To begin the process of storyboarding we assigned different people to write out the different shots..
We talked further about props and locations in order to include this information on the storyboard.
It is important to produce a two and a half minute sequence of a Horror or Thriller for part of our coursework.
Within my group there are four of us, myself, Storm Webster, Tom Cunningham and Stephanie Kufferath.
To start with we wrote down the list of shots, and then transferred this onto the storyboard template while adding in the location, action, the shot type and movement within the shot, the sound, the lighting, the edit transition and the timing.
After we typed all of this onto the template in order, Stephanie, the storyboard artist drew the pictures to go with the writing.
Myself, being the producer, had to make sure this was done accurately in order for it to run smoothly on the day of shooting and thereafter for editing. however, we have discussed as a group and decided that the editing may be slightly different to the storyboard in order to make the sequence look better.
The storyboard provides instructions to the sound and camera crew and helps the director to organise the scene.
These are the shots and action of the sequence:
1. The gate is closed and we see a car arriving and stopping in front of the gate
2. Tom goes out to open the gate and then drives through it (when the leaves blow up they from 'Milano Production Presents')
3. Shot out of one of the windows in the house seeing the car arriving (we see the breath on the window and then a 'A Storm Cunningham Film' is written in there
4. POV shot of Tom looking at the house
5. Shot from in front of the house watching Tom get out of the car and starting to walk towards the house.
6. Track shot of Tom walking up to the front door.
7. Close Up of Tom's face looking around anxiously (next to him a door sign saying 'featuring Tom Mison and Alabama Jackson)
8. Extreme Close Up of Tom looking through the window
9. Mid Shot of Tom hearing humming.
10. Shot of the lights flashing behind the door
11. Mid shot of Tom walking down the front door stairs which ends in a long shot
12. Camera sits in the back of the car and sees Tom enter back into the car
13. Camera zooms into Tom's eyes and the flashbacks begin
14. Fast cut from long shot to Extreme Close Up of the masks on the children (cold breath comes out 'Produced by Amy Milan')
15. Cut to Tom
16. Shot of Tom stitching the masks (sticking stuff builds 'Directed by Storm Webster and Stephanie Mareen')
17. Cut to Tom
18. Bloody hands writing 'Edited by Tom Cunningham'
19. Zoom out of Tom's eye
20. Shot out of the window of the house seeing the car reverse
21. Close up of Tom changing gear stick into drive
22. Close up of Tom
23. Camera in the backseat of the car looking through windscreen POV of child watching car leave
24. Drives fast and the front lights hit a child
25. POV shot of child looking at the front lights of the car
26. Extreme Close Up of Tom blinking
27. POV shot of Tom and the kid is gone
28. Shot through the windscreen on the backseat is a child
29. Close Up of the child – breath coming out of child to present the title.
Friday, 20 November 2009
Thursday, 19 November 2009
Research on Horrors/Thrillers
In my free time I looked at clips on ‘youtube’ to help me understand what makes a film effective. I discovered that special camera effects, sound, lighting and atmosphere all help to produce an effective film.
Most of the clips which I looked at were either Horror or Thriller to conform with the theme in which I am looking at. The legendary shower scene from Alfred Hitchcock's "Psycho" is very good at portraying special sound effects and the lighting is very effective.
The Orphanage is very similar to our sequence in that the setting is a big empty looking house in the countryside and also the fact that there are masked children within each of the films.
I think that The Hallway Scene from The Shining creates a great atmosphere and really gets the audience on edge. I also think that the way the camera is used to get the effective shots it gets is amazing and I really want to be able to create these type of shots in our horror movie.
Most of the clips which I looked at were either Horror or Thriller to conform with the theme in which I am looking at. The legendary shower scene from Alfred Hitchcock's "Psycho" is very good at portraying special sound effects and the lighting is very effective.
The Orphanage is very similar to our sequence in that the setting is a big empty looking house in the countryside and also the fact that there are masked children within each of the films.
I think that The Hallway Scene from The Shining creates a great atmosphere and really gets the audience on edge. I also think that the way the camera is used to get the effective shots it gets is amazing and I really want to be able to create these type of shots in our horror movie.
The Chosen Sequence
The sequence we have chosen to shoot is Storm's idea. Overall as a class we decided that it would be the one of the best ideas for a thiller/horror and we were put into groups according to who is good at what. For example we needed someone with good organisation for a producer, someone good at drawing for the main storyboard artist, someone who is good at sending off directions for the director and someone who is good at editing for the primary editor. i have been chosen as a producer as i am fairly organised and feel that i would play this role well. However we will all help out eachother for the different tasks and work well as a group to make the thiller/horror sequence as best as we can.
the sequence starts with a car driving up a drive, to a house at night. A man gets out, looks around, knocks on the front door of the house, hears a humming noise and lighting flash past the door and hurries back in the car. He drives back down the drive and, all of a sudden, he stops as there is a masked child in the middle of the road. The guy then has flashbacks of a cellar, with marks being stiched to childrens’ faces. This child then walks slowly to car and the driver tries to reverse and get away but, to his dismay, three other children start to appear. Eventually he drives off and you see in the rear view mirror the child in the back seat. Immediately after this, there is a blackout, leaving the audience with a sense of unease and the title will appear.
What the group will need:
A Man to play the primary male character (Tom Mison)
4 children (Alabama, Raffety and Ashley Jackson's two girls)
Exterior of House (Peaslake or Leith Hill)
Interior of Cellar (Ewhurst)
Car
Needle, Thread, Buttons, Material for Patchwork
Mask or potato sacks
Shabby clothes or old dress for children.
the sequence starts with a car driving up a drive, to a house at night. A man gets out, looks around, knocks on the front door of the house, hears a humming noise and lighting flash past the door and hurries back in the car. He drives back down the drive and, all of a sudden, he stops as there is a masked child in the middle of the road. The guy then has flashbacks of a cellar, with marks being stiched to childrens’ faces. This child then walks slowly to car and the driver tries to reverse and get away but, to his dismay, three other children start to appear. Eventually he drives off and you see in the rear view mirror the child in the back seat. Immediately after this, there is a blackout, leaving the audience with a sense of unease and the title will appear.
