Rough Cut 2

From this I gained more audience feedback to improve my trailer for the final cut

• Intercutting the shots of the axe throughout the party scene and intercutting shots of the killer walking towards the camera throughout the trailer would give a daunting sense of him moving closer to his victims.
• The fade shots on the house were all inconsistent, some with fades and some without, i changed this to all the same fade.
• Add dialouge to show the teenagers are entering the hospital eg "lets go there"
• Change the "what happens when the storys you hear about" to something shorter with less words.
• Add a production company logo.
• Change the shot of the two teenagers in black and white to colour, as this adds confusion to wheather it is in the past or not.
• Incorparate more shot variation.
• Move all shots of the party to before the shots of the sign to show clearly the shift from the party to the hospital.

Soundtrack

I used music and sound effects from a copyright free website http://www.videocopilot.net/. Sound was crucial in my production as I wanted to keep the violence off screen as it is difficult to make it look realistic.

I also used the voice over of a news reporter at the beginning of my trailer, I recorded this on the video camera then transferred it to my work. I used the sound effect of a radio changing stations along with this. Rather than editing this into my work I recorded it on the camera as I was doing my voice over. This was to create a sense of verisimilitude as editing the sound effect into my work made the two pieces of audio sound detached and it was obvious they were not both from the radio. Recording them both together resolved this problem. I got the idea for using a news report from trailers such as Prom Night (2008 Nelson McCormick) http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-971468839440302947 which uses a newspaper and police evidence to give basic exposition quickly which is essential in a trailer.

To create the soundtrack I started by adding sound effects in shots with violence, such as where a character is grabbed and in shots I wanted to make more prominent such as the shots of the no trespassing sign. I didn't use any sound effects in my rough cut and some of the feedback pointed out the music didn't fit with the action, for example when the killer is approaching a girl the music was slower.

To resolve this I added the sound effects in places of prominence or tension. I used sound effects for violence such as loud bangs and for shots such as the sign or the shot of blood on the wall I used longer more drawn out eiree effects to make the audience feel uncomfortable. I found sound effects were useful to cover ambient noise, this was a problem in my work last year. In the final shot I dubbed a scream of a girl from a coverage shot I had taken and the sound of the axe hitting the ground, which sounded like a body. The ambient noise was a problem as it could be heard on the shot of the axe hitting the ground and I couldn't turn down the volume as it would cut out the sound. I used a banging sound effect to cover this and it worked effectively. I used a heartbeat underlying in the final shots. This makes the audiences heartbeat subconsiouly faster making them feel tense and on edge, a technique used in Scream (Wes Craven 1996) and Halloween (John Carpenter 1978).

I used two different tracks for the music. I began with a slow track with long drawn out strings to create tension and put the audience on edge. I used this track first as from my research of codes and conventions I found the music and action always begins slowly and increases about halfway through, such as the trailer for Sorority Row (2009 Stewert Hendler).

I used a second track to fit with the action which is fast paced.

Ancillary Texts Ideas and Research-Poster

I researched different film posters to find common codes and conventions in my genre. All of the posters used effective taglines and included a billing block, release date and sometimes reviews. A common convention for slasher posters is to have a picture of the weapon, seen on the Friday the 13th and Cherry Falls poster. Some posters use stills from the films, such as The Blair Witch Project and others use different pictures such as 28 Days Later. I looked at the differences between teaser posters and feature film posters and found the main differences were teaser posters are generally one image with a tagline and a date of release or "coming soon" but with no title and feature posters incorparate the title, a billing block and a more complex picture giving more exposition to the narrative and the plot. This difference is highlighted in the teaser and feature posters for Friday the 13th.

