Location, Cast & Props

Location:

For our media opening we set in family home where the babysitter is looking after a young child for the night. We wanted the house to look quite secluded, to make it look more vulnerable and isolated. This technique is used in most films, for instance in Halloween the opening shots of the deattached house make it look isolated, making the audience fear for the characters more. This is emphasized quite a lot in the modern version of When A Stranger Calls, where we see a very big house in the middle of nowhere, a long way from help. 

                                           House used in When  A Stranger Calls, 2006.

So the house we chose was my house, although it isn't in real fact a secluded house in fact on a road next to plenty of other houses we knew we could get quite a few shots where none of these other houses were visible to make it look secluded. My house was also the most appropiate as it's reasonably close to school so we could easily film in lunch times and after school if neccessary. Also it being one of the group members houses we had easy access to it and we were easily able to adapt my room to fit the context of our film.

 We use a shot similar to this is our film of the house, so you can see the light being switched on and off in the girls room.

 

 

This is a shot of the lounge in which Emily, the babysitter is watching tv when she starts hearing noises above her from the little girls room. We see her leave the room to go investigate.





 


 This is a shot of the hallway and stairs that you see in the film. Emily, the babysitter walks from the doors at the bottom to the bottom of the stairs, shouting Rachel...waits for a response, receives none and contiunes up the stairs.

 

Cast:

In our opening we have 4 main characters and 5 actors. 

There is...

• The child being babysat for, Rachel, around the age of 10.
• The older version of Rachel, around the age of 17.
• The babysitter, around the age of 16.
• The older version of Rachels' boyfriend, Chase, age 16.
• The fifth actor is an extra who walks past Rachel and Chase in a corridor, around the same age as them.

For this actors we finally chose...

• For the young version of Rachel -- Rachel Conlon. ( Picture yet to be uploaded.) Who is 11 years old. Using a young child in a horror opening can be quite a difficulty as many parents wouldn't want their child involved in such. However after a discussion with the parent the young girl wouldn't be around when we filmed or photographed any of the 'horror' and as she only is on screen for around 10 seconds she has little issue in being involved in any gore. We were very lucky in finding a child of the age we were looking for who was able to act to the standards we wanted.

• For the older version of Rachel -- Mary Newton. Who is age 16, but playing the role of 17. We wanted someone who looked as similar to the younger version of Rachel as possible, therefore we need someone with blonde curly hair. We also wanted her to be pretty and have a good figure. If the rest of the film was to be created the film would revolve around this girl's life, we wanted her to be blonde, to create the effect similar to Prom Night. Where the final girl is a pretty blonde who you expect to be a scream queen but her luck saves her through the film. Sterotypically we wanted to place her in the more 'popular' group of teens. Where they attend parties and drink alcohol etc. So that she would be surrounded by mis-behaving teens which would what the film would obtain.

• The babysitter -- Emily Moore. Who is age 16, acting that age also. We wanted to challenge the code and conventions when it came to our babysitter, we wanted to portrary her in the opening two minutes as a final girl, so that when the audience realise she's dead its more of a shock to the audience because they expect the film to be about her. As the opening is only 2 minutes and we want to include a storyline to the begining we didn't have much time for any dialogue of sorts to portray her as a final girl so we based this idea on costume, hair and make up. We wanted a brunette which are stereotypically more likely to survive in horros, and we also wanted to her to be quite plain and simple so little makeup was used and her outfit is quite bland with blue and denim. We also covered a large amount of her body so that she doesn't appear as revealing anything. As this is meant to be when Rachel is younger we based the babysitter around the late 1990's/ early 2000's. So the clothes she's seen in place her in a later time period so the transition of older Rachel and her costume is more noticable. We based her more on When A Stranger Calls, 2006, main actress.

                                  Emily, Are Babysitter.

                                  When A Stranger Calls, 2006, babysitter.

• The boyfriend, Chase -- Tom Bearpark. Age 16 acting age 17. We wanted quite a 'hench' good looking boy for this role. To create the good looking people together idea that you come across in most horror films like Prom Night.

                                  Prom Night,2008, Couple.

                                                        Chase, the Boyfriend.

• And finally the extra-- Holly Rowe. We needed someone to walk past the couple on the corridor to make it look more like a school, you only see the back of their head.

Props:

In our film we used a range of props such as...

• Toys
• Childrens books - Hansel & Gretel - a known scary children's tale.
• General childish things to make the room look like a 10 year olds.
• Fake Blood - this was something necessary for the photos of the dead babysitter... we did two attempts of this using recipies found on the internet one resource we used was.... http://www.halloween-website.com/fake_blood.htm  from this we created our own fake blood and used it to show the babysitter as dead. We made several mixes and then chose the most realistic. We found our final version was realistic however if looked closely at it looked quite blotchy, and lumpy however we were going for the colour as these photos will only be shown as quick flashes so the audience wont get much of a close look at them. 

