Itty Bitty things (bits & bobs)

Sounds

I managed to find some realistic free soundclips from http://www.soundsnap.com/, this being my job for an editing session.

I got a light buzzing sound for our first clip, a faint dripping water sound that can be turned up on the dripping water clip, a man screaming in pain for when Matt walks past a new victim and a general scary background sound full of bangs and echoes. The light buzzing sound proved unsucessful as it was unrealistic, so we will just use a buzz sound from one of the test shots of the lights. The dripping water sound worked after turning it up to absolute maximum volume. The male scream we tried to use on the slamming of the door but it didn't sound right, almost too comical, whilst the banging sounds sounded like patting water so we decided against using these 2 sounds in our final sequence.

Credits

In an editing session on my own I decided I did not like the content of the credits that appeared and felt these could be made better or more film-like.

Originally it started with 'directed by...' then 'edited by...' then 'produced by', whereas it is more conventional to begin along the lines of 'a film by...' then 'produced by...' then 'directed by...'. 'Edited by...' is not usually used in an opening sequence.

Also, the original credits had our 3 full names but this seemed a bit too straight forward.

I noticed alot of films had a film company and a production company to fill the first 2 credits so I made 2 up. I came up with the film company name 'Live Wire' to match the opening credit shot of the light turning on. "A film by Live Wire" sounded like a decent opening, not taking too much away from the atmosphere but adding to the anchorage.

After this I felt it was important to include all our names in opening credits still, but not in such a straight forward way, so for the production company I created the false partnership of 'Wall & Bayliss' (the second names of me and Shaun respectively), based in a group in-joke with both mine and Shaun's older brothers having worked on the same media project 3 years ago. I decided the phrase, "A Wall & Bayliss Production" worked well following on from the first credit, appearing around some cracks in a wall in a disjointed way.

This left one credit left, and having not included Jack yet and him having probably done most of the actual camerawork on shoots, we went for a simple "directed by Jack Downes" to appear alongside the dripping water on the third credit scene.

After this the film starts with a montage of clips showing the character waking up in the chair, and we felt this a mysterious and suitable time to introduce the 2 actor names in a faded kind of style one after the other in opposite corners of the screen in which the victims head dominates. These actor names were "Robert Demont" and "Matthew Doyle". The unclarity of which of the actors is shown at this point, and the fact there is only one character when 2 actor names are shown add to the mystery and enigma of the scene.

The 2 minute sequence then follows ending on either an image of the door with the hand, or simply fading to black, both of which will reveal the title of the film. We are still yet to decide on this title, which is the final thing I have to do in this blog post.

Title Ideas

- Guest
- The Guests
- The Host
- Host
- Blue Room
- The Chair
- Hot Seat
- Cast Away
- Cast
- Act
- The Act
- The Order
- Order
- The List
- Guest List

Hopefully, Jack & Shaun will have some more ideas because I do not particularly like many of these...

SCRIPT

Here is a copy of a draft scipt I wrote for our group. It was eventually shortened to fit into the maximum 45 seconds conversation time in order for our sequence to work, but there were not many changes to this script in order to create a final script.

Killer to be played by Matt Doyle and victim to be played by Rob Demont...

Killer enters the corner of the room, walks towards the victim in the chair, takes his weapon of choice and uses it to ungag him instead of kill him, to the surprise of the audience. The victim gives a confused moan.

Killer (calmly and reassuringly): Theres no need to be frightened, we're gonna take good care of you.

Victim (bewildered): What? No, please -

Killer: I said theres no need to be frightened... we try to accomodate all our new guests as best we can.

Victim: But -

Killer: Trust me.

The killer begins to feel inside his coat pockets.

Victim (in confusion): Who are you? What am i doing here?

The killer kneels down with a torch, ignoring the question.

Killer: I'm just going to check your eyes, you might be feeling a little dazed.

The killer forces the torch towards the victims eyes and checks his pupils.

Victim (with more anger): Get off me!

Killer: Hmm you look a little dizzy... would you like a drink?

Victim: Who are you?

Pause.

Killer (with more charm): It would be aweful of me not to offer you a drink. I'll bring you down some water on my next visit.

Victim (in desperation): Your NEXT visit? Wha - Whats going on? What am i doing here?!

Killer (with sudden frightening anger, quickly desceninding into calm): PLEASE - be quiet. If you wouldn't mind. We've been recieving alot of complaints recently...

Victim: What? Where am I?! Who the hell are -

Killer (suddenly): I SAID BE QUIET.

The killer grabs the victim by the jaw. The victim moans in pain and desperation. The killer thinks to himself and regathers his calm state of mind.

