Moodboard

I have used these images as they are the ideas that would be viewed in my opening two minutes. As you can see I followed the codes and conventions with the characters by having a man as the antagonist as men are stereotypically the dominant gender. We then have the young teenage girl who is known to be vulnerable giving off the mood to the audience that something bad is about to happen.This helps create suspense. I have used the images earphones, plastic bag and whistle as these are the props that my film will be based around to create an eerie and frightening effect. Finally I have put an image of a forest in my mood board as that is the setting of where  my opening two minutes will be filmed. I have chosen a forest as it links with the codes ad conventions as it creates a horror atmosphere with a creepy effect adding and building up more tension.

Soundtrack Research

For our film I decided to research some soundtracks to help me decide what kind of music would be best. I was looking for an intense soundtrack that reached a climax by going from slow to fast and quiet to loud. Once the climax was reached it would then go quiet until it was completely silent. Researching soundtracks also inspires me to what type of instruments would be most suitable for our film.

The first soundtrack I researched was Saw. I found Saw had many qualities that I was looking for in my film such as it having an inviting opening piece that draws you in straight away; it creates an eerie atmosphere and makes you feel uneasy like something is about to happen. As it carries on you get beats added, this is effective as it gives a rhythm to the soundtrack and gets the audience on the edge of their seat. Suddenly it goes quiet for a split second, tension builds up for the audience just until the beat drops. The music appears to be louder and faster which for us could represent this is when something bad happens. It contains fast beats which is suitable for our film as they could be added with the fast shots to help create the mood and have more suspense. The music then goes silent again and drifts off suggesting that the bad thing is over, this is where we would stop it. I like this soundtrack as it creates not only an eerie atmosphere but a mysterious effect which as a group is what we are looking for.

The second soundtrack I researched was The Conjuring. I didn't find this soundtrack as inviting as Saw or as suitable for my film. This is because I thought it struggled to build tension for the audience as the beginning gave off more of a shadow atmosphere that led to no big build that gets the audience on the edge of their seat. It was slow throughout which is not suitable for our film as we wanted a fast piece of music to represent the chase. In the middle the piece did get louder but didn't give off the atmosphere we were looking for. This piece was more creepy and represented possession as the Saw soundtrack could connote a chase leading to a death. However, the loud music in the middle attracted me as it drifted off into silence which is what we wanted. This is helpful as it will help us to incorporate bits of each piece to give off the perfect effect to the audience and fit our piece perfectly.

/http://incompetech.com/music/royalty-free/index.html?feels%5B%5D=Dark&feels%5B%5D=Eerie&feels%5B%5D=Mysterious&feels%5B%5D=Suspenseful&feels%5B%5D=Unnerving

Our group then researched a variety of non copy right music to get an insight into what would fit our piece. We came across a useful website that let us select what type of genre we wanted which was horror. We then got asked what type of feel we wanted and we chose: Dark, Eerie, Unnerving, Mysterious and Suspenseful. After searching many soundtracks we came across one which appeal to us the most called 'Evening of Chaos'. The description of this piece included 'A semi-beautiful and flawed piano melody, which contrasts with industrial percussion. This piece has three distinct movements'. We found that this would fit perfectly as in our film we have 3 main pieces and the music fits perfectly. It starts off with a subtle and uneasing type of music that is very welcoming but creepy and eerie at the same time. As the audience are then drawn in slashes are added and the music starts to speed up creating tension for the audience. Bangs are then added to create a beat and rhythm which is extremely effective. A note is held in the background to build suspense. The fastness of the music draws the audience in even more until it goes silent building extreme amount of tension.The upbeat music could represent our chase as it has a lot of tension and will engage the audience. The music carries on getting faster and faster until it reaches the climax where we would we stop it giving the audience that relief and satisfation.

Certificate Research U

The U stands for Universal. A U film should be suitable for audiences aged four years and over. A U film can explore a wide rang of themes, as long as it is appropriate for a young audience. This doesn't mean that all films rated U are aimed at children.It just means they are suitable for any age and can be anybody's type. The genre would be positive giving off positive vibes for the audience.

