Main Brief: Storyboard

Main Brief: Script

Opening Sequence

Caroline is walking down the road with earphones in. The music is faint, but loud enough for the audience to know she is listening to something. Her music stops and she looks at her phone to see a call from an unknown number. She picks it up but there is no-one on the other line.

Caroline : Hello? Is there anyone there?

Hangs Up

For God’s sake.

She sighs and carries on walking. As she nears the end of the road, she looks up to see someone, dressed in black, on the path to the church. She takes her earphones out.

Caroline : Are you okay?

Other person turns around and main character gasps. Sudden cut into flashbacks of the two girls out together, laughing, having fun etc. The main character opens her eyes and sees that the other person is gone.

Caroline : Rose? Rose?

She spins around, looking for the person she just saw. Final shot over the shoulder of the antagonist, still looking at the girl, but from a distance.

Main Brief: Production Schedule

We created our production schedule so we could plan when to film our shots and when to edit. Our group had events such as school trips, mocks and the school production that were going to intefere with the weeks comencing the return from half term. The production schedule allowed us to plan who would be away then, and we were able to come up with an efficient timetable that would enable us enough time to film, edit and evaluate our main brief.

We created a group chat on WhatsApp which would allow us to share pictures and videos easily and to message each other instantly without having to send two texts. It proved to be a valuable and wise decision.

Main Brief: Character Analysis

Caroline (Protagonist)

• Age: 18
• College girl
• Best friend died (still grieving/ recovering from her loss)
• Has a younger sister
• Curious
• Afraid of the supernatural
• Not convinced that her friend’s death was an accident
• Indecisive
• Brave
• Selfless
• Family oriented - she is very close with her younger sister/parents

Rosalie  (Antagonist)

• Died at age 17
• Fatal car accident while on holiday
• Manipulative
• Selfish
• Stubborn
• Buried in the cemetery
• Haunting
• Was cheerful and adventurous  
• Never liked school/ would always bunk
• Parent got divorced after her death
• Has no siblings, was an only child

Main Brief: Target Audience Research

Using Google Forms we created questionnaires about horror films that were to be distributed amongst friends and family. The questionnaire asked the recipient about their age and gender (for basic target audience research) and their likes/dislikes about the horror genre. This included their favourite horror film themes, what scares them about horror films and what clichés they are bored of. The results were accumulated in a table.

Horror Film Research Questionnaire

Questionnaire Results

Our results showed that the most popular sub-genre of horror was psychological horror with monster/fantasy and 'based on a true story' being the second and third most popular options. Silence, jump shots, tense moments and blood/gore were equally common 'scare factors' amongst the recipients with clichéd storylines being the biggest hate of horror films. With this we have learnt what to include in our main brief and what not to include, especially not to use clichéd storylines (as described by this Tumblr Text Post)

Main Brief Pre-Production: Pitch

Here is the pitch we presented to our classmates. The pitch contained our initial ideas for our main brief, as well as ideas for media institutuions we could work with for our brief. We decided to have teenagers and young adults as our target audience as our research into film ratings revealed the most popular rating for horror films was 15. If pur film was reated 15, it would allow us to include more graphic, explicit and scary themes/ special effects whilst also allowing the majority of our target audience the opportunity to watch the brief.

 

We were inspired by Barthes Theory of Engima and Strauss's Theory of Binary opposition when creating the story line of our main brief. We used Barthes enigma theory towards the end of the opening of the brief, as the viewer is left perplexed about what happened to Rosalie (why she looks like she has battered) and why Caroline seems so affected by the appearance of Rosalie (the flashback reveals they were friends.) We were inspired by Strauss when creating our characters- Caroline (the protagonist) is wearing a white top, jeans and layers of coats. The antagonsit- Rosalie- is wearing a black lace dress and no jacket. There is a contrast of black and white with the clothing and there is also a contrast in the projection of the protagonist and antagonist- Caroline is loud and projects her voice well, whilst Rosalie only whispers. These elements reveal influences of both Barthes and Strauss.

