Sound and Music

As a group we have been trying to find some music to play on top on the film as we believe having non diagetic sound will create a tension that diagetic sound possibly couldn't. We know that our film begins with someone walking along so we want a calm and smooth type of music to make it feel very gentle and make the audience forget about that the genre of the film being horror, as we get further in to the film the pace of the music will begin to speed up creating a tension that the audience will be able to feel. The music will have to become very jumpy to go with the quick cuts we will edit into the final piece. We know how important it is to get the music right to get the feeling of horror into the audience as getting it wrong will mean whatever we have shot will become more comicle then eerie.

Detainment Poster

This is one of the ideas we have had for a photo of 'Detainment'. We think that having a poster is a very good idea to show what type of film is being made as well as what the audience can expect to see. This poster is good at portraying the horror aspect of the film, the close up of the eye shows the fear that the person is going through. The eye is slightly off centre to put the person looking at it off ease.

The credits at the top of the poster show the people that will be starring in the film whilst at the bottom we have the different production companies and the names of directors and editors to make it look as professional as possible.

The poster would be one of the main features of a marketing campaign if the film was released, this would be the first thing people saw of the film when they were out and about so it needs to be very eye catching. The poster has to draw them in and provide enough info mation e.g a website so that people could go home and be willing to search for it on their computer.

Shaun walking to his detention

Shaun - I got a detention now so I'll be out later.

Friend on phone - Alright mate. see ya

Shaun enters the room

Shaun - Hi Sir

Mr Oswick - Sit down Shaun

Silence

Mr Oswick - I've just got to go to the staff room to pick something up

Shaun - Alright

Door closes as Oswick walks out, Shaun sits waiting, but then decides to get up and try and leave.

Shaun - The damn doors locked

Shaun pulls harder and harder try to open it, the lights flicker and go out but then come back on. He turns around as there is a sound from behind him, there's a message on the board.

Shaun - oh s***

He tries harder to get out. Amplified sound of foot steps coming up behind him. loud screaming of agony.

First Costume Ideas

Shaun McGee (Matt davision) will be wearing normal clothes so show that the film is modern and up to date. He will be wearing a hoodie/jacket, jeans and trainers.

The killer will be wearing dark old clothes to show that he maybe can't afford the latest fashionable clothes. He will wear a big black jacket with a hood to cover his face. He'll be wearing old ragged jeans and old trainers. So he will be completely the opposite to the victim Shaun McGee.

Mr Oswick will be wearing smarter clothes compared to Shaun and the killer. He will be wearing shirt and tie maybe a blazer, trousers and smart shoes.

Character Info

Killer – The killer is being played by Chris Marskell. The killer is another student who Shaun Mcgee doesn’t get on with. They have had fights in the past and loath one another. The killer lives a good life and is liked by all throughout the school.


Shaun Mcgee – Shaun is being played by Matt Davison. Shaun is 16 years old and lives local to the school in a rough area. Living in rough area and not having a great upbringing and is usually singled out by others because of this. He is regularly finding himself in trouble at school either fighting or being caught smoking.




Mr Oswick (Teacher) – Mr Oswick is hopefully being played by Mr Oswick if not we will find someone to fill in. Sir is a usually fun respected teacher, dresses trendy and has a good relationship with his students but doesn’t let any student get away with not doing homework.

Detainment Plot

Shaun McGee is a 17 yr old boy who has been held back for detention after school with Mr Oswick. Shaun walks through the door ands sits down disinterested and annoyed. There is and awkward silence before Mr Oswick breaks the silence when saying he’s got to go to the staff room to collect something. He walks out the door. Shaun looks up as the clock and thinks I better get home before my mum finds out. So he walks up to the door and tries to get out only finding that it is locked. He doesn’t worry. He goes to turn back and the lights flicker and then go out. He starts to panic but then the lights come back on and he turns around only to see that there is a message left for him in blood on the board. He turns to the door yanking on the handle, the lights flicker again. The killer slowly walks up behind him before slitting his throat. Shaun hits the floor with a thud. Then in bold the name of the film comes up “DETAINMENT".

