Story Board for 'I Found You'

Audience Response - Nick Kimberley

1) Which, of these, do you think this film would categorise under? Which would you use it for?
A. Diversion - A form of escape or release from everyday pressures
B. Personal Relationships - Companionship through identification with characters and sociability through discussion about TV with other people.
C. Personal Identity - The ability to compare one's own life with the characters and situations portrayed and to explore individual problems and perspectives.
D. Surveillance - Information about what is going on in the world.

2) Do you feel compelled to watch the entire film? Why?
Yes, because I think it'l be interesting to find out what happened.

3) What part scared you the most and why?
When the Murderer walked into the room where the Babysitter was hiding, it was creepy.

4) How Effective do you find the specific conventions used?
Sounds - It was like other horror film's music, it was freaky.
Costume - Yes, it made it relatable - Eve's costume - and so was more scary.
Action - It was very effective as you could tell it was a horror straight away.

Audience Response - Nathan Staples

1) Which, of these, do you think this film would categorise under? Which would you use it for?
A. Diversion - A form of escape or release from everyday pressures
B. Personal Relationships - Companionship through identification with characters and sociability through discussion about TV with other people.
C. Personal Identity - The ability to compare one's own life with the characters and situations portrayed and to explore individual problems and perspectives.
D. Surveillance - Information about what is going on in the world.

2) Do you feel compelled to watch the entire film? Why?
Yes, because I'd what to know what was going to happen, it would be interesting.

3) What part scared you the most and why?
The chanting, it was sinister and reminded me of little girls singing.

4) How Effective do you find the specific conventions used?
Sounds - It was effective as it was freaky, like horror music.
Costume - The Murderer being in all black made it suspicious.
Action - I felt it needed a bit more suspense.

Audience Response - Robert Davis

1) Which, of these, do you think this film would categorise under? Which would you use it for?
A. Diversion - A form of escape or release from everyday pressures
B. Personal Relationships - Companionship through identification with characters and sociability through discussion about TV with other people.
C. Personal Identity - The ability to compare one's own life with the characters and situations portrayed and to explore individual problems and perspectives.
D. Surveillance - Information about what is going on in the world.

2) Do you feel compelled to watch the entire film? Why?
Yes because it would be interesting to see what would happen next.

3) What part scared you the most and why?
The 'I Found You' part because it jumps out at you.

4) How Effective do you find the specific conventions used?
Sounds - It fits in with the music, reminiscent of 'Nightmare on Elm Street' so fit with horror genre.
Costume - It looked creepy.
Action - Yes, it was good, very tense.

Camera Map

Audience Response - James Hadfield

1) Which, of these, do you think this film would categorise under? Which would you use it for?
A. Diversion - A form of escape or release from everyday pressures
B. Personal Relationships - Companionship through identification with characters and sociability through discussion about TV with other people.
C. Personal Identity - The ability to compare one's own life with the characters and situations portrayed and to explore individual problems and perspectives.
D. Surveillance - Information about what is going on in the world.

2) Do you feel compelled to watch the entire film? Why?
No because it's not my type of genre.

3) What part scared you the most and why?
The chanting, it was sinister and reminded me of little girls singing.

4) How Effective do you find the specific conventions used?
Sounds - It was effective as it was dark and created a lot of tension.
Costume - Knew who was who at the very beginning, that something wasn't right.
Action - Yes, the eye bit especially as it was really creepy.

Audience Response - Kendall Leaper

1) Which, of these, do you think this film would categorise under? Which would you use it for?
A. Diversion - A form of escape or release from everyday pressures
B. Personal Relationships - Companionship through identification with characters and sociability through discussion about TV with other people.
C. Personal Identity - The ability to compare one's own life with the characters and situations portrayed and to explore individual problems and perspectives.
D. Surveillance - Information about what is going on in the world.

2) Do you feel compelled to watch the entire film? Why?
Yes, because i want to find out what happened and why.

3) What part scared you the most and why?
'I Found You' at the end because it was eerie.

4) How Effective do you find the specific conventions used?
Sounds - Really effective, fit theme.
Costume - Went well with rest of film, the dark.
Action - Makes it all make sense.

Audience Response - Paige White

1) Which, of these, do you think this film would categorise under? Which would you use it for?
A. Diversion - A form of escape or release from everyday pressures
B. Personal Relationships - Companionship through identification with characters and sociability through discussion about TV with other people.
C. Personal Identity - The ability to compare one's own life with the characters and situations portrayed and to explore individual problems and perspectives.
D. Surveillance - Information about what is going on in the world.

2) Do you feel compelled to watch the entire film? Why?
Yes, because i want to find out what happened and why.

3) What part scared you the most and why?
The bit with the eye and after because it was scary.

4) How Effective do you find the specific conventions used?
Sounds - It was effective as it was freaky.
Costume - It let you know who was who at the beginning
Action - I felt Eve could look round more at the beginning because there's somebody in the house.

Jade Kelly

1) Which, of these, do you think this film would categorise under? Which would you use it for?
A. Diversion - A form of escape or release from everyday pressures
B. Personal Relationships - Companionship through identification with characters and sociability through discussion about TV with other people.
C. Personal Identity - The ability to compare one's own life with the characters and situations portrayed and to explore individual problems and perspectives.
D. Surveillance - Information about what is going on in the world.

