ANALYSIS OF OUR ACTRESS




LOCATION LOCATION LOCATION!

 

OPENING CREDITS

FISH TANK

Fish Tank is a low budget British Film

MINORITY REPORT
Minority Report is a high budget American film

Low budget British films have more funding bodies whereas the high budget American ones have less. The low budget films have less reference to actors and more distribution companies.  The high budget American ones have more emphasis on the actors and less funding companies, it is one major company that funds.

STORYBOARD AND ANALYSIS OF THE EFFECTIVENESS OF THE STORY BOARD

My group and I decided to make a story board for our opening sequence of our horror thriller '666' in order for us to visually see the shot by shot guide, therefore we will be able to visually examine how our opening sequence will unfold. 

Creating  a story board for our opening sequence for my thriller '666' has helped my group and I to have a more realistic idea of how it will plan out. Firstly, it has done allowing us to have a rough idea about the duration of each shot, therefore we are able to keep within the time frame of 02.30 minutes for our opening sequence. This came in use, when we filmed a initial run through of our thriller opening sequence. 

Furthermore, it has allowed us to visually see each shot which ensures us  that we will see a variety to keep our film more exciting, for example by using quicker cuts we are speeding up the pace of our film, which will create more tension. 

Moreover, the illustrations in our storyboard gives us an indication of what the set would look like within each scene, which helps my group and I to plan what props we need and it helps us to think about the perfect location for our opening sequence. Also, the illustrations allows us to explain our idea clearly to people, especially the actress staring in our film, therefore our actress will have a better indication of what our opening sequence will look like, making her job easier. 

Additionally, when we edited our pre-lim task, during editing we had some difficulty remembering the order of shots which we filmed in, however now we created a storyboard so when it comes to editing our film, the editor will be able to refer to the storyboard and can piece the clips together accordingly. 

Overall, my group and I have learnt that by using a storyboard, we have now set up a plan for production, therefore when it comes to filming everything will run smoothly. Lastly, our storyboard will ensure that we don't forget what shots we were initially going to use. Therefore, in conclusion I believe our storyboard is extremely effective because it shows our story clearly, making filming and editing more straightforward for my group. 

INTERVIEWS: WHAT PEOPLE LIKE ABOUT THRILLERS

I  interviewed possible target audience members of our horror thriller film by asking them seven questions in order to find out what people like about thrillers. From this interview which I concluded, I learnt many things. One thing I learnt was that people enjoyed jumpy moments in thrillers, therefore when I create my story board with my group I will raise this point in the discussion of events for our opening sequence. Furthermore, I learnt that the majority of people prefer the lead role to be attractive as it would entice them into watching the film more, therefore when my group and I decided to look for an actress, I will keep this in mind.

1) What do you think about thrillers and  what do you like about them?






2) What is your favourite type of thriller film?

3) What is your favourite thriller film and why?

4) What type of films would you typically decided to watch?
























5) What do you look for in horror thrillers?























7) Would you be more willing to watch a film if the main character is good looking?

ARTICLES BASED ON OUR IDEA

ARTICLE ONE:

Acid house of horror: Murder hunt for family who DISSOLVED victims' bodies in baths... then flushed leftover 'sludge' down the loo

• Two members of family of five on the run in South America
• One victim had throat slashed with icepick and another gunned down in hail of bullets
• Police called after neighbours notice 'peculiar' smell coming from house
• Gas masks found where killers used hydrochloric acid to dispose of corpses

A family of five murdered two men and dissolved their bodies in acid baths at home - before flushing the leftover 'sludge' down the lavatory.

Police said the family are from Holland but used the house in Germany as a 'chop shop' to dispose of their victims, who they killed with an icepick and a semi-automatic gun.

An international manhunt is now underway after two of the killers went on the run in South America.

