First Draft - Evaluation

The shot sequences followed the conventions of a typical horror genre. We believe that the audience will be able to identify this first draft as belonging to the horror genre. However there is definite room for improvement. We can add more scenes for the final project, mainly more confrontational scenes, bloody scenes and so forth. We included one sole track for the trailer knowing that we would have to include more non-diegetic sounds such as sound effects for the killer. We also noticed that there was a problem with the uploading of the overall draft, it caused the lighting of the shots to be darker than we edited in iMovie. Whether this was a fault of YouTube or our editing stands to be seen but if it is a fault of ours, we shall consider altering the lighting for particular shot sequences.

First Draft

This is our first draft of our A2 media production.

Voiceovers 2

My Bloody Valentine

The voice over in My Bloody Valentine has its similarities to Thriller, as in the slow sinister dialogue and terrifying feel. A voice over with that tone, dialogue and speech is able to draw the audiences attention and that's what were aiming for.

What we get from these trailers is that we need to pick the right people who have that similar voice or who can put on that voice, also we have to choose the right dialogue that will draw in the attention like the trailers above do.

Preview Screen

The inclusion of the MPAA preview screen is used to make the trailer we're making more genuine and professional, especially since the preview screen generally only appears in horror trailers to obviously give viewer discretion. 

Voice Overs 1

We have discussed and researched various voice overs in the trailers and we have concluded that the common features are that they usually have someone who speaks in a low voice, their dialogue is always short and a scary tone. Looking back at the 70s - 90s horror trailers, they have a different sound or feel when, as in spooky and scary, where as modern day have a more shocking, terrifying and horrific sound to them. We have realised that the voice over plays a big part in horror trailer, its one cliche that makes up a horror, so we looked more into voice overs in horrors:

Thriller

This is a voice over session of Vincent Price who done the voice over for thriller, we hear that the speed of his voice is  slow to give it a ghoul and scary feel to it. Also the sinister but yet terrifying laugh at the end adds to the scary dialogue.

Costume of the gas mask killer

This was decided because we wanted the killer's clothing (and overall appearance) to stand out in earnest so's to catch the audience's immediate attention. The darkness of the costume is something we agreed upon because we wanted to achieve the effect of the killer blending and/or melting into the background. However, we still wanted the killer to be seen at least clearly enough so we decided against the colour black for the jacket and went with our secondary choice, navy green. Erin supplied the items below from his personal wardrobe. The emphasis on appearance is mainly on the killer plus we wanted the victim's dressed ordinarily for a normal feel for the beginning of the trailer.

Filming location - Basement

We observed that in typical scary scenes in buildings, there was always a scene located in the basement  so we decided to use our college basement. The obejct and surrondings of the basement look scary, for example some of the lockers are broken which adds to scariness of the setting, also the pipes  give the illusion that its underground, dark and dank.

Change of Location

We recently discussed the problem that it would be difficult for our cast to meet at Chislehurst Woods since most of our cast attend Westminster City School, we ultimately chose the school as our venue for filming. We decided on the ideal places to film our media text. We chose the school because it was the more accessible building we had, but also the possibilities that we had to change aspects of the school around was good. Also there were a lot of areas of the school that suited the scenes we had in place.

Change of Plans!

We have decided to drop the idea of filming a 70's horror trailer due to issue of actually getting all actors and props to the wood on a Saturday morning, but to now instead shoot an ordinary corny horror flick in the basement of our school which to be perfectly honest is scary enough without any killers lurking about. We're planning to use a gasmask to mask our killer giving him a rather soulless look, just generally no identity which already sets us on edge. We've already filmed a small portion of the opening and must now press on to meet our deadline.

Movie Poster Ideas.

For our ancilliary pieces we decided to create a magazine cover advertising our film and a corresponding poster to promote our slasher. We got most of our mock up ideas from old 70's horrors like Halloween as it has a very simple design but is still a very effective slasher poster, as is the Friday the 13th.

