SCENE

EXT. EMILY’S HOUSE. DAY.

Establishing shot of house. The front door is open. EMILY walks up to the door and stops as she sees it is open. Mid shot of EMILY looking at the open door, confused. Close up of the door as she pushes it the rest of the way open and steps inside.

INT. EMILY’S HOUSE. DAY.

She looks around and sees movement out of the corner of her eye. She walks cautiously into the kitchen, where the thief is trying to hide.

  

EMILY

Who are you?

  

THIEF

Who are you?

  

EMILY

The owner of this house! What are you doing in here?

THIEF

Oh… I… The door was open, I thought it was for sale, I was just having a look…

EMILY

Well this is my house and it’s not for sale.

THIEF

Sorry… I’d better be going now then…

EMILY

You better or I’ll call the police.

The THIEF looks around nervously, looking for an escape.

EMILY

Wait… are you robbing me?

THIEF

Umm… no?

Over the shoulder shot pans down to show the valuables the THIEF is holding behind her back.

EMILY

I’m calling the police.

EMILY turns around, looking for the phone. The THIEF quickly goes out the kitchen door and hides in the living room. EMILY turns back around, holding the phone.

EMILY

Wait where…?

  

The THIEF leans back round the kitchen door.

  

THIEF

Have a good evening!

The THIEF punches EMILY, who falls to the ground. POV shot from EMILY lying on the ground and the THIEF’S feet. Tracking shot starting with EMILY lying on the ground and pulling back through the hallway and out the front door as the THIEF leaves the house and runs down the road.

Risk Assessment

Main Task, Consider Yourself (horror opening)

Emma Banbury & Ciera Chapman

Sound effects

As a lot of our credits inhibit footage, there for we will have to add a lot of sound effects in editing, these will include:

• Muffled music (house party music)
• People leaving the house party
• Car engine sounds
• Footsteps on tiles
• Microwave sounds
• Shock sounds
• Iphone torch sounds
• Whispering
• Stabbing sounds

For most of these they are likely to be available on YouTube un-copyrighted, however we may have to make a few of our own, such as shocked sounds from our actor Caitlin Warner.

MUSIC

It is well known that the soundtracks and non-diegetic music plays a big part in crating suspense within the audience. From our research and analysis we know the sort of sounds that creates this suspense however we will not have our own orchestra therefor have to find available non-copyrighted music. We have found this on youtube but felt the music lacked layers. Therefor we have also collected violin sounds and loud low notes for creating suspense and emphasising certain shots, we will layer these ourselves when editing.

For the diegetic music sourced from the record player we have made sure to take 2 seconds of the music and loop this to follow the youtube music restriction rules. We used a record from pink floyd and have sampled a particularly dark and sinister sound as we want to make our character seem under threat and vulnerable. 

Lighting

We have chosen for our (horror) Opening to be set at night for a low key lighting effect, stereotypically in horror movies such as The Ring, we see that the opening is set at night, this gives an uneasy, creepy atmosphere to the opening highlighting the fact that it is in the horror genre. Darkness is typically associated with danger like shown in Scream, where the killer could hide within the darkness making the character unaware of danger, the shadows within the dark, sparks suspicion. This also inspired us to film at night purposely for our POV shot, allowing the killer to spy on his victim without being noticed, the darkness allows the killer to hide without being caught creating an enigma code for the audience.

we will also use the lighting from within the set, such as the lamp which will highlight when Amber picks up the phone and we see a low angle shot of Amber, the use of on-set lighting allows the audience to capture the character’s expression. The fact that we will film at night will create an uneasy, creepy effect when the light goes off in the later shot of our opening, emphasising the fact that the killer has turned off the light allowing him to hide, increasing tension as we see a shadow of the killer as he follows her to the door. 

CREDIT RESEARCH

The credits in our film opening is going to be significant as we have storyboarded and planned the credits as a shot in their own. This is because we have planned to have our credits on a black screen with overlaid audio that contribute to the storyline. We feel this will be highly effective as from my observations openings are about telling us a little bit about the plot and introducing however making sure not to give too much away. In doing our credits in this way I feel this will help achieve this goal by 'hiding' visual aspects of the opening, to allow revisitation later along in the film to reveal more.

