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Mood Board

Presentation – Untitled Design by Sophie Jay

 A mood board is an arrangement of images, materials and pieces of text, with the intention to evoke or project a particular style or concept. I believe that our moon board connotes the idea of isolation, thriller and a serious hostage, which i believed is portrayed through the numerous pictures of isolated basements and tied up victims, we chose these photos to give our viewer an idea of the genre of our film and what it will contain.
A mood board is very helpful when trying to visualise our end product as through its dark nature, the audience can expect to see a horror thriller. Every film of the thriller genre uses the same conventions to portray a similar style message, as the colours of our mood board are dark with hints of red, the audience can expect danger and violent images.
 Lastly, we used pictures of films that use polaroids as this will be an important prop used throughout our opening sequence, allowing the viewers to know why we are using them

How we will create Sound Effects

To create sound effects we will use non copy right sound found on the internet to give us our non diegetic background music, which will add the effect to the thriller as it will be slow and eery creating tension. This is a typical convention of a Thriller Film. We will also create our own sound. For example, to create a stabbing noise we will use a knife and a watermelon and to create a slapping sound we will use a piece of meat to give of he illusion that it is the real thing

Deciding the Actors Names

Our Actors

Make Up

For our thriller opening sequence, We use special effects make-up on our actors. Hannah is currently studying a one  a 1 year course, specialising in prosthetics. By having professional prosthetics make-up this creates a more realistic atmosphere for the viewer. This also makes the viewer feel more uncomfortable, which falls into the thriller genre.

below is some of her previous work:

Potential Audience Members

Above is a pie chart displaying our target audience for our thriller. In order to gather these figures we surveyed 90 family members and friends; 30 from each age group, which enabled us to gather a reliable idea for our target audience.  Ages group 15 - 28 year olds are 54% likely to view our thriller. Whereas ages group 19-22 year olds are 20% less likely to view our thriller, Ages group 23+ years old are the smallest group in which are likely to view our thriller are the reminder at 12%. From this we have understood that our target audience is likely to be 15-24, therefore we need to cast accordingly to get people to be attractive to our audience and want to watch the film. Additionally, we need to make sure that our narrative is going to appealing to that target audience and need to feature the right sound and effects that will appeal to that target audience 

The First and Final Girl

The first girl:

Traditionally the first girl used in horror films are typically represented to be a young girl in distress and are usually the first character killed by the villain because they have committed a sinful act. This theory has been has been supported by the website “bellaonline.com” as they say that “Horror films, and the slasher subgenre, are famous for portraying women as hypersexual damsels in distress who are usually murdered within the first five minutes as punishment for their indiscretions…”. 
The dumb blonde stereotypical character includes:
- blondness
- seductive body language
- strong makeup
This is shown in the opening sequence of scream


The final girl: 

The final girl refers to the last character left alive in order to confront the killer in a slasher movie genre. This character is always conventional as they all follow the same characteristics including:
- she has morals
- she is intelligent
- attractive
- tends to be brunette ( in order to contrast with the damsel blonde)
- she is not sexualised

The  Carol Clover theory: suggested that the viewer began by sharing the perspective with the killer, but experienced a shift in identification part way through the film to identify with the final girl.

This is shown in Scream and Carrie 

The psychology of horror

Dr. Jeffrey Goldstein, a professor of social and organisational psychology at the University of Utrecht  was quoted as saying:"People go to horror films because they want to be frightened or they wouldn't do it twice. You choose your entertainment because you want it to affect you. That's certainly true of people who go to entertainment products like horror films that have big effects. They want those effects…[Horror films must] provide a just resolution in the end. The bad guy gets it. Even though they choose to watch these things, the images are still disturbing for many people. But people have the ability to pay attention as much or as little as they care to in order to control what effect it has on them, emotionally and otherwise."

More reasons as to why the majority of young people like to watch horror films because although it may be gruesome, its draws the viewers attention to the film. This encourages them to watch more. A New York University neuroscientist Joseph LeDoux has mapped out neuron by neuron how the brain's fear system works. He says the complex human brain with its enormous capacity for thinking, reasoning, and just plain musing, allows us to worry in ways other animals can't. An example of this is fear, which isn't a biological reaction, but is an emotion derived from both deep-seeded evolutionary factors as well as newly learned cautions. Conversations between the brain’s primitive amygdala and the more recently acquired cortex allow humans to interpret an environmental event and respond with an emotion such as fear.

Scary movies can play on this, LeDouz says, "If you have a good imagination, you can connect to your hardwired fears simply by thinking about a scary situation." We can relate this to young people considering as young people grow up their imagination expands and therefore watch the horror film with a bigger and set. Due to this, lots of young people like horror films because they can image what they watched in their brain without feeling a sense of real fear as they are aware it is in their imagination.

