Hello and welcome to my blog, this is for my slasher film opening, Liar. The blog includes all research and notes. Enjoy!

Thursday 28 November 2013

Alternatives

The ending of our movie opening is at the moment going to be killing the scream queen who stars in the opening.

However, another idea would be:

The girl goes to the garage as would happen in the normal opening, but then instead of being killed, the girl jumps because someone grabs her shoulder. The girl turns and realises that the hand on her shoulder is her boyfriend's best friend. She sighs and hugs him saying 'omg i was so scared!' and the friend says 'what are you on about, aw, come here its ok' (because she is crying). The friend then gives a look signifying he is the killer or knows something (over her shoulder) or he sees the mask and smiles or something showing he is the killer.

Draft Of Plot


Opening title card: 'production company' presents
                               a ******** film
Girl is running through a forest, medium shot of her back as shes running, she looks back at camera.
Switches to els of her running through forest past camera side on.
alternating between shots, infront of her and behind, keeps looking back
girl trips, switches shot to floor see her hands hit the floor
pov shot she looks up and sees someone

phone rings in the real world
diegetic sound. girl on bed jumps, pink bedroom
shot of phone, pic of boyf and her, ringing
mcu of girl 'phew!', picks up phone (shot of her picking up phone then turns back to her answering it)
talks into phone 'hey alex, omg this movie is so scary!'
lights go off, tv goes off
phone creepy voice 'this isnt alex'
tv goes back on. cctv of alex in garage tied up. table of knives or something similar. person with scary mask pops up on cctv obviously holding phone
(cuts between cctv on tv and girl mcu)
girl 'what, is this a joke, stop messing around' etc getting more frantic, nervous laugh etc
phone voice: 'you have got one chance to save your boyfriend, so listen carefully'
girl: 'what? who is this? this isnt funny anymore'
phone voice: 'i'll give you one question and you must answer truthfully, if your answer is correct, he's free to go. if not, say byebye'
girl: 'please, stop, seriously, this is sick, not funny, ill call the police!'
phone voice: 'how many times have you cheated on alex?'

potential flashback of girl with other guys

girl: 'what? no, i... i haven't! i haven't...'
phone voice: 'liar'
hanging up noise on phone
girl saying no no no wait no screaming down the phone to stop
on cctv you see the person killing the boyfriend
girl gets close to the screen and realises *gasp* its her garage

she runs out of the room down the stairs etc to garage, over the shoulder/behind shot following her to the door of the garage
cuts back to cctv footage, see girl walk into room, looks around then looks at camera
you see the killer walk up behind her and grab her

title: LIAR with screams as diegetic sound





titles:
Playground Productions
and Sliding Dog Studios
in association with Green Apple Productions
a Sarah De Biasio film
Alex Osbourne
Poppy Potts
introducing
Kathy Allen
edited by Poppy + Sarah
produced by sarah and poppy


LIAR - blood trickles down screen then liar comes up with screaming

Wednesday 20 November 2013

Pitching idea












-Girl sat watching tv/lying on bed
-all the lights go off and power
-tv comes back on (no lights)
-video played on screen of girl walking towards screen slowly
-girl on bed/sofa gets up slowly going towards screen
-girl on screen puts her hand out
-girl on bed slowly reaches out and touches screen (music rising up)
- nothing happens, girl sighs with relief
-girl goes to turn light back on, turns around and girl is in the room.
-main girl screams, cuts to titles

OR
similar idea but blonde main character has a boyfriend with her, when lights get turned back on he is dead in the room.



For pitch-
pictures of room in background on powerpoint slideshow
video of girl in a forest walking towards camera-short video clip of the ring opening running in background


speech for pitch-
my own ident will be used at the beginning
Target audience- teenage to adult
Main plot idea
The setting- girl's bedroom/ living room
setting- video itself filmed in a forest
Props-tv, possible fake blood,
The killer- girl dressed up with hair down and long gown-
Inspiration-Ideas from the ring
how the film is going to develop

Monday 18 November 2013

Wednesday 13 November 2013

Genre Research Horror; 2

I Still Know What You Did Last Summer
, 1998



Budget:

 $65m, UK Box office; £2,657,571

Rottentomatoes.com 7; IMDB 4.3 ; Roger Ebert






SUMMARY/IDEAS I MIGHT USE:
Just as with Trick or Treat, this film uses the idea 
of showing a real tiger, which then evolves into an
 animated tiger which is used in the ident.

SYNOPSIS:

IDENTS/TITLES:
Two idents are used in this film. Before the first ident, a tiger is shown running through a forest, before then turning into an animated tiger which is used to create part of the first ident. 


turns into animation






It then goes into showing the first titles of the director and producers, a white font on a black background. The next scene is an opening scene of the main character, no more titles are shown which is unusual for an opening of a film.
MISE-EN-SCENE:
The opening scene is a close up of the main character's feet walking down an isle in a church. There is a grim mise-en-scene in the church with dark scenery, and loud echoing of the footsteps of the main character.
REPRESENTATIONS:
The main character is represented as a popular, good-looking typical scream queen for a horror film, however she has brown hair rather than blonde, possibly signifying she is infact the protagonist.
SOUNDTRACK:
The opening scene begins with diegetic sound of the footsteps of the main character, there is no non-diegetic music as the church is silent, creating this eery effect and putting the main focus on the character's actions and dialogue.