What the group will need:
A Man to play the primary male character (Tom Mison)
4 children (Alabama, Raffety and Ashley Jackson's two girls)
Exterior of House (Peaslake or Leith Hill)
Interior of Cellar (Ewhurst)
Car
Needle, Thread, Buttons, Material for Patchwork
Mask or potato sacks
Shabby clothes or old dress for children.
Friday, 6 November 2009
First meeting of new Production Group and Formation of Synopsis
An escaped orphan called Tony who is now aged 35, returns to an abandoned orphanage which is a mansion house in the English countryside. This is where he once was abused by catholic priests who thought abuseing them was for the good of the children and Christianity. The orphanage was abandoned because of the controversy when the abuses went public. In his day to day life, Tony is haunted through the voices and visions of his abandoned orphan friends when he escaped.Tony loses his job and his marriage he is being called back to the orphanage by the orphans which he abandoned. He goes crazy and returns to the mansion house where he imprisions himself for eternity.
Sunday, 1 November 2009
Presenting my Initial Idea
In order to begin the process of pre-production for our foundation projects, as a class we individually pitched potential thriller/horror film ideas to the remainder of the class. It was important that each idea fulfilled the conventions of the genre and provided an effective opening sequence that ancored down generic identity and was achievable and engaging.
My idea involved...
The main character is the woman stalker. Another important character for the first sequence is a man who is the main victim. I have decided to go against the social expectations of society by putting them this way round which i'm hoping will be more effective and maybe attract a larger target audiance. The titles would be in handwriting to connote stalker qualities.
The woman stalker is seen writing a letter which looks ordinary. However the camera will track back and we will see a lot of letters around her in piles. This then cuts to five cork boards each board is for one particular person covered in lots of pictures. So the audience sees that she has 5 victims. The camera tracks into the centre cork board which is the main victim explored in the opening sequence.
The camera then cuts to the woman walking out of her house and onto a street. The stalker is following this man on a road taking pictures of him on the opposite side of the road. The stalker follows this man to his house and watches him go inside. She waits outside briefly and sees him talking to a another man. As she is about to leave, the two men walk outside and she watches one man change the ‘for sale’ sign to ‘sold’.
The stalker runs home rips down this mans pictures from the centre cork board. Turns around and the POV shot sees hundreds of photos of her next victim. The sequence ends on the stalker taking one picture of the new victim and placing it in the centre of the centre cork board.
Locations I would need are...
Interior of Stalkers House/Office
Exterior of Victims House
Street/Road
Props/Actors I would need are...
5 Cork Boards and drawing pins.
For sale and sold sign.
Woman stalker with green eyes to connote envy (could be student)
One man (could be student)
How is tension created?
The audience knows that the victim is being stalked. The victim doesn’t and has a lucky escape.
There is more than one victim.
The ending shot is of the woman putting up a picture of a new victim.
Why should my idea be chosen?
I didn’t steal this idea from anything else.
Its not going to be expensive.
The locations are easy to find.
I’m open to ideas and changes.
It would attract female viewers as well because the stalker is a woman. They may be able to relate to it more.
I would envisiage this film to be made by an independant british production company such as channel for films. My target audiance would be proedominatly male, 25 + and would respond to a complicated unravelling narrative, the build up of suspence an enigma and a focus on voyerism.
My idea involved...
The main character is the woman stalker. Another important character for the first sequence is a man who is the main victim. I have decided to go against the social expectations of society by putting them this way round which i'm hoping will be more effective and maybe attract a larger target audiance. The titles would be in handwriting to connote stalker qualities.
The woman stalker is seen writing a letter which looks ordinary. However the camera will track back and we will see a lot of letters around her in piles. This then cuts to five cork boards each board is for one particular person covered in lots of pictures. So the audience sees that she has 5 victims. The camera tracks into the centre cork board which is the main victim explored in the opening sequence.
The camera then cuts to the woman walking out of her house and onto a street. The stalker is following this man on a road taking pictures of him on the opposite side of the road. The stalker follows this man to his house and watches him go inside. She waits outside briefly and sees him talking to a another man. As she is about to leave, the two men walk outside and she watches one man change the ‘for sale’ sign to ‘sold’.
The stalker runs home rips down this mans pictures from the centre cork board. Turns around and the POV shot sees hundreds of photos of her next victim. The sequence ends on the stalker taking one picture of the new victim and placing it in the centre of the centre cork board.
Locations I would need are...
Interior of Stalkers House/Office
Exterior of Victims House
Street/Road
Props/Actors I would need are...
5 Cork Boards and drawing pins.
For sale and sold sign.
Woman stalker with green eyes to connote envy (could be student)
One man (could be student)
How is tension created?
The audience knows that the victim is being stalked. The victim doesn’t and has a lucky escape.
There is more than one victim.
The ending shot is of the woman putting up a picture of a new victim.
Why should my idea be chosen?
I didn’t steal this idea from anything else.
Its not going to be expensive.
The locations are easy to find.
I’m open to ideas and changes.
It would attract female viewers as well because the stalker is a woman. They may be able to relate to it more.
I would envisiage this film to be made by an independant british production company such as channel for films. My target audiance would be proedominatly male, 25 + and would respond to a complicated unravelling narrative, the build up of suspence an enigma and a focus on voyerism.
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