2) Do you feel compelled to watch the entire film? Why?
Yes, because i want to find out what happened and why.

3) What part scared you the most and why?
The bit with the eye because it you don't know whats going to happen.

4) How Effective do you find the specific conventions used?
Sounds - It was effective as it was gripping.
Costume - Good, it was everyday costume, easier to relate to.
Action - It made everything clear.

Audience Response - Jade Williams

1) Which, of these, do you think this film would categorise under? Which would you use it for?
A. Diversion - A form of escape or release from everyday pressures
B. Personal Relationships - Companionship through identification with characters and sociability through discussion about TV with other people.
C. Personal Identity - The ability to compare one's own life with the characters and situations portrayed and to explore individual problems and perspectives.
D. Surveillance - Information about what is going on in the world.

2) Do you feel compelled to watch the entire film? Why?
Yes, because i want to find out what happened and why, also everything that's going on.

3) What part scared you the most and why?
The bit with the eye because it was creepy, the silence from the chant added to this.

4) How Effective do you find the specific conventions used?
Sounds - It was effective as it fit with the theme and played at the right times.
Costume - It let you know who was who at the beginning
Action - The way the doors were opened were creepy, let you know something bad was going to happen and theres nothing missing, it all flows.

Evaluation :)

Charlotte Cooper
PSNM
Evaluation

Our film opening is set in a normal suburban area, with a young female babysitter looking after a young child. The film would go on to show the child, having been kidnapped, being rescued by his parents who, after returning home, have to perform several tasks to make up for their absence from the son’s life. In the opening sequence, a dark, mysterious figure enters the house and slowly makes her way upstairs and into one of the bedrooms, after a screech the babysitter, stood tidying in another room, decides to see what is happening. As she leaves the room, she sees the female creeping out of the child’s room and so goes back into the room to hide. However, the woman sees the door close and goes in to find out who’s in there. She slowly walks past a slit in the cupboard doors, where a point of view shot – that of the babysitter’s – sees the woman walk past and then back, showing her eye through the slit. The scene cuts to its title, ‘I Found You’, and the words are spoken simultaneously. Throughout the piece, there is an eerie song playing, that we chose specifically to fit with the sinister theme. There is also a child’s chant playing, which plays at specific times to create suspense and tension in the audience.
Throughout our film, we used different shot distances, this was included when the Murderer walks toward or away from the camera – the shot changes form close to mid to long, or vice verse. To make sure our aim was apparent to the audience during editing, we re-recorded different shots. After we had done all the editing of the shots we had, we watched through it all and decided that certain parts were unclear so we went back and did some more filming. As well as getting some new clips to edit and put in, we re-recorded others so they looked better in conjunction with the entire opening. Also, to make the aim clear, we had creepy music that had a crescendo – so the music kept building up and building up, creating more and more tension, so the audience knew that something was going to happen.

Within our opening we incorporated certain representations. The first is of a normal suburban family. Although it isn’t obvious within the first 2 minutes, it is implied within the other characters. The fact that the house is detached, with 4 bedrooms in the suburbs demonstrates that it is going to be a typical family. Then the babysitter is introduced, which connotes a busy family also, with the parents having to hire somebody to look after their child. This representation is shown in relation to the setting and the other characters because the family, as a whole, is not introduced until later on in the film. Another stereotypical representation is that of the babysitter. In typical-style horrors, the babysitter is always female, as she is in our piece. We showed her social group by giving her trendy costume and an attitude – showing that she doesn’t want to be there. We also represented babysitters by demonstrating how they just do the job because it gets them money; we did this by using exasperated facial expressions.

Although the representation of the murderer was different to its stereotype, seeing as it was a female murder, the use of costume and camera angles helped to portray this status of the Murderer. We used bird’s eye and worm’s eye shots of the Murderer so that her face was never shown, this left the element of mystery and fitted with the typical representation of a murderer who is sneaky and unknown. We also used dark coloured clothing to connote evil and darkness and to demonstrate the fact that the person is a mystery – there’s no reason, yet, as to why she is doing this.

The film begins with an establishing shot of the house, where the production company – Ashfield Cube Productions – comes up in the bottom left hand corner. The text is a sort of smoky fog design that we picked and changed specifically to aid the horror theme, we also faded it in and out to add to this effect. There is then a vertical tilt up to a bedroom window where a young girl closes some curtains, at this point a child’s chant begins that says ‘1,2, I’m coming for you’ which we timed to fit as the young girl – the babysitter – comes into view. Each part of the chant fades in and out so that the sound flows and fits with the rest of the filming and sound. This gives the effect that somebody is watching, from the position of the camera behind a plant pot, also that they are coming after the babysitter. As the bedroom light turns off the scene fades into a shot of the murderer creeping up to the door, as the shot changes from close to mid to long. As this shot begins, so does the music, which is an eerie piece that resembles sounds under the sea, it’s sinister as it sounds like music a children’s TV show would use and so adds to the horror genre. To fit with continuity, there is then a cut to an over the shoulder shot of the murderer opening the door, with match on action as the camera switches to the other side of the door, inside, as a birds eye – where the murderer opens the door and closes it, then walks past the camera. Simultaneously the second part of the chant plays which states ‘3, 4, better lock your door’, is significant as the murderer just walks through the back door. This bit specifically doesn’t show the Murderer’s face, to stick with the mysterious theme. A pan, as well as establishing the area, follows the Murderer across the kitchen to a door. Another cut, also match on action, and the camera is at the foot of the door – worm’s eye – showing the murderer walking onto the landing, through the door. We used 180° rule to show the murderer walking past the camera and up the stairs, starting by focusing on her feet then, as she climbs the stairs, comes to a full body shot – although the face is still not visible. This still leaves the murderer’s identity a secret and fits with the horror genre as it keeps the audience in suspense and keeps them tense.

