PREVIEW OF 666 OPENING SEQUENCE TO OUR TARGET AUDIENCE

Before we showed our opening sequence to the rest of our target audience, we decided to show some of our closest friends who we knew would give us honest and critical advice. They told us how they think we should changes the tempo of some noises, and thus we changed the non-diegetic heartbeat by making the tempo increase as the first girl approaches her death which increases the tension and pace of this scene. Moreover, they said that they felt frightened and scared which is the exact effect we had hoped for, therefore we didn't feel the need to change any other elements of the film apart from sound because they received the feeling that we wanted them to. Additionally, they said how they 'jumped' from the opening sequence, thus this tells us that they have had an adrenaline rush, succeeding our expectations of our opening sequence.

ACOUNT OF SHOOT SAY

For practicality reasons, my group and I decided it was best to film our opening sequence over a period of two days. On the first day of filming we filmed the murder scene in the bathroom because we knew that this scene would be very time consuming, so by filming this scene on a separate day we were able to focus on details such as the blood make up effects. This was vital because blood is congenitally found in horror films, so by mastering the blood we are able to address our target audience. On the second day we filmed the rest of the scenes in our opening sequence. Both of our days began with us setting up the cameras and following the standard procedures of white balancing and ensuring the camera is steady in order for our film footage to come out perfectly. Overall, our film remained similar to our storyboard but again for practicality reasons we had to make some last minute decisions on the shoot day. This was done to not only save time but also to ensure that our film flows better. For example, we cut out one of the phone calls because we felt as though it was too repetitive and boring. At first my group and I were a bit hesitant to do this, but after we began editing we found that it didn't affect us and if anything this choice definitely worked in our favour because our opening sequence is now less repetitive, making it more slick. Generally, I felt as though my group and I were extremely prepared for the shoot day in the sense that we knew exactly what angle to shoot each shot from, allowing our day to flow placidly. This was enabled because of the detail of our shot by shot guide and our storyboard. The effect we were aiming for was a eerie and terror atmosphere in order to set the tone for the rest of the film. This attracts our primary target audience because they are looking for a film that is loaded with suspense and tension in order to drive an adrenaline rush, which they kind find in our film opening sequence.

On both of our film days we created miss-en-scene in order to help to demonstrate the genre of horror to the audience. On the first day we did this in order to emphasis the terror of the first girl's death to the audience. For example, we used fake blood to amplify the gruesomeness and brutal murder that has taken place. Moreover, we wrote '666' with the fake blood all over the tiles on the wall in my bathroom (to my parents dismay...we filmed this scene in my house...). This worked excellently, up until we were finished shooting and it was time to clean up the bathroom. Unfortunately we found that the fake blood stained the wall tiles, so in a immediate rush to escape the horror of my mum finding out, who probably would of actually murdered me, I decided to go in with some white tip-ex and go over all the red Staines on the wall, and she never found out!!!! On the second day of filming we wanted our set to appear normal and so we had family photos everywhere in order to show the audience that murders can happen even in 'normal' places such as peoples homes, thus making the audience vulnerable to the killer. In order to display this to the audience we took numerous shots of ordinary objects in the house such as shoes by the front door and dirty dishes in the sink. Moreover, after examining multiple horror films, my group and I chose particular shots that we felt mirrors the horrific action that is happening on screen. For example we found that tracking shots are conventionally found in horror films. This is because they build up suspense. Moreover, we chose this shot in order to emphasis the vulnerability of the first girl because the tracking shot shows the emptiness of the house and thus presents the idea to the audience that the first girl is isolated and vulnerable and that her faint of death is inevitable because she has no where to hide. Additionally we chose to use high angles as she is walking up the stairs towards the killer in order to demonstrate that the killer has the power, thus making the first girl more weak and helpless as she comes closer towards her death. I personally think that these shots worked very well because they enabled my group to express the genre of horror to the audience, thus making them feel the tension and suspension that the first girl does in the opening sequence. But, the shots which I think built up the most terror were the quick cuts of the first girl laying dead in the bath. This is because the first girl is the protagonist and so the audience are rooting for her, however the quick cuts stress to the audience that this characters death was inevitable and unfortunately the antagonist character succeeded to their dismay. On the day we didn't feel the need to change any shots because prior to filming we had thought out so carefully what we needed and those which we could discard. Nevertheless, we chose to take some extra shots of the first girl dead in the bath, because we felt as though we didn't have enough quick cuts. This improved our film because we now have more quick cuts which intensify the tension and terror on screen to the audience. Due to our film being a horror film, we needed it to be dark outside and this didn't happen until 5:30, thus we were limited for time. But, due to this we found that some of our scenes appear very dark on screen, so if we did it again I would use more lights to brighten up the set more.

