Conventions of a horror film

In a film that has the genre of horror, usually a range of props and shots are used. The meaning of this is usually to scare and engage the audience in to what is being presented and the different meanings. Within the opening of a horror based film, not much evidence or information is presented to the audience, because if this was to happen the audience would lose interest after the first few minutes and the whole purpose of the film has already been presented to the audience.

Conventions of a horror film: 
 Props
An example of a prop that could be used is a knife; this is usually used to communicate to the audience the theme of death or something bad happening. Usual in horror based films, a knife is presented with blood dropped on to the end of the knife, to illustrate the idea of someone potentially being or had been murdered, which scares the audience and makes them intrigued to carry on watching and seeing what has happened from blood to be on a knife. An example is presented below:


Scary mask/ facial make up:

 Scary make up and facial masks are often used in horror based films, to create the spookiness of the film and also to create a mystery about the character. Masks are used in horror genre films to hide the identity of the character, this is a convention used to hide the characters identity as well as withholding information to keep the audience engaged to what is happening within the opening sequence. An example is presented below to show scary facial make up/ face mask that is commonly presented in horror based films:

 
Blood
Blood is often used in horror based films, to create the theme and idea of death and danger. This is an element that is used in horror films, to disorientate the audience in to watching the opening section of the film. This also spooks out the audience, because people have the common understanding of blood being inside the human body, and for blood to appear on the surface of the skin and then it a form of pain and torture has happened. 

RING

By having a ring included within the opening sequence this would count as a weapon or something to identify a character. This would be a strong piece of material to use within the sequence, as it is strong and is associated and stereotyped with faith and love however this could be changed within the narrative and understanding. 

COSTUME

By having costume within the opening sequence this would be effective within the Mise en scene that is illustrated. For example, potentially including a white piece of clothing could suggest the meaning of innocence, purity and vulnerable and also precious. This could potentially be worn by someone that is a victim within a situation to suggest that they don’t deserve pain and torture.

 

SETTING AND BACK GROUND

By having setting and a background throughout the opening sequence, this allows the audience to have an understanding of where each scene is located at as well as the relevance to what is being communicated between the screening and the audience. Throughout the sequence, it will also communicate the era of time of the sequence, and whether it could potenitally drop any clues to whether its dark or what part of time this is dropping hints to show that there is a climax and people associating darkness with negativity. 

CHARACTERS COSTUME

This is an character description list to show what each character will be wearing as well as the meaning behind each element of costume and the reasoning for this to. The description also mentions the importance of what the characters wear as well as what they are wearing within characterisation too. 

  

This is a character description and analysis of what the female character will be wearing. It has annotations to communicate what each piece of clothing is and the reasoning for this. 

All the items of clothing used in the costume of the girl are specifically related to the fact that she is innocent. The white top is used as white has several connotations such as innocence and honesty. The laces would show that she is in a rush as she is trying to get away from something or someone, therefore she would not have time to tie her laces as in this instance she is trying to get away from an unknown man that she does not know why she is being pursued.

Myself in role of the female character needs to look and understand the meaning of each piece of clothing, The female character will be wearing a pale pink shirt, to show that she is the age of a young student and quite smart looking. The top is pink, so that the audience can gain an understanding that she is a female and pink is usually stereotypes with 'girls and females'. The character will then be wearing a black colored skirt, this leads and hints the whole idea of danger and death, because the color black commonly makes people think of words such as death, pain, and no escape which relates to the whole synopsis of the opening sequence. 

Image of the top: 
Image of the Skirt:
Image of the shoes:

This is a character description and analysis of what the villain antagonist (James) character will be wearing. It has annotations to communicate what each piece of clothing is and the reasoning for this. 

There is a meaning for each piece of clothing that he is wearing, to show that the clothing has been carefully selected for this character and that there is a meaning as this character plays a big impact towards the plot of the opening sequence. For instance, James is wearing a red hoody, this is to show that he is possibly evil and out to make danger happen. This also makes the audience feel intense, and question what sort of character he is? what is he going to do?. The male villain character that James will be playing, will also be wearing a dark leather jacket over the top of a darkened color top. This is to illustrate the idea of the character being darkened, mysterious and the antagonist of the whole opening sequence. The character will also be wearing jeans and brown boots, to show that potentially if a person saw him on the streets he would be quite 'normal looking' for his age. Therefor this is how the character wants to appear, but the personality and intentions of this character contrasts differently. 

