Group Roles


Published by George Gamble


Throughout the filming progress we will all take on these roles:



Cinematography - Harry Knight
http://harrytheknight.blogspot.com/
Director - George Gamble
Company Blog -

Sunday 30 January 2011

HK: Filming Preperations


After a bitterly cold day of filming with all the cast and crew we managed to get some brilliant footage and all in all the day went really well for Flatline Films, we arrived at location at around half 4 today, Sunday the 30st of January.



Photo By George Gamble

A lot of preparation went into todays filming we had to prepare the fake blood for our killers shirt, the ingredients for our grim, yet convincing formula were: Liquid Glucose, Flour, Red Food Coloring and of course everyones favorite some old 
Tomato Ketchup, though these products pulled of local supermarkets shelfs worked brilliantly and looked like they were fresh of any hollywood blockbusters make up department.




Also, we had to make sure our gorgeous scream queen Megan Claydon was looking tip top for our filming so she spent a good twenty minutes applying the make up looking great for her first big acting break!                                           

RH - Final night of filming


On set with cast and crew
Tonight we were filming our car scenes in the countryside. We felt the filming went extremely well. There was a lot to organise before we headed up to our location such as; our knife, fake blood, mask, camera and transport. We got to our location and it was a bit light so we planned and got everything set up whilst we waited for the light to fade slightly.

Our first shot was of 'Casey' getting in her car. We shot this from two different angles. Our second shot involved myself in the boot of a car shooting 'Casey' drive up the road. This shot was very interesting as it enabled us to have a shot moving which was brilliant. This shot took us up the road to where the car crash occurs.
Preparing for our final shot

After this we had several shots inside the car and outside. We get several angles of our killer standing in the road wearing a blood stained shirt and holding a bloody blade. The car approaches the killer and then swerves off. We had to get round the fact that our actress doesn't drive so with clever camera shots we got round this problem.
Our Killer!

 To sum up it was a fantastic night of filming and we got plenty of coverage, there is a lot of material to work with when it comes to editing and we believe the soundtrack idea we have will go very well with the footage taken.

GG - Final piece of filming

Tonight we finished off our filming for our production. Overall  we are happy with what we have done, although it was hard getting some of the shots i think we have done well. Our male actor, James Crowther, did an excellent job playing the protagonist and our female actress, Megan Claydon, also did an amazing job of playing the 'scream queen.'



We managed to get all the shots we wanted, plus a few extra that we thought of when we were up there.       In all we have done 15 minutes of filming, which we need to cut down to 2 minutes worth.

We liked how our protagonist was dressed. We though he looked very scary and threatening. We were pleased that he looked like the man from 'The Strangers' because that is were we got our idea from for him.

We are all very happy with our footage taken tonight and look forward to editing it all down.

ALL - Mask feedback

ALL - Vodcast, day of filming

GG RH - Mask finished!

We planned to make a mask that resembled the one that the character 'Scarecrow' wore in Batman. We originally planned to make the mask in hessian however we were unable to find this material, so in the end we made it in black velvet.


George's Mum kindly agreed terms to make this mask for us. We thought this would be ideal as she is a textiles master. She had an image to work with and followed this design. We are delighted with the final outcome. When we decided to test our masks impact on audiences it went quite well. What we did was we wore the mask around the local, we knocked on house doors wearing the mask and studied the peoples reactions.


We've looked at using the mask with and without string around the neck. We came to the conclusion that the rope around the neck would look better. 

GG RH - Making blood

In our production we need to create blood. The blood will be used to stain the killers shirt to give him a menacing look and to signify that he has just killed somebody prior to this. We will also have blood dripping of the killers knife. Finally we will need blood to apply to our 'Scream Queens' face (Casey).


A link to a page for making fake blood

RH - Learning from our filming experiances


We can learn from numerous things to apply to when we film on Sunday. We were very prepared however one thing that we realised today was that it gets dark very quickly, today it wasn't a problem but on Sunday we won't have the benefit of lights from the house. So we do need to have slightly better time management. Also we need to make sure that our cast and not just us producing the film know exactly what they are doing. I personally think that Sunday's filming will be better for us filming our initial shots today.

RH - Continuity Errors


Today is our first day of filming.We will also shoot on Sunday, this raises the problem of continutiy errors. It is essential that there are no costume changes or a differant hair style etc. 'Harry Knight' our producer imparticularly  will be looking out for these errors. http://harrytheknight.blogspot.com/

Luckily we will be filming on a differant location on Sunday which will mean the main focus will be on the character's apperances. As well as this the weather will be a contributing factor, although we cannot control the elements we have to film at the same time or slightly later on Sunday, because it would look poor if it got lighter.

