The Missing. First Draft.

^^This is the first draft of our horror film. After some feedback we saw that we needed to add in dialogue and also cut out some parts of scenes to make the film more effective as we felt that it didn't explain the story well and didn't run smoothly. The transitions weren't very good, so we have made improvements on them such as, deleting some and adding some to make it look more professional and so that it flows smoothly and efficiently.

Plot Of The Missing.

We did have a story board of our horror film opening, however, due to some difficulties we could not get it scanned in, therefore I have written the plot out and showed the changes that were made.

(production company logo appears and fades) SCENE 1
scene opens as if someone is looking in through a window, looking in on 3 teenagers.
there is a knock on the door but nobody is there.
the teenagers resume watching their film when they hear a loud bang from upstairs.
nobody else is in the house so the three teenagers decide to go and investigate.
they walk up the stairs and into the bathroom, there is nobody in the bathroom.
as they leave camera is on the mirror. a masked face appears.
they enter the bedroom, again empty, but this time the camera see's the masked man walk down the stairs behind them.
the characters walk down stairs to resume watching their film.
the masked face appears on screen with screaming.
(title screen and a 1 month later.. sub-title appears) SCENE 2
an estate agent in an office waiting for a client.
the client arrives and they both drive to the house.
both client and estate agent enter house.
client looks around the house and finds a newspaper.
she picks up the newspaper and reads that the house she is viewing was the house that three teenagers went mysteriously missing from.
she drops the paper and the face appears and there is a scream.
(blackout.)

This was the original plot, however we felt that scene 2 was not only too long, but too complicated there fore we changed it.

(title screen and a 1 month later.. sub-title appears) SCENE 2

an estate agent outside of house waiting for a client.

the client arrives at the house.

both client and estate agent enter house. 

client looks around the house and finds a newspaper. 

she picks up the newspaper and reads that the house she is viewing was the house that three teenagers went mysteriously missing from.

she drops the paper and the face appears on the screen and there is a scream.

(blackout.)

We felt that this was easier and quicker to present in our horror film opening.

Location Photo's.

These are the photo's we have taken for our horror film. We have decided to set our horror film in this house as it is easy to access and is a simple setting which can relate to audience's as it is a realistic setting.

^^This is the front of the house which will be seen in our horror film.

We think this is a good setting as it looks secluded which is a perfect

setting for a horror film.

^^This is the living room in which we are basing most

of the beginning of the film in. Also this is where you see

the buyer at the end as well as where you see the masked murderer.

^^This is the stair case that the characters are

going to walk up to investigate the house. We

wanted stairs that didn't have a banister so that

we could get easier camera shots.

^^This is the bathroom in which you will first see

the masked murderer. This is a crucial point in

the film as it will be the audience's first glimpse

of whats to come.

^^This is the bedroom in which we enter to investigate

where the mysterious noises are coming from.

We can get some simple, yet effective camera shots

in this room as it is simple and open planned.

^^ This is the top of the stairs which the characters will be

on for some of the film and also where you see the masked

murderer go down the stairs.

Originally, We took Location photo's in another house as when we had to take the photo's one member of our group was absent and we were supposed to use her house to take photo's in. However, when she was back, we took photo's of her house so that we could use our original plan and idea.

Production Company Logo's Research.

I decided to research production company logo's to see if they were all similar.
Most had plain background and the font was the main thing that stood out.

20th Century Fox Televison

Universal Studios

Walt Disney Pictures

Pixar Animation Studios

Lionsgate

Horror Research - Nightmare On Elm Street

Nightmare On Elm Street.
- high pitched, slow music. heavy breathing.
- someone making and welding knives and weapons.
- white and red writing.
- again, high pitched music.
- slashed cloth.
- young, vulnerable, alone girl.
- she is running through a tunnel into a boiler room.
- a man's face darts across the screen.
- there is noises of the boilers.
- the girl is being chased by the man.
- there is fire.
- dim lighting, he appears behind her and grabs her.
- the girl wakes up to her mother in her room.
- the girl looks down and her clothes have been slashed.
- she prays and grabs a crucifix.
- cuts to young children playing and singing.
- long shot of car with young teenagers in it.
- they arrive at a school, light.
- they discuss nightmares.

Horror Research - Jeepers Creepers

Jeepers Creepers - eerie music - low pitch.
- black background with white writing zooming in.
- cuts to a light field and a car getting closer on a hot day.
- faint sound of talking and the car.
- 2 young people, siblings, male and female.
- they talk and bicker about irrelevant things.
- you can hear the radio.
- they overtake an old couple in a portable home.
- they then get aggressively overtaken by a vehicle.
- they then mention death of people they new on the same highway.
- the pair stop to go to the toilet and then get back in the car.
- they drive off talking about their mother being unhappy.
- they then see the vehicle from earlier on unloading dead bodies at a barn.
- the man from the vehicle spots them and they drive off.
- the man gets into his car and drives after them, gaining speed.
- their phone dies and there is fast paced music.
- the vehicle rams into their car until they get run off the road into a field, then the vehicle leaves.

Horror Research - Halloween

Halloween.
- creepy music which was repeated over and over with a high part and a low part which created tension.
- red and yellow writing which instantly connotes horror.
- a picture of a pumpkin, flickering light. the pumpkin looked tatty and worn.
- black background.
- zooms in on pumpkin and eventually fades out to black.
- says the date, 1963 and states that it is halloween.
- hear children singing rhymes and comes to a sudden stop.
- there is silence as the camera pan's over a house. the only noise is of the wind.
- zooms in on house and continues to pan around the house watching a young couple inside.
- mid shot of couple on the sofa kissing.
- the male puts on a clown mask and taunts the female.
- still watching through the window, the couple leave to go upstairs, the camera then goes through the door and into the kitchen.
- camera pan's around house and you see a knife being picked up.
- the young male leaves and you hear a clock chiming.
- the clown mask is found on the floor and placed over the lens of the camera.
- you hear the girl humming and singing to herself.
- you then see the girl and she says 'Michael'.
- the girl then gets stabbed by the character(camera)
- the character(camera) leaves the house as a car pulls up and a middle-aged couple get out of the car and say 'Michael?'
- they remove the mask from the character and there is a zoom on out on a young boy in clown suit holding the blood covered knife.

Horror Research - Se7en

For part of our research for our own Horror genre film opening we looked at the film 'Se7en'. I believe that the opening to this film is very effective as it reveals little but key information throughout  it. This then 'hooks' the viewer, meaning that they want to watch the rest of the film. Throughout the title sequence it flickers between a black background to autopsy scene. This significantly connotes that somebody has died, automatically suggesting to the viewer that the film is from the horror genre. The timing is also key as this also helps to create tension and suspense for the viewer. The entire timing for the sequence is as follows:



2 Seconds - Book with pages open
6 Seconds - The words 'New line cinema presents' appears
9 Seconds - Distorted black and white photo of hands
13 Seconds - Close up of machinery
17 Seconds - Close up of fingers holding a piece of metal
20 Seconds - Black background with 'Morgan Freeman', an actor's name, written in white writing
24 Seconds - The title 'SE7EN' is revealed on a black background
29 Seconds - Close up of the front cover of the book
33 Seconds - Close up of the book with writing
36 Seconds - Close up of someone writing upside down
38 Seconds - Close up with red filter of a black and white photo
42 Seconds - Black background with 'John C. McGinly', an actors name, written in white writing
45 Seconds - Plain paper, square paper, and some photos. Two fingers touching the photo on the top of the file
49 Seconds - Close up of a black and white photo of a face
56 Seconds - Black background with cast names written in white writing that randomly flashes
1 Minute, 1 Second - Close up of someone writing in black ink and then smudging with their finger
1 Minute, 7 Seconds - Writing that's been printed, word crossed out with black marker
1 Minute, 12 Seconds - Cast names edited in over black and white photo of male face with the eyes crossed out with a marker pen
1 Minute, 19 Seconds - Negative film's with a finger holding them and placing them inbetween pages
1 Minute, 26 Seconds - 'Production Designed' written in white writing over a close up of dirty and bandaged fingers
1 Minute, 31 Seconds - Close up of a black and white photo of male and female's faces
1 Minute, 38 Seconds - Close up of the tips of dirty finger's with a needle between them

1 Minute, 47 Seconds - Finger tips binding paper with thread

1 Minute, 54 Seconds - 'Written by Andrew Kevin Walker' written in white writing with books in the background

1 Minute, 57 Seconds - Black and white photos in the book

2 Minutes, 8 Seconds - Film begins - buildings and inter-title 'Monday' written in white writing

Priliminary Task Photo's

This shot is a long shot and shows the character walking towards the door.

 This shot is a close up and shows the character's hand on the handle of the door.

 This shot is a long shot of the character entering the room from behind.

 This shot, is again a long shot, showing the character from the front, entering the room.

 This shot is a long shot showing the two characters in the room.

 This is 'shot reverse shot' which shows the characters talking.

 This is a mid-shot of the character talking.

 This is a close-up of the character talking.

This is the final mid-shot of the character talking.

We used shot-reverse-shot to show the characters talking and we kept to the 180 degree rule.

We took these photograph's for our preliminary task to show a story board of people talking.

Preliminary Task

For this task we had to film a short piece that consisted of various shot types and ways in which we could show various things to the audience. We had to stick to the 180 degree rule whilst filming our piece as well as including a number of shot types, such as, close up, long shat and mid shot. We also decided to use panning at the end. The different shot types helped us to show the characters in different ways. By showing close ups we could show the emotion that was presented.