Shooting Script - 30th December

30^th DECEMBER 2012

TIME: 10AM – 5.30PM

LOCATION: BURTSED WOODS

ACTORS:

<·       HEATHER
>·      STEVIE   
  ·       ELYSE

  ·       HOLLY

<·       MASCULINE GUY – TO BE CONFIRMED

COSTUMES:

   ·       HEATHER – DARK JEANS, BOY HOODIE, BLACK PLIMSOLES

   ·       STEVIE – DARK JEANS, SIMILAR HOODY TO HEATHER, DARK SHOES

   ·       ELYSE – CROP TOP, BRIGHT, DENIM SHORTS, TRAINERS, JACKET

   ·      HOLLY – TROUSERS, LONG SLEEVED BLOUSE

   ·       MASCULINE GUY – TRENDY TOP, JEANS AND TRAINERS

PROPS:

   ·       ALCOHOL – CANS, BOTTLES

   ·       MATS/RUG TO SIT ON

   ·       LIGHTER/MATCHES

   ·       IF TENT CAN BE BOUGHT

   ·       TORCHES – BIG ONES

PLEASE NOTE: CAN EVERYONE COLLECT ALCOHOL BOTTLES/CANS FROM NOW ON AND BRING TO THE SET.

THANK YOU

1^ST SHOT

ESTABLISHING SHOT

SEEING THE GROUP MOVE THROUGH THE WOODS AND VENTURING INTO THEIR LOCATION.

2^ND SHOT

POV SHOT FROM THE VILLAIN

WATCH CHARACTERS FROM BEHIND A TREE TO THE RIGHT OF THE SCREEN, CHARACTERS ARE HEADING TOWARDS HER IN THAT DIRECTION HOWEVER THEY DO NOT ACKNOWLEDGE THE VILLAIN.

3^RD SHOT

180-DEGREE RULE USED WITH ELYSE AND MASCULINE GUY ARGUING ABOUT THE FIRE NOT BEING ABLE TO START. SEE OTHER CHATACTERS BEHIND THROUGH THE MIDDLE OF THESE CHARACTERS HEADS WATCHING ON BUT ACTING VERY AWKWARD.

Orphan deconstruction

• With each gun shot that is heard, a jumpcut is used to show another establishing shot of the forest.
• The vertical compositions of each establishing shot of the forest show strength, which the gun shots conform to because at first, we do not know what is being shot at
• The white of the sky and the snow connotes purity and innocence which Jimmy conforms to as he doesn't mean wrong by shooting the targets, and when he hits the bird, he shows guilt. It contrasts with the black/dark brown of the tree connoting the upcoming suffering of the bird.

• Tight framing is used here to show that what he has done to the bird cannot be undone, he cannotundo the actions that he has just done.
• The shot is close up which shows his emotions when he realises that he has done wrong and that he's caused pain to the pigeon which a conventional childs reaction would be.
• Non-diegetic low sound is included when Esther comes into the shot later on, maybe to connote the danger that she brings
• The shot is open which gives it a more natural and simple look also making it unstructured
• He's placed in the middle of the shot which shows his importance.

• In this shot, Esther's stern expression is clearly visible, she doesn't give a child-like reaction to the situation
• The clothing that she is wearing it very mature for a child, more like adult clothing, with it all being quite pristine, dark and neat. It juxtposes his clothing with his jacket hanging loosely on him as a child is expected.
• When Esther says to him that he should "put it out of his misery" it's as thought she sees no sympathy for Jimmy and that she doesn't care about the guilt that he is feeling, she just wants to cause him more pain.
• She its the blame on him when she says that "its your [his] responsibility" as though it his fault and it wasn't an accident
• When Esther says to Jummy "walk away now and it'll starve to death", she quite clearly puts it how it is as an adult would when telling off a child for example, she doesn't care that he's upset.
• She's at the left hand side of the shot which means that she is the first thing that we would look at, that she is the dominant character here.

• After Esther kills the bird, we're shown this loosley framed shot which gives the characters space to move which is shown with the boy running away from what's just happened
• She is standing up hill to where he is, which suggests that she's more powerful than him, that she has power over the way he feels because she's just caused him more upset. 
• There's a high lighting key due to the fact that the snow and sky brighten up the shot, and the density is moderate, as although there's some information to the shot, there's not a lot. They both keep the scene as non-artificial as possible.
• The girls are at a intimate distance to each other, where as the boy is at a social distance showing the audience the relationship between the three characters.