Certificate Research PG

PG stands for Parental Guidance. This means a film is suitable for general viewing. PG films are mostly appropriate for a child aged around eight or older without causing any problems. A PG film will not contain any theme which is inappropriate for a child and can even explore issues such as bullying or racism, advertising it in a more discreet way.

Certificate Research 12 and 12A

The 12A requires an adult to accompany any child under 12 seeing a 12A film at the cinema but when you are 12 you do not need to be accompanied and can go with friends, making the film more popular with a bigger audience. Strong language such as the f*** may be passed or changed to a 15 certificate but more moderate language such as b*** are more likely to be passed for 12 and 12A
At 12A, moderate violence is allowed but it should not contain a lot of detail meaning there should be no emphasis on injuries or blood. In 12A and 12 there may be sight of drugs but the scene or film should not concentrate around this area.

Certificate Research 18

18 is the highest classification rating that is placed on films. Reasons for restricting films to the 18 certificate category have included scenes of hard drug use, supernatural horror, explicit sex, sadistic violence and sexual violence. This could cause the certificate not being issued at all, banning the film in the UK. In our group we will not involve all these conventions in such detail as if we aimed to get an 18 certificate it would limit our range of audience and the most popular audience which is 15 and above making our film less popular.

Certificate Research 15

Chosen Certificate  

For our film we wish to make our certificate rating a 15 as it helps maximise our audience and making it more popular to a wider range of audience. We gave it a 15 as it will contain strong violence with the victim getting suffocated but we are not showing extreme gore or dwelling on the pain and injury so it will be a brief close up of the girl getting suffocated. Strong language will be used throughout our film to put emphasis on the man as the antagonist as it shows his dark side. At 15 there can be strong threat and horror as long as there is no sustained focus on sexualised threat which we do not contain. We felt we didn't need to rate in an 18 as we aren't containing extremely strong sex scenes or nudity allowing it to be more acceptable for 15's and overs.

Questionnaire Feedback

As we surveyed 20 people to fill in our questionnaire we have found results that can help us incorporate and add to our opening two minutes to make it more appealing to the audience and enabling them to watch the opening two minutes to their satisfaction.

What is your gender?
Male 50%
Female 50%
We wanted to make sure we had a balanced argument so decided to ask an equal amount of both male and females.

What is your age?
10-12 2%
13-15 41%
16-17 50%
18+ 7%
Most of the people that took the questionnaire were aged from 16-17 because we are hoping to make the certificate rating of our film a 15 to show to a wider range of audience.

What elements in a horror scare you the most?

Darkness 13%
Fear of the Unknown 45%
Eerie Music 25%

'Jump' moments 10%

Death scenes 5%

Chase scenes 2%
Other (Please Specify)
From this it shows most people enjoy the suspense and mystery as fear of the unknown was most popular. This helps us as we will now take a bigger focus on the mystery and create as much tension as possible until we reach the climax.

Where is the most effective location for a horror to be set?
A domestic setting 20%
A rural setting e.g forests 44%
In a house 36%
This information reassures us that we will set our film in a forest as we know it is most inviting for an audience with low key lighting.

Do you want to be frightened when watching a horror film?
Yes 75%
No 25%
This information suggests that majority of people enjoy the thrill of being frightened leading us to wanting more jump moments.

What trait do you value most in a horror antagonist?
Creepy 35%
Violent 14%
Ugly 12%
Possessed 39%

Possessed and creepy being the most popular helps us know what type of mis-en-scene (costumes) we should use on our antagonist to help the audience become more engaged. However, this will be a hard task to follow as we may not have the right equipment for this.

What type of non-diegetic sounds do enjoy most from a horror(soundtrack)?
High pitched 55%
Dramatic music when reaching the climax 30%
No sound 15%

Music is a big part to play in the opening two minutes because it is crucial as it provides tension, suspense and creates the mood for the audience. For us these results were extremely important as we now understand that we can achieve this haunting mood with high pitched music and dramatic music matching a dramatic part of the film until the  climax has been reached, revealing the mystery.