Teaser Poster Feature Poster

Evaluation

In what ways does your product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
From undergoing extensive genre research to understand the forms and conventions of the slasher genre I went on to decide in which ways I should use what I had learned and in what ways I should challenge it. I researched codes and conventions of the slasher genre by watching various trailers of the genre on websites such as youtube and taking notes on them. I also looked at which production companies all the films were produced by to give me a sense of the type of company's who commonly work in horror and to give myself an idea of which companies may work with my film (http://brear-sophiea2.blogspot.com/2009/10/codes-and-onventions.html). For my genre research I made notes on 3 books about the genre (Slasher Movies by Mark Whitehead, Legacy of Blood by Jim Harper and Men, Women and Chainsaws by Carrol H Clover) and thought about how I could apply what I had learned to my own work (http://brear-sophiea2.blogspot.com/2010_01_01_archive.html)

Untitled from Sophie Brear on Vimeo.

Characters and Location
I decided, because of my target audience of socio economic groupings C2DE, to develop conventions by using scream queens and a group of teenagers as my central protagonists. I also challenged some conventions such as using a blonde actress to play the final girl. My intentions in doing so were to widen the appeal of my product to higher class groupings such as C1. By adding a counter type this added complexity to my product which I hoped would broaden the appeal but still appeal to my target audience. Another way in which i did this was by adding a news report to give exposition. From my genre research I found films such as The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (Tobe Hooper 1974) are seen as higher culture rather than popular culture. It uses techniques such as opening with a police investigation which gives a documentary feel which appeals to higher culture audiences, therefore I incorporated a news report in my product to achieve the same effect.





I used counter types for all the female characters as the two scream queens who are stereotypically blonde had brown hair. I looked at the parodied aspect of scream queens as shown in Scary Movie 3 (2003 Keenen Wayans) and used this to juxtapose my character Lucy with. She is slimmer with short brown hair rather that having a fuller figure and long blonde hair like the typical scream queen (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qhb64fV12do).
I cast myself as the final girl because I have blonde hair but I gave firm anchorage to the audience that I am by showing my character refusing alcohol and hinting that I survive the killer, a common convention of the final girl. This technique has been used in films such as Halloween 2 (2009 Rob Zombie) where Laurie Strode is presented as blonde.
For the location I got my ideas from my genre research, particularly Legacy of Blood (Jim Harper) and Slasher Movies (Mark Whitehead). A Legacy of Blood depicts the 3 main locations for a horror film to be set and as I was conforming to horror codes and conventions I followed this and set my film in the wilderness. I then went on to research this in Slasher Movies and found another common convention is teens breaching wilderness and the expectations of their parents and as a result being killed which my narrative fits.

Editing and Cinematography
Whilst editing reflected on my research of common codes and conventions in mind and used these in my own work. I decided my establishing shot should be a point of view shot walking towards the house to give the audience a sense of where the action happens and it also fits well with the voice over which is talking about the asylum. This is comparable to the shot in Halloween (1978 John Carpenter). When Micheal Myers is walking towards the house there is a point of view shot however from researching this I found a Steadicam was used to create the fluid smooth movement rather than a jerky one. To recreate this smoother movement I attempted to film with a tripod on a skateboard to get a smoother movement however weather conditions restricted this as it was snowing so I used a jerky handheld shot.





I used titles in between shots to give a small amount of exposition to the plot but leaving some narrative enigma to keep the audiences attention. This technique has been used in the trailer of Triangle (2009 Christoper Smith)





I framed the shot of the axe being taken off the wall at a slight dutch angle to signify something is wrong. I got this idea from the opening of Bride of Chuckie (Ronnie Yu 1998)
The shots I used of the teenagers at a party are similar to the party scenes shown in the trailer of Donkey Punch (Oliver Blackburn 2009) as they are fast paced short takes which signify time passing and establish the couples the teenagers split into and set up a more cautious character who is the final girl.






I inter cut the shots of the axe being taken off the wall throughout the party scene and the shots of the killer walking forward throughout the second half of the trailer to show he is moving closer and build tension. This was an inter textual reference to the trailer of Babysitter Wanted (Jonas Barnes 2008) which uses ideas such as the blue truck being seen a number of times and things being disrupted in the house such as the phone line being cut to signify the killer is moving closer. The trailer also incorporates a similar effect as I did using inter cutting to create tension, as I inter cut the axe between scenes of the party they inter cut shots of knives and weapons throughout the police hearing.
This trailer also gave me more ideas as to how I should portray my news report, as they use the technique of a investigation hearing I decided this would be difficult in my work to create the verisimilitude of police officers and reporters and decided it may be too long for a teaser trailer so used the radio broadcast instead.






