SHOOT 2 preparation and reflection

SHOOT 2 PREPARATION

PREPARATION

COSTUME, HAIR, MAKE-UP:

See Makeup and Costumes post.

PROPS AND EQUIPMENT:

PROPS:

• Kitchen knives
• Candles 
• Halloween decorations (owned by Morgan) 
• Makeup (see scream queen for details)
• Remote control
• Kettle
• Fake blood
• Radio/Speaker

CLOTHES:

• Scream queen: 
• Pale green, strapped dress (H&M, cut up, muddied up) - 4,99€
• Jewellery 
• Black high heel boots
• Makeup (HUDA eyeshadow, brown and red liquid lipstick, mascara)
• Hair down 

• Final girl: 
• Glasses (owned by Ambre)
• (School uniform) 
• Pleated checked purple and white skirt 
• White shirt (H&M)
• Red jumper

EQUIPMENT: 

• Phone
• Monopod
• Tripod
• Motorized stabilizer (Smooth 4) 

LOCATION: 

• Leila's house
• Living room
• Kitchen
• Entrance

Cast didn't change. They were open with new shooting dates and easy to make plans with.

SCREENPLAY:

Minor changes were made to the screenplay. After getting some feedback, we changed the conversation with the mother to a radio playing music, then fading out to provide exposition on the killings. 

SHOOT 2 REFLECTION

CAST PERFORMANCE, COSTUME, PREFERRED READING:

The cast performed well, but there were some issues with the entrance scene. They had trouble following a script and there were lots of repetitions of words like "It's ok". The reaction to the knock was also miscommunicated. One of our cast members cut her hair but this wasn't an issue as it reinforces the "final girl" archetype, short hair is typically masculine which is a characteristic final girl characters typically have.

For preferred reading, we needed to make the killing scene clearer. I think it was clearer who killed who but the verisimilitude of the scene was broken due to the acting and prop. (We couldn't use a real knife for safety reasons so we used a candlestick.)  

EXPECT THE UNEXPECTED:

We had fewer props than in the first shoot for various reasons, we had to make use of space. Our cast member cut her hair but it didn't create issues.  The light in the basement was too bright so Morgan had to hide it with his hands, this allowed for us to produce some flickering. 

WHAT NOW?

For new scene shoots, we need:

- All-black costume including gloves (Pretty Little Liars, "A")

- Hand of god shots

- The last scene shot 

- Creating a missing poster 

- record more foley sound 

Makeup and Costumes

IN THIS POST: MAKEUP, MAKEUP INFLUENCES, COSTUMES, COSTUMES INFLUENCES

See Leila's Blog.

SHOOT 1: 

For makeup, we followed a few fake bruise tutorials from youtube and pictures on google and Pinterest.

We put some fake blood in her nose to look like a nosebleed. for the regular makeup, we kept it quite light but added some mascara and lipgloss to show her character.

COSTUMES:

OLIVIAs costume consists of a silver dress that we cut up and covered in mud (although maybe not visible enough), and some dark blue heels. This is meant to represent her "scream queen" character as an irresponsible party girl.

(The Princess Diaries - 2001)

Here was the original EMMA costume that we used. it consisted of a white shirt and a red plaid skirt. the skirt ended up being too small for our actress so we changed it to a blue plaid skirt and we added a white cardigan. 

SHOOT 2:

For our second shoot, we needed to exaggerate her makeup due to the low lighting. we added a lot more bruising, mud, and blood and we also added red lipstick for "scream queen" signifiers.

 

(It follows - 2014)

PRE-PRODUCTION OVERVIEW incl screenplay, shotlist,...

SHOOT 1 PRE-PRODUCTION OVERVIEW

IN THIS POST: WHAT WAS DONE BEFORE FILMING, PREPARING FOR THE SHOOT 

CASTING, CHARACTERS, REHEARSAL/DIRECTING:

For casting, we put an ad for this project on Morgan's public Instagram and received 3 replies. After talking to them, we chose two of the girls who had convenient schedules and features.

The acting experience was also especially important to Morgan. 

Francesca as EMMA (final girl archetype and secret killer)

(example is "Needy" from Jennifer's Body 2009, Karyn Kusama)

Caeli C as OLIVIA (scream queen archetype)

(example is Cici from Scream 2, 1997, Wes Craven)

LOCATIONS, MISE-EN-SCENE, HEALTH AND SAFETY:

The makeup and dress looked good in natural/bright lighting, we later had to create further preproduction tests before shoot 2 to make the makeup and muddy dress less subtle and more visible in darker lighting.

The largest safety difficulty for shoots 1&2 was the stabbing scene as we wanted a real knife for verisimilitude but getting the actresses to handle a sharp kitchen knife was risky and had to be rehearsed multiple times to avoid any issues.

The candles were also a safety issue, we needed to be careful to keep the room well-ventilated and the flames away from any flammable things (hair and script!!).

EQUIPMENT + LOGISTICS:

We expected to use a mixture of Sony camera and iPhone but quickly realised iPhone was easier to work with. The only issue with iPhones is storage space and battery (two things that cost us valuable time during shoot 1, something we kept in mind for the reshoot). 

SCREENPLAY:

See Shoot 1

We rehearsed the scripts with each other than with the actresses, and we agreed to let them have as much creative freedom with it as they wanted. This caused some difficult moments to edit but the original screenplay was unnatural sounding and we felt trust in our actresses during pre-production. 

THEORIES and KEY TERMS I've learnt

IN THIS POST: TERMS AND THEORIES I'VE PICKED UP THROUGHOUT MY AS COURSE

AUDIO BRIDGE: When audio is carried over two takes to tie together two scenes.

IDENTS:  a short sequence shown before a film to identify the production company/distribution company.

INDIE: not belonging or affiliated to a major film company (ex. Big 5).

SERIF & SANS SERIF: 

(Source: Clockwork Design Group)

SOCIAL REALIST: A film genre that aims to show the real socio-political conditions of the working class.

BFI: (British Film Institute): A film and television organization that promotes filmmaking and television in the United Kingdom. The BFI uses its funds to encourage film production and distribution.

AUTEUR: French word "auteur" meaning author. A film whose director has a distinctive style and gives the film its personal and unique stamp. It also should provide some social commentary in their films.  

ESTABLISHING SHOT: Used to introduce a new scene and tell the viewer where and when the film is taking place. They can also set up a point of view or help develop character. Conventionally an extended long shot.

PROPP:

(Source: Media-Studies.com)

NARRATIVE ENIGMA: This is an editing technique in which the camera shows only some of the narrative, leaving the audience with a sense of mystery as to where the narrative will go next. (bbc.co.uk)

EXPOSITION: Reveals details about a film’s narrative. (Can be character traits, motivations, background information or themes that all allow the audience to further comprehend the central narrative of a film.)

SHALLOW AND DEEP FOCUS: A shallow depth of field describes a small area or part of the image in focus, where things away from the main subject become blurry. A deep depth of field has a large area in focus. (Boords)

(shallow on the left, deep on the right)

JOSEPH CAMPBELL'S "HERO'S JOURNEY"/ MONOMYTH: Describes the common heroic narrative in which a heroic protagonist sets out, has transformative adventures, and returns home. (University of California, Berkeley)

POLYSEMY: the coexistence of many possible meanings for a text. It is also the lack of a preferred reading.

ANCHORAGE: The combination of many signifiers pointing towards a preferred reading.

PREFERRED READING: (Coined by Stuart Hall) When the audience responds to the ideas in the way the media producer wants them to. (bbc.co.uk)

SIGNIFIER: An aspect of sound, editing, cinematography, mise-en-scene or other that has connotations and meaning.

VERISIMILITUDE: the appearance of being true or real, important for mise-en-scene.

SOUNDTRACK: a recording of the musical accompaniment of a film (Oxford Dictionary)

PRIMARY & SECONDARY AUDIENCES: Primary audiences are those who the text is intentionally aimed to appeal to. Secondary, or "hidden", audiences include anyone who may feel engaged for one or more reasons but aren’t the main priority.

U+G (USES AND GRATIFICATION): Blumler and Katz's uses, and gratification theory suggests that media users play an active role in choosing and using the media. (University of Kentucky) This includes escapism and personal identification with a text.

ELLIPSIS: a common procedure in film narrative, where movement and action unnecessary to the telling of a story will often be removed by editing (Wikipedia)

BIG 5: Vertically integrated conglomerate companies that have a monopoly over the film industry (as well as others like music). They are Paramount, Disney, Sony-Colombia, NBC Universal, Warner Bros and some argue that Lionsgate should be included in the “Big 6”.

FOUR QUADRANT STRATEGY: Trying to appeal and represent both male and female, over and under 25s.

JUXTAPOSITION: the fact of two things being seen or placed close together with contrasting effect. (Oxford Dictionary)

MASTER SHOT: A (extreme) long shot including all characters and scenery, can be used to introduce a new angle, character object etc…

NORMATIVE: establishing, relating to, or deriving from a standard or norm, especially of behaviour. (Oxford dictionary)

COUNTER-HEGEMONIC: When something is going against the power of social norms. (Antonio Gramsci)

FORESHADOWING: A warning or clue to a future event in a text, a form of hidden exposition.

HYBRID: A mixture of two or more genres, a common one is rom-coms that has become its own genre through its popularity.

CONVERGENCE: By convergence we mean the trend for different technologies for the delivery of content to start to resemble one another. (BFI, Coined by Henry Jenkins)

GANT RULE: A rule saying that tentpole films will make 4x the UK revenue in the US.

FOLEY SOUND: Foley is a unique sound effect technique that involves creating and “performing” everyday sounds for movies and television shows. (Masterclass)

AMBIENT SOUND: diegetic background noises that create verisimilitude for the film set environment.

FRANCHISE FATIGUE: The drop in box-office sales, major tentpole picture engagement and franchise penetration with core global audiences, franchise fatigue is a term that encapsulates a general lack of excitement around, and participation in, major box office launches. (License Global)

CONGLOMERATE and SUBSIDIARIES:

DIEGETIC SOUND:

NON-DIEGETIC SOUND:

THE MALE GAZE:

IMAX:

JOURNEY: EVOLUTION OF AN IDEA

 INDIVIDUAL FIRST PITCH: 

The idea is a slasher where a "final girl" archetype has a psychotic break of sorts and kills her colony of stereotypical high school friends. Large influences from Halloween's opening, American Horror Story 1984, Friday the 13th, etc...

After talking to Leila and Morgan we compromised our ideas to come up with a new pitch.

GROUP PITCH VODCAST:

In this new pitch, the synopsis is a "Bonnie and Clyde" situation where Joyce and Jason team up to kill an immoral "scream queen". There will be lots of narrative enigmas and a Scream-like phone call in the opening.

FEEDBACK:

• The working title should include a reference to the murder weapon 
• A time frame such as Christmas or Halloween would give more mise-en-scene opportunities
• Intertextual references would be good to incorporate

See Sample Scene post...

Weekly Vodcasts

IN THIS POST: EVERY WEEK OR TWO WE CREATED A SHORT VIDEO RECAPPING WHAT WE DID LAST WEEK AND WHAT OUR PLANS ARE FOR THE NEXT WEEK

OUR TARGET AUDIENCE

 IN THIS POST: HORROR AUDIENCE CONVENTIONS, OUR TARGET AUDIENCE, AUDIENCE FEEDBACK

See Leila's Post.

We had 11 responses total with 8 women, 3 men, and 1 person preferring not to say. this means that the majority of our responses were from women.

Our survey's age range was mostly 16-18 years old which is good because that was our target age range. We also had some over 18-year-olds which is good for our secondary audience. We will try to appeal to this audience by having an older character for them to relate to.

