general update.

Have just started the final storyboard and its taking a while due to being a perfectionist I want it to look very detailed and neat, so all the boxes have been drawn, they look very neat so the drawing will be started when media next comes up on my revision timetable then it will soon be posted on the blog for all of my group as they will help with annotations and colouring :).

Vladimir Propp, first draft.

Vladimir Propp came up with 31 functions in which most stories conform to, these are;

ABSENTATION: A member of a family leaves the security of the home environment. This may be the hero or some other member of the family that the hero will later need to rescue. This division of the cohesive family injects initial tension into the storyline. The hero may also be introduced here, often being shown as an ordinary person.

INTERDICTION: An interdiction is addressed to the hero ('don't go there', 'don't do this'). The hero is warned against some action (given an 'interdiction').

VIOLATION of INTERDICTION. The interdiction is violated (villain enters the tale). This generally proves to be a bad move and the villain enters the story, although not necessarily confronting the hero. Perhaps they are just a lurking presence or perhaps they attack the family whilst the hero is away.

RECONNAISSANCE: The villain makes an attempt at reconnaissance (either villain tries to find the children/jewels etc.; or intended victim questions the villain). The villain (often in disguise) makes an active attempt at seeking information, for example searching for something valuable or trying to actively capture someone. They may speak with a member of the family who innocently divulges information. They may also seek to meet the hero, perhaps knowing already the hero is special in some way.

DELIVERY: The villain gains information about the victim. The villain's seeking now pays off and he or she now acquires some form of information, often about the hero or victim. Other information can be gained, for example about a map or treasure location.

TRICKERY: The villain attempts to deceive the victim to take possession of victim or victim's belongings (trickery; villain disguised, tries to win confidence of victim). The villain now presses further, often using the information gained in seeking to deceive the hero or victim in some way, perhaps appearing in disguise. This may include capture of the victim, getting the hero to give the villain something or persuading them that the villain is actually a friend and thereby gaining collaboration.

COMPLICITY: Victim taken in by deception, unwittingly helping the enemy. The trickery of the villain now works and the hero or victim naively acts in a way that helps the villain. This may range from providing the villain with something (perhaps a map or magical weapon) to actively working against good people (perhaps the villain has persuaded the hero that these other people are actually bad).

VILLAINY or LACK: Villain causes harm/injury to family member (by abduction, theft of magical agent, spoiling crops, plunders in other forms, causes a disappearance, expels someone, casts spell on someone, substitutes child etc., commits murder, imprisons/detains someone, threatens forced marriage, provides nightly torments); Alternatively, a member of family lacks something or desires something (magical potion etc.). There are two options for this function, either or both of which may appear in the story. In the first option, the villain causes some kind of harm, for example carrying away a victim or the desired magical object (which must be then be retrieved). In the second option, a sense of lack is identified, for example in the hero's family or within a community, whereby something is identified as lost or something becomes desirable for some reason, for example a magical object that will save people in some way.

MEDIATION: Misfortune or lack is made known, (hero is dispatched, hears call for help etc./ alternative is that victimized hero is sent away, freed from imprisonment). The hero now discovers the act of villainy or lack, perhaps finding their family or community devastated or caught up in a state of anguish and woe.

BEGINNING COUNTER-ACTION: Seeker agrees to, or decides upon counter-action. The hero now decides to act in a way that will resolve the lack, for example finding a needed magical item, rescuing those who are captured or otherwise defeating the villain. This is a defining moment for the hero as this is the decision that sets the course of future actions and by which a previously ordinary person takes on the mantle of heroism.

DEPARTURE: Hero leaves home;

FIRST FUNCTION OF THE DONOR: Hero is tested, interrogated, attacked etc., preparing the way for his/her receiving magical agent or helper (donor);

HERO'S REACTION: Hero reacts to actions of future donor (withstands/fails the test, frees captive, reconciles disputants, performs service, uses adversary's powers against him);

RECEIPT OF A MAGICAL AGENT: Hero acquires use of a magical agent (directly transferred, located, purchased, prepared, spontaneously appears, eaten/drunk, help offered by other characters);

GUIDANCE: Hero is transferred, delivered or led to whereabouts of an object of the search;

STRUGGLE: Hero and villain join in direct combat;

BRANDING: Hero is branded (wounded/marked, receives ring or scarf);

VICTORY: Villain is defeated (killed in combat, defeated in contest, killed while asleep, banished);

LIQUIDATION: Initial misfortune or lack is resolved (object of search distributed, spell broken, slain person revived, captive freed);

RETURN: Hero returns;

PURSUIT: Hero is pursued (pursuer tries to kill, eat, undermine the hero);

RESCUE: Hero is rescued from pursuit (obstacles delay pursuer, hero hides or is hidden, hero transforms unrecognisably, hero saved from attempt on his/her life);

UNRECOGNIZED ARRIVAL: Hero unrecognized, arrives home or in another country;

UNFOUNDED CLAIMS: False hero presents unfounded claims;

DIFFICULT TASK: Difficult task proposed to the hero (trial by ordeal, riddles, test of strength/endurance, other tasks);

SOLUTION: Task is resolved;

RECOGNITION: Hero is recognized (by mark, brand, or thing given to him/her);

EXPOSURE: False hero or villain is exposed;

TRANSFIGURATION: Hero is given a new appearance (is made whole, handsome, new garments etc.);

PUNISHMENT: Villain is punished;

WEDDING: Hero marries and ascends the throne (is rewarded/promoted).

