Planning: Fliming schedule

We completed our new location filming in two days and everything seemed to go as planned, and we had lots of fun!

Our first day of filming was Friday the 20^th of December, where we filmed from 9:00am till midday and completed roughly half our shots

Our second day was Monday the 30^th of December, where we finished the last half of the filming!

We were lucky with the conditions on both days, as they matched at first turning into rain as we began to film the scenes of horror helping us to create an anti-climax.

Planning: New location; Shot angle and lighting preparation

Planning: New shot list

1. Medium shot- In the living room sat around laughing two on sofa one on the floor
2. Medium shot- Someone comes in with popcorn sits on the sofa
3. Medium shot- Nudge the person on the floor towards the TV and throws a DVD towards the TV
4. Medium shot- Chatting messing around one of the teens hits another with a pillow
5. Medium shot- one of the teens points at the presents chatting and smiling
6. Medium shot teens sitting and chatting (knock on the door) confused expressions
7. Close up- gestures for them all to go and answer
8. Medium shot- showing no one is at the door
9. Long shot- from outside the house showing the door being slammed shut (shadow in the living room)
10. Medium shot- present on the floor as the teens come back in
11. Close up- one of the teens looking confused then smiling (‘okay whose joke is this?)
12. Medium shot- the two girls knelt by the present looking wary (‘It wasn’t us’)
13. Close up- Bryony (‘My house my present!’)
14. Close up- Bryony’s hands opening the present
15. Close up- one of the others (‘well that’s rubbish there’s nothing in it’) waves hand dismissively
16. Medium shot- of Bryony transfixed staring in to the box, shakes her head and agrees but seems weird
17. Medium shot- Bryony washing her face, staring into the basin
18. Medium shot- of her looking into the mirror
19. Close up- Her face as if looking into the mirror rubs her eyes looks up with white eyes and jumps backwards
20. Close up- screws her eyes shut when she opens them they are gone again
21. Medium shot- in the dining room of Shanie and Jordan messing around making a cake
22. Medium shot- Bryony comes in acting weird and shouts at them
Titles fade in and out
23. Close up- big knife on the counters, Martha's hand come into the shot picking the knife up (sharp eerie sound)
24. Close up- as the character spins round the camera follows her showing fear on their face, giving the effect that the character is about to faint
25. Medium shot- character running through the door tripping over the landing and slamming the door
26. Medium shot- match on action of the door
27. Medium shot- two characters together crying, looking at each other
28. Medium shot- character standing up looking down at them scared ('there is no escape')
29. Medium shot- character running through the room, in desperation
30. Long shot- antagonist walks down the hall slowly with knife in her hand by her side
31. Close up- character space crying and scared (shouts 'why is this happening?')
32. Medium shot- character peers around the corner, falls to the floor as if their feet have been taken from under them
33. Long shot- same character being dragged backwards with a rope
34. Medium shot- looking at character inside the car trying and failing to start the engine
35. Close up - of the character (still from the outside the car) showing them panting gripping the steering wheel
36. Close up- from inside of the car of the wing mirror showing the antagonist by the car (fast intake of air) flash and she is gone
37. Medium shot- male and female character behind a door crying trying to be silent, girl has hand over her mouth, Martha walks past all you see are her feet.
38. Close up- Christmas tree with sparkly lights which then flicker and turn off
39. Medium shot- character from behind banging on the front door frantically trying to get out
40. Medium shot- character on the floor scrambling backwards away from antagonist who is just outside of the picture frame
41. Long shot- Character backing away down a dark hall slowly
42. Long shot- the same character spins round (as a creak sounds behind her)
43. Medium shot- shows the character turn back around to come face to face with our antagonist
44. Long shot- Bryony in the garden
45. Longshot- same scene but character has moved closer and over to the left
46. Longshot- same scene again but the character moves even closer and towards the middle
47. Close up- an axe being dragged along the floor behind our antagonist, (camera at floor level only shows her bottom half)
48. Long shot- character sprinting through field (really dark)
49. Medium shot- of the back door open
50. Medium shot- female character curled up in the corner of a dark room crying, shadow goes over her (as if someone is standing over her, she looks up and goes to scream
51. Long shot- of the house at night
52. Close up- of antagonist (really short flash)
53. Long shot- of the house at night
54. Close up- of antagonist (really short flash)
55. Long shot- of the house at night
56. Coming soon
57. 31/10/14