I used the shadow of the axe in the final shot as an inter textual reference to Friday the 13th (Marcus Nispel 2009) as there is a shadow of Jason in the tent which I thought was an effective way to leave narrative enigma to the audience and keep violence off screen as it is difficult to make this look realistic. It is also similar to the trailer of Jenifer's Body (2009 Karyn Kusama) which uses a shadow effect to show the transformation to a vampire, rather than directly showing it on screen.






Lighting and Soundtrack
I largely gained inspiration for the lighting in my trailer from Friday the 13th (Marcus Nispel) as I thought the use of torches and silhouettes was effective and appropriate for my trailer as the majority of it is set outside. It also helped in keeping violence off screen as I used silhouettes to show people being killed.



This trailer also gave me the idea to have someone running towards the camera with a torch which gives a sense of disorientation. I also felt it helped in giving verisimilitude and making more effective point of view shots such as when the killer discovers the two teenagers initially.



This was also emphasised in tracking shots such as the shot of the "Danger" sign.




For the soundtrack I used the audio of a news report to give basic exposition to the narrative, a technique used in Prom Night (2008 Nelson McCormick) to show past events quickly which is necessary for a teaser trailer. I used a heartbeat underlying in the final shots. This makes the audiences heartbeat subconsiouly faster making them feel tense and on edge, a technique used in Scream (Wes Craven 1996) and Halloween (John Carpenter 1978).
I used two different tracks for the music. I began with a slow track with long drawn out strings to create tension and put the audience on edge. I used this track first as from my research of codes and conventions I found the music and action always begins slowly and increases about halfway through, such as the trailer for Sorority Row (2009 Stewert Hendler). I used a second track to fit with the action which is fast paced.

Narrative
My narrative reflects Tordorovs narrative theory which involves the narrative beginning in a state of equilibrium, this equilibrium being disrupted then restored. This is shown in my film as it begins with a state of equilibrium at the party, then moves to the hospital where it is disrupted. It is restored again when the final girl defeats the killer. I also applied Strauss theory of binary oppositions to my narrative which is "a pair of opposites" used to highlight the differences between each other. I used this in the form of the two promiscuous brunettes juxtaposed with the innocent blonde final girl. My initial narrative of the main group of teenagers hearing a story about a previous group who strayed into the asylum and were killed is similar to Friday the 13th (Marcus Nispel 2009) as the main group hear about a previous group who have been killed.



Mode of Address and Layout (print)
I followed the layout of other popular film magazines, mainly Empire to ensure my front cover conformed the codes and conventions of similar products therefore making it realistic. I also found I had to use a certain style of language to relate to my wide target audience of 18 to 40 years old, for example the use of "hottest" rather than more formal language. My initial magazine cover incorporated a plain black background however from looking at other real magazine products I found they often have a back ground in fitting with the main person pictured therefore I used the background of a forest as most of my film takes part in a forest.
My poster is an intertextual reference to the poster of Cherry Falls (2000 Geoffry Wright) as I incorpartate pictures of the central protagainists faces and a picture of the weapon used.

Hardware

To film my production I used a Cannon wide screen MV920.
Camcorder Type: Digital
Recording Format: Mini DV
Recording System: PAL
Sensor Quantity: 1
Optical Zoom: 25weight: 0.38kg
I had a substantisal ammount of experience with the camera as I used it to film my coursework last year and found it fairly simple to use. Before shooting each time I did the white balance test which involves holding a white piece of paper over the lens so the camera can adjust to the correct settings. I found transferring the footage from the camcorder to the computers simple and found it useful that you were able to watch the tape through as it imported on the camera screen. I used some of the functions on the camera such as the self timer as I needed to be in shot and had no one to film, this was simple to do. One problem i found with the camera was it had a very short batterylife which meant at times it ran out whilst filming.

