Film institution: paramount pictures (big six)

We have chosen to use Paramount, from 'The Big Six' to use in our opening two minutes due to the fact that the institution Paramount has been used by horror films before such as Friday the Thirteenth and My Bloody Valentine. It was because of Paramount's previous experiences with filming horror movies that we decided to include it in the opening of our horror movie.

Film institution (our own)

This is a test intro we made as a possible logo. We were thinking of using this for the opening of our film howeverthe colour scheme i used doesn't match up with those traditionally used by film companies that specialise in the Horror genre. Based on previous analysis of institutions specialising in the Horror genre, i've realised that black backgrounds with either a white or red font overlapping. Meaning i'm either going to have to change the colourscheme of this current clip, swapping the blue for red (to symbolise blood and evil), or i'm going to have to start from scratch,in order to make an opening more suited to our genre of a horror movie.

Storyboard

Own film treatment

The opening scene starts with two of the characters waiting for two other boys. They then start to walk into the woods. We have used the low key lighting to our advantage as it is a main code for a horror genre. The characters start to talk about a girl that went missing in the woods so they have decided to stay where this incident happened. When they are walking through the woods they reach a pit, this interests the boys and they start to talk about what the pit is used for. In the camera shot we can see a half buried boot but the characters are unaware of this so they keep on moving. The next shot is match on action of Elliott helping Joe out of the pit. When they reach the shack, we started to use close ups to show the audience how serious the story being told. The last shot is of the antagonists staring at the shack whilst holding deadly weapons.

Basic editing tutorial

Sony Vegas Pro 12 Beginners guide.

This is just a basic tutorial i found on YouTube, teaching me some basic techniques about how to use the software. This tutorial made it so much easier to edit our film, as it taught me things such as importing media, cutting and trimming, adding video fx, saving your project and exporting/rendering the clip.
 

 

Mood board

This mood board shows several things that we want to include in our film. The first image is of the Blair Witch Project, we have got inspiration from this film in several ways. At first we thought we could use the idea of filming it like a 'home movie', we would have needed a camera with less good quality in order to show the differences between the cameras. Another aspect of inspiration we got from the Blair Witch Project was the location, it is situated in a dense forest. This location denotes darkness and mystery as you can't see much due to the trees obscuring the light.
The weapons (axe, hammer and hand held scythe) are on this to show that the antagonists are gruesome and far from professional killers. This brings an aspect of reality to the film because no ordinary person will expect to be killed by a professional killer. This brings it closer to home and people will expect that it is a possibility it will happen to them.
There are several masks on the story board because we thought we would dress the antagonists all in black and find masks to hide their faces. This would hide their emotions and expressions making it more scary because you can't predict what they will do if you can't see their face. Both masks are from the horror movie Saw, they are used very effectively in this film so it inspired us to use a similar idea.
We have put the picture of the road on the mood board because the film starts with the group of teenagers driving towards the woods on a road, they then walk away from it for a while, this shows how far away from civilisation they are and even if help comes, it will take a while to get to them.
The final two pictures show a wooden shack and woods in the dark. After watching The Blair Witch Project, we were inspired to film in the woods because it is easy to be selective over what the audience see's. It also allows the audience to see lots of silhouettes of trees and this creates tension because they think any silhouette could be the antagonist. We also chose to film in a wooden shack because it looks isolated and far from any help. It also shows that the protagonists wouldn't be comfortable in this location whereas the antagonist may be.

Research and planning provisional mark

Name of student: Liam Turner

	Done?	Comment/target
RESEARCH
Genre Research and mind-maps	YES
Uploaded YouTube videos of openings - analysed	Not complete	You need to have at least 10 opening scenes analysed in detail – I could only see three
Opening titles analysed in detail – font researched		Make sure you comment on fonts used in opening titles in the rest of the opening scenes analysis you will do. Explain how the fonts may have influenced your own ideas for the font for your film. What did/didn’t you like and why? How might you achieve a similar look?
Uploaded YouTube videos of similar genre openings analysed in detail	Not complete	You need to have at least 10 opening scenes analysed in detail – I could only see three
Costume and location research – google earth and pictures you’ve taken.	YES	Good detail of comments
Actors and props photos and interviews	Props – yes Interviews - no
Soundtrack research (non-copyright music)	YES
Audience Research and Profiling (typical audience member and similar films)	YES
Institution research (Paramount etc)	YES
Certificate research	YES
PLANNING
Own film idea brainstorm	YES
Own film treatment	?
Relevant Online Tutorials and Comment	YES
Documenting of influences on production	?	Codes and conventions discussed
Shot lists	YES
Consideration  of representation in your film and stereotyping – use theory from G325.	?	Codes and conventions discussed – could you go into more detail, using the theory you have looked at with Miss Picken?
Questionnaire (and feedback) Get some feedback on your initial ideas!	YES
Diary of filming/editing etc with photos and screen grabs	NO
Mood board	Not uploaded	Complete this, with comments and upload it
Script	NO
Practice titles created and uploaded	NO
Storyboard – animatic.	NO	This is very very important
Time Management Schedule	YES

 

 

Research and planning mark scheme:

 

Level 2

8–11 marks

Planning and research evidence may be partially incomplete;

There is basic research into similar products and a potential target audience;

There is basic organisation of actors, locations, costumes or props;

There is basic work on shotlists, layouts, drafting, scripting or storyboarding;

There is a basic level of care in the presentation of the research and planning;

Time management may not be good.

 

Level 3

12–15 marks

Planning and research evidence will be complete;

There is proficient research into similar products and a potential target audience;

There is proficient organisation of actors, locations, costumes or props;

There is proficient work on shotlists, layouts, drafting, scripting or storyboarding;

There is a good level of care in the presentation of the research and planning;

Time management is good; there is a schedule of filming

There is no animatic storyboard and/or mood board

 

Level 4

16–20 marks

Planning and research evidence will be complete and detailed;

There is excellent research into similar products and a potential target audience;

There is excellent organisation of actors, locations, costumes or props;

There is excellent work on shotlists, layouts, drafting, scripting or storyboarding;

There is an excellent level of care in the presentation of the research and planning;

Time management is excellent.

Research and planning mark      11/20       Level 2

Lots to do Liam, but certainly not an impossible task. Work your way through the checklist methodically, making sure you comment on each post – how it has influenced your own ideas, what your thought processes have been etc