Planning the Production/Call Sheet

Shooting on the 11th of February at Hornchurch Country Park.

Cast required
1 male, 17-20 yr old - costume: winter coat, hat, jeans, boots.
1 female, 17-20 yr old - costume: winter coat, hat, gloves, scarf, jeans, boots.
1 male, at least 6 foot tall - costume: white hoody, light-colour trousers, scary mask
8, mixed, 17-20 yr olds.

Production crew
Director, cinematographer, key grip/sound man, prop supplier.

Cast
Lucy - Martina Bassenger
Jason - Lee Squires (Myself)
Killter - Michael Chamberlain

Call Sheet
Ben Aldis - 07503735637
Lewis Prior - 07512030888
Lee Squires - 07809614467
Martina Bassenger - 07963722769
Michael Chamberlain - 07817706886

Our opening sequence

Combining ideas from my chosen opening sequence (Jaws) and Ben's sequence (Halloween), we've decided on our plot, setting, enigma, characters and some camerawork were going to use.

Setting: Park/forrest; Hornchurch country park. (Quiet, eerie, dark)

Enigma: Who's in the woods? Why does he kill the boy?; point of view shots of the murder. (similar to Halloween)

Characters: A group of teenagers, 1 boy and 1 girl are privilaged by the edit and have the only significant dialogue in the sequence (similar to Jaws). The killer is anonymous.

Plot: The first shot is hand-held/steadicam through dense forest. Cut-away to a group of teenagers are observed sitting around a fire in a park late at night. A dolly shot from behind the characters, creating silhouettes of the character's backs, giving us a good image to place the titles on. A boy and a girl are shown looking at eachother in a shot reverse shot and a long shot shows the two sneaking away unnoticed. A series of pans show the two running towards dense forest, including the character's dialogue. The two are shown against a tree in a two-shot and a series of close ups and insert shots follow. The next shot is back to handheld/steadyicam from the killer's point of view and we see the boy being murdered from the killers persperctive.

We now need to discuss and research on which soundtrack, sound effects and techniques we're going to use.

Further research on Jaws

This book gives good information on all stages of the film of the opening sequence

Plot idea #2 - rough storyboard

Copying the conventions used in jaws' opening sequence-previously analysed.

Horror Genre

Horror Film - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horror_film

Horror films are a movie genre seeking to elicit a negative emotional reaction from viewers by playing on the audience's most primal fears. They often feature scenes that startle the viewer through the means of macabre and the supernatural, thus they may overlap with the fantasy and supernatural genre. Horrors frequently overlap with the thriller genre.
Horror films deal with the viewer's nightmares, hidden worst fears, revulsions and terror of the unknown. Although a good deal of it is about the supernatural, if some films contain a plot about morbidity, serial killers, a disease/virus outbreak and surrealism, they may be termed "horror".

• Body horror - In which the horror is principally derived from the graphic destruction or degeneration of the body. Other types of body horror include unnatural movements, or the anatomically incorrect placement of limbs to create 'monsters' out of human body parts. David Cronenberg is one of the notable directors of the genre. Some body horror films include The Invasion, The Fly, Rosemary's Baby, Eraserhead, The Thing, Re-Animator, The Human Centipede (First Sequence), Cabin Fever, Virus and Teeth.

• Comedy horror - Combines the elements of comedy and horror fiction. The comedy horror genre almost always inevitably crosses over with the black comedy genre. The short story "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" by Washington Irving is cited as "the first great comedy-horror story".^[30] Examples include The Rocky Horror Picture Show, Gremlins, Bad Taste, Beetlejuice, Arachnophobia, Scary Movie, Eight Legged Freaks, Shaun of the Dead and Slither.

• Gothic horror - Gothic horror is a type of story that contains elements of goth and horror. At times it may have romance that unfolds in the setting of a horror tale, usually suspenseful. One of the most earliest horror movies were of this sub-genre. Examples include universal horror films such as The Phantom of the Opera, Dracula, Frankenstein and The Mummy. Modern gothic horrors include Sleepy Hollow, Interview with the Vampire, Underworld, The Wolfman, From Hell, Dorian Gray and Let Me In.