Unlike in my coursework last year I found I rarley used a tripod. The majority of the filming was done free hand as I wanted to give my production a documentary feel with shakey camera work and at some points it was immpossible to use a tripod in the restricted space. For some of the shots such as the initial shots of the house I would have liked to have used a stedi cam simmilar to the one used in the first scene of Halloween (John Carpenter 1978) to achive a more fluid less jerky movment http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vKLlcI0cWI0.

To take the pictures for my ancillary task I used a Cannon 9016 10 mega pixel camera, this was effective as I used a colour accent setting on the camera to add a tinge of green which made the character look eerier however the prohibited me using the flash therefore I had to use torches as I took the photos in the dark.

To record my podcasts and video audience feedback I used my moblie phone a BlackBerry Storm 9550.

Final Idea

My final idea was a film about a group of teenagers who break into an abandoned mental asylum and are killed by a caretaker who still lives in the grounds. It will be of the slasher genre and my target audience is ages 15 to 24 but I also aim to appeal to older more sophisticated viewers by introducing concepts such as counter types eg in the way my final girl is blonde. My idea was strongly influenced by the Friday the 13th re make (Marcus Nispel 2009) as I like the way the lighting is used in the trailer for example when the swinging lamp highlights Jason and the use of the torches coming towards the camera (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-22T4gm7zrE).

I intend to incorporate this in my own trailer. Although I was inspired by this I also feel shooting in the dark may cause some issues with lighting. Also the various killing may be a challenge for my inexperienced actors which may prove a problem as it will affect the verisimilitude of my trailer.

I decided to name my film "Axed" as the weapon my killer uses is an axe. I believed having a one word title gives impact, such as films like "Scream" (1996 Wes Craven). I searched the title on IMDB before deciding on it to ensure any previous films did not have this title.

Rough Cut and Audience Feedback

I gained audience feedback from members of my target audience (aged 16 to 18) through podcasts and videos. The response was mainly positive and the sound and music was well received however there was confusion in the narrative and the voice over of the boy telling the story was not greatly received. I also gained feedback from older (aged 40 to 45) sources who were not part of my target audience and the response was similar. The genre and cast of my film did not appeal to them however they agreed the music and sounds were effective but felt a shot of the group at the party was needed to give exposition to the narrative.

From this I have decided to add a news report to give exposition rather than having the boy telling the story. I considered having a shot taken by one of the victims before they are killed apologising or possibly saying goodbye. I was inspired to this idea by scenes in The Blair Which Project (Daniel Myrick 1999) such as this one featured in the trailer http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pfnXbXKi2-s.

However I decided on the news report. This was because I believe it could help in appealing to a higher social grouping audience such as C1. In my genre research I looked into films such as The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (Tobe Hooper 1974) and found it appeals to this audience due to its documentary style scenes for example the opening scene (http://www.vbox7.com/play:cb2ead10?r=google).

Theorists

I applied Tordorovs narrative theory to my film as there is equilibrium at the party at the beginning of my narrative, which is then disrupted by the killer and reinstated by the final girl when she defeats the killer.

I followed Marxist theorys of dominant ideologies in horror, which is including a male killer. This anchors the genre to the viewer.

I also applied Strauss theory of binary oppositions which is "a pair of opposites" used to highlight the differences between each other. I used this in the form of the two promiscuous brunettes juxtaposed with the innocent blonde final girl.

Test Footage and Sample Scenes

Costumes and Props

I dressed the two promiscuous girls in tight party wear whereas the final girl is dressed casually.

The two girls are wearing low cut brightly coloured tops whereas the other girl has a high necked navy top on, signifying she is more shy and retiring, blending into the background. My costumes fit horror conventions as "scream queens" are most often dressed in tight revealing clothing for example Bree in Friday the 13th (Marcus Nispel 2009). This portrays the characters as sexually availible and could help draw in a male audience through the male gaze theory.

The boys are all dressed in smart casual clothing signifying they are at a house party.

I dressed the killer in worn jeans and a heavy coat which connote a manual labourour, signifying he is the caretaker. The shoes the killer wore were an important factor in my trailer as the killers face is never shown. I used heavy walking style boots to signify he is the caretaker and to make his steps look powerful and domenering for example when he crushes the can.

