The Logo/Poster

Props: Newspapers

For the film, I need to create a scrapbook, detailing the killer's history. This will need to include newspaper articles, artist interpretations and other snippets of information. All the articles I have seen have little or no colour, and aside from that, look exactly like modern newspapers. I will have to design a local newspaper logo as well as the stories revolving around the killer. I will shortly be analysing the text and language in the articles to help create my own.


http://www.nytimes.com/1989/02/09/obituaries/killer-joe-piro-who-popularized-discotheque-dancing-dies-at-68.html

The Knife (improved)

The weapon of choice for my antagonist is going to be a knife, as is with most slasher films. This is to get a shock from the audience with the slow death and the amount of blood a stabbing wound create. I have seen prop knives that use pumps to transfer fake blood to the blade so it looks like blood is being drawn from the victim. I have found tutorials as well as websites that sell these props.

http://www.instructables.com/id/How-To-Create-A-Realistic-Bleeding-Knife-Effect/

I would prefer to buy them, but they may cost too much, so I fear I may have to make my own.

Jason Voorhees of Friday the 13th

The killer will wield a large knife, almost the size of a machete. This is because it has strong links to popular slasher films (Friday the 13th etc.) and is commonly associated with brutal murder. As the killer has remained feral for 2+ decades, a modern kitchen knife would not be accessible to him. although it has been used in slasher films (such as Halloween and Psycho). It is possible that the killer could wield an old rusted kitchen knife, which would add to his feral background, but it depends if I can source the machete.

Mike Myers of Halloween

A pocket knife isn't shocking or large enough and is associated with petty crime, nor would it be suitable for several of the death scenes. An option is a bowie knife, but these are more military thriller (such as the Rambo series) than horror. This may be an option and it is large enough, but I feel that a machete style blade is more terrifying and is more commonly established in similar texts. A meat cleaver is as terrifying, but does not stab, instead it chops, so would not be suitable. The meat cleaver is only featured in one notable horror film I am aware of, which is the meatcleaver massacre, a bad example of slasher                                                                                      films and by no means a classic.

Identifying Genre: Film

My brief is to create a short film, and I have chosen horror as I enjoy the genre. To create a successful horror film, I believe that I have to provoke fear in the audience, either by jump scares, terrifying concepts or shocking imagery. At the heart of the genre, the sole purpose is to scare the audience. Other conventions include:

• Isolated setting such as a wood or small urban town.
• Amplified diegetic sounds (e.g. footsteps) along with unsettling non diegetic sounds (e.g. protagonist's heartbeat).
• Editing not in bias of the antagonist. The horror from these films is usually achieved from the unknown, and we therefore don't see much of the antagonist, but when we do, it is sudden and gruesome or we see a shadow move in the background which builds suspense. There are examples of films that break conventions, for example, most zombie films have zombies in the main focus.

Within the genre however, there are many sub genres, all that have there own conventions. As my film will incorporate conventions from found footage films and slashers, I will focus on those


Slasher film often revolve around a person who has either been succumb to trauma or been abused as a child and as a result is insane. A typical storyline of a slasher is a person returns to their hometown and kill those that he thinks deserve it, this is usually a group of teenagers, as they would deem them immoral. The killer succeeds in most murders but may fail and either be taken into custody or killed. An example of this is the franchise 'Halloween' in which a killer institutionalised since childhood escapes from his psychiatric hospital and stalks his sister. His psychiatrist expects his movements and tries to follow him. He kills teenagers as they commit 'immoral' acts and eventually attempts to kill his sister, when he is repeatedly shot and supposedly killed.

Identifying Genre: Radio Advert

I have a clear idea of the film's plot and direction and therefore, have a good sense of the genre. I am creating a found footage/slasher hybrid short film. However, I am not just creating the film. I have to create a poster and radio advert.

In my presentation about about the film, I showed the conventions of horror radio adverts and showed examples, that part of the presentation can be found here:

http://prezi.com/gvmiujpnmz3z/?utm_campaign=share&utm_medium=copy

The radio advert could be exhibited in a number of ways. It can be played by:

• A public broadcast station,
• A commercial station,
• A community station.