Planning:Changes to our idea and justification; Christmas Presence

Due to various reasons we have chosen to change our plot and remodel our trailer idea. Although filming in Oxfordshire went well and we were all fond of our first idea, the reasons were out of our control so we had to move our location to nearer to home, as it allows us to make quick plot changes if needed. Filming in Fetcham has allowed us to explore a wider range of angles and experiment with lighting, so this decision to move closer to home has ultimately benefitted us! With our new idea we have a better unique selling point as there are very few horror films based around Christmas as the two themes completely contradict each other.

Our antagonist:

The character changes we have made include only the antagonist, who in the beginning will be a typical annoying teenager who is stereotypical of the horror genre, however events will cause her to become unhinged and similar to our original idea for the antagonist. She will become cold and lose herself as she attacks her friends.

Costumes:

Again the only changes we have made to costumes is that our antagonist is going to be warning normal teen clothes, as in the beginning our character is normal like her friends. This character will however be warning slightly dark plain clothes so in the scenes of horror her attire does not take away from her now evil persona.
Our character will still wear the contacts for the reasons explained below.

Font changes:

We did consider using the same font for our new title as for Martha, but in the end we have decided to use a font slightly related to Christmas to really over play the theme, as it makes it more sinister.
This is our new title font:

The black and white font makes the title mysterious and links to the idea of loss of purity from the contrasting if the black and the white. The name is clear and eye catching so we can make sure that it is memorable and sticks in the audience's mind.

Location:

Our new location is my house, not only is this location a lot more practical, but the interior strongly connotes traditional family Christmas’ with over the top decorations and a big open fire place adding to the red and green of the carpet and furnishings. This constantly remind the audience of the theme of the film that contradicts the idea of horror so we can catch them off guard and lull them into a false sense of security.

Influences of production and sound track:

Are very similar to before with revenge based crimes ending in the death of a group of stereotypical teens, and emotion manipulating sounds that build tension up and releases it getting a reaction from the audience.

Research and Planning Provisional Marks

Well done so far Bryony. I would like to see more evidence of your time management and of dates and times of production. A storyboard animatic would show exceptional skills in your use of ICT in the planning stage and include shots your have taken for the poster and magazine productions - what are their strengths and weaknesses? Add some extra comments to recent posts and spend some time looking over your research posts - there may be more room for analysis of the following: mise en scene, camera, editing, sound, location, target audience, unique selling points, branding, narrative, representation, genre indicators, ket moments. Show me that you are an expert when it comes to your genre! 16/20

Planning: Copyright credits

We should link the copyright credits of our film into its theme, to round off our trailer and maintain continuity, and keep it scary. The aim of a horror film is to scare the audience by making the scenes appear real, so we need to make sure we don’t ruin this by reminding the audience that they are watching a fictional film.

Planning: Filming schedule

Planning: Location justification

From certain angles the house appears completely on its own with only a long rural road leading up to the house. Again giving off the idea the house is all on its own which is very conventional. All these factors make the feel more likely to be successful within the industry.

The house looks very dated and old which links to the idea of a haunting, the area seems left behind and not up to date with technology making the case of the teenagers seem even more helpless.

By shooting scenes of the fields that surround the house we make the teens look abandoned and on their own, this makes it all more exciting as it seems hopeless. This draws from the common feel of isolation making many people feel alone, vulnerable and unprotected.

