Shot List for my Trailer

My shot list I have constructed will help me in the planning and filming for my trailer. The more planning and preparation I put into my film the more successful my audience will interpret it.

Here is my shot list for 'The Proprietor'.

My Film Trailer Script.

I  have now composed my Film Trailer script and was able to do so by succesfully annotating my script style models. This helped me understand the correct layout and how to efficiently script for a production. Having done this I could include camera movements, angles, shots and various other script technqiues to provide me with a clear final script which would satisfy my audiences needs.

The Proprietor.

FADE IN:

1. ROADSIDE- DAY

A car pass’s the road from a LOW ANGLE view.
The LOW ANGLE view then focus’s on TEEN1 who is dealing with a flat.
VOICE OVER:
TEEN1:
We got a flat man!
CLOSE UP on TEEN1 inhaling a cigarette.
TEEN1:
And I can’t fix this!
FADE OUT.


2. ENT- WOODS- DAY

PAN the WOODS…
VOICE OVER:
TEEN 2:
I got no bars!
TEEN1:
We can take the shortcut across the woods!
OVER THE SHOULDER shot TEEN2 – TEEN1…
TEEN 2:
Im not so sure man, iv heard things about Strangle Woods!
TEEN1:
That’s ridiculous and who knows, we may just make a night of it.
TEEN1 smirks – FOCUS ZOOM.
CUT TO.

3. ENT- INSIDE WOODS- DAY

CLOSE UP on a ROCK.
One by one each of the three teenagers walk over the rock just capturing the LOWER LEG.
VOICE OVER:
TEEN1:
RICK STRANGLE! That old myth.
Gradually we begin to hear echoed laughter in the BG.
After this there is a FADE OUT and a FADE in and a shot of the VILLAIN’s foot walking over the same rock. EDIT this TRANSITION to signify the VILLAIN.
START NON DIEGETIC SOUND- Suspense Track.
CUT TO.


4. ENT- CAVE- DAY.

LONG SHOT on TEEN(S) with CAVE in the BG.
TEEN2:
I need a break dude, we don’t know where we are.
TEEN1:
No breaks! You hear me!
TEEN1 throws a cigarette to the entrance of the cave in the BG.
TILT SHOT from the CIGARETTE to the VILLAIN standing in the CAVE.
ZOOM in on AXE and SLOW MOTION edit it being rotated in VILLAINS hand.
CUT TO.


5. ENT- WOODS- DAY.

MEDIUM SHOT, CAMERA follows TEEN2 and then stops when TEEN2 turns around.
TEEN2:
What was that?
(PANTING)
TEEN1 enters the shot.
TEEN1:
Its nothing!!
CUT TO.


6. ENT- TREE- DAY


TEEN3 is seen in a MEDIUM CLOSE UP and paces away from the CAMERA, VILLAIN then emerges behind the villain from the tree and a BLUR EDIT is applied whilst VILLAIN raises the AXE.
EXIT NON DIEGETIC SOUND- Suspense track.
DIEGETIC SOUND: SCREEM from TEEN3.
CUT TO.


7. ENT- INS CAVE- DAY

TRUCKING MOVEMENT in the CAVE with VILLAIN 2 holding lit lighter with VILLAIN smiling behind there is only NON DIEGETIC panting SOUND.
CUT TO.


8. ENT- WOODS- DAY

VILLAIN drops AXE onto a log.
FADE OUT.

Film Script Style Models

In order to produce an accurate script for my film I will annotate some iconic horror film scripts. By looking at a few and establishing some common codes and conventions I can apply them to my work and therefore better my production resulting in my audience being more satisfied and meeting there needs.

Friday 13th.

 

This is part of the script for the original Friday 13^th scripted by Victor Miller. First feature I noticed about the script was that it had numbered each shot to make the script be interpreted easily and it comes across as more organized. The tittle and description of the shot is also included in the script, i.e. EXT. ROADSIDE, there is a lot of use of abbreviations in the script, which must be used for convenience to the scriptwriter. Names are also seen in capitals for e.g. ANNIE, this is so names can be easily picked out in the script. Setting is included in the script and each shot number is also given a DAY/NIGHT mention this is especially important in Horror films as the transition between night and day can be decisive in effect to the audience, this needs to be clearly stated because certain shots will only take effect when particular Mise-en-scene is present. There is also use of ellipsis in the script to represent silence or a pause before/after speech.  Abbreviations also represent media terminology, for instance POV (point of view) and BG (back ground).

Haloween.

