Jelly Babies

Last lesson, our teacher placed us into groups. With our groups we had to come up with a idea for a horror film utilizing Jelly Babies as the characters. We had to come up with 4 consecutive scenes and it didn't matter what part of the film it was. For each scene we had to write down all the conventions of the scene.

Scene one: Most horror films are set in a dark, abandoned and isolate places. We utilized this convention in this scene because we chose a forest: dark and isolated.
Also, in the image you see a pink post-it note which says "Mental Asylum", this is also a convention because we used the element of insanity which comes up repeatedly in horror films.
In this scene we conformed to most of the typical conventions that you would expect to see in a horror film. However, we also did subvert form the convention that most characters in a horror film are in a group. We decided that we only wanted one character to break the convention that only groups of teenagers are put into situations like these.

 

Scene two: For this scene we decided to have the victim enter the room of the patients. On this scene we particularly focused on the colors/costumes of each character. For the patients we chose dull colors like: Musk Green and a Drained orange. We did this on purpose to show that they were mental and to suggest that they were so used to the Asylum that they started to blend in with it. Also, it's a convention that the killers wear darker clothing so we defiantly conformed to that convention. The Victim is yellow, we did this because normally the victims wear either white of pale colors, again we are using a very popular convention.

Scene 3: In this scene, the victim is being surrounded by the patients. We used the same conventions in this scene as we did for scene 2. However, went against a very typical convention in these scenes. In horror movies we expect to see a group of victims and just one killer, in these scenes with did the complete opposite, because there is a groups of killers and just one victim.
Also, the victim was a man. In films the stereotypical victims are women. We did this because the male is usually the one to survive in a horror film, so this is a different aspect which isn't very seem in horror films, even though modern horror movies are starting to incorporate men as victims.

Scene 4: This image shows what happened in scene 4, the victim starts getting chased by the killers/ patients. This is a mainstream idea that happens in horror films, there is nearly always  a chase between the victim and the killer. It is a very used convention. Also, we though of the types of sound that we could incorporate in this scene, we decided to use the typical sound conventions, which are : heartbeats, footsteps and fast breathing. We chose these because they all fit in with the idea of a chase between characters.

Past Horror Films (inspiration)

In my last Media lesson my Media teacher showed us examples of past student work. This gave us a better understanding of the things we needed to focus on and the things that we should definitely avoid when filming.
There was one student work that we really enjoyed because of the fact the it was filmed  in such a slow pace. Me and my partner had already though of utilizing a slow pace through out our short intro, so this gave us a better insight and we saw that the slow pace was quite effective as it really built up the suspense in the introduction.
In all the past student works we either saw the killer or we got a small glimpse of what their weapon of choice was, we didn't really get inspiration from that because we have though that we won't actually show the killer in a way that we can see his face or his weapon. We think this is a good idea because it will keep the audience intrigued because they don't know if it's the actual killer or just a random passerby.
From watching we also noticed the importance that the tripod has, especially if the camera is suppose to be still. Some past students didn't utilize the tripod because it was meant to look hand held, However some students decided not to use a tripod. This made the scene really shaky.



        

Breakdown Sheet For Shooting

BREAKDOWN SHEET FOR SHOOTING

Storyboard scene number: 6

Date:17/12/13                                                                                            Time: 

Setting: Young girls house                                                                            Location: Joana's house

Crew members and roles: Joana and Alice- filming
                                         Joana's Dad - Lighting

Cast members: Amanda and Elizabeth - Actors

Extras:

Wardrobe: Light coloured pyjamas 

Make-up: Pale/ neutral colours 

Props: Dusty Black book

Special effects: Smoke around book

Potential problems and how you’re going to overcome them: Cast members might have problems with transport and scheduling. To overcome this we'll make sure that they are available and that they arrive at the location earlier. 

BREAKDOWN SHEET FOR SHOOTING

Storyboard scene number: 16

Date:                                                                                                           Time: 4-5 pm

Setting: lake/forest                                                                                        Location: Battersea park

Crew members and roles: Alice's sister - Filming 

                                         Alice's mum and Joana's dad- lighting 

Cast members: Alice and Joana -acting

Extras:

Wardrobe: Joana - White dress and heels

                  Alice - All black and red coat.

Make-up:  Joana- neutral colours and pink/red lips
                 Alice- Dark eye make-up and dark lips

Props: 

Special effects: 

Potential problems and how you’re going to overcome them: It will be hard to film at night due to the lack of light, so some parts might be too dark. The weather might be too windy or not the we expect. To over come the lighting issues we will use extra light and use the darkness to our favour to show that the victims are surrounded by darkness.To overcome the weather problems we will keep updated with the weather forecast and make sure the weather to our liking on the chosen dates. 