GG - Filming at night

Because we are filming our production at night this caused a few problems. We found that it gets dark very quickly, meaning we don't have lots of time to film. We found that we have around 1 hour in all. We overcame this problem by filming on different nights of the week but at the same time. This makes it look like it is all one night on camera, although we have split up when we filmed the footage.
Another problem that we found was the natural light. It was originally hard to see what was going on when we filmed outside, especially seeming as we were in the county side with no artificial light available. We overcame this problem by filming early giving us more natural light time. We found that filming around 4 30pm was the right time for us. We also found that when editing, we can increase and decrease the light on screen.

Friday 28 January 2011

GG - Filming our first few shots


We decided to film our opening few shots in an old and large house. With the house having an old feeling about it we believe this would signify a feeling of unsettlement to our film. The feeling that maybe the house is haunted. 


Our first few shots were taken from outside the house, signifying the feeling that someone is watching. We chose to film as the light was going to signify night was to come. We believe that when watching a film darkness always makes you feel more uncomfortable and less safe. We also took some shots with branches hanging over the lens of the camera to make you think that the person 'watching' is trying to hide from them. 


Our next set of shots were done inside. It was of the 'couple' coming down the stairs after just having a romantic evening to themselves. You can tell this by the male only wearing a dressing gown. 

We then have a match on action shot of the male opening the door for her. He then kisses her on the cheek and they say there goodbyes. With only few words exchanged it leaves the viewer guessing of what they have been up to.  

RH - Wes Craven


For almost thirty years, 'Craven has been scaring mainsteam audiences and has been responsible for creating a number of familiar horror icons'. Craven first directed 'Last house on the left' (1972) this film about rapist murderers is still banned in the UK.

His most recognised films are; 'A Nightmare on Elm Street' (1984) and 'Scream' (1996). In 1984 he created the serial slayer character of 'Freddy Kruegar', its timing and success sparked sequels to be made. This character is well regarded as one of the most famous killers. Scream was realesed in 1996 and this film provided a base for all post modern horror films to be based on.

Craven is described as "A modern master of horror". His films usually have an air of differance about them that has proven influencial on his peers.

A link to Amazon where you can buy 'The Pocket Essentaial Horror Films' book 

Source -  'Pocket Essential Horrr Films' book (Michelle Le Blanc and Colin Odell)

HK - Final Ident Idea for Maroaders

RH - Cherry Falls, opening killing


In the opening to 'Cherry Falls'a couple (Rod and Stacey) were murdered. In our production we are recreating a car crash, we are re-shooting this because we did not take enough shots from enough angles. We need a lot more coverage. In this incident we see several close-ups of the girls face. We need shot variation including a POV shot, close-ups of our 'Scream Queen'. One improvement we were told to make from our audience feedback was that we needed to hold off on revealing the killers identity until the actual murder. Some of the shots were shot through the windshield and others within the actual car. What they do well is that they cut between about 3 or 4 shots which is something we need to replicate during our re-shoot. One thing that we did well in our rough cut was that the killers shadow was moving along the side of the car whilst our killing approached the car in shot, but from audience feedback we were told that it would look scarier if the killing was not on screen and we could only see his shadow.
This is a link to a film review for 'Cherry Falls'

GG - Feedback on our Initial Ident idea

We asked 10 people what their opinions were of our company Ident.
      The things they think we need to change are:

  • The music didn't fit the genre.
  • The name confused them.
  • The music ended to early. 
  • It was too short.
After taking all this into account we have now made a new company Ident which has been improved. We have changed the sound and increased the length of it. We will show it to the same 10 people again and re-ask for their opinions on it. 

RH - Character Names


Our character name will be 'Casey' and 'Sam' we are providing intertextuality by choosing these names, with 'Casey' being the name of the 'Scream Queen' in 'Scream' and'Sam' being the first name of 'Dr. Sam Loomis' in 'Halloween'. 'Wes Craven' was famous for using intertexuality in his films.

RH - Vehicle Choice


In our production a big part of the opening is going to involve a car. The car will belong to our 'Scream Queen' who is a teenager, because of this the car cannot be an expensive Mercedes, therefore the car we will be using is a purple VW polo. This signifies that it is a feminine car and not to expensive so it fits in with the teenage stereotype. 

GG - 'Horror Zone' research

When looking at the book 'Horror Zone' we gathered research for our ideas for our production. 
There are similarities between aspects of Carpenter's horror and Bava's terror-thrillers: the use of a prowling or stalking camera, voyeuristic camera position, fluid camera movement.    Conrich [ed.] (2010) Horror Zone. C9, p.177.


