Developing our opening sequence

When getting feedback for our opening sequence first draft we realized the shots were too confusing so we needed to alter the story line. So we changed the story line from flashbacks before and after Susan McKay's attack to cross cuts between Susan McKay lying unconscious on the cellar floor to her best friend Emily on her way to find her. To do this we took off 'the dream effect' to make it look less like a flashback. This was effective as it created the theme of friendship and due to the fact that our target audience is teenagers and friendship is a key part in a teenagers life, the theme works well and appeals to our target audience well. Additionally, we had to change the close up of her boyfriend ringing her to a close up of Emily texting her. This reinforces the theme of friendship and also appeals to our target audience well because teenagers rarely call people they usually just text someone, whether its an emergency or not. 

Before:

After:

Feedback

8. Shooting Schedule

This is our shooting schedule which provides a clear structure of days and times of when we are going to film. It allows us to look back and know where we are going, what shots we are filming and on which day. We have used a shooting schedule as it helps us decide what costumes and props to bring on on which days as it shows us which shots we are planning to film. 

11. Titles

We wanted our titles to be both scary and creepy and decided on a blood red, scratchy font. 

We want our titles to look something like this: 

The blood red to symbolise violence and attack and the scratching of the font to portray the character of 'Frank Deavell' as he has a claw as a hand due to a deformation as a child. The scratchiness of the title could also create the idea of someone or something trying to get away but being dragged and there nails could create sharp and blunt scratches quite like our titles. The sound of a long scratch is uncomfortable which is the effect we want to create for the audience.  Our titles appear within the actual film in most shots for example, in the shot of the note in 'Susan's' hand the title of an actors name will first appear and then after the actual writing on the note will appear and in the shot of 'Susan' walking into the location the title will appear on the wall of graffiti to make it look as if it is graffiti itself. We thought this would look effective and make the titles more interesting in a more subtle way. The name of the film will first appear 'House of the slasher' to create sudden suspense and then next the names of the cast ordered by most importance and most screen time to least within the film, then followed by the names of the crew ordered by least importance to most. 

Order of titles is as followed:

House of the slasher (name of film)

Al Kiernan

Rae Tiernan

Chris Mayor

Martin Sheen

Natasha Claremont

Sophie Nelson

Robert Wyatt

Casting by Amie Brady

Set Designer Paula Smith

Music by Carmen Tenief

Edited by Harry Sullivan

Production Designer Jay Menemony

Lighting by Judy Alter

Director of photography Paula Smith

Executive producer Ted Wannabe

Produced by Pete Lemont and Jim Scott

Written by Caroline Moose

Directed by Sophie Wyatt

10. Casting

We have chosen Rae Tiernan to play 'Susan McKay' as Rae has blonde hair and fits well to the stereotypical 'popular girl'. Rae is confident and is able to stay still without moving for a long duration of time which is perfect for our shots of her character being dead. Additionally, Rae is in our group therefore we will be able to film her during our lesson time. Rae is committed and is prepared for after school and lunchtime filming etc. Rae is fairly small which which portrays her low status within the opening sequence well. She listens well and knows exactly how to play the part. 

For the character of 'Frank Deavell' we have chosen Harry Sullivan. We have chosen Harry as he is excellent at drama and can take up any role. Harry is also in our group which makes it much more appropriate as we can film him during lesson time. Harry is tall and has longish hair which is exactly what we were thinking of as for the murderer. Due to his height his status will increase which adds to the tension within the opening sequence. Harry thought of a large proportion of 'Franks' description and character which will mean he will be able to adapt to the character well. Harry is also committed and is prepared for after school and lunchtime filming etc. Harry is confident and listens well. 

9. Character descriptions

Our female character is 'Susan McKay' who is seventeen years old. She is flirty, sociable, and enjoys parties. She has been going out with her boyfriend 'Toby' for six months and is always with him and her friends. She is a waitress at the local cafe and is very popular at school. She has blonde hair and is always up for a good time. She likes to please everyone and usually doesn't think about the consequence.

Our male character is 'Frank Deavell' he is a seventeen year old boy who isolates himself from others. He doesn't have any friends due to his aggression and creepiness. Many people describe his as a 'psycho' which he doesn't like.  He is single and unemployed due to his unsociable and rude behaviour. He enjoys the idea of murder and hunting people and his strongest belief is revenge. 