Non-diegetic sound - Trailer Score

We discussed the music of the trailer and thought about the tone and how it would match and add to the atmosphere of the scenes we will record. Shaquille found a song by Funki Porcini called This Ain't The Way to Live on YouTube that was slightly dark and could be incorporated into the trailer. However,  once we had heard the song, we knew that we would have to send a letter in order to use it and if we decided to do this, we would find a version of it with no lyrics (instrumental). We agreed that only the first few bars of the song were appropriate, as the mood lightens after that.

We may use this song as a basis of the music we will create ourselves. For the scenes where the tension mounts i.e. where the killer is silently lurking while the victim wanders by, dark creeping music will be heard to add the scary atmosphere and it will make the scene work flawlessly.

Funki Porcini - This Ain't The Way to Live

Decisions over Music...

Our research into horror trailer scores led to us finding out that American director John Carpenter (Halloween, The Thing etc) wrote his own synth based soundtracks as did Italian horror/slasher director Dario Argento (with his prog rock band the Goblins). We had previously decided to create our own music using Garageband and had been using "Funki Porcini - This Ain't The Way To Live" but it lacked the pace we needed to match our slasher trailer since music is key, after analysing various 70's horror trailers it became clear that a good score was essential.

Trying out Time Lapse 2

Our group decided upon using Time lapse in our project because we observed, in prior research into Paranormal Activity that it was very effective. The time-lapsed camera sequences were brilliant for creating an atmosphere of unease and fear. They also filmed on the balcony, getting footage of the street below and the clouds for about 6 minutes for each. After shooting, they loaded the footage onto iMovie where they sped up the footage to make it look like time was passing faster by. After editing, we saved our project on disk.

Trying out Time Lapse

Today, we discussed different techniques we could use in the short clips. Today, we tried out time lapse. Our group decided upon using Time lapse in our project because we observed, in prior research into Paranormal Activity that it was very effective. The time-lapsed camera sequences were brilliant for creating an atmosphere of unease and fear. Shaquille and Charles went around the school to try this out. They filmed on the balcony and the front entrance to the school. Charles stood still in different places in the front entrance within sight of the camera standing in the same position, getting closer to the camera within each different shot. When we played back this footage, we decided that it would be the most ideal to use when filming the killer, perhaps to introduce the character.

 

Shot Sequences...

We came up with a another great idea to include in our project and decided to try it out. The idea was to basically have a chase scene with one of the cast and see him cornered. We had several ideas on how to make the scene more tense during editing and shot discussion.Filming for this scene took place outside towards the early hours of the evening. We chose to film it around this time because there would be darker natural light the later we filmed. This is a critical theme in our production as it fits the atmosphere and gives the sense that time is running out contrasting to the beginning of the trailer where it was still light outside.

Ade Balogun was available to film with. We chose the back of the playground since there was more space to run in for the actor. After we cleared the area of any children, we started filming. We took different angles, making sure to consider the 180 degree angle rule.

Here are a few of the shots we used.

Planning - Location

After running through our ideas with our teacher we had to make a few adjustments to the setting, as we didn't really think of what factors would ruin the look of our trailer. This was mainly the surrounding architecture and technology which didn't fit our time frame (70's). So we decided to try and shoot the trailer in Chiselhurst woods as it would allow us to only worry about the look of the characters clothing rather than the entire area contained within the shot. The new location also allowed us to change the plot as a 'campfire horror' would fit the 70's cheesy era.

Cast - Rene Teslica (Killer)

Rene Teslica

He has agreed to feature in our media project as the killer. Since he attends the school, he will be easy to contact and we can work a schedule with him although we expect his scenes should be filmed over a short period of time.

Key elements of project

Due to the nature of our planned piece (A 70's slasher horror) there are key elements that we must include to fit the era, these include ; A memorable haunting score, a trailer that essentially tells the entire back story, an all teen cast that will clearly be brutally murdered during the course of the film and only a slight glimpse of the killer throughout the trailer.
All of these factors are shown in the trailer for 'Halloween' which we will have to study in order to perfect the style we are aiming for.