Shot List

1. Tracking shot of Shaun walking towards the class room

2. Medium shot of him walking to his chair and of him sitting down

3. A close up of Shaun looking at the clock

4. Medium shot of the teacher telling Shaun that he has to leave

5. Tracking shot of him walking towards the door trying to get out

6. Close up of the handle with him frantically trying to get out

7. Low angle of him looking up towards the lights as they start to flicker before suddenly going out

8. Hand held camera of him then looking around panicking

9. Camera then arcs round as the lights then turn back on

10. Zoom towards the board where a message is written

11. Close up of his face to show the emotion

12. Hand held camera again of him trying to get out

13. Medium shot of Shaun with the killer coming up behind him

14. Zoom of the knife going towards his throat

15. Establishing shot of detainment

Production Company

We thought having a production company like Rogue Pictures would benefit us as we know that they specialise in horror films. Having it pop up before the bieginning of our film will add a scary factor as people associate them with films such as; the last house on the left, Seed of chucky and White Noise.

They specialise in low budget films usually spending between $1,000,000 and $45,ooo,ooo

Filming Ideas

We have decided that we are going to film our film in school, the reason why we are doing this because it is a prime location and it will be a lot easier to film inside school rather than filming outside in a different location. the name we have decided to use for our film is "Detainment". we are going to have 3 actors, the teacher, student and the killer. We are going to have to make sure that we work hard on creating a good sound because that will make the tension high and the audience anxious.

Final Location Ideas

Storyboard!

This is the story board we created to show the opening two minutes of our film. It shows the basic idea of what we would like are final movie production to look like. These pictures arnt perfect but allow us to get the best idea of what we wanted to film as possible.

The first picture shows how we will begin our film, a close up of someones feet that will create an air of mystery around what is happening and hopefully have the desired effect of unsetteling the audience.



This second picture is a long shot that reveals who the mystery person was and shows that he is a student who goes to the school. By taking it from behind a bush it gives the audience the feeling that he is being watched by someone or something.

This third picture is a medium shot that shows the character going into an area that either he shouldnt be going in to or somewhere that is going to have dangerous substances inside. We have now established this charecter as a main charecter due to him being the only character we see for the first three slides.

This is a high angle/over the shoulder shot which gives a good view of what the character is doing and how bored his body language is. It also shows that he his all on his own with no friends around him.

This is when we become aware that he is in a detention and having the teacher go through work that he should of done at a previous date. At this point it would still be unclear to the audience that is a horror and would allow them to settle .

This is a low angle/over the shoulder shot that reinforces to the audience that he is bored and looking at the clock to see if he will be able to leave his knowing that he had a detention.

This is a long shot of of the teacher leaving the room and trusting him to behave and get on with the work. It may also suggest that he could get up to mischief whilst the teacher is not in the room.

This is a long shot of the door slamming shut with an echoing boom leaving him alone in a big classroom.

This is a medium shot showing the character seeing this as an oppertunity to leave the detention and go home.

This is a close up of the character struggeling with the door and realising thazt it has been locked from the outside giving him no chance of leaving the room.

This is where the horror aspect of it starts with the flickering of lights on and off, with the room becoming much darker it unsettles the audience and makes them re evaluate the security they felt with this opening sequence.

This is a point of view shot just after the lights have come back on. We couldnt write on the board at that moment but their will be writing covering the bored telling the character of his death.

This is where we see a close up of the character really struggeling with the door trying to get to the freedom of outside.

This is a highangle shot finally showing the killer that had been hidden in the room since the beggining, this is the main point of the opening sequence and what the rest has been building up to. The scene will finish with the main characters blood on the window after the killer has stabed him.

Ideas and Infomation

After thinking and discussing what genre of film to produce we chose to do horror. horror is a popular genre with many people, young to old. Reason being that horror movies inject fear and mess with the viewers emotions. This allows the viewers to almost enter a fantasy world and imagine what it would be like to be in these gory situations.


Mise En Scene and props
Many horror films are low budget films which is one reason for why our group decided to do horror. The choosing the right setting is one of the most important things to do in a horror film. The surroundings set the tone of the film and let the viewer know that it's a horror film. Popular choices for settings used in horror films are; woods, empty warehouse, school at night time, prison or an old house. Our group have decided to film in a school when it's quiet. This will make the viewer uneasy as the school should normally be busy and buzzing with students.


Not many horror films use many props unless there are bug horror films such as Saw. In Saw they use many props including death traps, pit full of needles and a playground roundabout which people are strapped to and killed. Typical horror film might only use props like;include are a knife, gun or some other kind of weapon and maybe a costume or mask for the killer/villain along with other normal everyday props. As we don't have a Hollywood budget we will be using props such as the ones listed above.


