Interview with Actor- Alex Munro

Alex Munro

L: Hello.

A: Hello.

L:  What made you think about being in our film?

A: Well, I did a film last year, but never got to star in it.

L: Oh I see. Do you like the horror film genre then?

A: Yes, but it is not probably my favourite genre as some horror films are just too gory.

L: What horror films do you think are too gory?

A: Saw. They are disgusting.

L: Do you prefer thriller type horror films over torture horror films then?

A: Yes.

L: Do they scare you more?

A: Yes.

L: Why?

A: You can relate more to them as they are based more on real events, whereas Saw is just pointless bloody violence. 

L: I see. Do you have any ideas of what you would want your character in our film to be like? Bearing in mind you are the bad guy.

A: Hidden identity, because it makes it more scary when you don't know who the villian is or what he looks like.

L: Okay, thank you for answering my questions.

A: That's okay, anytime.

Interview with Actor - Amie Bretherick

Amie Bretherick

L: Hello.

A: Hi.

L: What is your favourite type of horror film?

A: Real life horror, because that way it might actually happen, and could be real.

L: What would you say is your favourite real life horror film then?

A: I don't have a favourite one, but films where people are kidnapped.

L: Do you like supernatural films? For example Paranormal Activity?

A: Yes I do, I love films like that, they are probably my favourite because I like ghosts, because I believe in them. I always want to get haunted to see what it would be like.

L: What is your favourite setting for a supernatural horror film then?

A: A big house, it doesn't have to be old; it could be a modern house as long as it is set in someone's home so it is ordinary and more realistic.

L: Why do you want to star in our horror film? You could end up being killed off in the film.

A: I don't really know, I like the idea of being on film, so I can look back on it in years time and see what I was like.

L: That's a good point. Do you have any ideas of what you would want your character in our film to be like if you were to star in it? Or anything you would want in particular to happen to her? 

A: I would like her to be quite vulnerable and appear young, be quite easily frightened and someone who can't really stick up for themselves. I'm not really sure about the second question, but possibly for her to never leave the woods, so if she was to get killed it would just be like she went missing or ran away. 

L: Okay thank you answering my questions.

A: That's okay.

Possible Actors/ Actresses

  

Name: Alex Munro

Age: 17

Favourite genre of film: Comedy

Favourite horror film: The Strangers

good for the film? - tall 
                               - male 
                               - with the correct costume and props could look very scary
                              

  

Name: Amie Bretherick

Age: 17

Favourite genre of film: Romance/Comedy

Favourite horror film: Paranormal Activity

good for the film? - small (make the villain look even worse) 
                               - natural looks, more realistic 

Name: Jasmine Bann

Age: 17

Favourite genre of film: Horror/Comedy

Favourite horror film: Shrooms 

good for the film: - small

                              - will fit in with amy

                             - different from the normal horror girl

Opening Scene Treatment

(The first scenes in out film include some dialogue although the music is very prominent.)

[Establishing shot of the house] Starts with two girls in a house, alone. [Mid shot of two characters] Character number two says "Where are your parents?" Which girl number one replies with "They're away for the weekend, so girly night in." The two girls then walk to the sitting room to watch some TV. [Mid shot as they walk into the other room] (TV has fuzz to show light in their face without having copyright issues of playing a different film in our film.) [Shot from behind the sofa] Girl number 1: "I swear I just saw something at the window, it might be next door checking on me". One second." Girl number 2 replies: "Okay see you in a minute." 

[Scary music starts playing as she walks out of the sitting room] 
[Zooming in shot to the window] Walks past a window where she sees a face in the dark which is not recognizable [Bad guy is at window, watching the girls.] Thinks she is seeing things, so goes to the door to investigate. [High angle shot]
[Cuts to match on action] as she opens the door and walks outside. [Canted angle tracking shot/ tracking shot] her walking towards a bush. Perspective cuts to bad guy in the bush, with an [over the shoulder shot], and loud breathing that can only be heard to the audience along with the music. [Side angle shot] As she looks around, something quick flashes across the screen and music suddenly has a very sharp edge to it.

[Behind the sofa shot] Scene then cuts to girl number 2 who is still in the sitting room. As girl is watching scary film, [Close up shot] of bad guy's feet can be seen going up the stairs quietly, with no sign of girl number 1. [Mid shot] All of a sudden girl number 2 hears a creak coming from the stairs [Extreme close up shot of her ear], so goes to investigate and sees the door open [Long shot], so goes outside and calls her friends name. She does not see her friend so she decides to go upstairs thinking the creak she heard was her friend. [Low angle shot] to see her walking up the stairs, then turning left. Goes completely silent, and a loud piercing scream can be heard. Shot cuts to a bloody hand going down the window. Black screen title fades in, then out.

