Research and Planning Targets

You have really worked hard and you have been very independant - a really positive approach to your studies this year, well done! In order to improve your response for this part of the course this year you need to show some leadership skills to move your group on.

Documenting Of Influences

In our clip we used a vast amount of extreme (high and low) and dynamic camera angles because of the enticement it can bring to our target audience. There were many reasons which influenced us to make the decision to choose horror as the genre for our film. In our trailer we used a multitude of camera angles but primarily used angles such as wide angle and mid shots on a good quality go pro camera. Firstly you see the group walking towards the camera which is panning backwards which is one of the most acquired/generic shots in horror films. After distributing a questionnaire around, the results showed that the majority of the people wanted us to do a horror film. This influenced us to stick by our idea of the genre being horror. After looking in more detail at the codes and conventions of horror films we analysed what shots and atmosphere to create in our film trailer i.e. extensive use of long and mid shots to emphasise the sinister-ism of our film, some film examples used was cabin in the woods and Friday the 13th.We were influenced to use ideas from the horror films because using the correct sounds and music, you can create a very effective film trailer as horror films have a very distinctive atmosphere which can be easily emphasised by sinister music and sounds.

Consideration of representation and stereotyping

The usual stereotypes of a villain are male, sinister, mysterious, unknown identity, dangerous and powerful. In our film the villain will be mysterious and he will have an unknown identity. This means that the audience will feel eerie and it will put them on edge because they will not know who the killer is which creates even more suspense.  We will also represent the villain as sinister as the victims will not expect anything to happen to them. This, again, is conforming to the stereotype of villains being dangerous and mysterious.

The female victim is conforming to the stereotype as women being weak and vulnerable. This is because she has no idea what is about to happen, it could represent her as quite ditsy and unaware. This then conforms to the stereotype of women being much more vulnerable and perhaps a bit clueless. We have not subverted the stereotype of women in any way as we have only conformed to the stereotype. We have not subverted the stereotype because in our trailer we needed to get straight to the point and allow the audience to understand and make a judgement as to who the victims are in the film. The point in this is it keeps the audience on the edge of their seats as they may try and guess what will happen. We have left an element of surprise because we are not showing whether all of the victims get murdered, we only show a few scenes in which two of the characters have come into contact with the murderer. This is so the audience will have something to continue watching it for- they will want to know who dies and who the murderer is.  However, we have two victims, one being a girl and the other being a boy. The boy victim is conforming to the stereotype of a victim but is also subverting the stereotype of a boy being strong and powerful. The boy is conforming to the stereotype of a victim because he was unaware of the events that were about to take place which shows he is very vulnerable and also perhaps a bit ditsy because he hasn't even realised that he is being watched by the murderer. However he is subverting the stereotype of boys being strong and powerful because he is the victim in all this and even though he had no idea that he was going to be murdered he could of perhaps tried to fight off the murderer.

Planning Targets

Well done Cory - a good and well organised production so far. Evidence your journey more by including video diares and video blogs to share your ideas with your readers and followers even more! Evidence your time keeping by showing your key dates for production. Well done.

Interviews with the actors

Preview of the Script

Beginning:

All 5 characters walk down a path in to the woods

Cory: Yeah lets pitch the tent here
Connor: Yeah looks a great spot
Ryan: Right Connor and Rachel go and get firewood
Rachel: Ok

Rachel and Connor walk off to get fire wood.
Ryan, Georgia and Cory stay to put up tent.
We here sounds of pain but we do not know who is getting beaten up.
Phones ring, Cory, Georgia and Ryan all look around.

Peg 1 : We see a shadow on the back of the tent while some characters sit inside it.
Peg 2: We see Rachel taken to the ground by Alex
Peg 3: We see Cory get dragged along the floor
Peg 4: We see either Georgia or Ryan running through the woods to try and escape Alex.

Scream!!!!!!!!

 

This is just a preview of a script but we may not stick to it as we will mainly let our actions speak louder than words through the use of our horror conventions.

 

Synopsis

 

A group of friends decide to go camping in the words when some unfortunate events occur and the characters find themselves being picked off,one by one, by an unknown killer.

Questionnaire Results

Question 1

This result shows us that our main audience prefers the horror genre compared to the other genres. This will be the genre we use as it is what the audience want.

Question 2

This result shows that our audience watch horror movies but not that regularly but it is still the most preferred genre so we will most likely create a horror movie.


Question 3

This result shows that our audience mainly associate a horror movie with a setting as our own home-this is a little formulaic and does not suit the idea of our film so we may use the woods as our location as it links more to our idea.

Question 4

 This result shows that our audience prefer a mix of gender so we will include 3 guys and 2 girls.