BREAKDOWN SHEET FOR SHOOTING

Storyboard scene number:32

Date:                                                                                                              Time: 4-5 

Setting: Forest                                                                                                Location: Battersea park

Crew members and roles: Alice's sister - filmimg 

Cast members: Joana, Alice and Joana's dad

Extras: Alice's Dad (If Joana's dad isn't available)

Wardrobe: Joana - White dress and heels

                  Alice - All black and red coat.
                  Joana's Dad - All black

Make-up:  Joana - neutral colours and pink/red lips
                 Alice - Dark eye make-up and dark lips 

Props:

Special effects:

Potential problems and how you’re going to overcome them: We might encounter the same problems as we did in scene 16 - It will be hard to film at night due to the lack of light, so some parts might be too dark. The weather might be too windy or not the we expect. To over come the lighting issues we will use extra light and use the darkness to our favour to show that the victims are surrounded by darkness.To overcome the weather problems we will keep updated with the weather forecast and make sure the weather to our liking on the chosen dates. 

Feedback We Were Given (Animatics)

For Media we had to create a Animatics that showed what our idea was going to consist of. After uploading this, me and my partner presented our Animatics to the class.

Even though we got good comments we also got constructive criticism which we took in and will use to make our Animatics even better.
Most of our class mates were quite confused about our idea and they said that the our Animatics was way too long and we should make it shorter. To do this we just need to make each scene shorter so that we don't go over the time we were given.
Some people also commented that a few sounds were too loud for the action that was being preformed. For example : when the characters were walking on the sand. The sound we utilized was too loud and didn't fit, to fix this we need to lower the volume of certain sounds and then it will sound better.  

On the other hand we did also get good comments about our Animatics Intro.
Quite a lot of people stated that they like the initial part of the video where we show the moon and slowly make out may towards the house. They said that it makes the scene a bit more intense yet calming.
Many people also said that they like the background music that we chose because it's quite relaxing but also makes the Intro more interesting. They also enjoyed the fact that the music was continuous throughout the whole Intro because it make the audience aware that they are never actually safe.

So overall the only things me and my peer need to be more aware of is the length of the Intro and the volume of the sounds that we included.

Click to watch our Animatics: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=enj50xlbNww&safe=active

Feedback We Were Given

We had to show out media class our horror film pitch, we then got given feed back from our teacher and from out class.

Overall, everyone who gave feedback said that they really liked the idea that we had and they all said that the idea of the illustration dissolving into the real-life scene was very interesting. They also thought that the idea of having the two girls was different and it would be very cool to see the transition.

However, we also got feedback telling us to be very careful with the girls we chose to play us when we were little because they should look similar to the older characters in the opening of the horror film. Our teacher told us that we should use a plastic knife instead of a real one because we could get in trouble with the police since we are going to be chased and we will be filming in a park which might look very suspicious. They were all scared that the illustration in the book wouldn't look like the real-life, however we made sure that they all knew that a lake near my house looks familiar to the lake in the book.

Horror film Pitch

For our horror film opening, me and my partner Alice had to come up with a good idea for the opening. we used Prezi.com to put our ideas in categories.

Main idea- we decided to start the opening with two little girls reading a story book, however the wind blows and flips the book pages to a certain page with a illustration of a lake with a boat. the image will then dissolve and shows the real life scene which looks similar to the illustration in the children book. The two girls that were shown in the beginning are now older and are looking over the lake which is shown in the illustration. One of them suddenly points out something that looks familiar, they then start walking around and they sense that they are being followed, this then causes them to realize that they are in the book that they were reading when they were little. They then reflect what happens in the book, the book has a murder that goes around killing everyone that had once read this book. This is what the rest of the movie contains.
We took inspiration from the opening of the hogfather when Susan is reading the bedtime story to the children.

Target audience- Our target audience are females that are 25 and under. We did a horror film survey and from the results we collected we saw that most of the people who answered were aged 14-19 and were females. Also, from the results we gathered we got a understating that most people were fans of horror
films.

Props- We don't have many props, the main prop that we thought of was the children's book that contains the illustration. We also are going to need a knife for the killer, we are going to use a plastic one for safety reasons and so that we don't get into trouble with the police and the law since we will be filming at night. 

For the costumes we decided  to have the younger children using lighter colors to symbolize innocence, however when they are older, one is going to wear white to show the typical victim. whilst the other victim is going to wear darker clothes to represent the more modern victim. The killer is going to wear black as a camouflage to the setting hes in.

