The Pitch.

For our pitch we had to do the following;

• 4 ideas outline
• Main story outline in more detail, showing good development and discussion of events leading to final scenes
• Main character outline - you should know them as well as you know yourself. detail personality, likes, dislikes, appearance, job, etc
• Ideas for location to use.
• Rough idea of opening sequence structure.
• Discussion of how genre can be identified through the opening sequence.
  

Main Idea.

Our chosen idea was 'Idea 4'

Characters;
Lynn Hartley - Young, brown hair, medium length, hates her job, divorced, drinks alot, is new to teaching and doesn't know how to control the students.

Nicholos JT Abdul - Tall, dark, rugged, muscly, nice, charming, can have any girl he wants, very popular and is always surrounded by friends.

Mick Lancaster - Secretly gay, tall, skinny, pale, well dressed, mysterious. He is in love with Nicholos but know one knows.

Jennifer Harte - Brunette, attractive, clever, insecure. She is Nicholos' girlfriend.

Martin McFly - Fat, stumpy, stupid, loves football and girls. Is lost without Nicholos and his other friends. He follows the crowd.

Eden Cook - His short and fat and lookd like Martin. Also bestfriends with Nicholos. Fights for his attention. Has a big mouth and thinks his better then everyone elses.

Casy Lube - Nerd, quite, clever, looks like a girl, not taken seriously, wears geeky clothes and glasses, gets bullied by the class because of Nicholos.

Corey Long - Big hair and big glasses, he also looks like a girl and is never noticed. He is Casey's best friend, they are always together. He enjoys maths and solving problems.

Dean Lebean - Emo, quite, never noticed, dark and mysterious, odd, loves emo rock music. Enjoys reading about black magic.

Amy Cozens - Long blonde hair, abit of a bimbo, eye candy, stupid and dopey.

Francis Jones - Ginger, freckles, loud, idiot, loves pulling pranks with his friends.

Shelly Took - Blonde, beautiful, not as stupid as people make her out to be, Her dad is in the Army. She follows Amy around. Enjoys shopping and boys.

Luke Harris - Tall, skinny, idiot, thinks his funny by always taking the piss out of people. Thinks his amazing. Follows everyone around.

Charles Dimond - Inspector, tall, charming, good looking, good at solving problems. His married with 2 children. Loves hi job and playing golf.

Will Scarlight - Charles' sidekick, the complete opposite to Charles. He is short and fat and doesn't know what his talking about. He likes women and beer.


Main Idea in full;
Its a typical Monday morning at college for a normal bunch off students. They are waiting to go into there class but they all start arguing as they don't really get on.

The teacher Lynn Hartley turns up and she is not in the best off moods because her husband has left her. She breaks up all the fights that is going on and tells the kids to go inside the class. The decides to put a film on for the kids as she is not in the mood. The students are still not happy with each other. While the movie is being played there is a murder in the class and it is one off the most popular kids in the class Nicholas Jt Abdul. The scene end in all the class shocked and scared and a big police line going across the room.

The police are called into investigate it is young rookie Will Scarlight and his role model Charles Diamond. They take statements from all the kids and let them go home. The students are all devastated but start to head home. Two off the students are class bullies Casey Lube and Corey Long. They start talking about all the time they were bullied by Nicholas. They say there goodbyes and when Casey is walking down the road a shadow moves in the corner and we get the feeling that there is going to be another victim. The suspense is starting to build up for Casey as he keeps hearing things behind him but when he shouts out nobody is there. he carries on walking then suddenly when he turns round he says its you and then a knife comes out and stabs he though neck. The screen goes black and then it is the next day.

The next day starts with the two police officers trying to sort though all the statements and trying to discuss who is telling the truth and who is lying. Then a call comes in about a new murder in the town and it is one off the students in the class they set off to investigate. Mean while back at the college the kids are back trying to forget about the horrors off yesterday. But it all gets too much for one off the students Amy Cozens and she decides to go to the toilet. While she is in the toilet she gets her phone out and is about to call somebody till the door off the toilets creaks open it stops her in her tracks and she is waiting for this person to leave. But while she looks though her phone a knife is dropped from above her and goes though her head. Meanwhile Caseys body has been taken back to the station and the two officers headback to the college to ask more questions. They also have there first clue Nicks phone and it has texts from lynn. They were having an affair behind there partners backs.

