Planning: Writing a Treatment

The film will start with an establishing shot of the quarry/woods.

The establishing shot will then fade into a long shot of a group of people walking into the woods with various bags containing drinks. 

Close ups of branches and leaves will include various titles of people behind the making of the film and will establish our groups name. The shot will still be following the group as they walk down the path.

The camera then goes to a mid-shot of the group in an ideal place to have their campout. They start to drink their beverages and all seems well.

As the gathering goes on people are feeling more and more drunk and need to go to the toilet. One member walks away from the set location and quickly realises they are lost.

As the member of the group starts to panic things can be heard through the bushes and trees. Eventually, after more and more bushes are rustled something attacks the person and kills them. Leaving a close up of the dead persons hand on the floor.

People within the group get worried about there friend who was taking a while and go to find them. Over the shoulder shots are used numerously to show people searching for the friend.

One by one everyone is taken victim to the unknown threat within the bushes until there is only one person remaining. The camera pans around the person showing their vulnerability. They run back to the campsite and realise they are still on their own.

Shortly after they have realised everyone is gone after shouting there names numerously, the last person if finally killed.

Blood is splattered on the cans on the floor near the fallen victim. 

Extreme close-ups of beer cans on the floor scattered around the floor with an unfocused shot of the figure of something in the background in black.

Planning: Casting For Your Opening

Casting is a very important part of the planning stages as it can have a major impact on our film if we get the casting incorrect. Casting is very important within any film production. We have to carefully select our cast in order to make sure that our opening scene is successful and the cast members follow the characters personality. In the casting process we can analyse whether the actor or actress is capable of taking on the role that we have created. We can do this by filming some footage of the cast members acting out a script and from there we can assess whether they are capable of completing the role. This will be able to highlight the strengths and weaknesses the cast members have. It will also highlight whether the actor or actress in confident enough for the role, which is extremely important. If someone we have selected isn't suitable for the role then the casting process will help us identify this quickly. 

Character: Alisha Harold

Age:17

Alisha is an extremely enthusiastic individual who is very oblivious to the risks of alcohol and camping on her own. 

We have selected Alice Piggott to participate in this role as she is an experienced actress because she has completed Drama at GCSE and received an extremely good grade. She is suitable for the role as she is almost 17 and reflects the character very well. She is very confident in front of the camera therefore, she will bring enthusiasm to our opening scene. 

Character: Brian Prince

Age: 17

About Brian: Brian is a close friend to Alisha and is also very confident. He likes to make sure that he is the centre of attention most of time. He also never understands the consequences of his actions which is very similar to Alisha which puts more risk on the group. 

Jamie is the right person for the role as he is a similar age to the character. His personality is very similar to our character however he can be shy in front of the camera so this may put us at a disadvantage. 

Character: William Jones

Age: 17

About William: William is very shy character. He is know to hang back from the group until he knows that it is safe to join if with the activities taking place. He is an experienced camper so is very prepared for his camping trip however it is also his first time at experiencing alcohol as well so therefore it puts the group at even more risk. 

Sam is the correct person for this character as he is the same age as the character and knows a thing or two about camping also. This also means he will benefit the group as he can  deliver realistic scenarios within the group to make the film opening more realistic and believable which was highly requested from our target audience when we received our feedback from our survey. 

Age: 16

About Rhys: Rhys is the youngest of the group so is not as brave, bald and confident as the rest of the group. He will take a while to get involved with group activities but will get into the full swing of things as time goes on. Once he is involved however, he will have a good time.

Ben Nye has been chosen to play this character. Ben is also 16 year old so fits the age part. He isn't the most confident in front of the camera but we can use his shyness to our strengths when it comes to playing Rhys in the film. We can use this when the group start drinking and Rhys is worried whether he should join in or not.

Character: William Jones

Age: 17

About William: William is very similar to Rhys as he is a shy character. He will hang back from all the action until it is safe to join in. He enjoys spending time with his friends and likes to go camping anyway so is well prepared for this trip anyway. Like the rest of the group, he has never experienced alcohol so is worried about the trip.

