Task 11 - Props (Sophie&Elise)

Props help to set the scene by giving the audience a insight into the background of the character and a hints of what may come later on in the film.It is important that the props used relate to the film and create an accurate representation of our characters. The props we are going to use are:

Phone:

A phone is a modern part of todays lifestyle which reflects the younger generation. By using a phone as a prop it allows us to create the character as  a typical teenager whilst using it as a way the characters can communicate in the opening sequence.





Duct tape:

We are using duct tape as a prop in our opening sequence to show that the girl is being kept captive against her will. Taping duct tape over the victims mouth is stereotypical for a kidnapping scene and therefore fits in with our opening sequence.








 Photos:

We are using polaroid style photos in our opening sequence with the past, present and future victims on.This shows what the murderer has down in the past and what may happen later on in the film.









Tools:

Using a crow bar as a prop creates the main character (murderer) as a stereotypical villain and shows that the victim is in extreme danger.



Death Certificate:

We found a website that has customisable death certificates which we will use as a prop in the psychopath's "shed"
We plan on using one or two of these scattered on his table to show that he has previously murdered people and kept weird files of them.














Birth Certificate:

We are also going to print off four birth certificates that correspond to the four victims left that the psychopath has on his list to kill. These certificates will also be scattered on his desk along with the photographs that he has collected of them.









Certificate of Insanity:

We found this on the same website as the death certificates and we thought that it would be quite useful to have "lying around" in his shed. This is a document that shows he has been diagnosed with insanity.








Table and chair:

We are going to be using a table and chair that are in the shed. The chair will be where our victim will be tied up to and the table will be where all of the psychopath's collective documents are.

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Task 11 - Pictures of the victims (Props)

We thought it would be a good idea if we used our own friends' social media pictures as the pictures of our previously murdered victims. We decided to do this as we thought it would be a fun way to get our friends involved in our media opening sequence, it also adds a more personally feel to our opening sequence as we are involved in more than just the background work.

We have printed these pictures out and are going to stick them on the inside of the shed that our psychotic man is going to be using as his 'lair' when keeping our victim, Elise, held hostage.

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Task 10 - Costume

Psychopath's Costume

We have decided that our psychopath will dress in simple attire, as most psychopaths look and sound like an average person.

However, the clothes will be quite dull such as black hoodies, grey trousers and old leather jackets to make the man look quite scruffy and also give the feeling that he doesn't spend time shopping for clothes- perhaps he doesn't have a wife to impress, this would build on the impression that he is lonely and could be an explanation for his savage-like behaviours.

Investigator's Costume

Our investigator is going to be a strong female character, but abide by the stereotypical ways of the female character wearing quite masculine clothes. Therefore, our investigator will be wearing a suit with their hair tied back in a bun. This also shows the sophistication and importance of the investigator's character. The investigator will have minimal makeup on as this gives the impression that she is very work-orientated and focuses more of her time on her case studies than her appearance.

Victim's Costume

The costume for the victim must give the impression that they are innocent, helpless and vulnerable. To give this impression, our victim will be dressed in quite casual 'childish' clothing with colours such as white as white is a colour that symbolises innocence and purity. The casual-style clothing that the victim will be wearing will possibly be dresses, tights, jackets and winter accessories as our victim will be female and dressing them in typical female clothing accentuates their vulnerability as females are often seen as "weak" and "helpless".  The victims clothing will also be contrasting the psychopaths clothing as he will be dressed in black/grey while she is dressed in white/cream.

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Task 9 - Casting Photos

Casting Photos; Inspiration

When thinking about our character who will play the role of the "victim" we were deeply influenced by the character of "Susie Salmon" in the film "The lovely bones". This is because she plays the role of an innocent teenager extremely well and our costume choices are even based on the clothing that she wears in this film. Her character in "The lovely bones" comes across as an extremely innocent, loved, and family orientated teenager which is how we want our victim to be displayed as well. 

Our psychopath character is based around a mixture of inspiration; mainly by the character of "Norman Bates" in the film "Psycho". This is because Norman Bates also plays the role of a stalker/psychopath although he looks like a relatively "average" man.

Our Casting Photos

Name: Wai-Shaun Ly

Age: 17

Gender: Female

Ethnicity: Chinese

Height: 5"2

Hair colour: Dark brown

Eye colour: Dark brown

Build: Petite

Role: Investigator

We have decided to choose Wai to play the role as the investigator as she wears glasses which stereo-typically shows that she is smart and professional; these are characteristics that come to mind when we think about someone who would have the job as an investigator. 

She is also capable at acting serious scenes (as we discovered during our preliminary task) which will benefit us as she will be able to adopt the serious role of the investigator.

Name: Elise Noakes

Age: 17

Gender: Female

Ethnicity: British

Height: 5"6

Hair colour: Dark brown

Eye colour: Dark brown

Build: Petite

Role: Victim

We have chosen Elise to portray the role as the psychopaths next "victim" as we feel that she has a naturally childish manner. She is also the correct age group that fits with the plot of our opening sequence. 

She is of average height as she is smaller than who we chose to be our psychopath, however she is not so small that she doesn't look her age group.

Name: Taylor Arnold-Lee

Age: 17

Gender: Male

Ethnicity: White/Caucasian

Height: 5"9

Hair colour: Black

Eye colour: Dark brown

Build: Average

Role: Psychopath

We have chosen Taylor to play the role of the Psychopath as he has a lot of acting experience. 