When we chose costumes for our first girl, we wanted something that could reflect 'comfort clothing', for example a baggy top because she is at home, therefore her 'comfort clothing' would suggest her vulnerability because she wouldn't expect what is about to happen. with this in mind, my group and I decided to dress our actress in pyjamas as we thought this would put her in the most vulnerable state. Moreover, although we wanted our first girl to appear vulnerable we also wanted her to appear provocative, thus we chose for her to wear pyjama shorts and a top. This resembles the horror genre because she appears to the audience as a naive and innocent blonde girl. There characters are conventionally found in horror films, thus the audience will immediately recognise this stereotypical protagonist character. Our idea of costume was mainly influenced by the successful horror film Scream. The first girl in this film (played by Drew Barrymore) is also wearing 'comfort clothing' which also gives the suggestion of her innocence and vulnerability to the audience. Additionally, we decided to dress the villain in our film in all black. The black clothing reflects the impureness and evilness of this character. The colour black is associated with darkness and horror, thus when the audience see this character they will immediately associate them with evil, hence why we chose to go with the colour black. 

We chose our actress (Jess)because of her physical appearances, she overall had the right look for our film. This is because she is a blonde teenage and thus represents the stereotypical first girl found in horror films, like in Scream. Moreover, we chose our actress because she is attractive, which addresses our primary target audience of teenage boys because our research found that teenage boys would be more likely to watch a film if the female lead is attractive. Overall Jess had some really good ideas to put forward on the shoot day which I feel has impacted our film for the better. For example, although we were certain of what shots we wanted, we weren't certain on how we wanted Jess to act in every shot. Therefore Jess was very vocal on her suggestions on the acting side of things in order for us to achieve a perfect shot for our film. 

As I mentioned previously, my group and I had problems with the lighting. Firstly, the light that was given to us by the school didn't work, therefore we were forced to be reliant on natural lighting from outside and lighting from the house. A major consequence of this is that the setting appeared a lot darker on camera. Nonetheless, I think that to an extent this worked in our favour because the dark footage on screen adds to the eery atmosphere we wanted to create in the opening sequence due to it being a horror film. Therefore, through out the opening sequence we used available light which means that we took advantage of the natural light around us and tried our best to manipulate this light to create a certain effect. For example, when Jess was walking up the stairs we closed the blinds to only allow minimal light to come through to add darkness so that as Jess walks closer towards to her death, the audience can physically see that she is walking closer to the darkness creating tension and adding to the horror of the film. Although the lighting has worked out okay, personally I think that it is too dark. Therefore if I could change the lighting now I would use more artificial lighting and create the effects we did through this lighting. 

The sound that we used in our film was a cross between natural and artificial sound. For example we used  artificial sound to create the sound effects like floor boards creeping and door slams. Also we used non-diegteic sound for the music we added during editing in order to create tension. This is because the non-diegetic sound along with the edited quick cuts speeds up the pace and thus the tension of our opening sequence, adding to the terror and horror of our opening sequence. However, with that in mind, the sound of the phone ringing was natural because we actually called the house phone causing the telephone to ring. We did this because we liked the idea that the ringing sound caused an echo around the house which emphasised the vulnerability of Jess as she is left at the hands of the stranger with no where to go, thus increasing the tension for our horror film in the opening sequence. 

My role in production was mostly director although we all equally had our share of filming. As a director I was in charge of making sure that our actress (Jess) was always in the correct position at the right time and that the shot matched the one of our shot by shot guide so that our day ran more smoothly. Additionally Danielle and I worked together on the make up to ensure that the fake blood looked as realistic as possible in order for the death scene to appear as horrific to the audience as possible. Whilst we did this, Hannah and Hannah both brain stormed more shots that we could film of Jess dead in the bath, enabling us to use a lot more quick cuts to add to tension and suspense. Furthermore, I also took it upon my self to make sure that we were avoiding all the possible risks such as the camera falling into the water, so when Hannah was filming near the water, I held the camera too, just to ensure that we were avoiding all possible risks that in a previous blog post I explored. Lastly, the most important job of all, I was in charge of the refreshment table because nobody can work to their fullest potential on an empty stomach, thus i made sure everyone was constantly being topped up on everything from bagels to cups of tea.

As a group, I personally believe that we worked extremely well together. This is because we identified each others strengths and weaknesses so that when we were allocating roles for the production we were able to nominate each other to the area that we are best at and I think that our opening sequence shows this. Moreover, we met up on a few occasions to discuss idea and had frequent Skype calls as the filming day approached to ensure that we were as organised as possible. I genuinely loved working with Danielle, Hannah and Hannah and although we sometimes disagreed over some ideas, we managed to overcome these disagreements in order to create the best opening sequence possible!