ALL - Vodcast no.1 Of research from books.

We did a lot of research into the genre, and these are some of the selected views we wanted to discuss and show.

Its continued in the video below...

ALL - Podcast no.3 Review of filming

This is a podcast of us two discussing our current filming, successes and failures, when and what we have filmed.

HF - Jennifer's Body Deconstruction.

Release Date: 2009

Director: Ridley Scott

Budget: $87,000,000

Opening weekend, 

USA: $58,003,121

UK: £6,402,540

1. Establishing shot of location; big house surrounded by countryside. Tyre swing anchors it as a family home.
2. POV shot zooming in to the house. Sans serif, child-like font titles in a light green colour, as if it was written with wax crayons. It is at night and lights are on inside signifying people/someone is home.
3. Close up of a scab on skin and someone picking it. Nothing to connote which gender the person is. Pans slightly to show a yearbook under the arm. Diegetic sound of the TV and non-diegetic low music playing to sound like a soft humming noise. Signifying the person is inside.
4. POV shot from outside pans around the tree to view the back of the house. It is a long shot which then zooms into the house. Diegetic sound of a wind chime which in the garden. In the garden/ land surrounding the house there is a horse. This signifies that owners of the house are wealthy.
5. Extreme close up of a teenage girl's mouth eating/sucking her dark brown hair.
6. POV shot, mid angle approaching the window the shakiness suggests that a steadi-cam is used to connote that someone is walking to the window. The noise of the TV, wind chime and soundtrack music increases in volume.
7. Zooms through the window to show a glimpse of the room- the TV is shown as well as a bed and a leg on it. 
8. Close up of a large storage basket. The movie title appears in pink, cursive script. It looks like it could be an extract from a teenage girl's diary. The camera pans upwards to show that the basket was at the foot of a bed in a bedroom. There is a girl laid on the bed wearing casual clothes and watching TV. Even without the girl on the bed, it is easy to denote that it is a teenage girl's bedroom from the interior decor, such as the pink walls and posters of bands. The non-diegetic music is now quiet piano playing.
9. The shopping channel is being watched on the TV. The presenter is trying to sell gym equipment. The program being watched suggests that the girl is bored and has nothing better to do/or physically cannot do anything more.
10. There is a loud non-diegetic 'bang' sound as the shot changes to a side view, mid angle. In the shot is the side of the girl lying on the bed and the window in the background. In the window there is another girl wearing a black hood looking into the room at her.
11. Shot reverse shot of the girl looking through the window and the girl laid down responding, turning around to see what is there. A mid shot of her face not showing any reaction as the girl in the window is no longer there.
12. Close up of empty window.
13. Close up of the girl lying on the bed. This time, more of her face is visible and she looks ill due to discolouration in skin tone and eye bags. Non-diegetic sound of a girl's voice over.
14. The scene changes to day and the soundtrack music becomes more upbeat. Mid angle mid shot of a window with bars on it. The camera pans down to show the back of girl sat down facing the window. It is the same girl that made an appearance in the window in the last scene. There are a lot of teddies on the floor, this could signify she has a child-like mid or state of maturity. She is wearing a patients gown. Camera pans down to show more toys, clutter and a crucifix. This could imply she is interested in Christianity or Catholicism. There are also presents on the floor, showing she is thought about a lot and visited often.
    

Becky and I liked the POV shots and used them in our 2 minute opening in a similar way. We recorded some shots from outside looking through the window to portray the killer observing the surroundings. We also tried to zoom in through the window or move closer to it; however, because we did not have a steadi-cam we did not achieve the desired effect, instead it looked more like a handheld home video.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1131734/

Trailer:

HF - Prom Night Deconstruction.

Year of release: 2008

Director: Nelson McCormick

Budget: $20,000,000

Opening weekend,

USA: $20,804,941

UK: £507,85

Deconstruction of the opening two minutes.

Non-diegetic music- drum beat. White titles in a serif, cursive font on black background. The music/soundtrack then changes to a 'poppy' style music with lyrics. This stereotypes the target audience.

The scene opens with a high angle view of a stormy sea with choppy waves. It is twilight and there is a blue tint to emphasize this. The camera is at a flying birds eye view angle. It pans from the sea to the land, showing a well populated lake side city. The numerous yachts and prestigious, lit up buildings connotes that it is a wealthy town. The camera follows the car through the city using a range of shots and angles. 

