JH: Storyboard

JH: Storyboard:

• This is the storyboard shot ideas before we start filming.

Group: Pitch

Group: Pitch:

• Following the pitch we gave, the rest of the class gave feedback on what they thought about our ideas. The overall response was that we had a good idea but it needed to be clearer to the audience what was going on:

• A number of students commented saying the pen idea was a great, unique idea which would make our film stand out from others. In response to this we have decided to include a third pen scene to clarify what is going on and to make the plot more exciting for the audience.
• A suggestion was made that during the shot where a curve is drawn and the camera cuts to Desmond following that curve, we fade both shots over the top of each other. We took this advice gratefully on board as we think it would clear any doubt as to what is going on and would also be a nice change to the standard cuts we'd be using throughout the rest of the shoot to help focus the audience's attention to the storyline.
• In response to our secondary research into attempting to replicate Zombieland titles, we found it was possible to make them 3D and part of the scene but would be harder to make them react to whats happening in the scene. We decided to get rid of the puddle shot where the title splashes away as we did not want to waste time editing one short clip for ages. Instead we wanted to keep the titles stationary in the scene and 3D which would be okay as long as we kept the font easy to read and simple.
• Another way to clarify the plot to the audience was suggested to us by using a voodoo doll in the scene. The group thought this was a great idea and so decided upon a close up of a voodoo doll swinging from string at some point in the clip.

JH: Audience Research: Results

JH: Audience Research: Results:

• On the first question, we set about identifying the characteristics of the surveys sample, so we can link the target audiences gender to horror film preference.
• The results showed 66% of the sample was male, whereas only 34% were female.

• The next question identified the age of our sample, which the majority (69%) of people were aged between 12 to 18 which includes the age bracket for our target audience.
• This allowed us to see which ideas are popular among the target audience regarding age.

• The third question asked the sample whether or not they enjoy watching horror films or not, the results show that the majority, 44% and 22%; enjoy and sometimes enjoy horror films respectively. 
• This figure shows how what tastes of our target audience appeal to them the most. As well as showing what doesn't appeal to people whom like and dislike horror films which will aid us to target the audience throughout the production of our film.

• After specifying the characteristics and preferences of the target audience, question 4 then asks which location out of a selection would be most effective in a horror film. When put to the target audience the majority agree that an abandoned house would definitely be most effective with 38% of people voting for it.
• This result proves pleasing for us, as our idea is based between two locations a forest and an abandoned house, now that the target audience will clearly find the abandoned house effective, this makes our production a whole lot more appealing to them accordingly.

• Question 5 involves a ranking scale which the sample rate each aspect of a horror film with a number - 1 being most important and 6 being least. The range of aspects included each area of our horror film idea, including use of titles, menacing characters, interesting plot, eerie locations, climaxes and a tense soundtrack.
• Once the sample had chosen their ratings it produces an average rating and depending on which category has the lowest number will show us which area to focus on perfecting during production. 
• The area with the best rating proved to be the tense soundtrack with 2.75, shortly followed by eerie locations at 2.91. We can gather from these figures that during filming and editing we must considerably consider and plan the instruments and timing of the soundtrack before editing. In addition to this our location has already been chosen and from opinion and through the recce, I believe the abandoned house/shack will exceed the target audience expectations.

• To find out whether or not our plot would be appealing to the target audience we devised question six to ask which out of a selection of plots they found most interesting. The plot selection consisted of a chase between a killer and their prey, a ghost story, and our chosen plot - the abduction of a boy by a psychopath.
• The results from this question proved useful as the majority of the sample being 41% opted for our chosen plot idea as the most interesting and effective plot. Which when combined with the previous questions suggests a trend of popularity of our chosen and researched ideas within our target audience.

• For our character ideas we were split between deciding upon either a slasher or a psycho. Because of this, to help influence a character decision; question seven asked which type of character would be most effective in a horror film. The answers given included the two characters mentioned as well as a selection of other characters to broaden our options.
• From the graph it is observable that a serial killer is considered less effective than expected by the target audience scoring only 16% of appeal, whereas a prisoner was surprisingly suggested, however to fit the plot and location combined with the majority vote a psycho is considerably more effective with a 56% appeal to the target audience.

