Main Task Research: Horror Openings

During the lesson we were told to research and evaluate the first 2 minutes of an existing horror film (this is to give us some ideas on how to set out our opening 2 minutes of our own horror films). In order to help us with this task, sir directed us to the website "Art Of The Title" which allows you to watch a number of different film opening titles. In order to carry out our research we needed to do two things:
1) Choose a Horror film opening - I decided on the film "se7en"
2) Get an A3 sheet of paper and fold it into 4 columns and title them: Audio, Visuals, Time and Titles.

Audio:
This column should include any sound that can be heard throughout the opening - this includes anything from humming to drilling or screaming to heartbeats.

Visuals:
In this column should be all of the things that you see within the opening of the film, picking up on the smallest of details such as the colour scheme or the font that the titles are written in and everything in between.

Time:
This is just a timeline of when the opening titles apear.

Titles:
In this column, write down all of the opening credits that apear within the opening of the film.

Main Task: The Interview

Below is the footage of our interviews, edited together by Mateusz Zbielski.

Main task: Synopsis

During the lesson we were asked to write a synopsis for our film "Murder Studies". In short, a synopsis is a brief piece of writing, often a paragraph or two that gives the reader an overall idea of the film that it has written for. Our Synopsis is as follows:

Fred, Jase, Mike and Tom are 4 average sixth form lads who are assigned the task of planning and creating a teen horror movie. After indulging themselves in lots of research by watching horror movies, they have their plan; A psychopathic killer who kidnaps teenagers and tortures them in new and inventive ways...
While filming for their horror movie they get carried away with their roles and begin actually killing and torturing victims in the style of the murderers from the films they have researched. The style of their killings are loosely based on the Saw films along with hints of other horror classics such as halloween and Friday the 13th.

After we had finished writing our synopsis we were asked to go out and ask people within our targeted age range (15-25) how the thought Murder Studies should begin after we had shown then our synopsis. We filmed our interviews and in my next post I shall put on the footage of some of these interviews.

60 Second Pitch

Below is the link to our 60 second pitch. Please skip the video to 4:45 and watch up to 5:45 to see TwinPine Film's 60 second pitch.


http://kbaas2013.blogspot.co.uk/2012/11/your-60-second-pitches.html#!/2012/11/your-60-second-pitches.html

Planning: 60 Second Pitch

Below is the script for TwinPine Films© 60 second pitch for the teen horror flim 'Murder Studies'

John: I'm John Power
George: I'm George Hopkins
Mateusz: I'm Mateusz Zbielski
All : We are twin pine films
John: Our fourth member Jamie Oliver could not be here today due to illness. The working title for our film is "Murder studies" which is wordplay on "Media Studies"
George: It follows four sixth form media studies students: Fred, Jase, Mike and Tom. They are given the assignment of making a horror film in lesson.
Mateusz: While filming they go on a murderous rampage, inspired by the horror films they watched for research.
John: The film is shot using the Point-of-view technique which is seen in The Blair Witch Project and Diary Of The Dead.The target age certificate for "Murder Studies" is aged 15. That was our 60-second pitch for "Murder Studies" I hope you all see it in cinemas thank you for listening good day, good night we love you.

Planning: The Decision

After much discussion within our group, TwinPine Films has decided what the plot for our teen horror film is going to be. The working title for our teen horror film is 'Murder Studies' which is a word play on 'Media Studies'. In this film we follow 4 sixth form Media students (Fred, Jase, Tom and Mike(we gave our characters these names because they are also the names of 4 memorable horror villains-Freddy Kruger, Jason Voorhees, Thomas 'leatherface' Hewitt and Michael Myers)) who's task it is to make a teen horror film. Whilst doing their research by watching lots of different horror movies they  start really getting into it. This leeds them to eventually go a bit crazy and start actually killing people for their movie, in the styles of different horror icons they have watched. It will mainly be shot in the point of view of the characters, apart from when they film the killings which will be in the point of view of their video camera. This film will be rated 15 as it has images within that are unsuitable for younger people to see.

Planning: Brainstorm

During our lesson we were told to make a mind map, discussing the different ideas we had for our main task project. Below is a photo of our finished mind map.