 Question 5

 This result shows that our audience expect many features from the codes and conventions of a horror movie.


Question 6

This shows that our audience will like to see an ending with the girl surviving which is the same as many horror movies.

 

Animatic Storyboard

Soundtrack Research

This is a You Tube clip of various horror sound effects. These sound effects will come in extremely helpful in our film because we needs lots of sound effects to add emphasis to the particularly scary scenes. After carefully looking at what we need to do in order to make sure we can legally use this clip we had to follow a number of steps. We had to subscribe, like and favourite the clip. We also have to link to the users channel in the description of our film. This means that there is no charge for using the clips which is a good thing because we don't want to have to pay for any sort of background music in our film.
In particular, the good things about this You Tube clip are that it includes lots of various sound effects. They are of different volume and different speed. This is a good thing because it means we can fit the music to the speed of our film, also known as match on action. This will then make our film more scary for the audience because it means when the scary scenes are shown, the music will emphasise the scariness of it which will therefore have a greater effect on the audience.

Research and Planning Targets

Well done Cory. Try to include some video blogs, perhaps of things like make-up and costume trails or even interviews with actors, to improve your research and planning further. Well done!

Relevant Online Tutorials

These tutorials have taught me how to use the gadget "Chroma key" on adobe premiere elements 10. This will allow me to change the background of my trailer which would come in handy for the titles. At the moment my titles are on a white background but with the use of this new gadget I can make the title on a plain black background to help it stand out.

Costume Research

Slasher movies consist of specific costume choices as the antagonist usually wears a mask to hide his identity-which creates the message of fear the unknown. The antagonist also usually wears dark clothing, mainly black, to enhance the fear of the character and make them look more sinister. These are the typical conventions of costumes in horror movies and are usually followed. Films that have used these conventions are “Friday the 13th”, “Halloween” and “Scream”. All of these movies were very successful and we hope to adopt their style, of following the codes and conventions, for our film.

The protagonist is usually female in horror movies; the audience are more likely to accept a female as the victim as it conforms to the stereotype that men are strong and brave whereas women are weak and vulnerable. The protagonist usually wears casual clothing and appears to be sophisticated as she solves the puzzles and avoids the unknown killer. 

The female protagonist wears unrevealing clothing whereas the other female characters wear more provocative clothing to suggest to the audience that they are easy to get and an easy target for the antagonist. The provocative clothing usually consists of miniskirts and low cut tops.

The other characters are usually a few guys, around 2 or 3, who all have different personalities. The main guy, who is usually to die first, is the “jock”-this is the character the audience do not appeal to as he objectifies women and conforms to the typical stereotype of a “jock”. The other guys are more appealing to the audience with one of them being the “love interest” for the main female protagonist and the other being the character who the audience like but who unfortunately dies. The “jock” usually wears a sports jacket or football jersey to show that they are active, whereas the other characters wear casual clothing, such as jeans and t-shits, to relate with the audience.

Own film treatment

Directed by Cory Nelson, Connor Moreton, Ryan Eastman and Rachel Herring

Synopsis

A group of friends take a trip and decide to go camping in the woods but then strange events occur and the characters find themselves being picked off one by one by an unknown killer. The group then have to stay calm and survive the terror they face while also trying to understand the events that are taking place.  We have many digetic noises to alert the characters and create the suspense for the audience. All the directors (Cory Nelson, Connor Moreton, Ryan Eastman and Rachel Herring) are also starring in this incredible horror film which is certain to get the audience gripping their seats with its terrifying scenes and tension filled suspense.

Codes and Conventions

The codes and conventions of our film include jump-scares, tension filled scenes and fast paced. The trailer involves many frightening scenes which will create many enigmas and keep the audience gripping onto their seats. It also involves the typical conventions of a horror film with the main characters in peril are going to be the weak, vulnerable girls, conforming to the stereotype that women are seen as weak and powerless. Another convention of our film is that we are going to have the characters running from the unknown in order to survive, but the trailer will end with every character being shown to be in danger-this will keep the audience hooked as they will not know who lives or dies until they see the full film. Lastly our trailer will end with a girl running, with no digetic or non digetic sound, through the woods, terrified and alone and then a scream will be heard and the titles will appear.

Practised Film Titles

In this post I will examine different types of film titles and analyse each one to see if they suit our film.

This font is the "Face your fears font" and it is quite simple but is my favourite at the moment as it does have a sinister look to it and it looks like the killer has written this with the victims blood. I used a red font to connote danger and give the audience an indication to what the film will include.

