Feedback on our film:

George Myers:
It was a very interesting plot, very reminiscent of slasher films like Halloween and Scream. The camera work, I felt, was a little off key and needed refining, but overall it was easy to follow.
3/5 Stars

Corine Morgan:
I thought it was very clever how the killers face was never actually seen. It kept the suspense... Ilikethatword. Overall it was very well laid out, and I would watch that film.
4/5 Stars

Storyboard

Equipment we used

Whilst making our film, we used a range of equipment, including software, hardware and props.

>Blogger: Set up by the school and used to show our development and planning as we moved through the project.
>Storyboard sheets: Supplied by the school and used to sketch and detail storyboards.
>Imovie: Used to edit our filming.
>School Student Resources: Used to find copyright free music for our movie.
>Retracable plastic knife: Used as the murder weapon in our movie
>Film blood: Used in our movie to create the blood effect.
>Flip HD Camera: Used to film our project.

Another Update:

It is the day before the deadline, editing of our film is finally finished, we did not quite stick to the script, or the storyboard, but we feel the effect we produced was very good.
We have yet to do an evaluation, and we are currently searching for a scanner in order to post our storyboards (all of them) to the blog.

Update on Progress:

Both of us went away and made our own drafts of storyboards, and when we came together compared and chose the best ideas from them. We have collaborated our final design and will now begin creating a storyboard for it.
We have also decided on a location, actors and props for our film. The location will take place in a relatives house, it has the right sort of rooms we need and is easy to get to. We have purchased stage blood and we have a "retractable dagger" as the murder weapon.

Who Would Make This Kind of Film?

Slasher is a genre of film that has been made by many different directors. This is due to a number of things, firstly these sorts of films do not necessarily need an intense storyline and plot, so therefore are quite easy to make. It is also because as mentioned before, a slasher film can become iconic and last in peoples minds for years to come.
Many emerging directors create slasher films, such as Rob Zombie, also due to these reasons, but at the same time they have been created by big institutions and famous directors.
Therefore, I conclude that this kind of film can be made by anybody.

Analysis of Halloween

Halloween was not the first Slasher film ever made, but it opened the floodgates for many others to come. The opening scene is very famous, due to its highly effective point of view sequence.

The credits begin with a haunting, repetitive tune on the piano. The key is flat and often jumps to other keys, making the music very unsettling.

The background is black, and the writing is orange, which is linked with Halloween. The text fades to red before disappearing, which symbolises blood.

At 0.17 a Jack-o-Lantern fades into view with its flickering light, this represents Halloween again. It is an emblem of a festival of horror, and the way it fades in drags out the sequence and build suspense, and the flickering light of the flame creates a feeling of uncertainty.

Also to build suspense the music builds up more as the credits continue.

The pumpkin slowly grows larger, as if the camera is zooming in, or the pumpkin is moving closer, this is threatening.

When the credits end the screen goes black and childrens chanting is heard, the text sets the scene, “Haddonfield, Illinois. Halloween Night 1963.”

The chanting cuts out and there is a long shot of a large suburban house at night time. The house is only just illuminated.

The house begins to get closer, and it becomes clear this is a point of view shot. The camera is focused on the door, and then swings to focus on the window instead, as the camera swings it lingers on the pumpkin for an instant, once again suggesting Halloween.

The light in the upstairs window is seen to snap off, and with this there is a sharp stab of high pitched piano music. This coincides with the fact that the change in light when a switch is flicked is very sudden.

As the camera moves around the house the viewers vision is constantly obscured by bushes. This builds tension and frustrates the viewer a little as they want to see what is going on.

The music begins to build up again, it is single high pitches strokes on a piano, it is unsettling and tense and also creates and idea of a single, repetitive thought.

A hand is seen to one side and a large butchers knife is taken out of a kitchen drawer, the viewer then realises that this is the point of view of someone who is going to kill.

The killer moves about his house very slowly, building up viewer suspense and impatience.

A very quick view of an old wooden chair is seen in one corner. This is a symbol commonly associated with older films about haunted houses.

A person is seen to come down stairs, and the killer shrinks back a little, we see this movement with the point of view shot, this shows that the killer does not need to kill the person on the stairs, or that they are waiting for the perfect timing, showing this is a preplanned kill.

The Music becomes one single long note, again adding to the suspense. Something is seen on the floor and picked up, the vision then changes so the viewer can only see through two “eye holes” showing the killer is wearing a mask. This is important because it hides the killers face and expression from all those who see them, building up mystery and suspense, and humans have a natural fear of something that is expressionless. The mask also frustrates the viewer as they would have a natural need to see everything that is happening, but can’t.

The killer approaches a room where a teenage girl is brushing her hair, she gets closer as the killer moves forwards. When the woman sees the killer, she shows “Michael” making it clear that she knows him, the blade the killer picked up before is then seen flying through the air and stabbing the woman, she screams as the stabs are repeated and he eventually falls silent. The music has build up to its climatic point here.

After the kill the killer moves through the house a lot quicker, it is a release of the tension built up before, and shows that the scariest part of the sequence is over. It could also be showing the panic and adrenaline of the killer.