Grisly: Alan Gergeri, left, was killed with an icepick while Mohammed al Jader, right, was cut down in a hail of bullets last year, allegedly for trying to blackmail the family. Their bodies were dissolved in acid

Evidence: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2118054/Murder-hunt-family-dissolved-victims-bodies-bath-ACID--flushed-sludge-loo.html

ARTICLE TWO:

Teen girl home alone hears burglars breaking in; suspect causes crash while fleeing police 

SANDY, Utah — Two people suffered minor injuries after a crash caused by a suspect who was fleeing from police responding to reports of a burglary, and officers said a 15-year-old girl was home alone when she heard the burglars breaking glass to enter the residence. Sandy Police Department personnel at the scene said things began when a 15-year-old girl heard glass breaking and called her parents, who in turn called police. When officers arrived, they found signs of forced entry. Prior to police entering the home, the garage door opened and two suspects sped out in a black Toyota Camry, which authorities later determined the suspects had backed into the garage after making entry into the home.

Evidence: http://fox13now.com/2015/09/16/teen-girl-home-alone-hears-burglars-breaking-in-suspect-causes-crash-while-fleeing-police/

ARTICLE THREE: hn

Burglars tied up and threatened to kill home-alone girl, 13

A 13-year-old girl who was tied up by a pair of burglars who threatened to kill her has been left "traumatised". Two men threw a paving slab through a window to break into her house in Hollinwood, Oldham while she was home alone at about 19:45 GMT on Wednesday.

Police said they tied her hands and feet with a phone cable and threatened her with a knife, saying they would "cut off your fingers" and "kill you". They left empty-handed in a car after ransacking the house for 45 minutes. One of the men was described as black, in his 30s, of a medium build and about 6ft (1.80m) tall, while the other was said to be white, in his 20s, taller than the other man and skinny.

Greater Manchester Police Det Insp Lewis Hughes said the girl had faced a "horrific and traumatising ordeal".

"I cannot imagine how awful that must have been for her, and for her family once they discovered what had happened to their little girl. 

"For two grown men to do something like this to a child shows exactly the type of people we are dealing with - they are ruthless, heartless and must be brought to justice as swiftly as possible."

Evidence: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-manchester-31649980

Researching articles which are similar to our thriller, allowed us to ensure we make our thriller appear as realistic as possible. This is because we want the audience to feel as anxious and terrified as possible. Overall, these articles reconfirmed what we had collected from audience feedback from of our idea; it is extremely unrealistic for someone to call the police to seek help after just two strange phone calls. Therefore we have now decided that she will go and   'investigate' the strange noises coming from upstairs. This is because curiosity is a natural instinct, hence making our opening sequence of our thriller more realistic. Moreover, although in article two the victim does turn to the police for solace, this is due to her noticing the break in; however we want to create our victim as being innocent and naive and hence she does not realise the danger which is at her forefront. Therefore, our victim in our opening sequence of our thriller is represented as being a stereotypical ignorant and naive teenage girl. Lastly, both article one and two reinforce the concept of having our victim being a teenage girl, seeing as both these real life situations involved teenage girls; therefore acquiring a teenage girl as the victim in the opening of our film sequence is realistic. 

FILMING SCHEDULE FOR '666'

AUDIENCE FEEBACK OF OUR IDEA

We presented our idea to our class to gather feedback and constructive criticism as to how we can improve  the opening sequence of our film, called '666' 

Here is the feedback we received:

The fundamental point that we gathered from our audience was that there was simply too much to fit in to a 2 minutes opening sequence, whilst being able to achieve a good and understandable sequence. Nonetheless, this feedback was varied as some classmates said that we were more than capable of fitting all of the action in to two minutes. After debating this constructive criticism we decided to remove the police call from the sequence as not only do we lack time to include everything we originally decided on, but we also realised that it was  unrealistic for someone to call the police after only two phone calls. Furthermore it came about, after dictating our idea that our film too closely mirrored Scream, and that whilst we got inspiration from the film, we need to be cautious of making it too similar, as then it moves away from being an original idea and simply mimics an already published film. The response we got in regards to our name, 999, was generally positive as it puts a spin on the idea however we concluded that 666 would be of better fitting to our newly adapted idea, without the police phone call. We also need to incorporate credits to our film, and depending on how we choose to present them, adapt our film to ensure there is time for everything. When asked they would watch our film, our response was 100% yes, especially if there is an attractive girl in it. Finally we concluded that not everything we had originally decided to incorporate was actually necessary, so after pondering this thought we decided to remove the kettle shot as it is simply unnecessary, and too closely mimics Scream. 