My favourite part of our opening sequence to film would have to be the death of Jess, our first girl, because I really enjoyed experimenting with the fake blood and it stands out in comparison to the rest of the opening sequence because it acts as the ultimate climax of tension built up from the previous scenes. 

LAST MINUTE CHANGES

Before and during filming, my group and I had to make some last minute changes to our film... 

Firstly we decided to change the location of one of our scenes. Originally our intentions were to film all  scenes in the same location for practicality reasons, however we realised that the bathroom (used to film this scene) was too small, therefore we made the decision to move this scene's location to my house (my bathroom is bigger. 

Moreover, due to us now shooting in two locations, my group and I then decided to film on two separate days because we released that it would be unrealistic for us to be able to transfer the equipment from one location to the next in one day. 

Additionally, during filming we changed some of the camera angles because we thought that the camera angles were getting too repetitive, thus we solved this dilemma. 

Furthermore we were mean to use a GoPro camera to film numerous shots, but we released that the lens was to wide, hence we disposed this idea and just used the camera that the school provided us.

 Lastly, out original idea had only two phone calls in but we decided to cut on of these calls out because we thought that it would get too repetitive and we were conscious of the time frame (2 minutes) we had for our film. 

MOOD BOARD

Mood boards help others to 'get inside our heads' in order to convey a thematic setting for a design or to explain a function in piece of work. Therefore, my group and I deiced to create our own mood board in order to communicate key themes and feelings during our opening sequence of our horror thriller, '666'.

The mood board has helped us to physically see the atmosphere we want to create during the opening of our horror thriller sequence, '666'. We decided to create this mood board, because

during the writing of the script and drawing of the story board, we found it hard to convey the feelings and mood we want the audience to feel during our opening sequence. Furthermore we found it difficult to communicate our storyline clearly to people, therefore the illustrations in the mood board, 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 the atmosphere we intend to set in the first few minutes of our film, making her job easier. 

The mood board includes key themes which my group and I wish to export during our horror film. For example the pictures of the young girls looking frightful, is something we hope to display in our horror thriller in order to highlight the terror element of our film. Furthermore the mysterious characters in black hoods represent the 'stranger' character in our opening sequence, who is the stalker and the killer. The appearance of the 'stranger' will mirror the appearance of the men in the hoods in order to give the character a mysterious aura, which is a stereotypical villain trait in horror films, therefore my group and I are conforming to typical ideologies of villains in horror films. 

Of course, any horror film has to include blood, therefore we are conforming to this stereotypical ideology by having a scene devoting to showing the blood loss from the vulnerable and innocent victim. Through blood we can display the terror of which the villain has carried out, so that the audience can mourn the vulnerable character. Furthermore, blood creates a spooky and almost scary atmosphere, therefore we are displaying this feel amongst the audience, therefore again qe are able to highlight the terror mood of our horror film. 

In conclusion, a mood board has enabled my group and I to be able to communicate how we will be highlighting the terror element of our horror film, '666'. 

THE FINAL GIRL VS THE FIRST GIRL

The final girl and the first girl are used in thriller films, especially horror films. The final girl is known as being 'the last character left alive to confront the killer', where as the first girl is the first character to confront the killer and normally ends up dead within the opening sequence of a film. 

THE FINAL GIRL: 

The Final Girl, Sidney, from the film
'Scream", which is a horror film similar to mine.

The Final Girl is as crucial part to the horror genre, some people argue the  Final Girl is as important to a horror film as the villain is. A final girl always has to be a tough character because they are strong enough to make it to the end and 'defeats' the villain. The Final Girl is normally a character who the audience can relate with and who have the audience's sympathy therefore the audience are rooting for her to survive. The audience are compelled by this character which is why the Final Girl have become a vital character in horror films. The term Final Girl was created by Carol J. Clover in her 1992 book Men, Women and Chainsaws: Gender in the modern Horror Film. Clover highlights some typical traits with Final Girls have. For one, most of them are brunettes. This is because blonde girls are stereotypically seen as being naive and ignorant, so by using a brunette girl, you are going against common ideological views that woman are naive and therefore a brunette Final Girl can be represented as tenacious character.                

The Final Girl, Jill, from the film 'When A Stranger Calls'
which is a horror thriller film similar to mine. 