The swing again links with innocence and children; this follows the theme we have tried to create suggesting that our antagonist lingers in her past, suggesting the reason for her psychotic behaviour. Swings are often used in horror films as they can make characters seem sinister and uncaring.





We selected props that would link into the location and the dated theme of the house, such props are often included in horror films to strike fear into audiences. These props are very relatable to everyday life which makes the audience feel included in the film.

Planning: Title and credit fonts

We wanted to create a font that would combine the conventions of horror but keep it simple so it didn’t look too cliché and dated. We picked black and white because it is simplistic yet chilling and effective; it also stands out making it memorable. The font is designed to look a bit like handwriting, as if our antagonist as scribbled it down. The idea of this child-like handwriting further links to the idea of the contrast of her character with innocence.  
 

 

We chose a font that would be bold and clear to make sure the audience know the date of the release. This font however still links to the genre as the sinister simplicity of the text connotes contemporary horror themes.

Planning: Shot completion list

Key
Red- Filming to be done at Bryony’s house
Green-Filming we have done
Orange-Filming we’re not doing
Blue-To be done on the computer (Title etc.)
Purple-Can be filmed in the drama studio
Pink-Can’t do as we didn’t have time to do it at Shanie’s
Shot list
1. Long shot- the teens come out of the house towards the car, with suitcases looking excited
2. Medium shot- putting the cases in the boot, shutting the boot (dialogue)
3. Long shot- the car from the outside driving through the country side
4. Medium shot - in the car the teens messing around being excited, (dialogue)
5. Close up- of driver trying to navigate, telling them to hush.
6. Long shot - outside of car again
7. Medium shot- one of the passengers (dialogue)
8. Close up- driver (I need to concentrate now) (news report of Martha, passengers drown it out)
9. Close up- driver turns the radio off
10. Long shot- car comes to a stop
11. Medium shot- driver gets out of the car and walks round to the bonnet to see what's happened
12. Medium shot- opening the bonnet (match on action) (dialogue states that there is nothing wrong with the car it just won't work)
13. Long shot- establishes the location as all the teens get out of the car, they appear confused ('do we even know where we are?') ('I have no signal')
14. Close up- of characters face showing she is worried and vulnerable, ('I thought you knew where we were going')
15. Long shot- establishes the house showing it is surrounded by fields (deep notes makes the house seem slightly sinister)
16. Close up- shows the front door is slightly open; character pushes the door fully open
17. Medium shot- door opening from the inside (match on action) teens enter the house.
18. Medium shot- teens establish that the house is deserted, one of them picks up an old newspaper.
19. Medium shot- one of the teens flops onto the sofa ('looks like this places deserted')
20. Medium shot- teen pulls a bottle of alcohol out of the cabinet ('seems like we are going to get our holiday after all')
21. Medium shot- (loud music) teens having a good time
22. Medium shot- (loud music) teens having a good time
23. Medium shot- (loud music) teens having a good time (climax)
24. Medium shot- one of the teens finds a weird picture ('look at this') (music stops)
25. Close up- of picture; a girl with her parents whose faces have been scratched out
26. Close up- of more weird stuff in the draw
27. Medium shot- shows puzzled expressions (scared) (door slams upstairs) characters jump and exchange scared expressions
28. Close up- of characters face, worried expression ('what was that?')
29. Title- fades in and out
30. Medium shot- teens looking out of place and on edge (doorbell rings) shot catches their reaction
31. Medium shot- establishing the door
32. Medium shot- character from behind looking out of the window
33. Medium shot- view from where the character is looking, nothing out there
34. Medium shot- same shot but a distorted image of our antagonist really quickly camera appears to jump
35. Close up- the characters face as she jumps back, showing her fear.
36. Medium shot- the other characters one of them laughs nervously, shot slows

Most shots fade out to black signifying a gap in time.


