Writing A Screenplay For Your Opening

'THE HIDDEN NIGHTMARE'

by Tonicha Hughes, Jack Gardner, Jack Stanley and Harrison Coe.

creepy nursery rhyme is playing in the background

family pull up the car on the drive

switch to girl in the attic you cant see her face only her hands she islooking at pictures of families of four

switches back to family who are just opening the doors and jumping out of the car laughing(you cant hear them laughing or talking)

switches back to girl who is scratching the eyes out of people in pictures

goes back to family who are making their way to the boot of the car to get their bags

back to girl who has some sort of organ(heart lungs etc) she will be cutting this up

This is a screenplay of just a section of our opening.

Research: What Is A Screenplay

A screenplay is a piece of writing which has been created to be inserted into a film. The screenplay will include what the audience will both see and hear whilst they're watching the movie. The screenplay isn't always the final piece but a guideline which the directors and producers will follow and input their own ideas. Above is the screenplay from the teen horror movie 'Scream'. Using this I can immediately see the differences between a screenplay and a script. The name of the character is placed in the middle and above the characters speech. The screenplay features far less detail then that of a script as it is just a guideline. The screenplay also features some of the shots such as interior kitchen. This will help us when producing our screenplay because I will know that I don't have to include all the details and can leave more vague then I would a script.

Research: The Importance of Sound in Horror Films

Sound is something which becomes iconic within a horror film. You would be able to identify films without watching them just by identifying the music. For example most people would be able to identify Jaws because of its famous theme tune, likewise with Psycho. Sound in Horror films is most commonly used to show the threat of danger and allows the viewer to identify if there is a threat.

Music in Horror Films contains something called non-linear sounds. This includes distorted notes and sounds similar to blowing too hard into a trumpet. Non linear sounds are used to enhance the emotional impact of scenes. Non Linear sounds can be created when somebody/something is put into a position of danger, this taps into the instinctive fear of the viewers and causes the fear to be created.

Something which has recently been used in horror films is the use of children's nursery rhymes. The nursery rhymes when played slowly can sound quite sinister and give the sense that any age group can be under threat. This shows how much of a part sound plays in horror movies.




The movie clip of above shows just how important that sound can be in horror movies. Without the sound in the clip it wouldn't be as scary, the sound creates all the tension and suspense in the clip as it signals the threat of the shark as it closes in on its prey. This increasing volume of music is probably the most iconic and most frequently used in horror movies.

Violin instruments are also often used in horror movies to create an eerie and tense feeling in the film. This is used in films such as suspiria and exorcist which have become famous since the release. The music in horror film also can determine what genre the film is, for example the opening of The Shining can be interpreted as a different genre if you were to change the music in the opening sequence due to the ambiguity, the sound is what allows people to decode whether it is a specific genre.

A Timeline And Analysis Of The Opening 'Se7en'

For this task we had to watch the opening titles of the psychological thriller 'Se7en'. We had to watch the opening 4 times. The first just to watch the opening to see how we felt, the second to record the titles and the order in which they appeared. The third time was to identify the visuals that appeared on the screen, then we had to listen carefully to any audio that was included in the titles.

This would be helpful for me when completing our main task because it would allow me to see what would need to be included in order to make it as good as level as it could be. By watching and recording things about 'Se7en' I have familiarised myself with what sort of things would appear on the screen whilst completing titles which will only further my knowledge and open up a wider range of openings that could be done

Research: The Importance Of Opening Titles

Opening Titles May Include Some Of The Following

• Film's Title
• Production Company Name
• Actor's names
• Director's name
• Producer's name
• Music by…
• Cinematography by…
• Distribution Company

The Difference Between Opening Titles and Ending Titles/Credits
The opening titles which occur before the film only contain the names of that who have more contribution towards the film for example the director and leading cast members will appear, whereas the end credits contain all the people who have any contribution towards the making of the film or anyone involved in the film. The end credits will include all of the extras and roles such as make-up artists.

This will help us in our project because we are going to be producing the opening two minutes to a teen horror film, so we may need to include titles in our opening therefore this research will aid us in our knowledge of titles and what we should use in the titles we may or may not choose to include.