News report is then seen which describes a serial killer that has struck again, but police have no leads in their investigation and he is still on the look out. Police quote "hardest case iv ever been on, man has never even been sighted, but is known by his signature bloody hand down the window of the house that he has attacked." Scene fades to black.

our Film Institution- Ghost House Pictures

Ghost House Pictures

is the backing behind films that include:

• 30 Days of Night
• Drag Me To Hell
• The Grudge
• Boogeyman 2
• The Messnenger
• Rise

its is a production coumpany that works with other big counpanys like Universal Pictures to create the alousion that they have the money so it wont be another low buject film.


using drag me to hell as an exaple, it worked with Universal Pictures to make a film with a budget of $30,000,000
which is alot compaired to other horror films this was made poisbel with the recourses of Universal. Drag Me To Hell grossed $42,100,625 us dollars which is a profit but not as much as other low budject horror film that have been made but this is not taking in to acount is was relieased with over

Interview with Actor - jasmine bann

Jasmine Bann

B: Hello.

J: Hi.

B: What is your favourite genre of horror film?

J: Probably real life horror with twists so it’s not predictable otherwise its boring

B: How many horror films have you watched in the last 6 months?

J: Five

B: What is your favourite setting for a horror film?

J: An everyday setting so that way its believable

B: Have you had any acting experience before?

J: I have been in a few school plays when I was younger but that’s all the acting experience I have had

B: Why do you think you’re suitable for this part?

J: I feel that I fit the stereotype of the girl real well

B: Are there any specific things you feel your character should do in the horror film?

J: I think that you shouldn’t make it obvious that I am the victim as it makes it less predictable and more interesting for the audience

B: Okay thank you

Warner bros institution research

Warner bros was founded in 1918  and founded by Jack, Harry, Albert and Sam Warner making it one of the worlds oldest production companys.

Warner Bros is the name behind films such as the Batman and Harry Potter franchise and also new films like inception all have been big comershial successes for example "the Dark Night"  relised on the 18th July 2008 grosses $533,34 million making it the second highest gross film and has only been recently been over taken by "Harry Potter and the deathly hallows- part 2" that grossed $1,321,190,929 in 2011. 

naturally a production company the size of Warner Bros would have its hand in making some horror films but not as many as you would expect as it generally goes to big budget projects that bring in the highest amount of revenue as they are generally appealing to all ages "Harry Potter" as out of many examples. with Horror they tend to be low budget and appeal to a select about of people which would decrease the profit margin so it tends to co produce horror films if it does at all. "Orphan" for example was co-produced with Dark Castle Entertainment, Appian Way Productions and StudioCanal so it limited the risk of losing money. "Orphan" did not lose money but only made a profit of $41,573,740,  any profit is a profit but when production company's can make a profit of a lot more with little risk involved they will naturally pic the big budget action film over the Horror.

Soundtrack research

this piece of music takes a very well known nursery rhyme and  turns it in to something very sinister. i think this is an okay piece of music but i feel it would not be right for our film and would be hard to take seriously when we are trying to create dramatic sapience at certain points in our opening two minutes. 



the combined effect of the high pitched stings coupled with the low steady beet of a drum in the distance has the "jaws effect" the drum gets slowly louder and faster creating the illusion that something is coming to get you. the music starts of slow which i do not like as we only have two minuets to work with and i feel it get a bigger effect if we cut out the first 10ish seconds so we move straight to the fast passed music and finally it cutting of revealing the suspense or ending with the killer being relived.  


"red letter" gives you a more supernatural "something going to get you feeling" by its use of  
light high pitched short repeated sequence of notes. this would go really well with any two minuet project involving the supernatural but as we aim to go for a more realistic approach it would be hard to work this into our film, but this is our first choice if we need something to build tenchion quickly and under the dialogue.



the wind pipes creates the effect of an opera singer, this adds to the spooky feeling. as the music goes on you get a fain drumming of a string instrument (possibly a guitar) this carry's on for a moment then the wind pipes are merged into a soft quire chorus matching the same notes as the wind pipes. this would work very well at the end of our film to give the viewer time to reflect on the events that have occurred in the two minutes. 



for the first 16/20 seconds there is a steady drumming occurring which has the same effect as "house of leaves" after 30 seconds it is coupled with the a faint horn creating the atmospheric tenchion and feeling that something is going to get you. i think this would for well in the part of the film before she is actually killed as  builds up the tenchion and also make the audience aware that this character isnt going to escape. 