This script was written by John Carpenter and Debra Hill. This script shows a lot more detail towards the content for instance, ANGLE on [Subject] helps the script be easily interpreted and also the names are in CAPITAL letters to easily distinguish the different names. This script also uses abbreviation such as POV. Capital letters also symbolize emphasis on certain parts of the script, i.e. ‘SLAMS’. In contrast to the Friday 13th script, this one shows a lot more direction for the production team and allows each part to be easily understood.

Film Treatment

When this feature films hits the screens a new horror villain is installed to the hall of fame, an antagonist never seen before.

The trailer for my film ‘The Proprietor’ is a slasher horror film that follows a deluded psycho (Rick Strangle) in an evil picturesque setting where he aims to torment and finally kill the same youth stereotype, which killed his family long ago, throughout we see a character with emotion and a story that the intended audience will interpret in there own way.

We see it all begin in a setting with elegance but not before long the trailer shows the intruders of the woods, the youth characters are represented as your typical hoodlums and before long ‘The Proprietor’ notices the intrusion.

Shot by shot we start to see more of ‘The Proprietor’ and begin to create an understanding of appearance.

The reluctant youths pursue their denial of the many different tales to come out of Strangle woods and before long we see the attitude of the youths and their destructive manner. Lead youth character AJ dominates the dialogue between the youths to represent him as the youth with power.

We then begin to realize ‘The Proprietor’ lurks very close and by surrounding the youth the power focus alters to the antagonist.

The particular focus of my trailer is to deliver a fluent production which impacts my audience, in order to do this I will shadow the Uses and Gratifications theory in the way it gives my target audience 15-24 a chance to gain social approval from seeing my film, I need to challenge the question ‘what people do with media?’ (Katz 1959)  By doing this I can include features which will gratify my audience in their every day life. My initial thought into achieving this is offering my film as a product of social trend, as a young adult myself I can confidently say that to watch an elite horror film is somewhat an essential as there is often conversations subject to the film when there is a big market hype.

The inspiration for this film came from my passion for horror films and the knowledge of many different sub genres horror holds, in order to ensure myself that I would enjoy and gain the best possible grade for my production I needed to layout specific planning regarding audience and generic conventions and more. After gaining further knowledge of the genre horror I enabled myself to explore new ideas and this made me even more enthusiastic about what I could achieve.

The trailer has all the makings for psychological suspense combined with well fashioned characters in Rick Strangle (The Proprietor) and AJ.

As part of my Photography studies I am in the planning stages of organizing a film mentor for that project, who has had associations with BAFTA nominees and many other professionals. I am hoping the knowledge I acquire will help me with this project significantly. This will help me come closer to achieving a top grade in the production.

The shots I will use in the film trailer will vary; I will be able to establish a better idea once my storyboard is complete, at the moment though I have obtained various sources, which show me the common conventions of horror camera movement.

The budget for my film will be limited although the current ideas I have do not tell me I need to spend too much money, all props and equipment will be coordinated into the budget I have. Funding of the budget very much relies on my own money. If necessary I could seek for sponsorships and fund raising events. 

Pre Production: Blog Update

Being busy with pre production is taking good time but making sure my research and practice is well up to scratch will improve my final production, the indepth research in my genre will enable me to satisfy my audiences needs.

In order to improve the effectiveness and impact my trailer has on my audience i feel it is decisive to get all of my production techniques up to scratch.

With some research into camera movement and angles etc i found an excellent resource to refer back to whilst doing my production, Vimeo film school offers superb examples and run throughs that are easy to understand and can be quite simply emulated in my work.

Here are the techniques and descriptions of these tips:

Star of your Movie: The Sound!

You know the shark in Jaws is about to attack when its signature sound starts playing. Sound is the most important character in your scary film and can give your boogeyman a helping hand. It can build suspense, indicate mood changes and even give an extra scary jolt to your audience.

Although "Drive" is not necessarily a scary film, the sound design team was very particular about building tension and establishing a mental sound space that puts you in the driver's seat. When you have a scared audience, their hearing becomes hypersensitive, and constructing an effective soundscape can both set an eerie mood and deliver the biggest scares.

Remember a great resource to find music is Vimeo Music Store, where you can search for tracks with tags like, "dark, eerie, intense, etc." or by tempo if you're trying to build tension with a fast or slow music pace.

Look out!

Keeping your audience engaged and on the edge of their seats is important, and you can easily accomplish this by isolating what they can and can’t see.