                                        

5. Storyboards

                                       
This is an animatic of our storyboard images. We have created a storyboard as it will help majorly once we get to filming because we will know exactly what shots to film, from what angle and for how long etc. A few of our ideas have changed since our initial ideas as we now plan to create cross cuts from past to present to help reveal small amounts of information and to set the scene better. However, we have stuck with our original ideas of showing ripped clothing and blood a numerous amount of times and only showing the back of the murderer in order to hide his identity. 


This is our storyboard:

My groups survey

This is an example of a copy of our survey that we handed out to 30 pupils. Our responses are shown in our audience research task. I have edited the photos we took of the survey making them more creepy and scary to relate to our genre. 

6. Props, Costumes, Locations

4. Sound

                 
This music is called 'Under' and is found on World Mix Vol 3. It uses the instrument, Digeredo and has a slow tempo. I think this music is eery and creepy it makes me feel uncomfortable which is perfect for our genre. We would use this music throughout in order to keep the same 'uncomfortable' atmosphere. This soundtrack portrays an image of 'evil' which helps portray the character of the murderer. I believe this music would  make the audience feel scared and wanting to know what was going to happen next. I created this video and used the image of our favourite location as the background image to help set the scene. This music is perfect for the genre of horror and is it is creepy and suggests someone or something is slowly approaching.

     
              
This is another piece I thought would be good for our opening sequence. It is called 'Out of the shade' and can be found on World Chill Vol 2. It uses soft but effective sounds to create a scary effect. We would use this music throughout the whole opening sequence but perhaps adjust the pitch when the flashbacks are on screen to signify something has changed. This piece makes me feel cautious and aware and as if someone is quietly watching me which would set the scene well for our sequence. I believe this piece would make the audience feel scared and cautious. Furthermore,  this music would be good for a horror as it creates an eery and creepy atmosphere. 

DEVELOPED IDEA



Due to the fact that we wanted to show both present and past, we thought we could use two different types of music. One scary, creepy and uncomfortable and the other happy, peaceful and calm. This is the piece we have chosen for our 'scary present'. This music is good as it has the sound of a whip in the background which suggests the idea of anger and violence. It also increases in volume every once and a while which grabs the audiences attention. This music makes me feel uneasy and uncomfortable which is exactly how we want our audience to feel.




This is our choice for the 'happy past' music. We thought this piece would be effective as it is high pitched and soft therefore suggesting happiness however, the instruments used create an edgy atmosphere suggesting maybe something bad is going to happen which is perfect for our opening sequence as something bad does happen. This music makes me feel calm but cautious at the same time which could be the way 'Susan' is feeling as she approaches the location.


FINAL DECISION



This is our final decision for music. We have chosen a piece of music called 'dark undertow' it has a minimum amount of instruments which creates suspense and an uncomfortable atmosphere which is our intention. It has sudden high pitched sounds throughout which sound like a phone which suggest that someone is trying to ring her and as our first shot is a phone in a hand it fits well for our visual outlook. We chose this as it is creepy and suggests something is going to jump out. 

3. Shot lists

1. Initial ideas

a brainstorm of our initial ideas

 

We immediately thought of the genre of horror as we all loved them and thought they were exciting, interesting and scary all at the same time. We had a range of ideas and plot lines for our horror but decided on the idea of a murder to a young girl. Harry stated that he knew where an abandoned house was so we thought that would be a great place for a setting. We all decided that Rae would be the female victim and we thought she could be covered in blood and scratches. Additionally  we thought we could use the prop of a phone which lights up to suggest that someone is trying to get in touch with Rae (the victim) suggesting she should be somewhere else. We each contributed our own ideas and then used parts from each and then developed them to make one big idea. 

2. Film Synoposis

It is set in an abandoned house during winter and a group of teenagers are looking for a place to have a new years party. An anonymous note is sent to one of the young girls telling her 'the perfect place to have a party' which leads her to the abandoned house. This young girl reads the note and is extremely happy and goes to the address and disappears (gets murdered) her friends become worried about where she is and then recieve another anonymous note telling them where she is, but they are unsure whether to go or not. They end up going and discover that she has been murdered. A murderer is on the loose to get revenge on those who bullied him as a child (the group of teenagers) for his physical difficulty of his deformed hand. After the funeral of the first victim, one by one each 'bully' goes missing after each recieving a mysterious anonymous note. A group of family members go on a witch hunt to find the killer and are never found.

Our opening sequence will show the young girl covered in blood and scratches this will leave the audience asking who did this to her and why? Also, the audience will also ask where she is? we are planning to reveal little information including a close up of the note and also we are going to show her ripped clothing. However, we are not going to show who the murderer is. Our film idea fits the genre of horror as it includes violence and a murderer.