Constancy part 1

7eventy 5ive Analysis

Certificate Research

  Universal-   suitable for all ages , there is nothing unsuitable for children over 4














Parental Guidance - suitable for all ages but certain scenes may be unsuitable for children under 8














12A-  used in Cinemas only,  Those aged under 12 years and under are only admitted if accompanied by an adult over the age of 18 




















12- Nobody younger than 12 can rent or buy a 12-rated DVD or  game. Films in this category may include drugs, strong language, brief nudity, discreet sexual activity and moderate violence.







15-  Nobody younger than 15 can buy or rent the film/game. they can contain adult themes, hard drugs, strong language, moderate-strong violence/sex references, and mild non-detailed sex activity.


















18-   Suitable for Adults only. Films under this category do not have limitation on the bad language that is used.














i think our film should be a 15 that way it will attract our target audience and not put them of as it could if it was rated a 12 as it could be seen as soft if 12 year old can watch it, we could take it to the extreme and make our film a 18 but that would mean excluding to many teens who have the disposable income to spend at the cinema. 

Copy of Initial Ideas on Prezi

hthttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rvsM6U4ktFA&feature=youtube_gdata

film title ideas

Horror film market research questions

 Horror film market research

Please circle relevantly

1.      What is your Gender?

Male              female

2.      How old are you?

14-20            21- 30           31-40  

         

3.      How many horror films have you watched in the last 6 months?

0       1-5       6-10    11-15    more

4.      What is your favourite type of horror film?

Supernatural – e.g zombies

Torture- e.g saw

Natural- e.g jaws (when nature attracts)

Real life- e.g The strangers (people braking In to your house)

5.      What is your favourite horror film at the moment?

…………………………………………………………………………………..

6.      Why?

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

7.      Do you go to the cinema to watch these films? Why?

Yes           No

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..

8.      What do you think is the best setting for a horror film? Please state if other.

Woods

Town

House

Other……………………………………

For the next 2 questions 1 is not at all 5 is a lot

9.       How badly are you affected buy them on a scale of 1 to 5? a lot.

1             2            3             4             5

10.   Do you think the music plays an important part in the build-up of tension?

 1             2            3             4             5

 

RESULRTS

are studie consised of 10 people, 5 where male 5 female, they were a mix of ages

• 7 people we asked where in the 14- 20 age bracket
• 2 people where in the 21-30 age bracket
• 1 person was in the 31-40

• 2 people we asked have not

Blog Feedback

Some really good analysis Ellis - but you are falling behind at this stage in the term. Show evidence of your planning towards your film and analyse a range of openings within that genre. Try to show evidence of your planning in the form of audience research, interviews with actors, questionnaires of your target audience, scripts and storyboards.

title research- romcoms

 the font for this classic romcom is very different compared to any other romcom fonts you see, unlike other fonts this is fitting for the film. the font is styled like a wedding invite fitting with the wedding theme

title research- scifi

this font works well for the scifi genre as it mixed two distinctive fonts to create the the scene of unease, also the clash between the two also suggests that in the film there is going to be a fight between the two. 

                                                                                                                                            

This font also shows the theme of the film with computer code in the back ground suggesting that it will be something to do technology, the font is strong with sharp edges but is also simple and easy to recognize. the blurring between the words also shows a futuristic side.    

soundtrack research - horror

the music starts off fasts paced high pitched designed to rise peoples hart rates this this mood is then changed when a lower pitch of strings is added in to the mix designed to prolong the suspense

 i like this idea of starting the beat fast and slowing it down to prolong the suspense and add to the feeling of dread

28 weeks later- similarly to Halloween the start of  song starts with  simple notes but unlike the Halloween the tin texture used builds suspense and gives an eerie atmosphere

Preliminary Task

2 min film review

The Prestige

wirtten and directed by batmans and inceptions Christopher Nolan and staring hugh jackman and christian bale
the opening scene is of "the Prestige" is of a pile of tophats looks very out of place in the woodland setting this confuese the audience as apart form the tophat magicien connoation it has nothing really to do with the film, but what it does do is atrackt the audiences attention as they are wating for somthing to happen. instead of the film starting you get Christian Bale is his very reconisable gruff voise saying "are you watching closely" this couppled with the lack of music giving the opening a sloum feeling as you are waiting for somthing bad to happen.

