True Blood Title Sequence

This title sequence uses theme to create the title sequence in that we can gather it is about vampires from the use of a cherry on the child's lips, which looks like blood.

They have used a lot of symbolism in this, for example in the beginning they show a desolate city then cuts to a busy town to show deaths of people. Their is also connotations of death, in that we see snakes biting, decomposing animals, dead animals, with lots of blood.

A main focus is between a group of people in a church and strippers, which show two completely different groups. This could mean that their is a religious edge to it but also a dark side with the use of strippers.

It generally uses the conventions of a vampire genre, with the use of red colour and themes to interact with vampires.

Target Audience Research

RAJA VIRDI

LAUREN RUDD

Here we have both done the target audience research. This is to ensure that we know what to include to interest our target audience and to know what these films have done to attract their target audience. This is helpful because now we know what to have in order to make our film more interesting to our target audience.

Shot List (Written Storyboard)

Here is our shot list, providing every shot we will need and the angle and movement. This will make shooting on the day much easier as we have each shot laid out in front of us.

Group Change

The group that is making this horror film now consists of Lauren Rudd and Raja Virdi, as Sam Bushell has decided to drop Media.

BBFC Certificate Research

The horror film that we will be making will be of a 15 certificate. In order to comply with this age certificate, in our film we are able to show strong threats, but they will not be allowed if they are too strong and sadistic or of a sexual nature. We can also show examples of strange and dangerous events and behaviour of characters, but we can not show them in explicit detail. This also applies to any form of violence in the film. Basically, whatever strong events we show in our film, we can not show them in a lot of detail, otherwise it would not be suitable for this audience.

Lauren Rudd - Assessment of Previous Work 2

I think that this film does look like a horror film, and it has both the right visuals and sounds that a convential horror film would use, which gives off the feel of a horror.

This film does have a range of shots, but like a usual horror film, it is mainly made up of close ups and mid shots, to get the reactions and facial expressions of the main character and to prevent distancing the audience. There is also a few long shots, which gives the audience an idea of the location and setting.

I believe that the film is well framed throughout and uses the right amount of room in the different shots. I think that the rule of thirds is used correctly.

The film flows quite well in my opinion, and only has a couple of minor continuity errors, such as when the girl is getting out of her bed. Apart from this, it flows and works well.

Mise en scene is not really used in this film apart from the focus on the stairs, as this is obviously where the threat is established and coming from. There is also no costumes in it, as none are needed because we only see the main character, who is wearing pajamas as she is in bed.

We hear diegetic sound being used in this film when there is banging, which is obviously the threat and creates fear for the character. We also hear the main character crying, which shows that she is scared because something is going to happen. Non-diegetic sound is also used, as the background music helps to create tension and give us the impression that something is going to happen, as it is high pitched and comes to a halt when the threat appears.

Lauren Rudd - Assessment of Previous Work 1

I think that this film does look like a horror film, due to the use of different shot types and sound, as they suggest fear and create tension.

The film does use of range of shots. It uses mainly close ups and mid shots so that the audience are involved in the events and can see the different facial expressions and reactions of characters. These shots make horror films more interactive to an audience, and show us what is important in the film.

I believe that this film is framed well as there is always the right amount of room in the shots, never too much or too little. Shot reverse shot is also used well, as well as different angles like the low shots when the threat is established.

This film flows well, and I did not notice any continuity errors throughout it.

In terms of costume, mise en scene is used well in this film as the costume of the threat, the ghost child, is made up using the correct conventions, e.g dark eyes, pale face. Another way that mise en scene was used well in this film was how the credits were shown on the cardboard box carried by the main character, which also shows the main event of this film, the character moving in.

Sound was also used well, like when we hear the ghost whispering "get out". This is used to build tension, and it does it effectively. The music in the background also builds up when the threat is established, and it is used throughout to keep building tension and to bring attention to it. It is made up of mainly low sounds, with the occasional high-pitched strings, which creates a fearful atmosphere, and makes the audience think that something is going to happen as the music is dark.

Raja Virdi - Assesment of Previous Work 2

I think this film certainly looks like a horror film with the use of visuals and sound to create a scary and fearful effect. The use of different shots creates tension and fear which engages the audience as a horror.

This film definitely has a range of shots and a lot of coverage so the audience gets to see the most action. It uses mostly close ups and mid shots so the audience aren't distant from the action like a long shot would do, and this would ruin the effect of the horror genre as you want to see the characters facial reactions and feelings.

I think it is very well framed and uses lots of different angles as well to create different effects for example canted angles in the running scenes make a slightly distorted image which you want from a horror film. Also everything is put into rule of thirds very well, so the audiences attention are on the right subjects. I feel it definitely looks very professional.

I think everything flows very well with the use of lots of coverage and all the shots are timed properly so everything will definitely flow. In the running scenes especially, it flowed incredibly well and did not jump at all in my opinion.

