound that also have a frightening effect on the audience so I could think about using some non-diegetic chilling sounds in our opening to scare the audience.
I looked at very popular Horror films opening credit sounds to see whether these use the mix between high and low pitch and maybe even different sound effects. I looked at 'Nightmare on elm street' (1984), 'Halloween' (1978) and 'Friday the 13th' (1980) I used these films as they were very succesful so they must have been effective to the audience so if I follow the conventions of these films sound wise I will be sure to create the correct terryfying effect on the audience.
Friday the 13th (1980)
Nightmare on elm street (1984)
Halloween (1978)
In all of these clips the conventions that I obtained from my questionaire were all correct , these very popular Horror genre theme tunes include the use of a mixture of high and low pitch music and non-diegetic sounds and they all create a very scary atmosphere towards the audience.
Now that I have found this information out I will ensure I use it when creating our groups horror genre film opening so that I follow the correct generic conventions to create the correct effect on our horror genre audience.
Alex Cockburn
Monday, 21 November 2011
Friday, 18 November 2011
Resit: Locations of Filming
We have now decided on what our opening will contain, we now need to think about where to film these parts. We need to think about what kind of day would suite our film, what angles we could achieve to gain the best shot.
Our piece contains two different places, one outside in a large field with a path, and secondly we need to have a kitchen or sink in a large room to gain the angles which we need.
Outside shot:
Church field (Broomfield):
This shoot would be good as it is a large field with a path and an old abandoned barn which we could incorporate into our piece. The downside is this is a very popular place and many people could be around so we would have to make sure we go at a time when most people are busy.
Felsted:- There is many fields to choose from but most fields are privately owned so would need written permission to film here. This could cause a problem due to a lack of time in waiting for a reply.
Inside shots (Kitchen):
Alex Cockburn's:
- This kitchen has the right room, it is light but can be made dark due to the blinds in the window. The surfaces are wooden so look old which in keeps with the thought that this kitchen belongs to a older person.
Jess Wilding's:- This kitchen would be good as has a large sink and has a look of a cottage kitchen. The bad points of this kitchen is the lack of natural light which means we would have to use artificial lighting which would not fit in with our genre.
We have decided as a group to film in Alex Cockburns kitchen as it is the best placed and best equiped to achieve the type of shots that we are after. We have chosen Alex Cockburn's house as the kitchen is old fashioned compared to a modern style kitchen. The outside shot will be filmed in the Field behind the Church in Broomfield. This is due to convenience and the old barn.
Will Howlett
Resit: Filming Schedule
We want to film in the quickest time possible so we want to get our film done in 2 different sets of filming. This will allow us more time to edit and to make changes if need be.
Date:
Time:
Location:
Actors:
Date:
Time:
Location:
Actors:
Scenes:
First day of Filming:
Date:
- 1st November
Time:
- 1.30
Location:
- Church field
Actors:
- Lee Dyer
- Shot of boy walking through field/ running away.
Second day of filming:
Date:
- 3rd of November
Time:
- 10.30
Location:
- Alex Cockburn's house
Actors:
- Will Howlett
Scenes:
- Murderer washing hands.
- Close up on murderers eyes
- Close up on newspaper
Resit: Final Idea
As a group we came together and discussed how we can improve on our initial ideas, we have made changes to make the piece run smoother and create a larger sense of fear.
Final Idea:
Our final idea has the same storyline as in our initial ideas, but as a group we have decided to change the order of events, this has made the piece flow better and enable the audience to understand fully what is going on.
1
- Studio pictures and production company logos will come up, this is to follow the conventions that all films follow.
- A black screen will appear with writing coming up in the style of a type writer. The letters will appear one at a time, a sound affect will accompany it.
3
- A close up shot of a tap being turned on.
4
- The camera will pan down to the sink with blood and a knife in it.
5
- The camera pans back up to the murderer washing his hands, then wiping them on a white towel to show innocence.