• For mise-en scene in our production, we needed to see which props, locations and colours would be most effective to pay attention to in our production. This question asks that through a series of answers and a rating scale.
• The majority of results believe that knives are most effective in horror films, however due to limited shots in which we can incorporate knives without gore, we will try to incorporate the second most popular areas which was masks and location.
• From this we will try to manipulate our techniques and shots whilst filming in the abandoned house as well as inclusion of a mask to conceal the antagonists identity.

• As found in a previous question, the soundtrack in our production is the most crucial and effective thing to focus on in our production. This question we ask the target audience to specify the most effective horror soundtrack out of a selection of four categories.
• The results show that of these categories tense strings (66%) are the most effective use of soundtrack in a horror film, because of this result we will try to perfect dynamics and selection of string instruments during editing of our film.
• Silence also proved popular with a 20% vote, despite not technically being soundtrack we believe through secondary research that it can create climaxes throughout a horror film, this results shows that the audience agrees with our ideas.
• Question 10, asked about the opinions of our ideas in the view of the target audience. We gathered many positive replies, including one which suggested focusing on building and practicing climaxes to emphasize effect in our film.

JH: Title Research

JH: Titles Research:

• For our title research, we agreed that the typeface of the titles must reflect the genre of our film, being horror.
• This is a selection of the fonts that are suitable and stylish to use as titles and credits.
• The eroded effect on each of the fonts are particularly effective especially in horror films.
• Out of this selection three fonts stand out as possible typefaces as our titles, 'Abducted', 'Symbiote' and 'Sweet Revenge'.
• The Scratchyness of symbiote reflect the psychological horror factor of our production.

• For The colours of out titles, we agreed on this selection which ranges from bright red, to black.
• We believe this selection of colours is most suitable for the titles as it reflects the dark, dreary, and bloody aspects of horror films.
• Dark red is particularly effective, however we also considered white as the title colour then a dark colour for a wash/background.

• For the movement and placement of our titles, during our technical analysis and secondary research we agreed that our titles should replicate the techniques used in zombieland.
• The zombieland titles incorporate 3D titles that interact within the world of the film.
• This technique can't be applicated in Adobe Premiere, although we can create the titles in Adobe After Effects.

 

GC: Music choices for the film

GC: Music choices for film 





• KOAN sound - Funk blaster:

 

 

• This song has a good intro before it drops to the main tune. I think this would be extremely effective as we could use the build up whilst showing title screens for the production company. We would have to cut down the intro by ten seconds or so but this could easily be done on premiere or audacity. This would really help to create a false sense of security as the music starts right from the begining of the film.

 

• Madeon - The city:

 

 

• This song has a slightly less up beat feel to it which might be better because if the contrast between the opening up beat music and the strings that follow is too great, it may confuse the audience. For this song editing would be needed to start the song from the chorus which would mean no music for the title screens showing the production company.


• Free horror sound fx & music:

• We plan to use a combination of horror sound effects/music from the school system and sounds effects from this video because both sources contain sound clips we think would fit in really well to what is happening on screen. Heavy editing would be required to pick out the relevant sound efeects which could be very time consuming so we would prefer to stick to the sounds already on the school system, however there are sound effects in this video that are not available at school.

JH: Audience Research

Preview of final audience research survey:

The Survey:

• Preview of our survey

• Methodology:
• Before approaching our target audience, being teenagers and fans of horror films. The survey first had to be created. Instead of spending time creating the format of the survey we used the on-line service called 'Survey Monkey' which helped design and format our survey. All we had to do was enter the appropriate open or closed questions with/without answer options.
• Our choice of questions influenced the audience impact on our production, as a result we needed 10 questions that would identify the audience and then review our ideas against the opinions of our target audience.
• In order to identify our target audience, our survey included two closed questions which referenced the age and gender of each person that took the survey. This then showed us which ideas our target audience preferred.
• To test our concept on the target audience there then had to be questions highlighting the key areas in our production. These areas included location, music, characters, plot, props. There was a question for each area as well as a question defining which area is the most important for a horror film.
• The answers to these questions included typical horror locations, characters and props such as an abandoned house, a psycho and a knife respectively. Resulting in a quantitative result highlighting the most effective aspect of each area in a horror film.
• In addition to quantitative results, I included one qualitative result at the end to offer the participant a chance to comment on our ideas shown in the survey.
• To collect results survey monkey gives the user a URL which links the participant to the survey. I used this as well as web 2.0's most successful social networking site Facebook to distribute my survey digitally among people whom qualify for our target audience.
• In addition to this I also distributed the survey through email and google+ to broaden the sample that took my survey.