They have used mise en scene very well in terms of location as they found quite a desolate place with a lake to chuck the pendant in along with a running path so filming along there would flow and look really good. Furthermore, the use of costume is definitely used well as the threat is dressed in black to show the unknown, and the character in black to create a dark effect. The colours have been marginally darkened using contrasting effects, which makes the overall feel of the film a lot more sinister.

Sound has definitely been used to create fear in that many stingers have been used when something attracts to the audience like the pendant being seen after being thrown in the lake. Also in the running scene, there is a sort of drum rhythm which creates tension and fear in that the audience does not know what it about to happen, then the sound builds up to a climax and the action ends.

Raja Virdi - Assesment of Previous Work 1

I feel this does have the essence of a horror film as the background music creates a fearful effect, whereas if the music and sound effects of the toy box playing and laughing it wouldn't be as effective as a horror. In terms of the visual aspect, there is the fear of the unknown as you don't know what to expect.

There is most definitely a range of shots and the creators definitely used coverage well. It makes the audience more interested as we can see lots of different angles/shots from the same scene whereas if it were only a few shots and angles it wouldn't be as interesting as the audience don't see as much.

I feel it is well framed and they have captured the characters in the best framing possible using the rule of thirds and making sure the character is offset to the sides instead of directly in front of the camera. The use of two shots are done very well on the dolly scenes, so the audience can see both characters.

I feel it flows very well, and they used the 45 degree rule correctly so the shots are separated but flow correctly. Also as they had lots of coverage they could choose from a variety of shots which would flow however they wanted too.

I think they have definitely used mise en scene very well, with the use of lighting in the house to create shadows and the choice of dark costumes for both characters, where the night gown shows a tired look to the character and the all in black character seems quite sinister. The setting is also an important part as the forest shows the unknown and the audience do not know where the character is which gives a sense of wonder and mystery.

Sound has definitely been used to create fear in that the toy box playing and the child laughing seems quite scary, and when the guitar is played, it shows mystery and suspense.

Importance of Lighting

The key light functions as the main source of light in your scene. The best place to put it is at a 45 degree angle. It adds definition to the face and shoulders. It makes the character have shadows on the opposite side of the face so you use a fill light.

A fill light is also put at 45 degree angle and is at a low intensity, you can do this by putting the light backwards more or use a diffuser. You get a more even look when you add the fill light and shadows are gone.

The backlight is behind the subject at a slight angle so it doesn't shine into the camera lens. It shines down at the subject and creates a light around the characters head and shoulders. It must be at a low intensity though. It makes the character stand out from the background.

We could definitely incorporate this type of lighting into our film, but we would just use the key light and backlight as we want shadows to be created, to create a more fearful and dark effect and fear of the unknown. We feel this technique could be used in all of our locations, especially in the main room of our location to create a very scary effect. We will also dim the main lights and use lamps in their room already, to have a dark atmosphere. We could also use this technique so the character doesn't blend with the dark locations, so they stand out.

AFTER ADDING THE FILL AND KEY LIGHT.

BEFORE ADDING LIGHTING

Here is how we positioned the lights, at a 45 degree angle. As we didn't have a third light we couldn't use the backlight. It still put the character in focus without blending in a lot with the background though.

Here is the photo with only the fill light.
There are shadows on the right side of the character face.

Here is the light with only the key light.

The shadows are on the left side of the face.

Make Up Design

The costume we will need would be dark and fairly basic as in a Psychological, make up and costume is quite basic, as you can see from the images above. As you can see from these photos the use of his white coloured shirt shows he isn't very serious whereas we want our character to be more scared, by wearing darker colours. What we have to accomplish is the feeling of torture from the inside so, we could use the location as a costume in that it would look a certain way but affect the character. In terms of make up, we could use some dark eyeshadow to show fear in the character and tiredness.

We feel we have chosen an appropriate age and gender to suit the Psychological genre. The images above from Room 1408, shows an older man, which would be the standard character for a Psychological, but we have chosen a teenage girl in order to suit the audience. We feel having a teenager has more of a threat as they're younger. We tried to base it on The Sixth Sense, where the main character is simply a child.

Here are following videos we have found to create bags under the characters eyes (the main make up we will be using):

Test Shot

 BEFORE

AFTER

Here is our character design sheet. We have chosen to put our character in mainly dark clothing to reflect the mood of our film and to accomplish a sinister effect. Something like this could not be accomplished with bright coloured clothes, for example.

Storyboard for our Opening

Above,  we have the beginning 6 scenes of our film. Here we have chosen a long shot for an establishing shot, in order for the audience to know where the location is. We also added in a close up of the hand on the creaking and old door to show its importance and to slightly intrigue an audience where a mid shot of the hand would not be as powerful, as it's more distant. We used mid shots and a close up when the character walks through the door, and sees the location. A shot like a long shot would not be effective as we aren't focusing on the character and we want the audience to keep their focus on the character, and their reactions.