This font is the "You Murderer" font and is similar to the first font and offers the same sinister look. The font looks as if it is the victims blood smeared onto a wall and the choice of red again connotes danger. This is a great font that offers a "slasher" theme to our film but I think that the first font looks more realistic.

This font is called the "Lumos" font and it is different to the others as it's not red and it's very plain. This font is plain and simple which follows the codes and conventions of a horror films as it is similar to other horror film titles, such as "Texas Chainsaw". The font stands out and is very sharp which gives the audience the indication that the film will be sharp and straight to the point. 

This font is from the horror movie "Scream". It has all the letter aligned apart from the sharp "W" as it stretches down lower than the other letters. This font may make the audience associate our film with "Scream" which is good because "Scream" was a successful horror movie, however we would like our film to have it's own style of font instead of just copying one that has already been used. 

This font is from the horror movie "Friday the 13th" which was another very successful horror movie. The font is not too bad but is a bit simple and plain for our movie. 

Overall I believe the top two,"Face your fears" and the"You Murderer", fonts are the best fonts for our horror movie as they offer a sinister theme and look like the victims blood smeared across a wall, which is perfect for our horror film. They also do not look very sketchy and could be seen in a big blockbuster movie. 

Own Film Brainstorm

Audience Research And Profiling

Generally, horror films target audiences aged between 16-24 and are more than likely predominantly favoured by men as they can be more immersed by each character than women do as they will react in a different way, which is by being scared, which could link with the female characters that are generally in peril like in most horror films.  The audience is usually males aged between 16-24 because men can interact with the characters whereas the women do not usually enjoy gore as it makes them feel "squeamish". This conforms to the stereotype that men are stronger than women. 

Our film's genre is horror and it is based in a woodland area-meaning that our film will follow other films with the same characteristics, such as are "Cabin in the Woods","Nightmare on Elm Street" and "The Hills Have Eyes 2", as they are all horrors set in one particular location instead of various locations like "Saw". This allows the audience to get a more in depth concept of what the characters are really feeling. 

Most people interested in watching these films would be couples and people that can enjoy and understand the sinister characteristics-which is why the target audience are aged between 16-24.

Font Research - Horror

As you can see, the font used for this horror film is simple and there is nothing which hugely suggests that it is the usual font used for horror films. The title is in block capitals and plain white. The white font is effective because of the black background. This makes it stand out more. On some of the letters in the titles, they have grey colours in them. As the huge chainsaw is directly above the title, and the chainsaw is the same grey that is in the letters, it could possibly provide a link meaning that when the see the chainsaw and the title the audience would automatically realise that the film is based on that chainsaw.











The font used in this film titles closely resembles hand writing. This is effective because it could show that a character from the film has written it which could emphasise the scariness of the film. Also there is no capital letters in the title so, again, it could suggest that it has been written by a character. The writing is black against a fiery red and yellow background. This is effective as it makes the title stand out. Also the colours used are red and yellow, both of which are colours that are related to horror films.














The font in this horror film title is quite plain, so there would be nothing to suggest that it is a definite horror film title if it wasn't for the images behind it. The writing is plain white against a black background which therefore makes the title stand out.













Overall there is a trend with the three fonts we have analysed. Firstly, all of the fonts seem to be relatively plain- there is nothing that suggests they are specifically horror film titles. Secondly, the titles are either white or black against either a bright background or a plain black background to make them stand out. This helps us into our font research because now we know that horror film titles are mainly relatively plain and they are usually black or white against the opposite colour background.

Location Research - Ashtead Common

We have chosen Ashtead Common to be the location for our horror film trailer. We decided to use this as the location because not many people tend to walk through these woods. This means that the trailer will have a scary atmosphere because the audience will know that the characters in the film are completely alone. Also, it goes with the typical convention of a horror film being located in woods. The effectiveness of conforming to the usual conventions of a horror film is that the audience will be able to easily establish that something sinister is going to happen. This would make them more interested in the trailer because they will be waiting for something to happen.

Also, the lighting in woods is usually fairly dim. This will also add to the scary atmosphere of the trailer because another convention of horror films are dark lighting. This means that the audience can understand that something deadly is most likely to happen. It also makes them more concerned for the characters because they can almost definitely conclude that these characters are in danger.

Horror Questionnaire

1) Do you enjoy watching horror films?

• Yes
• No

 

2) How often do you watch horror films?

• Once a week
• Once a month
• Once a year
• Never

3) What setting would you associate with a horror film?

• Abandoned house
• Woods
• Hospital
• Own home

4) Do you prefer a mix of gender in the film or only one gender involved?

• Yes, I prefer a mix of males and Females
• No, I prefer one gender

 

5) What props do you expect to see in a horror film?