Amys body has been discovered by one off the teachers and lynn decides too call a class meeting with her students. They all get there feeling nervous as they have found out two more kids have died. In the meeting the class starts agruging and accusing each other off the murders. The main one is luke harris who is winding everyone up and is trying to get someone to get angry and it works and one off nicholas best mates Martin Mcfly tries to punch him but eden cook stops him. Lynn makes the students walk home in twos and she tells them to keep in contact with her. When the students leave they aren't happy but agree.

When lynn starts lighting up a cigarette and then two shadows pop -up behind and she is about to tell them to go home then she is stopped when she is stabbed and is left.
This shows that there is two killers. The police turn up to arrest but they now find her dead. They need to find the students as they are in danger. On the way home all the students get a text from "lynn" to meet at the woods near the college.

They all seem non the wiser to what is going to happen. But Corey is very wary and decides to walk off when he sees the woods to try and find the coppers but luke carries on cocky as ever calling corey a loser for walking off. As he carries on into the woods he treads on a pile off leaf and falls into a bunch of spikes and he is left to bleed to death.

In the other part off the woods Mick Lancaster and Shelly Took enter the woods. They start to head towards the shed were they all used to hang out in. While they are talking Shelly trips over. When mick goes to help her up she wacks him in the face with a log.

Ideas.

Idea 1;
Business type guy, late 20s gets home after a months business trip abroad and comes back to an empty, cold, dark, desolate house (so cold he can see his own breath). Noises start to emanate from the kitchen and so he walks in (lights aren't working in kitchen) and he can see its been trashed and food from the fridge is all over the floor. He ventures up stairs to find his room light on with the television on and the shower is running. He then hears a noise coming from the landing so he runs out and looks into one of the spare rooms. Then its a close up of half his face and the landing and the stairs. The camera angle then changes to the persons point of view coming up the stairs, so the camera is wobbley to imitate movement whilst walking up the stairs and walks up behind him and wackes his round the head, but just that instant the screen goes blank and credits start. The we cut to a flash back of him leaving his house where its all warm, cosy and lit up well (complete contrast to the house at the start, but still the same house). He is leaving the house for his sister to take care of. After he leaves she locks the door and walks up stairs and turns the television on and turns the shower on. thirst getting ready she hears broken glass at the front door. Panicking, she runs into one of the spare rooms and waits till what ever it is comes up the stairs. When the thing is not on the landing she runs up to the bedroom on the top floor (convention of a horror where they run up the stairs instead of down) when the person is in one of the other rooms she manages to creep down stairs and grab a weapon to hit the thing with. She then makes her way up the stairs with it and wake the person with it and the screen goes blank once again.

Idea 2;
A boy and a girl are having an argument in a park, and the girl ends up dumping the boy. He is upset and walks off though the park and into the woods.
When he is walking he walks past some odd looking old people sitting on a bench, they are all staring at him.
Then he treads on a news paper, with the words 'INMATES ESCAPE FROM ASYLUM STAY INDOORS'
Then he walks back to the way he came to see if his ex-girlfriend is okay. Then he hears he her scream. He starts running. He runs past the bench and the people have gone. As he s running he can hear his ex-girlfriend screaming and crying, and he can hear people laughing. When he gets to her she is dead on the floor, she has been cut up. As he bends down to her he is hit over the head with a baseball bat. He then awakes in a dark room tied to a chair.

Idea 3;
Bomb hits a village in war using nuclear bombs. The radiation turns most the villagers into zombies with gas masks. They get their revenge by killing survive rs from the village by sucking their blood in true zombie style and taking their souls from their body.

Idea 4;
It starts off as an average school day, students are outside the classroom waiting to go in. They are making a lot of noise and are arguing. The teacher (Lynn Hartley) arrives to class on time at 9am. In the first shot we see all the students walking into the class room and sitting down at their desks. The teacher says they're going to watch a 10min film on the projector. The lights go out. Once the lights have been put back on, one of the characters (Nicholas JT Abdul) has been murdered by being stabbed in the next and is lying in blood on the table at the back of the class. The whole classis in shock and are being questioned by police, there is no trust among the class mates as it could of been any one of them, but then the students start dying and there are only a few students left. The story is revealled when they all get a text message from their teacher (who has been killed at this point but has not yet been found) telling them to meet up in a shed to talk about whats going on and all the weird murders that are happening at school. Then the murders are revealed to be Dean Lebean and Shelly Took after some more students have been killed.