In the next 6 scenes, we mainly used mid shots. This was to make the audience focus on the character but also aware of the surroundings in the location. We used a long shot as another establishing shot, to show the surroundings of the character and to show a light flickering above the character in the corridor. We have also used different angles to accomplish shot reverse shot, and to show the status of the character as we used high and low angles.  If we did not use these angles e.g. eyeline shots, then status would not be shown or apparent. 

In the next 6 scenes the character is going into the final location. These scenes are built up of mainly long shots, mid shots and mid long shots, in order to again make the audience aware of both the character and surroundings at the same time. We also used a close up of a shadow to show the importance of it. If we did not use a close up of the shadow then it would not be noticed by the audience and would not be apparent. We have also used one point of view shot in order to build up the tension and to put the audience in the position of the character to make it more engaging. 

These are the final 6 scenes. We have decided to mainly use mid shots, mid long shots and close ups, as in a horror film you need to witness the facial reactions and emotions of a character, to engage the audience. We have chosen mostly mid shots and close ups over extreme long shots and long shots because it interacts with the audience more, whereas a long shot would distance the audience more and the action would not be clear. We think that by using putting the audience closer to the character, a climax is built up towards the ending when the shadow and character are the only things in focus. 

The Sixth Sense - Storyboard Video

What is the purpose of the story-boarding?

The purpose of story boarding is so you can go to the film shoot ready with exactly which shots to use. For example without a storyboard, you'll be wasting time and money thinking about which angle/shot to use and what could go next. Also, if you've got a story board you can see which kind of cinematography effects to use, such as lenses and how the depth of field could be used in a scene. Furthermore, with a story board you can show the kind of effect for the actors, for example you can choose a shot type to create the correct atmosphere for the film. You can also see where you need to cut certain shots, and how they will flow, rather then turning up to a shoot and cutting at wrong points. Also, it can be handy with certain props you may need, such as in the sixth sense example, they had to create a door knob to create the reflection effect, but if they hadn't planned that before, they would have been very stuck as to how to acquire that shot. The good thing about story boarding is that you can alter how different shots can be, so edited could be manipulated.

How can you show lighting/camera movements/angles?

You can show lighting by shading in the areas which will be in shadow on the storyboard drawing, so the ones without shade will be lit. This could be done for example with a mans face being half in shadow and half in light, so you would shade half the face in and half the face not.

Camera movements can be shown using arrows on the drawings as to which direction something will happen. For example if someone turns their head, they would draw an arrow of which way the character turns there head. Also, you would include notes as to how the camera will move.

In terms of angles, you would draw the character in the correct angle and have notes on the bottom saying exactly which angle you are going to use.

Our Script

This is our script we have made. We think this is going to be extremely useful because our shots can now be planned out and how we are going to shoot every one of them. Also, it tells us how it will go into the next scene. We also have a set dialogue for our character and any notes on how we want them to act for example a worried look on their face. We also added the description of the setting to know how we want the scene to look, for the right effect. We could also add where we want FX to come in like Black Outs and the end and any noises to appear and at which scenes.

Script

By reading this script, we noticed that he layout is quite unusual in that the main text is centred and the rest is left aligned. We believe this is done because it puts attention on the main parts which the director would follow. Also it breaks each section up into scenes, for example one angle of the hand/location, then one of tools being picked up by the character.

There is no dialogue in this particular script, but if there were it would be set out with the characters names in bold and centred.

The description of the setting is very detailed in that it tells you the lighting for example it says "dark, fire lit, ash dusted place". Also, it's quite detailed about what is in it, for example props such as "grimey workglove", "four fishing knives", "spidery sorts of apparatus". I believe they do this because it gives extra detail as to how to set the scene and what is needed and how they should look like.

The description of the actor himself is not given, but instead it talks a lot about his hand, and the opening follows his hand and what he is doing. For example, it starts to describe his hand "dirty and nail bitten", then it leads on to his hand picking up a glove and slicing the fingertips off of it. He is then seen picking up knives which gives us an indication of what the character is going to be like. We never get any direct information about him, just implications.

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Here is a script example for how the layout & dialogue should be, and what fonts & margins should be included.

Film Outline Sheet

Here we have our film outline (split into 10 second segments). We have put down each different segments of our film and split them up into how many scenes will be in them. We also added comments on what the action is going to be and the main angles and shot types. This is beneficial to us. because it makes story-boarding faster and more efficient as we know what we are doing.

Reccee Sheet

Here is our recee, from Wollaton Hall. We feel this is a prime location as their is a gothic history to it and we feel it would be perfect to shoot our film here in there large, open plan, vintage rooms (pictures above). All in all, we feel this location is brilliant and will serve well to our film.