Genre Research Horror; 1

Trick or Treat
,2007



Budget;

rottentomatoes.com  ;IMDB;6.7;Roger Ebert



SUMMARY/IDEAS I MIGHT USE:
I liked the idea of using an innanimate object on screen before the ident, which then evolves into an animation and the ident itself. We could use representations of the main character through clothing, hairstyle, bedroom setting etc to signify this is vunerable character or victim.


SYNOPSIS:
A young boy who is bullied at school, idolises a dark, mysterious character which may lead to horrific events.
IDENTS/TITLES:
One ident was used for this film, however before the idents, there is an image of a scary wooden statue figure straight away appearing on screen, presenting the genre of the horror film. This image of the statue then emerges from an object into animation and evolves into the first and only ident. This is a unique way of presenting the ident which i may use in my film opening.



wooden statue figure
statue becomes animated




forms into ident (lion's tail)









The ident lasts 5 seconds before then going straight into titles. The titles first run with white font lettering on a black backround when introducing the film title and producers, however this then changes as the titles continue running over video background, a montage of shots and panning around someone's bedroom.













There are 19 titles altogether, set out in the normal layout of titles; director, producer, cast, crew, director.
MISE-EN-SCENE:
The opening scene is a long shot of the main character on his bed. 

The character is writing in a journal and narrating what he is writing, this then turns into a montage of events with different scenes in various locations around the school, such as the lunchroom, the sports hall, the changing rooms and under the stairs. Throughout this montage the main character, the young boy, is seen being bullied and hurt in various ways, signifying this vunerable, weak character which usually links in perfectly with the horror genre. We get the idea that this character is going to either be the antagonist to save the day from the "evil" occurences later on in the film, or infact the victim in the situation. In the main character's bedroom we see a poster of some sort of dark character that he seems to idolise. This eery character he chooses to idolise creates enigma on what kind of lifestyle the boy leads.
REPRESENTATIONS:
From the representation of the character's bedroom during the running titles, also with the style of non-diegetic rock music that runs with it, we get the idea that this character leads a dark, mysterious lifestyle, perhaps suggesting that he is infact going to be the antagonist. The  representation of the main character's haircut in contrast to the other character's emphasises how different he is, and vunerable, making us almost certain that this will lead up to a dis-equillibrium involving this character.
SOUNDTRACK:
From the very beginning before the idents there is a non-diegetic soundtrack playing. This plays throughout the idents, and first titles, (lasting 42 seconds in total) overlapping with a non-diegetic narrative from a mysterious character the audience is not familiar with, creating enigma before the titles have even finished.  The titles then continue and the soundtrack changes to different non-diegetic music which then goes onto play throughout the rest of the titles and over the first diegetic sound. This soundtrack is played for 3 minutes 32 over a montage of events happening. 
The first soundtrack (over ident and first titles);
Denotation; Long, drawn out synthesised music and violins- with slow tempoed, deep man voice-over reciting a dark poem.
Conotation; Eery, creates enigma, mysterious, keeps audience on edge, creates tension. Man's voice and words may create confusion the audience on what this poem means, signifies the genre of the film.

Genre Research Horror; 3

Psycho
, 1960



Budget;

$806,947 ;US Box Office; $32m

SUMMARY/IDEAS I MIGHT USE:


SYNOPSIS:


IDENTS/TITLES:



MISE-EN-SCENE:

REPRESENTATIONS:


SOUNDTRACK:


 

Film Festival

TBC



On friday the 8th november, the media students went to a film festival in York. The AS students got a chance to go listen to one of Warp production's team, Barry Ryan. He gave us an insight of what life is like working for a big film company, how he got into it, their short films etc.
We learnt a few facts on Warp Film, such as;
They have made 18 films, 7 ITV series, won 7 BAFTAS, and hold 1 world record. 
Barry also informed us about Warp X digital, which is what was used to create the film Tryannosaur. It cost £1m and under to make, using digital technology. Warp Films are also in relations with people such as Jessie Armstrong (creator of Tracy Beaker) who also wrote one of Warp Film's biggest films, Four Lions.
Barry Ryan showed us many clips on some short films, and tv series that Warp Films have done, such as Channel 4's Southcliffe. Barry also gave us useful information on the neccessary steps needed, and roles involved when creating short films. 
He said there are a few things we need to think about, for example;

  • The reason behind why we are making a short film
  • Is it a showreel?
  • Are we making it just for practice on film-making?
  • Is it perhaps a story that has to be told?
  • Whether it is just for fun or an experiment
  • Are we making a short film just to hang out with friends, for a social aspect?
He also informed us of the many different roles and factors that need to be allocated/ sorted out when making a film, such as; 

  • Budget
  • Time schedule
  • Negotiating deals/contracts
  • Allocating a project manager
  • Technical manager
  • Human resources
  • Health and safety
  • Legals for closing film and TV/tax credits
  • Cashflow money (if you can only get £200 out a day from your bank)
He emphasised how short films are difficult to generate money from, which I never knew. The same amount of hard work and filming goes into short films as they do into big studio films, however the purpose is not to make a profit like long films would.
In order to make a short film you need at least;
30 days preperatino, 30 days to shoot footage, 10 hours of filming per day.
Barry said if a film was to make £1m at the box office, that exhibitors take 50% of what is made, distributors take their P&A back, and the producers get 50% back.