Saturday, 17 March 2012

Allocating Job Roles

Before we constructed our trailer, as a group we had to allocate job roles. This meant that when it came to filming and editing it would mean everyone played an equal part.

Georgia: I was the one to ensure we had all the correct equipment and props each time we filmed. I also knew how to edit our trailer, as I had watched many tutorials by different members of staff.

Ivana: Played a very big role of organising where and what time we would film. As she lives near to where we were filming, and is generally very organised. She also came up with the storyline, and shot by shot scenes.

Ramarna: Played the part of the killer. As she was away on holiday for some of the filming, she played a big part in the editing and contributing her ideas.

Thursday, 16 February 2012

Feminism and The Final Girl theory

A feminist horror film has a strong lead female character. Subsequently going against the typical codes and conventions of a typical horror film, of a promiscuous, blonde female victim who as such is ‘asking to be killed’, and  are normally portrayed inferior in comparison to the male leads, and be shown to need both physical and mental support from them. Further to this, many American horror films show a huge amount of misogyny and violence. However through the film ‘Halloween’ the concept of the final girl by Carol J. Clover was used, this concept shows the final girl being level headed and morally pure.  ‘Halloween’ uses both of these concepts and is therefore considered to be a feminist horror film. The main character is portrayed as strong both physically and mentally due to here escaping near death experiences on many occasions, which therefore classifies her as the final girl.

Freud’s psychological theory is used in this film as voyeurism and sadism is used mainly for the male audiences in order to cause gratification from another person’s pain, as it’s in their nature to be more sexually aroused by watching females in pain. Whereas, the female audiences are more passive and prefer films which consist of a physiological concept as it creates meaning to the film. 
Voyeurism links with Laura Mulvey’s Male Gaze theory. As the woman would often fall victim to the ‘Male gaze’, and she believed that as an audience we are encouraged to view the female characters in films in a sexualised manner, as viewers we are meant to identify and sympathise with the protagonist who in the past, tended to be male. Mulvey believed that female characters were coded with ‘to-be-looked-at-ness’ where women only appear in provocative manner.

Wednesday, 15 February 2012

Using Todorov's theory of narrative

Scene 1: Equilibrium
Candice and Sarah in bedroom- painting nails. Couple of words said and laughter. To ease/comfort audience. Medium shot.

Scene 2: Moment of disequilibrium
Long shot to establish the scene. 'Stalker/Killer' possibly behind a tree watching the girls walk.
Then the girls are walking through the quiet part of town.
‘Did you hear about George?’     (jump cuts throughout)

‘Did you just hear that?’ Sarah (Dannii) turns around with camera- Point of View shot. As she turns around someone quickly walks past at the end of the street.
The girls speed up. (music speeds up, intensifies)

Killer’s room filled with photos of girls- Candice and Sarah circled in red marker
Camera shows all photos, zooms in particular photo of the 2 girls.

Sarah’s phone rings (music stops as phone rings)
Candice is grabbed (killer’s point of view- canted angle when he grabs her)
Then the shot of the killer’s hand around Candice’s mouth (muffles- music stops, canted angle shows unstableness/terror)

Scene 3:
Scene 4: Sarah is chased; hides behind bush and car (heavy panting/breathing)
Loud scream at the end (blackness) 

Period of disequilibrium: release date & coming soon. 

Thursday, 19 January 2012

Treatment/Film Ideas

Idea 1: Camping film idea
Texas Chainsaw Massacre and House of Wax meet the classic slasher Friday 13th
Texas Chainsaw Massacre: Road trip, serial killer,
House of Wax; Camping trip, isolation, no contact with outside world.
Friday 13th: slasher, teenagers, mental


Scenario:
‘A group of teenagers adventure on a camping trip in the isolated woods where they are brutally murdered by their stalker....one by one’
‘Group of teenagers’ and ‘stalker’-character paradigm
‘Isolated woods’- Setting paradigm
‘Brutally murdered’- props: weapons such as knives, poles
Infatuation (mental issues- photographs of girls)


Treatment:
Opening shot is the teens setting off on their road trip, discussing who is sharing tents with whom. One of the teens gets his/her personal camera out and starts filming how excited they are for their trip and fooling around. (Close up, low angle, canted angles as he/she is filming other people in the car) The unsteady camera shots portray a structuralist view. Long shot to set the scene showing them getting out the car and setting up their tents. They are starting to become aware that they are not alone and start hearing noises and seeing movements. (Tone card- Someone’s obsession, turns into another person’s nightmare) A jump cut to the stalker in a room looking at photos of the girls, (Photos of them having fun, laughing).


Idea 2: Obsession/stalker storyline

Scream meets I know What You Did Last Summer
Scream: tormenting the teens, knife


Scenario:
A stalker seeks revenge many years later...he couldn’t forgive and forget
Stalker- Character paradigm
Infatuation- mental issues (photographs of girls)


Treatment:
The trailer begins at the moment of equilibrium when the two best friends are talking and painting each other’s nails (sleepover setting). Then there is a long shot of the girls walking home through a quiet part of town. (Disequilibrium)They begin to feel a little paranoid (unsteady camera movement) thinking someone is behind them, (jump cuts of them speeding up) but when they turn around they catch a glimpse of someone walking past. (Close up of their facial expressions; shock, confusion). Tone card: They have no idea... George (Idea of ‘Martin’ from Human Centipede 2) is wanting revenge...after all these years. Then there is a shot of many photographs of the girls on a wall, zooming in on their faces at one point. (Close up shot)


Idea 3: Supernatural (Ghost activity)

The Exorcism of Emily Rose meets The Amityville Horror
The Exorcism of Emily Rose: Possessed Child

The Amityville Horror: Paranormal activity

Scenario:
Possessed child – Character Paradigm
Family House – Setting Paradigm
Paranormal activity, objects moving


Treatment:
The opening shot is of a young child sitting at the end of her bed staring at the wall when objects around her start to move. Her parents start then start to believe that there is something wrong with her. (Medium Shot). Her parents start to worry about her and decide it is best to keep her locked inside on her own. When her parents return home they find that the house has been trashed (High shot, canted angle). The young girl wants to get her own back for what her parents have done and starts tormenting them, by messing with their minds and rearranging objects around the house. She is left with only one option now for revenge, and that is to slowly murder them in their sleep.