The killer goes outside, and two adults are seen talking in the garden, one of them says “Michael?” and removes the killers mask. The camera shot then changes to view the killer, and the audience can see that it is in fact a young boy. This shocks the audience, all though the killers arms were seen momentarily before, it is unlikely they paid enough attention to realise the killer was in fact a child. The Camera slowly zooms out from the boy, again with the repetitive one key music, all the time the child stands there, not moving, showing his blank insanity.

Finally, just before the scene ends, the music builds to one long loud note, then goes quieter again.

Anaylsis of Silent Night Deadly Night.

The opening of this film begins with a black screen and a child singing. This is something that would usually be cute but here becomes sinister. An image of a Christmas reef with the emblem “Silent Night” in traditional white font. The last line of the chant is “Turn out the light” and then a loud, twisted note which is not really music but a mess of unsettling noise plays, and a spatter of blood goes over the screen, when this blood drips away the words “Deadly Night” are written underneath “silent night” This is shocking and jumpy, it also taints the previous image of a cheerful holiday decoration.

The loud note fades very suddenly, and Is replaced with yet more twisted music, this time in the form of organ playing. As the credits continue this music has more instruments added, but becomes no more tuneful than it was already. The credits themselves are quite simple, black background with white font, possibly “cooper black”

After the credits there is a panoramic shot of a mountain range, with a road in front of it. The camera follows a single car moving along the road, and the viewer knows that the car is of importance. You can hear the car radio playing, and the final text on the screen reads “Christmas Eve, 1971”.

The camera shows the two adults in the car, the radio makes a comment about there being “good weather for Santa Claus” it then switches to a young child in the back of the car, around the age of 5-7. He is reading “The Night before Christmas” and looking at colourful, traditional photos of Santa Claus, but somehow these photos seem sinister. The car continues it’s motion and Christmas music plays, the camera shows all passengers in the car.

The child asks his mother questions about Santa and what time he will come, this is a typical, normal situation on Christmas Eve. The mother goes on to say that “Santa Claus is gonna give you a big surprise tonight, you just wait and see.” This is also a very normal, friendly statement, but seems to have a sinister meaning. All of this is done in order to give a normal situation an abnormal feel. It is designed to make the viewer feel uncomfortable in a situation they would normal be at ease with.

The car pulls in to the car park for a building; the camera lingers on the sign outside the building and zooms in on it, drawing attention to it. The sign reads “Utah Mental Facility.” This is key because it typically creates an image in the viewers’ mind of homicidal maniacs, serial killers and psychopaths; it gives the viewer a twinge of unease about the family going into the building.

The family visit the grandfather, he is completely silent and pays them no attention. He just stares, this symbolises not only his insanity but also the condition some people are found in after suffering a terrible ordeal. The parents have to talk to the doctor alone, so they leave the child alone with the grandpa. It then becomes clear that people in the centre have made an effort to decorate the room, but it remains bleak and cheerless. This symbolises that insanity is incurable.
The child stares at his grandfather, and a long, continuing note on piano music begins. The grandfather remains still for quite some time, then his eyes move to look directly at the camera. A sinister smile spreads his lips, and there is a high pitched tingle of the piano, meant to send a shiver down the spine. He grabs the arm of the child, and tells him to shh in a rasping voice, which hints that he has not spoken for a long time. He warns the child about Christmas Eve, and the piano tingles again.

The grandfather talks about what Santa will do, and the child innocently defends him. The grandfather has a crazy rant about how Santa will punish him, and then laughs, when he laughs the tone of the music becomes manic and disjointed again, much like what is going on in the grandfathers head.

The parents come back, the grandfather is still again, and as they leave the child tells the grandfather he promises to be good from now on, Grandfather does not respond, he just sits and stares again.

Analysis of Final Destination

Whether or not this film comes under the genre of “Slasher” is arguable because the killer is not human and not visible, it is simply death itself. However, the opening of this film displays many codes and conventions which are interesting and useful to analyse.

The institution logos of the film come at the very beginning; they are accompanied by the opening music, which is slow and tense. When the text “New Line Cinema” comes onto the screen, there is a sound similar to swords being drawn, or knives being sharpened. This is the first hint at horror in the film.

The background of the credits is black, and the text is white, however it also glows, like light is shining on it, this could be hinting at the supernatural element of the film.

The black screen white text sequence ends with a view of clouds during a thunder and lighting storm, it seems the lightning illuminates the black. This is important because thunderstorms are widely associated with horror, they are often threatening and give an atmosphere of something impending.

The title of the film appears in the bottom right hand corner of the shot, which at this point has changed to looking at the storm through a rainy window. Another flash of lightning makes it impossible to read the title for a few seconds.

The music continues throughout this sequence, it is always slow, melodic and morbidly haunting.

The camera moves down the window with the dripping rain and comes to focus on a charm or toy hanging from the window pain. The angle then switches so that the shadow of this toy is being shown, and it looks like the body of a person hanging. This is a strong link with death.