Alternatively, you can add anticipation by switching up the perspective of the scene and allowing your audience to see what’s lurking around the corner, while keeping your main character in the dark. Another great example, Alexis Wajsbrot and Damien Mace's viThe Red Balloon, keeps you on edge alongside a babysitter and a little girl as they discover they are not alone in the house.The camera spends time looking at random, inconspicuous objects, like stuffed animals or a red balloon. This steers the audience's attention away from the danger that is lurking offscreen, and takes us by surprise!

Sometimes, less is more!

Many classic horror films never even reveal what the scary creature or character actually is. What made the Blair Witch Project so scary? The audience never actually sees the witch and is left to use their own imagination, right to the very end, about what horrible presence resides in the woods. When creating a low-budget scary movie, the unknown and viewers’ imaginations are much scarier than the real thing. For some inspiration, 'Internet Story,' which uses video blogging and flash animation to draw you into a very eerie modern mystery offers big chills by implying much of the creepy details without explicitly showing us. Also, nothing beats a well-delivered narration to make our imaginations run wild!

Lights out!

Typically you want to shoot with the light so that it is in front of your subject, however, when it comes to a scary movie, try shooting your subject in a dark room with a single light source. In horror movies, the characters often rely on a flashlight or a torch to keep away the dangers that lurk in the dark, making your light source a potentially important plot device.

Shake it up

When you’re shooting your scary movie, don’t be afraid to go handheld. It’s usually best practice to try and steady your camera or use a tripod so that you have a nice smooth shot, but a little shake can go a long way in adding more panic and suspense to a scene. A great example of this can be seen in the sequences depicted in the teaser trailer for Darkstone Entertainment's "Plan 9."

The contrasting levels of urgency switches. The shakiness in productions makes the audience feel like part of the chase, and visually keeps them on their toes as they look around more carefully for danger. On that note, you may also want to consider putting the camera in the hands of your main character so that the film is shot from their perspective. In a similar vein, sometimes lower quality video with a grainy image quality or shot in black and white gives a story an amateur but more believable demeanor. It's an aesthetic option to consider.

Film Synopsis

In the rapidly growing industry of Horror movies, many different audiences are fast becoming de-sensitized to violence and gore, leading them to view some of the most gruesome horror titles around. ‘The Proprietor’ offers a fresh new spin on the typical ‘slasher’ film; with un-rivaled costume design and driving dialogue set to the most chilling backdrop since we were introduced to Camp Crystal Lake in 1980.

The blood-chilling nightmare begins with our young protagonists who challenge the rumors and supposed myths of the forest in a small village after a number of people are reported missing. The teens are adamant in their youthful naivety that they can disprove the rumors and separate fact from fiction. Predictably, our principle characters soon find themselves faced with our titular character, “The Proprietor” who is responsible for the strange disappearances in the forest and surrounding area. He lives like an animal; hunting prey as the self-proclaimed predator of the uninhabited Strangle Woods.

In terms of background information; “The Proprietor” himself was moulded into the mass murderer he is now due to delinquent vandals torching his house and killing his family. The house remains a burnt shell, forever providing Rick (the killer’s former name) with a lasting memory of what he once cherished. To most of the people in the village, Rick too perished in the fire that claimed the lives of his family, although whispers of a shadowy figure still lurking in the wooded outskirts provide many of the locals with an interesting campfire story. With an axe constantly by his side, The Proprietor does not hesitate in disposing of anyone who ventures too far into the aptly named Strangle Woods and the youths who enter this dark domain stand little chance of survival.  

Fans of previous favorites such as Friday the 13th and Texas Chainsaw Massacre will not be disappointed by this fearless slasher flick with it’s ardent attention to detail in every vital department of production. A collaboration of a strong script, eerily forbidding setting, skillfully directed photography and a main antagonist that would give Freddy Krueger nightmares make this a chilling tale not to miss when it hits the screens just in time for Halloween in 2012 where not even the strongest persons subconscious will be shown mercy to the bloodstained axe.

Greg Rundle directs ‘The Proprietor’. 

Audience And My Production

Target Audience is decisive

As 'Hall and Holmes’ have explained through their quote in 1998 ‘Any Media text is created for particular audience and will usually appeal most to this particular audience,’ a target audience affects the media language and techniques applied by a production team in order to cater for there needs.