Analysis of BBFC and Film Classification

Our thriller is going to have a rating of 15 as it contains scenes of violence and realistic context


What does this mean?
- this means that no one younger than the age of 15 may view a 15 film in the cinema. No one younger than the age of 15 may rent or buy a 15 rated video work

Is discrimination allowed?
- As a whole the work may not contain any discriminatory language or behaviour, although there may be discriminatory themes and language including: racism and homophobia


What type of behaviour may be shown?
- in order to consider the potential risk of imitable behaviour from teenagers, the film should not dwell on detail. For example suicide
whether deception of easily accessible weapons is acceptable will depend on factors such as realism, context and setting

Can you see drugs in a 15?
- drug taking may be used within a film of this rating however, the film should not encourage or promote drug misuse. The misuse of highly accessible and highly dangerous drugs will not be acceptable

Can there be strong language?
- very strong language may be permitted, depending on the manner of which it is used in, who is using it and its frequency

Is nudity allowed within a 15?
- nudity is permitted in a non-sexual or educational context. It may also be used in a sexual context but not in strong detail

What about sex?
- sexual activity may be used but not in strong detail
There may be strong references to sex and sexual behaviour, but strong or crude behaviour are unlikely to be accepted unless justified by the context

Can threat violence be used?
- there can be strong threat and horror, however a strong focus on sadistic or sexual threat may not be permitted
Violence may be strong but may not dwell on the infliction of pain. Strong sadistic violence may also not be acceptable
There may be verbal reference to sexual violence but the viewing of this may be discreet or justified by the context.

Buying the props

Run through Feedback

Run Through of Thriller

our run through of our thriller was taken on our mobile phones and edited using imovie which is a very simple movie making software. By making this short and unprofessional version of our opening sequence whilst using a minimal amount of props, it allowed us to imagine what our project will look like and if we needed to make any changes. This enabled us to learn the importance of proper equipment and props

Location

Lighting

Due to the setting of where we are filming our opening sequence lighting is key because there are no built in lights in the ceiling. The lighting kit we get from school will be of great use and this will be used throughout filming. It is important that as a group we don't determine the lighting from our eyes, it must be done on how it looks through a camera because this is what is it being recored through.

The lights are going to be put on stands but we will make sure they are put into the correct places and angles in order for no mistake shadows to be seen and for the correct amount to be produced. For example when the camera is on something specific such as the Polaroids we don't want it to be too bright as then the pictures cannot be visibly seen . This is why we will expermient with lighting before we will so we know the intesnity of l lighting and where light need to be at specfic points.

 Due to where we are filming is pitch black lighting will be on the whole time for safety and our recording. With our lighting kit we can also get a reflector which produces a slightly different effect to pure bright light. It won't be as intense to the object but will still reflect the light onto it. We will use this when we don't need such bright light on something but just a more subtle way of exposing light. As well as the lighting kit, light adjustments can be made on the camera as well which we can also experiment around with. This could be seen as an easier way to produce different effects of light, however will not give a stronger effect than actual lights. When filming we will use mainly the lights, but also settings on the camera so that it can look realistic as possible.

Props

Films Similar to our Thriller Idea

The disappearance of Alice Creed (2009) 
This film is about a rich man's daughter is held captive in an abandoned apartment by two former convicts who abducted her and hold her ransom in exchange for her father's money. The kidnappers Vic and Danny convert a nondescript flat into a prison for their hostage, Alice. Our film, snatched is similar to this as the hostage is a young female whom is held in a room of a house that has been
converted into a prison. As well as this, it focuses later on in the film how a future victim escapes, in a plot twist by attempting to fool the kidnapper, similar to Alice Creed’s attempt to double-cross her kidnappers. She also gets beaten and tortured which is similar to our kidnappers sick intentions.


Scrapbook (2000)
This film has similarities to our, as the kidnapper collects photos of his  victims and stores them in a scrapbook; which is comparable to ours because our kidnapper takes photos of his victim being tortured and hangs them on a line for him to enjoy looking at. This idea of documenting victims of a serial kidnaper shows a direct link from 'scrapbook' to 'snatched'. As well as this, the film involves the hostages inability to escape and their methods to try and do so.




Momento (2000) 
Our opening sequence idea took aspiration from this film as polaroid pictures are used to convey a story to the audience. In this opening sequence a rewound video of a polaroid forming is being shown, which has resemblance to the room where our film begins, in which polaroids are displayed to form a story of a young girls torture. This film provided us with an idea to display a story within single photos that ultimately formed a hostage's experience.

Real Life Incidents Similar to my Thriler

Shot List

Time	Shot number	Shot
7 seconds	Shot 1	Pan across polaroid pictures
3 seconds	Shot 2	Close up on mans hand
1 seconds	Shot 3	Slow zoom into the photo
10 seconds	Shot 4	Over the shoulder of man hitting her
4 seconds	shot 5	close up of girls face screaming
1 second	Shot 6	Close up of mans hand again
3 seconds	shot 7	Medium close up of man looking at calendar
1 second	Shot 8	Extreme close up of circle date on calendar
10 seconds	Shot 9	Side view tracking shot in a medium wide shot of man walking to the table
3 seconds	Shot 10	Wide shot of man running an kicking door open
3 seconds	Shot 11	Tracking shot following the man into the room
5 seconds	Shot 12	High angle shot of blood on the floor

Filming Day Schedule

We will be filming our opening sequence on the ............... In order for us to use our time effectively and wisely and for us to be efficient, we have produced a plan for the day we will film. This breaks down what needs to be done and tells us when we need to do it, it also allows us to be organised. 