You seem terribly confused. I recommend you catch some sleep now.

The killer ignores the desperate moans and plees of the victim and forces him to sleep with a drug. The victims eyes roll and eventually he slumps into his chair asleep.

Killer: Better, thanks. Its greatly appreciated.

The killer smiles to himself and begins to walk out the room quietly humming to himself the tune of the lullaby 'go to sleep'. As he walks down an aisle between some shelves the sounds of other men screaming becomes more evident. Another victim chained to a wall starts to moan out to the killer as he walks past.

Killer: Now, now Mike. You take good care now.

The killerwalks towards a door where there is the sound of someone moving. The killer opens the door and walks through it.

Killer: And you Jack. Good night.

The killer shuts the door forcefully. A blood stained hand can be seen making an attempt to grab the handle but simply thumpingon the door palm first before smearing helplessly down the glass. The killer stops in his tracks and faces the door with a look of inconvenience on his face.

Killer: Ah, another job for the cleaner.

The killer laughs subtly in a sinister way before murmering something to himself.

Killer (almost secretively): She'll be dead pleased...

The killer laughs again to himself and leaves the basement to the sound of his footsteps and his "oblivious" humming.

Character Ideas

Victim 1
Possible Names: Mike, Pete, Jack, Matt, Tim, Tom.
Role: Victim, tied up in chair, struggles, uncertain conclusion.
Appearance: Bruised, battered, fake cuts, black eye, messy hair, sweating, tears?
Clothes: Suit or shirt/tie, ragged trousers or smart trousers, shoes or trainers.
Needed Acting Traits: male, fairly well built, can act really scared/confused/dazed, can produce fake tears.

Victim 2
Possible Names: Mark, Mike, Dan, Pete, Joe, Jack, Nick, Matt, Tim, Tom, Chris.
Role: Friend of victim 1, has been lead to victims location, find location to find noone there, is killed by killer.
Appearance: Bruised and battered, sweating, fake cuts, ripped clothes, out of breath.
Clothes: Plain white t splattered in blood, jeans (ripped), trainers.
Needed Acting Traits: Male, athletic, can act scared/confused/angry.

Killer
Possible Names: Unnamed or has a nickname to do with the title.
Role: Walks about victim 1 possibly assembling torture tools, follows victim 2 into basement, kills victim 2. Very childish, he never grew up. So murder ways are very strange and have child-like signifiers.
Appearance: Ambiguous, tall, in the shadows, masked or face shadowed, threatening/menacing.
Clothes: Black boots, black hoodie/jacket/cloak, black fingerless gloves, mask?
Needed Acting Traits: Can look powerful/menacing, tall, physical, well-built, can speek in deep/threatening voice.

My Idea

The sequence will be set in a basement-like room. It will open with shots of a victim in a suit, beaten up, bruised, gagged and tied up to a chair. He will struggle and look terrified, moaning out of desperation. Shots will be cut up by cutaway shots establishing features of the room such as a puddle with dripping water, a broken pipe, a flickering light and a brick wall with the mans shadow. Credits will appear alongside these objects. The sequence will begin alternating between 2 scenes using parallel editing - one of the victim as a figure appears and begins assembling some torture weapons and one of a mystery person running. We will see features of this person without seeing their face and will see them run down some stairs into a dark cellar (the basement). The audience believe the 2 scenes are happening at the same time, with the person running towards the victim. As the person enters into the cellar, we will cut away to a third scene following slower more sinister footsteps down the stairway. As the person moves around the corner towards where the victim should be, a dark shape moves across the screen quickly. The tension will build up towards this climax as we follow the person around the corner to find an empty chair and words along the lines of 'too late' scrawled across the wall in blood (or red paint). This will confuse the audience who expect to find the victim in the chair. At this point the camera faces the person who we see full on for the first time, as he begins shouting for what appears to be his friend (the audience finds this out now). As he moves towards a dark corner, a figure appears from out the darkness and grabs the persons neck from behind at knife point. There is some kind of brief significant conversation between the 2 before the killer slashes the persons throat. We do not see the point of penetration but just a quick action assuming the murder happens as we cut to a shot of the empty chair with flickering lights. The lights go out and the film title appears. The rest of the film will trace back what happened before the victim was caught, establishing the characters, and will then follow what happened and why. It will contain aspects of murder, suspence and gore, focusing on a modern combination of horror and thriller.