Fonts Researched

These fonts appeal to our group the most as they create a haunting and sinister look which is what we are looking for our opening film as it relates to our type of theme. The title gives away a mysterious texture letting off a bit about what our opening two minutes will be about and when these are shown with the type of music is the background the title will add to the tension and suspense. Our group has concluded that the font we would most like to use is the FELIX TITLING as we find the thinner writing more appealing and gives away the horror genre a bit more.

Opening titles

In our group we have all looked at separate opening titles to get a grasp of what design inspires us the most. Hopefully from this task we will get a clear idea of the background and type of font used helping us to have a more successful and effect opening two minutes as we have researched about what title engages the audience the most.

Silent Hill:

Silent Hill has an efficacious title as I think it engages the audience by creating the dark atmosphere and creepy look. They do this by having the white writing slightly covered by dark shadows giving it that odd but alluring look as the audience has to take a longer look; the title doesn't stand out or isn't as bold compared to the Cabin In The Woods, where the title covers the whole picture and is clear and bold. However, this is not a bad thing as it is distinct from others. The black background with white writing on top is appealing as it is kind of like the light appearing out of the darkness.

The Cabin In The Woods:

The Cabin In The Woods title is effective as the colours are immediately eye catching due to the different tones of red ranging from light to dark to blend in with the blackness; the red connotes he;; and blood. The writing stands out as it shines over the darkness and is all in capital letters making the whole image stand out more. The font is also the font we particular want to use and our interested in as it creates an eerie look.

Insidious:

This title is effective as the bold red connoting hell and creating a devil image look stands out from the black background. However, this title is my least favourite as red on a black background is now old fashioned for titles and more modern titles are white on a black ground. This image doesn't give off an ominous effect for the audience which could result in struggling to draw in the audiences attention. In our opening title we wanted to create more of a creepy look then a title that connotes blood and hell as that is not what our opening film will be based on.

Research Feedback

A fantastic effort so far with theoretical and detailed responses to media texts. Be sure to begin to document every stage of your planning towards your film now – use technical terminology and take us on a journey to completion of your film project. Well done!

Film Institution: The Major Movie Studios

Columbia Pictures:

Columbia Pictures was made in 1919 and is under the operation of Sony Pictures. It has a very recognisable label and this represents their success in the movie business. It is one of the leading film studios in the world and has made films such as ‘Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2’, ‘Skyfall’ and ‘22 Jump Street’ which have a varied range of audiences but are all exceptionally popular.

Paramount:

Paramount was founded 1912 as Famous Players Film Company then officially became Paramount pictures in 1914. They are known as one of the big six and are successful because of their high budget films such as ‘India Jones’, ‘Shrek’, ‘Friday 13th and ‘Paranormal Activity’. They have made a wide range of genre and their horror films were hugely successful which makes it more suitable for our trailer as our chosen genre is horror.

 

Warner Bros:

Warner Bros studios was found in 1903 by the four Warner brothers. It is American producer of film, television, and music entertainment. As well as this, they also famously started the original ‘Looney Tunes’, as well as many more successful cartoons. Warner bros is extremely successful as it owns half of the CW Television Network and has made some of the most popular films invented such as Harry Potter.

Walt Disney:

Walt Disney Pictures is one of the most well-known film institution out of all the major movie studios. It was found in 1923 and was immediately extremely popular. Disney is constantly apart of life as played a massive part in childhood. We also know the studio because of the famous founder - Walt Disney. Disney traditionally specialises in family movies and animation such as the classics, 'Sleeping Beauty' and 'The Jungle Book' to the more recent 'Cars', 'Wreck-it Ralph' and 'Up'. They also own a wide amount of film institutions such as Touchstone Pictures and Pixar. This all helps them stay successful and constantly make profits.