A cut to the murderer’s perspective shows the Babysitter coming out of the room and closes the door, keeping the audience tense as she’s watching her and they know something bad is bound to happen. The third part of the chant plays which sings ‘5, 6, pick up sticks’ to symbolise child’s play, indicating that that is who she is after. Now a bird’s eye shot, from the top of the stairs, pans to follow the murderer round and up the stairs, then cuts to a short clip of the Babysitter putting away some clothes in a different bedroom. From there, it cuts to an over the shoulder shot of the Murderer entering a dark room then closing the door, and then quickly cuts back to the Babysitter who is still folding clothes. Whilst the Murderer enters the room the fourth chant is played that says ‘7, 8, stay up late’, connoting that the Murderer is going to wake up the kid. She hears a short scream and a quiet bang, and turns around thinking what it could have been, whilst there is a close up of her face. As she walks towards the door, the shot changes from long to close, and her expression expresses anger because she is fed up of looking after this kid. It jumps to an over the shoulder shot of her opening the door and turning the light off – as she intends to leave the room, then a perspective shot as she sees the Murderer backing out of the other bedroom. From here the door closes and the camera moves to the Murderer’s point of view to show her closing the door. There is then a fast pan and focus pull on the bedroom door slowly closing where the Babysitter was. This then cuts to a steady shot of the Murderer walking up to the bedroom door and going inside, where the jump shot produces a cut away - going from the Murderer's perspective, to what the Murderer can see. With the right amount of time elapsed, the camera cuts to inside a cupboard, which is the perspective shot of the Babysitter – who is sat inside hiding. There is a slight shake on the camera to show how scared the girl is. As the Murderer walks past the slit in the cupboard doors the final chant plays, which states ‘9, 10, never sleep again’, which fades off for longer in a melancholic tone. The Murderer walks back and puts her eye up to the slit, this establishing shot shows the situation – with the Babysitter trapper by a stranger, whose face has still not been seen. The camera zooms and the focus pulls to show a close up of the eye. There is a loud bang as the clip cuts to the title which reads ‘I Found You’, simultaneously the words are spoken in the same child-like chant as before. The main title is still creepy, with child-like writing, and if faded red and grey on a black background. The red connotes blood and murderer, as the black connotes evil – demonstrating to the audience that this is a horror film. As the text fades out the opening finishes.
Before we began filming and even planning, we did a lot of research into the horror genre. We watched a couple of films, each of us analysed two and then compared notes, and noted any common factors. We especially realised that the transitions were jumpy and cut from one scene to another, making the film face paced and scary – therefore we incorporated this into our piece and cut from scene to scene, with one or two fades. We also noticed that the light and setting played an important part in the horror theme. We wrote down the common settings for horror films, which often included a normal setting – such as suburbia – as the audience could relate to it, making it all the more frightening to watch and think about. With the lighting, it was always dark, specifically if something bad was about to happen. Because we couldn’t make a set darker, we decided to wait until it was dark and use natural light for filming. Whilst filming we realised that a light was needed to make the last shot, that of the eye, visible – so we placed the light under the face so it illuminated upward, giving the creepy effect seen in many iconic horror films. A thing we took on board and developed was the use of camera angles. In horror films the camera is often at a point of view shot, over the shoulder and involves a lot of close ups for emphasis. We, however, used these techniques but also used a lot of birds eye and worms eye shots, which enabled us to keep the Murderers face hidden throughout and added to the creepy ambiance by giving the opening a sense of mystery. We knew what kind of sound we wanted before researching, and found that it was commonly used during researching anyway, and we had decided on a slow tempo, low song that resembled fair ground music. But once we started looking, we found a piece of music that was perfect, although it wasn’t fair ground music, it was still slow and resembled a sea side rhyme, therefore would add to the sinister theme of the text.
To make sure we were organised for filming, we produced a time management scheme. We produced a shot list to make sure we incorporated all camera angles and shots we wanted, we also produced a camera map to help us during filming to know where each shot came from. To keep in time, we made a time plan to keep to schedule and had a story board, one of the film opening and one of the entire film, to help us keep to our theme. For organisation purposes we had a script, with little dialogue, and a list of actors and props needed – both were limited, but kept us ready because we could plan what we needed before filming.
The mise-en-scene was key to getting the genre across to the audience, so whilst planning we thought about the costume and setting. Colour was important in connoting the fact that something bad was about to happen, therefore we used dark clothing for the Murderer. The lighting also helped to connote evil and mystery, by making the colour of the set dark. This was planned in advance as we chose to shoot during the night so that the natural lighting made the filming dark. The setting, include all the objects within the house, were there to show a normal, modern household, which many of the audience could put themselves in.