Font:

Through analysis and further research we found an almost set order of how the credits are usually put. First there is the production and distribution company names; here we have made up a film company to open our film with and emerse the audience by using the familiarity of company credits in film openings:

Then we found cast credits were usually next, therefor we gave credit to main actress in our opening:

       

Then the producers and directors are usually mentioned next:

                                                       

We decided to put the title screen at the end of the opening to fit with the climax of the murder. As it is the title of the film and marks the end of the introduction we wanted the text to be larger and fill more of the screen to bring more attention to it.

This is the font we decided on throughout the opening, we found that consistency was key when analysing openings. What I liked about this font was the sharp ends on the letters. This is was highly suited to the slasher genre of our opening as it is similar to the sharpness of blade which is associated with danger and therefor triggers the audience to link it to danger. We decided not to perhaps fully follow the conventions by completely exaggerating the font with blood spills etc. as in my opinion this can make a film 'cheesy' or appeal to an audience looking for the more gruesome side of the horror genre, which is not what we are trying to achieve. As there is sound over the cut to credits we also do not want to to over do it with the the graphics as it would be a distracting feature and stimulus overload.

The colour scheme:

Before deciding on a font colour scheme we decided to really asses the iconography of the horror genre. From research and analysing films we found red, white and black are often used as they connote danger which is what we are looking to do in our film opening.

BLACK

Black has many connotations including evil, shadows, night and -in our society- death and morning. This is why I feel it was found to be a common convention of the horror films I analysed and have previously watched. By using this as our background colour we feel it will be highly contrasting to the colours used in the setting and therefor have a strong impact on the viewer which is what we want to achieve in opening our film. It will also make the lighter colours in the text stand out more


RED AND WHITE GRADIENT

When playing around with the colour scheme We found a gradient much more aesthetically pleasing than a solid colour. We were sure we wanted the colour red to connote themes of blood and murder. Then when choosing another colour we decided on white as we thought it would contrast the best with the black background. Then we found the red at the top of the letters to be highly impactful as created a shadow effect and in a way reminiscent of blood on walls or create a sense of a looming darkness.

Visual effects:

                              

When transitioning to credits we knew we wanted the credits to fade on and off screen as we felt it would fit with the slow pace conventionally set when opening a film. This it makes the black background seem empty when the text is absent, creating subtle themes of isolation, and as amber is alone in her house this will work together nicely.

Audience research

15 – Suitable only for 15 years and over

No one younger than 15 may see a 15 film in a cinema. No one younger than 15 may rent or buy a 15 rated video work.

Through research and observation I found most horror movies are rated at least 15's, this is often due to their dark nature and explicitly. The typical target audience for horror is the demographic of 15- 24 year olds and mostly male, this is also given the main characters in the films are similar ages. Through some statistical research however I found the popularity of horror amongst the female audience has risen. As our main character is a teenage female and our film will be exploring dark themes we felt this rating would be the best suited rating for our target audience of teen females. I also find increasing the ratings increases curiosity particularly within a teen audience as its as if it is more exclusive to them.

Discrimination

The work as a whole must not endorse discriminatory language or behaviour, although there may be racist, homophobic or other discriminatory themes and language.

As our film is set from the perspective of a teenage girl and we look to address current themes of discrimination, particularly in the school setting it may contain themes of discrimination and portray it in a true nature, however not endorsing it. However in our opening piece, there will be no themes of discrimination.

Drugs

Drug taking may be shown but the work as a whole must not promote or encourage drug misuse (for example, through instructional detail). The misuse of easily accessible and highly dangerous substances (for example, aerosols or solvents) is unlikely to be acceptable.

Our film will not contain any encouraging of highly classed drug use. However, it may contain themes of underaged drinking. In our opening as it is set after a party there may be discarded alcohol bottles etc. but there will be no display of underaged drinking.

Imitable behaviour

Dangerous behaviour (for example, hanging, suicide and self-harming) should not dwell on detail which could be copied. Whether the depiction of easily accessible weapons is acceptable will depend on factors such as realism, context and setting.