Planning the pitch:

 

Main Brief Research: Narrative Structure

Narrative Structure

 

Narrative structure contains traditional elements of a storyline in a specific order. These elements traditionally include an exposition or beginning, rising action, climax, falling action, and resolution or denouement. Depending on the genre of the film, the narrative structure can take different forms. The two main forms of narrative structure are:

 

Linear Structure-Where the events of a film happen in chronological order, starting at the beginning of the story, moving to the middle and finishing at the end. This is the most common form of narrative structure in film.

 

Non-Linear Structure-Where the film often starts in the middle of the story line-usually in the height of the climax- and goes back to the beginning in a series of flashbacks. This is common in thriller films as it keeps the viewers on their toes. An example of a film with a non-linear structure is "Trance" by Danny Boyle

 

Another part of the narrative structure of a film is the conventions of the genre of the film. For example the generic conventions of a horror film include:

 

-Shadows/ Dark Lightning

-Blood

-Weapons

-Forests

-Abandoned period Houses

-Paranormal/Supernatural

-Iconography such as Bibles and Crucifixes

-Isolation

-Atmospheric Music (string instruments such as violins or cellos, or jewellery box music.)

 

The use of these conventions can help to imply the suggested genre of a film. This is called audience expectation. For example the first image on the trailer for The Woman in Black (2010) is of a child's bedroom with cobwebs and aged furniture in an old Victorian style house. Immediately the audience will get the impression that this is a horror film, especially as the picture come sup on screen at the same time the music starts, which is a song from a jewellery box (single tubular bell note, high in pitch) which is another generic convention of horror.

 

 

A repertoire of elements also helps to distinguish the genre of a film as it uses common conventions of the genre within the plotline. These are usually divided into location, iconography, characters, themes  and narratives. In horror films the repertoire of elements are:

 

Location

 

- Haunted house

-Abandoned/ derelict building

-Somewhere with little lighting (no specific size- it could be a shed, cupboard or cellar etc.)

-Castle/ Ancient Building

-Suburban Town

 

Iconography

 

-Skulls

-Kitchen Knives

-Blood

-Axes

-Bodies/Corpses

-Sudden loud screams

-Creaky floorboards/ creaky doors

-Out-of-the-blue knocking at the door

-Cold callers

-Crucifixes

-Bibles

-Gory, explicit injuries

 

Characters

 

-Demons

-Ghosts/The Paranormal

-Innocent Bystander

-House pet (usually dog or cat)

-Blonde Girls

-Young Children

-Vulnerable person

-Zombies/Vampires/Monsters

 

Narratives and Themes

 

-Spirit present in haunted house

-Psychopath on the loose

-Zombies/Monsters on the loose

-Revenge Killing

-Series of unfortunate events and coincidences

-Haunting of a single person

-Demonic possesion



 

 

 

Main Brief Recce's

 

(These are shots of the ideal time for filming due to the atmosphere and mood implied by the colour of the sky.)

 

Mini Brief: Pre-Production Script Writing

Before filming we needed to write a script for our sequence. We wanted to include as many conventions of the thriller genre, so our first move was to have two roles: the antagonist and the protagonist. In our sequence the antagonist would have clear power and authority over the protagonist. We wanted to create suspense by writing dialogue that alluded to something not known by the audience. For this we thought an interrogation scene would be great, as we could then work in violence (a convention in thrillers) and film in a small cramped environment with low lighting to mimic an abandoned building (another few conventions of thrillers.) We wanted to finish on a cliff-hanger as that would create tension and replicate the feeling viewers would have if they were watching a clip from a feature- length thriller film. In our script "I" stands for interrogator (Antagonist) and "H" stands for hostage (Protagonist).

 

Mini Brief: Pre-Production Storyboard Draft

Following our visit to the location, we drafted a storyboard of our sequence.

 

Mini Brief: Pre-Production Storyboard Planning

We returned to our shooting location to take initial still shots for our storyboard. We planned when to use match on action and shot reverse shot, as well as how we could use the 180° rule. We took shots of where our characters would be placed in the sequence and worked out what shot types we could use (close up, mid shot, POV, panning, follow shot etc.)

Mini Brief: Pre-Production Character Analysis

In today's lesson we wrote briefs for our two characters. These briefs included information about their everyday life (e.g. job) and personal information (e.g. personality, motivations, idiosyncrasies etc.)