We have chosen our 4th idea :)

Continuity.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tRlLKYeEVaw

Questionnaire Results.

Most of the people we asked were aged from 15-17. So the results are mostly coming from a teenagers view. The most popular setting was 'a house' and the second was 'in the woods' A lot of the people we asked mainly expected to see blood and gore in films, they were the highest to come in with the questionnaire. People also wanted to see chase films, because a horror film is not a horror film with out adrenaline.
A lot of the people we asked to fill the questionnaire said they only watched 0-3 horror films in the past month, which is showing that people haven't really been intrested. When we asked what peoples favorite horror film was the film that came up the most were the Saw films and Evil Dead came second. Halloween, The Ring and Friday the 13th came in at joint 3rd.

Questionnaire.

How old are you?
15 – 17  18 – 21  Other 

What is your gender?
Female  Male 

What is your Favourite Genre of film?
Romantic Comedy  Horror  Thriller  Other 
What is your favourite setting for a horror film?
House  Woods  School  Work Place 
Other please specify: ______________________

What do you expect to see in a horror film?
Blood  Violence  Gore  Chasing scenes 
Other please specify: _________________________

How many horror films have you watched in the past month?
0 – 3  4 – 6  7 or more 

What do you like about horror films? Why do you watch them?
Please specify: _______________________________________

What is your favourite horror film?
Please specify: ____________________

Have you seen any of the recent horror films at the cinema?
Saw VI  The Fourth Kind  Halloween II  Triangle 
Other please specify: _________________________________

Research; Horror Films.

The first horror films were mainly monster movies. They were silent short films.

The 18 certificate is suitable for adults only. No persons under the age of 18 are allowed to watch these films in the cinema or be able to buy them.
They contain violence, sex adult and mature scenes.

In 2008 there were 28 horror films released.
The most expensive horror film was The Exorcist (Warner Bros., 1973) it got $402,500,000.

The top 10 horror films are;

10. Hellraiser

9. Evil Dead

8. Dawn of The Dead

7. Nightmare on Elm Street

6. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre

5. Alien

4. Halloween

3. The Thing

2. Videodrome

1. The Shining

Horror films are more popular around halloween because people want to be scared. Horror films are not normally released at christmas or in the summer.

People expect blood, voilence, gore and they want to be scared. A horror film would not be a horror without these conventions.

There are different types of genres within the genre 'Horror'
Horror films are often combined Sci - Fi films, this is when there are monsters, aliens, derranged beings or the corruption of technology are involed.
The fantasy and supernatural genres are not usually synonymous with the horror genre. There are many sub-genres of horror: slasher, teen terror, serial killers, satanic, Dracula, Frankenstein, etc.

• Comedy Horror Films
• Zombie Films
• Cannibalism in Popular Culture
• Monster Movie
• Psychological Horror
• Slasher Film
• Survival Horror
• Urban Gothic
• Vampire Films
• Werewolf Films

Certificates.

U - U certificate is normally for people of any age, but are aimed at people over the age of 4 years of age. There is no offencive language or sexual scenes in U films, because they are normally for young children.

PG - PG means Parental Guidance. Some scenes may be unsuitable for young children. PG films are aimed at children 8 years and older. There may be an odd curse word in a PG but nothing that would disturb children. PG films do not contain offencive language or sexual scenes.

12 - 12 certificate are suitable for children over the age of 12 and is more of a 'teen' film certificate. There may be swearing in a 12 certificate film, but nothing too offencive. They may be discrete nudity and there may be drugs/violence reference. No one under the age of 12 can purchase a 12 rated film.

15 - No one under the age of 15 can purchase a 15 rated film. This rated film will contain strong language. It may be offencive and disturbing for children under the age of 15. There will be reference to drug and violence. There may be sex scenes and nudity in these films.

18 - These films are only suitable for people 18 and over. Strong language is used. Strong drug and violence will also be in these films too. There may be sex scenes and nudity in these films too.

Short Film.

Characters;
Amy - Tasha
Joe - Karl
Amy's Boyfriend - Matt

I worked with Karl and Matt on my short film. They were fun and easy to work with.

