Organising Actors

For my production I am going to be using a total of four actors. Luckily, two of them are available most of the time and accompany me at college, and have agreed to be my actors on the 19th of February at the old Primary school in Crook. The two people are Conor Davies aged 17 and Jake Williams aged 17 too. Moreover, my other two actors are easy to get a hold of because one is my brother, Joseph Robson aged 23, and the other attends my youth theatre group, and he is called Michael Daynes aged 21. They too have agreed to film on the 19th of February at Crook's old primary school too.
Here is the model realese forms of all four actors below:

After this, I created a Call Sheet template and filled in four of them so that I knew exactly what time I needed my Actors. Moreover, it helps me stay organised and prepared as I now know which actor needs certain props and make-up too. All of Call Sheets these can be displayed here:

Recce of Location & Hazard/Assessment Risks

THE OLD ST. CUTHBERTS PRIMARY SCHOOL

      

Once all of the objects in this shot are moved, it will leave a mysterious curtain that my antagonist can use for jumping out and shocking the audience. Therefore, this reinforces the horror genre because it is a traditional mise-en-scene feature an audience would expect in an abandoned area.

This door can be used to build suspension because it is enclosed to suggest there is no escape once you are there, and the audience and characters are unaware of whats on the other side. Therefore, this provokes fear, which is the genuine feature to a horror film opening.

This long shot generates fear because it shows a mysterious building that is excluded from people and other buildings. This is also a shot I took with the inspiration of my production in mind because it is almost identical to the second photo within that PowerPoint. The dark lighting reinforces this fear and again, meets the codes and conventions of a horror film.

This is the same door that provoked fear, but from the other side. YOu can see that the mess surrounding it suggests you shouldn't be entering the room. However, this still creates tension and would make an excellent match on action shot.

This is a longer shot of the curtain to show I have thought of contrasting shots from close-ups to long shots.

Shot List

Pitch Reflection

Within my pitch I reflected on my idea and mentioned how each code and convention I have researched was going to be used so that horror film opening was effective. Moreover, I mentioned the location of my idea and also the props and colours that connote my horror film will be tense and hook the audience.
After this, I received feedback form my class, whom give me advice and positives of my work, whilst asking questions too.
The first concern was the use of a knife, which may be risky to use where I am filming. However, the knife will not be real and safety will be heavily reinforced whilst filming. This also raised the second concern because I need evidence that I am allowed to use the old primary school in which I am going to film. Furthermore, I need to research my sound and I have been given advice to use garage band and I have also been recommended a website called, www.looperman.com. I may also be giving away too much of the narrative at the start, but I will ensure not to do this as I have researched other horror films and learned the techniques of making a horror film mysterious.
However, I did receive lots of positive feedback from my pitch and following the codes and convention from my research was one of them. I was also told from the majority of my class that I am very well organised, links to the audience and strong research supporting my idea. These are things I am continuing to improve as well as all the advice and concerns my pitch reflection has given me.

I looked on www.dafont.com to research some possible fonts and compare them to each other.
I then clicked on the 'Horror' section and looked at possible fonts to use. However, I came across 'cheesy' fonts that didn't really appeal to my target audience's choice.
Here are some examples:

Personally, I felt that this is too bubbly and over the top for it to be used as an inter title. This is because the other horror films I have researched use certain fonts that are vague, because they want to suggest that horror films aren't meant to be fun, but enticing and scary.

Again, this is very similar to the first font, and still has to much to it for it to be scary, but instead something you would use for a silly effect rather then scaring someone.

In my opinion, I feel that this font is far more relative to the other horror film's I have researched because this font has that very vague and edgy look, suggesting that the film is not 'bubbly' but more serious and tense instead.

Animatic

Screenshots of how I exported MP3 Files from 'Garage Band' to 'Final Cut Express'

Stage 1

Within this Screenshot I have selected an FX sound from 'Garage Band' and dragged it into the timeline. From there, I have went to 'File' and then clicked 'Export' so that I could change it into an MP3 file to use in my Animatic.

 Stage 2

After exporting the file as an MP3, I opened up 'Final Cut Express'. I then pressed 'File' and clicked 'Import'. From there, I found the location of the MP3 file I exported from 'Garage Band' and highlighted it.

 Stage 3

After I imported my MP3 file, I added it to my Animatic's timeline and pressed to 'Sequence' to render it. After that I was free to change the sound levels and place it into the appropriate of my Animatic. 

Storyboard

Costume and Props

The following image is  a man modeling a plain black tracksuit which in my production is an efficient costume to have when depicting my disruptive, antagonist bullies. It meets the expectations that my audience expect because it is a common costume associated with the 'chav', a person who many people see as vicious and scary. It also reinforces the repertoire music in my productions genre because the black costume works in unison with the tense, discordant music. Moreover, it will be effective in the dark because black connotes fear and horror. I can acquire this tracksuit form my wardrobe and actors wardrobe because we already have possession of these cloths.

The black, butch trainers are really to reinforce the black tracksuit and create this common ideology that people wherein these costumes generate fear because they seem unnatural. Therefore this meets the expectations of my audience believing these characters are supported by real life stereotypes. Lastly, I can acquire these thee shoes from a shop. However, I already have shoes like this and I've seen my actor have shoes like this two, so the same effect will be created even if they are not exactly like the ones in the image above.

I used a model from my class which had the exact hairstyle I wish my antagonist bullies to have. It is a wet, gelled down hairstyle which connotes a rough and touch look. This supports the common ideology that these type of people with short gelled hair, black tracksuits and trainers are viscous and have great expertise with fighting. Therefore I want my target audience to believe that my characters are these people, meaning that they will be enticed and feel my production is realistic. To acquire this hairstyle, gel will need to be required, and I get this easily at a shop or form my actors.

Although this is a drawing, it still symbolisis the weapon I am going to use in my horror film opening. It was also the main suggestion of weapon people in my interviews expected there to be. Therefore, I feel this will reach the audience's expectations if I am using the prop they suggested. I can acquire this type of knife in my kitchen but I am going to make sure it is blunt for safety purposes.

Inspiration for my Production

Inspiration for my Production

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Audience Research

Textual Research

Textual Analysis on Prezi