Prelim Task

Final Version: Storyboard

Storyboard

Character Profiles

    

Final Version: Script

Work in progress: Script

   

Summary of Synopsis

To help us create our opening of our slasher horror we used the feedback from our audience questionnaires to help us.
From looking at the questionnaires we saw the key ideas of what our audience want and expect to see in the opening of our film and applied them to the planning of it.
We firstly began with planning who our killer was going to be weather it would be a male or female character and from looking at our questionnaires we saw the majority of people who took part in it did say they expect to see a male killer, we also took our earlier research of the films we saw into consideration and also saw from them that the killer is most likely a male character. We then decided we were going to have a number of victims but out main one was going to be a female who was 17 years old and has a relation to the killer in the form of being close family friends. Our other victims are going to be close family and friends of our main victim.

I think that out opening is going to be effective in terms of the fact that it doesn’t give to much away this is typical for a slasher horror as seen in the past does that I have looked at for example, ‘Black Christmas’ it shows the setting and the fact that the villain is interested in someone in the house but doesn’t show who the villain is. This will also be effective because our target audience said that they didn’t like if the plot or narrative was revealed in the beginning and our opening doesn’t give too much away or ruin the story. Another typical aspect of a slasher we see in our opening is the weapon of a knife this is used to show and indicate what will happen next- when the killer stabs a picture of the boyfriend with a knife. We decided to use a knife as the weapon because in slasher films the villain usually doesn’t use a gun as sharp-ended object if preferred such as knifes or axes, also when we asked our target audience the typical props they would expect to see in a slasher the majority said a knife. We have also used an establishing shot and panning which are the two main camera movements and shots you tend to see in the beginning of a slasher this is usually showing the setting and in our case showing a view from the killer’s point of view.

In our slasher horror opening the plot is slightly beginning to be revealed as we see the shrine being made by the killer and also as we see our female victim waving and smiling to the killer and then the killer stabbing her boyfriends picture so from this we begin to gather there may be a relation between killer and victim and also that he is protective over her. This is typical for a slasher as from the opening we are shown that there is more then one victim in all of this.

Our opening is also effective because as most openings to most slasher films it has a aspect of mystery to it for example in our case, we think why is our victim waving to the killer and also how does she know him, why does he particularly have a shrine built for her, this is effective to think all these questions as it would make our audience want to watch further on into the film to find all this out.

Overall our opening fits with the typical codes and conventions of a slasher horror with things such as props, creation of enigma, narrative the fact that there is more then one victim. We also think our target audience would enjoy it as it has all the aspects of the kinds of things they would expect to see.

Synopsis

Lucy is a typical 17 year old girl, loves being out with her friends and spending time with her family.
It was a typical day on the 7^th of January, Lucy got up and ready for school and met her boyfriend at the usual place at the end of Wood Brook road. What she doesn’t realise is that today is not a usual day, as she is being carefully watched an analysed. Coincidently she is not the only person being watched, as people whom are close to her are also being carefully watched and analysed. As the day goes a head strange things keep happening to Lucy, items from her locker are going missing such as perfume, valentine’s cards, necklace and items in which her boyfriend gives to her. Lucy brushes off these events and plans ahead what she is going to do for the rest of the day. Herself and her boyfriend plan to go for a lovely walk within a secluded park. By the time they come to do this it has hit 8’oclock the sun has dropped and darkness is surrounded everywhere, Lucy can’t get in touch with her parents so she decides to leave a voice mail in which she describes that she is going to be home late but not to worry as herself and her boyfriend are going for a ‘romantic stroll’. The Voicemail ends but it is never received by her parents, but it is received by someone else. Who is this person? And what does he want with Lucy? 

Layout

Hi Nikitha

Well done for getting your v good research in to comparable products and audience on. This should now inform your decision making about your own opening. Try to make your blog as user friendly as possible as it will have to be navigated round by the moderator. Give all your posts specific titles/labels so it's easier to see where everything is.

Audience Profile

Before we conducted research on our audience we had a brief idea of what ages we wanted our target audience to be this was mainly 16-18 year olds. So with this idea we conducted research in the form of a questionnaire and find out exactly what our audience wanted and expected to see from the opening of our slasher film.
From our results we agreed that our film would be both genders- male and females. We also expanded the age and decided that our target audience would be 16-25 year olds.  This is good because having a wider age range means that there can be a broader range of ideas.  From our questionnaire we found that the majority of the people who we asked go to the cinema at least once a month. Out of the 20 people that we asked only 5 chose horror as their favorite genre and the two most popular films in the genre were ‘Texas Chain Saw Massacre’ and ‘Scream’.

