shooting schedule

shooting schedule

My group have already started shooting our opening sequence.

7th of december: time lapse of students in the school walking past

9th december:  corridor shot with Elliott playng the janitor

storyboard

This our storyboarding plan for our opening sequence "After hours".

We are following a stereotypical opening titles from a movie. The distributor and the production company, then the names of who is starring in it then the title of the movie.

Font Ideas

Font Ideas

Target audience feedback

we went out and did some research with our target audience on fonts. We asked several 16 year old students about their opinions on our font choices. We got a range of different feedback.

Words that described the first font were, scary, mysterious, inventive and it was also described as  it drawing you in.

The second font was described as boring and plain. It also was described as cringy.

The third one was described as interesting but stereotypical.

We asked the individuals to rate them out of five, five being scary and good and one  being boring.

top one was rated: 5/5,4/5,4/5 and 4/5

the middle one was rated: 1/5,/1/5,3/5 and 2/5

the bottom was was rated as: 3/5,4/5,1/5 and 2/5.

Props List and idea

Props list

We have picked some props that we believe will fit in well with our horror movie opening sequence.

Some props we think are relevant to After hours is a mop, knife,brush,bag,torch, fake blood and mop bucket. As our main character which is Elliott who is playing the janitor, he needs props like a mop because we want to create a real life illusion and make it relatable so our target audience which are teenagers can relate to it.

Filming our opening sequence

Filming our opening sequence

Today in lesson,we filmed some of our opening sequence. We did a timelapse of people walking around school as our horror film is based around a school and a janitor so we thought this would be a good effect, it creates normality. We also filmed Elliott who is playing the Janitor mopping the corridor.

Recce

Recce

In today's lesson I took photos of the places that we will be doing our filming for our opening sequence. We chose these places because they fit the theme of our film which is a school environment that our film is set around and they are dark places which fits in with the horror genre

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Production company logo

This is our company's logo for our Horror movie production company.

prelim task

Character drawing relating to Barthes Theory

My character in After Hours

in after hours, i am the girly and popular character which contrasts with Katie's character which is dark and is best friend to my character.

I used Roland Barthes theory to create connotations for my character who is called Tiffany.

She wears brightly coloured clothing to make a statement and to draw attention to herself which in comparison to Katie's character called Danni who wears dark clothes.

Her clothing choice is quite scandelous and it shows she cares about her appearance which makes you wonder "who is she trying hard for?", "why is she trying so hard", "what makes her feel the need to represent herself in this manner" and "where is she going dressing like this?".

Her make up implies she cares about her appearance as she tries hard with it to make sure she looks good. Her hair is also done really nicely which shows she puts effort into her appearance.

Roland Barthes Theory

Our logo suggests with the blood splatter, death,murder, killings,destruction and pain. This relates to the type of movies we are based around which are slashers. The blood makes you ask questions like why it is there? who's blood is it? what does the blood mean?

The film style reel with the production companys name on it suggests we make movies. The name of the film also suggests murder and body parts being decapitated.

box office successes

Box office successes in the horror genre.

Sinister 2

The budget of this film was $10 million dollars and its domestic total gross was $27,740,955, this is since august 21st 2015 but on the films opening weekend is grossed $10,542,116.

It was distributed by Focus features in the US, they act as both a distributor and a producer of many movies. The types of movies they distribute are independent style and foreign movies. Whereas in the UK, it was distributed by entertainment one.

The marketing of this film, was very publicised. It had a trailer which was played in UK tv time and there was many posters promoting the film posted around major cities.

It was marketed towards a teenage audience like our film is. In its trailer, it featured children and teenagers which can help make it easy to watch for a younger audience. It is rated at 15 which also means it is aimed for a teenage audience.

It follows

The budget of this film is not available but it grossed at $14,674,076 from march 13,2015.

It distributed by Icon Film Distribution which is an American independent film distributer. It has also distributed other similar horrors.

The Marketing of this film was minimal due to it being an independent film so the budget of the film was low. It had little publication and its trailer was not played on tv.

It was marketed towards teenagers as it is based around teenagers which makes it suited to a teenage audience.  

Pitch Feedback

Pitch Feedback

As a group we made a pitch for our film "After Hours"  where we presented our film to the rest of the group and they gave us feedback about it. Some of the feedback mainly said that the film was a simple idea but a simple idea that would work really well. Our pitch basically explained the type of film we are doing, the characters and their names and a little bit about them and the type of cinema that we will show our film too.

