SCRIPT

SCRIPT:

Redwood:

 

(Inaudible chatter Improvised)

Alfie: Can you pass me the tripod

Matt: Yeah yeah, no worries… er… I can’t find it, Alice do you have it?

Alice: No? I thought you had it? Oh for gods sake did we leave it in the car?

Cal: Erm… I might have left it in my bag…

Alfie: Are you kidding me? You had one job Callum. Are you that much of an idiot.

Cal: (Laughs) Right, I’ll go get it then

Alfie: It’s not funny, we’re wasting time.

Cal: Alright, calm down chill out, can someone come and help me?

Alice: Yeah I’ll come… I need to grab my portable charger while I’m there.

Cal: Yeah alright.

Matt: Well I’m not giving you my keys.

Alice: (Sighs) Fine come on then

Alfie: Help me out here Alice?

Alice: What are you scared to be out here alone? (jokingly)

Alfie: Shut up, I’m not scared of anything (defensive)

 Alice: Yeah, yeah, whatever you say big man. (Laughing Lightly) Right come on then, stop standing around you goons, let’s go.

(Inaudible chatter as they walk out of frame)

Alfie: (Muttering under breath as they leave)


Anything else said within the film will be improvised to try and recreate a natural feeling and to show off the friendship between the characters.

Practise filming

Recce

We attempted to recreate some of the shots that we will be using in the final product, for example the high angle shots had to be practised before we actually shot as it is a difficult shot to perfect as the camera had to be balanced in a tree. The location is a small wooded area just off Brooklands road, it  is a good area to film due to the fact that you cannot see many buildings and it has dense woods so we can get lots of close ups and make it seem to the audience like they are in a secluded wooded area.

Preliminary task

Within this, we showed that we could include a 180 degree rule, as well as a shot reverse shot. It flowed rather nicely with the edits used. We all attempted to make it flow perfectly and I think it is a large step forward from our previous work as it showed dedication and integrity.

Typography

Se7en:

The text flickers from corner to corner and only momentarily becomes enlarged for more or less a fraction of a second and then it cuts to the next shot. We can see that the text is larger from the photo above, showing that it is the focus of the shot as the background becomes black to make the text the key image unlike the rest of the shots where there are other images flashing past as well as the smaller text accompanying it. The text is a dirty, jagged style, which could give the initial impression that the film is going to be the same, setting a tone for the rest of the film. As well as this the white contrasting with the black could suggest the binary opposition of good against evil and this could foreshadow future events as more black is on show, which could suggest that the evil prevails. We could attempt to use the edit used in this sequence as it has the text frantically jump all over the screen to give that sense of urgency and  uncertainty that our film needs to evoke.

Cube:

In cube we see the original text being made up of cubes to spell out the title, this then fades into the text seen above. Much like Se7en, this title has a plain background, to make the title the key image of the shot. This shot then switches colours as the black becomes white and the white becomes black. This could show that there is binary opposition as it is black vs white, or otherwise seen as good vs bad. The fact that the colours switch could signify that the good characters will have bad within them and the bad characters will have good in them. The text fills up the entirety of the screen and is plain. We could use the text type seen within this film opening sequence, due to the fact that it isn't too complex, but also because of the cubes used, fits in well to the films title. We could attempt to do this with our films and link it to the title of the film (still undecided).

Scream:

The Scream opening sequence is simplistic and has as pulsating light, this could show a sense of urgency within the film. As well as this text is white and then fades into red after we hear a bullet and a knife's slashing. This could foreshadow future events within the film. the edit used is it zooms into the camera and disperses into the next scene, this could be used within our film to lead to the end of the opening sequence and the start of the rest of the film. As well as this we see the font which is quite small but it looks like handwriting, which is seen also in the Se7en sequence, showing us that it is popular in the horror genre and might be a good idea for us to use.