Dark Castle Entertainment, Ghost House Pictures teamed with Warner Bros. Pictures is a common distributor of horror films; therefore, if we were to sell our piece, they would be the likely distributor as they are known for their horror film branch. They are famous for certain horror films such as Boogeyman, 30 Days of Night, Gothika and Dreamcatcher. When looking into the total gross for different distributors, I found that Warner Bros. were top, with a total of $444.9 million and a recorded 15 tracked movies – more than any other company in 2009. Within the horror genre our film opening is categorised under torture, therefore I looked under this section. When doing so, I noticed that the widest distributor of horror films was Lionsgate and Newline Cinema, not Warner Bro. Pictures. However, the films I have studied were all Warner Bros. Pictures and I feel that our piece would be better represented by them.
I found the following worldwide financial figures for similar horrors (torture horrors):
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre - $80, 571, 655
Saw - $55, 185, 045
Hostel - $47, 326, 473
· The Devils Rejects - $17, 044, 981

As a result of this, the audience would be more limited, as Warner Bros. give suitable certificates and so would make the film a 15, so the audience would be from 15 upward – although, I would suggest there be no people over about 24-26 watching it. We also, before everything, did a survey and asked people – namely the students at Ashfield 6th Form – which genre was their favourite and, within that genre, what would they like to see happen. The two main results were comedy and horror, but we felt it would be better to do horror as its challenging yet achievable. The majority of people we asked, we asked twenty people each, which replied horror said they wanted to see a murder, preferably one that made you think about it. We took this one board and came up with the idea to leave the opening on a cliff hanger so the audience had to think what had happened in the dark room and what, although it was obvious, was going to happen to the Babysitter.
In doing so, I felt we addressed the audience as we used their ideas to construct the film. Whilst filming we took a common theme and situation and turned it into a sinister horror – therefore making the audience feel uncomfortable as it’s relatable. Some of the viewers could have children and have left them with Babysitters, the others could have even been Babysitters and so can put themselves in that position easily, making their feelings evoke easier.

Throughout the process of making our film opening, I learnt a lot about the technologies I need to use. I have learnt how to fully operate Adobe Premiere, including how to time stretch each clip and sound, how to add a sound clip or song and how to change the speed or volume of a clip. Also, through Adobe Premiere, I found out how to add titles and change them to suit us. With putting a song onto our piece, I learnt how to use Audacity to change the pitch and make a certain sound more dominant than the other. Before we started filming, we watched back our preliminary task and noticed a lot of continuity errors, therefore we were very careful during filming not to let this happen. As a result, we watched our piece over and over again during editing. For this piece of editing, I figured out the extent of Adobe Premiere’s use, helping me to add sounds and texts – texts that could be change to fit our genre – which I couldn’t do when editing our preliminary task. We didn’t use any particularly difficult equipment, as it was not necessary, but used an MP3 recorder and microphone to record our sounds – which we did not use during our preliminary task.

Final Editing

We finished editing and so had to burn our finished film opening onto a disk.
Before we did this we had to check that everything was right and that there was nothing else to tidy up. We watched it back again a few times, until we were positive that there was nothing else to add, also that the continuity fit. Once we were sure of this we encoded the finished product and burned it onto the DVD disk.
Because we had finished, the class watched our piece on the screen and we watched there reactions, to give us a general view of what reception we would recieve, although a few people laughed most found it scary and said that they liked the music as it made it even more eerie - which is what we were trying to achieve, so we were very pleased with the outcome :)

I Found You - Finished Edit :)

Who did what :)

Editing - 3rd, 4th and 6th of April

Before we began editing, we recorded some more sounds to put over our clips. Once we had recorded all sounds needed we put them into place on our timeline then changed the volume and pitch, plus faded them in and out, to make it sound eerie. After fitting all these sounds in we started to notice that the diagetic sound had different acoustics to the recorded sounds, with muffled noises, so we spilt the clip and audio and deleted the sound.
The next two days we started to search for music that would add to the horror opening, for this we searched on freeplay.com a website with available music to download without the risk of copyright. We played around with the sounds on audacity, and with the clip called 1619 Broadway created a fitting song that was creepy yet etherial. However, when we saved the piece, it saved in a format that was incompatible with our footage and so we chose to use Floatate instead, as a whole song. Because the song was too long, we cut it down to fit and faded it in and out.
We listened to our piece, checking that the song and recordings fit the filming, although, we realised that the song was too loud and our recordings could not be properly heard and that we had two more clips to record.

Editing - 24, 25th and 27th February

The first week back after half term, and we had some new footage to llok through and edit in.
On the 24th we basically went through all the clips and made sure they were saved to our Z drive and were filmed alright. We also deleted the bits of filming that were not ours and that did not film properly.
The next day, the 25th, we started editing the shots into our opening so far. We watched each clip to see which would work best and cut it so that the continuity fit and the timing. This took a while because we had to keep watching it from the very beginning to watch if it fit with the entire opening. If we made any mistakes, for example; cutting the clip too much, we had to delete it and put it back in and start cutting again.
Once we'd finished editing our clips, we started to think about sound. We had planned to have a little rhyme playing over the film at certain points - sung by young children. So we got a MP3 recorder and went to a quiet room. Here we recoreded our song, a scream and a muffled one to see which worked best, then a door opening/closing - as these were the only sounds missing from our film. When we got back to the room we realised that we had not turned the microphone on and the sounds hadnt recorded - as it was the end of the lesson we had to leave it untill next time.
On the 27th we attempted to record our sounds again. We did eactly the same recordings, with the microphone on, but when we uploaded them onto the computer the sounds didnt show up. So we tried it with a different microphone, recoreded the same sounds, uploaded them to the computer and listened back to them - because they worked this time. We added them to our film and put them into the places we needed them then watched the entire opening back to see what it was like.