The feedback we recieved will help us create a film that is even  more relatable to teenagers since we presented the idea to teenagers.

model style opening sequences

Halloween

I like this one because it is a slasher horror film just like ours so it can give us good inspiration on the sound and the editing we could do for our opening sequence. I like how the music represents the mystery of the film which is what we want to portray ours to be like. I also like how it has dark colours and how the text blends out of the screen instead of just being cut out which also            makes it quite mysterious.

Nightmare on Elm Street

I like this opening sequence because it has clips from the movie which give us an idea of what to expect without giving anything away. I also like the flashing opening part where the text is in bold red and flashing which shows to the audience that it is going to be a creepy film. I also like the variation in sound and the creepy music which fits in with movie genre.

Halloween the movie opening seqence

Halloween The Movie

Time of the titles:

00:06 – a compass international pictures release

                Distributor

00:11 – Moustapha Akkad

               Producer

00:20 – Donald Pleasance

               Actor

00:29 – John Carpenters Halloween

                Director and film title

00:37 – A Debra Hill production

               Producer

00:42 – Jamie Lee Curtis

               Actress

00:49 – Nancy Loomis

              Actress

00:54 – PJ Soles

               Actress

01:00 – Charles Cyphers

               Actor

Between 00:20 and 01:00, a pumpkin appeared on the page, which symbolises the holiday Halloween and the movie title.

The font was bold and in capitals. It was also very plain.

 The sequence was also very paced out and slow. This creating dramatic effect.

The colour of the font changed as the sequence went on, it went from orange to red as well.

Target audience pen portrait

Target audience pen portrait

In lesson today, i drew my target audience pen portrait for After hours, the movie we are filming.

The movie is aimed at teenagers as its set in a high school so it will be more relatable to those in high school. It is also aimed at people who use social media and are very media orientated. It is for the stereotypical teenager.

Trip to Home Cinema, Manchester

On 19th of November, as a group we went to watch "He named me Malala" at Home Cinema in Manchester.

This cinema is an independent establishment and it screens niche and foreign movies like Tangerine as well as Blockbuster movies like Spectre.

As well as watching "He named me Malala", we also went on a tour of the cinema which was opened in May 2015 in partnership with Corner house independent cinema.
                                                      We went on a tour of the cinema and we went and visited the projection booth which is where many films and digital are kept so they can be played on the screens. We also visited all the cinemas and the theatres where many productions are played and showed.

Home Cinema is screening many independent movies that don't usually get played in Multiplex cinemas like Odeon and Cineworld. An independent cinema would be where you could see government funded projects like films distributed by the BFI and the National Lottery.

Coursework / Narrative and technical codes

 Coursework
narrative codes of slasher films and technical codes of slasher films.

Coursework Pinterest boards links

To complete my coursework, i have started on my pinterest boards to help gather ideas on how to create the opening sequence in my groups film called "After Hours". This including outfits and cinematography.

https://uk.pinterest.com/babymonet/costumes/

https://uk.pinterest.com/babymonet/cinematography/

Fear itself documentary notes

Fear Itself notes

·       Horror movies give you right the amount of light to make you realise how dark it really is and the right amount of sound to show how silent it is.

·       Fear strikes you so fast that it does not give you time to make sense of what’s happening

·        Blood signals disaster. The vivid red stands out. It can symbolise healing but fear still remain.

·        “every inch of the ground, is an inch away from safety”

·        Your body is always looking for something to be fearful off.

·        When we indulge the things that scare us, we aren’t the victims of fear, we are co-conspirators.

·        You allow yourself to be influenced by horror in the parts you decide to watch.

·        People assume the monster is always the bad person whereas sometimes it’s the humans. We expect better from the humans.

·        Humans are desperate to be scared without realising this, they go to theme parks to feel the fear of a roller coaster.

·        The aspect of uncertainty not being found in your fear is scary for a person.

·        If we deny the story that makes sense of what scares us, we tell our own story.

·        When fear goes beyond your nerve and gets inside your head, nothing else really matters. It blocks out everything else you feel.

·        Sometimes you want the subject of the film, to feel the same urge as you like running or hiding.

·        You push fear from your mind, making everything seem still.

·        There is no such thing as a clear break with fear.

·        Turning away from the things that scare you gives them more power.

·        The real horror is the person behind the screen who is creating the movie meaning horror is never too far away. All the people we share the world with could be sinister.

·        Maybe it is ordinary people we should be scared off.

·        You ignore fear as you don’t believe any type of horror will happen to you until it happens to you.

·        Horror movies are built to take advantage of humans.

The Fly Narrative Theory

The Fly narrative theory

Propps Character Types

In The Fly, Propps Theory can be applied since they're is stereotypical characters types throughout the film. His theory said that in every film there are certain character types that play a significant role.