Scream opening sequence analysis

Within the first 15 seconds of the opening sequence, we see our main female protagonist. She appeals to the male gaze theory due to her attractiveness as the subtle low key backlight is showing off her facial features and appealing more to the male target audience. We know that she won't be fulfilling the final girl theory as that is sterotypically taken by a female who is: shy, not heavily made up and is typically not blonde. She is all of those things and also as we are left to suggest through barthes theory, the person that she is on the phone to is the murderer, she must be the victim. Due to the main conversation points being on the phone, we are left with the enigma of who is the male on the phone? and what does he want with this female? At 0:33 seconds we see a zoom on the females face, her facial expression changes from a seeming smile to a serious or anxious look. This builds up  the semiotics that this character is weaker and more scared than the stereotypical horror lead. We also see a side light on her face the connotations of this are that she has something to hide or has a split personality, this could foreshadow future events or lead to further character development.

The main props seen in this scene are knives . We see at 1:49 a medium long shot of this character on the phone and in the foreground we see knives and she picks one up and messes around with it knives have the connotations of violence and could foreshadow future events in the film. At this point in the sequence she says "you know the one in the white mask who walks round and stalks babysitters." This could be seen as ironic, due to the fact that the scream costume has a white mask and this male on the phone (who we are left to assume is the murderer) is stalking her. This could also foreshadow future events leading up to her death.

The popcorn is first seen at 1:08 and could be seen as a metaphor for rising tensions or the females fear as it starts out small when she starts talking to the male as from what he says, she has nothing to worry about, bu it is as he becomes more frantic in his tone at around 1:54 that the popcorn seems to grow, much like the females fear and the tension seems to rise to a point at around 2:27 where he says "I want to know who i'm looking at." At this point, the woman panics and walks away. There is then a cutaway to the popcorn, which is about to burst. This could show that the main character is very scared and tensions are high after what the man on the phone said to her. We also see a change in lighting as up until 2:30, the lighting seems to be high key top lighting, which could connote divinity and or purity, but after 2:30, we see darker lighting as the woman is scared and in most shots, we see it consuming the whole of her face. This could show that she has lost the divinity since she got the call and is fearful for her life.

Focus group

From the focus group, we learned that we need to keep the location the same as well as this, they thought that the POV shots were keeping it true to the slasher, horror genre. In order to adapt our film to an audiences liking, we need to make a backstory and or add a personality to the characters in order to create a rapport with the audience.

Questionnaire results

Question 1:

From question 1 we can see that there is a diversity within the people answering the questions so as a group, we can get a majority of unbiased answers from people in different age ranges. From the results, 29% of people who answered were between 12 and 16 and the majority being 68% who were over 26. I think the larger amount of older people is better, due to the fact that the opening sequence that we are making is for a psychological horror film and it will appeal to an older target audience.


Question 2:

There was a seeming mix in response to this question as more or less there were even results when it came down to it. 39% of people who were asked did enjoy the horror genre and 44% said that they didn't. This gives us an even balance with results as in order to create a successful psychological horror film, we need to know what we should and shouldn't do when it comes to actually making it so having both people who both do and don't like horror gives us a better understanding when it comes to the production stage of the film as the later questions will show.

Question 3:

There was still a large amount of males who answered this question and the target audience of our horror film will be males, so for them to be able to answer the questions, we were able to understand what we need to incorporate to our opening sequence in order to make it a success with the target audience. As well as that, to have the majority of women answering, we can see what also appeals to the other sex and how we can attempt to reach out to the lesser target audience for our film.

Question 4:

The majority of answers (32%) were saying psychological horror films were their favourite out of the sub genres listed and i think that we can incorporate that more so into our opening sequence as more people liked psychological, it would only make sense to.

Question 5:

More people liked the main character to be male or gender not specified. I think if we went against what the majority said, and had a female lead, we could appeal to the smaller audience and or the niche audience from this and in doing so, having male characters having smaller roles within the film. This means that we could use the final girl theory in our film if we did this, which is a stereotypical horror convention.

Question 6:

Most of the people wanted suspense building in the film (36%) so we will try and incorporate it into the end of our sequence by having the antagonist making his presence known through the use of non diagetic music. The second most voted one was an interesting storyline, so to make it interesting from the start, we will have our murder unexplained and the characters create a rapport with the audience.

Question 7:

The vast majority of people said that horror films made them feel scared, so i think that as a group, we should try and take a different approach from the stereotypical horror film by making the audience feel anxious due to the unexpected turns that will be taken with the story line and this will be seen from the very start with a false sense of security as the murdered character will think that it is another group member trying to scare him,when in reality it is the murderer.