My advert would be best suited to specific community station as the audience would likely be horror fans, were I to pick the right station. An example of this would be the station hosted on this website: http://www.horror-theatre.com/ The station discusses horror stories and would be perfect for targeting my audience as the audience would be horror fans. Community radio stations of this type should be my primary focus. The other methods would be impractical as the cost to broadcast an advert would be too high and I would be advertising to a large portion of people who would not be interested. A film advert on a public broadcast station would be out of place, regardless of it's genre.

Furthermore, there are several types of station according to where they are situated and the numbers they reach:

• An international station, 
• A national station, 
• A local station,
• An online station.

The most beneficial choice for me to advertise on would be online, as they are more likely to reach the specific audience I want to advertise to, and would have the largest reach to the specific audience. They are also the most likely to fall into the category of community radio, which also helps narrow down the audience I target.

The Style of Film

My film's plot revolves around the group creating a documentary, so the found footage format was always a certainty. I did originally plan to have some conventional film shots within the piece, but the more I thought about it, the more I doubted the idea. First of all, I don't have the equipment to film scenes of a quality so much better than the found footage shots that they would be distinguishable from each other, which could lead to confusing the audience. Also, the point of a found footage film is to strip it of it's cinematic aesthetic and a lot of the horror is the reality, which my idea of adding conventional scenes would nullify.

The slasher genre is usually filmed conventionally as the deaths are the integral part of the film, and they need to be filmed. However, there are found footage films that also have extreme violence on camera, especially the first ones, Cannibal corpse and Man Bites Dog. They both depict extreme violence and death on camera to suggest the sub-genre also has the convention of violence on screen.

Dialogue

Now that I have an outline for the plot, I have to start thinking about writing dialogue and a script. There are two ways I can go about this;

• Script all pieces of dialogue. This is the most conventional method as used by most film writers as then all dialogue is considered and rehearsed so there is little chance of breaking character.
• Outline the rough meaning to the scenes and what I want to happen in terms of dialogue and let them improvise. This is more unconventional but films like "The Blair Witch Project" are examples of the format working within the horror genre as it provokes more genuine reaction. This would also put less stress on me as I have little experience at scriptwriting.

I will try to write a script as I believe that it'll be much better for auditioning and for the story as a whole, but if I am not pleased with my attempts to write, I shall use the outline of the story and rely on the actor's improvisational skills.

Plot Development

Since plot 1 has been chosen, I have expanded on some of the death scenes etc. The plot for the film is now as follows:

Five supernatural enthusiasts gather to film themselves as they venture into the woods to attempt to encounter a ghost. They set off for the woods to set up camp and begin to film. Three members venture off alone with their own cameras. The other two film themselves outlining their intentions in the tent. This is when one of them gets stabbed through the tent. The other grabs the camera and runs from the tent. The other grabs the camera and runs from the tent. They realize the others are still in the tent and they have no idea that someone has been killed. The protagonist attempts to find them and runs the direction they thought the others were heading. They run into another of the members with a broken spike in their jaw and notices that their camera is still recording and plays the footage back, hoping there will be proof of the ghost. They see a man, staring at the lens. He leaves shot to reveal the person alive, impaled on a spike, which the killer then kicks and snaps, hence why the spike is broken. The protagonist discovers the legend is a human and runs, to discover another corpse hanging on a tree. They run immediately, not daring to investigate. They star to recognize their surroundings and they hear their name being screamed from behind them. They turn around in just enough time to see the last remaining partner killed.The killer then stabs the protagonist in the chest and inserts the camera into the wound and the film ends.

The plot is not a typical plot for most films as the protagonist is killed and the antagonist doesn't see any consequence, but is quite typical for the horror genre. The plot does follow Todorov's theory of plot (as seen below)

Todorov’s Narrative Theory from Die-fast-live-pretty

The equilibrium is the killer not being disturbed in the woods.
The disruption is the settlement of the people, trying to flush him out.
The recognition of disruption is the first killing.
The attempt to repair the disruption is the protagonist truing to escape.
The return to equilibrium is the final death.