Universal Pictures:

Universal Pictures was founded in 1912 and It is the world's third oldest major film studio. It had many successes as it made ‘Jaws’, ‘Jurassic Park’ and ‘The Extra-Terrestrial’ which each became the highest-grossing film ever at the time of its initial release.

 

20th Century Fox:

20th Century Fox, founded in 1935, have one of the most recognisable logos and theme tunes in the industry, the studio used to be a subsidiary of News Corporation, but now it is currently a subsidiary of 21st Century Fox. It is tremendously successfamazing films that ul as and It is the world's second largest major film studio, after Warner Bros. It has made will never be forgotten such as ‘Avatar’, ‘Star Wars’, ‘Night at the Museum’ and many more.

Film Institution: The Mini Major Movie Studios

Dreamworks Animation:

Found in 1994 Dreamworks has always been popular with the younger audiences and family types meaning ratings are mostly ‘PG’ or ‘U’. For example they include ‘How To Train Your Dragon’. They are probably the most famous Mini Major Movie studio with a highly recognisable logo.

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer:

Founded in 1924, it became a success and well-known until an increasingly unprofitable MGM was bought by Kirk Kerkorian, who lowered staff and production costs, forced the studio to produce low-budget fare, and then shut down theatrical distribution in 1973.The studio continued to produce five to six films a year and some popular films were made out of it such as ‘Nanny McPhee’.

Lionsgate Entertainment:

Lionsgate was founded in 1997 and is commercially the most successful Mini Major Film and television distribution company in North America and the seventh most profitable movie studio. They are well-known for horror movies such as ‘Saw’ and ‘The Hunger Games’.

The Weinstein Company:

The Weinstein Company are a recent company, only formed in 2005. Weinstein films include 'The King's Speech' and 'The Iron Lady' which are already known to be a big successful bringing it profits. As more films are released the more popular it will become.

Relativity Media:

Relativity Media was founded in 2004 and is not quite low-key being one of the least famous Mini Major Film studios but is still growing. They have a lot more growing to do, and they have not made many films that have received great profit of publicity. Their films include: 'Bridesmaids' and 'Limitless'.

Target Audience

Chosen Genre

 

As our opening two minutes will be centred around the horror genre, we have done some research into the genre to find out its target audience. Our target audience is an important factor when making a film as from it, we are able to make it suitable and appropriate to maximise our viewers, which is why we decided to do an in-depth investigation into the subject. Using the Pearl & Dean website we studied films that were as close to our themes as possible such as 'The Purge: Anarchy' and 'A Night In The Woods' . From our research, we found that The Purge: Anarchy's target audience was the younger population, where 66% of the viewers ranged from 15-24. As we'd hoped, A Night In The Woods had the same target audience, again 35% ranging from 15-24, suggesting that this should be the particular age group we aim our opening two minutes towards.
From our research, we also were able to establish that these types of genres were slightly more popular with males. The viewers of The Purge: Anarchy were 55% male and 45% female, not as big of a difference as we expected, despite this, 75% of A Night In The Woods viewers were male and 25% were female. This has taught us that in some cases we need to balance out all different themes of horror to attract both genders. Despite horror stereo-typically being a male dominated genre, it is easy to attract female viewers through the use of famous, attractive male actors.
Even though we are only researching the ages and genders of the films viewers, the Pearl & Dean website have also given us the most popular classes in the social structure to have watched the films. From this research, we have found that the most common class to watch A Night In The Woods was the lower-middle class, this was also the same for The Purge: Anarchy. The type of social class can be affected by both special effects and certain actors

Actor Description

Actor Description

Charlotte Weston playing the girl who is known as the victim:

We are very lucky to have Charlotte play in our opening two minutes as she will be good for the role due to her drama experiences since she was 7 making her understand certain techniques and can work with the camera. Her techniques involve still images, staying in role for a long time, adjusting quickly to a character, good facial expressions and body language can change to alter the scene. Charlotte has many acting experiences that will assist her in this role such as theatre shows and has recently just finished the show Tracy proving that she has certain skills. She has played many other roles as well meaning she can vary into different types of characters and understands what is needed and when. This also proves that she can work well with other people which is extremely important. By Charlotte playing a frightened young girl she will have to use body language to show the character successfully. She would achieve this by changing her facial expressions to show a terrified emotion, her body would become more stiff and movements will become more up paced before reaching the climate. She would also use levels this is effective as it will show she is the smaller character of the two emphasising her being the victim and innocent young girl.

