HB: Concept Development - Costume and Props

Costume:

• We have decided that we want the two male protagonist to wear black hoodies, trousers and shoes to create a darker scene. The hoods will also be worn up in order to covey a 'ritual' mood for the audience.
• One of the males will also be carrying with him a rucksack.
• The female antagonist, who is a ghost, will be wearing a white, old fashioned, dress. As we have the intent on using a pale actress, the white will put emphasis on this and also contrast with the black costumes of the protagonists. 

Inspiration from these costumes can be taken from Hot Fuzz (Wright, 2007) and House at the End of the Street (Tonderai, 2012) 

The costumes we have chosen are suitable as they aren't bold colours which will draw attention away from the plot or look out of place, but contrast well with each other allowing to audience to see the clear binary between the protagonist and the antagonist. Having both of the male characters dressed the same also shows the audience that they are of an equal status so should have the same prevalence.

Props:

• Lantern
• Work tools e.g. Axes, shovel
• Candles
• Matches 
• Animal bone
• Duct tape
• Tome
• Knife
• Fake blood - pro-filmic effect 

Many of the props which we have chosen to use hold typical connotations with horror e.g. knife and candles. These will all help to increase the fearful atmosphere of the film as they contribute to the authenticity and cause the audience to visualize and believe the story more. The use of pro-filmic effects will further add to this as it will create verisimilitude. 

JH : Concept Devlopment - Sound

Sound is a very important part of any production and ours will be no exception. We will be using diegetic sound in most of our shots with a few added non-diegetic effects. Most of the effects will come from-

https://www.freesound.org/

For example when the door to the small house opens we will use a sound like-

https://www.freesound.org/people/Bratok999/sounds/173567/

or

https://www.freesound.org/search/?q=Door+creaking

We will also be using some slow dramatic music as we head towards the small building.

Group: Premliminary Task

What we believe went well:

• The 'over the shoulder' shots were both within the boundaries of the 180 degree rule.
• The editing made the sequence look like a classic old fashioned film, which fits in with the theme of 20s New York Gangsters.
• The establishing shot of the feet of one of the characters created mystery and interest.
• The title design was effective, and the use of the $ sign instead of an S linked in with the theme of money.
• The relative status of the characters was clear.

What we believe didn't go as well:

• We broke the 180 degree rule at one point.
• We should have allowed the door to close in the shot where the character walks through the door.
• The plot had some holes in it: What was the purpose of the meeting?

CK: Concept Development - Casting

The cast for our production will be three characters:

• Two teenage boys of 16, with pale skin, dark hair and dark eyes. This links to the idea of devil worship and ritualistic activities.
• A younger looking girl, around 13 or 14. She could be the younger sister of one of the boys. She is blonde and pale skinned, her makeup would make her look more ghostly.

The two boys will be teenagers, because at around that age people tend to be more experimental and risk taking with this sort of thing. Also the loss of the boy's sister could have driven him to develop a mental illness, which adolescents are more susceptible to. The young girl will be featured because the ghosts of young children are featured frequently in horror films, and there is something unsettling about them.

These are the actors we are planning on using, we are still unsure who to use for the younger girl.

Group : Treatment Task

It is raining. It is dusk. An old abandoned house stands alone in an overgrown field next to some dark woodland. Some of the windows have been smashed out and the timber used to build it is rotting away, rain penetrates in places.

            An old path through the still, quiet, woods. The rain patters off the canopy overhead, it is autumn and the ground is littered with sodden, rotting, browning leaves. The silence is disturbed by the sound of footsteps, two friends dressed in black walk into view down the old muddy path through the woods. One carries a heavy looking rucksack. They do not speak.

            They arrive at the house, it looks foreboding. They stand outside; take a deep breath, the door swings open. They enter into the dusty gloom. The sound of the rain continues when they are on the inside. The door shuts behind them. All is black for a second before one of the boys lights a small lantern. The room is eerily illuminated. There are a number of work tools around the room: shovels, axes, saws etc. They move towards a dusty staircase, the floorboards creak as they ascend to the second floor. They kneel next to the only window on this floor. The room smells of damp and mildew. One boy turns to the other and ominously says “Shall we begin?” In reply the other boy begins to remove objects from his bag: five candles, duct tape, some matches, an old tome, a curved blade and an animal bone. He begins to draw a pentangle on the floor using the tape. He places a candle at each point and the animal bone goes in the middle.