When a media product is launched there needs to be a lot of consideration towards audience because that is the primary purpose of any film, there is a lot of work done on the commercial aspect and how well the product will satisfy the audience’s hierarchy of needs. So in order to provide the right content for my audience I will have to get the right ideologies of a slasher Horror trailer. There are different types of audiences one of which is ‘Mass audience’, my film does not cater for a mass audience as it is not a mainstream genre but can be appreciated by the ‘Mass audience’ stereotype, which is made up of working class people. The audience I will be catering for are considered more ‘Niche’ but are not upper class citizens as my Survey Monkey results prove that my audience are of a slightly low social class and generally low paid workers with a few exceptions. These results can be justified on the NRS (National Readership Survey), my audiences tend to have a social grade of E or D.

Audience profiling can prove effective when producing products for the media market, by having the knowledge of your audiences gender, age, demographic and profile you can configure a stereotype audience. For my trailer my gender is identified as males and I will continue to make this gender the appeal by showing male dominant characters. Age of my audience is considered between the ages of 16-24, as many are low skilled workers or students, by showing characters in the film that age they can find someone to relate to in the film. For my production and me it is hard to figure a demographic for my audience, as that sort of research is quite a way out of my budget. So I think the most important and strategic decision to make is to give my characters a mutual region accent and not make any particular dialects stand out so I have bigger overall appeal.

Developing lifestyle marketing has also become a more popular technique through the years as it offers more terms, values, attitudes and beliefs to be added to it. At this current time there are ten current categories. The categories that can be applied to my audience are the ‘Tribe Wired’ group and also the ‘Fun/Antics’ they both follow the characteristics of digital, spirited, aspirational, creative and fun seeking. So by targeting this type of audience particularly when producing my media text and I can market very successfully and receive a good critical reception.

Ideologies need to be well thought out when taking part in production, as Marx claims ‘dominant ideologies are those that already underpin society.’ So by supporting certain ideologies in my trailer I can ‘underpin’ a good audience. By making sure I cast characters that follow the male hero character type I will be able to draw in a female audience who are attentive towards the male. By doing this furthermore I will stick to a common ideology that slasher films use by showing good looking characters to try and overcome the antagonist.

By referring back to this and other media texts I can create a successful production in terms of my audiences wants.

Slasher Genre: Information and Critical Responses

As a genre the ‘Slasher’ horror receives a wide range of positive and negative criticism, a quote coined by the famous film critic Roger Ebert described ‘Scream’ as a ‘typical dead teenager movie’, but referring back to the original ‘Halloween’ film Roger Ebert gave the 1978 production a very favorable review mentioning “bids fair to become the cult discovery of 1978. Audiences have been heard screaming at its horrifying climaxes”. I believe I need to achieve the ‘screaming audience’ level in my film trailer in order to make my slasher film a success.

A problematic issue with the sub genre is defining what is and isn’t a slasher film, in a critical debate Vera Dika strictly defines the sub genre in her book ‘Games of Terror’ which was popular in the late 1970’s and early 1980’s as her discussion suggests a ‘generic form is organized to speak a cultural text.’ This book had an impact on the genre and the universal slasher now had a new spin as a stalker/slasher film. There was an argument that the reason the Slasher genre was picked upon so harshly in this book was down to the fact that Vera Dika approached her opinions in a very feminist point of view. In the book she theorizes the often-formulaic plot structure in the following ways:

Past events

The young community is guilty of a wrongful action.

The killer sees an injury, fault or death.

The killer experiences a loss.

The killer kills the guilty members of the young community

Present events

An event commemorates the past action.

The killer's destructive force is reactivated.

The killer identifies the guilty parties.

A member of the old community tries to warn the young community (optional).

The young community takes no heed.

The killer stalks members of the young community.

A member of some type of force like a detective etc. attempts to hunt down the killer.

The killer kills members of the young community.

The hero/heroine sees the extent of the murders.

The hero/heroine sees the killer.

The hero/heroine does battle with the killer.

The hero/heroine kills or subdues the killer.

The hero/heroine survives. But the Hero/Heroine Is not free.

This basis received a lot of negative reception for over generalizing what Slasher films can produce and making the genre out to be predictable and dull. But in my personal opinion I can treat my film on the 1 to 13 numbers because admit tingly I see that guide as a way to produce a concrete slasher film. Vera Dika goes on to further define what the audience’s gratifications are from a slasher horror film, she suggests three definitions that are the following:

Catharsis—Through a release of fears about bodily injury or from political and social tensions of the day.

Recreation—An intense, thrill seeking, physical experience akin to a roller coaster ride.