Callum Kent playing the man who is known as the antagonist:

Callum has many experiences in acting during his two year Drama course, he has taken part in many group plays and has taken a lot of responsibility as the main character role. By Callum playing our antagonist he will have to use a lot of creepy and scary body language to present the character successfully. He would achieve this by using awkward and creepy facial and body expressions to make him look powerful and match the conventions of a horror villain. We are hoping to study tutorials on what makeup we can also use to make him look as close to a creepy villain as possible.

Script For Film

 Script

Charlotte is walking home with her group of friends, talking and smiling as they reach the destination when they have to walk separate ways home. Charlotte waves as her friends walk in the opposite direction and walks down the path while putting her head phones in.
*music from headphones becomes non-diegetic sound*
As Charlotte walks down the path she looks around anxiously, feeling like she is being followed. She turns around, stops to look for anyone or anything, notices nothing, and carries on walking.
Charlotte looks back while walking but this time, takes out her head phones and looks around again to see if anyone is following her.
Charlotte: Carly?...I know you're there.
Charlotte waits for a response, but hears nothing, so puts her headphones in her bag and starts to walk down the path but this time a lot faster.
*footsteps(crushing leaves)*
Charlotte jumps and turns around. starting to panic, she searches quickly in different directions
Charlotte(shouting): Carly its not funny not now, just, just go away!
*leaves crunch*
Charlotte sees a distant, dark figure in the background, noticing he is holding some sort of weapon in his hand, she drops her bag, turns around and starts to run through the path.
As she reaches the main road, thinking she is safe, Charlotte stops running but still scared and crying, she looks in all directions to see if anyone is near her, while doing so her phone rings, making her jump and scream. In panic she drops her phone and sees that it is her mother calling. While shaking she tries to pick up the phone buried in the leaves.
Picks up the phone but is too late to answer.
Charlotte(panicked/trying to catch breath):Mum... mum i'm scared (starts to shout) Mum! Where-
Over the other side of the main road Charlotte notices the same dark figure that she saw earlier, in a state of shock Charlotte stares at the figure and slowly walks back and drops the phone in her hand. Charlotte turns around to look behind her, and looking back to the other side of the main road; the distant figure has dissapeared. Charlotte turns behind her again and the distant figure stands right behind her.
Charlotte:*screams*
The villain puts a bag over her head whilst she is screaming and the screen fades to black.
End of Scene.

What are you doing here?

While creating and editing my initial film I show a lot of strengths and weaknesses throughout. One of my strengths is that the camera was quite still while filming and moved cleanly when taking my second shot. We also planned our shots carefully so each shot would cut easily onto the next one. A weakness was that the lighting was a little too dark which stopped the filming becoming as effective as it could be. Another weakness was that the cuts were not as clean as they could've been, which is what I'm also hoping to improve on as I film more. One of my targets I should aim towards is to focus a different shots to make my film look better such as close up shots, medium shots etc. another target I could aim towards is changing the pace of my shots and make some faster than others to build tension.

Questionnaire For Film

Questionnaire

We have created a questionnaire in order to find out what people want out of a horror, and what they would enjoy. The answers will help us make creative ideas for our opening scene which will suit our target audience and be more enjoyable and thrilling for the viewers.

What is your gender?
Male
Female

What is your age?
10-12
13-15
16-18
18+

What elements in a horror scare you the most?
Darkness
Fear of the Unknown
Eerie Music

'Jump' moments

Death scenes

Chase scenes
Other (Please Specify)

Where is the most effective location for a horror to be set?

A domestic setting
A rural setting e.g forests
In a house

Do you want to be frightened when watching a horror film?