This is a character description and analysis of what the police officer character will be wearing. It has annotations to communicate what each piece of clothing is and the reasoning for this. 

LOCATION PERMISSION

This is evidence that myself as a media student studying AS media emailed Mr Walsh. In this email I was politely asking for permission to use a room for sections of the project to film indoors as it would be appropriate as well as effective to use for the filming within the opening section. In the email I notified Mr Walsh the following dates and times to show that I was being specific as well as being organised, as this is a big responsibility and duty within the group to take control of. By emailing Mr Walsh it shows that I am an organised student, as I have a good knowledge that he is the manager of the drama department so he was the best and suitable teacher to email asking for permission to use the drama rooms on the dates illustrated within the email.
 Finally, another effective element within the email is that I suggested towards the end that if possible we could use D27 as the main room as this would be most effective to use, and myself as an A level drama student knows the appearance of the room and that this would be successful in filming when doing the police station. 

SHOOTING SCHEDULE

This is a scanned in image of the groups shooting schedule, each member within the group have a copy of this and on their blog so that we all have an understanding and knowledge of when and where we will be filming so that we are all organised within the filming section of the project. By having the different columns was effective so that as a group we could fill in the different sections so we know when and what time we will spend filming, what props and costume will be required as well as brought along, the shot numbers was important to fill to see what day and what we will be filming to make the opening sequence a complete outcome, actors, interviewees and crew was an important column to fill so that we had an understanding of who MUST attend the sessions and who is needed whether for filming or acting as both roles are important and equal as each other. Equipment was also an important section to be filled out, as this also went towards the email that James Bariffe sent to Mr Reynolds to book equipment to be used throughout the hours and days within the project when filming (especially when in different locations such as Beddington Park and drama rooms). 

The Ritual Animatic

This is the animatic that is illustrated on this post showing the storyboard as well as the time each image will be displayed for as well as sound that will be heard within the actual opening sequence. One effective key point of this animatic, is that this is our first draft and for a first draft it has a lot of effective key points as well as what is involved within what’s being shown, like sound, Mise en scene, the variety of shots as well as editing techniques. This being our first draft which is good, also means that from this if necessary the group can make any improvements to make it more successful as well as receiving higher marks from the examination board.  Another key successful point about the animatic is that the audience by watching this have an ideal understanding of what will be shown within the opening sequence. This shows that they have a developed understanding of what will be conveyed within the sequence instead of just hearing the idea verbally which can potentially be less easier to get an idea of the whole narrative and the purpose of the sequence referring to the title and meanings hidden underneath. Another successful moment of the opening sequence is that, there is a good amount of sound attached to the animatic, this shows that the group have carefully thought about what will be heard as well as played, so not only the audience can see but they can hear which is more effective and have an understanding of what will be performed throughout the sequence by people within the group.

The titles that are included within the opening sequence are successful for the following reasons:

Distribution title: Lions Gate

Lion’s gate is a successful distribution title to include within the opening sequence. This is because this is already used for over 100 film openings, to show the professional and the distribution of the film making. So by using this it shows not only have we researched and found the most suitable distribution title for the sequence but it gives it a professional appearance within the first few seconds and also settles the audience when watching the opening sequence. 

Production company title: Lost Productions
this is a suitable production company title as well as being effective as it makes the opening sequence look effective and professional as it has also been made on Photoshop. By creating this title on Photoshop, it shows that the group as a whole have carefully thought about how this will be displayed, the meaning of this, the reasoning for the colours, like the specific shade of redness to refer to blood then the meanings of pain, torture sadness ect. Also by having the word ‘lost’ in capitals shows that this word is empathised, also referring to the purpose and narrative of the opening sequence. 

Title: The Ritual

The title ‘The ritual’ is a successful title that we have constructed within the opening sequence as a group. By including the word ‘Ritual’ this has several purposes, but most importantly it shows that it has religious purposes also meaning someone sacrificing something for a purpose. So people making sacrifices as well as being religious it links to the idea of having different views on to a subject, and then the whole idea and understanding of a sacrifice which relates to the focussed character of Mary Shaw who’s vulnerable and suffers an awful lot within the opening sequence. 