Prop List

Clothes:
Suit/shirt/tie
Plain white t, jeans
Black hoodie or jacket/black boots/fingerless black gloves

Props:
Chair
Rope
Black Tape
Ribena or fake blood
Red paint
Water source (bucket?)
Knife

Initial Title Ideas

The Follower

The Followed

Hunted

Trick of the Mind

The Time Trick

Twisted Irony

The Timekeeper

Too Late

Saving Seconds

Death Count

The Counting Game

Count to 3

Overdue

A Lesson in Punctuality

The Trail

The Race

Traceless

Clueless

Tracing Time

Wasting Time

The Appointment

Follow Me

Title Ideas

- Too Late
- Out of Time
- The Follower
- The Followed
- Hunted
- Murder Trail
- Torture Trail
- Clueless
- Twisted Irony
- The Prankster
- Trick of the Mind
- The Trick
- The Time Trick

Our Shooting/Location Plan

At some point next week (17th-21st November) we plan to ask for school permission to use the school basement for test shooting on Friday 21st November, and real shooting the following two Fridays - 28th November and 5th December. We will ask the school caretakers and if necessary, the school office.

If successful we will use the following dates, using the test shoot as a 'location reccie' (or doing this another week day night that week).

If unsuccessful we will use our inset day (24th November) as a 'location reccie' for our other 2 locations in Chingford near to where we all live, and also as a test shoot. We would have to sort out dates and times to shoot for the following 2 weekends, using the preferred location from the test shoot.

Group Meeting 1 - Notes

Genres

- horror (slasher or supernatural)

- thriller (gangster or crime)

Possible Locations

- school (latymer great hall or basement)

- graveyard (chingford cemetary)

- woods (epping forest, pole hill, high beach or ponds near butlers retreat)

- canal (waterhouse by 'halfords' at outer chingford retail or 'boat club' by chingford resevoirs)

- abandoned house (unused house next door to a friends)

- lonely bar (Jack's dads bar or a bar near to latymer school)

- old fashioned historic buildings (tudor museum, 'the harvester', a pub or 'butlers retreat' - all leading onto chingford plains)

- alleyway covered in forest (organ lane near Kris/Jack's house)

- car park and backstreet alleyways (sainsburys car park at chingford mount)

- abandoned littered streets and warehouses (near lea valley odeon and picketts lock)

- church (st peters and chingford green)

Possible Characters

- a female teenage victim (with loud scream)

- a small friendship group of either girls or mixed gender from a posh public school

- a couple of hard-looking italian or cockney gangsters

- a confident teenage boy who can run fast

- a teenage male or grown up to act as the villain (not necessarily ever seen in shot)

- a group of youngsters our age who can sing!

Available Actors

- ourselves and other media students

- sixth formers who do drama, are past media students or are willing to make themselves available to act

- Jack's cousin and his friends

Ideas

- a murder

- a past event (either a murder or supernatural happening in the 1950's or tudor times)

- a secret gangster meeting or confrontation (leading to a murder, shooting or bust-up)

- a monster/unseen creature attack

- a vampire musical (probably not going to happen!)

Group Meeting 2 - Notes

Idea 1

Location: Latymer School Basement

A victim wakes up tied up in a chair and gagged. With only the sound of dripping water and faint echoes, he begins to hear footsteps. The scene will cross cut between shots of the man in the chair and shots suggesting someone is walking down towards the basement where he is. The sequence will provide some sort of twist, with one idea being that a climax to the scene will quickly switch to a friendlier scene from 24 hours earlier via a graphic match. A link maybe shown between the killer in the present scene and a friend the victim is with in the past (possibly showing the victim who is his friend the same knife used in the present scene, or an item of clothing, tattoo or accessory seen in the same way). This will lead to the audience already suspecting the killer in the opening sequence, but the film will lead on to reveal a different killer in a surprising twist. Another idea is that the two scenes using parallel editing (of the victim and of footsteps etc) are at different points in time, with either the footsteps being a few hours before the victim scene, or a few hours after. The first of these would make the audience think the victim was about to be attacked but would be surprised to see the killer simply setting up his trap (possibly using a knife to cut a rope or something, instead of killing the victim). The second would reveal what you think as a killer to be a friend of the victim who has apparently been lead to believe he will find his friend here (through what he says as he enters and his shocked reaction to find his friend not there). With the audience confused, the friend would face an empty chair and a wall marked with blood saying something along the lines of 'too late'. Then out of the darkness a figure would suddenly appear and grab the friend before presumably killing him. The audience would then want to know what happened to the victim in the chair but will not know until later on in the film. Themes or genres involved in this film would probably include aspects of murder, slasher horror, revenge and suspence thriller.