Yes
No

What trait do you value most in a horror antagonist?

Creepy
Violent

Ugly

Possessed

What type of non-diegetic sounds do enjoy most from a horror(soundtrack)?

High pitched
Dramatic music when reaching the climax
No sound

Rules Of Filming Preliminary Task

Conversation

In our preliminary task we found it quite successful when filming and editing. The filming was adequate as we got a range of shots such as close ups, medium shots and long shots. Then we successfully used the shot reverse shot where Lydia and Hannah had a conversation. We done this by one person speaking separately then putting the conversation together through editing. We also used the match on action which was efficacious as it flowed easily when cutting corners and you can clearly see that it was constant with no jump starts. This is due to the editing of the film as we would cut certain bits out to avoid jump starts making the audience watch the clip comfortably.

Next time there may be certain things that we could do differently such as adding more film practises so the clip looks more professional. Also when it comes to the editing we could improve by adding in non diegetic sound which may create tension and help create a mood, it also just makes it more entertaining for the audience to watch. There are also editing skills such as adding transitions for the ending and start, this will look preferable as you could fade it out into black or white. We could have also added effects to change lighting or used the camera to do this. This may be effective as it would show the audience the most important character.

We only used the shot reverse shot and match on action. We used this by taking two separate conversations, the camera would be placed where the opposite person would be sitting. The effective of this is that it looks like the people are talking directly to each other and you can see what the other person can see. This is compelling as it engages the audience and makes them feel like they are involved in the conversation. The other film practice we used was match on action. We done this by taking many scenes and cutting them  when we got to editing. This is effective as without it there would be many pauses and the clip would not have any seamless movements between shots making it a poor clip with no camera skills making the audience not want to watch it.





Rules Of Filming

The 180 rule is a basic rule that means that two characters should always have the same left and right relationship to each other.

Shot reverse shot is when one character is shown looking (often off-screen) at another character, and then the other character is shown looking "back" at the first character. Since the characters are shown facing in opposite directions, the viewer assumes that they are looking at each other.

The 30 degree rule  states the camera should move at least 30 degrees between shots of the same subject occurring. If this rule isn't followed a jump cut occurs and there is a risk that the audience starts focusing on the filming technique instead of the story that is being narrated.

Match on action is where the editor cuts from one shot to another view that matches the first shot's action.

Rule of thirds is where the frame is divided into nine imaginary sections.

The Woman In Black opening scene analysis

The Woman In Black

 

The clip starts of with an extreme close up of china cups and a teapot. However, when  the tea is poured no tea comes out and the non diegetic music being creepy and subtle as it sounds like a nursery childlike song and the audience start to sense a strange and eerie feeling. We are then shown a medium shot of  3 little girls having a tea party and playing with dolls, already this is quite creepy due to the slow actions and calming but spooky music as the girls look sweet and innocent. As they place their cups down we get direct mode of address as they look directly at the camera all at the same time looking possessed, which follows the codes and conventions of the horror genre as well as it being set  in a basement of a kids bedroom. The mis en scene is quite bland and grey make everything more haunting and suggesting that bad things are going to happen. The camera then moves closer and they look towards the window. The close up of the window is the next shot and is effective as it adds enigmas to why they are looking at this window and what is going to happen next.

In the next shot the children stand up and are completely oblivious to everything looking like they hypnotised . We get a close up of a girl dropping her cup as they start walking towards the window. You get the diegetic sound of the glass smashing, then one of the girls steps of the tea pot and the other girl steps on a dolls head all adding diegetic sound. The music has increased slightly but is still calming and bizarre as we get a medium shot is shown of all the girls backs up standing at the window. Due to the music increasing this can connote that the horror is about to begin. By the girls all wearing white and pretty shoes it connotes purity and innocence which adds more evil in the scene. As soon as they are at the window every move they do they are all in sync which is a effective due to it all being so mysterious. You then get close ups of the old fashioned handles and the windows opening.