THE FIRST GIRL:
The First Girl is another crucial part to the horror genre. They are normally the first character the audience see on screen. The First Girls are normally killed within the first five minutes of the opening sequence of a horror film. Therefore, they are a classical character, so when the audience see The First Girl on screen, they can immediately identify the film as being part of the horror genre. The First Girls are mostly blonde. This is because blonde girls are stereotypically seen as being naive and ignorant, hence why they would be killed. Therefore horror films conform to this common ideological view by using  blonde as a First Girl, representing how she will have little to no chance of survival and will therefore be killed shortly. The First Girls are normally represented as being innocent and virginal in order to emphasis their vulnerability to the audience, highlighting there little chance of survival.

The First Girl, Casey, from the film 'Scream'

My group and I are creating an opening sequence to our horror thriller '666'. Therefore due to it being an opening, it is logical for us to include a First Girl instead of a Final Girl. We plan on our First Girl being similar to the character Casey from 'Scream'. We will use a blonde character because we want the audience to immediately identify our film as being in the horror genre, therefore we will play on stereotypical ideologies which society has on blonde girls, especially highlighting their nativity. For example, we will have our First Girl go and 'investigate' the strange noises on her own, instated of sensibly calling the police for assistance, which will then ultimately lead to her death. 

MOCK UP OF OUR FILM



After my group and I had finished devleoping our idea, we decided to create a mock up our opening sequence, so that we could visually see whether we had used a variety of shoots and therefore see if it is pleasing to the eye. Also, the mock up allowed us to accuraltley calculate how long each shot will be, so that we can keep in the time frame of 2-3 minutes. However, we were unable to create an accuate representaion of our opening sequence, due to our location (in our school) and having limited props to use, for example we didn't have access to a bath which is where our main character dies, therefore we improvised and used blue carpet in our school to represent the bath. Furthermore, our actress we are using, Jess, wasn't availale to film the mock up, therefore a member of our group (Hannah), stepped in and performed Jess's role of the victim who is a innocent girl home alone. Never the less, the mock up enabled my group and I to see which areas of our film needs to be improved on. For example, in the mock up qe used a non-diegetic heartbeat sound throughout the opening sequence. However, after watching the mock opening sequence back, my group and I agreed that the heartbeat should cut off once Jess (main character) has died, in order to inform the audience that she is dead. Furthermore, my group and I believe that we should have more cute when the victim is approaching her 'death', in order to increase the pace of the film and hence increase the tension. Finally, due to the situation at hand, we had to use an iPhone to film on, therefore not only were we limited to the amount of angles we could film at, we also subconsciously turned the camera around, switching from landscape to portrait. In order to avoid this, when filming our real thing we obviously won't be using an iPhone, we will be using a professional camera that our school will provide for us, which will allow us to film from a variety of angles and we will not be able to turn the camera round subconsciously, therefore the shot will stay in the same direction each time.

SCRIPT FOR 666

Script for 666

INT. HOUSE - NIGHT

The sequence begins with a view of curtains blowing out a window. It is dark outside and early evening and we see a pretty teenage girl sitting watching TV alone. We hear the sound of the television screen as the camera focuses on the girl. The girl’s mobile phone pings and the camera cuts to the screen.

*Will be home late, don’t lock the door xx*

She carries on flicking through channels and the house phone rings. The camera suddenly cuts to it and the girl stands up to go answer.

GIRL:

(On phone)

Hello? … Hi…. Is anyone there?

While speaking she walks to the fridge and takes out a bottle of water. She impatiently taps the counter as she awaits a response on the other end of the line. She rolls her eyes and sighs before hanging up and going to watch TV again. After hanging up there is a shot of upstairs we see the villain walk across the floor and hear the floorboards creek. The girl looks paranoid and uncomfortable as she looks around her house. The phone rings again and the camera quickly cuts back to it and then her portraying the fear on her face. She stands up to answer the phone again but this time looks paranoid before picking it up.

GIRL:

 (On phone)

Hello?  Is anyone there?

(Shouting) WHO ARE YOU? ANSWER ME!

(Through the phone a door slamming is heard)

The girl jumps and appears frightened and confused after hearing the door slam. She hangs up the phone. She appears on edge and cautious. She walks towards the staircase with caution, as she is ironically aware of her surroundings despite what is to come. She stops for a brief second at the bottom of the staircase and composes herself before slowly making her way upstairs. While she is walking up the stairs the camera will cut to the villain walking, presenting the binary opposition between them. As the girl reaches the top of the stairs she hears the sound of the water running in the bathroom. Her facial expression is worried and stressed as she turns towards it. The girl opens the bathroom door and a man dressed all in black grabs her. He stabs her, causing her to bleed. The camera then cuts to her in the bath. The villain has his hand over the girls face, pushing her under the water and drowning her. There is then a shot of her lying dead in the bath. The water is red in order to emphasise the amount of blood that has been lost in such a short amount of time. The killer then paints ‘666’ on the window in the girls blood.