Idea 2

Location: Path by canal/Bridge

The sequence could be a mysterious continuity-based opening showing a teenage boy walking by a canal. He will look troubled as if in a bad way (messed up life, possibly on drugs). Sinister noises and images disturb his walk in an eery silence. The sequence will either involve someone following the boy and killing him, him witnessing a murder on the other side of the canal only to be murdered in exactly the same way moments later, or his route to be disturbed by the presence of perculiar hooded beings (possibly to look like normal youths, only to be wearing hoodies backwards to mask their faces). Another idea would be to show the boy entering onto a plain bridge to find a dead body lying in the centre. Curious, the boy could move towards the body to find it either dead, a doll or dead but with a sinister and chilling appearance such as a painted face or mask. Then two hooded figures on either side of the bridge he had entered could appear and close in on him, trapping him. They could either kill him or he could jump off the bridge into the canal (which would admittedly be dangerous to film). In each of these ideas it would be hard for the audience to distinguish imagination from reality due to the boys confusion and possibly the sight of him carrying or doing drugs that may make him see halucinations. The end of the opening may show the victim dead with scratch wounds and bruises having supposedly been attacked by the silent hooded figures (zombie-like?) but the last shot could steadily zoom out from the body to show no beings around, suggesting he was seeing things and was attacked by his own mind and ended up killing himself through the horrible images he was seeing (with the bridge scenario ending up in him being drowned in the canal because of images he had seen in his mind). The film could have a moral message against drug use and youth gang crime. I thought the rest of the film could be about a a new drug which is disguised as a standard drug such as LSD, but is actually designed to kill its victims - a possible mass murder or terrorist attack on youths of the western world. Themes or genres involved in this film would probably include aspects of murder, thriller, psycological and creep-out horror.

Idea 3

Location: Abandoned house or 'White House' at Gilwell Park

We do not have a particular idea for these locations but is simply a back up idea in case the other 2 locations are not available. This would probably involve mainly interior filming too, to be safe. One idea we have is a group of teenagers arrive to check out the haunted legends of the abandoned house. One character (a girl) stays outside on look out as she is too scared. Sinister going-ons around her unsettle her and she calls for her friends. The opening sequence could involve her entering the house upon panicing that there is no shout back from inside. She could, to her horror, discover the bodies of her friends inside and either be caught herself, or run away. In running away, the rest of the film could be centered around her trying to escape from the forested area she has entered, entirely from her point of view, or just following her character. The film could be disorientating and end up in her being trapped by her surroundings (unable to leave the park) because of this curse/legend - although this will appear as her lost and apparently going around in circles. She would eventually be killed, possibly in a twist of events. Themes or genres involved in this film would probably include aspects of murder, slasher horror, disorientation and supernatural horror.

5 Things a Horror Film Needs

1) Iconography

Shadows, candles, darkness, lamps, lightning, rain, blood, knives, dripping water, corpses, limbs, scary trees, masks, weapons, smashed glass, ghosts, scary faces, scary objects (i.e. hooded jackets, cloaks, white sheets, open curtains), dirty bathtubs, old furniture, mansions, fireplaces, crackling televisions, slightly opened doors, colours (reds, blacks, purples, blues, whites, browns, greys), chains, litter, flashing lights, silk, guns, bullets, black boots, sharp teeth, crucifixes, medallions, jewellery

2) Narrative

Chases, serial killers, secrets, mystery, breaking down of technology, car crashes, loss of cell phone signal, twisted sexuality, surprises, shocks, twists, media/police first to be killed, bad police (useless or corrupt), lawlessness, secret watching, stalking, running away, extreme psycopaths, revenge, deep subplots, stereotypes killed, one or two main characters killed, heroes survive, high body count, lots of victims, monsters, creatures, supernatural happenings, being locked away or locked in a room, torture, falling over, escape, struggle, fights, climax betweem hero and killer, killers killed often, heartbeats faster, slow to quick editing to build up tension, not everything revealed, ECU's, distortion in spaces and tilts, low angles, not showing faces, hiding certain things, tracking, handheld or shakey movements.

3) Characters

Geeks often survive or help, smart girl survives by taking initiative half way through, bullies and cockey macho boys killed, ditzy blondes killed, bitchy good looking highschool queens killed, stereotypes such as stupid or macho often first to go, enemies often last to go before hero survives, police often killed trying to help or being led wrong way, media often killed for being nosey or ignorant, psycopaths, twisted men, killers, mass murderers, monsters, villain often with a motive or deeper reason behind kills (misunderstood), creatures, ghosts, women are haunted and followed by demons, little girl ghosts, scary children who see things, reassuring parents, teens who are ignorant of sinister going ons, victims wear silk dresses and lots of make up, killers wear cloaks and masks and carry weapons, victims in bright significant clothing or half naked, killers in dark ambiguous clothing, hidden features such as half a face, zombies, vampires, spirits, real animals, dogs.