This will help us when filming our production. It has given us ideas on different shots we can use and different ways of filming.  

GG - Deconstruction: Slashers (Maurice Devereaux) (2001)

 A link to Sophie Dixon's blog - Deconstruction done together
Low Budget film - $165,000 estimated.
No sequal.
Slahers is about a japanese game show wherer the contestant compete to survive, and at the end the final girl/man is giver a sum of $12,000,000.

1. Time period is signified by the clothing, hairstyles, the show itself & the attitudes of the contestants (e.g. males view of the female competitors).
2. The location is signified by the language spoken by the host of the show and the fact that it is set in a studio.
3. Social class is signified by contestants' accents and clothing worn, for example Megan is an upple/middle class citizen signified by the clothing she wears (not in any way revealing) and her attitudes towards the show and she is only competing to prove the point she disagrees with the morals of the show wheras other citizens are willing and happy to compete signifing they are working class and need the money.
4. We know from the previous series clips shown straightaway the film is going to involve nudity and violence when a former contestants top is pulled up and she is stabbed in the stomache.
5. Costumes and make-up shown used by the killers shows us that the killings are going to be brutal and that the people involved are not right in the head.

GG - Reason for using a knife

The killers' weapon of choice, in Halloween, remained relatively focused - a large knife.        Conrich [ed.] (2010) Horror Zone. C9, p.177.
Horror Zone - Amazon book


We used the film Halloween to help us decided on what weapon of choice to use. We believe that this is one of the best slasher films around. The knife is used in most horror/slasher films, we gathered this from analysing deconstructing films. 

Thursday 27 January 2011

GG - Change in the Story

    We have been discussing what changes we can make to our production to improve it. So far we have changed the following ideas:

  • The opening set of shots.
  • How we are going to introduce our credits. 
  • What clothing the villain will wear.
  • How the 'scream queen' will be dragged from the car.
  • How our film will finish.
     We still have things a couple of things to discuss as a group. 

HK: Company Idents


For our production we need to create 2 company idents to put in the opening credits of our movie, we will be having one for the distributers ' Maroaders' and our producers, 'Flatline Film's'

A lot of thought must go into the company idents as they get shown before every film the company is associated with, so what we need for ours is something that fits in with the horror genre and if we get these right they can instantly set the mood of the film before the film has even started.

I had a look at previous work from Ilkley Grammar Media Students to gain inspiration on what worked well...

GG - A group discussion

A problem that we had to overcome as a group was deciding on the opening couple of shots to our film. Both me and Roam had ideas that we wanted to use so we discussed them both. Then, we asked other people out of our work group on there opinions of the idea. We felt that by doing this it would help us decide on which opening to use.

Roams idea was to have more shots indoors. He wanted to give more anchorage to the idea that the couple had just had sex. We would have achieved this by showing shots of them both getting dressed etc... A disadvantage to this idea was that we are limited to only 2 minutes of filming. With a lot more to film as well we thought that fitting it all in would have been a tough challenge. 

George's idea was that we have a couple of long shots of the house signifying someones watching them both. We would then go to a close up of them both outside the front door of the house. The male would be wearing a dressage gown to help anchor the idea they had just had sex. They would then kiss each other on the cheek and she would go and get in the car. The disadvantage to this idea is that there is not much anchorage used to show that they had just had sex, making the viewer wonder why the 'scream queen' is about to be murdered. 

After a long discussion and speaking with others we decided to go with George's idea. We believe that with not much time to film we don't want to be rushed at the core of our production. When the 'victim' meets the 'protagonist.'

GG - Discussion for our opening shots

RH - Madhouse opening (William Butler, 2004)


In the opening to 'Madhouse' we see a lot gore. There are short takes as people who look like they are dead.  The denote from the title that the setting is in a mental hospital, the camera shot is a long shot looking down a long dark hallway, however we get flashes of light as the blooded people get closer to the camera. We get an ECU of somebodies brain, this is strong gore on screen.

This is a link to the IMDb page of 'Madhouse'

We can't take to much from this section of the opening as it doesn't link in to what we are doing in our production. However later in the opening two men are chasing a boy through the wood who exited from the building, he comes to a road and car headlights illuminate on him. We can use this in our production as our 'Scream Queen' will be driving before looking up from her phone to see a masked man in her headlights before swerving and crashing. When he pulls over, dust rises. In our production we need to steam to rise from the bonit we will have to use hot water to help add special effects to our car crash.