6
- Pans to a newspaper article talking about the murders that are occurring. The news report begins in the background.
7
- Then we have a flashback. We will make sure the audience can tell it is a flashback by having an effect on the shot to make it look older then the rest. This shot will have a teenager walking along a field then being scared and running away. This shot will be slowed down to create fear and suspense.
8
- Close up on another newspaper article talking about the murders. This shows that they are a big deal across the country.
9
- We will then have a close up of the killers eyes when he is older. This will enable the audience to see that they are back in normal time and links the storyline back into what is happening.
10
- The killer will then put the mask on.
11
- Then the killer will walk out of the door.
12
- Fade to Black.
We wanted to create an opening like se7en, this opening contained little action but created fear through the music used and the way that it was edited:
I have created this final ideas so we can work off of this when we film our piece, this will help us able to film quicker and more efficiently.
Will Howlett
Resit: Lighting
I needed to look at lighting used in horror films so that I could understand how to follow generic conventions in regards of lighting in our own horror film opening.
I analysed 2 different horror film openings and only looked at the lighting used. In both of these the lighting was simliar it was low key this helped to create a eerie suspicious and overal scary atmosphere. The generic conventions of horror film lighting is low key to create this scary atmosphere.
Just to check that this is what my target audience expect to see in a horror film opening I asked 10 people what kind of lighting they would expect to see in a horror genre movie.
What kind of lighting woud you expect to see in the opening credits of a horror movie?
Dark - 10
All 10 people asked answered the same that the lighting must be low key as this creates a scary effect to the audience and creates the correct atmosphere needed for a horror film.
Now that I have found out this information I needed to think how I can apply this to my groups horror opening. As we are are aiming to create a film opening of the Horror genre the target audience expect to see low key lighting used so when filming our piece we need to ensure it is not in a light area we need to make sure it is dark otherwise this would not fit in with the horror genre conventions needed and will not create a scary atmosphere to the audience.
Below is a clip from http://www.youtube.com/ showing the low key lighting used in horror films:
I have 2 pictures of locations one a night and one during the day this will show the effect that low key lighting has when creating a scary atmosphere to the audience.
Picture 1) Light: Picture 2) Dark
Im sure you will agree that picture 2 has a much more scary effect this is because of the use of low key lighting. So to ensure that I create the correct effect on my audience I need to use low key lighting as this makes everything look more eerie and suspicious and therefore creates a scary worrying atmosphere.
Alex Cockburn
I analysed 2 different horror film openings and only looked at the lighting used. In both of these the lighting was simliar it was low key this helped to create a eerie suspicious and overal scary atmosphere. The generic conventions of horror film lighting is low key to create this scary atmosphere.
Just to check that this is what my target audience expect to see in a horror film opening I asked 10 people what kind of lighting they would expect to see in a horror genre movie.
What kind of lighting woud you expect to see in the opening credits of a horror movie?
Dark - 10
All 10 people asked answered the same that the lighting must be low key as this creates a scary effect to the audience and creates the correct atmosphere needed for a horror film.
Now that I have found out this information I needed to think how I can apply this to my groups horror opening. As we are are aiming to create a film opening of the Horror genre the target audience expect to see low key lighting used so when filming our piece we need to ensure it is not in a light area we need to make sure it is dark otherwise this would not fit in with the horror genre conventions needed and will not create a scary atmosphere to the audience.
Below is a clip from http://www.youtube.com/ showing the low key lighting used in horror films:
You can see from this opening scene the lighting used is low key creating a scary atmosphere to the audience.
I have 2 pictures of locations one a night and one during the day this will show the effect that low key lighting has when creating a scary atmosphere to the audience.
Picture 1) Light: Picture 2) Dark
Im sure you will agree that picture 2 has a much more scary effect this is because of the use of low key lighting. So to ensure that I create the correct effect on my audience I need to use low key lighting as this makes everything look more eerie and suspicious and therefore creates a scary worrying atmosphere.