Tutorial: Wound

I watched an online tutorial about how to create realistic looking wounds, I now have a slightly better understanding of how wounds are created and believe that with practice attempts, I could create a realistic wound of this nature. I can get all of the materials required (Foundation, liquid latex and paint) relatively cheap and as shown in the pictures, produces realistic wounds. For the more elaborate killings I will probably have to use different techniques (i.e. face stabbing etc,)

Presentation

I have already thought quite far into the process as I am enthusiastic about the project. We were tasked with pitching the idea we had so far to the class, I presented this to the class :

http://prezi.com/u15qipv4bexd/?utm_campaign=share&utm_medium=copy&rc=ex0share

I presented two plots and gave out forms to try and narrow down to one plot. I received answers back, every single one preferred plot one, so I am definitely using that plot. There was a joint majority decision between the second and third ending. People said that they preferred the intrigue and mystery of the second ending, but they thought the gore at the end will be a good way of continuing the theme of the film and is a good way of making the audience uncomfortable, which is what the horror genre attempts to do. I have therefore chosen to use the third ending, as I think it will be a good challenge on my current skills.



This is an example of the sheet they filled out after the ideas were pitched to them.

Pete Buckingham: Audience Theory

When identifying my audience, I briefly mentioned Pete Buckingham's methods of classification, The  SlideShare presentation explains his theory in detail and the ways he has categorised audience types

Audience pete buckingham what people go to see from Elaine Humpleby

Rob Zombie: Director and Composer

Rob Zombie has directed a total of 6 horror films, most of which, he has written or co-written. His directional debut was the film "House of 1000 corpses" about a sadistic family that have kidnapped two couples on the night of Halloween. The film starts with a couple writing a book about Dr. Satan, a local legend, which they eventually encounter. The directional debut was originally picked up by Universal Pictures, but were worried it might achieve too high a certificate. The film was then was purchased back and sold to Lions Gate Entertainment. He says that the film was inspired by films such as 'The Texas Chainsaw Massacre' and 'The Hills Have Eyes', both of which were exploitation horror films.

Zombie as a director is interesting as he is first and foremost, a composer and front man of a Shock-Rock/Nu metal band. His lyrics were known for their horror lyrics. The soundtrack for House of 1000 corpses features unconventional music, such as Ramones and his own music. This gives me some indication that Rock and Metal music have their place within horror. I have no idea on the context of the music, as I have yet to watch the film, but I do still retain that my natural music composition has a place in my film. I intend to watch some of his films and get an idea for his aesthetic as well as the sound within the film.

His films are not generally well received by critics, his debut getting just 31% on Metacritic. However, they do have a loyal fan base and Rob Zombie intends to please the general fan of the 70's and 80's exploitation horror films.

They generally do not have a large budget, His first two had a budget of $7 million, and the halloween reboots with a budget of $15 million. His most recent release, The Lords of Salem had a budget of 1.5 million. His films have all grossed a profit aside from The Lords of Salem.

Unlikely Location: Derelict Buildings

Derelict buildings are places that people find scary as there is no certainty what has inhabited the buildings and has been used in several horror films. The dark, abandoned look of this particular location (St Andrews asylum) has been abandoned for a number of years and the dark corridors and peeling paint looks very horror.

An example of a horror film set in an asylum is Jacob's Ladder.

The problem with this location is it is guarded by security and getting access to film is unlikely. This is the   case with most derelict buildings.

Likely Location: Woods

I hope to film this film in mousehold heath, a local wood. A wood is quite a stereotypical location for horror as they are hard to navigate through and the lack of certainty is terrifying to many. I plan to film in the evening and at night, so the wilderness becomes unpredictable and the locations are horrifying. There are also several clearings, which can give some freedom of location if necessary. There are also ponds, should I want a drowning scene. I think for the rough narrative I have planned, there are few better locations for the film. Whilst there are other local woods, there is no discernible features in the woods that would facilitate the need for me to travel there whereas Mousehold is extremely close to me.

Falling Red Presentation

For this presentation, we were given the task to analyze a piece of media and ancillary products relating to it, including aspects of audience theory as well as the areas of production, distribution and exhibition. I chose the album 'Empire of the Damned' by Falling Red and I presented this to my A2 class on Monday the 23rd of June.



I received feedback on this presentation and it is mostly good. The main issue was that the images were a bit hard to see, which I completely overlooked as I was focused on the creation of the presentation. I have learned to test all media before I show it. The mind map is shown below;



After this, I have decided that I do not want too choose brief 1 as the task isn't as interesting as the others to me and I am already heavily involved within the music industry.