11 march o9

Today's lesson cris has checked through the opening sequence, he has given are ideas to improve it. we are finishing the rest of the soundtrack, just getting all the final bits done. Hopefully moving on to the next step next lesson.

6th March 09.

In today's lesson, we have had to edit are soundtrack, as it is to repetitive and there is too much coughing in it. For this lesson, we have been testing sound out and have just been trying to get the soundtrack to fit, and to get all the final bits done.

Next lesson we will finishing the rest of our soundtrack, and hopefully get onto the next step of our coursework.

storyboards made by megan

Here Megan has finished drawing our storyboards, so that we could put them on our blog. This will show step by step our opening sequence.

2nd March, 09

We finished capturing the last bits of footage fridays lesson. Which was the 27.2.09

In this lesson, we finished editing the rest of our footage. We had to finish merging are clips together to create continuity, to make our film look fluent and professional.

We have then started to edit our soundtracks, aimee made one soundtrack and Laliah made the other. We have edited aimee's soundtrack to fit around the footage. We haven't completely finished this as we are just tweaking it here and there. Next lesson we will add parts of Laliahs soundtrack to it as well, this will give it more depth. 

We have come across a problem with the fonts, as in some of the clips they are hard to see, we solved this by making the font bold and so they don't look squashed together we spaced all the words out to make them much clearer.

on 23rd february

We are finishing capturing the rest of the footage, when doing this we came across a problem which will mean we will have to finish capturing the end of the lesson. So we decided to edit the parts we have captured already. So we don't loose time, trying to fix something that we can't fix. Although we had this problem at the start, it has meant we have got a lot of the editing done. We will finish the capturing another day.

location: reigate college

Reigate College, is a perfect example of a teenage location. We have decided to use it for our film, we will be using a number of rooms inside the buildings. As we thought it was relevant to our genre. We chose this as it was relevant, it also made it easier as we had access to our locations all the time without traveling. 

set and prop list

Set List

• Media Office
• Media: Practice Room, ICT Room
• Business building: Lockers
• Refectory and refectory toilet
• County Building: stairs and hallway 

Prop List

• Rope
  
• Screwdriver
• Pliers
• Black Gloves
• Photo Negatives
• Photo's of Characters
• Computer
• Books

Filming: Wednesday 11 Feb 09.

location and photos

Here are photos of are key locations around the college, where we will be filming. 

Here is the Locker Room, this is where we will be filming some of the bullying scenes.

This is a example of what sort of images we will be doing in our work, we will use this sort of idea in our film.

This will be a key place to film as it has a desk and a study area. Which will be important for the film.

Here we might film, right near the entrance or further in for the bullying scenes.

We have taken another photo of the lockers, just to show how much space there is. 

This is a photo of the hallway, a key location we might use in our opening sequence.We used Megan to show where she will be in the hallway.

fonts

Possible fonts for our opening sequence:

We like these fonts as they have a handwritten effect, making the credits seem more personal and from the perspective of the killer. They are all quite scruffy which makes it seem creepy.

We also like these as they are neat but still handwritten. This would be good as this would contrast with the story line and add confusion to the sequence. 

credits

Our group looked at the opening sequence of Se7en, we were observing the titles and how they presented their production team. Hence, we developed their ideas to put into our opening sequence.


Our opening sequence will include the following information:
-Production name (M.a.l.t Productions)
- Cast:

• Mhairi West
• Lailah Robinson
• Max Everett-Rose
• Francesca Rose Perry
• Ellie Henson

- Production Team:

• Film By - Victoria Smith
• Casting By - Aimee Kidby
• Music by - Jos'e Logan and Mark Freeman
• Edited by - Joseph Arnold
  
• production designed by - Ben Stevenson & Sally Patel
• Co-producers - Lucy White and David Hunt
  
• Executive producer - Arnez Murray
• Written By - Megan Stovell
• Produced by - Daniel Ashby
• Directed by - Lydia Gerento
• Film name - 'Hostility'

The actors names will be displayed before the production team.

questionnaire

Age: Gender:

1. What type of films do you watch regularly, give us three examples?


2. What was the best one, and what did you like about this film?



3. Did the opening sequence encourage you to watch more, if so explain why?



4. Was it the characters or the plot that kept you interested in the film, if so why?



5. What would you do to improve the film?




6. What is the last horror film that you watched and what was the rating for it?
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7.Do you prefer:

• “Blood and Guts”
• “Psychological”

8. Looking at the opening sequences “prom night”, “se7en” and “kidulthood” answer the following questions:

• What was your favourite opening sequence and why?






• What did you think was bad and how would you improve it?






• Did this opening sequence get your attention and make you want to watch more?

results of questionnaire

We conducted a questionnaire to find out what our target audience (16-24 year olds) like to see in a film. We then focused on what qualities they look for in a horror film. We asked 10 girls and 10 boys aged 16-19.

We found that females prefer rom-coms/comedies for example 'The Notebook', 'What Happens in Vegas' and 'Yes Man'.
We found that the characters and character relationships kept them interested and had an impact on them. We then went on to find out their opinions on the specific genre 'horror/thriller'. We found that all females preferred 'psychological horrors' to 'blood and guts horrors'. After showing all the females the opening sequences of 'Se7en', 'Prom Night' and 'Kidulthood' (influences for our own opening sequence) and the majority of the females preferred the sequence for 'Se7en'. When asked why they responded that the fast pace and abstract effect kept them intrigued as to find out what happens in the rest of the film.