37. Close up- big knife on the counters, Martha's hand come into the shot picking the knife up (sharp eerie sound)
38. Close up- as the character spins round the camera follows her showing fear on their face, giving the effect that the character is about to faint
39. Medium shot- character running through the door tripping over the landing and slamming the door
40. Medium shot- match on action of the door
41. Close up- something falling of a counter and smashing (slow motion)
42. Long shot- character running down the stairs, falling
43. Medium shot- two characters together crying, looking at each other
44. Medium shot- character standing up looking down at them scared ('there is no escape')
45. Medium shot- character running through the room, in desperation
46. Long shot- outside of the house antagonist slowly walking towards the house creepily
47. Long shot- antagonist walks down the hall slowly with knife in her hand by her side
48. Close up- knife stabbed into the counter by antagonist
49. Close up- flashes of newspaper headlines about the antagonist (really fast) x6
50. Medium shot- male and female character under the bed crying trying to be silent, girl has hand over her mouth, Martha walks past all you see are her feet.
51. Medium shot- character from behind banging on the front door frantically trying to get out
52. Medium shot- axe on chopping block
53. Medium shot- same as before minus the axe
54. Medium shot- character on the floor scrambling backwards away from antagonist who is just outside of the picture frame
55. Close up- character space crying and scared (shouts 'what do you want')
56. Medium shot- character peers around the corner, falls to the floor as if their feet have been taken from under them
57. Long shot- same character being dragged backwards with a rope
58. Medium shot- character face down a the bath tub
59. Long shot- camera wobbling as it approaches the house (pace slows)
60. Medium shot- looking at character inside the car trying and failing to start the engine
61. Close up - of the character (still from the outside the car) showing them panting gripping the steering wheel
62. Close up- from inside of the car of the wing mirror showing the antagonist by the car (fast intake of air) flash and she is gone
63. Long shot- Character backing away down a dark hall slowly
64. Long shot- the same character spins round (as a creak sounds behind her)
65. Medium shot- shows the character turn back around to come face to face with our antagonist
66. Close up- an axe being dragged along the floor behind our antagonist, (camera at floor level only shows her bottom half)
67. Long shot- character sprinting through field (really dark)
68. Medium shot- female character curled up in the corner of a dark room crying, shadow goes over her (as if someone is standing over her, she looks up and goes to scream
69 - 74 really fast flashes of images yet to be discussed
75. Long shot- of the house at night
76. Close up - of antagonist (really short flash)
77. Long shot- of the house at night
78. Close up - of antagonist (really short flash)
79. Long shot- of the house at night
80. Coming soon
81. 31/10/14

Planning: Costumes

Antagonist- Martha

We want to create a maddened rough look for Martha, making her look unstable and detached from society. We are going to dress her in a hospital night gown to reinforce the idea that she has lost her mind and escaped from a mental asylum, this gives her character depth and suggests there is a reason for the murders she commits. We are going to get a white night gown which connotes innocence and so completely contradicts her character and role in the film.

We have decided to make Martha’s eyes white to imply that she is possessed or supernatural, this tells the audience the sub-genre of the film and encourages them to watch the film to find out more about her character. We have chosen white ones to link to and contradict the idea of innocence. The first contact lens we have chosen makes it look like her eye has rolled into the back of the head which implies she has been possessed. The second simply makes her irises white which implies more that she is supernatural.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Victims- Emma, Jordan, Shanie and Sam

We want to make then as relatable as possible to the target audience, at least in the way they look. As they are a part of the target audience they can wear their normal casual attire. This will give the film a sense of reality.

 

 

Planning: Character Representation

Antagonist- Martha (played by Bryony)

Our antagonist is a teenage girl around the same age of the victims creating symmetry and making target audiences wary of people within their age group, which often as audiences view horror films in groups will work to our advantage when spooking the audience. In our trailer we are going to give off the impression that our antagonist is possessed, but we are not going to explain how or why to create mystery and encourage audiences to view the whole film.