Alex Cockburn
Thursday, 17 November 2011
Resit: Script
As well as having the script from the news reporter, we have decided to play the whole take through and take snippets from it and place on our film opening where the radio would be turned on and sounds from the radio turning on and turning channels would be played, then the voice over from Glen Harries would be played over the top of the film opening where the newspaper article and killer cleaning his hands would be.
As we already have this script, we decided that it would not be necessary for other dialogue to be played in our filming, we feel that the quality of the film opening would be better off without, this will create an eerie element to our piece, however we have put in mind that we would play a soundtrack over the top of shots. For instance, when we have the words 'What you are about to see is based on true events' placed on the screen with a typescripter transition, we would have a soundtrack played in the background which would make it seem as though it was being typed out on a transcripter. Other soundtracks being played over the top of our film opening would be a soundtrack called 'The Hive', this is a background soundtrack which sets the tension for the film opening, instead of there being silence all the way through, which would not appeal to the audience. Additionally, the soundtracks of a radio being 'turned on' and 'tuned' will be placed just before the News Report to make the sound more realistic as if the Killer is turning on the radio, this will also inform the audience of what is happening in our film opening and sets them up to know the storyline.
Jess Wilding
As we already have this script, we decided that it would not be necessary for other dialogue to be played in our filming, we feel that the quality of the film opening would be better off without, this will create an eerie element to our piece, however we have put in mind that we would play a soundtrack over the top of shots. For instance, when we have the words 'What you are about to see is based on true events' placed on the screen with a typescripter transition, we would have a soundtrack played in the background which would make it seem as though it was being typed out on a transcripter. Other soundtracks being played over the top of our film opening would be a soundtrack called 'The Hive', this is a background soundtrack which sets the tension for the film opening, instead of there being silence all the way through, which would not appeal to the audience. Additionally, the soundtracks of a radio being 'turned on' and 'tuned' will be placed just before the News Report to make the sound more realistic as if the Killer is turning on the radio, this will also inform the audience of what is happening in our film opening and sets them up to know the storyline.
Jess Wilding
Resit: Costumes
Bill Hasley Junior
For the part of Bill Hasley Junior we have decided to go with simple clothing to not overcomplicate matters and keep quite modern for verisimilitude within the audience and modern day clothing. We have decided to go with items similar to the ones below:  |
| The white in this striped tshirt connotates the innocence within Bill Hasley as a younger child, just before he turns and becomes the man that made him the killer. This clothing has versitimilitude of the modern day clothing lines. |
 |
| Having plain trousers that are similar to today's clothing and not wanting them to stand out too much to the audience and bring attention away from the shirt and the connotations, the black can also connotate and foreshadow the death of upcoming victims. |
 | ||
| These types of boots which looks worn, can give off the time period in which it was filmed, obviously Bill Hasley is shown as a younger child around the age of 17, therefore it would be more appropriate to have the younger version of Bill Hasley to wear old boots than to wear new white trainers, as it would not appeal to the audience. Bill Hasley Adult For the part of Bill Hasley in our opening, we have decided to use dark clothing as we do not see the killer's face and don't want to give away too much so the audience will appeal more to the film and it's storyline which is later revealed. Clothing isn't seen as much in the opening as we don't see the killer's face, all we see is an extreme close up of the killer's eyes and the silhouette of the killer, this would be portrayed better if the killer would be wearing dark clothing. |  |  |
| We would have the killer wearing a plain, dark black hooded jumper underneath a coat so that he can fit the mask in between the hood, as well as plain dark trousers, we don't want to give away too much of this character as thinking about the film as a whole, we would want that to come out more as the film progresses. Keeping the costume for the opening simple and not overcomplicated will set the mood, as well as black being a generic costume wear for horrors. |
As well as the Killer wearing a dark hooded jumper, we want the character to wear a jacket, to match with the weather conditions, which could give off a type of pathetic fallacy, with the character just killing a victim, setting the mood and tones for the upcoming scene after the opening. Jess Wilding
Resit: Final Shotlist
 |
| This has been made to our final shotlist, we will go from this shotlist to make sure our filming goes smoothly. Jess Wilding |
Resit: Initial Shotlist
 |
| This is an initial shotlist of what our favourite initial storyboard, when filming we would go from the shotlist so that we were more organised and follow our planning so filming in the process will be easier. Jss Wilding |
Resit: Initial Ideas
For our resit we have decided to once again do a horror piece. This is due to our experiences before and now we know how to improve on them. Last year as a group we liked the idea of not revealing the masked figure. We would like to change the ideas by introducing the character when he is younger to show how he turned into a killer. We also wanted to have more of the conventions of horror in our piece so it could easily be recognised as a horror production.
