The Pitch

In the pitch we talked about,

4 ideas outline

Main story outline in more detail, showing good development and discussion of events leading to final scenes

main character outline - you should know them as well as you know yourself. detail personality, likes, dislikes, appearance, job, etc

ideas for location to use

rough idea of opening sequence structure

discussion of how genre can be identified through the opening sequence

Idea 1 :-

Business type guy, late 20s gets home after a months business trip abroad and comes back to an empty, cold, dark, desolate house (so cold he can see his own breath). Noises start to eminate from the kitchen and so he walks in (lights arn't working in kitchen) and he can see its been trashed and food from the fridge is all over the floor. He ventures up stairs to find his room light on with the television on and the shower is running. He then hears a noise coming from the landing so he runs out and looks into one of the spare rooms. Then its a colse up of half his face and the landing and the stairs. The camera angle then changes to the persons point of view coming up the stairs, so the camera is wobbley to imitate movement whilst walking up the stairs and walks up behind him and wacks his round the head, but just that instant the screen goes blank and credits start. The we cut to a flash back of him leaving his house where its all warm, cosy and lit up well (complete contrast to the house at the start, but still the same house). He is leaving the house for his sister to take care of. After he leaves she locks the door and walks up stairs and turns the television on and turns the shower on. thilst getting ready she hears broken glass at the front door. Panicing, she runs into one of the spare rooms and waits till what ever it is comes up the stairs. When the thing is not on the landing she runs up to the bedroom on the top floor (convention of a horror where they run up the stairs instead of down) when the person is in one of the other rooms she manages to creap down stairs and grab a weapon to hit the thing with. She then makes her way up the stairs with it and wake the person with it and the screen goes blank once again.

Idea 2 :-

A boy and a girl are having an argument and the girl eventually dumps him. He is clearly upset and goes out for a walk through the park(at night). When he is walking he sees a load of odd looking people sitting on the bench, he walks on further to find a newpaper with the headline "Inmates Escape From Asylum, STAY INDOORS!!". He decides to walk back home and the group that was by the bench before have now gone. When getting back to the house he hears his girlfriend scream bloody murder, and starts to run back into the house. As he is running he hears giggling and laughter. He finds his girlfriend and finds shes dead. He bends down towards her and is wacked round the head. Then the scene cuts to the boyfriend tied to a chair unconcious.

Idea 3 :-

Bomb hits a village in war using nuclear bombs. The radiation turns most the villagers into zombies with gas masks. They get their revenge by killing survivers from the village by sucking their blood in true zombie style and taking their souls from their body.

Idea 4 (main idea) :-

It starts off as an average school day, students arrive to class on time at 9am. In the first shot we see all the students walking into the class room. The teacher says they're going to watch a 10min film on the projector. The lights go out. Once the lights have been put back on, one of the pupils (Nicholas JT Abdul) has been murdered by being stabbed and is lying in blood on the table at the back of the class. The whole class is in shock and are being questioned by police, there is no trust among the class mates as it could of been any one of them.

Research into the Horror genre

All horror films follow at least one of the following conventions of violence, death, monsters, blood/gore and ghosts. But all horror films follow or try to follow the same mentally linked convention to terrifying you or have you on edge (all depends on the person of course). Openings to horrors usually take the same avenue of setting; dark, gloomy, and a secluded areas possibly in a house or woods (as found out in questionnaire findings). In terms of the narrative conventions it is set around a group or in any way a community of people with a antagonist amongst them, not always will they know who the antagonist is and this can create a sense of mystery among the characters in the film and why maybe people are going missing or found dead or what have you. Be that as it may, it could be the same situation of a group of people who where no-one is the antagonist and they all are trying to escape the villain. And there is always a protaganist that stands out from the group and is the one who survives and rescues some other characters. However the group the film is set around may know who the villain is trying to escape him/her.

In horros theres always a chauvinistic character which simply means that they're a bit narrow-minded and opinionated and starts a fight or confrentation with other members of the cast and is usually one of the victims (thats proberly reading too much into it). There are no real protocols among the characters as the film progresses as they all confide in eachother and become friends. These conventions depend on the nature and narritive of the film, there can be films just set around two people and two people only. For example the film Saw 1, basically a majority of the film is based in a single room with two men chained up. Not the setting you would contemplate being in a horror movie.