Research : Dead Mary, Dead Wood and Wrong Turn

During our double lesson on Friday we watched the opening 2 minutes to 3 teen horror films- Dead Mary, Dead Wood and Wrong Turn. Whilst watching the openings we were looking for different Conventions that are usually found in horror films for example is it set in a secluded location, does anyone die during the first 5 minutes, is there a fake scare along with many others.

We saw whilst watching these openings that all 3 were set in a secluded location e.g. the woods.

The opening from the the film 'Dead Mary'. This first shot shows the audience that this first scene is set in quite a remote location. The sign reads "Gas Station Just Ahead. Last Drop for 100 Miles". This shows us that it is a remote location because the sign is on a long stretch of road and there isn't anything around for miles- only the forest that the road goes through and the gas station which, from the state of the sign is probably quite old and un-used or possibly deserted. Also, as the opening progresses we see a young girl in a car, she trys to use her mobile but is unable to as there is no signal. This also shows that the area is secluded because sh cant get a phone signal as there is no telephone poles around.

 



This is the Opening scene from the film 'Wrong Turn'. This shot shows the audience just how secluded this place is- all you can see for miles and miles is forest. As the opening progresses we see two people rock climbing and at one point the male character says to the female character "You know we're 50 miles from anybody, who are you screaming for?" This line really emphasises the fact that these characters are miles away from anyone or anything.

In the opening of the film 'Dead Wood' we see a young man running through the forest, away from an unknown being. As with the two previous films, the fact that it is set in a forest area shows that it is very secluded because there is nobody else around. Uunfortunately I was unable to find any good images/footage of the opening for this film as there is also an American television programme with the same name and all results of my Internet search were related to that programme and not the teen horror film. 

Research: BBFC

Recognise any of these??

The BBFC (British Board of Film Clasification) are responsible for giving every film that is released in cinema an age classification to clearly show the age range the film is suitable for. These BBFC raitings can be found on DVD cases, at the beggining of a film at the cinema and also on the cases of video games. When deciding on how to rate a film, the BBFC look at a number of factors. These factors include:

• The Language- How bad is the language, what (if any) bad/swear words are used and in what context are they used?
• Sex- Is there any scenes of sexual nature, any nudity?
• Violence- Is there any fighting or use of wepons?
• Drugs- Are drugs used or spoken about? 
• Discrimination- Are there any racial or discriminative references used?
• Horror- How scary is the contense of the film?

All the different classifications show you what factors the particular film includes and what age group the film is suitable for.

U (Universal):

Films with a BBFC calssification U can be viewed by all ages. These films have little or no violence, no sex or drugs, no discrimination, no elements of horror and little or no bad language. Most Disney films are classified U with some exception’s for example 'Pirates of the Caribbean'.

PG (Parental Guidance):

Films classified PG are suitable for all, however in some films there are scenes of mild violence, possible drug references, some mild scenes of nudity and the odd bad word such as 'Arse' or 'Crap'. This being the case some parents may feel the need to check the film in advanse to see if they feel it is suitable for their child.

 

12:

Films with a 12 certificate are not suitable for anyone who is under the age of 12. These films often contain some violence with mild use of wepons, some references to sexual experience and also some stronger language like 'B*****d' or the F word. 

 

 15:
If a film is rated 15 it means that it is not suitable anyone under the age of 15. Films with this certificate usually contain lots more violence, with u the use of wepons, more drug use and references, stronger scenes of sexual nature, more discrimination towards people and more strong language such as the 'C' word. 

18:
If a film is rated 18, it must NOT be viewed by anyone who is under the age of 18. Films rated 18 include very strong language, very strong violence and gore, very sexual scenes including full frontal nudity and lots of drug use. Most horror films are classified 18 due to the amount of violence they include. An example of an 18 rated movie is 'A Nightmare on Elm Street'. This movie is rated 18 because of the numerous, grafic scenes of murder.

R18 (Restricted):
Films with this rating can only be found at special 'Adult' shops and are only shown in adult cinemas. This is because of the high amounts of sexual activity within these films. These types of films are basicly pornographic videos. Under no circumstances should this type of film be seen by anyone under the age of 18.

Horror Research: Survey Results

Overall I had 20 responses to my survey. Below I shall show the questions asked and the answers I recieved.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Horror Research: Audience Views and Expectations

I am going to Create a survey about horror films to find out about the audiences views and expectations on horror films. In a later post I shall be showing the results of my survey.