Our short film was about and boy named Joe (Karl) and a girl named Amy (Tasha) they meet in the corridor and start talking. Joe asks Amy how things are going with her and her boyfriend, when she tells him things are not going so well he gives her his number in case she ever needs to talk to him. After Amy walks off Joe heads off down the corridor and is tripped over by Amy's boyfriend (Matt)

We filmed in the corridor which was hard because of all the people walking past, and none of them wanted to be in the film. Finally we found some extras but they was not doing what we wanted and they took up our filming time. In the end we found three extra that did want we wanted and then after that filming became easier. The only bad thing was that our LED screen wasn't working on our camera and for all three of us to look back after every clip took up time instead of being able to watch it all at the same time.

Story board;
http://i231.photobucket.com/albums/ee298/anig901/storyboard.jpg

Textual Analysis.

In our lesson we wathced opening scenes from the genres, romantic comedy, thriller and horror. I have chosen horror as my theme and i am going to base my work around it.

The romantic comedy open scene i have chosen to write about is Pretty Women. It starts with a bright joyful party where everyone is happy. There were people talking and happy music in the background. Everyone is there for Richard Gere's character, that is rich and powerful and cares a lot about his job. You can tell this from the way people are acting around him; I could tell he cares about his job a lot because his girlfriend breaks up with him because he is never around. Then he gets into one of his employees car and does not know how to drive, this shows that his never had to learn to drive because his always had someone to drive him around or his not driven in a long time and also shows how powerful he is. You can tell he is respected because the tone of voice everyone uses with him, they are very calm around him. Then the there is a change from this happy joyful party to the dull dark backstreets of LA. Then you see prostitutes and Julia Roberts's character that is the complete opposite to the man. She is living in a shabby old apartment that she can't afford to live in and leaves with out playing the rent. The music in the background changes it turns to a dirty rock song. The conventions in this film are that the characters are made to be together because they are so opposite. She needs to someone to help her get her life sorted and he needs someone he can be interested in. The title screen was showed when the man was going into the backstreets of LA. It has a Cinderella theme to it which helps with the conventions of a romantic comedy.

I have chosen the opening scene from the film Old Boy that we watched in class. This film is a Thriller. This film’s opening does not follow the conventions of a normal thriller themed film. The start of the films begins with a man holding another man over the top of a roof top by his tie. The man he his holding has a little white dog in his hands, which is odd and a little funny. The man who is holding the man by his tie says that “he wants to tell his story” Then the other man asks who he is then he replies "I am" then it flashes back to a drunken man in a police station who is acting disorderly and is making a lot of noise. He shouts about wanting to see his daughter because it is her birthday and he has a present for her. It flashes backwards to him rolling on the floor with his top off and then he is hand cuffed to the wall. Then another man comes and bails him out and as they are leaving he swears at the police men and runs which is funny. Then he phones his daughter from a phone box and it is raining very heavily which makes you think about what going to happen next? Then the man who bailed him out talks to her and wishes her a happy birthday and when he goes to give the phone back the man is gone. Then tense music comes on and its still raining and a car speeds past and it zooms in on the present the man has got for his daughter on the floor in the rain. This makes you want to know where the man has disappeared too this part sticks with conventions. There was no tense music or anything that made you feel uneasy during the opening part of the film, until he disappeared. Then the films starts.

One of the horror film opening scenes i have chosen to write about is Day Of The Dead. I have wrote about all the Horror films because i have chosen Horror as my genre. At the start of the film there is a women in a room with a calendar. There is non digetic music in the background that make you feel uneasy and know that something is going to jump out on you. Then there is a shock where hands come out of the wall and that is suppose to scare you. It made me jump. This is good with sticking to the conventions of a horror because it keeps you on edge for the rest of the film. Then it jumps back to the women in a helicopter so she must have been dreaming this? The helicopter makes you want to know more and makes you ask questions e.g. Where are they going?
Then when they land they start to shout like they know that they are doing or what is about to happen. Then it goes from clips of "Zombies" waking up and walking towards them.
From watching the 3rd film in the trilogy , i knew what was going on with out watching the other films. I think the make up was very cheaply done and very low budget but they still make you feel uneasy about it. You know what the film is going to be about, which helps with the conventions of "Horror"