Re-filming

After looking through our clips and starting to put them together, we realised that timing was slightly off - and so more clips were needed to fill the gap. We also felt that certain parts didnt fit with the continuity.
Over half term we re-filmed some footage, at exactly the same time so that the natural lighting was the same. We filmed another clip for the beginning of our opening and re-worked the shot where the murderer walks into the house because the make up and costume was different and this shot was prominent in showing that.
After beginning editing we found that the shot of the eye was too dark, and so filmed it again with better lighting - strategically placed to fit with the horror genre (underneath so the light shines upward into the face). Just to make sure that we would have enough footage to not have to film again, we took a lot of shots and some in different places, so we had a variety to chose from.

Editing part 2

11th February
Today we carried on editing our piece, again working with the speed of different clips. We watched through what we worked on last week and corrected anything we felt didn't fit, then begun to work on the end of the clip.
Because our last two clips were slightly dark for their purpose we had to change the brightness and contrast to make it possible to see. We are yet to see if this will work and so will continue with it next week.
The places where we had continuity editing problems, we went back and had a look at. We decided to try out different clips until one worked and so changed what we had previously done. Throughout we were concious of our time so that it did not exceed 2 minutes. We are to finalise the clips on friday, by this time we should be ready to think about our titles and over all audio. We have already looked at the font we need for our titles and will be figuring this out next week.

Editing Part 1

We started editing, on friday 6th of february, by uploading our coursework onto Adope Premiere. We began to cut certain clips and put them in order. We played around with the speed of our one piece of audio, making the murderer's footsteps sound deeper and slower.
Throughout the time we had, we were concious about the time limit and how long our piece was lasting. As lesson began to finish, we left editing til next week.

Film Anaylsis for Boogeyman

Institutions: Ghost House Pictures are part of the film, much they are on 30 Days of Night, Gothika and Dreamcatcher, showing that this is film is part of the horror genre before it starts.

The establishing shot is of a suburbian house with a child's swing outside. The shot is very dark and the whole mise-en-scene gets accross the genre of horror. There is sinister music playing in the background, resembling that of a fair ground with a slowed tempo. The minor keys and slow tempo music are typical in horrors and sets the scene for the rest of the film, fitting perfectly with the set. The fact that the music is eerie, and resembling a fairground, connotes childhood. That, mixed with the setting and the swing, connotes to the audience that the theme is something to do with children, as does the title when it appears later. As we enter the house, there is wooden stair case, typical mise-en-scene for a horror film, that creeks as the camera moves up them. This makes the audience feel as though something is lurking and so puts them on edge from the beginning, as does the place of the camera behind the bushes in the establishing shot.
There is a horizontal tilt of the landing then a close up of a door. The camera then does a birds eye shot of the door handle, that zooms to a close up of it, this shot is key to creating a creeping effect - so the audience feels as though someone is trying to get in.
As the camera focuses on a young boy in bed, there are shots around his entire room. They show his window, which is open and his curtains being blown about by the wind, they also show his wardrobe. These shots are key to the plot, as they are later used to demonstrate characters whereabouts.
The young boy is trying to sleep but cannot and so i tossing and turning, it shows his nightstand, where he has figurines and a lamp. Within the first minute, the first character is introduced and the audience is already scared, and the mise-en-scene connotes that something bad is about to happen. As the camera travels back to the child, we see shots of his room from his perspective. It shows a bird hanging from his ceiling, that is flying around in the wind. There is then a close p of the figurine on his night stand. After a few seconds of the child urgently looking around, we see a hooded shadow sitting in a chair. The child panics and switches his lamp on. After he turns it off, the figure starts to walk towards him, so he turns his light on again and it falls to the floor. This time, he picks the robe up and puts it in a drawer, then returning to bed puts the light off. Now the bird starts to move and make noises and the figurine starts to scare the boy so he outs that in a drawer and hides under his duvey. The shot is from the kids persepective to show how affraid he is.
Eerie music is played in the background as a figure walks towards the bed and lifts the sheet. This shot is part of the creeping theme, so the audience is filled with tension as they await what will happen next. The tension is releaved as we see it is the childs dad. They talk about the 'Boogeyman' and the dad tells his son that he isnt real and so goes to check around the room to prove it. As he checks under the bed and around we can hear the enhanced sound of the child breathing, which rebuilds the tension. The father walks intot he cupboard and turns to face his son, to re-assure him. His speech is cut off as he is dragged backwards into the cupboard and the door slams shut behind him. This shot is done from the boys perspective to show the trauma he is facing. There is a quick shot of the boy to show his horrified reaction, then its back to the door as it flings open and his dad reappears on the floor, his face covered in blood. The mise-en-scene here is to show the audience that something bad is happening to the man, although it is not shown - its an ellipsis. There are multiple shots of the dad being pulled back through the door, and grabbing onto the door frame. These shots are key to the horror genre and adds to the audiences reaction of fear. The dad is screaming and being twisted around and lifted up and down in the door frame, a different series of shots are shown of this - which was really different, but worked really well to demonstrate to the audience the fear and horror of the scene.
As the door closes, there is a breif close up of the boy's face to show the fear in his eyes, and his eye colour is enhanced to furthur produce pathos for him from the audience.The camera then cuts to '15 years later'.
This is the opening 3 minutes of the film, which straight away connotes horror through the mise-en-scene and character reactions.