Locations- We chose three main locations to film. we decided to use the living room to show comfort, a lake to fit in with the location that the illustration shows and finally were also going to film the chasing scene in the woods/park.

Problems-   I think that filming in the woods/park at night might be a problem as the image might be very dark, but to over come this we are going to try to bring as much light as possible so that it isn't too dark.

Another problem we might find is that our parents have to be free from work so that we have a guardian with us at night. To overcome this problem were going to inform our parents in advance of the dates that we want to film the opening so that they know what day to be free.

Preliminary Task

For this assignment my teacher gave the class the task to create a short scene based on a word that we were given. We were then put into groups f three, meaning there would be two of us acting and one of us controlling the camera. Our teacher went around with a hat which contained different words and we had to pick them out. My group got the word "surprise" so we had to create a short clip that he element of surprise. It took us a while to think of a good idea that related to the word "surprise" but eventually we came up with the idea of a  having two students entering the results room an collecting there test results. One passed whilst the other one failed.

Before we started filming we had to storyboard our ideas, this was a very effective way to bring our ideas to life. Personally i though that creating the storyboard really helped because we were able to actually draw all the shot types we wanted to include and think about where we could place the props. In addition, we were also able to write down what the shot type was in case the picture was unclear . whilst filming we were able to include all the scenes and all the shot types we wanted. So that the footage wasn't shaky we used a tripod, the tripod was very helpful as it made it easier for us to film particular shots like the high angle shot. After we finished filming, we had to edit the footage that we collected. To edit we used Final Cut Pro. I learnt how to select footage that i wanted, remove unwanted parts and how to place certain scenes on the timeline. This was very useful in my opinion because now i know how to use and edit with Final Cut Pro.

Target audience profile

Image of target audience : Overall i imagine my target audience to be like this, as from the results i achieved i noticed that most of the people were girls in between the ages 14-19.

What is their favorite film :
From the results i collected ,i imagine that their favorite film would either be scream of scary movie as most of the people prefer horror with a bit of comedy.

What do they do on the weekends: 
Since most of them were in between the ages 14-19, they probably enjoy meeting up with their friends.

Mode of transept they :
All the results i got were people living in London, so i'm guessing most of them either travel using the bus or trains.

Where/how they live:
From my understanding they all live in London and most live at home with their family.

Their favorite drink:
A very typical drink of teens is Lucozade, so from the age range that i achieved i believe they will like Lucozade  

what is their favorite TV show:
Due to the fact that most of the people that filled in my survey were horror fans, they would probably like Supernatural.

Who would their ideal partner be:
Since most were teenage girls, their ideal partner would be someone like Zayn from one direction.

Where they go on holiday:
Most people prefer warm and sunny places for their holiday so they might like Hot places like Spain.

What political party they would vote for: 
Conservationist and unionist party

Horror Film Convention.

Horror Film Conventions. 

Setting.

In most horror films the setting is normally: Isolated, abandoned or it has some kind of past story. Seeing a setting like this instantly creates tension to the viewers as we already have an idea of what the character is putting themselves into. Normally, the characters that are targets are alone or with a group of naive friends, in most horror films this usually occurs during the night time, but there are occasions that it’s set during the daytime.

EXAMPLE: Supernatural season 1 episode 17: Hell house 

Characters.

In every horror there are stereotypical characters that appear.

In most films of this genre there is always a target, usually it’s a woman so that it portrays the vulnerability and the need of protection. This character is normally very stupid and annoying, but they are never the first to die but they do get killed later on. All horror movies have this character as they build-up suspense and tension due to the fact that they are so easily scared.  

EXAMPLE: Opening of scream- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G3lSvJ5RXKA&safe=active

Every horror movie has a hero, they are nearly always a male that is strong both physically and mentally, and this allows them to protect themselves and the other characters. They normally are able to stay strong and concentrated through most of the film. In more recent horror movies they have started to make a female the hero as this goes against older traditional horror movies.

No horror movie would be complete without a villain, typically the villain is portrayed as a serial killer, monster or ghost. On the other hand, if they are human they will wear a mask to hide their real identity whilst they are murdering someone, so that not even the audience has a clue of who the villain could possibly be. This makes the audience more frightened due to the “fear of the unknown”.

There is always a person that doubts that they are being attacked and these people normally die very close to the beginning of the film, they always state that “there is no such thing as…” or “there is nothing here”. After they say this they are usually killed which leads on the killer to carry on killing everyone else.