As a group we came together and discussed our individual story lines and came up with other possible story lines and how we could film them to the best of our ability. We have chosen a variety of shots and techniques to give the feeling of fear and tension.
We want to have a young adult, aged around 15 years old to be walking through a field when he sees something that he is scared of. A close up shot would be used to show the fear on the characters face. He would be seen to run away in fear.
This would be progress to our inside shot of the character when he is older, aged around 19/20. The audience will kept in the dark as to what he has done but the piece will have connotations of death with blood around the shot. The character will calmly be doing a regular task such as cleaning up, but surrounded with blood which will show a contrast between the things that would normally be happening at his age and what he is involved with.
Will Howlett
As a group we came together and discussed our individual story lines and came up with other possible story lines and how we could film them to the best of our ability. We have chosen a variety of shots and techniques to give the feeling of fear and tension.
Initial idea:
We want to have a young adult, aged around 15 years old to be walking through a field when he sees something that he is scared of. A close up shot would be used to show the fear on the characters face. He would be seen to run away in fear. 
This would be progress to our inside shot of the character when he is older, aged around 19/20. The audience will kept in the dark as to what he has done but the piece will have connotations of death with blood around the shot. The character will calmly be doing a regular task such as cleaning up, but surrounded with blood which will show a contrast between the things that would normally be happening at his age and what he is involved with. The character would then put on a mask or something to hide his identity and leave the shot. The titles would then come up after this.
Will Howlett
Tuesday, 15 November 2011
RESIT: Audition Script and Research
Before auditioning people for the cast of our film, we needed to come up with a script so that we can see how they look on camera and what they are like in the position of that certain character.
We thought of giving everyone that auditions for the News Reporter the initial script that we came up with for the film opening. We decided this as, if we see how they say the lines we might notice that we may have to change the script in ways to suit their look, personality and tone, this is to make the opening seem more realistic and understanding for the audience. Copies of the script will be given the auditioners before filming to go over their lines and practice.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Audition Script.
NEWS REPORTER: Breaking news! Another body has just been found dismembered in theChelmsford Essex . The body was found in Highlands Park
May have to change the script to suit the actor’s voice and sentence structure of a News Reporter, this is just a first initial script.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Considering the film as a whole, we decided to not just take a photo of the men that will audition to take the character of the serial killer, but to come up with a couple of lines that may be presented throughout the whole film. By doing research on modern horror films we came up with a scirpt for the auditions that the characters can act out.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Audition Script.
Older Bill Hasley
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Audition Script.
Younger Bill Hasley
This is an audition for the younger version of Bill Hasley. The first line in this scene is set in Bill Hasley's bedroom, he's thinking aloud to himself, talking of the things he has seen. He isn't frightened, he's curious.
Younger Bill Hasley: I can't believe what I've seen, why would he do that? Out of all people? I wish I hadn't seen it but what if it happens to me? I have to get out of here and find out the truth.
Jess Wilding
We thought of giving everyone that auditions for the News Reporter the initial script that we came up with for the film opening. We decided this as, if we see how they say the lines we might notice that we may have to change the script in ways to suit their look, personality and tone, this is to make the opening seem more realistic and understanding for the audience. Copies of the script will be given the auditioners before filming to go over their lines and practice.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Audition Script.