Writing a Treatment For Your Opening

A treatment is a more detailed idea of what my groups 2 minute opening is going to be, it is done so that not only can the group and other people see in detail the idea but the group can also look back on this treatment after making the 2 minute film opening and say whether it stayed the same or whether ideas were changed throughout the filming process.

The film opening will be two different scenes, these two scenes will be skipped backwards and forwards between throughout the two minutes, the group decided this would be a good idea because this is cross cutting and we thought this would be effective in our film opening and make it look good. Also the two scenes are completely different in the way they are set, edited and the way the characters are so it will be a complete juxtaposition.

The first part of the opening will be a family of 4 pulling up in their car outside a new house that they will be moving into. The car will pull up on the drive and as it does the film will switch to a clip of a young girl in a dark attic like place cutting up various pictures of families, nothing is given away and the audience will not know who the families are. It will then go back to family getting out of the car, laughing and joking but you will not be able to hear the family only see as a song will be playing in the background, after this the little girl in the attic will appear again still with pictures but this time scratching the eyes out of people in the pictures, throughout the whole of this part of the scene you will not be able to see the little girls face properly only her hands which will be grubby and dirty. After a few seconds of this it will be skipped back to the family again getting their bags out of the boot of the car still laughing and joking and this will be dragged on for about 10-20 seconds until going back to the little girl who will now be cutting up a heart that the group will get from the butchers, she will be slowly dissecting it and pulling bits off as if it was a humans heart but the audience will not be aware who's heart it is or even infact if it is a heart or not, they will be completely unaware as to what it is. Back to the family and they will then be walking down the drive with their bags towards the house, and the shot will go back to the girl who at this point will now be cutting (with the same scissors that she was dissecting the heart with so that there is blood on them) a picture of a particular family, only as the camera zooms in it becomes clear that it is the family that are moving in that she is cutting up. At this point it will skip back down to the family who will all be walking through the front door and the camera shot will point down towards the bottom right hand corner of the door before slamming it shut, as the door is shutting the music playing will turn off and the door will bang shut revealing the name of the film in the corner, the shot then goes back to the little girl who will also hear the bang of the door, drop everything she is doing and quickly turn her head towards the attic door, the audience will be unaware as to what will happen next.

We thought this would be a good idea as it is left on a cliff hanger which would make the audience want to watch on.
The music playing throughout the film opening will be a creepy nursery rhyme type of song in which the group will devise on a computer.

Target Audience Feedback

In order to decide which one of our potential openings would be the best opening for our specific target audience we had to conduct a survey in order to see which was the most preferred opening. Research into the target audience is very important as it will have a large impact upon release. If a distributor does not research into the target audience then the film might not be as successful as it won't satisfy the audience. Audience research is very helpful as it can also supply you with more ideas which will only help your media production. During this task we created a simple survey which asked which of our three potential openings our target audience and our findings are shown above. We found this very useful as it provided us with an insight as to what the target audience would like to see in our horror opening. However, in order to gain a more accurate representation of what the audience would like to see we could have used a larger sample size to gain more opinions and more improvements. 

3 Potential Openings

 In the first opening we decided to choose a less generic film opening as we thought this would be more intriguing for our target audience. The opening we have chosen relies upon editing as it will contain frequent cut shots from the two different locations. Although the filming should be simple we feel as though it would have an exciting start to the film. We also feel that this would attract the identified target audience. Also by completing our target audience feedback the results shown us that the audience thought this would be the best possible opening that we could have chosen. The first opening can also be seen as being more sinister then the other two hence our choice

The second potential opening which we considered was the one above. We considered this on because it contained a few codes and conventions which feature in other horror films which would make people aware that it is a horror. The reason why we decided to go against this idea was because we felt it would be hard to shoot considering the resources we had available to us meaning that we may not have the desired effect.

The third opening was similar to the second. It was based very much on the threat and villain of the movie being presented in the opening scene to show the danger early on. We decided against the use of this opening because the audience feedback was not as strong and as popular in comparison to the first opening. Also the film opening is quite similar to most other horror movies and we wanted a different opening where we could rely on the editing side of things as opposed to the filming side of things where the resources we have available may come into effect.

Update in Group Changes

Due to a change in my timetable it has caused me to change my film production group. I have now changed from being part of Broadmoor Films, to now being a part of EdgySnail Films.