            One of the boys lights the candles one by one whilst the other opens the book. They begin to sway and chant in Latin. The boy who lit the candles draws the knife and slashes across the palm of his hand. He then squeezes the blood on top of the animal bone. As he does so objects in the room (most notably the bone) begin to move. A knocking can be heard from under the floorboards, keeping with the rhythm of the chanting. The tempo increases and the objects in the room begin to move faster. When the chanting reaches its peak an entity flashes in and out of existence at different points in the room. It is a young, pale, blonde female. Eventually she appears in the middle of the circle arms raised high. The chanting continues her face is deathly and ill looking. She has blacked out eyes. She slams her hands down and with a woosh all the candles blow out and the cheating and knocking ceases.

            All is still for a second then once again the lantern is lit. The boys’ cold pale faces are illuminated. They say nothing. They collect their things, get up and leave the building. As they walk away the girl watches them from the window.

Group: Concept Development - Discussion in Class

We have had a group discussion concerning our analysis of a opening sequence, audience, location, montage on antagonist and plot. This has all been beneficial to thinking about our own production in the following ways:

Analysis of opening sequence - This has allowed us to learn about the typical horror conventions and think of ways we can incorporate these into our own work. 

• We started by thinking about any stock situations/characters/locations that occurred within our sequences and spoke about which of these we may like to include in our work. 
• Both 'The Conjuring (Wan, 2013) and Insidious Chapter 2 (Wan, 2013) are set in a creepy or haunted house. This is something we later considered when we were talking about our ideal locations.

The Conjuring house setting

The Insidious house setting

• We also thought about music and sound; Insidious Chapter 2 and Ghost Ship (Beck, 2002) both included music, however, they contrasted. 
• While Insidious Chapter 2 had the general creepy music which you would expect from a horror film, Ghost Ship had calm music which we felt to be effective because it gave a false sense of security to the audience making the horrific events which would later take place more shocking and therefore scary. 
• This is something for us to consider as we know we want to include music but will have to give further thought about what we want to replicate. 
• All of these film openings were very beneficial in terms of us finding all of the best camera techniques and plot points that are common within supernatural/paranormal horror films.

Audience pleasure - We though of the best ways that we could cause the audience to feel uneasy, we decided that music and slow cutting rates could be effective in doing this. Another thing we discussed was creating an enigma for the audience as it is something that can both build tension and create a sense of unease which is ideal in the paranormal sub-genre. We also thought about including a jump scare as these are common yet effective in the majority of horror films, we decided that this could be best done alongside the use of music to help further increase the tension before the jump occurs. 

Location - For the location of our opening we decided that our ideal location would be a creepy/abandoned building and also the woods. This is something that we are actually fortunate enough to have access to so it is a possibility. We will have to carry out a location reccie as it is important that we consider things such as weather and power, because if we are unable to control the lighting ourselves it could effect our shots. 

Montage on antagonist - We fully considered what we wanted our antagonist to be, because we want to follow the paranormal sub-genre our antagonist will have to match this theme. We decided that we wanted to do this by including silhouettes of the figure, windows opening, and reflections in mirrors to fully create the presence of the antagonist.

Plot - We discussed the idea of the ghost being a blonde young girl as this is something people typically find creepy in horror films, this is also something which we will need to consider when we think about casting. We wanted the opening to layout the antagonist's back story, possibly including the event of a suicide or murder, through a flash back. The protagonists would be 2 male characters, one of which is the 'skeptic' while the other is brave and curious of the rumour. 

Our mindmap from class - 

Group : Audience Feedback On Wilderness Wood Film Shoot

What techniques were effective?

• Opening fade shot (Cut to black).
• Opening sequence music was described as "effective".
• Actors were said to have shown a convincing performance (Accents).
• Good continuity editing.
• Used the woods to full effect, taking advantage of surroundings.
• Over the shoulder (180 degree rule scene) were very powerful.
• POV shot felt very "real".
• Nice, clean titles.
• Whip pans were very effective in creating a sense of unease.
• Low level splash in the water shot added diversity to the film.
• Very clear narrative.

What techniques could be improved?

• Remove background noise.
• Some cuts were too "jumpy".
• The pond shot was too long and slightly unnecessary.
• Camera was a bit shaky at some points.
• Overuse of fade to black.
• Audio levels were inconsistent.

How can this information be used in future productions?

• Good acting and a strong narrative can really improve a film so in our future productions we will strive to keep this up.
• If background noise gets in the way of a shot and ruins it we will re shoot the shot. When we were in the woods unfortunately we could not redo any shots.
• We will use the tripod whenever possible in an attempt to keep a stable shot.
• When shooting we will keep audio levels in mind to remain consistent.
• This production showed us how powerful non-diegetic sounds for effect.