The victims- Emma, Shanie, Jordon and Sam (played by themselves)

Our victims are going to be stereotypical annoying teens common in horror films, where the victims are obnoxious and self-absorbed. This therefore has the effect of making the audience want the deaths of the characters and so, they receive more satisfaction from watching the film. They will engage with the trailer more and so be more likely to go and see the film.

Planning: Our own Institution animation

We decided to create our own film institution to link into the style of our trailer. Our production company has similarities to existing companies such as Hammer films and Twisted pictures, both institutions focus on the production of horror films and thrillers. This suggests why both logos have predominantly horror based images. We chose a dated look for our institution animation to link with conventions of horror and entice the target audience; by giving the institution a horror theme it tells the audience that other films produced by our company will be of a similar genre tempting the target audience to view more of their films. As our company is small and horror based, the films produced would be low budget, which fits in with the criteria for our film. The name 'Distorted Pictures' creates mystery around the production company, linking in with typical horror conventions. This further links to the mystery effect created by the static TV effect and flash of blue lightning.

Planning: Institution logo

We have chosen the name ‘Distorted pictures’ for our institution, as after asking peers this name came out as the clear favourite. We used fireworks to create an image that would reflect the connotation of the name. We chose a simplistic colour theme of black and white and edited the text to make it look distorted. The image is simple and memorable, so effective!

Planning Targets

Well done - a fanstastic effort so far. Evidence video blogging, source (preferrably make) music for your production and create and evaluate titles. Include storyboarding of your trailer!

Planning: Titles

Film title designs

We again have chosen to go with a black and white theme for our film titles, for simplicity the contrast of the white against the black makes the film title eye catching and bold. To make a film successful it is important to make the film titles memorable especially when it comes to the name of the film.

 

 

 

 

 

 

These film title font gives off the same sort of eerie simplistic effect that we want to try and create for our title. This creates mystery around the film content, the audience won’t know what to expect from the film putting them out of their comfort zone. The scream logo uses red which is strongly connoted with horror as it implies blood and danger. We however prefer the use of white as it doesn’t run the risk of looking too glamorised and conventional as this would reduce continuity.
 
 
 

We want our title to look as if it has been hand written, or scratched into something as this links our theme of childlike innocence contradicted by the anger of the antagonist. It also links to the idea of her character being mentally unstable. This is the theme that we want to run throughout our trailer, it creates more mystery around her character as it teases more information about her.

  

 

Planning: Story board

Planning: Breif story board

Story board preview:

1. Long shot- the teens come out of the house towards the car, with suitcases looking excited 
2. Medium shot- putting the cases in the boot, shutting the boot (dialogue)
3. Long shot- the car from the outside driving through the country side
4. Medium shot - in the car the teens messing around being excited, (dialogue)
5. Close up- of driver trying to navigate, telling them to hush.
6.  Long shot - outside of car again
7. Medium shot- one of the passengers (dialogue) 
8. Close up- driver (I need to concentrate now) (news report of Martha, passengers drown it out) 
9. Close up- driver turns the radio off 
10.  Long shot- car comes to a stop 
11. Medium shot- driver gets out of the car and walks round to the bonnet to see what's happened
12. Medium shot- opening the bonnet (match on action) (dialogue states that there is nothing wrong with the car it just won't work) 
13. Long shot- establishes the location as all the teens get out of the car, they appear confused ('do we even know where we are?') ('I have no signal') 
14. Close up- of characters face showing she is worried and vulnerable, ('I thought you knew where we were going') 
15. Long shot- establishes the house showing it is surrounded by fields (deep notes makes the house seem slightly sinister) 
16.  Close up- shows the front door is slightly open; character pushes the door fully open 
17. Medium shot- door opening from the inside (match on action) teens enter the house.
18. Medium shot- teens establish that the house is deserted, one of them picks up an old newspaper.
19. Medium shot- one of the teens flops onto the sofa ('looks like this places deserted')
20. Medium shot- teen pulls a bottle of alcohol out of the cabinet ('seems like we are going to get our holiday after all') 
21.  Medium shot- (loud music) teens having a good time
22. Medium shot- (loud music) teens having a good time
23. Medium shot- (loud music) teens having a good time (climax)
24. Medium shot- one of the teens finds a weird picture ('look at this') (music stops)
25. Close up- of picture; a girl with her parents whose faces have been scratched out
26. Close up- of more weird stuff in the draw
27. Medium shot- shows puzzled expressions (scared) (door slams upstairs) characters jump and exchange scared expressions
28. Close up- of characters face, worried expression ('what was that?') 
29. Title- fades in and out
30. Medium shot- teens looking out of place and on edge (doorbell rings) shot catches their reaction
31. Medium shot- establishing the door
32. Medium shot- character from behind looking out of the window
33. Medium shot- view from where the character is looking, nothing out there
34. Medium shot- same shot but a distorted image of our antagonist really quickly camera appears to jump 
35.  Close up- the characters face as she jumps back, showing her fear.
36. Medium shot- the other characters one of them laughs nervously, shot slows 

