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The Final Ideas for the Film

We have changed the idea of what we want within the 2 minute clip. We wanted to go with a less conventional idea, so we decided to shorten the amount of characters within the clip and not the 5 characters you would have in the film. This is because in the first couple of minutes in a film often you see all the main characters you are going to see for the rest of the movie. Like within Final Destination, the first few minutes you see all the characters, as seen in this video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RFZg21g5_RY

Also within the first scenes of a horror film, there can be a death or there can be a scene where they set up for a death later on within the film. After watching scream and the ring, we decided that we preferred the way scream opened their film, as the first scenes of the film, there is two murder’s which sets the feel for the film. Also the Ring had a death within the first scene, it took a little longer to happen but it was relatively early in the film, which we liked and thought was a conventional, which we wanted to incorporate within the film as we needed some conventions in the film.

So our new idea for the film is to have a crowbar in the shot, with dripping blood from the end of it and a hard reaching out to try and grab it. Then a shot of the victim on the floor, giving up, then it goes back to the crowbar and you see it go down a strike the victim. Then the film ends abruptly and that’s the clip over and finished.  This is a brief over view of the film, there is more detail than this, but in a few sentences this is what happens.

We decided to have no dialog in the film and a brief shot of the killer, we wanted to create suspense and mystery, so the audience don’t know what happened and if they saw the clip, they would want to see the rest of the film.

planning task

Positions

Positions	Names
Writer	Alex Middleton
Producer	Alex Middleton and Jordan Booker
Casting director	Jordan Booker
Director	Jordan Booker
Assistant director	Tyler Poyle
Director of photography (cinematographer)	Alex Middleton
Sound mixer	Tyler Poyle
Chief Editor	Tyler Poyle

Our Group was larger with more people, so the initial positions have been changed and adapted to the smaller group. We were a group of 5 now changed to a group of 3, due to the examination rules.

Location Ideas

Location_Scouting.docx by ravidor123

Script

*Teacher raises head and looks onto class ahead of him*

(Camera moves around to next to table of classmates)

Jenifer: Didn’t you used to be friends with that Connor guy?
Danny: Yeah, but that freak is really weird now.
Sarah: You shouldn’t be so tough on him; he’s been through a lot.
Jenifer: He was quite cute; it’s a shame nothing from the waist down works now.

(All laughed, Camera goes to window, camera looks into room from window.)

(Camera returns back into classroom, alongside table so that window can be seen behind them. All hears something and they all look around. Then look towards teacher.)

Teacher: Don’t worry, I’ll go and take a look.

(Teacher leaves, Jenifer stands up.)

Jenifer: I’m not waiting around for that dick head to get back, I’m off.

Howard: Shouldn’t we wait for him to get back?

(Jenifer tuts and walks out of room, she turns the corridors corner to the right and Connor is in front of her)

Jenifer: *Mutters Insult*

(Jenifer walks around him and continues down corridor)

Possible Films Names:

The first two films are our main possible film titles

·         Broken- This is a possible film name as it relates to the killer, as he has broken legs. It shows a clear representation to the film and we can make the link a reference to the title within the film. The title will be used quite cleverly and broken ‘k’ to give it that relevance and cleverness. It give the audience an understanding of the film and it is appealing to the target audience. This name fits with our film in many different ways, which is why it is one of the top two choices out of the film names we have come up with.

·         Cracked – Our other name that we thought was good and is possibly going us to is, cracked’. This is the other one of our top two because it also has relevance to the film, as the killer has broken legs in the film and his weapon to kill is a crowbar. We were going to show an x-ray of a cracked leg and the crack in the shape of a crowbar. This also has relevance to the film and is a good representation of the film. Also its simplicity and bluntness stands out amongst other working movie titles and is a good choice for our film.

Other possible film names:

·         Insanity

·         Revenge

·         Monkey wrench

·         Road kill

·         The bloody trail

·         The broken ones

·         Unfixable

·         Unfinished business

Cast and Dress Code Changes

n gfmiyfyi by Audience research evaluation

Audience Research Results

 

We created a questionnaire that we sent out to our target audience to gain research into what they like in a horror film and we will take this information and apply it to our original idea’s to make the best film we can.

Male	Female
32	8

This shows that a majority of the people I have asked have been male. This is good because I believe that a majority of people who would like our film would be male; this is also bad as this limits our audience which could watch our movie and we could miss out on business.

Age	16	17	18
	26	4	10

All of the people I have asked are within the age range I want to do our film for (16-18) this makes their opinions more required as we can change our movie top their opinions.

How many horror films do you watch in a month?
1-3	4-6	7+			0
12	18	10			0

A lot of people who we sent the questionnaire to watch a lot of horror movies so this then makes the survey helpful as they have experience with movies before, and watch at least one every month.

What genre of horror movies do you watch/ enjoy?
Zombie	Supernatural	Comedy	Apocalyptic	Vampire	Slasher	Teen	Sci-Fi	Other
6	0	20	0	0	9	4	1	0

This shows that a lot of people like comedy horror movies; we have used this and given our movie a slight comedy sense to it. Also, we’ve taken into interest that a good chunk of our audience likes slasher films so well be using this within our films.

Favourite Horror film

Shaun of the Dead (Repeated)

We have taken into consideration about how a lot of people like Shaun of the Dead so we are considering using a costume reference to the film (red tie, white shirt, ink splodge)

Why do you enjoy horror films

A twist of a reality which creates fear (Repeated)

We are using this within our movie by using the use of school (a safe and educational environment) and twisting it into a desolate zone for our killer to hunt.