Josh is the correct person for this character as he is the same age as the character and knows a thing or two about camping as well. This means we can use some of his skills to make the film more realistic when it comes to miss-en-scene. He is also confident in-front of the camera.

Planning - Location Planning For Your Opening

 The Quarry
This post is about the location planning for our horror film opening. this is important in the planning stages of the film because when it comes to recording we won't have a car understanding of where to go and record our set piece.

These are some of the images from the location that we used for the filming, it is positioned at the entrance of the quarry. This is where our opening of the film will take place. We plotted the location here because it was easy to get to so that recording is easy to complete. This is good because if any adjustments are needed, then we can easily access our location again. This is also an advantage for everyone in the group because everyone lives close by to the location. This location already contained a log which is what we needed within the scene for the cast members to sit on. Using the woods as our location to film, completing high angle and birds eye view shots will be easy for the group to film as we can climb trees. The drawbacks with this location is the footpath running through the woods, which is used by pedestrians and dog walkers. This means that we may be interrupt when recording which may set us back and we may loose out on valuable time. 

The location we are using is a place called the quarry. It is located next to the A6183 in Kettering. It is  a large abandoned area that is mostly used for dog walkers and people that like to ride there motorbikes illegally. We have chosen this specific location as it is quite large and has a lot of interesting and mysterious places that we can use to convey common codes and conventions within horror films. We will be able to achieve various different camera angles from high and low angles which will add more and more effect to the opening. This location has numerous areas where we will be able to use more advanced camera angles, shots and movements. When it is getting dark this location will be at its best as it will appear more creepy and spooky. This will suit the horror movie opening a lot more. The location has different areas like a old/broken down house, a very steep and rocky hill, and wide/open fields. All of these different areas can be used well for a chase scene for example or as a place where people are killed or captured.

Planning : Target Audience Feedback

Within this post we will be looking at and evaluating the feedback we have gathered from the survey that we produced. This will help us to see what most people expect in horror film openings. It is important for us to gather lots of different information about how our opening should be. This can help us to develop more ideas and can help us to make sure we capture the theme of it being a horror.

The picture above shows that everyone who had completed our survey thought that someone should die within the opening of a horror film. This could suggest to us that it would seem like a horror movie opening if someone was to die.

The age group that we have received our feedback off of is 15-18. This means that all of the information we have gathered will be from the same age group and will probably be very similar.

From the feedback we have been able to see that people within the same age group expect the characters in the film to be of a similar age or a couple years older. This will make the film more relatable to the audience.

From what we have received it seems that people find dark woods the most frightening setting for a horror film. In our horror film opening we had already decided to film in the woods anyway. This will make our film more scary and frightening.

Our survey has proved that people prefer it if the film is based on a real life. This means that people need it to be more believable. This means not having anything that is unbelievable and unrealistic.

 We have found out that people expect to find out a little bit about the storyline within the film ,but not a lot at all. This means that we will need to make sure we do not reveal a lot of detailed information as to why things are happening or why they happen at a certain location, and other things like that.

Our survey has shown that people expect to see the villain/killer in the opening. Personally I do not agree with this. I only think that people should know the villain is there but not actually see them until later on within the film when more of the storyline has built up.

Jump scares and Gruesome/bloody scenes within horror film openings are the most popular. This is probably because they excite and make the audience stand on edge a lot more. Also, it may be because they are the most realistic things that could actually happen in real life.

Judging form the results of our survey, we have discovered that the majority of our target audience like films in which people around the age of 16-21 are featured and are out and about in the woods during the night.The surveys have shown that people prefer horror films which are based on real life events that give you a slight insight into the story of the whole film but not too much at all. Our survey shows that a lot of people prefer to see the villain in the opening but we think it is better and adds more suspense if the villain is not shown. We have found out that the most popular type of horror movies include a lot of jump scares and gruesome, bloody murders. Looking at some of the response feedbacks we have received it seems like people like it when characters go missing and are killed.

Planning : From Initial Ideas To A 60 Second Pitch

The first task we were asked to do was to plan initial ideas on what the horror film would be based on. Below are all of the ideas that came to mined when brainstorming our thoughts.