In a lot horror films there's a teenage couple, they normally wonder off by themselves and that’s when they are killed, most of the time the viewer’s get very on-edge and frustrated at the young couple when they leave the group because we know that they shouldn't separate from the group as the consequences are that they are going to end up dead.

EXAMPLE: Opening of Halloween - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ELF1DCf1ChA

Most horror movies have a fake helper that pretends to help the hero but really they are giving help and information to the villain, normally we find out who the fake helper is near the end of the movie when the villain has also been discovered, usually it’s a shocker for the audience when the figure out who the villains sidekick is as it’s a very unusual person and the views see him as a second hero.

Costumes:

For the humans in the horror films most of their costumes are dark to fit with the scenario, but usually the characters that uses black or dark colors represent the evil in the movie, white is also a color that appears a lot during horror movies, white is usually to represent the hero’s and the good people in the piece, and sometimes the victims.

On the other hand, when there is a monster in a horror film their costumes give away what they are. Zombies usually have blood dripping down them and ripped clothes, vampires typically have very long capes and their fangs. Werewolves normally are covered in fur after they transform, with the help pf these costumes the audience is able to pick up on what they are.

EXAMPLE: Supernatural season 1 episode 1: Pilot
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dKtE0l0J0uA&safe=active

Camera Angles:

Horror film directors and producers like to use different camera angles to show us every little detail to freak the audience out more. They like to use high and low angles to portray who is the most dominate character and who is the less dominant, this has an effect on the audience because we really get the understanding of who has the upper hand.

Another popular shot is the point of view angle so that we can see through the characters and monsters eyes, this impacts us because we are able to experience the things that they see.

They are also fans of using extreme close ups, usually of the victims so that the views can really see the expressions and emotions that a certain character is feeling. 

EXAMPLE: The ring

Sounds:

During the horror films we hear a lot of back ground noises that make us more anxious and scared. In most horror films we hear owls if the characters are wondering through the woods, most horror films like to include ambient sounds and non-diegetic such as footsteps and heartbeats, this causes and impact on the viewers as we feel like we are in the characters shoes and were the ones being chased. All horror films have suspense music in the background to really make the audience frightened and build-up tension and suspense.

Introduction to me.

Hello, in this post i'm going to present to you what stuff i like and enjoy.

Favorite TV shows

Supernatural

Trailer for season 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4kmA86_hnbo

I really enjoy watching supernatural and it's defiantly my favorite TV show. I've been watching Supernatural since the begin of the year, as some friends recommend that i should watch it. Personally i think the story line is very interesting as it's an idea that's quite common but sometimes the idea doesn't go as planned, but with supernatural i think the directors and producers executed it extremely well and put their ideas across effectively. Also, i have always been into acting so i like when actors are able to really portray what the scrip tells them, and i think that the case with the cast of Supernatural, as all of them are incredibly talented and very dedicated to the role they play.

New Girl

Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D1NDNFZGY7k     

Even though i prefer series with a bit of mystery and suspense, i also am a fan of shows like "New girl" as it's very funny and the main characters all seem to have good chemistry right of the bat, i like seeing shows when the characters interact a lot with each other and enjoy each others company.All the characters personalities click well with each other and even though they are all quite different in certain ways. Jess is quite awkward and quirky; Nick is defiantly the most reserved character form the bunch; Schmidt likes to call him self the modern version of Casanova and then we have the coach which is a little less reversed than Nick and spends most of his time in the gym.

Pretty Little Liars    

Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XveeZrlGKE8

Pretty little liars is also one of my favorites as it includes a lot of mystery, as stated before i do really enjoy mystery so i liked this show straight away. I find it very interesting how they are able to add so many clues and still be able to confuse and really make the girls think about every possible circumstance. They also like to include cliffhangers in every episode to really leave the viewers thinking and wonder what might happen next.  


How I Met Your Mother
                                      

I like "how i met your mother" quite a lot. I think that the combination of humor and real life situations really mix well together, since the audience finds themselves laughing but also they understand what the characters have been through. Again i think the actors all have good relationships with each other and that is really portrayed in the show it's self. I like all the characters but my favorite is without a doubt Barney, just his little quotes like "legan- wait for it - dary" and his thing for high fives just makes his character funnier.




  Favorite films 

She's The Man 

 

trailer : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D4OhwrMidSU

I love this film, I've lost track of how many times i have actually seen it as i watch it a lot. It has a strong element of comedy which i really like. Also i think that that story line is really unique even though it does have elements from Shakespeare's "twelfth night". The acting within the film its self is good, its just the fact that viola isn't really convincing as a man due to the fact that she is woman, But overall it's a very good movie and it makes me laugh a lot.