In our film the things the things that the audience said that they expected to see was male killer, female killer, young female victim, a survivor and a group of victims out of these options the most expected was a male killer and the least was a female killer.  The colours the audience most expected to see were red, black, grey and white and from our earlier research red, white and red are the three stereotypical colours used in slasher horror films. Another thing that our audience said that they expected to see in a slasher horror film was the setting to either be in a secluded house or a forest/ woods, these are also stereotypical settings for slasher horror films. We also asked the typical props they would expect to see and the two most popular were a knife and mask, also our audience said that the typical kind our music they would expect to hear in a slasher horror film was eerie music. As for the type of text used on screen were mainly big and bold such as ‘capitals’ and also ‘bank gothic’.

Next we asked the our audience weather they liked the plot/ narrative to be revealed at the beginning of the film be a voice over or narrative and the majority if the audience said no they wouldn’t there reasons for this was because; they prefer a surprise and also they find it annoying for too much to be revealed but the other 40% that said yes said this is because; they like to know what to expect, also they like to be explained to what’s happening.

Finally the type of factors our audience said they expected to build the suspense of a slasher horror was mainly the music and lighting.

Overall our audience expect mostly the usual stereo typical features that we would normally find in a slasher horror film such as knifes, masks, the colours black red and white also the setting to be in a secluded area but doing this questionnaire has helped us understand more of what our audience expect and want to see also who are audience exactly are which are males and females from ages 16-25.

Research

Research: The Strangers 

                     

Research: Saw 5

Research: Scream

Research: Black Christmas 

Research: Creep

Research: Summary 

      

As a group we have decided to focus on the genre of horror, specifically the sub- genre of slasher film. In order to fully understand the conventions of a slasher film we needed to do a detailed research into watching openings of various films that come within our specific genre. Through the research we have developed, we know that slasher film it is a type of horror typically involving a psychopathic killer who stalks and kills a sequence of victims in a very graphically violent manner.

From watching different openings of slasher films, we can start to define the typical conventions of the sub genre, a main example of this being the setting. Setting is most commonly conveyed through an establishing shot at the very opening of the film, this is clearly portrayed through most of the films we researched. The strangers for example, we saw a selection of houses in which we could interpret to be the setting. All of which were different sizes, when we finally did reach the destination; the setting was enhanced by the darkness and the space. Slasher films are set in isolated locations and this is evident as most of the openings within the films we had researched conveyed a secluded house, or a secluded setting such as a dessert. The locations are generally low in population, sometimes could even have no inhabitants this is similar to the setting used in the ‘chain saw massacre’ the young group of people travelled through a dessert in a car, desserts typically have no inhabitants and the setting itself could be seen as a danger. This immediately sets the narrative up as long shots are commonly used to enhance the isolation of the setting re-enforcing that civilisation is not present this creates complications and a sense of suspicion almost immediately towards the film. For example the setting in Scream was in a house, which is positioned in a very secluded area and surrounded with pitch black, this setting is a typical convention of what the setting should be like in a slasher horror film.

Killers in slasher films are often, but not always, unknown. Sometimes when they do present the killer on screen but a mask hides their identity. Typically in slasher films the murderer is male, this ties into specific stock characters within the sub-genre as the males are physically very strong and sometimes very big, making the character almost impossible to kill. The larger part of slasher villains are portrayed as mentally deranged or physically deformed individuals who are traumatized at an early age. The genre itself tends to focus more on the returning villain than on surviving victims, effectively transforming this type of villain character, who was once viewed as a sick psychopaths into a sympathetic antihero.Slasher villains tend to prefer hand held weapons such as knives, axes, machetes or chainsaws opposed to fire arms. This is evident as through all the films we researched hand held weapons were specifically used. Within the opening of the films we researched, we were mostly introduced to the villain through a point of view shot this introduces an enigma to a narrative. As well as building the suspense it also once again shows evidence of hiding the killer’s identity as in the point of view shot we are physically in the killers perspective without even seeing the killer himself. Examples of films which used this effect was ‘Halloween’ and ‘Black Christmas’ we specifically saw through the killers perspective and this gave the audience a sense to what was going through the mind of the killer.