GC: Horror film moodboard

GC: Horror film moodboard

JH: Technical Analysis: The Dark Knight

JH: Technical Analysis: The Dark Knight:

Duration:	Camera Techniques:	Mise-en-scene:
15s	Medium shot of credit	Colour scheme dark and blue reflects the genre of the film being thriller/action.
13s	Fade from black, medium shot of credit.	Colour scheme dark and blue reflects the genre of the film being thriller/action.
13s	Fade from black, medium shot of credit - DC. Fade to black	Colour scheme dark and blue reflects the genre of the film being thriller/action.
12s	Fade from black. Medium shot of batman logo – zoom.	Colour scheme dark and blue reflects the genre of the film being thriller/action. Fire used to promote the genre as well as the logo being a bat.
20s	Establishing shot of skyscraper, slowly zoom to a medium shot to create suspense. Medium shot of window smash.	Cityscape and buildings reflects the realism. Lighting and colours are now bright to ease the audience.
3s	Medium close up on the antagonists from a side view firing a gun through the window	Props include clown masks which mask the identities of the antagonists to reinforce the genre.
6s	Cuts to high angle medium long shot of antagonist panning left whilst firing the grapple.	Props include clown masks which mask the identities of the antagonists to reinforce the genre. Grapple typical action prop
12s	Cross-cuts to a low angle long shot of antagonist. Slow zoom to add suspense	Antagonist dressed in dark rough clothing. Holding a clown mask. To highlight the genre.
3s	Cross-cuts back to a medium shot of antagonist using zip line	Antagonist dressed in dark rough clothing. Wearing a clown mask. To highlight the genre. Zip line reinforces the action genre
2s	Close up of antagonist mask from side eye level angle.	Props include clown masks which mask the identities of the antagonists to reinforce the genre.
4s	Camera in medium long shot zooms following antagonists through window then peds down to display the height to add tension.	Props include zip wire. Location is shown to be a populated city which adds emphasis to the tension. Grey and dull colours.
5s	Extreme long shot pan in bird’s eye of zip wire. To highlight the height of the situation.	Props include zip wire. Location is shown to be a populated city which adds emphasis to the tension. Grey and dull colours.
2s	Medium shot of antagonists landing on the roof. Low angle shot.	Props include zip wire and masks. Location is shown to be a populated city which adds emphasis to the tension. Grey and dull colours.
6s	Cross-cuts to a medium long shot from within the car focusing on the antagonists conversation	Props include clown masks which mask the identities of the antagonists to reinforce the genre. Car lighting is very dark, reflects their actions.
8s	Eye level static medium close up of antagonists driving the car to display the conversation	Props include clown masks which mask the identities of the antagonists to reinforce the genre. Car lighting is very dark, reflects their actions. Darkness juxtaposes their white masks.
6s	Cross-cuts to antagonists on roof display dialogue, and steady cam tracks them whilst they prepare their kit.	Props include clown masks which mask the identities of the antagonists to reinforce the genre.
7s	Medium long shot tracks antagonists from car into building	Props include clown masks which mask the identities of the antagonists to reinforce the genre.
5s	Medium shot pan of antagonists entering the building. Tracks after pan	Props include clown masks which mask the identities of the antagonists to reinforce the genre. Gun shots and gun highlights the action/thriller genre
2s	Medium long static shot of bank managers reaction	Normal office props. Non-verbal language displayed is surprised at the robbery.
2s	Cross-cuts back to tracking medium long shot of antagonists.	Props include clown masks which mask the identities of the antagonists to reinforce the genre. Gun highlights the action/thriller genre
8s	Tracking medium to long shot on dolly of running antagonists to the till.	Props include clown masks which mask the identities of the antagonists to reinforce the genre. Gun highlights the action/thriller genre. The till highlights the conventions of a bank robbery.
3s	Medium close up of lady as the till being confronted. Slight camera movements, other than that the shot is static.	Normal office props. Non-verbal language displayed is surprised and scared at the robbery.
2s	Cross-cuts to an over the shoulder static shot of the antagonist breaking a security code.	Props used include masks and a security code breaker which is typical of the thriller genre.
3s	Static close up on antagonists mask whilst breaking the code.	Props used include masks and a security code breaker which is typical of the thriller genre.
2s	Static close up of bag opening	Bag full of guns used as props.
3s	Medium shot tracking the antagonist picking up bag	Props include clown masks which mask the identities of the antagonists to reinforce the genre. Gun highlights the action/thriller genre. The till highlights the conventions of a bank robbery.
3s	Cross cuts to steady cam of antagonist threatening a hostage with a gun.	Props include clown masks which mask the identities of the antagonists to reinforce the genre. Gun highlights the action/thriller genre. The till highlights the conventions of a bank robbery.
3s	Cross cuts to medium shot steady cam of antagonist threatening a hostage with a gun.	Props include clown masks which mask the identities of the antagonists to reinforce the genre. Gun highlights the action/thriller genre. The till highlights the conventions of a bank robbery.
5s	Static close up on antagonists face. Focus changes on a medium shot when antagonist is shot	Props include clown masks which mask the identities of the antagonists to reinforce the genre. Gun highlights the action/thriller genre. The till highlights the conventions of a bank robbery.
1s	POV steady cam of dead antagonist on the floor	Props include clown masks which mask the identities of the antagonists to reinforce the genre.
3s	Swish pans track the antagonist in a medium long shot collecting the kit.	Props include clown masks which mask the identities of the antagonists to reinforce the genre. Zip-line is shown again.
4s	Tracking movement in a long shot of antagonist running downstairs	Use of clown masks and in this shot the lighting becomes darker which accompanies the increase in tension
5s	Slow zoom movement on protagonist.	Non-verbal language is surprisingly calm. Unconventional.
3s	Static medium shot of antagonist giving each hostage a cooking grenade	Props in this scene consist of masks and weaponry such as grenades which highlights the thriller aspect as it increases the tension of the scene.
4s	Tracking shot through a door of antagonist swish pans to the vault forming a POV shot.	Vault in the scene raises the antagonist’s actions as a robbery.
3s	Slow zoom medium shot of antagonist giving each hostage a cooking grenade	Props in this scene consist of masks and weaponry such as grenades which highlights the thriller aspect as it increases the tension of the scene.
3s	Static medium shot of antagonist pulling the pin	Props in this scene consist of masks and weaponry such as grenades which highlights the thriller aspect as it increases the tension of the scene.
6s	Ped up and slow zoom medium shot of antagonist drilling through the vault	Tool used is a drill. Reinforces the effort of a bank robbery.
3s	Medium shot zoom on antagonist.	Props include clown masks which mask the identities of the antagonists to reinforce the genre. Gun highlights the action/thriller genre. The till highlights the conventions of a bank robbery.
5s	Close up on protagonists face. Slow tracking to the left.	Non-verbal language displayed is calm which is unconventional given the circumstances.
3s	Medium shot of antagonist then a pull focus to the protagonist with the gun	A prop now for the protagonist carries a gun which eases the tension and causes a climax.