• Natural horror - A sub-genre of horror films "featuring nature running amok in the form of mutated beasts, carnivorous insects, and normally harmless animals or plants turned into cold-blooded killers."^[31] This genre may sometimes overlap with the science fiction and action/adventure genre. Examples include The Birds, Jaws, Mimic, Deep Rising, Them!, The Swarm, Pet Sematary, Lake Placid, Primeval, Anaconda, Snakes on a Plane, The Cave and The Ruins.

• Psychological horror - Relies on characters' fears, guilt, beliefs, eerie sound effects, relevant music, emotional instability and at times, the supernatural and ghosts, to build tension and further the plot. Examples include The Uninvited, Dark Water, Gothika, The Ring, The Exorcist, Session 9, Silent Hill, The Others, The Mothman Prophecies, The Blair Witch Project, 1408, The Shining, Stir of Echoes, The Innocents and The Sixth Sense.

• Science Fiction horror - Often revolves around subjects that include but are not limited to killer aliens, mad scientists, and/or experiments gone wrong. Examples include Alien, Pandorum, Event Horizon, Apollo 18, Pitch Black and It Came from Outer Space.

• Slasher film - A type of horror film typically involving a psychopathic killer stalking and killing a sequence of victims in a graphically violent manner, often with a cutting tool such as a knife or axe. Slasher films may at times overlap with the crime, mystery and thriller genre. Examples of this genre include Black Christmas, Halloween, The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, Scream, I Know What You Did Last Summer, Friday the 13th, Child's Play and A Nightmare on Elm Street.

• Splatter film - Often called torture porn, these films deliberately focus on graphic portrayals of gore and graphic violence. Through the use of special effects and excessive blood and guts, they tend to display an overt interest in the vulnerability of the human body and the theatricality of its mutilation. Not all splatter films are slashers, and not all splatter films are horrors. Examples include Cannibal Holocaust, Piranha 3D, The Midnight Meat Train, The Final Destination, Saw, Guinea Pig series, Hostel, Borderland, Audition, Wolf Creek, Captivity, Martyrs, Inside, Antichrist, The Collector and A Serbian Film.

• Zombie film - Zombie films feature creatures who are usually portrayed as either reanimated corpses or mindless human beings. Distinct sub-genres have evolved, such as the "zombie comedy" or the "zombie apocalypse". Examples include Resident Evil, Dawn of the Dead, Day of the Dead, The Evil Dead^[32], I Am Legend, Land of the Dead, Night of the Living Dead, Quarantine and The Return of the Living Dead.

Generic Codes and Conventions

The opening sequence to most horror movies follows one character in particular who is killed by the antagonist. The ominous soundtrack usually works as a warning to the audinece that the killer is nearby, like in Halloween (1978 Carpenter), the soundtrack is used continuously throughout the film to create suspense when Michael (the killer) is nearby. The characters in the opening sequence are given a brief introduction before they killed or at least put in danger. These typical characterizations help the audience relate to the characters and will then pity them when they are killed. In the opening sequence of Scream (1996 Wes Craven), the character engages in dialogue with the killer before they meet. This allows the audience to observe her character and pity her as she is tricked and tormented by the killer. The most typical murder weapon used in horror films is a knife and the killer wears a mask to hide his idenity.

Conventions Of Slasher Films

View more PowerPoint from mediastudies1

Market Research

I created a poll on the popular social networking website Facebook, and received participation from 10 users aged between 18-23. 80% of which agreed that the opening sequence of a horror film should introduce a character who are very soon after murdered on-screen.

The Thing (1982 John Carpenter) - Titles

White text on a black background, with fade transitions both in and out.
The titles are centered and there is an ominous, bassy, soundtrack. The film's title is at the end of the title sequence and is significantly larger than the previous titles and in a unique evil-looking font.

Role and Responsibilities

Ben Aldis (Cinematographer & Director): Story board

Lee Squires (Producer & Editor): Script

Jaws - opening sequence

The genre is horror, as it intends to frighten the audience. The soundtrack is typical of a horror movie: ominous, string instruments; effectively creates suspense and tension.
The characters are a group of teenagers, seen in a dolly shot shown to be happy, laughing, some couples can be observed within the group.
The enigma is the unexpected shark infestation. This concept was original in cinema. The shark itself is not in the miseenscene, but a point of view (under water) shot tells us it's there.
The unique selling point of this movie is that the antagonist is a shark.
The setting is 'Amity Island', the audience might feel as if the characters' are under siege.