Typical Slasher Movie Characters

The couple

• Usually madly in love.
• would die for each other
• never apart and when they are they're always talking about each other
• no real typical costume

Jock

• Macho man
• lots of muscle
• thinks he's the best looking man in the world
• very sexist
• thinks every girl should drop to his feet
• baseball jacket of some type

Dumb blonde

• usually very sexual and provocative 
• has literally one brain cell so she can breathe 
• very inquisitive
• doesn't understand puns, or jokes either
• has to have everything explained to her.
• short skirt, low cut top.

The intellectual

• Very smart
• knows just about everything about anything
• makes witty and nerdy puns
• knows when something strange is happening
• first person to realise they are in danger.
• long hem lines, turtle neck jumper, glasses

 

Fool

• usually the one that does drugs
• doesn't take life seriously
• finds everything funny
• very laid back
• only bothered about himself, very selfish.
• baggy clothes, jogging bottoms, jumpers

Outsider

• usually there because someone felt they needed to invite them
• normally a goth or emo sometimes a dork
• very quiet, very shy
• doesn't get involved in a lot
• dark clothes, nothing to extravagant

Virgin

• usually very religious
• very naive, doesn't know of the dangers outside of her home
• used to pick on in sexual joke, usually made by the jock
• dresses very 'proper'.

http://messmediatownley.blogspot.co.uk/2012/12/teenage-costume-inspiration.html
                                                                                                                                       

Moving Clips Montage

• Above is an embedded clip of a montage of moving clips put together
• In order to get the shots I did 3 things

1. I rode my skateboard while filming, it enabled me to get good movement as I was filming however as I needed to push the shot was unequal
2. I picked my skateboard up with my camera on top, depending on the camera this can be really helpful as you are on a flat base, was very effective in the end
3. Rolling my skateboard across the floor, this is very effective if the surface is flat as it resembles a panning effect, also as it can reach different speeds you can have the pace of the shot differ.

Basic Possessed Child Makeup Ideas

By putting a slight colour on the lips in the middle thins out the lips adding to the ill look of the child.

i chose the pink because its close to a natural colour but not too natural so it washes them out.

For the eyes i used a brown eye shadow to make the eyes appear tired and sunken in.

this gives the effect of an ill child again making the audience more frightened and scared of the child. This is also shows the 'possessed' side of the child which make it scarier for the audience because research shows that possessed or ill children make people more afraid and fearful.

By using bronzer on the cheek it bring the cheek bones out making the face look thinner and gormless.

this would be scarier to the audience because the child would look ill instead of healthy. 

This is the overall look its a very basic one that only the lips and eyes really stand out. On the next go I will make my skin paler and make the cheeks stand out and use a darker colour on the eyes. I think i will also use a slightly paler colour for the lips aswell to make it more natural.

Ways to die in a psychological horror - Seyi

Different ways to die within a psychological horror

Due to the nature of psychological horrors the ways to die are generally logical, as many psychological horrors confine to real situations.

Games

• Psychological horrors which need to appear messed up to convey the insanity within the persons head so games are a good way of conveying this
• In films such as SAW, they play games toying with the victims mind, making them play games in order to survive, this uses the psychological factor extremely well as not only does the instigator of the violence have to be messed up in order to create such madness but it gets inside the victims head as their natural instinct to survive kicks in making them become extremely desperate individuals, this leads to irrational decisions which are often the ones that kill them.
• The games are generally a game for their life, different types of games, the game gives the villain all power in the situation.

Gore

• Another way of presenting death in a psychological way is gore, psychological horrors involve people that have gone mental and if you want to show an extremity of this you must show true gore
• In films such as human centipede they use extreme gore to show how mad this villain has gone, it unhinges the moral barriers that many films withhold, by doing a gory death you can make it as disgusting as possible to create effect

Teenage Costume Inspiration

I decided to use the films "Blair Witch" and "Blair Witch 2" for my costume inspiration as both films star teenagers located within a forest. 

Within horror films located within a forest, teenagers are put into costumes that show their youth and also fit into the location. The costumes also establish their personality and their role within the film.

Check shirts are very common to use and fit in with the scenes.

They also wear costumes that are suitable for the environment, for example within this shot the character wears a hat and a coat. 

Dark colours are worn throughout.

This character shows her role within the film as she shows a lot of skin, therefore making her character more provacative than the others.

I decided to use these shots in order to inspire my own costume ideas. 

I stuck with the theme of check shirts as my inspiration as I feel that they are the current trend yet still comply with the teenager in a woods situation. They also look made for the outdoors. This outfit has dark blue jeans accompanying it and hat as a woods would tend to be cold and therefore the character must show this. 