As this is a slasher film it is given that there will be a lot of 'imitable' behaviour and murder. However, we have made sure not to dwell on these scenes and portray them subtly. In the opening there will be scenes with weapons however their will not be any graphic scenes with these weapons.

Language

There may be strong language. Very strong language may be permitted, depending on the manner in which it is used, who is using the language, its frequency within the work as a whole and any special contextual justification.

As we want to make our film true to character display and realistic , our opening and film are likely to contain strong language. As the characters are above 16 we feel this is fitted to the context and justified.

Nudity

There are no constraints on nudity in a non-sexual or educational context. There may be nudity in a sexual context but usually without strong detail.

Our opening doesn't contain any nudity

Sex

Sexual activity may be portrayed, but usually without strong detail. There may be strong verbal references to sexual behaviour, but the strongest references are unlikely to be acceptable unless justified by context. Works whose primary purpose is sexual arousal or stimulation are unlikely to be acceptable.

Our opening will not contain sexual activity

Threat

There may be strong threat and horror. A sustained focus on sadistic or sexual threat is unlikely to be acceptable.

One again as our film is a slasher film it will contain lots of strong threats and horror. In our opening there is one victim of threat however, none of a sadistic or sexual nature.

Violence

Violence may be strong but should not dwell on the infliction of pain or injury. The strongest gory images are unlikely to be acceptable. Strong sadistic violence is also unlikely to be acceptable. There may be detailed verbal references to sexual violence but the depiction of sexual violence must be discreet and justified by context.

Our opening doesn't contain sorry images however there is suggestion of infliction of pain or injury, but not a big enough amount to break the guidelines.

FOCUS GROUP

For our focus group we have selected 5 teenage girls, all ages 16-18 for target audience research. We have made sure to have it contain some fans of horror and some who aren't particularly. We feel this will help judge the effectiveness of our opening.

After presenting our film concept to the group, we decided to ask them a few open ended questions pre-production;

(Participant number 2 is male) 
How old are you?

1. 16

2. 18

3. 17

4. 16

5. 16

Whats your favourite genre of film and favourite film or tv show?

1. Horror- Scream

2. Horror - House of Wax

3. Horror - Scream Queens

4. Action/ Thriller - Silence of the Lambs

5. Comedy - Juno

Would you watch this film?

1.  "Yah, sounds cool"

2.  "Sure with a couple of friends probably"

3.  "Maybe but I think I'd need to know more first"

4.  "If the plot line is strong then yes but it is at risk of sounding like a typical slasher I             think"

5.  "I probably wouldn't pick it out of a line up, and I don't really like horror movies but           the main character sounds interesting"

What age rating would you give it?

1. "Sounds like a 15 if you're not going to go down the gory root"

2. "I'd hope it was a 15"

3. "12 or 15"

4. "depends but 15 like most horror movies"

5. "I don't know really..like an 18 or 15"

Horror viewing Statistics:

UK independent films earned a larger proportion of their overall box office from the ‘PG’, ‘15’ and ‘18’ classifications than the other two categories in 2015. The top earning independent UK films in each of these classifications shows how the pattern of box office by rating each year is usually determined by a small number of high grossing releases. The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel earned 80% of the total box office for ‘PG’ rated independent UK films, the combined grosses of The Woman in Black: Angel of Death and Amy made up 28% of the total box office for ‘15’ rated independent UK films, and Legend earned 73% of the category’s total box office for ‘18’ rated releases.

The statistics here show that 36% of males who answered the survey enjoy watching horror films compared to 44% females, these figures differ from the Sky Horror channel who reported that 58% of their viewers are male.  The difference in these statistics demonstrate that both genders enjoy watching horror films and surprisingly in this case females more than males. 

"In 2014, 15-24 year olds made up the largest proportion of the UK cinema audience, at 31%." -BFI website 

This fact informs me that the most popular age group which visited UK cinemas were indeed between the ages of 15-24. As we are aiming to appeal to this age group this reassures our decision.

"A wide range of genres appealed to women, whereas men were drawn to films with a strong action element " – BFI website

I think our selected genre 'horror' will appeal to both genders equally. The element of darkness we will create but with a feminine protagonist we hope will appeal to our target audience- females.