Displacement—Audiences sexual desires are displaced onto the characters in the film

Picking up the feminist point once again, another theorist Carol J Clover defined the final girl in her book ‘Men, Women and Chainsaw’s’ published in 1992 Although these films seem to offer sadistic pleasure to their viewers, Clover argues that these films are designed to align spectators not with the male tormentor, but with the female victim the who finally defeats her oppressor, certainly this seems to follow in films like Halloween, the Wrong Turn franchise, The Last House on the Left, The Virgin Spring and many more. This however tips on to the Rape/Revenge genre, which is another issue as you see women exploited sexually. A study was focused on this very precarious genre, Alexandra Heller-Nicholas and her study stated against a simplistic notion of the term 'rape-revenge' and suggests a film-specific approach in order to avoid generalizing films, which may "diverge not over the treatment of sexual assault as much as they do in regards to the morality of the revenge act."

Other theorits on the matter of slasher films include Cowan and O'Brien (1990), Weaver (1991)and Molitor and Sapolsky (1993).

How I Created My Character

My model in the hot seat at the salon waiting for his haircut

This was the initial stage of the making of my horror villain, here you can see my model shaving his hair completely off, to give me the best possible effect when doing the final stages of makeup and photography.

This was at the end of his haircut and my model was now ready for the next stage which involved an initial makeup stage, cleansing the face and preparing what I needed to give me the best possible results.

A shot of me applying the make up, first I created a dark layer around the face and then with various brushes and sponges I smoothed in some more effective colours.

Another Shot applying the dark layer

A blooper in the studio when getting the headshots

 Testing different lightings was important for me as it allowed me to figure out what angles and lighting would give the audience the best reaction and gratifications.

In this making of my villain I hope I have showed enough evidence of how much I enjoyed completing the transformation and I believe the result was a positive one.

Character Draft and Ideas

After looking into the most popular characters in Horror films and the Slasher sub genre I decided I would play around with some make up and various computer effects to try and draft my character for my film. I am very pleased with how the character ended up and I have taken my two favorite images and by using various effects I think I have made a successful villain for my film. I am going to open my images up to a group discussion and receive feedback on what could make him more horrific. The still image used as a backdrop in the photo is to go with my initial idea of staging my film trailer in a forestry setting but that decision is not yet definite. I feel so far my character does follow the genetic codes and conventions for Horror villains and the colours and themes used also connote typical horror villains.

Picture Board

Here are 17 of Horror's most effective and successful Horror victims, almost every single character has association with the slasher sub genre. I will refer back to this collage of pictures to apply some of their character behaviour and then apply it when applicable to my project. The make up and costume design is very much essential to any character and I will need to take extra care when designing my villain in order to make it follows the codes and conventions of Horror and also make it look as effective as possible.

From top to right:

Psycho, Norman Bates (1960),

Halloween, Michael Meyers (1978),

Friday the 13th, Jason Voorhees (1980),

Candyman, Candyman (1992),

Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Leather face (1974),

Scream, Ghost face (1996),

Stephen King's It, Pennywise (1990),

Hell raiser, Pinhead (1987),

Chucky Childs Play, Chucky (1988),

I Know What You Did Last Summer, Ben Willis (1997),

Jeepers Creepers, Creeper (2001),

Nightmare On Elm Street, Freddy Krueger (1984),

Wrong Turn, Three Finger (2003),

Silence of The Lambs, Dr Lector (1991),

The Shining, Jack (1980),

Frankenstein, Frankenstein (1931),

Saw, Jigsaw (2004).

Survey Monkey Results Analysis

Please see Podcast 'Analysing Survey Results' on the sidebar.

Survey Monkey Findings

These are my Survey Monkey findings, i posted 10 questions which i thought would cover the whole spectrum of audience research. 

Question 1. What Age Range do you fall under?
Question 2. How would you label your Character?
Question 3. What Social grade would you give yourself?
Question 4. What is your annual earnings?
Question 5. Select the types of social group you are?
Question 6. What do you enjoy seeing in a film teaser trailer?
Question 7. What is your favourite sub genre of Horror?
Question 8. Does the incentive 'based on a true story' have a positive or negative effect on you?
Question 9. Does review ratings influence your interest in films?
Question 10. Are you Male or Female?

Survey Monkey Initial Ideas

In order to retrieve the most valid information I posted my survey on two websites which would give me responses from a selective but appropriate audience. One of the websites is the popular social networking site Facebook offering my friends ranged from 14-22 year olds which is an ideal audience. I felt I needed to offer my survey out to a more diverse age range so on Horror.com under the forum section I left the hyperlink to my survey this would give me a perfect audience with users on the site ranging from 18+.         

I feel this provides a good response for my survey as the people taking it will be appropriate and knowledgeable in the subject of the survey.