 Most shots fade out to black signifying a gap in time.

37. Close up- big knife on the counters, Martha's hand come into the shot picking the knife up (sharp eerie sound) 38.  Close up- as the character spins round the camera follows her showing fear on their face, giving the effect that the character is about to faint
39. Medium shot- character running through the door tripping over the landing and slamming the door
40. Medium shot- match on action of the door
41. Close up- something falling of a counter and smashing (slow motion)
42. Long shot- character running down the stairs, falling 
43. Medium shot- two characters together crying, looking at each other
44. Medium shot- character standing up looking down at them scared ('there is no escape') 
45. Medium shot- character running through the room, in desperation
46. Long shot- outside of the house antagonist slowly walking towards the house creepily
47. Long shot- antagonist walks down the hall slowly with knife in her hand by her side
48. Close up- knife stabbed into the counter by antagonist 
49. Close up- flashes of newspaper headlines about the antagonist (really fast) x6
50. Medium shot- male and female character under the bed crying trying to be silent, girl has hand over her mouth, Martha walks past all you see are her feet.
51. Medium shot- character from behind banging on the front door frantically trying to get out
52. Medium shot- axe on chopping block 
53. Medium shot- same as before minus the axe
54. Medium shot- character on the floor scrambling backwards away from antagonist who is just outside of the picture frame
55. Close up- character space crying and scared (shouts 'what do you want') 
56. Medium shot- character peers around the corner, falls to the floor as if their feet have been taken from under them 
57. Long shot- same character being dragged backwards with a rope
58. Medium shot- character face down a the bath tub 
59. Long shot- camera wobbling as it approaches the house (pace slows) 
60.  Medium shot- looking at character inside the car trying and failing to start the engine 
61.  Close up - of the character (still from the outside the car) showing them panting gripping the steering wheel
62. Close up- from inside of the car of the wing mirror showing the antagonist by the car (fast intake of air) flash and she is gone 
63. Long shot- Character backing away down a dark hall slowly 
64. Long shot- the same character spins round (as a creak sounds behind her) 
65. Medium shot- shows the character turn back around to come face to face with our antagonist
66. Close up- an axe being dragged along the floor behind our antagonist, (camera at floor level only shows her bottom half)
67. Long shot- character sprinting through field (really dark)
68. Medium shot- female character curled up in the corner of a dark room crying, shadow goes over her (as if someone is standing over her, she looks up and goes to scream 
69 - 74 really fast flashes of images yet to be discussed 
75. Long shot- of the house at night 
76. Close up - of antagonist (really short flash)
77.  Long shot- of the house at night 
78. Close up - of antagonist (really short flash)
79. Long shot- of the house at night 
80. Coming soon 
81.  31/10/14