I used the can as a visual bridge to show he is following the teenagers, as it is shown in the background of one of the previous shots.

The axe was the most important prop I used as it is featured throughout the trailer. I felt it was an effective weapon for the caretaker as it would have been a tool he would use. I wanted to end my trailer with a shaddowed shot of one of the deaths and an axe was more effective than a knife because it is bigger and casts more of a shaddow. I got the idea of using an axe from American Psycho (2000 Mary Harron)

The torch was also an important prop as it is used to show the couple being caught in the caretakers hut and to show him walking towards them. I also used it in a shot of one of the victims holding the torch and running towards the camera which was an intertextual reference to Friday the 13th.

Location and Mise-en-scene

After my genre research on locations I decided to set the majority of my trailer in the wilderness. I looked at two derelict hospitals, High Royds and Middleton Hospital then decided on Middleton as the surrounding area was more deserted and it was heavily wooded. I took test footage around the area (http://brear-sophiea2.blogspot.com/2010/02/location-scouting.html) to ensure I would be able took take all the shots I needed as this was a problem I encountered last year.




I also tested lighting with a floodlight torch in the area, however this caused problems when shooting as shadows caused the to be in darkness in some shots which affected the continuity when editing

I had to re film as it was raining heavily and when we returned to shoot more footage the rain had stopped. This became apparent when I started to edit and found you could see and hear the rain in some shots and not others. This clip illustrates the difference in the two shots and the prominence of the rain.

I chose to film the party in a conservatory. This is because the glass gives a sense of vunerability as you can be watched, similar to the house in Scream (1996 Wes Craven)


The effect of blood on the wall was filmed at a separate location and is an inter textual reference to The Strangers (2008 Bryan Bertino). I used one torch to light the wall then set the other to a flashing setting to give a sense of disorientation.


The shot of the axe being taken off the wall was also shot at a separate location. I filmed it in a garage on a bare stone wall and placed wires from a lawnmower in shot to give the impression of a caretakers hut as I only had one short shot to convey this.

The two signs were filmed at separate locations however I thought they added to building tension and emphasised the fact the group trespassing to the audience. The area behind the first sign is heavily wooded gave more exposition to the location.

I also ensured the area I filmed the can being dropped in had lots of leaves and roots on the floor to connote the group are in a forrest.

In the scenes at the party I placed bottles and cans around the room to convey they had been drinking.

When Theo is telling the story I used a torch under his face to automatically signify to the audience the genre and the fact he is parodying the telling of ghost stories.

Casting

I decided to invert common horror stereotypes by using two brunettes as scream queens rather than blondes, and by using a blonde as my final girl. By doing this is hoped to add complexity to my product which would draw in some viewers from classes C1. As the rest of my film is very conventional to the horror genre I didn't feel this would remove any appeal from my target class groups of C2DE.

I chose Hannah to play one of the scream queens because she is brunette and because she has a curvier figure, conforming to horror codes and conventions. This also brings about the male gaze theory which could help in attracting more males to my product. She is comparable to Amanda in Friday the 13th (2009 Marcus Nispel)

I chose Lucy to play the second scream queen. I felt she was juxtaposed to a traditional scream queen, shown in Scary Movie 3 (2003 David Zucker) because she is slimmer and has shorter brown hair. She is comparable to the character of Kim in Donkey Punch (2009 Oliver Blackburn)
I cast myself as the final girl as I wanted a blonde haired girl as a counter type, juxtaposed with the two promiscuous brunettes. Other horror films which use a blonde final girl include Laurie Strode in Halloween 2 (2009 Rob Zombie) and Jessica in Vacancy 2 (2009 Eric Bross)

I chose Theo to play the geekier boy as he is smaller than the other two boys. He is comparable to characters such as Wade or Chewie in Friday the 13th as he is and outcast who is mocked by the rest of the group.

• I cast Danny as another counter type as he has blonde hair and blue eyes which could be perceived as connoting innocence however he leads the group astray in encouraging them to visit the house. He is comparable to the character of Trent in Friday the 13th (below)