8:30
 Brief to ensure that everyone knows what needs to be done and what we will be doing in the day and we have to come


9:00 
Make-up and costumes - the boy will be dressed In all black and the girls makeup will be done 


10:00
Run through - we will run through each scene so that everyone is confident in what they need to do 


11:00 
We will film the whole sequence every shot to make it easier for us when we edit. For example the first scene where the camera will pan across the polariods. The next shot is a close up of the mans hand so we will therefore run through the whole thing with a close up etc... 
14:00
 Lunch

2:45
Review shots (this is in case we decide we need to redo parts) 


3:30
carry on filming the different shots over again and make sure the shots run for the correct time. Also check any adjustments such as makeup and lighting. 


5:30 
Review shots and check that we have everything we needed and have not missed out anything. In order for us to be able to stick to this schedule, we will need the storyboard and shot list on hand at all times to ensure that we don't waste time filming things we don't need. We will also need to have a watch or a phone on hand so that we can be aware of the time.

Risk Assessment

When filming our opening sequence we need to make sure as a group that it is done safely as possible. In order for this to happen we need to be aware of what could happen, how it could effect our filming day and therefore how we could prevent this risk from happening.  

Firstly, there is going to be low level risks on our filming day which needed to be aware of. For example, there is going to be wires in the area which we film in, which we could potentially trip over and fall. To prevent this it is important that we make sure we are aware of our surroundings and what is around us. Also look to see where the wires have ben placed on the floor so that we can avoid them as much as possible. Another low risk could be due to that it is in a dark basement where there are low ceilings, one of us could bump into something due to the small sizes of the room. To make sure this doesn't happen we will make sure it doesn't get to cramped and we will space out making it easier to film and not get too crowed amongst us. 

However, there are also medium risks which are involved. This includes things like looking at the lights which could affect your eyes. Our eyes will not get damaged if we make sure that we do not look directly into the light when they are on. Also we will turn the all the lights off that we don't need when not using as they can get really hot and if we touch it, our fingers will burn. Another medium risk is handling with the knife which will be present when filming; this knife will be sharp so everyone involved will make sure to handle with it appropriately and hold it correctly so we do not end up with a cut, which could slow down our day. Lastly, as there is going to be prosthetic makeup involved on the girl it is important to ask her before if she is allergic to anything that is going to be put on her face and body. 

There are also a few high risks that could happen. One of these being that the equipment could break such as the lighting equipment and the camera equipment. To make sure this doesn't happen we will all handle this with great care so that we do not have to pay for anything that we have broken by accident. We will also hold it and put it all up sensibly and not in a rush to avoid breakage. When transporting everything from school to the location it could be stolen as we will be out of school. This is very severe so it is significant that everything is with us at all times and it is not left without us at all. 

First draft for script

Title : SNATCHED

Draft date: 05.01.2017


*Non diegetic music as camera pans across poloroid on a washing line*

*Actor takes off polaroid from washing line, camera then fades out into a flashback*

*(in the black and white flash back)*

Lucy: ( screams loudly) )" Help me! someone, HELP!" 
no dialogue as the man beats her in the flash back 
Man: "Shut  up right now! Shut up! 
*he then grabs her hair and smells it with pleasure* 

Flash back end with him still looking at the photo and ****laughs in an evil tone (melicously and sinisterly ). *

No dialogue (looks at the calendar with the circled date and smirks as he is excited)

* grabs knife from table and speeds into the room where the girl is captured*
 )Camera stops on door but he still walks and kicks door open)

Door shuts on the camera and the screen goes black 

Lucy: *cries* *screams* "please don....." *cries more*

Diegetic stabbing noises (watermelon)

Camera then shows blood on the floor 
                                  
                                    THE END 

Effectiveness of Our Storyboard

A story board is a sequence of drawings, typically with some directions and dialogue, representing the shots planned for a film or television product. It enables the creators of the film to visualise the camera shots and story line that will eventually appear as a film on the screens

it allowed us to experiment and change certain aspects of our idea, for example – change the chronological order or the camera angles. From this we were able to organise our opening sequence into the right order.

            we used the website Storyboardthat.com in order to allow us to easily visualise what our opening sequence will look like as it has put it into a more realistic and real life perspective. This was hard as it took a long time and we had to think about the best way to illustrate and put our movie idea into a visual representation.

This process of visual thinking has allowed my group to brainstorm more ideas and play around with the film until we were completely happy with our final Thriller Idea.