Planning : My 60 Second Pitch

Provide an explanation of what you had to do for the 60 second pitch.

You can see my 60 second pitch in the video found at THIS LINK. My pitch is from 00.00 to 00.00

The following picture is of myself planning the film....

The movie idea.

The film begins as 4 teenagers investigate a shack in the forest, this shack is very superstitious and has many rumors surrounding it, after his scared friends leave, the main character ventures in the unknown shack alone. 

After seeing nothing suspicious in the shack he returns home to his isolated village, little to his knowledge, a beast that has been watching him follows him back home.

Shortly after, people in the village start to disappear, the police are called but eventually don't believe the people.

Research dead mary, dead wood and wrong turn.

In out lesson, we watched the openings to these three films, we discussed the similarities of moments in Horror films. There were many re-occurrences between these films, for example all begin in a secluded location, miles from civilization.

The BBFC

The BBFC stands for the British Board of Film Classification. They offer independant, self financing media content regulating that is not for profit.Including, mainly, self regulatory classification and labelling for peices of media brought out in the UK, be it Films, Games or Adverts. Their primary objective is to 'prevent the public...from content which may raise harm'.

They base restictions on a number of thing which the content might include in it. These include violence, language, theme, sex, nudity, horror, drugs, disrimination and imitable behavoir. Based upon how many of these factors a peice of media includes will defy which restriction it is given from Universal, all the way to R18.

Audience research - The redults ... cont.

4. Whom would you watch the film qit?

On your own - 15% - 4 votes
In a goup - 70% - 19 votes
With Family - 15% - 4 votes
Other (please specify) - 11% - 3 votes
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With Parrtner
I don't, they scare me
My Cats

5.How would you watch them?

Cinema - 28% 7 votes
DVD - 72% - 18 votes
Blu-ray disc - 8% - 2 votes
On TV (from listings) - 40% - 10 votes
Other (please specify) - 12% - 3 votes
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Computer
Hiding behind a cushion
iPad

6. Finally, what is your favourite horror film?
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28 Days later
The Strangers
Scream
Saw
Paranormal Activity
The craft
Winnie the Pooh
The Others
The last house on left
Alien
Saw
The grudge
Barbie
Halloween
The Devil Inside
The ring
Paranormal Activity
Saw
The Shining
Paranormal Activity
Final Destination
28 Days later
Scream

Audience research - the results.

Luckily, a massive 27 people voted on my survey, these are the results...

1. Are You Male or Female?

Male - 48.1% - 13 votes
Female - 51.9% - 14 votes

2. How Old Are You?

Under 12 - 0% -  0 votes
12 to 15 - 0% - 0 votes
16 to 19 - 63%  - 17 votes
20 to 25 - 22% - 6 votes
26 to 40 - 15% - 4 votes
41 to 60 - 0% - 0 votes
Over 61 - 0% - 0 votes

3. How often do you watch horror films?

Every Day - 7.4% - 2 votes
2 or 3 days a week - 0% - 0 votes
Once a week - 3.7% - 1 vote
Every 2 weeks - 3.7% - 1 vote
Once a month - 19% - 5 votes
2 or 3 times in 6 months -15% - 4 votes
2 or 3 times a year - 52% - 14 votes

more to come soon....

I started some audience research, for this task, creating a survey was one of the only options, if you wish to view this survey, it is here: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/FDSF5D5

THE HISTORY OF HORROR

The start of the 2000s saw a quiet period for the genre. The release of an extended version of The Exorcist in 2000 was successful despite the film having been available on home video for years.A main trend of the most recent decade is the use of psychology to scare audiences, rather than gore.

There was also return to the zombie genre in horror movies made after 2000, The Resident Evil video game franchise was adapted into a film released in March 2002. Four sequels have followed. The British film 28 Days Later (2002) featured an update on the genre with The Return of the Living Dead (1985) style of aggressive zombie. The film later spawned a sequel: 28 Weeks Later. An updated remake of Dawn of the Dead (2004) soon appeared as well as the zombie comedy Shaun of the Dead (2004)

A larger trend is a return to the extreme, graphic violence that characterized much of the type of low-budget, exploitation horror of before. An example of this trend was the emergence of a type of horror with emphasis on torture, suffering and violent death, referred to as "horror porn". With films such as The Collector, The Tortured, Saw, and Hostel, and their sequels, frequently singled out as examples of this sub-genre

THE HISTORY OF HORROR

In the first half of the 1990s, the genre continued many of the themes from the 1980s. The slasher films A Nightmare on Elm Street, Friday the 13th, Halloween and Child's Play all saw sequels in the 1990s, most of which met with varied amounts of success at the box office,

The later 90's brought with it a brand new ways of scaring audiences - computer generated effects. This was both good and bad. Two main problems pushed horror backward during this period: first, the horror genre had worn itself out with the nonstop slasher and gore films in the eighties. Secondly, the adolescent audience which feasted on the blood of the previous decade grew up, and the replacement audience for horror films were being captured by the explosion of science-fiction and fantasy films, thanks to the special effects possibilities

 

To re-connect with its audience, horror became more self-mockingly ironic and comedy, especially in the second half of the 90's. Peter Jackson's Braindead (1992) took the splatter film to new levels for comic effect. Wes Craven's Scream (1996), featured teenagers who were fully aware of, and often made reference to, the history of horror movies, and mixed ironic humour with the shocks. Along with I Know What You Did Last Summer (1997) and Urban Legend (1998).