From this point on, a lot of things in the sequence are viewed through an oscillating fan, the light catches on the metal frame of the fan, making it resemble light on blades. The constant interruption of the spinning blades of the fan obscures full vision of the scene and builds suspense.

A boarding pass is then placed on a bed by an unseen character, the camera zooms on the pass, allowing the viewer to read the information on it, this signifies that the information on the pass might be important. Then the fan blades obscure all of the pass except for the number “180” making the viewer wonder if this is of particular importance. It builds suspense and creates confusion, making the viewer want to watch more.

There is then a shot of a stack of books. The front book (later known to be a travel guide of some sort) is removed straight away, revealing the book behind: Death of a Salesman. This is once again a strong hint of death later in the film, and gives the viewer a sense that death is everywhere in the room.

The first book, the travel guide is on the bed, and the fan blows the pages open, the pages stop flicking open on a picture of a public execution, which is then zoomed in on, all the way through this there has been occasional sounds of knives being drawn, like at the very start of the sequence. The fan is constantly moving objects, obscuring objects and bringing objects into focus, possibly symbolising via the rotation of the fan that everything moves and changes.

There is then a shot of a character (presumably the same one who has moved the other objects in the sequence) thumbing through the pages of another book, the only words legible in this process are “evil”, “devil” and “damnation”.

There is then an unusual shot where the camera once again zooms in of a picture in a book, it is of a man on the ground in pain, however the cage of the fan obscures this man from full view, it is similar to looking at him through bars. At this point a screaming sound can be heard, it is barely noticeable, it seems to be accepted by the viewer as a norm. This shows that the sequence is so engaging it almost hypnotises the viewer into watching the various codes and symbols being played out right before their eyes.

Finally, the fan stops obscuring the vision and you can clearly see a picture of some form of protest, with the words “this is the end” grafitied in red on a wall (red symbolising blood) The picture then fades away and only the writing is left, this then proceeds to look as though it has been blown away.

Everything in this sequence gives a strong connotation of death, with very obvious symbols. When the full film is viewed, it becomes clear that not only do these symbols represent death, but they represent events later on in the film.

Analysis of Questionnaire Results

We sent a questionnaire to 9 people in our media group. Here is an analysis of the results:

1. Do you prefer "creature feature" or "slasher" movies?
Results: Of the 6 people who answered this question, The results were: 2 people chose Creature Feature, and 4 chose Slasher, showing that there is a definate market for the type of film we are doing.


2: For this question we gave people a choice of 4 slasher movie killers, and asked them to decide which one they found scariest, and why (they were asked to decide assuming they hadn't seen any of the films)
The Results were:
Jason Voorhees: 2 people chose this, the reasons given were that he was "invincible" and had an obscured face and weapon.
Micheal Myers: 4 people chose this. the reasons given were the camera angle (showing the killer to be above) the mask, showing him to have a vacant expression, and you can see his weapon.
Scream Killer: One person chose Scream, the reason given that his face looked like it had been melted.
Freddy Kruger: 2 people chose Freddy Kruger. The main reason given was the manic expression in his eyes.



3. When asked if the audience preferred cliched films or originality, 6 people chose originality, and 3 chose cliches. Interestingly the people who chose cliched films were mainly female. I think that because of these results we will need to make a balance between originality and cliches.

4. Participants were then asked if they preferred alot of blood in a film, and the results were 1 person preferred alot of blood, 4 people preferred not too much blood, and 4 people preferred somewhere in the middle. Interestingly somebody also said that fear is not generated by the presence of blood, but by the atmosphere created in the film.



5. The Question was "name one thing you want to see in every slasher movie you watch?" The majority of answers were that the killer had to be original and very good at killing. The second most popular answer was that the characters had to be attractive, other answers included "suspense" "a twist" and "lots of blood guts sex and fire" I think it would be useul to include as many of these aspects as possible in our film.



6. When asked how important the beginning of the movie was to them, all of the answers said that the opening of the film was very important. This means that we have to make our film opening as good as possible.



7. The last question we asked was if it was important for them to get to know the main character from the start of the film. Interestingly, the majority of answers in to this question were no, meaning we do not neccessarily have to build up an in depth character portrayal in our film opening.



To conclude our results, we have discovered that there is a market for the sort of film we are creating, and we can use the results of this questionnaire to go on to create our unique selling point.

Slasher Brainstorm

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The Brief - Why We Chose it.

We decided to choose the video brief for our coursework over the print.
We chose this for several reasons:

• When doing the print task in the preliminary, we found photoshop difficult to work with.
• Our main interest is in film.
• The brief for film was more flexible
• It is easier to work in groups for a film task
• We felt we could be more creative with the film task

For our genre of film, we chose a "slasher" movie. We chose this because we feel that a slasher movies are exciting and thrilling, and there are many easy ways to create tension, via music, costume, lighting and character acting. We also believe there is a market for "slasher" movies, there are constantly new horror films being released and the majority of them are top box office sellers. People love the thrill and excitement that they get from the built up suspence and look into fictional characters tragic lives.