Broadmoor Films - Horror Film Pitch

Research Into Target Audience: Pen Portrait

The task we were given was to show what he had in mind as to what a target audience member would be and specific features about them, we also had to identify features of their personality. The only requirements we had to meet was that they were above the age of 15 because that is the certificate for our film opening.

This task would help our group in regards of what we would need to insert into the opening to make appropriate for the target audience and make it the most exciting for the audience. If we don't conduct this process then we would be making our film opening blindly and not having guidelines for the end product. By completing this task we ensure that we maximise the possibility of it being the best for the target audience. Completing the task also made us realise that some of our existing ideas may not be suitable as they would not be likely to entertain the target audience we have identified.

Film Opening Analysis

Analyse the codes and conventions of horror films as shown in the openings of 'Dead Wood', 'Dead Mary' and 'Wrong Turn'.

All Horror movies have specific codes and conventions which make people know that it is a horror movie, you're not looking for them you have just sub consciously learnt how to decrypt them. You do it with everything that you watch you can identify the genre by the codes and conventions that they feature. The codes you decrypt are symbolic codes, technical codes and the conventions.

Technical codes are:
The technical codes are things to do with the general making of the film, the editing and filming are the main things involved in technical codes. Things included in this are music, sound FX, camera angles, camera shots, lighting, movement. Also there are two types of sound there is diegetic sound and non-diegetic sound. non-diegetic sound is sound that he's been adding in during the post-production stage. This includes music, narrators speech and some sound effects. Diegetic sound is sound that is visible or implied to come from objects or people at the scene.
Symbolic codes are:
Symbolic codes are anything that is in the scene, also known as mise en scene. This includes things such as make up, clothing,props such as a phone or a car. Symbolic codes also covers the setting of the scene, such as a house or a field perhaps. The symbolic codes give the audience there first impressions of the character. If they are wearing black and are always in dark lighting with dark make-up you assume that they're most likely the villain of the film or a mysterious character.
Conventions:
Conventions are things that happen in almost every film of in different genres. Conventions allow people to identify what genre of film they're watching. For example in a horror movie there is always a false/jump scare.

To begin with I'm going to comment on a technical code, the music used in the openings of the films. The music increases in tempo as the intensity of the action increase. An example of this is in the beginning of 'Dead Wood' when the male character is running through the woods when he is being chased by the secret identity. The intensity of the music increases as he is put into a position of danger. The music also increases with the fear of the audience and the character in the film, The music cleverly increases tempo along with the heart rate of the male character as he is sprinting through the woods. This music also allows you to identify that it is a horror movie as it is similar to music in other horror movies. Also in 'Wrong Turn' there is minimal evidence of this when she is running away from the threat and towards safety the music gradually gains intensity as she runs through the woods. The music is not as much the focus in the opening to Wrong Turn as it is in Dead Wood, the focus is on the editing . Also in Dead Mary there is almost no evidence of music which gains tempo and intensity, this is mainly due to the little action that features in the opening to the film. There is slight evidence however when you are shown the first person view there is music which gains tempo. However it is minimal.

In all three film openings they all have a similar symbolic code which is the setting, they are all set in a secluded woods. This could also be seen as a convention as well. The reason why this setting has been used is because there is not going to be any help available to the victim if they are in a location miles away from anybody who could help them. The location shows an immediate threat towards the characters that are shown as they have nowhere within a reasonable distance for a spot of safety so they're definitely endangered immediately. The secluded location means that they also won't be able to get a phone signal to call for help.

My next point is closely related to that as I'm going to talk about conventions in the film openings. In Dead Mary the female character is vulnerable as supported by the technical code of the high angle camera shot shows her as being inferior to the villain. The next convention occurs when the phone doesn't have a signal which is always shown in a horror movie, this shows again that she is vulnerable and another way ruled off of how she could call for help when she is put in danger. Also when the male arrives with the fuel for the car another convention is introduced. Most common in horror movies the male is the character who has to take responsibility and take care of the female character. Also the character is shown as wearing very little clothing and showing a lot of the flesh this is both a symbolic code and a convention. This again shows that she is vulnerable but is also a part of her costume. The convention of the women being vulnerable is also portrayed in Wrong Turn, the woman is shown as not being able to climb the wall and the male is. Again in this opening the woman is shown as wearing little clothing and showing a lot of flesh. Another convention in the film opening is that the female character is almost at the point of safety which is the car and then she trips over the trip wire and gets dragged away. The almost to safety scene is often used in horror movies and is also used in Dead Wood. When the male character is running through the woods he has a situation where he can jump over a drop and reach a tent which symbolises the characters safety. Also in Dead Wood the convention of the female character being isolated and vulnerable is presented again.