Question 8:

Having a more realistic horror film is scarier, this is why we have a somewhat believable story line and our characters will dress and talk like middle class members of society. As well as this, our characters look the part of being teenagers due to their actual age ranging from 16-17 so it will seem more realistic. If we keep it realistic, it will appeal more to the target audience as evidently from the results here it is scarier if it is realistic.

Question 9:

The scariest places were set in abandoned areas, and as a collective we thought that it would be a better idea for psychological horror film to be set in a forest as it is more of the slasher/ body horror sub genre that tend to be set in abandoned places (e.g Saw and hostel). It would be scarier if we had a darker lighting and the forest with lots of tilts and longshots to show how deep and large the forest is which leaves the question of them being alone.

Question 10:

People who did enjoy horror seemed to like films like: Silence of the lambs, Saw and The blair with project. Films like these have a clear plot line of order and then disorder. There is always a clear plot twist at the end of all of the films named above, so maybe it would be a good idea for a full film if it ended with a plot twist, leaving space for a sequel opportunity.

CUBE analysis

The first shot from this, we see an extreme closeup of the characters eye, with the white of his eyes being seen first, this colour association is of purity which is what we initially can pair with this character. His pupils seem to constrict and that generally is due to drug use and or bright lights, so it leaves an enigma surrounding the character. We have longer shot lengths here to make the audience feel just as uncomfortable as the main character is and also to create a sense of lingering. Throughout the entire opening sequence it is silent, this excessive use of silence can be seen as uncomfortable and unnerving for the audience as even during action it remains silent, setting the tone of the film as quite uncomfortable for audiences viewing. We also see within the first minute, multiple high angle shots which main the main protagonist seem smaller and more inferior within the cube that he is seemingly trapped within. The colour of the walls is also white, this has the connotations of peacefulness and also freedom, yet it is quite the opposite within that cube making it ironic. At 1:03, we see a pan as the camera moves around the key image of the character. This camera shot can make the audience feel nauseous an or uncomfortable due to the speed and rotation of the shot, this is used effectively to convey the confusion and claustrophobic style of the prison that he is encapsulated within. We see a large amount of darkness upon the character due to a lack of lighting within the first room, from barthes theory, we can suggest that this character is evil or bad from the use of lighting. On the other hand at 1:43 we see a high key side lighting on his face, which could mean that he has a darker side to him and or a split personality. At around 0:53, we see a tilt which goes upwards and then comes back down, this is used effectively to show off the fact that he is small compared to the prison he is in and shows off that he is fully trapped within there.The first door he opens has a blue interior, which has the colour associations with coolness and being trustworthy, yet he seems to close that door after an initial shot of confusion in a closeup on his face. This could show that he doesn't know what he doing stuck within this place as he doesn't know what is in each door. The second door he goes into is a deep red, the colour associations with this are danger and blood/ violence. This could foreshadow future events of the opening sequence and this leads us to assume further through barthes theory that something bad is going to occur within the room. We now get shorter shot lengths to show that it is an action scene and from his facial expressions, we can see that he is scared to be going into this room after the door behind him closes. We then get a closeup on his shirt and then it quickly jump cuts to a side shot of his face where we start to see blood pouring out of his skin, this creates a sense of enigma as we don't know why or how this blood has come out of his face. We get a high angle shot of blood pouring on to the light while the shadow remains clear of blood. This could represent the violence corrupting the light and or purity. The character falls apart and the shot remains and makes the audience yet again feel uncomfortable and finally the metal wiring comes into the scene showing what kills him. At this point we get a high pitch, quiet background soundtrack as the trap seems to fold in on itself and it fades to white, finally showing off the title of the film as "Cube." It starts with a white background for the title but quickly fades to black, showing that there is a false sense of security from the purity and that there is a darker side to the film.

We could attempt to use the tilts and pans that are used in this film to try and make the audience feel uncomfortable, as well as this, during the violent scene in the sequence, we could use shorter shot lengths compiled together to try and make it seem like a lot is occuring at one time. The lighting is used effectively in Cube, so i think if we could use that, to show off the split personality and or foreshadowing future deaths, it could be used effectively to build suspense.