Report from questionnaire findings

The majority age group who we surveyed were ages 15-17 and so the following results are what most adolescents like and would choose.
The most popular setting chosen by the people who did the survey was in a house and the second choice was in the woods. Maybe as the woods can be a dark, gloomy and eerie setting they chose this. And a house because houses, particularly haunted or abandoned houses can be the same. Cob webs, mess and a deafening silence.
The expectation of a horror mainly was blood and gore because they both came high in scoring votes in the questionnaire. The next best expectation or convention they preferred were chase scenes in the film, this is because it gives the films audience a rush of adrenalin, makes you feel your in that situation running from what ever and it gives the film a fast paced feel because no-one likes a slow moving film especially if its branded a horror film.
However, when surveying these people they admitted to only seeing 0-3 horror films in the past month, which can suggest that they maybe haven’t seen a horror film in a while and are only going on their gut instinct on what they will answer and maybe guess. When asking the question on 'favourite horror film' there were 2 films that stood out because of the sheer volume of times it was wrote, and a list of other films that were often popping up too. The most popular suggestion were the various Saw films and then Evil Dead as the second best film. Joint third in most popular films were Halloween, The Ring and Friday the 13th to name a few.

BBFC Certificates

Certificates - BBFC

U - U is for universal meaning anyone of any age group may watch the film and is generally (but not always) aimed at young children around 4 yrs old plus. As all young children are different we don't know exactly what will upset them so always the theme in these film are of a positive and moral nature. References to drugs (which is very rare in U classed films) or discrimination are strongly disapproved of and an educational element could be implemented. No sexual nudity, but natural nudity can be acceptable like for instance a man may have his top off.


PG - PG for Parental Guidance and is similar to U in the way its for everyone, but if a parent were to show this to their 4 yr old child they may want to view the content first to make sure nothing too rude or upsetting for the child to see. Bad language is unlikely in PG films, but if there are any they should be subtle in the way that they cannot be strong language and not offensive to viewers either. No sexual nudity but natural nudity is acceptable (like in U films)




12(A) - 12A meaning persons 12 yrs and over may view the film is a more grown up film in terms that a more adolescent/adult feel is give to the film. The 'A' part of the classification relates to Cinemas only, in that persons who are 12 wanting to see this film must be accompanied by an adult, however may purchase a 12 film on their own. If references to drugs or drug taking are raised in the film they should be infrequent and may have an educational reason or purpose. Moderate language is acceptable but very infrequent, eg 'fuck' can be used but only once. And as far as nudity goes there is strictly no genital nudity but other nudity can be discreet.

15 - No persons under 15 may view this film at a cinema, rent or buy to watch any film rated 15 (or 18 for that fact). Discriminatory references mustn't be endorsed by the film. Drug themes are acceptable but in no way should it glamorise or encourage drug use. Language is okay for this certificate and can be used in a more stronger context, eg 'fuck' or 'cunt' are the sort of words you can expect. Nudity is allowed only without strong detail to genital areas. As well as this sexual activity can be expected in some certain films but still with out strong detail

18 - Only suitable for persons ages 18 + may view this film anywhere. Most uses of bad language can be expected but is monitored for its extremity and some uses of language used may cause offence to some viewers. Explicit images of sexual activity is permitted but again not to extreme, eg genital nudity is permitted but to a degree.

Filming of short opening sequence

On friday me, Karl and Gina filmed a short 45 second opening sequence to a film. we used Karl as the male character and an extra called Natasha to play the female character. The plot was simple, boy meets girl he fancies in the hall way at college and asks her about her holiday and her boyfriend, he ofers his support and sympathy to her when she says its not going so well with her boyfriend and gives her his phone number. They walk off and he is then humiliated by bullies walking in the other direction, played by me and other classmates.

Working with karl and gina was a lot of fun, we were working and getting all the shots done to a good standard whilst having fun which shows our determination and skills in working together in a group. However, i found it difficult working with one of the extras who we picked randomly from a group of people walking in the hallway. He didn't seem like he was taking what we were doing seriously and caused delays in filming time, eventhough we finished early and were able to be in another groups film. After Paula spoke to him we got the first shot in and out of the way, which was of karl walking down the stairs behind a group of college students and into the hallway where the scene was shot.