The previous outfit could be adapted for a male character by adding thicker shoes and much darker jeans, also possibly a water proof jacket. 

A provocative character can still fit in with the theme but as pictured, more brighter colours are used to promote a feminine side and also the blouse is tied at the waist to show more skin.

A hooded jacket combined with the shirt would be good for a male character to use and the dark colours make this outfit appear much more masculine. 

http://messmediatownley.blogspot.co.uk/2012/12/blair-witch-2-deconstruction.html

Children Used In Horror Films Inspiration

I decided to go into my local woods with my younger sister and see the different shots that we could create in preparation for our coursework. My sister reacted with the camera and I chose positions that are likely to feature within our 2 minute opening.

The character is hidden behind the trees to recreate hiding from protagonists.

Wounds continued.

When researching tutorial videos/instruction links on how to create wounds, many of them used theatrical modelling wax so I ordered some and whilst waiting for it to arrive I decided to try and use eye lash glue again to attempt to create a bigger wound to see if it would work. I used 3 different shades of lipsticks as they were all I had at the time but because one was a skin tone just tinted red which made the skin around it look sore, I had a burgundy colour and a red one and tried to use them both together to make the inside of the fake cut look sore/bloody but I feel that if I could've had something a few shades darker, it could've made it look more realistic as the cut would've been made to look as though it was deeper. Up close it doesn't look realistic but I feel that with more makeup it could be made to. From a far I think that it does actually look pretty realistic and I used dark shades of blushed on my arms to make it look as though it'd been bruised/battered. 

When the modelling wax arrived, I'd also gathered together some face paints and foundation. I found the modelling wax really hard to work with as it wasn't really sticking to my skin so I had to use eyelash glue to keep it stuck on, it also kept peeling off at the corners, I used a spoon to smooth down the edges on to my skin to make it look as thought the fake skin was in fact my skin but it didn't smooth very well and kept coming off so I tried gluing it to my skin again using eye lash glue and it worked to keep the wax to my skin but the edges were still rough and were not going smoother, just breaking off. So I left the shape I'd made on my arm with the wax and moved on to using the facepaint to make it look bloody. I used black, green and red, mixing the black and red to make a darker shade of red, more of a bloody shade. I think that the colours look realistic, and from a far it could look believable but I think that the modelling wax was an issue as it wouldn't mold into a shape that was easier to work with without breaking. I feel that in the photo highlighted yellow is where this technique looks most realistic. 

I also tried creating scars with the eyelash glue and also the modelling wax, and I think that the eyelash glue looks more realistic than the modelling wax. I just covered the eyelash glue (right) with foundation when it was dry which made a raised line which could appear as a scar and looks realistic. I feel that the modelling wax (left) does look realistic but the foundation didn't stick to it as well and it still looks a different colour to my skin. 

The use of nursery rhymes to create fear and suspense.

By using nursery rhymes it allows the audience to delve into their past making them scarier. If we use a child protagonist nursery rhymes would fit in really well.

here are some inspiration examples of how i can use nursery rhymes to create fear and suspense.

• this is my favourite one of all the nursery rhymes because it has so many different reasons why it is scary.
•  it uses a violin sound over the top of the nursery rhyme that almost represents a child screaming.
• it then uses thoses violins to shound like wind blowing by using a low tremelo.
• at the end it uses a slight drum beat to sound like a train going over a track
• then it makes the sound of a train whistle and fades to end the song which leaves the audience one the edge of their seat and leaves them wanting to know more.
• one thing i would change on this though is you cant really hear the nursery rhyme as much as i would like and so i would turn the gain up.

• this is scary because the voice is uncomfortably high pitched.
• it also has no backing or sound and so is just purely voice bringing a sort of creepiesness to it.
• i like the childlike giggle at the end of this one because it makes a noise that would usually not be scray but would be cute and turns it to give the audience chills.

• this one is not necessarilly scary it is more creepy.
• the gain on the voice haas been turned up and the EQ has been turned down causing the almost tinny efect on the voice.
• just like the one before there is no backing track to it and so it causes the audience to listen to the voice asnd words making it scarier for them.
• one thing i dont like about this one is at the end when the child says 'we all fall down' she says it going up the major scale. this almost breaks the creepy effect and changes the mood of the song we just heard.

http://messmediatownley.blogspot.co.uk/2013/01/costumes.html

http://messmediatownley.blogspot.co.uk/2012/11/photos-of-graveyard-location.html

How to make music scary

Scary music is music that is uncomfortable to listen to. Some things composers do to make music sound scary are:

Using minor scales instead of major scales because minor scales sound more emotive than major scales. The verse part of "Teddy Bear's Picnic" is scary because it is completely made up of the minor scale where as the chorus part uses both making it less effect to create fear.