HK - Initial Ident idea

GG - How to introduce our credits

                We discussed the idea of how to introduce our credits at the start of our production. We decided that we are going to have them all before the first shot of footage. This is because we don't want it to look to much like a film trailer when it is an opening to a film. 


                Our initial idea was to use cut away shots to black screens to show our credits during the film shots. Ie shot, credit, shot, credit. But when discussing, the audience feedback was that it would be to much like a trailer. We have now decided to just have them all at the start, with a heart beat at the start of each changing credit. 

RH - Christmas Evil opening (Lewis Jackson, 1980) aka 'You Better Watch Out'




In the opening of this film we get a extreme long shot of a house. We can denote that it is Christmas Eve because of the writing at the bottom of the shot, the date is also signified by the lights on the house. There is voice over whilst the shot slowly pans upwards to bring the full moon into the shot.
What we can learn from this as, 
there camera shakes and is not still, we will make sure that we don't make this mistake.There are also no opening credits or idents which we will include. However like our production our first shot is an establishing shot of a house, we will pan down from a tree, unlike this opening where they have panned up to capture the full moon.This is a link to the IMDb page of 'Christmas Evil' 
Also in this opening the child comes downstairs only to see 'Santa Clause' and his mother together, 'Santa Clause' was on his knees grazing her leg, this signifies that they will have sex as she is wearing a silk red dressing gown and some lingerie underneath, this costume is very 'sexual' the colour red is significant for two reasons; 1) The colour red signifies love. 2) Red is a colour that you would associate with Christmas.

We can take inspiration from this scene as 
we need to signify that our two characters have just had sex, the costume worn by the women gave this impression straight away, as did the male behaviour to her. They used an ECU on her thigh, in this shot we saw the mans hand on her thigh and this also showed her lingerie. I think we could use an ECU in our production as it adds suspense and provides a different shot type.

Wednesday 26 January 2011

GG - research into 'Killer' and 'Victims'


  • The Killer—With notable exceptions, the killer in the slasher film is usually male. His identity is often, but not always, unknown and/or concealed either by a mask or by creative lighting and camera work. He is often mute and seemingly unstoppable, able to withstand stabbings, falls and shootings by his victims. His background sometimes includes a childhood trauma that explains his choice of victim, weapon and location (the killer can be made out to be pitiable or understood). Slasher villains tend to prefer hand held weapons such as knives, axes, hatchetes, and chainsaws as opposed to bombs or guns. As the sub-genre developed, some argue that the real star of a slasher is the killer, not the victims or Final Girl. Throughout most of the franchises, the killer is constant. Freddy KruegerJason Voorhees and Michael Myers are notable examples of this phenomenon.
  • The Victims—The victims tend to be young, attractive, high school or college-aged adolescents. Much has been made about the choice of victims. Some theorists claim that they young people are punished for indulging in vices such as pre-marital sex or illegal drugs. Other theorists claim that is simply a matter of the activities making the victims unaware of their surroundings, making them easy prey for the killer.

                                             Source: (wikipedia.org/wiki/Slasher_film )

GG - Research into Setting

The Location—Many slasher films are set in isolated locations such as on islands, deep in forests, small towns, abandoned buildings and farms. The killer may have a connection to their chosen location, such as from a tragic event or just live/frequently visit. The locations are genuinely low populated, sometimes with very few to no inhabitants and are far away from civilization, which can present a problem for the police and other emergency services to arrive quickly if requested by the victims. However mobile phone reception may be too weak to make a phone call, and the killer can isolate his victims further by cutting the phone or electrical lines, disabling communication devices (short wave radio) and destroying their means of escape such as their vehicles which makes escape near impossible. This can allow the killer to freely kill his victims without the need to worry about interference from the outside world. 
                                            Source: (wikipedia.org/wiki/Scream_queen )

GG - Deconstruction of 'Hell Night'


Director: 

Tom DeSimone (1981)


A link to the imbd page


  • The opening of this film is a girl screaming, it is an extreme close up of her mouth. This gives the viewer an idea that bad is to come and foreshadows the bad events to come. 
  • There is then a long shot of people at a party. The camera gradually moves past a set of people out side with no cut away shots, its is all one continuos shot.
  • There is diegetic music being played at the party. But you get the impression it could be Non diegetic sound because as the camera travels further away the volume of the music stays the same. 
  • As the camera moves credits come onto the screen. They are in a red font with could help signify blood and evil.
  • It takes 1.38 minutes before the first cut away shot. 
  • It takes 2.30 minutes before we get any dialogue. 