There is a high angle close up of a girl through a car window. The girl looks in her teenage years, she is blonde and pretty (typical scream queen appearance). Side view shot showing she has a sad/worried expression on her face.  

The car pulls up outside of a house, the girl gets out and speaks to the driver. There is a two shot of the driver and a person in the passenger seat. The driver looks like the mother of the girl sat next to her.

The blonde girl converses with the driver and there is a shot reverse shot. The conversation implies something distressful has occurred and there is a mention of the girls going to cheerleading practice. This stereotypes the girls as popular American teenagers.

The two minutes ends with an establishing shot of the house she is stood outside of. It is quite big and tastefully done. This connotes that the owners of the house have well paid jobs.

Plot synopsis: Donna is preparing for her upcoming prom just like any normal girl except she lives with mental scarring and has frequent flashbacks to the night her family were brutally murdered by her teacher. Her obsessed teacher was locked up in prison but escapes on her prom night and hunts Donna down at the hotel, killing anyone who gets in his way. Her friends are discovered dead in the hotel and the police get word that he has escaped. Donna is told to go home; however, she is followed by the psychotic ex-teacher. She discovers her boyfriend dead in her bed and comes face to face with the killer. A policeman appears just in time and shoots the killer multiple times. Donna survives. 

Prom Night has influenced the story line of our coursework as our alternate ending includes a flash forward to Rachel (the little girl who was baby-sat) when she is a teenager. The story line is that she is still being stalked/hunted down by the babysitter killer. 

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0926129/

Trailer:

ALL - Psycho- research of the slasher genre

Psycho is and always will be one of the most influential horror films in history. 

http://www.houseofhorrors.com/psycho.htm 

Director: Alfred Hitchcock

Budget: $806,947 (estimated)

Box Office Takings: 

US –$32,000,000

Deconstruction:

The credits themselves last 1.52 seconds. So that would be are hole entire coursework if we did the same idea. The credits are shown on a black background with use of grey lines. And white sans serif font. Non diegetic dramatic music is played.

 'Suprisingly Hitchcock originally intended it to play without music but the film would have lost much of it power to frighten without it. The strings stab like the frenetic movement of the knife on screen. The discordant high-pitched repetition of one note is quick succession jars the audience and makes it immediately aware that something horrible is about to happen. It is probablly one of the most influential pieces of music in horror movie history' J.A. Kerswell - Teenage Wasteland The Slasher Movie Uncut.

The first shot is an establishing shot of a city, it continues to pan the city and the following appear on screen

'PHOENIX, ARIZONA'

'FRIDAY, DECEMEBER THE ELEVENTH'

'TWO FORTY, THREE P.M.' 

This exposition sets the time and place of the film and gives the audience expectations for what the rest of the film might entail.

The panning of the city progresses to a zoom in on a specific window. Inside we see a woman lying on a bed looking up a t man, dressing, this can denote about men's heirhachy in society to women. The woman is wearing her undergarments and the man dressing signifies sexually activity has just occured. The shot chosen gives an angle so that the man's head is not included in the shot but we see the woman at the level of the bed height.

We watch the couple talk and kiss, and there is reference to their relationship being a 'secret', as the conversation continues they continue to talk of marriage. The music now heard is romantic slow music, which adds to the atmosphere of the couple.

Very basic shots are used in the 2 minute opening. And the opening scene ends with little action having occurred other than the couple discussing their future and the woman leaving to return to work.

The film has a rather slow start compared to many horror films, its not till around 40 minutes into the film is their any gore and violence. 

IMDb: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0054215/

Story Line:  A young woman steals $40,000 from her employer's client, and subsequently encounters a young motel proprietor too long under the domination of his mother. 

Ending: Norman's mother had been long dead, her corpse was found sitting in a rocking chair. Norman (the motel proprietor) had dressed up as his mother and commit the murders.

Trailer:

Psycho has been described as  the mother of all modern horror suspense films. It pioneered the 'wet-death' which is showing a murder graphically by including blood etc. Psycho broke film conventions by showing the leading lady having an affair in her white underwear in the first scene. Another first for an American film of that time was photographing a toilet and the flush. It was also unusual for the leading lady to be killed off halfway through.

Reflection

On reflection unfortunatly I have not completly met my deadline of research and planning there are some deconstructions I would like to go into more in depth research but due to time restrictions have been unable.
There are also deconstruction of my partners that I need to copy over onto my blog however as I have a job  that works till 10 at night starting at half  12. I am restricted to what I am able to add to my blog at this very moment I intend on copying up some last bits early tomorow morning. If possible.