FEEDBACK

Feedback/Points to improve:

When in the process of creating the animatic and adding different elements of sound to it, we attached a voice recording to a section of the animatic so that the audience have a better understanding of the narrative of the opening sequence. When creating the sound, to be specific the dialogue which is the conversation between the Police Officer and Mary Shaw. A teacher commented on how effective it was, and that it sounded realistic when it was being performed on the system. This allowed us to see that the opening sequence was becoming more successful, and by having that comment, and reflecting on to the work we thought that having the duologue has made it more effective and naturalistic which is the whole emotion and feeling we wanted to have within the opening sequence.

Another successful moment within the animatic that was effective, is that when looking at the animatic, someone called James Bariffe within the group pointed out that it was effective to have an upside down cross in the title of the opening sequence. As this made it look more professional like instead of being boring or dull, by incorporating this it gave it a sinister thriller look which is the main intention considering the genre is thriller.

Another piece of feedback, after being watched by a teacher is that she commented that the script needed to change so that it made more sense and was more effective as well as playing a huge part towards the narrative of the opening sequence. Previously within the script we had mentioned about the ring, but by having Miss Mitchells feedback this allowed us to have an understanding of what we needed to change and improve to make the opening sequence as successful as possible, as the ring is the most important piece of withheld information throughout and constructed within the opening sequence for a purpose- to keep the audience engaged and involved in the whole opening sequence. 

Script

The ritual opening

Mary Shaw is running through a forest. Wearing dirty black clothing.Mary is on the verge of fainting , it seems as if she's been running for years. It's unknown to the audience what she's running from.A voice is heard over this scene

Police officer

Mary Shaw , 19 years old , Blonde , Caucasian, female. 5ft7. Now then Miss Shaw, tell me exactly what happened.

Mary Shaw

I was just walking...This..man , he came after me.

Mary is visibly upset , she puts her hand towards her mouth and she is mumbling

He wouldn't stop...he was..

POLICE OFFICER

Take your time.Do you remember what he was doing? What did he look like?

MARY SHAW

I couldn't see him , he was hidden in the dark. He was tall..dark clothes.. pure evil

POLICE OFFICER

Did you see his face at all?

MARY SHAW

NO! Please I know he's still out there , he won't stop , everywhere I went he was there!

*Mary starts sobbing uncontrollably *

POLICE OFFICER

You're safe here , please don't be upset.No one is out to get you , you're perfectly safe

*Drinks water*

MARY SHAW

He grabbed me , I ran so far...He wouldn't stop, he was strong , a big man , nearly ripped my arm off!

POLICE OFFICER

So you were  close to him ...yes?

MARY SHAW

Yeah

POLICE OFFICER

When he grabbed you , did you get any sighting of his face , any distinguishable features?Anything at all

MARY SHAW

Mary ponders for a moment


I...
*cries*



POLICE OFFICER

Please..madame. There's nothing to be afraid of understand?

MARY SHAW

*Nods*

POLICE OFFICER

Good. Now then... can you recall anything else?

*At this point the police officer , brings his clasped hands towards MARY and reveals he has the same ring as the attacker*attacker

MARY SHAW

Mary looks terrified , she looks at the ring and lets out a scream

This is the Script of the verbal sound that will be constructed within the opening sequence. We created this sound by recording the script performed by Kevin and Chanel that are characters within the sequence. We did this by recording, and then editing on adobe premier, this allowed us to edit accurately and make sure that the pitch and the volume flowed well within the outcome of the opening sequence. By having a script, this enabled me and Kevin to be able to read the words from the script and perform this, and by including this on a post on blogger, the examiner can see the words that have exactly been spoken within the sound attachment of voice. Also when editing, I found that a successful element within this is that towards the ending there is a short moment of shiver and cry, just before the film title appears, which makes the audience feel uncomfortable and relates to the genre of Thriller which shows that the sound is successful within the first draft.  

Casting

Casting

Who will be involved in the casting and be in role of the characters involved?

Kevin will be playing the role of the police officer.

James will be playing the role of the Freddie this person, is the antagonist that is focused on within the opening sequence and stereotyped to be the ‘bad guy’.

Chanel will be the female character who is the innocent character and being chased by ‘Freddie’.