In Wrong Turn there is use of fast-pace editing. There are frequent and fast cut shots in the opening scene in wrong turn when she is attempting to release herself from the harness. The shots are there to show that the scene is gaining intensity and that the threat of danger is becoming larger and that the characters are in danger.The cut shots are all from different camera angles and shots, such as a close up and a high angle shot. The high angle shot also shows that the villain has the control and that the female character is weak and helpless. This has the effect on the audience that they sense it is becoming more frantic and they begin to feel it as well. Also when the close up is shown of the female characters face it makes it slightly more intimate and personal as you get a sense of the characters emotion. Also this fast paced editing is evidenced in Dead Wood as well. When he is running through the woods there are a lot of cut shots from his point of view to hand held camera work. The hand held camera work makes it more personal and feel more realistic for the audience as well. The fast paced editing is used to correspond with the mood and the intensity of the scene. However, in Dead Mary due to the little action that occurs the editing is very slow paced, to match the mood of the female character as she is bored and waiting. There is a birds eye view shot of the female character which again shows that she is inferior to the villain and she is helpless.

Also focusing on the costumes of the female characters they're all dressed similarly which is inappropriate for going out into the woods, this immediately shows that the characters aren't the brightest and that they are under threat almost instantly. The females show a lot of skin which is supposed to show that they are vulnerable and likely to be killed. The type of clothing could also present the idea of intimacy which is a reoccurring theme within horror movies.

Research: Codes and Conventions

What are codes?

Codes are elements that can be decoded by the audience to provide meaning. These can be divided most easily into 2 groups; technical codes and symbolic codes.

Technical codes include the 'technical' aspects of creating a piece of moving image media. This includes things such as camera shots, angles and movements, editing, sound, titles and lighting. 

Symbolic codes include the main elements of mise-en-scene within a film. Mise-en-scene is a French term that means 'put in the scene'. This covers things such as costume, make-up, setting and props. If we see a girl in a short dress with bright red lipstick we may, as an audience, make an assumption about her. We do this because of the symbolic value attached to these items.

What are conventions?

Conventions are the expected rules that, as an audience, we expect in a specific genre. For example, in a horror film we expect to see conventions such as a killer stalking a victim, a character being placed in a position of peril, a mobile phone running out of battery or losing signal at a crucial moment.

Prezi

Research: What Makes People Scared

The purpose of this piece of work was to aid our knowledge for when we come to planning our main task. Which is to produce a 120 second opening to a teen horror movie and this task was to meant to aid us in what people fear. By understanding what our target audience fear we can then know what to put in the film which would would meet the purpose of the piece of film. We also understood how fears have developed which also allows us to acknowledge how the film have develop in order the make people feel the fear. if we know how peoples fears develop then we can develop our film in a way that will scare the audience. We worked in a group and discussed our fears and how they have developed .

Our Groups Fears Included:

• Spiders
• Drowning
• Slugs
• Zombies
• Clowns
• Heights
• Anything that could kill me
• Being in a house fire

Main Task: Set Brief

The titles and opening of a new teen horror film, to last a maximum of two minutes.

All video and audio material must be original, produced by the candidate(s), with the exception of music or audio effects from a copyright-free source.

Preliminary Task Evaluation

What did you learn from the experience of filming the footage required for your preliminary task? What went well and what could have been done better?