From this experience i have learned that before filming, to save having to re-take a shot we will need to fill the actors in on exactly what we want them to say, when we want them to say it and how we are going to film it so there will be no confusion. Also, we will need to know exactly who we are going to chose to play a roll as an extra or main character instead of just picking random people to do the shot because they are unprepared and we don't know whether they are going to take the situation seriously.

Task 2: Research into Existing Products

The genre i chose was horror.

A horror film can easily be confused with a thriller film. Both can have flashing images and can both scare you. The difference is is that horrors generally intend to scare, frighten, panic, make you jump, show blood and gore, screaming and chase sequences. As well as these to entertain us at the same time with terrifying features. Thrillers aren't generally made to make you scream, but to thrill hence thriller. They are mainly to do with suspense, build your tension and anticipation and invoke anxiety. Thrillers can include something to do with police or the law, espionage, mysteries and not just about people being murdered or killed in violent or gory ways.

Textual Analysis of :- Horror

Switchblade Romance
Day of The Dead
Scream
The Grudge

Switchblade Romance - The first horror film we watched was a french film called Switchblade Romance. From the opening sequence we can tell this is either going to be a horror or a thriller. The film we watched had flashing images which looked like a cars headlights, the clip its self had a car in it, and this can tell us that the narrative will be based around some sort of car journey. Other signs to tell us that this is a horror film are the blood and scratches on the characters back who is walking through the forest. The woods its self is an indication that this is a horror as this can be a scary place, however it looked like this was shot at early Winter/Autumn morning (leaves on the ground), which gave it an Erie/dark feeling.

Day of The Dead - The second film we watched was called Day of The Dead. The very start makes you jump and it scares you, this is a typical characteristic of a horror film, something that you do not expect to happen happens. After the first scene we go on to a clip where they are in the helicopter, to me this doesn't comply with the normal horror conventions. The helicopter part made me think that this is more of an action film, this is because the helicopter reminds my of warfare and fighting with is what you would normally link to an action. After the helicopter part of the opening sequence, we see what looks like a deserted town centre, and this is where the horror conventions really come into play as we start to see walking corpses or "zombies" walking, and the make-up they use is very bloody.

Scream - The third film we watched was called Scream, this is a typical horror film but the opening doesn't use typical horror conventions. Even though there is not blood or gore as yet, we know that at some point that the female character will be killed, maybe by the person on the other end of the phone. Whilst she is on the phone she is cooking some popcorn on the hob that is gradually getting bigger like a balloon ready to pop. This popcorn on the hob is symbolic of the situation, the suspense is growing and so is the popcorn until the popcorn blows that is when you know that something is going to happen to end the suspense and put the audience out of their misery. All the way through the sequence she is walking around the house and past lots of windows and patio doors, we suspect to see the person who's on the phone in the garden looking through her window. This never happens but we want it to happen and keeps us watching. Other diagetic sound we hear is a dog barking, the person on the phone said she is in the middle of no-where so why would there be a dog barking, and some of the audience may put 2 and 2 together and think it was the guy on the phone lurking around her house.

The Grudge - This was the final film we watched and in a typical style of the Japanese film industry around horror films, the opening scenes feature sounds of bone breaking but we couldn't actually see these sounds so we are left with our own imaginations to figure out what is happening here. Also the scene is very dark and unclear but we can just make out that a man is on the rampage killing a cat and killing what we can assume is his wife or girlfriend or maybe just a lodger. Horrors are supposed to frighten and panic us, and we fear this man by his looks he looks like a stereotypical maniac. A close up of his face with a look of anger and clicking his own neck with wide eyes he doesn't look like someone you really want to annoy.