FILMS SIMILAR TO OUR OPENING SEQUENCE

I decided to research into two films which are similar to our opening sequence:
1) When a stranger calls
2) Scream

The opening sequence to these films use styles and techniques which i wish to incorpicate in our opening sequence. Furthermore the storylines are coinciding due to those film's opening sequence and ours including a young female character home alone, allowing her to appear vulnerable and is therefore an easy target for the killer. Moreover 'When a stranger calls' and 'Scream' follows the journey of a death in the opening sequence, which is something we have required in our opening sequence. This victim is known as the 'first girl' and is a stereotypical character in a horror film, therefore a necessity in our opening sequence.

When a stranger calls

The opening sequence of the film 'When a stranger calls' is very similar to the opening of our thriller '666'. The film's opening sequence begins with a young woman talking on the phone and repeating the word 'hello' suggesting that there is no one replying on the other end of the phone. This is similar to our thriller opening '666' because our victim (a young woman in her teenage years) will be answering a phone, where no one else is replying on the other end. Moreover, in this film opening the woman receives multiple strange phone calls with no one replying. This again is similar to our thriller '666', whereby our victim will retrieve numerous mysterious phone calls. Additionally, the women in this opening appears to be anxious as she begs the stranger "please stop calling me", which is similar to our thriller '666' as the victim will be distressed and agitated as she begins to hear floor boards creaking and doors slamming from inside her house. However, in this opening sequence, the audience does not see the young woman on screen at all, whereas in 666, the opening sequence will follow our young woman walking towards her death as she decides to 'investigate' the weird noises and walk upstairs towards the 'stranger' in her house. Therefore we want to include a stereotypical vulnerable and innocent first girl in our film so that the audience will immediately be able to identify this film as being in the horror genre. Furthermore, the murder in this opening sequence is not located in a isolated area, however in our thriller 666 opening, we want the murder to be conducted in a isolated location in order to emphasis the vulnerability of the first girl, because there is no where for her to escape too, making our thriller more suspenseful and tense.

In 'When a stranger calls' the title sequence has been removed and instead the opening credits appear on screen as the action in the opening sequence begins to unfold, which is called 'straight into the film title sequence'.  This technique is typically used in horror films. My group and I also chose to use this technique and type of opening sequence because we believe that it makes the film appear more interesting as it enhances the tension in the film from the get go making it more exciting.

Scream

The opening sequence of the film 'Scream' is very similar to the opening sequence of our thriller '666'. The opening begins with a telephone ring, which immediately suggests to the audience that this is an important aspect of this scene and is ultimately what the film is surrounded about. This is similar to the opening sequence of our thriller 666, because our film is also about the aspect of a stranger calling. However, in Scream the stranger is actually stalking the woman whereby in our film the stranger is constantly harassing the young woman by calling her phone anonymously multiple times and saying nothing to her, leaving the woman feeling distressed. However, the concept is similar that a mystery caller pesters a women and eventually murders her. Furthermore, the woman in Scream is a vulnerable young blonde woman, representing a stereotypical first girl. Although in our thriller we are including a stereotypical first girl, our young woman will be in her teens as appose to her early twenties, but again the concept is similar between our thriller film 666 and the thriller Scream.

Scream also uses the technique of removing the title sequence and jumping straight into the action by using the 'straight into the film title sequence', whereby the opening credits appear on screen as the action begins to unfold. This reiterates our motifs of using this technique and validates using the straight into the film title sequence in order to create an exciting opening sequence to our thriller.