The target audience is over 15s, due to its certificate, yet is not for a much older audience as it is quite intence for violence and horror. It connotes the genre horror really well, through its characters, mise-en-scene, and the camera angles, although different, are key to creating a tense audience.

Filming :)

Me & Eve started filming, to our schedule, on the 31st of January.
We followed our shot list, so we included every shot in order. However, by the end of filming, we realised that some of our shots would not fit with continuity editing and so we had to go back a record the shot again.
We made sure, throughout, that nothing made any excess noise to what was needed. Also, that our costume etc was the same throughout. If there is any istakes that can not be fixed in editing, we plan to re-shoot certain parts one evening.
We have ulterier shots, as we were undecided about which would look best. Therefore, during editing, will chose the best and cut the rest.

Filming was fun and we now look forward to producing the opening sequence.

Update

Me and Eve are ready to film this weekend :)
We have our time plan, which says we start filming at 7 and should be finished by 8! If this changes we will be ready to change our shooting schedule!
Our costumes are typical, as i am the murderer i will be dressed all in black - a long black coat, black trousers, some black shoes that make a noise when i walk (to add to the horror iconography), and maybe a hat to conver my face.
Eve will be wearing her normal attire as to look like a teenager, this will most likely involve a pair of jeans and a hoodie.
We intend to use natural lighting, as there is a large window that shines street light onto the landing, therefore we should be able to manage with just that. However, if this fails, we will use extra lamps, that are hidden, to provide a faint glow.
All our sound will be non-diagetic, this will be the song and music that plays through the opening and the line, 'I Found You' at the end. However, the only piece of sound which will come direct from filming, is the tapping of shoes as the Murderer walks across to the door, if this does not succeed we will enhance it during editing.

Script for film opening

Shooting Schedule

This is mine and Eve's shooting schedule for the filming of our Film opening, after beginning to film we may change our schedule but we have allowed ourselves time to do each bit of filming.

Research for Horror Film

Me and My partner, Eve, have been looking for types of music that can add to the sinister opening of our film. We looked on the internet for different songs and came across the idea, from looking at other horror films, that it would be a good idea to include music that resembles that of fairground music. At the minute, we have not got a particular song, but are still searching.

To first of all figure out what genre of film we wanted to do, we set up a survey. We worked out who our target audience was and then applied a few genres to the question 'If you could make a film, what genre would it be in?'. We then asked them what kind of events they would like to be included in their film. The majority of people chose a comedy, thriller or horror. We then decided that it would be difficult to get across the point of a comedy in 2 minutes and felt strongly about doing a horror. We combined horror and thriller to make a hybrid-genre that we felt comfortable doing. We reviewed the examples of horror/thriller given to us and using other films as back-up, we came up with our plot.

Mine and Eve's Treatment for our Horror Film - 'I Found You'

This film is based around people paying for their sins – in this instance it is parents paying the price for neglecting their child, missing all 7 of his birthdays due to work commitments or just forgetting altogether. We can tell straight away that the film is going to be a horror due to the tension building music and iconography.
Throughout the first sequence, leading to the title, we can hear slow tempo music in the background – resembling that of a fairground. We can also hear a child’s song, being sung by a young girl, that is sung slowly until the close up of an eye at the end – the song is sung…’1, 2, I’m coming for you, 3, 4, better lock your door, 5, 6, pick up sticks, 7, 8, stay up late, 9 , 10, never sleep again’. The first shot we see is of the back of a house, where it appears that something or someone is lurking in the dark watching – from this angle, we see a young girl closing the curtains in a room and then turning the light off. From here the camera follows a shadowed figure to the door of the house, showing him creeping through doors to the lower landing. As he creeps up the stairs we see a shot of the young girl leaving the room – by a worm’s eye shot – she is a babysitter. As the figure enters the room, which later turns out to be a child’s room, the camera cuts to the babysitter in another room who can hear something happening. She is just about to leave the room to check on the child when she sees the figure walking out of the room; in a panic she closes the door. We are now viewing things from the figures perspective as he enters the room.
The babysitter is sat in a closet trying to contain herself, but can’t help but to breathe heavily. She can see the figure stalk past the slit in the door, then a loud bang is heard and the music slows down. Still from the babysitter’s perspective, we see the figure walk back and look through the slit. As he says ‘I found you’ there is a close up of his eye, through the door, then a cut to the main title – I Found You.