The next shot is a long shot, the audience are confused of what is going on. They music turns into a low humming noise building tension, then suddenly the three girls  jump out of the window and more enigmas are added as the audience are left in shock. We hear a woman, preferably the mother scream 'my babies!' this is a traumatic experience and from here on we know there are more spine-chilling events to come. Finally we are shown an extreme close up of a china doll which is quite unsettling before the clip fades out to black.

Writing a Film Pitch

Film Pitch

The narrative that I would hope to reveal in the opening includes a young, vulnerable girl on the way home from school. She departs from her friends as she takes a different walk, in the shot it will be a 2 shot as you will see the antagonist in the background however the audience will not think anything of it as it is a public footpath and he is only shown walking past This is effective as it will make him more recognisable to the audience and make them feel satisfied. As she puts her earphones in and walks down the the footpath in the woods the audience hear the music she is listening to adding diegetic sound. Camera shots will be varying. In this scene she is being followed by a middle aged man and the audience are shown this through an over the shoulder shot. As she goes on she discovers that she is being watched and gets even more frightened and wary and the scene carries on. She speeds up and turns back a few times, her breathes get deeper as her feet move faster. When she gets to a busy road and turns around he is not there and she sighs in relief. However, when she looks across the road she sees him standing there, a dark figure holding a plastic bag in his left hand staring directly at her. She turns around in a hurry and runs to only find he is standing right behind her. She screams as he puts the plastic bag over her head until she is eventually unconscious and is kidnapped. 

In the opening two minutes codes and conventions are followed thoroughly as we have used a teenage girl who is very vulnerable on the way home from school being stalked by a strange man and kidnapped. This links in with the dominant representation of gender as the male is the villain and the female is the victim. The setting is also in the woods at low key lighting making the genre clear to the audience. Extensive use of close ups will be used to capture the girls facial expressions of worry and the males face of determination and how neutral he is. I use the word neutral as he is calm and normal about it all due to him being twisted.

The settings will be in the woods/forest where nobody goes, it will be muddy and is on a narrow footpath which is effective as we can do a range of  long shots and medium shots. There will also be a lot of greenery and fields just to emphasise the emptiness of everything.  

The main characters will be a young girl who is known as the victim and a middle aged man who is known as the antagonist. Other characters will include the girls school friends and a woman who sees it all but doesn't help or say a thing.

Props we will contain in our film pitch will include school books and a school bag to represent that this young victim will be a school girl. We will also include earphones to help with the diegetic sound for the audience. The antagonist which is the older man will be holding a plastic bag that will shortly be placed over the victims head and a gun that is kept under his blazer.

The opening two minutes will include a range of camera shots. For example we will have a long shot of the abandoned forest to make the audience aware of the surroundings. We would then have an over the shoulder shot of the man to show the audience what he can see and will also contain and 2 shot. Medium shots will be used to recognise the victim but not make it completely obvious at the start that this man will become the antagonist. Close ups will emphasise the facial expressions of the young girl as she will be worried and also of the feet walking through the leaves. this will be effective as you will get the diegetic sounds of the leaves and wind making the shot more creepy.

The mis en scene will include low key lighting which horrors generally contain. It is will be in a forest which follows the codes and conventions of a horror genre making it clear that this is a horror movie. and This will make the opening more frightening for the audience to watch. The girl will be wearing her school girls and the antagonist will be wearing dark clothing which can connote the dark events that are about to take place.



Initial Ideas for the Opening Two Minute Film

Initial Ideas

My initial idea for my film would be a horror genre, I would achieve this by following the codes and conventions of a horror such as a stereotypically dumb teenage girl home alone and incorporating this in my opening two minutes.

My possible narrative that I would hope to reveal in the opening includes a young girl on the way home from school, with the scene she is being followed by a middle aged man. As she goes on she discovers that she is being watched and gets even more frightened and wary and the scene carries on. The scene will end with the girl being kidnapped by the un known man who is stalking her, this will leave an enigma for the audience keeping them on the edge of their seats. My opening two minutes will be set in the middle of a forest with low key lighting to build tension and will lead to a main road when reaching the climax. I hope to film during the evening in order to create a mysterious and scary atmosphere. Possible main characters wish to include a young girl who will be known as a victim and an antagonist who will be the older man.