In The Fly, There is 'The Princess' role which is played by the character Veronica Quaife. She is a very important character throughout the film. In the film, she could be seen as 'the princess' since in the end she is saved by the character Strathis Borans. You could also argue she shows signs of being The Final Girl, since she is a strong female character who signifies bravery and intelligence as she is the one who first notices that there is something wrong with Seth Brundle as he transitions into 'The Fly'.

Another character that matches to Propps theory could be Seth Brundle as 'The False Hero', as in the start of the movie, this character comes across as a hero and he presents himself as the 'good guy' but this all changes when he goes in the teleporter unknowingly with a fly which initiates the transition between him as a human to a fly. By the end of the movie, he becomes evil and tries to kill Strathis Borans and he also becomes a danger to Veronica.

Strathis Borans could be seen as ' The Villain'. At the start of 'The Fly', he could be seen as the villain since he tries to blackmail Veronica into having sex with him and his character does not seem to be a very nice man. Boran only cared about his next newspaper headline. However, Strathis Boran shows a different side to his character when he realised that Veronica was in trouble, he showed signs of caring about her and her well being like when she is pregnant he supports her and takes her to the hospital. Then when Seth Brundle kidnaps her, you see him risk his own life and endure serious pain from having his hands chopped off to attempt to save her from Brundle who is now "The Fly". I believe that he showed signs of being a hero as he saves Veronicas life.

The Final Girl Theory

The Final Girl

The Final girl refers to the last female character in a slasher film, who usually confronts the killer. The final girl tends to be the one who tells the story or it is seen through her eyes. 

The Final Girl is usually presented as intelligent and very aware compared to the people around her. She usually is young, with pretty features and sometimes can be confused with being the damsel in distress. The Final Girl is always very brave and is likely to be the last character alive or the only character who stays alive.

Women in films are usually portrayed as weak and timid characters. Women in films are always tended to be sexualised. Always being the ones who are saved by the man. The Final Girl Theory goes against this stereotype. The Final Girl tends to be a strong, independent female who is likely to be sexually unavailable.

This theory came from Carol Clovers book "Men, Women and Chainsaws". She states that the final girl is the "investigating consciousness" of the film. She moves the narrative forward. According to Clover, the final girl may usually have a unisex name like "Billie" or "Sydney". They sometimes have a direct connection to the killer, for example, in Halloween, the final girl who is Laurie Strode is actually the sister to Michael Myers.

Horror Movie Homework

Horror movie analysis

Screen Caps from the movie Halloween (1978)

The cinematography and what it suggests to the audience.

The Cinematography of this screen shot of Halloween is as you can see the shot of this scene is an extreme wide shot which gives a view of the whole scene and the two main characters of the movie. This suggests to the audience that the film is set in a neighbourhood, full of greenery and it looks like a normal friendly place which contrasts with what actually happens in the film. In this shot, there is a visible over the shoulder shot from the character Michael Myers, this creates a feeling of the character watching over the woman in the scene which suggests to the audience that the woman is in danger. Its as-if Michael Myers is choosing his victim and stalking the female so he can find the opportunity to murder her. The camera in this shot is placed like its giving the audience the same view as what Michael Myers is seeing, this creates the feeling for the audience as if they portray the character as Myers as it shows his point of view.

The Cinematography of this screen shot of Halloween is the scene is shot in an extreme wide shot, it establishes the scene and the shot only shows the one character which is Michael Myers, this makes him the point of view and it also shows a very ordinary neighbourhood then there is a character looking suspicious in a mask. This suggests to the audience that this character is out of the ordinary and should not be there. It also adds to the atmosphere making it eery and creepy. It is as-if Myers is staring into the person who is watching it,It includes the audience. The normality of this scene counteracts with Michael Myers. The angle of the scene is set in the middle which increases the involvement of the audience even more.

Research for It follows

It Follows

Today in lesson we researched It follows and we gathered information on "The production, Distrbution and Exhibition".

I researched Production of It Follows.

It Follows
Production	Screen play is written by David Robert Mitchell, an American film director and writer. Mitchell was also the director of It follows. He also directed The myth of the American sleepover and Virgin.  It follows was filmed in Detroit, Michigan
Distribution	The film 'It Follows' was purchased by RADiUS-TWC and Dimension Films for North American distribution. It hit venues worldwide and it's distributor is Icon. It was given a limited release in the United States on March 13 and a wide release on March 27.
Exhibition	Released on the 27th of February 2015.  Given a rating of 15 so it is shown to more mature audiences. Mostly given a positive review by critics receiving up to 5 stars by some. UK box office- £371,142