Feedback on Main brief

In class today we looked at other main briefs whilst other groups checked ours out and gave us both positive and negative parts about our film. Below is the feedback about our film that the other groups wrote down.

One of the main issues raised was sound - focusing on the dialogue in particular as the audience found it hard to hear certain dialogue. Also the other groups felt there was more digetic sound needed to the film to make it scarier. 

Due to the poor camera issues we had the other groups felt that we needed to include a clearer image of what was seen on the phone which was dealt with when we did our second filming.

Mise-en-Scene in Horror films

There are 4 main areas that make up Mise-en-scene which are:

• Setting
• Props
• Costume
• Make-up 

Setting 

Typically horrors are set in gloomy or eerie locations such as haunted houses where the protagonists will normally feel isolated and this feeling is passed into the audience to scare them. This is one of the crucial methods to scare an audience as it is much easier to scare people in these gloomy areas in comparison to a nice sunny day in the park. The darkness and the filters used play a part in this, as the mist or darkness makes it easy for the antagonist to sneak up or scare the audience and gives a sense of unknown to the audience. Examples of this are seen in the Woman in Black where she hides in dark places and the misty forest surrounding the house, as well as this the protagonist is alone on in the marsh house which makes the audience feel alone too. 

Props

In horror films props can be used as either a subtle tool or obvious tool, it is rare there is ever an in between. The reason for this is this is because if props are being used in a subtle situation such as Iconography then it has a hidden innuendo, for example in the Scream opening we see our Protagonist playing with a knife which can be seen as her playing with something dangerous much like the conversation she is having with the antagonist on the phone. On the other hand we see a prop being used for a blatant reason, such as stabbing someone to death which we see in the Scream opening.  

Costume 

Costume design is another important aspect to highlight or add personality to protagonists or increase the fear that the antagonist gives off. An example of this would be light clothing colors being used to give a connotation that the characters are innocent or pure but red implies danger much like what is used in our Main brief where Liv is using a red Jersey which implies she encounters a dangerous situation later on. The scarier or more horrifying the antagonist costume the more frightened the audience will be, if it can install fear into the character it will also scare the audience. Colors and clothing help to identify the Antagonist as well, the audience will often believe that the dark clothed character.

Make-Up

Make up in horror films is used to make the victims or the antagonist look scary or horrifying, we decided to apply this to our main brief by putting fake blood and bruising to Lucy's face to show that she is dead or has been attacked which makes her scarier as a character. The sight of blood can make some people for uneasy which is why its common for victims and villain's to be coated in lots of blood.

Storyboarding

Our Storyboards were written and drawn by Lily as we decided that it would be best that she did them due to who artistic skills whilst i worked on the Script.

Main Brief Recce

As a group including our new member Jake; we went to Clockhouse gardens to take photos of the setting and one of the filming areas for the main brief. The area displayed ideal spots that provide both good lighting and ideal shadows to add to the gloom of our piece. An example of this is one of our intended shots which was of from the middle of two trees as a POV (Point of view) tracking shot of both Lily and Liv walking along the path. 

Entrance to the Clockhouse

The location for her Body

Isolated Pathway in Park

Memorial Pathway 

Possible Location for body discovery

Abandoned shed where fake blood is used

POV Tracking shot location (myself between the tree)

Another spot where fake blood is used

Main pathway where Lily and Liv work

Ducks and Pond in tracking shot 

Script for main brief

Script

Four friends ZOE, JOE, GEORGE and LUCY are together in a normal house. They are all in the kitchen/dining room talking together.

ZOE is standing up away from the others and holds up her phone.

Zoe: Guys, have you checked Facebook lately?

Joe: No not really, why?

Zoe: Well, do you have Rachel Matthews on Facebook?

George, Lucy: Yeah I think so, why? What’s happened?

ZOE walks to the table to show the group her phone. On the screen there is a post on Facebook from an unknown user to the page of RACHEL MATTHEW saying ‘R.I.P’. A location is set which says ‘Clockhouse Gardens’.

Lucy: Oh my God…

George: Well what does that mean?

Zoe: We need to go to Clockhouse Gardens and investigate.

Joe: What? No way! It’s probably just a trick from one of her friends.

Lucy: No… She only has like one friend. She only has five friends on Facebook and I’m pretty sure that two of them are her family.

Zoe: Exactly! Guys, I think this is serious and I want to find out what has happened.

George: Well I’m not coming with you.

Joe: Neither am I.

Zoe: Come on it will be fun!

Lucy: I’ll go; I want to find out what happened.

The camera cuts to a pan of the entrance to Clockhouse Gardens. ZOE and LUCY walk in.

Lucy: So what do we do now?

Zoe: Just keep an eye out for anything suspicious.

ZO and LUCY walk around and find a blood handprint on a tree/statue.

Lucy: What happened? Oh my God… Where is Rachel?