Lead role?
Male	Female	Either
7	9	24

This shows that our audience is really too sexist and doesn’t mind who plays the lead role, leaving it to us to make the decision on who should lead the film.

What do you expect to see in a horror film?

Thrills & Blood

We will use these as the main conventions which we will use within our horror film so that our audience is happy with our production.

What puts you off a horror?

Cheap production

This is a slight problem as due to the fact that we don’t have Hollywood budgets here we have to work around what we can get, so hopefully this won’t be too much of a problem if we try hard enough.

Facebook	TV	Radio	Twitter	Youtube	Public Adverts	Cinema	IMDB	Other
18	20	12	6	18	14	12	16	2

This is helpful as we can tell about how we can further our advertising for our film, we’ll most likely use a combination of Facebook and Youtube to get people interested in our film.

Casting, dress codes and characters attitude

Cast:

Killer – Connor: Played by Jordan Booker

(Doesn’t Die) Final Girl – Sarah: 

(3^rd)Drama Guy – Taylor: Played by Taylor Wooltorton

(2^nd)Jock – Danny:

(1^st)Promiscuous Girl – Jennifer:

(4^th) Nerd – Howard: Played by Tyler Poyle

Dress Code:

Connor: shorts, bandage over the head.

Sarah: Full uniform, buttoned up and smart shoes.

Taylor: Drama hoody, uniform trousers and converse.

Danny: Sports jumper, trainers and school trousers.

Jennifer: Uniform, high skirt and flat shoes.

Howard: Full buttoned, glasses, laptop bag and block shoes.

Character Attitudes:

Connor: Dark, alone, mysterious and quiet.

Sarah: Shy, calm, go along with others and kind.

Taylor: Camp, confident, over the top and thoughtful.

Danny: Confident, boisterous, sport loving and strong minded.

Jennifer: Flirtatious, bitchy, self-centred and vein.

Howard: Quiet, work motivated, hardworking and lonely.    

Questionnaire

Horror Conventions and Review Comments

The Ring

“The support cast were all good, with Brian Cox thrown into the mix. My only cause for concern was Dorfman – why was he allowed to change the character of the boy? In Ringu he was a normal kid, here he comes across like a poor man's Haley Joel Osmond in 6th Sense? His routine took away from the emotional involvement that should have come with the danger he was in – instead he just comes across as difficult. The performance is OK but 1, the change to the character is strange and unnecessary and 2, it just felt a little too like the 6th Sense.” – IMDb User Review.

I believe the way in which the character of the boy is portrayed is done to fulfil the conventions of horror as the film has a lot of twists and is a post-modern film. The ‘boy’ character played by David Dorfman was a ‘creepy’ sort of child who you feel has had childhood issues, which are a conventional theme. This film doesn’t have the conventional characters of a horror film, some it goes with the conventional theme to keep the horror stereotypes alive.

Scream

The scream film is referred to as a postmodern film as it understands the conventions on horror and uses them, but in a way in which it turns the outcome on its head and makes you not know what is going to happen. The area in which the victims are killed, they always are secluded, isolated areas out of the way of other people. Also there is always a girl, on her own, in a house which is conventional and it’s what you expect from a horror. The main characters are the usual characters, which is 2 girls, what promiscuous and one quite innocent and three males, two jocks and a guy that is a bit of a nerd. But the way in which the film is postmodern is that the main characters, within the 5 characters, the two jocks are the killers, you expect them to die first and the order of who dies changes from the conventional order and this makes the film different and gives the audience a false idea of how the film is going to play out, making it more interesting.

The Final Destination

The final destination film was clever with the conventions they used and the conventions they avoided and turned around on the audience. They had the stereotypical teenagers involved within the horror, but they added to this and made it different and a slight turn on what they norm is. The convention is usually 5 characters, 2 females and 3 males; one of the girls is usually promiscuous and provocative, whilst the other girl is quiet, innocent and usually dies last. The men, there is usually a jock, a nice guy, who is usually a jock as well and a weird male, who is different to the normal teenage boy, could be someone who is a ‘geek’ or a ‘druggy’ or someone who is a bit ‘crazy’.  But within the final destination film they have 7 characters, 4 males and 3 females. Within these people, they have the two jocks, which are expected, but they then have two more males and usually there is only one more. Also there are 3 females, instead of the usual 2, which is different to the horror conventions; there are 2 ‘final girl’ candidates and 1 promiscuous girl.

These conventions have been used and adapted for more than one possible reason, which can be done to make the film more individual, actually make a film or just show a new perspective on conventions. The film may have the seven characters because they need that amount of people to kill off through the film to make it long enough to make the film. But they may also use this amount of characters because they want to be different and postmodern on the way they look at the conventions, by adding the extra characters, they are not conforming to the usual amount, but still including the vital characters making it conventional, but still different. With the film they could be trying to show a new perspective on horror conventions including the extra characters to show what the director thinks future films should base their character round.

Also they play on the conventions by the settings and the way the characters die and how they escape a death which could happen in real life. This plays on the fears of the audience in a different way, usual horror films scare you with some sort of killer and the setting. The settings with a horror film are conventionally in small, secluded area with minimal people around. But within the final destination film the characters are all saved from a possible real life situation through someone having a vision. Then when they are killed off, they die in possible real life situations that could happen to anyone. This plays on the fears off people as they get scared of it happening to them in real life, which is why they change the conventions.