After the title sequence we see a car pull up to the house and two adults stepping out and approaching the house. They walk in to find the murderer sat in their living room waiting for them. He explains that he has taken their son and put him somewhere later to be revealed. He describes the hardship their son has faced due to their neglecting and tells them that they must par-take in 7 tasks if they are to see him again. As reasoning, the murderer decries how the parents have been neglecting their son for his entire life, missing all 7 of his birthdays – and for this they must pay.
The first task the murderer sets them on is to destroy all their technologies, because the source of all their problems lies within their being able to be contacted – they focus more on their work than on their child. To their horror, there is a bomb planted in the power line of the houses electric that, if they do not disable everything, will explode causing the house to burn and them along with it.
The second task starts to get a little more twisted as they are asked to skin their family dog alive. The dog receives more attention and love than the son and so by killing it, they are taking away the main distraction from their son. We see the parents hang their dog, by the legs, above a bath tub; where they skin him and drain all the blood – this task in particular takes the parents a long time to start and finish.
The third task is one that benefits the murderer. We see him ask the parents to cut open their son’s rabbit and re-stuff his insides with cocaine – the rabbit is a gift for their son after they forget his 4th birthday. We see them being forced to drive the rabbit to the airport and set it aboard a plane – all the time, the tasks are taking their tole on the parents and they already look as though they have been through a life time of struggles.
The fourth task is for the work-a-holics to torture and murder their boss, who has been bound and gagged in the boot of the parent’s car – much to their surprise. The murderer takes the parents and the boss down to the basement where he has set up a wheel, where the parents are forced to place their boss and spin him till he regurgitates. We then see them place him on top of a spike; they are then forced to pull on either side of him until he starts to move down the spike –screaming in agony. We do not actually see the death of the boss but are led to believe that he is dead due to the screams; cries of the parents then utter silence.
The 5th task they are to under-take is to cut up the babysitter the murderer killed and cook her. It is then served as a dish to them and we see them being forced to eat it all. The killer reasons that this is because the parents have never cooked a proper meal for their son or the babysitter when she has been round.
The penultimate task is not for them to do. The murderer brings in a very frightened paediatrician and takes him and the parents to the other end of the basement, where there are two chairs set up with retraining straps, next thing the audience sees is the murderer letting some form of gas go into the room then a fade out. During the fade we can hear mumbles and screams and sounds of people trying to get free. It fades back in for us to find the parents restrained but bleeding from their reproductive areas – the paediatrician has performed hysterectomies on them both as he claims that they neglect their child so therefore do not deserve to be able to have another.
After much needed calming tactics to get the mother to stop crying, we hear the murderer tell the parents that the final task will get them their son back. He informs them that he is trapped somewhere with a bomb strapped to his chest that is going to detonate. He gives them a riddle, after he plays them a recording of children singing ‘1, 2, I’m coming for you, 3, 4 etc…’ the riddle reads ‘Cries of abandonment, cries that you’ve caused. Find the cries, find the child’. To help the hysterical parents along he informs them that because they took so long to perform each task, they only have fifteen minutes left until the bomb explodes – killing their child.

After five panic stricken minutes, the parents figure out the riddle; their son is at his nursery. They leave in a hurry and rush down to save their son, but as they arrive they find the door is locked. Being unable to work out how to get to him they bang on the door, shouting and screaming his name, trying to reassure him that they’re here and that everything is going to be okay, while doing this, they turn and realise the only way in is to smash a window. After doing so, the father struggles his way in and retrieves his son, then passes him through the broken glass to his mother. (‘I found you’).
There is then a fade out and when the focus returns the area is crawling with police and fire fighters, who are sorting the wreckage of the nursery.
When they return home, they try to apologise to their son, but as their emotions rise the police knock at the door and arrest the parents for the drug smuggling, murders and destruction. So in the end, the parents lose their son for good as they are put into prison.
The child is sent to live with his Aunt in the backstreets of Birmingham, but he sadly still has a poor home life.
A fade shows an ellipsis to then show the child as a successful adult with a high flying job, but he is unfortunately not as successful socially. He doesn’t interact with other people much and pretty much focuses on his job.
We then cut to a scenario mirroring the first scene, with the camera behind some railings focussing on another house, looking into a window. A light switches off and then all goes dark.

30 Days of Night Analysis

Institutions :- Ghost House Productions, Columbia Pictures in association with Dark Horse Entertainment.

The establishing shot sees a close up of a mans face illuminated against a background of snow. Through the camera angle we can see that the man has been through something traumatic, although it isn't apparent what that was. The mise-en-scene adds to this effect - by having dull, torn, scruffy costume and make-up, that makes him look asthough hes been bleeding, depicts the rough experiences hes had.
The non-diagetic music plaed above the wind adds to the eerie set, showing that the film is a horror. The sound of the wind howling has been enhanced to emphasise the isolation and so adds to the terrifying ambience.
There is a shot of a ship, which appears to be rusty and perhaps broken, therefore establishing that people have either tried to leave and could not or people have been stranded - a typical start to a horror film. The first sign of movement is when the man walks across some amount of snow, toward a village - the camera angles show the man walking from long distance to close up therefore demonstrating the vast amounts of snow and so distance he has had to travel. From an eye-line match of the camera we can see how the village appears to this man, yet it appears to be empty - this is shown through the lack of sound, with emphasised wind in the background.
For the opening shot, there is no dialogue - which goes to convey the isolation of the village. Although it is usually common during conversation, there is a 180 degree rule, whilst the man looks down to the village then the village looks back - and vice versa.

There is no imediate representation, other than perhaps a traveller - who appears to be lost. The lack of background information of the man leads the audience to believe what they want about his character and reason for being there. The target audience would be young adults, as younger and older people tend to scare easier and so would not appriciate the film. It targets the younger generations as it is full of thrillers and suspence.