We needed someone who could play the role well so that you could tell something is strange about the man, without anything drastic having to happen. 

He is also considerably taller than Elise which makes him appear an older age than he actually is.

Taylor fits the appearance of what we visualised our psychopath to look like as he has dark features, which adds a sense of mystery to his character. 

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Task 8 - Location Shots

Our opening sequence will be set in a school, as it contradicts the fact that a school environment is suppose to be safe and secure.

We will start off with an establishing shot of a quiet, safe environment within the school.

This area of the school is usually quiet and peaceful, which will mean we will not be disturbed when filming. From one point of view, this environment appears happy and calming; on the contrast, this environment is in a closed space in the school grounds which could suggest mystery and could be seen as a "blind corner" where there is no CCTV or people to notice any suspicious business.

We have a scene in our opening sequence where our 'victim' will need to access her locker. We have decided to use this locker location as you will be able to see the girl opening and using her locker, however, through the window will be our 'psychopath' pretending to sweep leaves. We think that this location will support our idea of the psychopath being a stalker as in every scene that the girl is in, you will be able to notice the psychopath stalker acting "natural" in the background.

The shed we will be using will be inside the school, however, when we film we will make sure we only film inside the shed and not the location of where it is. This is because we want to create a sense of mystery and we also want the audience to feel that the shed is situated near where the psychopath lives, rather than the school. The reason why we decided to use a shed in the location of the school is because the shed is the perfect size and even has props (such as a table and chair) inside; we plan to place a selection of tools on the table to give the feeling that "torture" takes place here. We are also going to stick pictures of previous victims on the shed wall next to the table and create diagrams to illustrate the psychopath's thought process. 

It is also extremely practical as all of our filming will be done in school grounds and therefore will prevent us from making an unnecessary trip to a shed in a different location.

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Task 7 - Target audience data and research

I created a survey on Survey Monkey (primary research) to help gather some more information to help us decided what our target audience will be. 

This survey consists of questions about horror films because that is the genre we are producing in our opening sequence.

For example, one of the questions is - Do you prefer gory horrors or mystery/crime horrors? 

The answers to this give us a indication of what type of horror genre we should produce to reach out to our target audience.

WISE Productions thinks that their target audience should be aimed to females under 25 and males under 25 this survey supports this because the majority of the answered questions said they would more likely see a rated 15 horror film rather than a 18+

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Task 6 - 25 word pitch (Wai, Imogen, Sophie & Elise)

We have summarised our opening sequence into 25 words

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Task 5 - Initial ideas- Opening sequence (Imogen&Sophie)

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Task 4 - Inspiration from other media

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Task 3 - Mood Board

This mood board relates to our opening sequence based on horror. Many of the images on this mood board are of isolated destinations such as deep into the forest which is also where our opening sequence is based. The colours in these pictures are dark with little light coming through edges of the pictures also giving us the idea of basing our opening sequence at evening/night time where it starts to get dark. 

This mood board is made using google images of 'horror' on the application of Pages. WISE Production's decided to choose horror as our genre because we felt that this genre would give us a better opportunity to explore the different types of camera angles and use of diegetic and non-diegetic sounds to create more tension throughout the opening sequence.
I chose these images because these images link into our opening sequence about it being based in the forest or in dark alleyways.

We also decided to look at thriller as thriller and horror can be combined; we have gained inspiration from both of these mood boards, such as how a forest setting can set a scary mood as well as camera angles and miss en scene. 

In the majority of the pictures include little girls or images of younger women, I chose these images because I think it links to the idea for our opening sequence about a young girl/women. 

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Task 2 - Analysis of The Bourne Supremacy

In the opening sequence of The Bourne Supremacy, there is non-diegetic music playing throughout the scene. This music emphasizes the intensity of the scene as the music builds, as the viewer gets closer to meeting the main character. The images within the opening sequence partially recap what happened in the previous film so the audience have a slight understanding of the previous story line. As well as this they foreshadow what may happen within the film they are about to watch. By having the opening sequence in low key lighting it creates a slightly more terrifying feel about the film as most people associate the dark with the fact that something bad is about to happen.

When the shot of the man in bed is shown, it gives the audience the impression that the previous blurry images are clearly a distressed memory of the man's past life. By having a slight blurred effect over the start of the opening sequence it enables the audience to make an assumption that what they are seeing isn't what is currently happening in the characters life.

By having specific images its suggests that there are specific traumas that are triggering the nightmare that the main character is clearly experiencing. By showing the main characters traumas, it helps the audience to relate and sympathies with him as they feel sorry for him that he has to go through such pain. By including the man in the opening sequence, it creates a slight anger towards them as the audience assume that they are the ones who have caused the main character this trauma. Just by the contents of the opening sequence you can tell that the audience will be rooting for the main character and will be against anyone who is against him. This then makes the audience feel as though they are personally involved in the characters life so they become more attached to the story behind the film.

By having a slightly higher key lighting once he has woken up, it gives the impression that now he is awake everything is fine and he is no longer scared. Also by having higher key lighting when the female character enters the scene it suggests that he isn't alone with facing his traumas so there is no reason for him to be scared anymore.

In the scenes of the opening sequence where the main character is present, before thinking about anything else, judging by his body language it is evident that his is distressed in some way. By having the sound of the oceans in the background of the end of the scene, it calms the audience down and makes them more relaxed then they previously were when experiencing the main characters traumas. By allowing the audience to connect with the emotions of the main character, it enables the audience to emotional connect with the film.

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