Cast - Emmanuel Falade (Student)

Emmanuel Falade

He has agreed to feature in our media project as one of the victims of the killer. Since he attends the school, he will be easy to contact and we can work a schedule with him although we expect his scenes should be filmed over a short period of time. We also wanted to include diversity in the trailer as many mainstream horror films feature an mixed cast such as Schemata and Survival of the Dead

Cast - Ayman Aziz (Student)

Ayman Aziz

He has agreed to feature in our media project as one of the victims of the killer. Since he attends the school, he will be easy to contact and we can work a schedule with him although we expect his scenes should be filmed over a short period of time. We also wanted to include diversity in the trailer as many mainstream horror films feature an mixed cast such as Schemata and Survival of the Dead.

Cast - Ade Balogun (Victim)

Ade Balogun

He has agreed to feature in our media project as one of the victims of the killer. Since he attends the school, he will be easy to contact and we can work a schedule with him although we expect his scenes should be filmed over a short period of time. We also wanted to include diversity in the trailer as many mainstream horror films feature an mixed cast such as Schemata and Survival of the Dead.

Cast - Wilson Weaver (Victim)

Wilson Weaver

He has agreed to feature in our media project as one of the victims of the killer. Since he attends the school, he will be easy to contact and we can work a schedule with him although we expect his scenes should be filmed over a short period of time. We also wanted to include diversity in the trailer as many mainstream horror films feature an mixed cast such as Schemata and Survival of the Dead

Lighting 2

In most scenes, we filmed in dark areas of the school that we had access to. It's assumed almost universally that fear of darkness is the most common fear. Humans have an innate fear of the dark and in darkness is the unknown. That adds to an underlying state of fear for the film to begin with. Add things that you can't see that just pop out and you've got the underlying features of every horror film. Darkness strengthens the effect.
Here are a few instances of where we used dark lighting to create this effect.

 

Lighting Considerations

We knew, from common observation of horror films and trailers, that dark lighting was very essential to the scary, chilling atmosphere of a horror film. There were several techniques we considered to get this picture across in order to get the real effect that conformed to the horror genre. We chose the 'flickering light effect' and included this in our second draft.




Plot outline

The film focuses on five teenagers who are cramming for their exams the next day at their sixth form. One by one, they come under silent attack from a sinister, deranged killer who places them in a desperate attempt for their lives. In a extreme chase that takes them throughout the deepest areas of the building, the night has turned into a night for survival........

Rough Draft of Script - 1st scene

Introductory scene in common room
(Actor 1 is the killer. Actors 2-4 are the fellow students stuck in the school.)

Actor 1: So did you hear about the student who died in this school?
Actor 4: No, what happened?
Actor 1: Well, it happened during World War II, the school had evacuated all the students to a safe bunker.......except one.
Actor 2: No way! (sardonically)
Actor 1: He died in the basement, and they say you can still hear his screams past midnight on a Friday
Actor 2: Yeah, I'm not buying it, man.
Actor 3: Seems unlikely, to be honest.
Actor 1: Alright, if you don't believe me, I dare you to go down there right now. It is Friday isn't it?
Actor 2: (scuff) Alright then, just to make you look like the fool you are.

We will cut this scene to certain parts of the dialogue to conform to the conventions of a teaser trailer.

Treatment

What

We hope to create a 90 second trailer for a 70's slasher movie while also creating a corresponding poster and magazine cover.
Why
At first, we had ideas to create a modern horror trailer but then decided to try a different era and we landed on the 70's. as the effects aren't hard to recreate and the genre also interests us as we all enjoy horrors.
How
Using the cameras, we are given we plan to film either in the school or at another location. Already, we have a number of friends who wish to help, whether it be pertaining to make-up, props, costumes or filming. After filming, we'll use iMovie or Sony Vegas to edit our movie. We'll also need to create a strong score to fit the era, most likely a garage band.
Interest
Erin always had an extensive knowledge of horror films. We also agreed as a group that it would be the most popular genre and easiest to create for our project. 
Conventions
We plan to basically conform to the conventions of the era such as; a strong focus on score, a teenage cast, the killer's backstory oddly explained in the trailer and only glimpses of the killer are shown. We don't really want to challenge the conventions of a 70's horror as the style is what attracted us the genre. 