Victims within slasher films tend to be young, attractive, high school or college aged adolescents. In the first 2 minutes of the films we are not physically introduced to the characters; we are mostly presented with happens to them within the narrative of the movie. For example within the first 2 minutes of ‘Texas Chainsaw massacre’ it involves a narrative explaining what happens to the students and how they all eventually get killed horrifically, by doing this is could build empathy for the victims before we actually meet them. The choice of young victims within a slasher movie is important as some theorists claim that within these types of films young people are punished for indulging in vices such as pre-marital sex or illegal drugs. Additionally to this the violence and killings of victims are often taken place during or after sexual activity. This view is shown within the movies ‘The strangers’ ‘Black Christmas’ and ‘Texas chainsaw massacre’. Here the victims are young, and are shown to be partying, indulging in sexual acts and taking drugs before they are killed. Levi Strauss’ Binary opposites are made clear within the genre of slasher as the portrayal of Adult vs. child is clearly conveyed as often the killer is an adult, similarly to the binary opposites of ‘male vs. Female’ due to the killer typically being male the victims are often female so this presentation of binary opposites is made clear. The narrative of slasher films support the theory of Todorov as he suggests that stories begin with equilibrium or status quo where any potentially opposing forces are in balance. This is disrupted by some event, setting in chain a series of events. Problems are solved so that order can be restored to the world of the fiction. Although this theory has some relevance to the sub-genre of slasher different types of slasher films mix around with the narrative structure by placing the murder first in order to create a more intense atmosphere or intense story line. Propps eight character roles can also be applied to the sub genre, for example the villain within this type of sub genre is typically the murderer.

The themes and iconography of a slasher film are important, as they are specifically different and recognizable when compared with other sub-genres of horror. The main iconography of a slasher film with widens and sets it apart from other horror sub-genres is the type of weapon that the killer will use. Slasher films will often use a phallic murder weapon that is generally used as a cutting tool and once again is handheld emphasizing the power and control that the killer has. For example in ‘Halloween’ the killer is shown to use a very large knife as the murder weapon, this builds the power and image we think the killer therefore has which causes much more surprise when we actually find out the killer is in fact a young child. Likewise ‘Texas Chainsaw Massacre’ later shows the use of a chainsaw as a weapon once again illustrated and building the power of the killer. Another key factor of a slasher iconography is that through many of the films of which we researched specific colours are always used for aspects like subtitles and text shown on the screen or even just the overall image colour of the scene being presented. These colours usually tend to be either red black or white and through each of the films we researched are almost always used. This is due to the fact that these colours are dark, which reflect upon the atmosphere and theme of the film but also can be presented with negative connotations e.g. red for blood and danger.

The themes of many slasher horror films are usually similar to many other horror sub-genres for example to theme of violence and revenge, however slasher themes also have many notable differences. The main theme of slasher films that differentiates it from others is the theme and idea of bloodshed and graphic murder. Slasher films, unlike many other horrors, concentrated specifically on putting across the harsh graphical violence and murders fo the audience usually de-emphasizing the plot and character development as a consequence.

Lighting with the first 2 minutes of the films tends to be very low key creating very strong shadows. The murders are often set at night and the killers are always hidden amongst the darkness, for example in ‘Halloween’ where the killers shown to be hidden outside in the pitch-black night.

The typical camera shot and movement that are usually used in the opening of the slasher horror films we have researched where establishing shots used mainly to introduce the setting, for example in the opening of ‘Black Christmas’ an establishing shot is used to show the setting of the big house which is surrounded by darkness. Another typical camera shot that we found was used is a panning shot this is were we can see the villains view, for example this is used in Scream when the female character is on the phone and also in Black Christmas when the villain is moving around the house.

The pace and rhythm of the scene is quite varied as slow edits are used at the beginning which holds onto the audiences suspense and tension, however in contrast to this the scene then speeds up towards the climax further building the enigma and pace of the film. One thing that separates a slasher from thrillers and murder mysteries is the level of violence. Slasher films typically de-emphasize the plot and character development in place of terror and violence. Plots are constructed around giving the audience the sense of watching the murderer kill his victims.  

Another key factor that was commonly shown through many slasher introductions is the use of non-diegetic music. The music is commonly used to build up towards the climax of the scene. The type of music used is commonly 

high-pitched and very eerie to create enigma and a creepy suspense within the scene.

Overall our group found out that slasher films typically choose the use of graphic violence and building the enigma for the audience over other aspects such as getting to know the characters. Therefore all of the typical conventions within a slasher film are made to fit this purpose, for example the use of non-diegetic music and low-key lighting, which are both used to build the suspense towards the audience. The way in which the plot and narrative is overall built is through factors such as the premature revealing of the plot. This not only engages the audience straight from the beginning of the film but also builds sympathy and empathy for the characters, which is important, as character development is often submissive to the very violent and graphic deaths portrayed.

Research: Audience Questionnaire  

Analysis/ Summary of Audience Questionnaire