Plot
People are mostly frightened when they are watching horror movies because of the films thrilling plots, which are main things in this movie genre. A strong character is often used to make a thrilling plot. A lot of horror movies also haunt people by using plots which are related to supernatural. Also, a murderer or someone who is looking to get revenge is often a main character who kills other characters one by one, making people feel excited all the time they are watching. These are three typical horror elements found in many horror movies.


Our group haven't yet decided what the final storyline is going to be but we have got rough idea. One plot we have come up with is either a student or teacher is at school most properly after school. Someone else not sure who yet will be wandering around school trying to find the other person and once found them will end up killing them. We have not yet decided if they friends or if the killer chases after the victim etc.


Camera Work & Sound


The camera work and sound plays a huge part in making a successful horror film. Camera work can add to the tension and also make the viewer feel like they are part of the scene. In most horror films a popular camera angle is close up or POV (Point Of View). A close are often used to show tension and emotion on an actors faced. It can also be used to highlight something important in the scene such as a clue to the murderer or the murderers weapon. POV is often used to make the viewer feel like there are inside the character. This shot would often be used when the villain is being killed. By doing this it allows the viewer to seem more involved with the scene adds gives them an opportunity to see a murder through the killers eyes.


In horror films sound is a key part to add tension and put the audience on edge. How much suspense is added to a scene by sound is to do with how fast/slow and how loud/quiet it is.
For a scene where the murderer is looking for the victim, the soundtrack might be slow and quite as they are tip toeing about. Once the murderer has found the victim and maybe chasing after them the music would change and now be quite loud and have a fast tempo getting the audience heart racing and adding tension. Sound effects are also used frequently in horror films, for example the victim is being stabbed they might amplify the sound effect to make the scene seem more gory. A classic example of a sound effect in horror films is the creaking of the door, adding this in adds suspense and makes it seem eerie.


Our group have not yet decided on camera work or sound. These will most likely be done once the plot and settings have been finalised.

Preliminary Task

This was the first piece of filming that my group completed. The object of this production was to get use to filming people then learning to use the editing tools, as you can see at the end of the film we experimented with the effects you can use to enhance the production. I think that we did a very good job editing it smoothly especially when we had the person walking through a door.

Starting a new blog

I had to start a second blog that was just my own posts. My first blog was being completed as a group and that meant that all posts where being completed by the same email address even though every person was completing the work, to combat this problem we all created are own blog so that we could all help eachother but still do each post seperatly so that we can get a better grade than we would of done. The downside of this is this blog now doesnt really have an order as i had to copy my previous blogs to this one. Posts about my first video come after things that i did after completing the video but a dont think it should make the bigest difference to my marks x

The Cast

Shaun McGee - Matt Davison


Killer - Chris Marskell


The Teacher - Ben Horley


Director - Dan Zammit Lewis


Producer - Ben Horley


Music created by Jamie Gamache

Ratings

The same criteria is used to classify '12' and '12a'. These catogories are awarded where the material is suitable, in general, only for those aged 12 and over. When the film is classified it shows that it may upset and distress children under 12 or there parents may believe it is unsutiable for them.

The '12a' category is specific to cinema films and gives the parent or gaurdians the ability to decide if they believe their child is mature enough to watch the film and understand its contents.

Location Ideas

We have decided that we are going to film our film in school, the reason why we are doing this because it is a prime location and it will be a lot easier to film inside school rather than filming outside in a different location. the name we have decided to use for our film is "Detainment". we are going to have 3 actors, the teacher, student and the killer. We are going to have to make sure that we work hard on creating a good sound because that will make the tension high and the audience anxious.

Location Ideas

This is a possible location for our film, we liked this because it had a booming echo. These locations are very good due to the fact that we could use them without any interferance from other members of the school walking through the corridors or rooms. They also offer a scary effect which is perfect for us as we are creating a horror film.

The Strangers

This is a film i watched that was the same genre as the film we want to produce, i watched the trailer as well as the movie to get some ideas on what different aspects you have to think about when trying to create a decent horror film. Watching this film helped me realise that we had to think of music, lighting, quick cuts and editing and how diagetic sound can be used to create an atmosphere that will scare the audience.

This film is about a couple in a remote holiday destination that get stalked then killed by a family of murderers in masks, they way they build up tension is by not really showing the murderers and rely on the tension being created by the audience waiting in anticipation of what could be around the corner and letting their own imagination create an image of horror in their own head. We think that this is a very good idea and may wish to use this technique in our own film.

This film has givin me alot of ideas that will help me to create a believable and scary horror film, ill have to watch it again and note down specific shots being used that will help and ill also watch similar films in the same genre that i believe can help.