 

Around 80% of the 11 people liked horror movies.

The overall top type of horror movie subgenre with most people picking it as their favorite was 'psychological horror'. Only 9.1% of people chose 'sci-fi' and 'gothic' as their favorite horror and the genre of 'slasher' came in 3rd place overall with 18.2% of people picking it.

Almost half of the people who answered chose 'body horror' as their least favorite genre.

100% of the people who answered recognised 'Scream', 'Nightmare on Elm street' and 'The Texas Chainsaw Massacre'. 45.5% of the people had heard of 'Terrifier' and 72.7% had heard of 'The cabin in the wood'.

For this question, although a lot of people said that they liked different things, multiple people liked the different angles we shot from.

We intend to make it more obvious who it killing who when we reshoot.

Multiple people thought that the fact that there was no music did not reflect the genre

Multiple people wrote that they thought the title and font we used for the credits reflected the genre.

AGE

We are aiming to appeal to a young female audience of around 18-24. This is primarily due to the cast and characters being 15-17-year-old females, according to the U+G (uses and gratifications) theory the young female audience will identify with the characters. However, we can appeal to 2 secondary audiences, the first being young males of the same age range. The characters could potentially have sex appeal and adhere to the male gaze (Laura Mulvey). The other secondary audience is 34+ with intertextuality references such as the Scream (1996) mask hung in the kitchen in addition to the use of a popular song "Every Breath You Take" by The Police (1983).

BBFC 

I think the film would be aiming for a 15 BBFC rating, this is commercially helpful as it reaches a larger audience. We plan to achieve this by using sound and ellipses to hide graphic violence and insinuate it rather than show it.

Dangerous behaviour

Dangerous behaviour (for example, suicide, self-harming, and asphyxiation) 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.

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.

Drugs

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

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.

Nudity

There are no constraints on nudity in a non-sexual or educational context. Sexual nudity may be permitted but strong detail is likely to be brief or presented in a comic context.

Sex

Sexual activity may be portrayed, but usually without strong detail. There may be strong verbal references to sexual behaviour. Repeated very strong references, particularly those using pornographic language, are unlikely to be acceptable. Works whose primary purpose is sexual arousal are unacceptable.

Sexual Violence and sexual threat

There may be strong verbal references to sexual violence but any depiction of the stronger forms of sexual violence, including rape, must not be detailed or prolonged. A strong and sustained focus on sexual threat is unacceptable.

Threat and horror

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

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.

SEXUALITY

There are no references to sexuality in our opening however slasher killers often represent repressed sexuality. The "final girl" character cannot accept herself and her sexuality so by projecting it onto the "scream queen" she takes out her self-hatred on her and tries to kill that part of herself. The slasher genre has been important to queer culture and the LGBT+ in its history.

Audience feedback videos:

CONVENTIONS RESEARCH: KEY INFLUENCES

IN THIS POST: KEY INFLUENCES, WE SAW vs. WE DID

IDENTS INFLUENCE

Big 5 companies had some long idents ranging from 10 seconds to 35 seconds, however, certain indie companies have shorter idents such as A24 (7 seconds). 

Perfect World Pictures is another rather short ident with 9 seconds. Working Title has the same length.

(More information) Our idents:

• Hollyhock Film: 6 seconds
• Smokey Production: 8 seconds
• FatCat Productions: 4 seconds

TITLES INFLUENCE

More information here.

Initial idea

FIRST SHOT

In Psycho by Alfred Hitchcock, a technique called Hand of God is used. It consists of creating narrative enigma through a series of ELSs panning back and forth, zoning in on a certain place little by little. 

We tried this with panning shots of the street where the abandoned house was located. It was difficult without a crane or a drone as you could only get so far away from the building before showing the houses around, breaking the narrative that she was stranded with nowhere to go.

MISE-EN-SCENE

As this story takes place during Halloween (a slasher cliche) there were many opportunities for mise-en-scene. Certain props broke verisimilitudes such as the kettle and radio. However, candlelight and decorations made framing more interesting.