• A knife
• A noose
• A gun
• Rags with blood and other.
• A hammer
• Blunt object

 

6) What do you want the ending to be?

• Boy and Girl survive
• Girl lives as boy sacrifices himself
• Killer wins
• Twist

G324 Research and Planning (20 marks)

Research

Ø  Actors and props photos

Planning

Ø Diary of filming/editing etc. with photos and screen grabs
Ø  Shot lists

Mood board - Action/Comedy Film

Institution Research-Touchstone Television

Touchstone Television

Touchstone Pictures is an American production company and one of several film distribution labels of The Walt Disney Studios, owned by The Walt Disney establishment . Established in 1984 by then-Disney CEO Ron.W.Miller as Touchstone Films, it typically releases films that feature more mature themes and darker tones than those released under the flagship Walt Disney Studios label.

Touchstone's Successful Production Partners their most commercially successful production partners in later years have been Caravan Pictures,Summit Entertainment, Jerry Bruckheimer Films, Columbia Pictures,Icon Productions, Imagine Entertainment Mandevile Films, Focus Features, Spyglass Entertainment and Dream work productions.

Institution Research-Sony Pictures

Sony Pictures


Sony Pictures Entertainment Inc, is the American television and film production and distribution unit of Japanese multinational technology and media conglomerate Sony. It is based in Culver City,California and serves as Sony's main global film production and distribution company. Its group sales in the fiscal year 2011 ended March 31, 2012 has been reported to be of $8.021 billion.


Films That Sony Pictures Have Created Sony Pictures Entertainment is a member of the Motion Picture Association Of America (MPAA).
Throughout the years, SPE has produced, distributed, or co-distributed successful franchises such as Men In Black,Underworld and Resident Evil.

Institution Research-20th Century Fox

20th Century Fox

The company was founded on May 31,1935,founded by William Fox in 1915.

Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation, is one of the six major American film studios as of 2011. Located in the Century city, area of Los Angeles, just west of Beverly Hills, the studio used to be a subsidiary of News Corporation, but now it's currently a subsidiary of 21st Century Fox, and is a very high stated production company that is known world wide.

Films Produced By 20th Century Fox20th Century Fox is a member of the Motion Picture Association Of America (MPAA).

20th Century Fox has distributed various commercially successful film series, including Star Wars,Die Hard and Alien Vs Predator . Television series produced by Fox include The Simpsons, Family Guy and Modern Family. Among the most famous actresses to come out of this studio were Shirley Temple who was 20th Century Fox's first film star, Marylin Monroe.

Institution Research-Paramount Pictures

Paramount pictures

Paramount Pictures Corporation, commonly known as simply Paramount is a film and television production/distribution studio, consistently ranked as one of the largest top-grossing film studios. It is a subsidiary of U.S. Viacom, Paramount is a member of the Motion Picture Association Of America (MPAA).

Paramount Pictures has distributed various commercially successful film series, such as Shrek, Mission Impossible,Jackass, Beverly Hills Cop, Crocodile Dundee and Madagascar.Paramount have made an abundance of premiere film series which is good to look for in a production company.

Institution Research-Dream Works

DreamWorks

















Dream Works Animation SKG, Inc. (DWA) is an American animation studios based in Glendale, California that creates animated feature films, television programs, and online virtual worlds. They have released a total of twenty-seven feature films, including the

The main franchises include Shrek,Kung Fu Panda ,Monsters vs Aliens and How To Train Your Dragon. As of June 2013, its feature films have made $11 billion worldwide, with its $430 million average gross.

The studio has so far received two Academy Awards along with numerous Annie & Emmy Awards; as well as multiple Golden Globe & BAFTA nominations.

Institutuion Research-Universal Studio's

Universal Studios Inc. (also known as Universal Pictures), is an American motion picture studio, owned by Com cast through its wholly owned subsidiary NBC Universal, and is one of the six major movie studios.

Its production studios are at 100 Universal City Plaza Drive in Universal City, California. Distribution and other corporate offices are in New York City.

Founded in 1912 by Carl Laemele, Mark Dintenfass, Charles Baumann, Adam Kessel,Pat Powers, William Swanson, David Horsley, and Jules Brulatour, it is the oldest movie studio in the United States of America.


Universal studios have produced films such as:

• Mr Beans Holiday
• Ted
• Fast And Furious 6

They are currently in the stage of producing Fast And Furious 7,Ted 2 and Search Party and many others. This is one reason I have chosen this production company; the abundance of big box office breakers that can make any film a huge hit and the perfect trend of comedy, sport and action (average film profit £ 355 000 000).