Foundation Portfolio: November 2010

In today's lesson we had to give a pitch in front of the class discussing our ideas and what not for our film. We'd been given a set of questions and a film outline and asked to fill this in in our groups and produce it in a powerpoint. We were first to give ours; after we did so we left the class as they and Joe discussed what they thought of it and possible problems, improvements and things they liked. We went back in and were told the feedback to help us.

POWERPOINT:

Title: Don't Blink

Treatment: A young girl awakens somewhere unknown seeing mysterious happenings and beings until she looks again and they’re gone..

Introduction

We will be making the start to a horror film which will include the titles. The genre that we have chosen is Satanic/ Ritual/ Possession. We discussed and researched different films that related to our genre as a group this is how we came up with idea for the film.

Explain how your film will be instantly recognisable as a Horror

When creating our film, we are hoping to have the opening instantly recognisable as a Horror. To make sure we do this we’ll make it generic in its content. We will do this mainly with the opening titles. After researching opening titles and seeing ones like ‘Saw’ and ‘Blade 2’, we’ll have our titles matching the content of our film. In the opening scene of ‘Saw’ there is a man in the bath, the opening titles then fade away like water. As ours is a satanic/possession horror I think it would be best to possibly make our titles fade. We decided in the film the character will see things but when looking again they disappear; fitting this in with the titles would be ideal. ‘The Exorcist’ (2004) trailer also has titles that seem like something we could do. It slightly out and looks quite float-like, like it’s hanging in the air. It seemed appropriate. Most openings of horrors also start quite dark and slow. After looking at the opening of ‘Halloween’, we quite liked how simple it was but effective. We plan on doing the same with a clip of our location but with suspicion and suspense for the audience.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eHJEMIYNFFY

In what ways will your media product use, develop or challenge forms & conventions of real Horror Films?

Our media will use forms and conventions by being scary. Using basic and advanced ideas/items in our film will defiantly help express horrific and scary scenes in our film. For example, analysing titles from other horror films will help us develop ideas for our title for our horror film.

How will it start?

The opening scene will start with the titles; we want to keep it quite simple so we have decided to do it like the film “Halloween” instead of the pumpkin getting bigger it will be the image of our location which we have decided to be Wollaton hall. It will gradually focus on one of the windows to reveal a mysterious figure walk past. We have decided on this as in the film the main character will start seeing things that aren't actually there so its the fear of the unknown. So gradually the character will start to go insane.

The key horror scene will be when the main character is getting attacked, However she isn't actually being attacked its only her imagination.

What is the supernatural aspect?

In our horror there isn’t quite just one supernatural aspect. As it’s a possession genre we decided to have our character panicking and seeing things that aren’t really there to anyone else. This is one of the aspects; we’ll have other characters, which you might not necessarily be able to see too well, come and go and spook the main character. We also decided it might be ideal to have simple effects to spook them too, like door slams and noises; simple jumpy effects that seem quite common but still scare an audience.

When thinking our opening scenes and simple spooks, I watched the trailer to ‘Drag Me to Hell’; it’s a recent horror that deals with this type of horror. When watching it you can see they used simple slams of gates and shadows to scare the character and the audience. As ours is only the start of a horror we can include the smaller things like in that film.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BUZTybLlWKI

What is the ‘monster’ & how much will you see of it in the beginning?

Because we are doing a satanic / possession opening, we will not focus mainly on the appearance of the actual ‘monster’, more of what the ‘monster’ actually does. Slamming doors and knocking things over is generally the idea we have as we thought that, after watching some Satanic/possession films, they do not show the appearance of the ‘monster’ more the acts of it. In the opening, the ‘monster’ will defiantly be involved, however we may not choose to show its appearance.

Who is the victim & how are they introduced?

The main character will be Ellie Walker as she will be the victim in the film. At the beginning she will be introduced looking confused an unsure of her whereabouts because she won’t know where or why she is in this location. The opening shot will most probably be a long shot so you will be able see the surroundings and character this will let the audience know the whereabouts of the location.

How will your media product represent particular social groups?

Our film will mainly be representing the social groups of age and gender. The character of ours will be a female teenager but I don’t think they’d come under any other social group. In horrors the victim tends to be female as they’re known for be frightened easily and possibly suspicious on small accounts. Being a teenager will also widen the audience range to them as they would be able to relate on some accounts.

How will your opening grab/scare your audience - how explicit (be specific about what you will show)?

Our idea is that the opening will start by being scary and mysterious. The character starts seeing things, things that normally do not happen, but modern enough so that they could actually happen. The character will think she is being attacked by items as she is possessed, but the audience know that nothing is actually happening it’s just in the characters mind. The audience’s attention is grabbed as they find out that she is possessed but the ‘monster’ still gets her.

How does your sequence end?

The sequence will end on a bit of a cliff hanger so it will leave the audience guessing and wanting to know what is going to happen next. In the beginning the audience won’t know that the character is seeing things they will believe it is real so as part of the cliff hanger it will be revealed that she is seeing things.

What films have influenced your narrative or is this similar to?

The films that mainly influenced us was ‘Drag Me to Hell’. As this is a recent horror of the same genre, we felt we could use some of its happening and show them in our own. We also felt if we influenced it on a recent film it would help ours connect to the audience. Remakes of horrors don’t always work so we don’t want our ideas to necessarily be the same as the films we liked; we just want some of the ideas to come from them. ‘The Wicker Man’ (remake) trailer was another we looked at for inspiration. As we’re doing an opening not a trailer, we can’t gain a lot from them but we see how they come into the genre. We see in the trailer that there is a girl that comes and goes, like fades when seen, suggesting she’s never really there, but she’s a significant part of the film. Ours is also like this, characters come and go and you’re left guessing who may be real or if it’s all in the main characters mind.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BUZTybLlWKI

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KcRFaIRWON4

Who would be the target audience for your media product?

The target audience for our film is generally adults, or 15+, but to generalise, teenagers and young adults. Our research found that young adults were the highest percentage of people that mainly watch scary films so we will aim to grab their attention. Furthermore, another high percentage was that of males, more males seem to watch horror films than women so we may have more masculine elements in our film to get a bigger reaction.

How will you attract/address your audience?

Attracting the audience is key to the success of a film, so it’s important the storyline and everything in the film is up to a high standard. The use of props and costume is significant to the audience as it keeps them interested in the film. The target audience would be teenagers and young adults because from our research we found that this age group was most interested in this type of film.

Audience – What certificate & why?

After looking at the ‘BBFC’ and researching certificates of films, we thought ours would mostly be a 15. The average certificate of the films we searched of the same genre were mostly 15’s. We also thought it wouldn’t be violate of gory enough to be an 18. As well as content to decide the certificate we thought about audience. We looked at ‘IMDb’ – a movie database website – and found mostly males were interested in these types of horrors. We thought it would attract a wider audience, from the age range of 15 onwards, if we made the certificate a 15. It still would be scary but teenagers would also be able to go and see it; most horrors are this anyway.

FEEDBACK:

- Good idea, however it seemed more like a psychological than possession, needed more conventions initially - symbols on walls, etc.

- Location - Wollaton Hall: How are we going to use this and would we need permisson? If we can't, we need a 'Plan B'

- Length of story: need to develop story more clearly

- Audience: suitable for audience, idea/concept good to attract our target audience

Overall:

- Need to plan idea more to make sure we use conventions of satanic/possession

- Length of sequence: Need definites

- Need 'Plan B' if we can't get permission to film in Wollaton Hall