We found that males prefer action/horror films for example 'Cloverfield' and 'Football Factory'. Whereas the females were intrigued by the character relationships, we found that the males were more interested in the plot of the films. When asked about their preferences in horror films, we found that males liked both types of horror (psychological/blood and guts) but most of them preferred blood and guts horror. Like the females, most of the males found the opening sequence of 'Se7en' the most effective as they liked the mystery of the montage. They mentioned that the creepy feel to the film kept them interested and made them want to find out the plot of the story.

We found out that both males and females found the opening sequence important and that it drew them in to finish watching the film. The more mysterious and confusing the opening sequence, the more intrigued they felt.

As we asked girls and boys aged 16 to 19 that would be the target audeince.

opening sequence development

Instead of having the face of Jodie as the main focus on screen, we have decided that she will be walking towards the camera. The opening sequence will still show flashbacks, but as Jodie gets nearer to the camera the flashbacks will get more detailed for example, the camera will zoom out further every flashback to show the context of the bullying. These will still include scenes of Jodie bullying Alice. As she gets nearer, she will gradually get quicker and eventually begin to run, and the pace of the flashbacks will increase. There will be cross cutting to the kidnapper preparing for the attack which will also get quicker as Jodie gets nearer to the camera.

(We are using an idea closer to the original now as it is realistically easier to film and we feel that it will look better. It involves Mhairi West, Jodie, sitting tied up on a chair as if kidnapped. We are still using the zooming out idea where you first see her eyes and then gradually you get a full shot of her).

teen chick flicks with scenes of bullying

We looked at different scenes from chick flicks that involved bullying between girls at high school. This will inspire our contrasting opening sequence.

In 'Freaky Friday' there is a part that will help us with our sequence (between 7:30 to 7:45).



This sequence shows a stereotypical example of bullying. It will inspire our sequence as it is based at a school and is the appropriate age group and gender of our characters. It also shows how the girls gang up one person which will be the same for ours. The difference between 'Freaky Friday' and our opening sequence will be that ours will not be comical.




In this sequence from 'Kidulthood' it shows how badly bullied some people and it has more of a serious approach. This will influence us in our sequence. We also like the way in which the camera is from the victim's point of view which we found was effective and want to include in our sequence. The way in which the victim is alone really focuses on how isolated and alone she is and her lack of friends whows her lack of confidence which will be a main factor that we want to show through the victim's (Alice) character.

user ratings

Our group researched the user ratings for three films, with similar themes and genre as our own sequence. We did this to discover the target audience and see what age group we should aim our story line at.

Prom Night

Prom night is a movie that we have looked at and taken ideas from. This film is a thriller based on teenagers. The story goes from a tranquil mood, with everyone at prom. It unravels to be a murder mystery with a serial killer on the loose. 

The percentage of viewers that was the highest was females under 18, the lowest was males aged 30-44. 

Disturbia

This film is a mystery/thriller and is based on a 17 year old boy who is put under house arrest for punching a teacher. There is then a twist in the plot involving a serial killer and murders.

This film appealed to females under 18 with an average of 8.5. This film seemed the least popular to over 45 year olds. It averages out that the most popular age group is under 18's.

Scream

Scream is based on a psychopathic killer that stalks a group of teenagers. It follows the life of teens but with a scary twist. A teenage girl is the main target of the killer that has already committed murder on one of her classmates.

The chart shows that males under 18 were the main audience for this film. The least popular age group for this film was again, females aged over 45. It averages out that the most popular age group is again under 18's.

In conclusion, we have found that these films that are similar to our own, have on average, a target audience of under 18 year olds, both male and female. This will therefore be the age group that we will aim our story line at. We also found that this genre of film is not popular amongst and older population, for example females aged 45+.

influences

This has influenced our opening sequence as we like the idea of the contrasting, for example; happy at the beginning and scary at the end. The sudden change in the moods is effective as it draws the audience in. The mise en scene makes it obvious that the film is based on a teenage lifestyle for example; the prom setting and costume etc. We also want to include flashing images cross cutting to different scenes as it adds to the confusion and creates a tense atmosphere.



We like the handwritten credits in this sequence. We could use this as it links to school. It also gives it a more personal perspective of the character. It is also effective how the audience see's the murderer preparing for an attack but you don't see the murderers face, adding to the mystery of the sequence. The way that the sequence is jumbled up and shown in short clips adds suspense as the audience is intrigued as to what the film will be about.

We like the way that the images flash quickly back to different time brackets. The fast, secretive flashes confuses and disorientates the audience and this is the effect we wish for our sequence to have on the audience. You never get to see the character fully due to the camera focusing on certain parts for example, feet or hands. When the camera focuses on the characters face, the lighting flashes erratically, so the audience never get to see his face properly, which adds to the mystery. We want to use in our flashbacks that include bullying. This means that the audience will have a vague idea of the storyline, but will not be able to identify with the characters yet.

opening sequence development

The opening sequence focuses on the outcome of the film - it gives a taste of what is going to happen in the rest of the film. the sequence cuts from the kidnapped teenager to the kidnapper preparing for their revenge. The kidnapped girl (Jodie) is seen crying, dirty and is in a distraught way. There is a voice over of Jodie bullying/talking about a geeky girl (Alice). The conversation is one that happened in the past, before the kidnapping. It cuts several times to the kidnapper preparing, but there are also very quick flashbacks of things that have happened in the past for example, Jodie knocking past Alice in the corridor, Alice on her own. The flashbacks should be in slow motion to give an abstract effect. There will be eerie music throughout to build tension. The credits will appear randomly throughout the sequence. The title of the film will appear at the end and will be matched with a girls scream.

synopsis

A thriller set in a school/college environment. Based on teenage life, the main themes being jealousy and revenge. The main story is of a geeky girl (Alice) seeking revenge on her childhood bully (Jodie). Throughout the film, the identity of the kidnapper remains a mystery and twists make the audience assume it is always someone else. safe.