After the top hat scene the shot them cuts to birds in a cage that will soon be a part of a magic trick. The voice over is of Michael Caine  explaining the three parts of a magic trick the  pledge, the turn and the  prestige  this is a  moving monologue but also gives back ground information to the film, though out this monalog the scenes move around the in the time line making it hard to pin down exactly whats happening. 

location - first thoughts

saw an old steam boat on holiday and thought it would be a good location idea for my movie except its in the middle nowhere with a big keep out sign on it...
i like the idea of an abandoned place just going to be hard to find 

180 rule

The 180 Degree Rule states that two characters in a scene should always have the same left/right relationship to each other. If you don't follow the 180 Degree Rule disrupts the scene and disorients the audience pulling them out of the scene. When you break the 180 line, a person who was originally facing left in a scene is all of the sudden facing right. NO CONTINUITY 

my thoughts for a movie

at the moment i would love to make an action or comedy film but the money or affects behind making a action film is not available and small budget action films almost never become a box office hit for that reason an action film is not reliable to do my 2 min opening on. As with a comedy film it is very hard to get it right and takes grate skill as a writer to make a profit, and sadly comic genius is something i have not been blessed with so for that reason it is also ruled out. but on the bright side i still have 3 others genres to pick from :) 

crime

Blog Feedback

Research and Planning 16/20: Well done Ellis - some really good research into film openings and genre. Start to link film openings and genres to their target audiences and your own project ideas to make your analysis even better - and analyse even more film openings to assure band four marks. Well done!

Horror Cliches

Action Cliches

Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark 

Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark is one of the first grate action films. Made in 1981, directed by the legendary Steven Spielberg and starring Harrison Ford what more could you ask for in a film! The film set in 1936 about a renowned archaeologist and expert in the occult, Dr.Indiana Jones, is hired by the U.S. Government to find the Ark of the Covenant, which is believed to still hold the Ten Commandments. Unfortunately, agents of Hitler are also after the Ark. Indy, and his ex-flame Marion, escape from various close scrapes in a quest that takes them from Nepal to Cairo. This film though It may not have seemed like it at the time if full of clichés from saving the damsel in distress to having the “kryptonite” factor in this case snakes. 

Indy our hero is very masculine takes on 5 men with only a gun and a whip kind of guy much like the heroes of today for example in Batman begins(2005), Bruce Wayne (Christian bale) takes on a gang of prison harden convicts with no weapons and still comes out on top without a scratch on him. Unlike Batman, Indy gets beaten up a lot, but don’t worry he always beats the villain’s evil henchmen in the end. The villain or oppositional character in our film is a Dr. Rene Belloq a fellow archaeologist  but working for the “dark side” which is naturally the Nazis-  Steven Spielberg famously uses Nazis in his films to play bad guys as they need to back story, everyone knows that the Nazis are bad. The heavy accents of the villain has become one of the main clichés for defining the villains in films is used thought out the genres; form being used in the James bond franchise to the lion king (scar). 

Some of the best examples of a chase scene is in this film from Indy running to the rescue of a wicker basket trapped Marion and fighting of the evil henchmen to chasing a convoy of military trucks with only a horse. Although many of the classic chase scenes have been up graded to fast cars and free running (James bond) you can still see the basic outline of the classics in the modern action films today. 

the cliches of a romance film

Notting HIll



Notting hill like most other romcoms infuses itself with the clichés we all love but adds slight differences to keep it fresh, for instance our unlucky in love character who is normally portrayed as “Bridget Jones” is now the attractive William Thacker (Huge Grant) but with all the floors of Jones for instance; he owns a unsuccessful book shop, has been in a bad relationship in the case his wife left him for a man who looked like Harrison Ford and is clumsy.

In the case of Notting hill the faithful yet hopeless sidekick who gets in the way of him and  Anna Scott(Julia Roberts) is the stupid but well-meaning  Spike (Rhys Ifans) a lodger in Williams house Spike is very much a cliché in the film for instance he is also unlucky in love so there is an element of them being in the same boat together he is also in every way the stranger one of the two “ there’s something wrong with this yogurt” “is mayonnaise” this helps the audience connect with the film as everyone at some stage has had that type of hapless but lovable friend. 

In the film there is also a lot of typical will they won’t they moments between William and Anna this keeps the audience at the edge of their seat as seen in almost every romcom film like pretty woman, four wedding and a funeral, sweet home Alabama and the proposal. The will they won`t they moment has now become a must have cliché in any romcom as it helps bulk out the film and make the moment when they do kiss even better, and well what is the point in watching a film where the guy gets the girl on the first date.

The tag line for this film “Can the most famous film star in the world fall for just an ordinary guy?” plays on the opposites attract cliché another example of this being used is pretty woman where a millionaire business man  falls in love with a penniless hooker. This cliché works well in Notting hill as it present the love struck couple with a hurdle on lovers lane, in this case it is the press finding out about the two of them and Anna assuming that Will tipped them off this is also a case of showing Dramatic irony; we no will dint do it but she doesn’t.