The Other Guys opening scene analysis

                               

The Other Guys

The other guys starts with an establishing shot of New York City which we are told straight away with the non-diegetic sound of the voice over. The establishing shot is effective as we are immediately shown a modern city connoting that danger and excitement will just be round the corner as in the city of New York, anything is possible. To add to this effect we have the diegetic sound of the sirens of a police car, this tells us that something thrilling is about to happen drawing the audience in as quick as possible. We can see that it is already following the codes and conventions of an action suggesting that this movie would be aimed towards males ranging from teenagers to adults in their late 40's. The establishing shot zooms out showing more of the busy city until the shot changes in a second. 

The next shot was fast and quick, picking up the pace of the clip and making the audience start to feel that rush. We hear the mph of a car that zooms by and we see a close up of a blur of it as it goes past so fast hyping up the audience. We then get a close up of a muscly man on top of a car, by him being on top of this car makes him higher than everyone else connoting that he could have more power. We then have fast changed shots, up paced is effective in action as it allows the audience to pay constant attention. We also have the non-digetic noise of the up paced song that is quite loud, this means the characters are shouting to each other making everything more dramatic. To add to the codes and conventions we are shown a chase, there is diegetic sound from the cars skidding as they try to avoid gun shots adding more action and giving the audience a boost of adrenaline as the first gun shot is fired and we are shown a medium shot of the back window of the car shattering. The next is extremely powerful as we get a panning, close up shot of a golden bullet in slow motion fly past. As the bullet leaves the gun we see the flames coming from the gun and hear the diegetic sound of the bullet as it turbos through the air and smashes a police siren. 

The next shots are shots showing 3 different characters all holding an extreme weapon. Shots are fired towards the roof of the car where on the characters are. From a high angle shot we see this character jump from one car to another, this shot is slowed down a bit which is effective as it creates a bit of suspense. After this we get a birds eye view of all the cars turning into a straight on shot of 2 cars side to side crashing into each other. We get diegetic sounds of car horns and gun shots so something is always happening to entertain the audience. As bullets are rapidly fired from the back of the car onto another car the front flies up covering the front window allowing them not to see. Tension is added as the audience are anticipated to find out if they will crash and the bad guys will get away.

The audience is then shown a medium shot of the car, then a truck blocking a road with materials and then a close up of  big double decker bus. This is effective as it helps build and create tension as the audience knows soon all these vehicles will collide together, but don't know what is going to happen. The characters in the car get out their guns, which we are shown a close up of them both and blow the front of the car blocking the window off, showing off their skills as professionals. The car at full speed goes up the ramp and we get a medium shot of the car crashing straight into the bus and the character says "did someone call 91 holy shit" and everyone on the bus goes silent.

The next shot carries on from the chase as we are shown a medium shot of the same bus banging into the back of 2 cars, the 2 cars apart and the bus goes straight through. The non diegetic sound is still music playing from the radio of the car, it is rap connoting that these guys are bad but also helps get the audience pumped. The target audience is mainly for teenagers as well and stereotypically this music is aimed at male teenagers so it fits in. A car involved in the chase stops at gets out the car, they are both holding high status weapons and stand there in frustration of some real action. They start shooting at the bus hopelessly. The character in the car of the bus is drives the bus and screams "hand on" as he makes a sharp turn. Suddenly we get a side angle shot of the car flying out of the bus, this turns into a front close up of one of the characters holding a gun in each hand shooting at the other characters. The camera zooms in and as it can't get any closer the camera shot changes to what he cans see.

The last shots are a long shots of a car smashing into a shop window and an explosion happens causing flames. The diegetic sound are bangs of the fire and shattering of the glass. We end with the whole camera filling up with fire. This is effective as it makes the audience left with enigmas. Who survives? What was the car chase all about?