Kevin- The police officer

Kevin will be performing in the opening sequence of the police officer. This character is mysterious but also is questioning Chanel the innocent character. This character is conveyed as someone who is helpful and tries to get to the bottom of the situation. He wears formal clothing, to show that he is important, and has high authority.  He will be wearing black and white clothing to show and communicate what his type of job occupation is, so that it’s clear.  This police officer will be middle aged to show power, and that he’s experienced in the police force. This character will be male, because usually males are stereotyped to be the stronger gender and more powerful and dominant. In the opening sequence the police officer, won’t be shown much throughout only his hand for gesture purposes.

James- the mysterious character that chases Chanel, under the name of Mary Shaw. 
James will be the mysterious male character that is chasing Mary. He won’t be focused on a lot but he will be included in intense scenes within the opening sequence. The group has chosen for this character to be male because it fits the stereotype of males being strong and dominant. We thought that this would be more effective within the opening sequence. This male character doesn’t have a job occupation, because we want the character to be communicated with the personality and characteristics of being aggressive but also not being conveyed as someone that isn’t good and doesn’t have much to do with their time but to cause trouble.

Chanel- will play the young female character that is the victim within the opening sequence. 

Chanel will be a female character that comes across as innocent and is crucial to be seen within the opening sequence. This female character is at a young age, and is a student that is currently studying levels. By having this character portrayed as young shows that, she is vulnerable as well as mature and focuses on her education instead of possibly focusing on other things that aren’t that effective towards the future of her life. 

  

Storyboard of Opening Sequence

The storyboards as a whole is very effective, it communicates that the narrative is extremely clear so that the examiner and the audience can see what is being illustrated throughout the opening sequence. Within the first five scenes of what will be constructed within the opening sequence, i think the actual title and how it appears on the screening is the most successful. This is because its plain, but effective, has a meaning and settles the audience in to watching the opening sequence. It makes the opening sequence interesting from the start by having this, as it makes the audience ask the following questions:
What is the film about?
What happens?
Is their some form of ritual in the opening sequence?
Why is the film called The ritual?
Is it focused on to any religion because of the upside down cross?

By having a storyboard structured out before filming, it enables the director to have an understanding of what is being constructed and the flowing idea of what will appear on the screening.  The storyboard sequence runs in chronological order, and if a displayed scene happens more than once, then this image and descriptive detail needs to be repeated where it is next displayed on the screening. Also by having a storyboard, it allows the people producing the opening sequence to see what shot types need to be used, on the different scenes as well as the order and camera movement and sound.

I particularly like the last scene, where there is a close up of a ring, as this increases the tension, and withholds information in to allowing the audience to think what happens next from the opening sequence, and who the ring actually belongs to, so that the audience can have a developed understanding who the protagonist is as well as who did the crime to the female victim.

Preliminary Aessessment: James Thompson, Ellie Cook & Chanel Probets

Vox Pops

By looking and observing the vox pops, I now have a better understanding of what the opening sequence needs to consist of in order to be successful. By looking at the age group, and target audience of people who watch this genre, it has been effective, and now the group and I have an understanding of what to include scaring the audience, for instance, black spiders was suggested, as well as the following darkness, to scare the audience and clowns. 

'Creepy' This word was mentioned by one of the people that were talking and describing what they expect a horror fil to be like. By someone mentioning the word creepy, this was effective as the group could then work from this and use this to our advantage to make the opening sequence creepy and relate it to the genre of Thriller. 

'Evil' This word was used in the interview. I thought that this was a successful word, specially to be mentioned and used in our sequence to by influencing us as a group. By having the word evil suggesested, it is basic however we can exxagarate this word and infuse it in to the sequence as much as possible to involve the audience with a range of emotions being felt. 

'Isolated' This word was used within the interview. I chose to mention and look in to this word, as it will be effective and can be used towards the sequence, potentially towards the narrative and moments within the sequence maybe relating to a character to create an atmosphere as well as increasing tension. 

Other quotations that were effective and stood out to me that have influenced myself and the group within the voz pops and the outcome of this project are listed below:
'at night' -era of time, darkness, time of day, atmosphere, location. 
'Blood' -pain, torture, character experience, tension, badness, mystery, witheld information. 
'Edge of my seat' -how the audience feel, intense atmosphere, what will happen next? 
'dark'  -appearance of the setting, editing- the colour, meanings of this- atagonist, bad events upcoming.
'hands over my face' -how the audience feel, what it makes them want to do when watching.