Analysis ended at 3:25 in the intro

• Soundtrack:
• In the opening the whole extract undergoes a crescendo between two layers of sound. At the start of the extract the diegetic sound is minimal hearing only movements which is similar to the non-diegetic soundtrack which is quite and shallow. Further along into the extract with the introduction of non-diegetic dialogue, the soundtrack then gains in dynamics and volume as accompanied with the increase in actions and a higher cutting rate. This allows a tense build up before the robbery commences. When the robbery starts the soundtrack has now grown a lot in volume and the diegetic gunshots reflect the genre of the opening. Despite the sound generally growing in volume throughout, there are a few climax moments such as where the clowns get shot where the tense bass line fades for a moment. Then the soundtrack picks up again along with the action.
• Instruments consist of electric bass, strings and drums to create a tense and vibrant thriller soundtrack.
• What have you learnt from the analysis?
• In conclusion this opening of a thriller film is highly gripping to the target audience, through many of its techniques. In my opinion the most effective technique is the build up of tension and climaxes through the use of tense soundtrack and quick cutting rates between varied angles of steady-cam shots. In addition to this the use of tracking makes the narrative easier for the audience to follow and the mise-en-scene is used to the right effect through masks to reinforce the edgy mood of the film. One technique that seems vital in order to establish the correct genre of a film is mise-en-scene and i thinks the inclusion of props and masks in our horror film can be constructed similarly as in this extract - especially the shot of the antagonist holding his mask combined with the low angle slow zoom to build tension.