THE HISTORY OF HORROR

The 1970's saw a turning point, unnlike the early days, films were no longer just supernatural occurances, in fact many films in the 70's depicted possessed women and children and highlighted the devil as the main villan.. For example The exorcist (1973) and The Omen (1976). Many 70's films were inspired from the ideas in the 60's, some were even inspired from recent conflicts like the vietnam war. The Hills have eyes (1977) and The texas chainsaw Massacre (1978) are just some examples.

The 1980s saw a wave of gory lower budget "B movie" horror films – although most of them were reviewed as being bad by critics, many became cult classics and later saw success with critics. An example is Sam Raimi's Evil Dead movies, which were low-budget gorefests but had a very original plotline which was later praised by critics. Other horror film examples include cult vampire classic Fright Night(1985) and The Lost Boys (1987).

THE HISTORY OF HORROR

By 1950's technology had vastly improved, two sub-genres began to appear; Horror-of-armageddon  and Horror-of-the-demonic .A lot of productions featured humanity overcoming threats from "outside": alien invasions and deadly mutations to people, plants, and insects. In the case of some horror films from Japan, such as Godzilla (1954) and its sequels, mutation from the effects of nuclear radiation.

Some horror films during this period, such as The Thing from Another World (1951) and Don Sielgel's Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956), managedd to use the paranoia from the Cold War for
scaring audiences.

Many of the special effects back then would seem quite primative to us nowadays, this was because computer generated effects were not availible for use in films, so instead models were made, good example of these are featured in the video above (Godzilla).

THE HISTORY OF HORROR

 

In 1912, the world famous 'Universal Pictures' was first created. By 1931, they created their fist horror movie, Tod Browning's Dracula. Back then, horror films were a lot more timid than they are today, if they we're re-released nowadays they would be seen more of 'classic film' rather than 'horror film'. The horror film industry was just taking off, soon it would become one of the main movie genres.

THE HISTORY OF HORROR

Since the beginning of film production over 200 years ago, in the late 1800's, film makers have been enthralled to produce scary films for the public, to shock and frighten them is the main criteria- the horror film was born.

Starting in the late 1890's, short and silent films were very popular, the earliest of these included the depiction of supernatural events created by film pioneer Georges Melies. It is believed that the first ever horror film made was called 'Le Manoir du Diable' or "the haunted house" Created in 1896. By 1898, Georges' second silent horror film was created, called 'Le Caverne maudit' or "The cave of the unholy one".

12 years later, edison studios creted the first horror film with sound was produced; the first version of 'Frankenstein" was created, although lost for many years after.

 

Preliminary Task - How'd it go?

From a glance, my preliminary task looks quite good, although short, it has helped me learn the basics of filming and set me on my way to filming the main task.

I think the late edition of sound effects makes the film seem more real to audiences as well as making the background deeper as apose to having just silence. Another advantage of the film is the top notch, premier acting seen by the actors I chose.This gives the characters extra life and emotion in their voices and movements. I believe the whole production and editing of the film is of a high quality, especially as it was all completed by one person. But of course my opinion of the film may be slightly biased in favour of the producer. Unlike some films, there are little or no costume and location malfunctions when character or places look different in different scenes, this is because all filming was completed within 30 minutes. I intend to keep this strategy of short filming times in my final film.

With all great films, there are some wrong parts and errors which make it past the final edit, this film is no exception. One of the main problems of filming is the wobbly footage which  was the final outcome, to overcome this tripods and better quality cameras will be used in the main film. Another smalll problem could be with the final edit, some of the sound effects do not fit perfectly with the footage and some of the different scenes do not quite fit together. In some places the footage can jump between scenes unchronologicallyor end abruptly for example; this is expected from the first set of filming and will be greatly improved upon as the director gains more filming experience. In the future, to combat this problem, more time will be spent on editing the sound and footage to give the final edit a more polished feel.

Overall a short but well produced preliminary task which developed my skills with a camera. There a some small problems with footage however that is acceptable.

Preliminary Task - 2nd Edit (With Sound FX)

Above is the 2nd edit of my preliminary task, I added sound effects from iMovie to set the scene and make it feel more real.

Edited preliminary task

Mise-en-scene (costume and props)

Ideally my two pleliminary cast actors would need just one prop. The main visual prop in the film is the single suitcase which is shovelled between the two parties. I chose to keep it closed so to hide the mystery of what is in it from the audience. If I am unable to get a suitcase, since I do not own one, a similiar looking product will for example a blank laptop bag.

For my costume I want the boss character to look smart while the other still have to look smart but not to over-do the boss's smart clothes. I think my choice of hats for them has shown this; the boss wears a full suit and sort of "mafia boss" hat while the other man wears a smart yet durable coat and flatcap. I believe this shows the audience straight away who is the boss.

Uploading the film

Uploading was relativly simple and un-problematic, I used iPhoto on the iMacs to upload the pictures and film quickly and easily. I will edit together the peices of film next week and hopfully create a good-looking end product.

Filming - The problems

One of the main filming problems we faced during filming was the fact we all used iPad's to film. Of course these were relatively simple to use and to upload the finished footage to the school iMacs however the lack of being able to attach a tripod meant that some footage was wobbly as the main director struggled to keep the camera still.

(Above) The second problem we faced was the fact Deano Houghton was unable to commence filming during the alloted time because a lesson of his was moved to another period. This clashed with the time we were given to film so we had to find another man to act in our film. There were many people availible for the task however we thought it was the best decision to choose fellow year 13 media student Joseph Cassidy. (Right person in photo).
Here are his stats...
Name: Joseph 'Joe' Cassidy.
Age: 17.
Occupation: Year 13 Media Student.
Filming Experience: A lot.
Available on set: Yes.
Role: Actor (Man 1)