The next film we watched was Scream. The titles is a black screen with light flashing in the background. Then it comes up with the title “Scream” in red bold writing which automatically puts the picture of blood into your mind. At the start of the film it is a young girl on her own in a house. She gets a phone call from someone who has the wrong number. Then they phone her back and start pasturing her. Which leaves you in wondering what’s going to happen next. She is cooking pop corn which she forgets about and that helps build tension because the pop corn is going to pop and then you know something is going to start. The person on the phone tell the girl that he can see her. She then starts to frantically run around the house locking all the doors and windows. The house has a lot of windows which means he could have been looking at her from any angle. You can tell that this is set in the middle of no where because there is a lot of greenery outside and there is crickets in the background. So you know that the police are not going to be helping in this film.

The next film is The Grudge. The films starts with old Japanese music in the background that you can not really understand but it still makes you feel uneasy and a little scared about what’s happening. The title comes up in old Japanese writing. The film starts with colorless and pale people. A women who looks like she is in the bathroom and a mad with a scalpel. You know that the man is going to do something to the women because of his eyes and her blank face and her terrified eyes. You see red splatters over them both, on their faces and clothes. You think about blood because it is red. The man then grabs a cat, you do not see him hurt the cat up you can hear the sound of cracking bones in the background. This puts the image of the cat being killed in your mind which makes the film relate to you and what you think is happening.

The last film we watched was Switchblade romance. It starts off with a girl on a bed whispering words repeatedly. She was clutching some sort of Rosemary beads. She has cuts and scars on her back which automatically shows that she has been attacked my someone or something. This makes the audience to want to know what has happened to this young girl. The it flashes backwards and forwards to a car driving to driving down a dull road with their fog lights on, to the same girl running trough a forest covered in blood clutching one side of her body. It looks like early morning so that makes you think that the attack must have happened at night and this is her escaping. The car and the flashback to the girl get quicker from each time this tells you that the two are connected or are going to bump into each other, until eventually she jumps out in front of the car and it swerves then she bangs on the window for help with her bloody hands. This films has all the conventions that a Horror should have because, it has blood, suspense, edgy music, and makes the audience want to know what is going on or what is going to happen.

Task 2: Research into Existing Products.

Romantic Comedies.
Conventions:

• Boy meets a Girl
• They meet them something gets in their way. They face a lot of obstacles. e.g. love triangles.
• They meet because of love at first sight, through friends, were once enemies, work colleagues, etc.
• In the end they end up getting married or being together and being happy.
• Happy and jolly music. Make you smile and know something good is going to happen in the film.
  

Films:
These films go with convention and watch you expect:

• 13 Going On 30
• Made Of Honor
• 10 Things I Hate About You
• Sex And The City
• Just Friends
• Pretty Women
• Never Been Kissed
• Notting Hill
• Monkey Business

Horrors.
Conventions:

• People expect to be scared.
• The characters are normally groups of people.
• Gruesome, bloody, murders, killings, weapons.
• The murder is normally a psychopath, is troubled, myths, mentally ill, seeking revenge, is a cannibal, and scientific e.g. aliens, or is misunderstood.
• A lot of the horror films are based on 'childhood nightmares' which are things everyone is scared to have happen to them e.g. Chucky, Nightmare on Elm Street
• The music should make the audience feel uneasy and a little nervous about the film and make them want to know more, the music should unsettle them.

Films:
These films go with convention and watch you expect:

• Jeepers Creepers
• The Ring
• The Grudge
• The Unborn
• Switchblade Romance
• The Grudge
• Scream
• Day Of The Dead
  

Thrillers.
Conventions:

• About a murder or gang.
• Music that will build tension for the audience.
• That will make them want to know more about what is going on in the film.
• Overlapping Sub-Genres.
• Conflict, climax, falling action, fights.
• Usually involve The Police or some kind of Law enforcement.
• Fast cars and a lot of guns.
• Tense atmosphere.
• Not suppose to scare you.
• No blood or gore.

Films:
These films go with convention and watch you expect.

• The Bourne Identify
• Cliffhanger Mission Impossible
• The Sixth Sense
• Blade
• I Robot
• Se7en
• Old Boy
• Infernal Affairs

I have chosen Horror as my genre.