NEWS REPORTER: Breaking news! Another body has just been found dismembered in the
May have to change the script to suit the actor’s voice and sentence structure of a News Reporter, this is just a first initial script.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Considering the film as a whole, we decided to not just take a photo of the men that will audition to take the character of the serial killer, but to come up with a couple of lines that may be presented throughout the whole film. By doing research on modern horror films we came up with a scirpt for the auditions that the characters can act out.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Audition Script.
Older Bill Hasley
Bill Hasley is the serial killer’s name, the scene is set when Bill goes out to find his victim to torture her. The first line is a scene where he is in the same location as her, setting is dark and atmosphere is creepy and eerie, he's walking around with a knife in his hand and prepared. Kate is hiding from him.
Older Bill Hasley: [whispering in the dark] Kate, come out. I know you’re hiding from me. COME OUT!
The next scene is a bit further into the scene where they are talking. Kate is scared and the serial killer is out to get her.
Older Bill Hasley: [closing the door, to Kate] Oh Kate, I've missed you.
Kate: [crying and shaking] No!
Older Bill Hasley: There hasn't been a moment where I haven't thought about you.
Kate : [terrified] Please don't do this to me. No! Please!
Kate: [crying and shaking] No!
Older Bill Hasley: There hasn't been a moment where I haven't thought about you.
Kate : [terrified] Please don't do this to me. No! Please!
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Audition Script.
Younger Bill Hasley
This is an audition for the younger version of Bill Hasley. The first line in this scene is set in Bill Hasley's bedroom, he's thinking aloud to himself, talking of the things he has seen. He isn't frightened, he's curious.
Younger Bill Hasley: I can't believe what I've seen, why would he do that? Out of all people? I wish I hadn't seen it but what if it happens to me? I have to get out of here and find out the truth.
Jess Wilding
RESIT: Film Brief
Kristen Blakley murdered aged 15, 24th September. Innocent girls continue to disappear and the masked killer is on the loose, the obsession is just beginning.
Jess Wilding
Jess Wilding
Friday, 4 November 2011
Resit: History of Horror
0"If movies are the dreams of the mass culture... horror movies are the nightmares"
— Stephen King, Danse Macabre
— Stephen King, Danse Macabre
Horror has been around for thousands of years, it is an ancient art form. People like horror films due to the rush of adrenaline and the thoughts of things that are not natural. Horror stories are used to tell tales from times long ago and the type of things that doesn't normally happen in everyday life.
Horror films not only tell tales from long ago they can give hints and clue to what is happening in the time of writing, for example Nosferatu (1922) This tells the story of not just vampires but, but offers images of a town suffering from random deaths these are echoes of the Great War and the Great Flu Epidemic fatalities.
Every generation has the "bogeyman". In the 1940's when Hitler created a large shadow over the world the character which inspired much fear was one that was half human half wolf, this was to show the animistic things that was going on in the world at the time. The use of animals became redundant as make up and the character becomes more in depth, horrors such as "Hannibal Lecter: Silence of the Lambs" (1991) used human characters to create fear as people could relate to the character and the situation became real as people could imagine it happening to them.During the 1960's horror films changed from stories of monsters to those surrounding family life, this was due to teenagers who have grown up with horror films in the 1950's. They became sterile to the small budget and small set up of horror films and wanted a film that they could identify with.
Horror films have changed over the years from physiological thrillers to films containing gore and violence, these films became large after the large success of the "Texas Chainsaw Massacre" (1974) which contained scenes with large violent content. The audience was shocked by this amount of gore which led to films such as the Saw franchise starting in 2004 ending in 2010.
Horror films have changed from being small budget small production films to large blockbusters with large budgets, this is to match the need for adrenaline that the audience needs to think that the film is scary.
By Will Howlett
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