Horror/Thriller

These are the common associates of a horror/thriller genre of films:
Narratives

• Cannibalism
• Phsycos/Phsyciatric wards
• Trauma - maybe in childhoods
• Disease
• Zombies
• Vampires
• Supernatural
• Teenagers in Abandoned houses/warehouses, or being left alone at night
• Getting lost - either abroad or in a forest

Settings

• Adandoned ware/house
• Isolated places
• Foreign countries
• Forests
• Suburbs (everyday homes)
• Schools
• Phsyciatric Wards
• Museums
• Cities

Stock Characters

• Hero/Heroine - figures everything out, most of the time he lives
• The Prize - often the Hero/Heroines boy/girlfriend, gets captured then saved
• The Villian - can be more than one (e.g. a bunch of zombies0, often had a traumatic childhood (reason for killing)
• The False Hero - can be the Prize's partner but lets them down when in trouble (so Hero/Heroine can take over
• Helper - best friend to Hero/Heroine

Iconography

• Blood - red
• Black - connotes evil/darkness
• Teeth (often in vampire films)
• Cross (as above)
• Isolation (places that look abandoned or lonely)
• Forests (can hide from the people who could save them)
• Dark Skies - shows somethings bad going to happen
• Weapon (either sword, gun or axe, whatever to help Hero/Heroine
• Graveyard - land of the dead
• Smog - misty/foggy smoke because it distracts the Hero/Heroine
• Eerie music - makes it sinister

Audience

• Young Adults (16-28)
• Enjoy the suspense and gore
• Any job - generally watched at night
• Not necessarily religious - may not agre with the language or motive
• Not sqirmish people - cant watch the murders

Films

• 30 Days of Night
• Gothika
• The Grudge
• The Ring
• The Hills Have Eyes
• Wrong Turn
• the Saw films
• The Strangers
• Dracula
• Frankinstein
• Final Destination's
• Hollow Man
• Sleepy Hollow
• Scream
• Chuckie
• The Shining
• Jeepers Creepers
• May
• Texas Chainsaw Massacre, etc...

Box Office income = not sure

Editing Techniques

• Non-diagetic sound- to enhance smurder noises, eerie music, footsteps, wind etc...
• Colour - sometimes colour is black and white with hints of red to emphasise
• Fades - text at the beginning fade in and out slowly to make it creepy
• Text - iconography for horrors
• Camera Angles - to add to the effect of somebody watching (hidden in shadows e.g.)
• Continuity Editing - so they cna do a chase sequence

Coursework

We have decided to do a horror genre film that falls into the catergory of thriller - therefore classes as a hybrid-genre!
So far we have planned to aim at the younger generations, probably teenagers onwards - 15-24. This is because it would prove to scary for young children and may not capture the attention of anyone older tahn late twenties.
Our characters have no names yet, but within the first 2 minutes it is not apparent! It consists of a babysitter, hiding terrified in a cupboard whilst a physco killer walks around the house attempting to find her - a childs song is played over the top as well as music that resembles a fairground to make it sinsiter. The title is undecided as the title we had chosen was already in use. However, we do know that the opening will cut after the killer says "I found youu" with a close up of his eye. This is yet to be discussed and planned out :)

Woman in Black

We watched the opening sequence for 'The Woman in Black', although it was over 2 minutes the first 3 included the title sequences with no action.
The iconography of the horror genre is used within the title sequence to express to the audience the type of film they are about to endure. The texts itself is a dull colour, yet illuminated against the black background - which, in my vuew, reminds me of flesh and when put against a black background symbolises a mythical theme such as ghosts. The smog that we see floating across the screen and text is eerie and connotes horror, resembling that which we see in slasher movies or graveyards - again displaying the death side of the film. To add to this, is the style of text. It resemebles both a wanted poster and the writing seen on a headstone thus matching the smog to create a graveyard effect - explaining that the theme is indeed death. The non-diagetic music being played on top of the title sequence is in minor key and puts a sadistic twist on the film by sounded much like fairground music, or even that which is on babies toys.
The establishing shot is done at eye line level and makes the audience feel as thought the character in view is being watched from some hidden place. This is further demonstrated by the fact that the camera is situated behind railings, indicating that perhaps the person watching is hidden for a reason. As the character steps out the car his wealth is demonstrated immediatly, this is because of his clothing and the fact that he can afford to pay for a taxi.
Although the sun is shining, showing that it is morning time, there are still shadows surrounding the building into which the character walks. The continuity editing of the man walking to the door and putting his hand on the door emphasises his importance. The camera does a close up of the plack by the side of the building - which reads 'Sweetman Haigh and Sweetman Solicitors'. From his profession and the obvious period, we cna work out that the man would have great power and status.
As he walks down the corridors we notice that the setting is dark which connotates fear or evil. The position of women is dictated by there being only one female secretary there, who is quiet and well behaved unlike the male solicitors - who are undoubtedly younger than her.
Through the mise-en-scene we note the difference in social classes as the better paid are dressed more opulantly than those who are less fortunate.

The genre of this film is the same as the genre we have chosen to do our film opening in, therefore has helped to give us ideas about the type of iconography and mise-en-scene we must include.