Atonality and dissonance: Your mind's ear wants to hear a melody. By not using any scale at all, it keeps you from having something comfortable to listen to, this sets up fear in the audience. This is reinforced when the notes don't add up to a single chord, instead they clash with each other and become uncomfortable.

Lack of meter - Bach's "Tocatta in D minor" has a scary feel to it. this is because he does uses alot of uneven spaces between the notes, thus throwing off your mind's ear's desire for rhythmic balance.

Extreme voicing: Using only very low notes gives a dread feeling and similarly, using only very high notes also feels uncomfortable to your mind's ear.

Literalism: An example of this is Bernard Hermann's score for "Psycho", where violins sound like a woman screaming.

Survey analysis

When we posted the questionnaire online, we managed to get 75 answers to each question, so here the results have been put into tables and the results have been analysed. 

http://messmediatownley.blogspot.co.uk/2013/01/editing.html

Abandoned Places

Researching into abandoned places proved difficult as there are very few to look into. 
One place that particularly grabbed my interest was this building: 

Throughout the day I took different shots to compare the use of lighting and it's effect on the building.

Corner of the building at 1pm.

The colours and big nature of the building have a creepy effect.

The back of the building at 1pm.

As you can see, the windows are uneven, the colours show that no care has been undertaken with this property, and there is a wide space outside. 










The building at 4pm from the corner.

Darker colours are seen when the sky gets darker.













The back of the building at 4pm.

The windows act as reflected surfaces from the camera's flash. The ground looks much more scary at this time of day than previously.







The buildings outskirts would be the best place to film most likely as it gets darker due to it's derelict nature however on the inside it is being used for other purposes, so no filming could be taking from the inside. 

Use of Zombies in horror

• Zombies create their own genre within horror films, they are used incredibly well and could be a concept within our own one
• As simple as the concept of zombies are, they have been used incredibly well in films such as resident evil or programs such as walking dead, due to the carnivorous nature of the creature, even though there has never been any true sighting of zombies etc you have the ability to tweak their abilities, if you wanted to you could make them super fast or super strong

• The image of the zombie is incredibly important, the make up must convey a creature that isn't alive yet is still moving and breathing etc, therefore you must convey a dead body moving, by doing so the use of blood is effective, also the use of make up to show decomposition too, as these are dead bodies you must remember that maggots and other insects have had their way with the bodies, so something must be there to show this. 
• Sounds associated with zombies must also be utilised, the type of groan that they make which is the stereotypical noise, or if you want to give the zombie speech and the ability to say words like 'brains' that is also possible, however it must be extremely limited as these creatures are dead.

• FInally, movement of the zombie must be incredibly portrayed, the attacks to get food must be desperate as that is all they do, the way they walk should be slow and unfocused, not sure and certain as if they were human, also in a scenario where they are with other zombies they should rarely interact.

Types of Villains in Horror Films

"Normal" Looking villain

• Normal looking villains are the most mysterious in horror films, they present themselves to the world as ordinary personalities however the nature of the horrors they commit lie deep down in the persons personality. When introduced within films they appear to have very normal or good lives, and are not expected to play a part in criminal activity, this means that you must allocate time for them to be shown in a semi positive light, then the atrocities committed by this normal man are highlighted even more as as time goes on you begin to pick apart the person behind the mask that this character will generally use to conceive his true identity.

Stereotypical Villain

• The stereotypical villain is a villain where they use fear to create a character, ghosts, clowns etc, things that people have a clear phobia of, this is useful as it exploits peoples fears to make the film more effective, not only do they enhance fears but they can also create fears as they can make you see something in a completely new night e.g. a clown usually being seen as a funny thing being seen as a danger in horror films

Aliens/Monsters

• The use of aliens or monsters is very effective in horror films, by creating something from scratch you take away limitations that the creature may have, due to the fact the creature is your own creation you are the person that gives it its attributes, therefore the things you can do within the film to make it scary is unlimited

Real Scenarios

• Using real creatures such as sharks for example, like in jaws, you already have the attributes of the creature, by having this ready you know what you can do and what extent you can go to, it may limit you but it however it will also save time on creating a move set on the creature and allow to make you more creative in the way it claims its victims