Shot List

Based on our prior research into horror teasers, we recorded into notes camera shots ordinarily associated with horror trailers. These are a few of our notes, we will discuss which of these shots to feature in our project.

1. Extreme close-up of killer's eyes through mask
2. Close up of weapon in his hand
3. Long shot
4. Medium close up of the victims
5. Medium Long shot of the killer stand still, whilst people walking past, add a time lapse to speed the walking. When the final people walk past the killer disappears.
6. Wide angle close up of victims and/or killer, used for horror effect
7. Over shoulder shot
8. Over head shot
9. POV from killer's face.

Target Audience 2

Target Audience 1

In our early stages of planning, we briefly discussed which type of target audience we wanted to reach. We researched horror movie goers and ultimately concluded that the best target audience were teenagers and young adults (13-28).
Charles decided that we should conduct a questionnaire amongst our fellow students to gain further information on what elements of a typical horror appealed most to our target audience.

The questionnaire is featured in the next post, along with our feedback.

Research - The "Slasher" Genre

The subgenre first emerged in the 1960's following the release of Hitchcocks "Psycho"which featured all the classics traits that we expect in a slasher; A deranged psychopathic killer, a 'whodunit' plot and a cast of victims. Despite Norman Bate's small bodycount of only two it is know as the first slasher but "Black Christmas", released in 1973, is widely accepted as the first true slasher.

Research - The height of slashers!

The 1980's box office was filled with terrible cliche slashers so much so that 60% of all takings in 1983 were from only slashers! Almost all slashers were released on public holidays such as;

Black Christmas - Christmas

My Bloody Valentine - Valentines Day

Humongous - Labour Day

All obviously to increase sales, two series stood out among the crowd these being "Friday the 13th" and "Halloween" as they went on to make many sequels and prequels and have even been remade in the past few years.

Preparation: Friday the 13th

Throughout all the trailers we viewed, it became apparent that music created important dramatic effect to the audience i.e. suspense and fear. Friday the 13th trailer used iconic music for each of the scenes that were shown. The music has a major influence over the effectiveness of the trailer. For example, abrasive synth stabs (used by someone like Dario Argento) or low bassy rumbles on the soundtrack, help create a considerable amount of tension and generally create an atmosphere laden with foreboding.

Research: Halloween (1978)

Erin researched Halloween (1978) and found out that the budget for the successful movie which earnt over $150 million dollars was $32,0000 dollars. It was a independent movie and this showed us that we could make a good trailer with little money also. The trailer was analysed also and music played a major key in the horror elements of the trailer. Since it wsa set in the 1970s, it had the classical horror soundtrack which was sterotypically high piton synth. In most trailers we looked at, the common thing we noticed was that only quick glimpses of action were shown to grab the audiences attention. The trailer also used quick cut shots of the killer's shadow or his hand, but never showed his face completely, creating suspense and dramatic effect.

Preparation - Research trailers

We discussed which genre would be the most easiest and effective one to film with each other and our Media Studies teachers. We ultimately came to the decision of horror genre and started looking at movie trailers on YouTube. Shaquille knew of a few horror movies such as Diary of the Dead, Cloverfield and Dawn of the Dead. Erin suggested the slasher/horror genre and films of this sub genre such as Halloween, Friday the 13th and Black Christmas.

Our A2 Group

Our group consisted of , Charles Moses, Shaquille Mayanja and Erin Whitfield.

Charles can organise the tasks that need to be done such as the the scenes we would film and the sections of the blogs that each of us will be asssigned eventually. He can be very commited when it comes to his studies so that should prove useful in the coming months of production.

Shaquille is very experienced at editing with video and photo editing software so that will definitely prove most useful once we finish filming our raw media text and when we come to editing, we can depend on him primarily to know what to do.

Erin has an amazing amount of knowledge on films and film history, this will benefit the group with research, when we come to decide our final sub genre for our decision and  the plot.