Saw

Trailer : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HKPy5RWuqNA

I actually used to be scared to watch saw and i never really wanted to watch it, however this summer i was over at my cousins house and he showed me the film and i really enjoyed it. Overall i am a big horror fan but watching saw wasn't exactly horror it was more of psychological horror which i actually prefer as it allows the viewers to really think and to put them selves in the characters shoes. I thought that it was a great set of movies and they all included really cool concepts and extremely twisted ideas and just that factor made me like the film.    

21 Jump Street 

Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZirgAYBcOgo

This movie is without a doubt one of my favorite films as it includes all the aspects that i enjoy watching in a movie, it has : comedy, action and a little mystery and i think that these aspect mixed together makes a very good film. This version of the film is actually a remake but personally i prefer the modern version over the original. It's also really nice to see their real friendship even thought they are playing characters, to me that really shows that they enjoy being around each other and like having their company.



Mean Girls

Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yBAYiBoy43M

Mean girls is a classic, i like how it really portrays high school and just teenage years in general. It shows how wanting to fit in and be popular will eventually take the realness away from you and you will end up being the person that no one really likes but they just hang out with you because your popular. What also makes it special is the fact that most of the cast is female, i find that quite interesting as in most movies there is mainly guys and just some women, but in this movie it really shows a different picture. I think overall it a really good movie and has a lot of sense of humor.

Finding Nemo

Trailer : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wZdpNglLbt8

Even though Nemo is a kids film it's without a doubt one of my favorite films. I thinks it's that fact that i grew watching it that makes me so attached to this film. Personally i think it has really good animation and that characters are all very different but it just works. My favorite character in finding Nemo is 100% Dory, i just love how weird and hyper she it, also the fact that she uses a big amount of repetition just adds to the factor of humor, because when we hear something for the first time it's never as funny as when you hear it a second time because you understand the humor a bit better.

Radio
I don't spend too much time listening to the radio, as i don't really like the type of music that they play. So i normally stick with the playlist o my phone due to the fact that its the type of music i enjoy.

 However, if i'm in the car with my family we normally listen to capital as it normally plays really fresh and catchy music, and it may not be my favorite but it always puts me in a good mood.

I only actually like BBC radio 1 because of Nick Grimshaw and the Dan and Phil show, they are extremely talented people and they make me laugh, i don't actually listen to BBC radio 1 for the music. It's just because i don't want to miss their shows.

I'm a fan of magic, as they usually play old music, which i prefer to the pop that gives on the radio now as most of the lyrics have much more meaning and just in general the music is better. I normally listen to it when i go to my friends house as her mum is always playing it, and sometimes a old song come on and we get really excited as we still know all the words.  

          

Print/books

The Fault In Our Stars 

The fault in our stars is most defiantly my favorite book, i read it really fast as i really couldn't put it down. Whilst reading it, i spent most of my time crying due to the fact that the story line is such a mixture of happiness, sadness, humor and tragedy. John green was able to really combine these aspects into one book at that was a lot to handle since you feel extremely connected to the characters and you really feel sympathetic towards them and their situations. Overall The fault in our stars is an actual masterpiece and i would recommend it for anyone who hasn't read it before.  




Fallen   

 Fallen was actually the every first book that i really got hooked on, before fallen i used to just read book whenever i felt bored or if needed to. However,since reading fallen i have started to read much more that i did before. Fallen was a great reading experience, i would literally carry it around with me everywhere as i was really fascinated by the context and all the characters and how they interacted with each other. Fallen also is a collection of books so i have every single one of the books. Again i would recommend it if you like a bit of fantasy with a lot of back story.              




kerrang 

I don't really read a lot of magazines, the only one i actually have interest in is Karrang. Karrang is a magazine all about bands that are usually in the genre of rock and punk rock, i am a huge fan of this type of music so i like to know what the current affairs are in between bands. I like ready karrang so that i'm always up to date and i know when there is any new releases.







Online 

Whenever i'm online i just usually spend my time on social media such as tumblr and twitter. i prefer tumblr as we have the chance to run a blog and just post about stuff that we like, and i also quite enjoy twitter as i'm able to communicate with my friends in a very effective way. 

Games

I don't really play games that often, but when i do it's normally on my phone and i play games such as: candy crush, temple run and subway surfers. I like these games because they really kill my boredom when i have nothing else to do. 

 To conclude i just showed you what i like to do and watch in my spare time. Hope you enjoyed reading through "introduction to me" and you have learnt some more about me and what i fancy doing.