Those in which our story conforms to have been put in bold.

Pre-production checklist, first draft.

Pre-production Checklist.

Shooting schedule.

For our film we knew that for it to be traditionally horrific and scary it had to be filmed of a night time, so therefore it needed to be dark and we also knew that weekends would be beneficial for us as we did no have to worry about if we was filming late and worrying about school the next day, however some of us had work or football which made it difficult some weekends.

Roles and responsibilities.

Ben went on an editing course before the Christmas holidays and so he did most of the editing although Jacob had some input as well and we all had a say on how the transitions should be. Each of us were in charge of our own costumes and characters, this meant that Ben had to take two costumes, I was in charge of makeup, making Ben look like he had actually been killed. Jacob was in charge of looking after the camera and being the actual camera man. We all came up with different parts of the story line. If any of us had a good idea we took it into account and discussed whether it could be used.

Location.

The location was chosen to be near my house as there are a lot of fields and alleyways which were particularly helpful for our genre of film. (pictures coming soon)

Inspirations.

There are so many horror films which we could have chosen to be our inspirations however, our main inspirations are films like ‘Friday 13^th’ and ‘Texas chainsaw massacre’ as masks and brutal murder are involved.

Themes.

Stupidity could be a theme, you know that when drunk teenagers walk through a dark field late at night, one of them is bound to die.

Mood progressions.

In the beginning of the clip the characters seem to be excited about the party they are headed to but as it gets darker, and more windy the scenery starts to change, everything is significantly more creepy and more alleyways appear one after the other, hinting at a possibility of getting lost. When in the field, a scary music sound affect is put over the top so that the mood has gone from really happy to really not.

Lighting.

As mentioned above, each separate clip in the short film show that it has gone from light to dark in what seems to be no time at all.

Props.

The torch gets discovered during the clip at the end of an alley showing that by the end of the clip there may be ‘light at the end of the tunnel’. Or maybe not. A mask is also used to cover up the true identity of the killer and a mobile phone is used to separate the characters so that they are more vulnerable and makes it easier for them to be killed.

Clothing.

Ben just wears normal average clothing such as jeans and a jacket and I wear a hooded jumper and plain black trousers with wellies, the character isn’t silly enough to go out in a short dress in cold weather showing that she is a normally intelligent person but still manages to be silly enough to go into a dark empty field on the way to a party in the middle of a forest.

Establishing the environment.

During the clip we show clips of the alleyways and safer directions but the characters always pick the unsafe option.

Camera movement.

The camera always focuses on the person talking and shows Ben walking ahead to show male dominance and a protective character.

Audiences first draft

Initial Audience.

Potential questions.

In media for our coursework we have been asked to create the opening 2 minutes to a film genre of our choice we have chosen horror as we believe it is gripping and appeals to our target audience, to see if we are correct we are carrying out this questionnaire.

What is your favourite film genre?

Comedy

Horror

Romance

Sci-fi

Adventure

Fantasy

Other, please specify

If you chose horror, what is it that appeals to you?

Plot

Spine tinglingly scary

Gory

Paranormal

Other, please specify

How old are you?

13+

15-16

17-19

20+

Are you male or female?

Male

Female

After hearing the plot to our film do you think it fit’s the purpose of the task?

Yes

No, if so, why?

Is the plot appealing?

Yes

No, if so, how could it be improved

production diary, first draft.

Production diary.

The first day we started filming it was a lot darker than we expected and was not successful at all, we even tried making it brighter through editing but it didn’t seem to work, everything we had filmed had to be discarded but this helped us know what to expect and when would be the best time for us to film, we decided to film around dusk, just before it gets dark, its light enough to get the filming done but dark enough to feel eerie and suspicious.

After this new discovery we went out to film again and was much more successful however it was very windy and so we knew that any other time we wanted to film it would need to be windy or a sound effect would need to be added, luckily that day of filming was in an open area and so when we filmed the alley way on a separate day it didn’t matter that it wasn’t as windy although we still added a sound affect but just made it very quiet, then we had to remember to wear the same clothes each time.

We then cam across another problem having to film the alley way, no matter how light, because it was covered in trees and fences surrounding it was very dark and so we had to include us miraculously discovering a torch. Filming the actual killing scene was a lot easier although we did have to do a couple of takes due to the pigs in the neighbouring farm squealing and then starting the cows off. We also had to ring my phone and hope that no one else would call in the mean time.

Taking lots of different shots at different angles enabled us to have more footage in case one didn’t work so that we wouldn’t have to go out again. We then went back to film the Appleby street sign to make sure the camera shot was steady.

Filming

So far our filming has been non-successful.
First of all our torch run out and so all of the filming we had done was pitch black and had to be filmed again.
Then after this the camera broke and so we have had to invest in a new one which is again setting us back.
However this has allowed us to re-evaluate aspects of our coursework and refine them to a higher standard.
We now know how the layout of the area will work best and have been using shortcuts to our advantage and adding this in to our filming.
We are now including an alley way for dramatic effect and an old story telling to build suspence with the audience.

Marketing: poster examples.

This is a poster from when the film Juno was being advertised annnnnddddddd this is the one from Sean of the dead: