Wednesday, 3 March 2010
Wednesday, 10 February 2010
assessment 5 - Pitch of ideas
My idea for my opening sequence is based on a kidnap over jealousy. The kidnapper will wear gloves to hide their identity. We are going to film in a garage, or type of shed. This is where most of the filming will take place as we are using a lot of close ups. The close ups will be of tools with blood on them, eyes for facial expressions and show how the victim is feeling. We will use cut away shots from the kidnap scene to the scene the garage to give the audience an idea of what is going on, but not give it away totally. The beginning scene, and the flash backs will be filmed in a dark wood or forest, this will be the place were the girl is being kidnapped, the first scene in the forest will be filmed as if we can see the victims point of view and we are going to use a hand held camera effect.
The props we will need will be things like tools, such as knives and saws etc. We will also need some fake blood to use on the props to look as if they have been used to torture the victim.
The kidnapper will wear quite plain, old clothes so if any fake blood gets onto them it wont matter as much. The kidnapper will wear gloves to try and conceal the identity and add mystery to it.
We will use low-key lighting to keep to the conventions of a horror film and make it look dark and scary, this will also add mystery to it.
We will use incidental sound to create tension within the scene and we will use lots of heavy breathing to also increase the tension. Especially in the flashback scenes.
To show the title of the film we will splatter blood onto a surface as if it is coming from the victim and then the title will appear over it when we edit the sequence.
Tuesday, 2 February 2010
assessment 3 - horror timeline
1952: Cinema start to fear it is losing it’s audiences to television a new gimmick is born, it is the 3D movie. The first 3D film is a cheap spectacle which makes a fortune at the box office.
1960: Finally with a larger budget to work with and freed from the constraints of his back to back movies Roger Corman begins a cycle of horror films based upon the works of Edgar Allen Poe, many starring Vincent Price and all borrowing liberally from Hammer’s style of filmmaking. The first in the cycle is House of Usher. Hammer itself releases Brides of Dracula a sequel to their first Dracula.
1969: Boris Karloff dies aged 82 and with him the last link to the Golden Age of Horror is lost.
1972: Cushing and Lee star in Hammers Dracula AD 1972. In an attempt to appeal to younger audiences the setting is updated, teenagers become the main characters and the film is filled with psychedelic rock music. The film is cut and banned in some countries notably in the UK where the BBFC refuses it a certificate.
1986: Cronenberg releases his most commercially successful film yet, a remake of the nineteen fifties movie The Fly.
1987: As horror films become increasingly comedic Sam Raimi releases a slapstick remake of his own earlier film under the title Evil Dead 2. It seems that the horror boom of the seventies and eighties is largely over and that audiences are once again looking elsewhere for their entertainment.
1996: Wes Craven launches his new slasher franchise with Scream. The film has it’s tongue partly in it’s cheek with many knowing references to horror movie history and laughs mixed in with the scares.
1997: Producers rush out a film of I know What You Did Last Summer to cash in on the success of Scream. This slasher movie will spawn two less successful sequels.
1999: James Fermann leaves his post as head of the BBFC. There will now be a softening of stance towards explicit content and over the next few years many ’video nasties’ will be certified and finally released in the UK. After a decade bereft of new ideas in the genre a low budget movie shot on a handheld camera becomes a worldwide phenomenon.
2000: The Exorcist (1973) is given a cinema rerelease.
2004: Saw an ultraviolent movie franchise is launched it is to be the first in a series rumoured to be stretching to six films and a videogame. It also sees the advent of a new sub-genre of extremely violent splatter movies called by some critics ‘torture porn’.
2006: The Hills Have Eyes is remade.
2007: Halloween becomes the latest 1970’s horror movie to get the update treatment.
assessment 3 - genre research
Supernatural
The rules of the normal world don't apply; ghosts, demons, vampires, werewolves, the occult etc. Within this sub genre is an ever-growing list of sub-sub-genres -- most of which deal with vampires.
Psychological Horror
Based on the disturbed human psyche. Obviously psychos on rampages fall into this category, but it is just as often more subtle. Since the reader's perception is sometimes altered by exposure to an insane viewpoint, psychological horror can also deal with ambiguous reality and seem to be supernatural.
Cross Genre
When genres -- horror, fantasy, science, and speculative fiction -- start slipping into one another the Brits call it (appropriately) "slipstream."
Slasher film
is a sub-genre of the Horror film genre typically involving a psychopathic killer stalking and killing a sequence of victims in a graphically violent manner, often with a cutting tool such as a chainsaw or scythe. Although the term "slasher" may be used as a generic term for any horror movie involving graphic acts of murder, the slasher as a genre has its own set of characteristics, which set it apart from related genres like the splatter film.
Thursday, 28 January 2010
Assessment 3 - target audience research
I have researched specific websites focusing on the BBFC for my target audience of the ages 15 and 18. I have noticed that certain aspects affect whether a film is determined as a 15 rating and an 18. The decisions for the ratings are split into sub- sections of Discrimination, Drugs, Horror, Imitable Behaviour, Language, Nudity, Sex, Theme and Violence.

If the rating is a fifteen its only suitable for people who are fifteen years and over. No-one younger than fifteen may see a ‘15’ film in a cinema, buy or rent it. As a whole it must not endorse discriminatory language or behaviour. Drug taking may be shown but the film as a whole must not promote or encourage drug misuse. Strong threat and menace are permitted unless sadistic or sexualised. Dangerous behaviour (for example, hanging, suicide and self-harming) should not dwell on detail which could be copied and in the end result cause physical and mental harm to the audience. There may be frequent use of strong language but it would be inappropriate and unacceptable if said in an aggressive way or repeated on numerous occasions. Sexual activity may be portrayed without strong detail and there may be strong verbal references to sexual behaviour. No theme is prohibited, provided the treatment is appropriate for 15 year olds. Violence may be strong but should not dwell on the infliction of pain or injury.
At ‘18’ the BBFC’s guideline concerns will not normally override the principle that adults should be free to choose their own entertainment. The reasons behind this are the material is in breach of the criminal law or has been created through the commission of a criminal offence. Material appears to risk harm to individuals or, through their behaviour, to society. There are more explicit images of sexual activity which cannot be justified by context.
Assessment 2 - titles order for drag me to hell
Allison Lohman
Justin Long
Lorna Raver
Dileep Raq
David Paymer
Adriana barraz
Special Make up Effects by Gregory Nicotera,
Co Producers Cristen Carr Strube, Ivana Palma
Visual Effects Supervisor Bruce Jones
Costume Designer Isis Mussenden
Film Editor Bob Muraws
Production Designer Steve Saklad
Director of Photography
Executive Producers Joe Drake
Produced by Rob Tapert
Written By Sam Raimi and Ivan Raimi
Directed By Sam Raimi