As a group I felt that we learnt quite a lot from the experience of filming the footage. The first thing we learnt was that the storyboard is vitally important to the filming process as it allows you to be able to film the shots quickly but also ensure they're good quality. If the storyboard isn't detailed enough then you will miss out shots, or not know the location which could mean searching for your locations. We also learnt that we must film all of our shots in landscape view so that the footage fills the whole screen rather than having black stripes on the outside. The location planning is also really important as well, as we found that we were searching for locations because our location planning was not thorough enough which had an effect on the quality of the footage as we were under pressure from the limited time. Another thing that we need to consider is the continuity throughout our filming, there was a circumstance where we realised that we had shut the door on one shot but not on any of the others which meant that we had to shoot the scene again which had an effect on the continuity of the film as the angle on the over the shoulder shot was varied. 

What is the difference between pre-production, production and post-production?

Pre-production is all the work and planning that is required before the collection of the footage. This consists of planning your locations, your camera shots and film shots and finally your casting. This is used to make the filming as easy as possible and enables you to film as quickly and efficiently as possible. Production is the process of the filming. After you have finished with production this then enables you to be able to begin post-production. This entails editing the footage that you have collected into something that makes sense and has continuity.

How easy did you find editing in iMovie? Explain at least 4 different skills or techniques that you learnt during this process. 

I found editing in iMovie a lot easier then what I anticipated, I thought that editing would be challenging. I found the editing software relatively simplistic and useable. One skill I learnt whilst using iMovie is how to insert titles into a piece of film. I learnt how to insert music into a film and how to edit the length of the music so it plays over the footage correctly. I also learnt how to mute background audio that I don't want on the footage which is very useful as we filmed in a particularly busy area. Another skill I learnt was how to cut and edit raw footage in order to make a film which made sense.

What is continuity editing?

Continuity editing is a style of editing which ensures that everything flows with a continuous style. It ensures that if a shot cuts to another shot then it makes sense and that it doesn't skip a shot, for example somebody opens a door and then a shot shows somebody walking up to a door.

What do the following terms mean; a) match on action, and b) shot / reverse shot

Match on action is when the camera perspective changes from one shot to another, but the scene has a continuous flow and makes sense. Shot/reverse shot is a filming technique where a character is shown looking at one character and then the other character is shown looking back towards the other character. When using shot/reverse shot you must consider the 180 degree rule so that the characters aren't shown to be on the same side.

Analyse your preliminary task as a piece of continuity editing. What are its strengths and what are its weaknesses. You may find it useful to include targeted screen shots (cmd+shift+4)to illustrate the points that you make.

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My First Edit; iMovie Review

During my first test edit I learned a wide range of new skills and abilities within the iMovie software. iMovie is Apples simple movie editing software which allows consumers to create a generic piece of film but have a certain degree of quality about it.

The first skill I learnt whilst using the software was learning how to alter the length of raw footage in order to achieve the right amount of footage you need and the amount you need for it to make sense and to have continuity. This skill is important because without it the movie wouldn't make sense and the filming would be a lot more difficult, as you would have to film the precise amount of film. You also need to be able to use this technique because if you are going to includr music then you need to know how long the piece of music or sound effect would need to be in order for it to be synced. This skill was particularly important when it came to the 'knock knock' joke as I had to ensure that the joke had continuity and that the shot, reverse shot was implemented correctly otherwise the task wouldn't meet its requirement.

The next skill I learnt was how to drag footage into other collected footage in order to make the film. This skill is important as it is the most essential part to creating a film with continuity and to have a degree of quality. Without this skill then there wouldn't be a film.

Through editing I have also learnt that filming requires a lot of effort so that the continuity of the film is correct. The editing also really highlights the importance of the planning process. The storyboard is vital as it means that you can film quickly and be able to know your shots. If the raw footage quality isn't  very good then your editing will very minimal.

Planning:Casting

This is Harrison, we considered Harrison to be unsuitable for our film as we don't think he has the level of maturity and the level of acting skills that we require for the film.

This Marshal, we deemed Marshal as inappropriate for the film as we thought he wouldn't take the role seriously and would hinder the progress of the filming.

This is Josh, we considered josh as unsuitable for filming as we thought he might not speak clearly enough for the viewers to understand and may have an effect on the quality of the film.

This is Jerin, we considered Jerin to be unsuitable for the film as she wasn't confident enough for the film and we wanted someone who would be confident and willing to be in our film.