RH - Costume



The costume our 'Scream Queen' will be wearing is going to be an ensemble of a short skirt and a small top that emphasises her cleavage. She will get into her clothes after first appearing in less clothes to signify that she has just had sex.

The costume of the boyfriend of our 'Scream Queen' will be jeans and a t-shirt. He will be laying on a bed shirtless and only at the end of the scene will he put on his shirt. The reason for this choice is that it once again signifies he has just had sex will the girl. We have decided to use jeans instead of other bottoms because it's not smart nor is it too casual (shorts), it also signifies he is working class.
Finally our killer will be wearing a dressing gown (not fully decided) along with his cloth mask. We are thinking that he will wear this dressing gown, they did this in'Psycho' with the character 'Norman Bates' to an extent however our very killer is very different. Also something we could incorporate by using a dressing gown is that within the scene that will be shot in the house we could have the dressing gown hanging on the door. This would make the audience think that the killer is the girls boyfriend, providing a twist. This could contribute to the drama in the opening.

GG - BBFC Ratings



Suitable only for 15 years and over

No one younger than 15 may see a ‘15’ film in a cinema. No one younger than 15 may rent or buy a ‘15’ rated video work.

Discrimination

The work as a whole must not endorse discriminatory language or behaviour.

Drugs

Drug taking may be shown but the film as a whole must not promote or encourage drug misuse. The misuse of easily accessible and highly dangerous substances (for example, aerosols or solvents) is unlikely to be acceptable.

Horror

Strong threat and menace are permitted unless sadistic or sexualised.

Imitable behaviour

Dangerous behaviour (for example, hanging, suicide and self-harming) should not dwell on detail which could be copied. Easily accessible weapons should not be glamorised.

Language

There may be frequent use of strong language (for example, ‘fuck’). The strongest  terms (for example, ‘cunt’) may be acceptable if justified by the context. Aggressive or repeated use of the strongest language is unlikely to be acceptable.

Nudity

Nudity may be allowed in a sexual context but without strong detail. There are no constraints on nudity in a non-sexual or educational context.

Sex

Sexual activity may be portrayed without strong detail. There may be strong verbal references to sexual behaviour, but the strongest references are unlikely  to be acceptable unless justified by context. Works whose primary purpose is sexual arousal or stimulation are unlikely to be acceptable.

Theme

No theme is prohibited, provided the treatment is appropriate for 15 year olds.

Violence

Violence may be strong but should not dwell on the infliction of pain or injury. The strongest gory images are unlikely to be acceptable. Strong sadistic or sexualised violence is also unlikely to be acceptable. There may be detailed verbal references to sexual violence but any portrayal of sexual violence must be discreet and have a strong contextual justification.

RH - Our Target Audience


Our core target audience ranges from the ages 15-24. The reason for this is that the BBFC rating we have aimed for our film is 15. The reason this ranges up to 24 is the rough guidelines for a TA, this applies also with 12 and 18 rated films. This is a link to the BBFC film classification website

We are aiming our films at males rather than females because males tend to be more attracted to the Slasher genre whilst females conventionally tend to prefer the Rom-Com genre. In our opening we include a 'Screem Queen' this should appeal to the males audience because she is a blonde busty, sexually active girl.

Teenagers who are sexually active should be able to relate to particular scenes because of the inclusion of subtle hints, and certain dialog that a younger audience wouldn't be able to relate to.

The actors in our production our from Yorkshire, the key stereotype of people from Yorkshire is that we all have really broad accents. We are associated with a flat cap and a whippet, this alludes to a rural life. Within our production one of the locations is in the countryside. This will reaffirm peoples stereotypes of the region. This productions core audience however will be Yorkshire men.

Class and status, the teenagers are shown in a large house which signifies they are well off, however then 'Casey' gets into the purple VW Polo, we can denote from this that she is working class and a new teenage driver. If we apply the commutation test and change the car to a £50,000 Mercedes then suddenly the text means something completely different. If this was the car we would denote that she is extremely rich and probably a posh Yorkshire 'snob'.

Finally our secondary target audience is from the age range of 13-34, we have chosen this as our secondary target audience purely because the BBFC ratings doesn’t stop kids under the age of 15 from viewing these film weather it is at the cinema or on DVD. Also we have increased the age from 24 to 34 because by doing this the slightly older generation will be able to relate to intertextuality for example our 'Scream Queen' is called 'Casey'  referring to Drew Barrymoore's character in 'Scream' A link to Casey's character in Scream. Also our male character is named 'Sam' referring to 'Dr. Sam Loomis'  played by 'Donald Pleasance' in 'Halloween'. A link to Dr. Sam Loomis' character in Halloween