They walk around more in search for RACHEL. They come across a broken window with blood coming from it. Something catches the attention of Lucy and a hand is seen to be sticking out of a bush in the same direction of the sound.

Lucy: [quietly] Rachel!

ZOE and LUCY run over to RACHEL and they stare at each other in horror. The camera pans upwards from the body to their faces and behind them is an image of RACHEL staring at them.

Props for main brief

Props

Our main brief didn't have many props but we did try to utilize as many props in the house so that it created are far more realistic feel to the setting. 

In the park we used tomato ketchup as it seemed far more graphic and visible in the gloomy conditions.

Also we used the IPhone to make it relate-able when using the Facebook post for the plot.

Characters for Main brief

Zoe White

Stereo Type blonde girl- Irresponsible, gullible and ditsy.
Overly excitable.
Can easily persuade people to do something.
Played by Olivia Watson

Costume: Red top which connotes danger- as well as this the blonde hair is a way of displaying her intelligence  or personality through stereo types of how blonde haired girls are portrayed in the horror genre.

Joe Triggs

Lack of motivation and lazy when asked to do something.

Quiet and keeps to himself.
Played by Tommy Heath

Costume: Grey hoodie, Black trouser used to reflect the plain and boring personality.

George Dennis

Mature and well educated.Aware of what is wrong and right.
Doesn't follow instructions unless he knows that it is the right thing to do.
Tries to persuade others to do stuff but is not successful.
Played by Charlie Smith

Costume: blue hoody, Black jeans again to correlate with Joe Triggs and his costume.

Lucy Roberts

Curious about many things and pays attention to detail.
Usually is calm but can panic in tough situations.
Played by Lily King

Costume: Black top and jeans to connote death and danger much alike Zoe White but doesn't use red as she isn't the main protagonist in the main brief.

Rachel Matthews

Lonely, didn't have many friends which means the audience and characters know little about what she was like.
Played by Lucy Bonfield

Costume: Ripped, bloody clothes with fake blood and make-up on face as she has been attacked and killed 

Editing Horror Films

Editing is one of the most crucial areas of the micro elements used in keeping the pace and or plot of a horror film flowing. Horror films rely on such flow to keep the audience frightened and intrigued. An example of this would be the fast paced atmosphere that could be set from a jump scare and the momentum built by the is kept by fast cut editing between the antagonist and main character.

The scene above is from a horror film called Annabelle which uses techniques such as Shot-Reverse-Shot which helps us to grasp the reaction of the character to the face of the antagonist on the stairs.

Hybrid Genres in Horror Films

Hybrid genres refers to a combination of two or more genres in one production. This enables the film producers to possibly get a wider range of viewers and increase the profits and also boost the ratings of the film as it is far more likely that the audience will enjoy the film if the genre is similar to their taste. 

Here are some examples of films that use the hybrid genre:

The Stranger's incorporates both Horror and Thriller. 

After returning from a wedding reception, a couple staying in an isolated vacation house receive a knock on the door in the mid-hours of the night. What ensues is a violent invasion by three strangers, their faces hidden behind masks. The couple find themselves in a violent struggle, in which they go beyond what either of them thought capable in order to survive. IMDB description

The Hills have eyes uses Action, Horror and Gore genres.

A group of National Guard trainees find themselves battling against a vicious group of mutants on their last day of training in the desert. IMDB description 

Alien uses both Horror and Sci-fi which is rare and unique

After a space merchant vessel perceives an unknown transmission as distress call, their landing on the source planet finds one of the crew attacked by a mysterious life-form. Continuing their journey back to Earth with the attacked crew having recovered and the critter deceased, they soon realize that its life cycle has merely begun.

IMDB Description 

In our Main brief we are incorporating both crime and horror genre as an example of a hybrid genre which means we will use many of the same ideas from films produced such as Scream or Psycho.

Pitch of Main Brief

We presented our ideas and plan for our main brief to the class so that we can make changes where necessary, we spoke about our

• Target Audience 
• Chosen Institution 
• Mise-en-scene 
• Plot 
• Age rating

This is me with my two group mates Liv and Lily giving our Pitch to the class and explaining our plot and ideas as displayed on the sheet that Lily is holding.

Below are two images of the sheet which displayed our Pitch and what we presented to the class.

We believe and the class agrees that the use of social media in our main brief is a technique to engage the audience as the film then becomes relate able by the audience as it represents modern day technology used in horror. Lily suggested that we use a Facebook post as a way to draw two of our characters to the scene where the body will be discovered.

Main brief Planning

The plan of a main brief is simple, it requires that of 4 people to act and there are only two locations where it shall be filmed.

The story line is that 4 friends find out that one of the girls from the group has gone missing is suspected killed in a nearby park. This leads on to 2 girls to go out looking for their friend which later leads to the reveal of the body of the missing friend as well as the antagonist who is watching nearby.

