Mood Board

Here I have created a mood board board of ideas to help us in terms of inspiration for our horror film title sequence that we are creating as part of our coursework. I have used some of the locations that we will use for our film along with shots from some famous horror films to help us along the way with the production of this sequence.

Filming organisation

Eboni, Beth and I have decided to film the majority, if not all of our sequence during the Christmas holidays. This was our target a few months ago and we are well prepared to complete it within this time. Recently however, we have had to decide upon the dates that we are going to film to ensure that we are all available at the same time. As well as ourselves, we have had to check on the availability of our actors to make sure that they are willing to give up certain time in order to help us. If this is not sorted out then the filming and production of our sequence will be very disjointed so it is vital that this is fully organised for our benefit. Eboni will check to see if her sister is available to do the filming with us after the new year as she is not available pre-Christmas. I have also contacted my friend who will be acting as the antagonist in the sequence and he has confirmed that he will be flexible around Christmas to help us out with the filming which is very helpful for us. So far we are very up to date and therefore hope to have most of our filming done in the Christmas holidays in order to be ready to edit in the new year.

Camera shot list

Recently, in our media lessons we have been creating a 'call sheet' so that when we come to filming our sequence, we have accurate notes to guide us through. From the information that we have put down on this sheet we will be able to film all of the correct scenes with precise camera shots ans movement. It will be very helpful to ensure we professionally put the sequence together without having to improvise or make up scenes as we go along. It will allow us to just go out and film all of the scenes with all of the criteria that we have listed on this call sheet without interruption. If a member of our group is missing then we will still have this sheet with all key information so that we can still cope without a colleague. It will guide us through the filming and production of our sequence and is a very useful resources to have with us.

Title sequence storyboard

Recently in lessons, my group have been creating a storyboard of ideas for our 2 minute title sequence that we will be filming over Christmas. The storyboard is not in great detail because we will later be putting together a call sheet whereby we will put forward all of the shots that we need accompanied by the camera movements and any extra notes that are needed.

Intro scenes

We all contributed to the storyboard and here is the first set of shots that we have come up with. The pictures and annotations seen here have been mostly done by myself and I believe that I have planned out the ideas effectively enough to understand them. This scene mainly establishes the setting of the sequence and gives the audience a first introduction of a character. 

Main Scenes

This is the second part of the sequence whereby time flashes back from a dream to reality. As you can see the annotations and drawings are very simplistic and helpful for us to use and interpret when discussing ideas.

Final scenes

This is the final part of the sequence which has been contributed to by the whole group. The shots and movements have all been taken into account as well as the end of the sequence where the title of the film will be shown. This is clear on our final shot and we have named the film 'Third time around'.

Location Ideas

Another of my roles for the group is to look at and research locations that are suited to horror films. From my research I know that horror films tend to be sent in large desolate houses whereby the innocent characters within the film will feel secluded from the real world. When outside, the settings are normally long alleyways or corridors as well as abandoned areas from the past.

Recently, I went out and took some photos which could be useful settings for filming sequences in our film. As I discovered that abandoned areas are popular, I knew that there was an abandoned railways and tunnel near my house so I took some pictures of this areas to get some inspiration.

  

   


I also knew that horror films are often set in long streets which high trees and I happened to spontaneously come across an area like this when walking home to my house. I thought that the area could be used in some way or it could just be used for ideas however I chose to take some shots anyway in order to present my ideas.

  

Sound Ideas

I chose this area to research and look into as I know the effect that sound can have on an audience particularly in a horror film. The diegetic or non-diegetic sound in a horror film can control the mood of the audience and alter their feelings. The may be: worried, intrigued, relaxed, suspicious and a range of others.

Our horror film is based around the theme of children and therefore I believe that we should use some music that would be associated with kids. A nursery rhyme for example. We gained some ideas from Insidious and here in an example of the music that is used in that film to give us inspiration.

     

Our title sequence features a young girl dreaming whilst asleep. The camera will show the girl asleep but it was also enter her dream and show us what she is dreaming of. I thought that because she is sleeping, I would choose a nursery rhyme which is 'Hush little baby' and I think this good be a very effective piece of sound for our sequence. This piece of sound would be the one that we would be most likely to use so I have checked if there are any copyright issues and the producer is happy for people to use the music as shown here.

           

This next piece that I have chosen would be very relevant as it represents the sound of a child's toy or alarm clock. This is perfect for our scene as the girl is asleep so the sound would relate closely to the events on screen whilst making the audience feel very uneasy which is the ideal outcome for us as directors and producers of the sequence. I would however only use the first 25 seconds of this piece as the rest would not be need as it gets faster than we would like.

In class we discussed how we could incorporate some diegetic sound into the sequence and we were all agreed that we should use dialect from the main character (Eboni's sister). I suggested that it would create a rather sinister effect for the audience if the character could sing to herself or speak to herself to hint to the audience that maybe something from an outside world was connecting to her. We have also been offered the opportunity to use a boom for the Mac's in order to introduce some more diegetic sound so we will look into this and see what we like.

Audience Theories- Our film

Uses and Gratifications

This theory is associated with our film as the audience need to follow the storyline closely to understand it. It relates well as people will do different things with the film. This will allow for a variety of responses and interpretations as some people may not follow the storyline accurately and will therefore not been as fearful of what is to come. The audience will watch our film to satisfy their needs particularly for pleasure or entertainment as they will seek a thrill which would escape them from everyday problems. It may also bring about social interaction from the audience as it will be the basis for conversation. People could talk about parts of the film that scared them and between them they may discuss how they reacted to certain characters or events within it.

Two-step flow

This audience theory links closely with the social interaction element of the uses and gratifications theory. Our film therefore relates closely to this as it concerns what people say about the media they see. The text or film in this instance will inject opinion leaders or influential people with ideas who will write certain things about or comment on a film. These are the opinion leaders and members of the public listen to these views and make a decision to watch or not to watch the film based on what they hear of it. Horror is a very popular genre for conversation as people react in different ways to it and if an opinion leader says that the film brought about many reactions from them then people will listen to this and watch it themselves. I feel that this would be relevant for our film as there is lots to talk about it and people will have many different theories based on the events within it.