Horror film initial ideas 

Location: 

• Forest
• Secluded area
• Lake
• abandoned house

Characters:

• Young teens
• Boy and girl
• Small group

Storyline:

Woods:

• Camping out
• Alcoholic beverages, messing around 
• Group of teenagers, picked off one by one

Abandoned house:

• Exploring the house
• Squatting teenagers/ families
• Hiding from danger/trouble
• Children playing games
• Paranormal source lurking within the house

Secluded area

• Quiet long empty road
• Breakdown
• One by one killed off
• Chased through the unknown

this is a picture of our group planning our ideas and showcasing them to one and other.

The final process when had to undergo was to plan a 60 second pitch to give an insight to what our film was about. we all played a part in the making of this and also had this recorded to look back on. This also gives us instructions to follow in order to make our film opening as good as possible.

This is the video of our 60 second pitch:

Research : The Importance Of Sound In Horror Films

Music in horror films scares us the audience because it builds suspense before the initial jump scare. It also allows the audience to know when the jump scare is about to happen, but not in all cases, sometimes the film producers pick the music up to build the sense of a jump scare but not actually doing so. This has an impact on the viewer because they prepare themselves for it and builds their heart beat. In some case they do take a minimum of 2 seconds after the music has stopped to do the jump scare, this is because the audience think that they have gotten away with it and there will be no jump scare in the end. Different musical instruments and noises create different emotional impacts, so a lot of their work is already done for them. Music has power to affect the visual field and the imagination of the audience.  Watching a film A film with just the diegetic sounds make a film not scary at all, this means that you only listen the the sounds that are in the scene itself, and not having the sound that has been edited in such as music, creaky sounds and many more.

Sound is often overlooked in films but it is often the single most important element in setting the mood for the scene. Music has the ability to set the tone for how events will unfold. Music may progressively build to signify that a dramatic event is about to happen or it may be upbeat to lighten the mood. Horror films rely heavily in sound clips to create a scary scene. One does not think about it but if one were to remove the sound from a horror film its fear factor would decrease dramatically. John Hubinette in his article “Music and Sound Effects in Horror Films” stated that music is more powerful in horror films than any other genre. The purpose of a horror film is to scare its viewer and the director tries to do that in all ways possible. Scenes in horror films are usually graphic and may contain images that are meant to scare or repel us from the movie and, coincidently, keep our attention so we do not look away. The story usually takes many twists and turns and the ending is always difficult to predict in order to keep the viewer on the edge of their seat.

Music plays a key role in a horror film because it immediately sets the tone. Before the actor says anything the audience knows what their fate is going to be based on the type of music that is playing in the background. The music sets the tone but it does not give away how events are going to unfold. The music must never distract from the scene but intensify the visuals so that the viewer experiences fear and anxiety on a much deeper level. There are several musical cues that indicate to the viewer what is going to unfold in the upcoming scene. A long eerie musical buildup suggests that a big event is just around the corner. A rapid sequence might suggest stress or panic, making the audience feel anxious.

Research : The Importance Of Opening Titles

In this piece, i went thought the opening scene of Se7en and noted down all the times the film used a title, I then also wrote down word for word exactly how the word was placed in the opening. These tittles included produces, the cast and people that were important in the making of the film. This therefore sets the scene for the rest of the film and gives an insight to what is happening to the rest of the film opening.

For Typography  i wrote down all the effects that were used on the opening tittles, for instance where the tittles are place, the font used, the size of the font and other effects. this makes certain texts stand out as if they are more important and they want the viewers to see them more predominately.4

In The elements of sound i closed my eyes and played the opening scene, this was so i could listen to the opening and and state everything that i heard, this can go from the sounds that are played to the music that was used. For example, Scratching sounds, rough, Gothic music. this can influence the audience just buy having a jump sound in the background.

For visual Elements i stated everything that i saw, i did this by turning the sound off and just looking at the opening scene. This can vary from How much text their is, to how the photo influence you as the audience. This also shows how much the sound plays a part in the making of a horror film opening