My role in the main brief is to act as one of the characters round the table of friends and film the two girls in the park. Also i will be helping with the editing and sourcing different sound effects we can use. 

Scream Analysis

In class we did brief analysis of scream similar to that of Blade.

The opening of Scream begins with the main title being written across in white writing. The white writing could connote purity however it is contrasted by the black background which could connote evil or danger. This is followed by a flash of red that could similarly connote danger or death. There is an element of foreshadowing seen here as there is a non-digetic sound of a woman screaming as well as the sound effect of a knife which could be relating to the imminent situation that the audience is about to witness which starts to build tension.

The camera angle is slightly slanted later in the scene which exposes the back door which raises suspicion and causes the audience should look at it. This keeps the audience on edge and their eyes on the door as they expect something to happen and enables us to see reflections and what is outside. Later we see an external shot of the garden looking at the house which reveals a tire swing moving which implies that someone had been sitting there and is moving around in the garden which not only adds to the suspense but means the suspected antagonist is close by which installs fear into the audience.

The shot quickly snaps back to the woman which relates again to the sense of proximity from the antagonist and the popcorn supports this feeling as there is a connotation of time cooking and fire to the fact she is running out of time and the fire represents the danger. 

Relating to the Mise-en-scene is the blonde hair on the girl which represent the stereo type of most horror films in that she is vulnerable to threats, as well as this we can tell from her dialogue that she is ditsy and easily manipulated into dangerous situations as she speaks to the murderer and allows him time to talk and scare her. In this dialogue the girl and the murderer talk about horror movies within a movie. This is called post modernism which reveals the film convention to the audience. Whilst doing this the girl plays with knives which relates again to the iconography of the film. This representation shows her playing with something dangerous much like the fact she is playing with the murderer on the phone.

Blade Analysis

In our analysis of Blade we primarily looked at the Micro elements in the film:

It is clear that in the beginning the two characters in the car there is a symbolism shown between the look of both characters. The woman in the car is displayed with the power as she squeezes the leg of the man character which shows the man as a submissive character. Furthermore the woman is driving the car which displays her control over the situation. Much like our own mini brief we used Liv as our blonde character who is vulnerable to the antagonist who is played by Lily, the correlation is between Liv and her blonde hair creating the same connotation that when she is alone by herself she is vulnerable as a character which matches the stereo type.

The blonde character as ditsy and vulnerable where the woman has red hair which shows a sense of superiority and power over the man. The camera angles used here show the bodies taking up the majority of the screen and then switching to the boys face to see his reaction. It then changes to a front on view of the woman to show that she is again in power whilst the boy is distracted behind. After this when the body guard opens the door to the club we can only see black which means the man is stepping into the unknown which is a threatening concept.

The bold, bright red font used to display the title of the film fits with the horror genre as the colour red connotes danger or death which could foreshadow later events of the bloodbath at the club or However the colour red could also connote passion which is shown between both of the characters before they go into the night club when they kiss.

In the nightclub the shots have been edited when the girl is dancing by speeding up the shots and cutting each shot quickly. This gives us the idea of vampires being quicker than light. Later on in the club there is use of non diegetic sound used as we see a close up of the vampires faces which relates to the animal nature of vampires and in particular the lion which is notorious as a predator for its hunting and killing of vulnerable prey which is represented by the vampires in the club hunting the vulnerable boy.

Character Analysis and props

Character 1:

Name: Morgan Black 

Gender: Male 

Eye colour: blue/hazel

Hair colour: Strawberry blonde 

Personality traits: Lazy, independent, caring

He sees himself and Sam as very close friends like they have been for so many years.However he is oblivious to the fact Sam has feelings for him.

Character 2:

Name: Sam wood

Gender Female 

Eye colour: Green

Hair colour: Blonde 

Personality traits: Sassy, bossy, caring 

After growing up with Morgan, Sam has developed strong feelings towards Morgan which can be seen by the way she looks at him. 

Character 3: (hooded character) 

Name: Unknown

Gender: Unknown

Age: Unknown

Eye colour: Unknown

Hair colour: Unknown 

Personality traits: Unknown 

Props

Fake blood- typical iconography of horror genre. Audience can clearly see tat there will be murder/ death- foreshadowing.
Marshmallows- connotes sweetness etc. Takes mind away from the feeling of danger.
Tent- minimal set, gives the feeling of isolation, typical in horror films.
Fire (twigs, rocks, paper etc)- connotes danger, hell etc. Foreshadows the evil that is going to happen

Costume

Hooded cape/ Black Jumper- the idea of mystery, unable to see face.
Casual clothes/coats-Sam:White tshirt (covered partly by coat for weather reasons) connotes purity.
Blonde hair- typical in horror films as stupid, gullable, usually first to die.

