Similar Media Works

This is our powerpoint presentation showing various conventions typical of that in the horror genre. This presentation was useful for us to do because it meant we had to research horror films in depth and so therefore gained a better idea of what is expected of our final piece. It also meant that we could see what worked well in films and what didn't, which in turn could influence how we film our horror film.

Original Story Board

We created a simple story board for the opening of our horror film. The shots do not require a script as the only speech will be during the opening credits where the screen is blank. We took our photographs in the actual locations we wish to shoot our scenes which gave us a good feel to exactly where we can place and angle the cameras. We have decided through this story boarding however that we will film at a later time of night to give a more fearful effect to the audience. Each picture is of the different film angles and shots we will include and in the order they will appear. Through this task we have become more aware of how we order our shots and any other frames we may require.

Both Jo and Emmaline were in the shots that we took, so Lucy and myself took them using one of the school cameras. Jo then, wrote all of the captions for underneath the pictures so that we can see what we were aiming to do, when filming our horror opening.

Gantt Chart

This is our most recently updated gant chart showing our prgress to date.

Gant Chart

Film Brief

We are conducting and creating a two minute opening to a horror film we each have individually planned. The job of the opening our horror film is to immediately captivate our audience and stimulate their interest. We aim to create a clever and interesting beginning to our horror that breaks conventional boundaries at the same time as complying to them create the most effective response from the audience as possible.
The horror genre was chosen specifically because it particularly requires a valuable opening that the rest of the film can be based around. Often the opening in a horror straight away demonstrates the plot of the film, or the affects of the plot which makes it all the more important to the audience.
Our film is largely based around stalking. It involves a group of 6 females with no direct link on the surface to one another apart from being victims of the same stalkers. Each individually became stalked on their way home by what is implied as a group of hooded people; however during their stalking no more than one antagonist is evident in the frame at one time. However the only example of this is in our opening 3 minutes where the audience follows one of the victim’s attacks. All victims were attacked in their own homes and taken to an abandoned warehouse in the middle of the country side, the exact location of which is unknown throughout the film but it is isolated. Throughout the film they are individually tortured by masked characters who never reveal their face. The idea behind the plot is that each member of the "stalking group" are targeting their victims not only for a slightly erotic reason but are sycophantic; all females own something they require/desire. i.e a body part (such as limbs, eyes, hair). The antagonists are a group of psychotic scientists aiming to create their perfect being and relentlessly killing any object of their desire along the way. Although the film follows all the victims it is mainly focused on 3 of the characters, only 2 of which eventually surviving. The other 4 characters all become killed off during the plot in various scenes and ways.
Our opening 3 minutes shows an example of one of the characters attack on her way home from an unknown destination. The audience are made aware during her journey that she is being followed although she is not. We view her walk away and every so often the camera flicks forward in time for a short loud burst of the attack on her that is yet to take place. then camera will then switch back to her journey home, these flashes will continue with the frame hinting more each time and the flashes becoming closer together and faster eventually revealing to the audience exactly what happens during her attack. The attacks show her with her antagonists inside her house and eventually attacking her. The audience are then shown hints of a group of unconscious females with various crosses over different areas of their body. The forward flashes become quicker until the present time zone catches up with the beginning of the flashes as the female goes to let herself in her house and we hear a small child's voice.
We hope this will leave our audience in suspense questioning what the marks on the bodies mean. We plan to give no clear indication of the state of the females and how many there are to keep the audience questioning the scene. The sharp frames we hope will shock the audience but also indicate whats in store throughout the rest of the film. Also we hope the audience is left wondering who the antagonists are and where the victims are based. The main idea of our opening is not a clear cut version of events but clues and hints that firstly may make little sense but as they come together create more answers, yet more anticipation.

Scream Remake

We remade the opening of the film Scream, to gain experience for the making of our own horror movie. We used the origianal clip to create a shot list, and then worked with this and a script to ensure our remake was as close, technically, as possible.
Although we tried to keep to the main points of the film, and make it as accurate as we could, due to the school environment and lack of set/ scenery, some aspects were slightly different but still gave the same effect. By filming this, we got used to the genre and method of filming involved in horror, which again set us up for our original film. The genre of horror makes use of certain camera angles/ diagetic and extra diagetic sound to cause fear in the viewer, and by looking so closely at Scream, it helped us to get ideas for how we would produce our own film.
We also gained experience in editing a horror movie, the techniques used, sounds, effects ect. that can be added, and when they are appropriate.
We found this a good learning experience as through pratically re-creating this scene we were able to come across dilemma's and work our way around them or plan how we would in the future. One problem we found was the mise-en-scene. Due to our surroundings we felt that the scene may have been slightly more effective if we were able to film it in a similar enviroment, however this could be easily over come in the future and with more planning we could also make effective use of the lighting. Another problem we faced was continuity, as alot of the shots were consistant we found it difficult to find a fluent shot that worked well without mistakes. To repeat this we would make sure we kept our time well, so we had more time than neccissary and were not rushed. This way we would be able to take more shots and have a wider choice to edit from.
We did however feel that we shot the angles well and the timing of the shots were well planned. We felt the shots zoomed when appropriate and were well matched to the original Scream.
We have learned alot from our re-make and by having a first hand experience we are now prepared for our origianal horror and what we can improve on to give us the highest marks possible. We will be well aware of our time management and to make sure we have enough shots, so when it comes to editing we are left with enough material to create the best horror standard we possibly can.

Gantt Chart

We updated our Gant Chart to show the progress made in the last week.

Gant Chart

Initial Ideas For Horror Opening

Initial Ideas for Horror

We discussed basic ideas of what we as a group felt would be an effective opening for our horror film opening. We briefly discussed a plot which we plan to develop on but from there we were able to discuss how to develop this into a good captivating opening.

Gant Chart

To make sure that we use our time effectively and that we don't run out of time, we created a Gant Chart. This is how our group can ensure that each person does an equal share of the work.

Gant Chart

Initial Idea For Our Horror Film

Yesterday, we had a group discussion about the ideas we want to include in our Horror movie. We each made a spider diagram and then shared ideas, to produce a basic outline of our final idea. We discussed previous horror movie openings which influenced our ideas.

We discussed lighting, sound and camera angles to help us come up with different ideas for film openings.
Our main idea was to make the opening sequence mostly audio, to leave it ambiguous to the audience. We intend to use flashing images, and short clips of film to make it confusing, but keep the viewer drawn in.
Our aim is to create an unusual horror movie, not the everyday stereotypes we have become so accustomed to, but produce a psychological thriller unlike most others.