4) Themes

Mystery, suspence, secrets, forbidden actions, evil deeds, revenge, surprise, love, sex, obsession, mental illness, twisted games, contrast, death, gruesome, torture, pain, anguish, misery, family, friends, forgiveness, sin, suffering, punishment, stupidity, panic, confusion, the devil, hell, possession, law and order, haunting, isolation, lost, trapped, claustrophobia, deceipt, loyalty, treason, seperation, togetherness, greed, passion, fright, terror.

5) Atmosphere

Low key lighting, shadows, darkness, pitch black, night time, thunder and lightning, rain, dripping water, echoes, whistling wind, wolf howls, owls, rustling, footsteps, creaking doors, creaking stairways, sudden bangs, clanks, clicking, strange noises such as creatures or supernatural noises, crackling televisions or radio signals, beeping, evil laughter, screams, sounds of agony, crying children, rustling trees and leaves, window bangs, slamming doors, deep voices, scary music, long high pitched violin noises held on one note, 'Psycho' music, deep musical notes held for long time, crashes, loud base drums gettting faster, variations in tempo and dynamics, orcestral music, sometimes techno music, minor key, organ music, church bell sounds, clowns, childrens toy noises, forests, mountains, castles, deserted cities, hills, mansions, isolated manors or cottages, long narrow corridors, hallways, large rooms, prsion cells, basements, bathrooms, torture chambers, large bedrooms, hospital wards, emptiness, attics, lairs, watch rooms, abandoned alleyways, bad ends of cities, underground caves, rivers or lakes, coasts, fields or crop fields, hotels, farmhouses, motels, warehouses, factories.

My Chosen Genre

This is just a post to alert you of my decision. I thought I would nail down a genre pretty early on in the project so I can focus all my research on one genre, simply because theres so much to do otherwise. I want my blog to be very to the point.

It was an easy decision really. I am going to do horror after having conversations with a couple of people in my class, who I will probably be filming with eventually. We have some good ideas for horror films and we believe it is most practical to film during an amateur project.

I will add some bits and bobs to the right hand side of my blog tonight to get me started on the genre and then maybe a horror montage of TERRIFYING images later on in the week.

Exciting times...

Horror Still Shot Analysis

1) Describe your shot and identify in what way it could be seen as representing horror?

The shot is a MS at level angle, of a young/teenage girl peering out of a door. The girl has a frightened but cautious look on her face, and the action suggests she is slowly making her move as if hiding from someone and on the lookout. The room behind her is pitch black with the light coming from outside the door. The darkness in the room and the shadow across half her face represents horror and mystery, as if she is hiding something sinister, whilst her action suggests she is hiding - a typical horror plotline. Her being behind the dorr also creates a claustrophobic effect on the audience, whilst the MS is enough to capture her expression as well as the whole action.

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2) What did you actually do to achieve this effect?

Our group chose a location with strong lighting from outside the room, but a small room behind the door with the light switched off to create a pitch black effect from behind. We had one small film light, which we shone towards the subject out of shot, angled half behind the door frame, casting a shadow across half the girls face. We used this effect in all the shots and tried placing the subject in many different actions/poses, this one being one of the best and most effective.

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3) What is successful about your shot?

The shadow across half the girls face is extremely effective in contrast to the other half of her face, which is sharpened and expressive, whilst creating a catch light in her eye. The harsh shadow and pitch black behind her engulf most of her body, hiding alot of the character from the audience. This suggests she could be hiding something, giving her a sinister and msyterious side despite the scared look. The light emphasises the fact the girl is pretty without much make up, and her skin is shiny suggesting she could be sweating as if she has been chased. The empty space on the left hand side and her look towards this space suggest something is there, building up tension and making the audience want to know what the girl is running away from.

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4) What would you do differently in hindsight?

I would frame the shot with more care, so that the door frame was completely vertical and maybe making the shot and MCU to add even more expression (whilst cutting out some of the door frame including the handle - little objects like these slightly taking away focus from the main subject). I would also try and insert a bit more fear into her face, whilst adding more effects to her look such as fake dirt, scratches and brusies, as well as tears and running make up. This would make sure the audience knows the girl is the victim as the shot is slightly ambiguious as to her role in the horror film. Better use of props could add more detail to the storyline without giving away the plot, and would be iconic so the audience would instantly associate these with the film. Props such as a silk gown, teddybear or expensive ring could add more depth to the story and create more audience interest.