Storyboard



Shot 1: A long shot is taken which displays the whole scene with the characters, props and background.

Shot 2: A close up (180 degree line) is used so that we can see one side of the conversation and the audience feel closer to the character.

Shot 3: A long shot is used again so that we can see the movement of the characters when the marshmallow is thrown.

Shot 4: Another close up is used so that we see the other half of the conversation.

Shot 5: A long shot is used so we can see the full length of the characters and we can see clearly their body language.

Shot 6: Close up used to see the reaction from the character and we can see the way the character turns which displays a match on action shot.

Shot 7: Match on action moves into long shot, makes it able to see the character walk away.

Shot 8: Long shot makes it able for the audience to see the setting and gives them the sense of space.

Shot 9: The camera will rotate from the face to behind the shoulder, allows the audience to see what the character is looking at.

Shot 10, 11, 12: Shot/reverse shot gives the audience the opportunity to see from the characters point of view and then see their reaction.

Shot 13: Allows audience to see the empty campfire to give them a sense of fear.

Shot 14: The close up allows audience to see the reaction from the character from being alone.

Shot 15: The tracking shot will allow the audience to feel like they are the character so that they share the experience.

Shot 16: Match on action when the character turns around allows us to see the fear of the character.



Recce

After careful planning and a search for the right location we have finally got an area in which we can shoot our film. As shown in the images below the area we used best presents the story of Sam and Morgan in an area of forest which will use all camera angles which shall be shown later.

This is me taking a picture of my group Lily and Olivia applying the fake blood to the tree where Sam later discovers. The images below shows what the tree will look like when it comes to shooting the scene.

Following this we later took pictures of possible areas where we can use camera angles such as Tracking Shots to move with the character Sam to the area with the fake blood.

Horror Scirpt

Script

The two characters SAM and MORGAN are sat in a dark forest around a small fire in front of them. They are both toasting marshmallows whilst listening to music.

SAM: Do you want another marshmallow?

MORGAN: Yeah, get me one please.

SAM stands up and gets the marshmallow bag which is by the tent.

He then throws one over to MORGAN.

MORGAN: Cheers.

[Sigh] Brilliant… The fire is going out.

SAM: You better go and get some more firewood then.

MORGAN stands up.

MORGAN: Why me? I got the last batch!

SAM: Well you’re the one who wants the marshmallows.

MORGAN: Fine… I’ll be right back

MORGAN turns around and walks down the path into the darkness.

As MORGAN is walking he hears wood snapping, he gasps.

He carries on walking until he sees a tree with blood dripping from it.

MORGAN: What is that…?

Crap…

In the distance SAM: Hurry up!

MORGAN: I’m coming!

MORGAN walks back into the camping area to see SAM is not there.

MORGAN: Sam? Where are you?

Hello?

MORGAN hears a mystery rustling in the trees and goes along the path to investigate.

MORGAN: Sam, what are you doing?

As MORGAN is walking a hooded figure appears from the trees, MORGAN does not see him. Camera films MORGAN’s face which is struck with fear.

History of Horror

Horror is somewhat unique among the film genres in that there is a recognizable pattern that happens again and again which captures audiences by making them feel uncomfortable or frightened and has a lasting effect after the film. 

The subject of horror has been molded and changed since the early stages of the 1800's where monsters have been seen as the primary antagonist. However views have changed where the antagonist has become far more relate able e.g. Murder or Stalker. This has now inspired filmmakers to take a different approach to horror which has been occurring since 1980 with a film such as the Shining which has inspired films to present day such as the Saw franchise.


Over the 19th century there had been a strong growth in popularity of horror as seen with films originating from all over the world as a result of the same horror seen in WW1 and WW2. An example of this would be the black and white film Nosferatu which originated from Germany but had little influence on Hollywood but set a prescient to the film industry about an antagonist that is capable of frightening the audience. This later led on to the development and release of films like Wolf man and Frankenstein which were similar medieval characters to the of Nosferatu. 

In the 1960's a sub genre called 'Thriller' was introduced with films like Psycho which was is shown below. The word thriller relates to the way that the film creates a feeling of suspense and excitement along with anxiety.

Planning and production of Mini Brief

This is the start of our Mini Brief - We will research the Macro and Micro elements such as:

Macro Elements:

• Genre
• Audience
• Narrative
• Representation

Micro Elements:

• Camera Angles/Movements
• Editing
• Sound
• Mise en Scene

As well as the Macro and Micro elements we shall be looking at our first form of filming which will include the shot reverse shot, match on action and the line of action (180 degree rule).

The stages of production are as follows;

1. Pre Production - planning and research
2. Production - Filming
3. Post production - Editing

Which will all be made into our final clip of film.

In terms of preparation our group was divided into carrying out different tasks to complete our mini brief which meant that I began forming a script and Lily creating the Storyboard. 

Lily writing the Storyboard

Me writing the script