WHAT IDEA WE CHOSE

THRILLER IDEAS

DIFFERENT TYPES OF TITLE SEQUENCES IN FILMS

On a title sequence you would expect the following to occur:
-The name of the film
-An understanding of the tone/atmosphere of the film
-Narrative information
-Introduce some/all characters
-Sense of the films genre
-Actors name
-Establish the location

There are four different types of title sequences used in Hollywood:
-Traditional title sequence
-Discrete title sequence
-Straight into the film 
-Stylised opening sequence 

Traditional title sequence: 
The traditional title sequence is stylised but still goes straight into the beginning of the film. In this type of title sequence, films use sound and font alongside the images to create the mood of the film. The film will then begin and jump straight into the action of the film. 
For example: Drive
It makes him appear as mysterious and lonely. It is set in the late 1980's to early 1990's as shown by the use of techno music and the sense of dress and pink font. It gives presents the mood of an 'american diner' through the use of the pink font and jazzy music. Furthermore it represents a sense of loneliness due to the film being set in the late hours of the night. 

Discrete title sequence:
The discrete title sequence is like a mini film before the film and helps to get the audience into the mood of the film, but not tell you what the film is specifically about. It can give you an idea of the tone and genre of the movie. A 'discrete' opening sequence is often animated and includes a lot of editing work, typically found in high budget films for example, James Bond or the girl with the dragon tattoo. 
For example: The girl with the dragon tattoo
It gives off a dark atmosphere with the dark colours used such as black and grey. Furthermore the narrative is conveyed through certain objects that subtly appear on scream, for example it hints at a common motif of hacking through the presence of wires and keyboards. Moreover, location is hinted at via the  constant flow of darkened water which further amplifies the eerie mood of the film.

Straight into the film:
A straight into the film opening sequence is a film that goes straight into the story and doesn't have a extra title sequence. This type of title sequence is far less commonplace and is more likely to be seen in action or horror because they want to go straight into the it and it increases the tension and pace of the film immediately. 
For example: Scream
There are no titles at all and the film starts directly with the action of the opening scene, immediately building up tension with the mysterious phone call, increasing the pace of the film. 

The stylised opening scene:
A stylised title sequence is a combination of straight into the film and discrete title sequence. The opening of the film starts straight into the action and then followed by a 'discrete' title sequence. 
For example: The best and most famous examples are the James Bond openings. This type of opening is often used in stylish action films such as Casino Royale or Mesrine. 

MY OPENING SEQUENCE:
I think I am going to use the Straight into the film opening sequence because the genre of our film is horror, therefore it is logically to use straight into the film because they are more likely to be seen in action or horror films. Furthermore this opening sequence will create tension and will increase the pace of our film from the beginning, drawing the audience in. It will allow us to jump straight into the action and allow us to build suspense from the get go, helping us to create a fast pace and scary opening sequence for our horror film.  

WHICH NAME FOR OUR THRILLER?

There are a number of different names we have come up with that would be suited for our film's name. 

1) The call- 
Although we this name is very effective, we felt that it was too similar to existing film names such as 'the calling' and 'when a stranger calls', both of which follow a similar narrative to our film.

2)Alone-
Again, although this name was effective, we felt that it didn't suit the narrative of our film as well as some other names did.

3) A call from the devil-
From our research we found that this name was very popular, however we felt that it gave the storyline of our film away too easily, leaving the audience nothing left to found out. 

4) 999-
This was our favourite name because in a state of shock the first thing people do is the call the police, therefore we thought that this name for our horror film would help us to attract our target audience. However, our opening sequence developed and we removed the phone call to the police because of timing issues, therefore we realised that this name wouldn't make any sense. This lead us to our last suggestion...

5) 666-
This is the name we went with because the numbers '666' is known as the devil's number. This suits our film perfectly because our killer is going to be a psychopath that believes he is killing in the name of the devil, thus the name is suitable to this narrative. Moreover, we were always going to have the killer write '666' after they murdered because it was in the name of the devil, therefore it made sense for us to just name the film 666.

Therefore, our horror film will be killed 666.