This is Matt, we thought Matt would be suitable for our film as  he would be mature enough for our film as he studies media which means he would have experience in the subject, this means he could have input into the film and would understand what he would need to do in order to make the film look professional.

Location Planning

This location isn't suitable because there isn't really enough room for the actors to move and the position of the computers limits the film angles that you can film.

This location isn't really suitable for our film as the film doesn't contain someone walking up the stairs therefore this location isn't required and isn't featured in our location plan.

This corridor is suitable for our film as it allows us to film a wide range of camera angles and shots for our task. Also this corridor is featured in our movie and we feel it would add some contextual detail to our movie to develop understanding on the viewers behalf.

This location is suitable for our film because we were able to position the table and chairs in a position where we were able to film a range of shots and particularly a over the shoulder shot and shot reverse-shot. We can also film the character walking into the room as there is enough space behind the table which would allow us to film the shot needed.

This location has been chosen because it can be used to show a character walking into the room where the joke would be told. The location also allows us to use an over the shoulder shot which we will use and doesn't establish too much of the scene as we want the main focus to remain on the characters rather than the scene itself.

Planning: Storyboard

Underneath, is our storyboard, which we used to plan our preliminary task. We used a storyboard because it is a good way to visualise our film and also plan out the details such as the dialogue, location, camera shot and the angle/ movement. When we begin to film we will have a clear idea of the position of the actors and where the director needs to be stood. The use of a storyboard will ensure that we don't  miss out any shots and will allow us to delete any ones that we don't need because we will see which ones don't match up to our storyboard.

OCR Media Studies, How to Guide. Basic Camera Angles

Camera Movements - 180 rule. OCR How to Guide with Karl Davis

OCR Media Studies - Camera Movements

OCR Media Studies - Basic Camera Shots

Planning: Preliminary Task Introduction

Continuity task involving filming and editing a character opening a door, crossing a room and sitting down in a chair opposite another character, with whom she/he then exchanges a couple of lines of dialogue. This task should demonstrate match on action, shot/reverse shot and the 180-degree rule.

Groups

In my group I am working with, Lucaas Chaiyaractha, Scott Hackett and Liam Wood

Me As A Consumer Of Media

There are many different mediums of communication, most commonly known as the media, this includes Internet, Print, Radio, T.V and Film. The category which I most commonly use is T.V. T.V is the form of media I find myself using the most frequently. The reason for this being it is easy to access and has a wide range of target audiences which means that there is likely to be something that will interest me and engage me. Within T.V there are many different T.V channels, with a personal favourite of mine being the channel E4, the reasons being that I like shows such as 'Skins' and 'The Big Bang Theory'.

The medium of communication which I enjoy secondly to T.V is the internet. The reason why I enjoy using the Internet is because I can access sites which would allow me to keep updated on current affairs, however my main use of the internet is for social networking sites such as Twitter and Facebook . The reason why I use these sites is so that I can talk to my friends easily. Another reason why I use the Internet is to keep up with football scores and watch it online. The last reason why I enjoy is to use catch up sites such as BBC iPlayer, 4oD and ITV Player. I also use it to access music sites such as Spotify.

Another medium I use is print. The reason I use print is because it allows me to see what is going on in the country and most particularly sport. The medium print covers both newspaper and magazines, with the personal favourite being newspaper. The newspaper which which I read is 'The Daily Star'. 'The Daily Star' isn't the best for political news or for going into great deal about important current events. However it does feature a lot of information about sport which is why I read 'The Daily Star' as oppose to other newspapers. 

The medium of communication I use is Film. When I watch films I occasionally watch them when they are released at the cinema, but only if the film really attracts my attention. The most common way I watch films is through DVD's and T.V. Film can also be watched through sites such as 'Netflix' but I tend not to use these sites.

The final sub-categoryis radio. Radio is gradually becoming less popular with the advancements in technology, but I will listen to it occasionally. I usually listen to the radio whilst in the car and when I don't have access to a T.V so I am unable to watch the football so I would listen to TalkSport or Radio 5 Live. The radio station I find myself using most is Radio 1, the reason being that I like the music that is played and the hosts.

Media is a huge part of my life and has a huge impact on our opinions and our views. Media is a component of life that I am very dependant upon and life would be drastically different if we didn't have it.