Textual Analysis of :- Rom-Com's

Monkey Business
Pretty Woman
Me, Myself and Irene

Monkey Business - The Vibrant and cheer full soundtrack to the opening sequence lets the audience know this is going to be the mood of the film, which is going to be a happy one. The font of the credits at the start also invokes a happy mood on us, as it looks as if it has been hand written and not at all daunting, serious or intimidating. The actors used in the film are actors that usually star in romantic/comedy films so its more likely this is just another romantic film with a hint of comedy in it that we see from the start. At the beginning a couple, man and a woman, are going out to visit one or the others parents as gathered by the dialogue in the sequence, and the main actor is seizing to leave the boundaries of the house whether its an act because he doesn't want to go out to see his/her parents or that he has something wrong with him mentally or that he has a disability and this could go on to suggest that the woman is maybe his wife and 'carer'. At the time that that the film was made the standard of comedy compared to comedy from this day and age was pretty poor, but in them days (50's/60's/70's) it was as funny as we find up to date comedy these days.
Countless times his wife (or carer) tells the male character to switch off the lights and lock the door behind him, and so he turns the lights off but he goes back into the house and locks the door, and the hilarity of this keeps gradually getting even funnier as he keeps doing it. Now that he has done it several times the wife decides to come in and stay at home, and now she is undressing him, this could also mean that he is incapable himself of undressing him self or is this just how it was back in the 60's? Women are seen as servants to men as the cook and clean for us but they didn't undress us did they? This could then support the possibility he has a mental disability.

Pretty Woman - The structure to the opening sequence was; first teaser/credits/second teaser. In these sequences we find out about who the main characters are and their basic background. We find out that the main male character is obviously a rich, quite a well-off man who is very high up in his job, clearly very important as the party seems to be revolving around him and people wanted to speak to him. After a call from his nagging wife we see he is more interested in his job than his own personal life which is a sorry state of affairs and tells us his marriage is on the rocks a bit. During the credits after this teaser we can see that this film is set in Los Angeles with the soundtrack of "King of Wishful Thinking" by Go West, which has a link to the film in the sense that Richard Gere hoping to have maybe a little change in his life because he is obviously not happy with how is life is at the moment, leaving the party he was at the centre of attention and maybe he didn't like that, so he decides to go into Los Angeles in search of something but we aren't quite sure what it is yet.
It is rather obvious, in the second part of the opening sequence, that both Julia Roberts and Richard Gere are destined to meet at some point as the camera flicks between them. Him in his car driving through L.A. and her as she is making her way out of her flat unnoticed for reasons i will talk about next.
Julia Roberts' background is rather clear, she lives in the rough parts of L.A., likely that she is a prostitute as she is heading out of her small flat over a hotel at night, and the way she is dressed as a stereotypical prostitute will ripped fishnet stockings, very high skirt and a revealing tight top. A subliminal message is shown by the sign saying "HOTEL" as the 'T' and the 'L' are not lit up just showing "HO E " that can also suggest and support the possibility she is a prostitute. These are two very big contrasts of background and has a message that 'opposites attract'.

Me, Myself and Irene - This Light-hearted opening sequence shows a highway patrol police officer riding through long island state with a slightly humours soundtrack to go with the colourful credits which is a similarity to Monkey Business (if it were in colour) as it invokes a vibrant and happy/cheerful/uplifting feel tot he film and tells you its unlikely going to be a horror, action or a thriller. A Narrator is used to introduce 'Charlie Baileygates'(the main character), he describes him as a helpful dad, which tells us maybe he has a wife or is a single dad and that can then go on to suggest the story is based around him finding himself new woman perhaps. After this first part, the scene is switched to two people (a man and a woman) sitting on a blanket obviously a couple with each others picture on their t-shirts, he asks whether she will stay with him no matter what in the Arctic, and an element of humour is used here where he says if it means she has to eat whale blubber for the rest of her life, now we see the comedy side to this film already. This scene is followed by a wedding ceremony where the man and the woman come out after just getting hitched.
We can probably get that from the title of the film that its based around two people (possibly a man and a woman as it's a convention of a romantic-comedy), ME, myself and IRENE these are the two mentions to the main characters in this film and the relationshit they may share whether it be a love/hate-relationship even thought really they love each other, or one loves the other but the other isn't interested.

Textual Analysis of :- Thrillers

Flight Plan
Stir of Echoes
Man on Fire

Flight plan - The opening to this film begins with the credits being shown after a fast moving train whizzes by the screen rapidly with the loud noise of squeaking train tracks that makes you cover your ears and it also creates an eerie effect on the viewer because it could cause some distress among certain viewers. The fast train that passes by at great speed can suggest that the film very fast-paced itself, although that it usually a convention of an action more than a thriller as thrillers aren't stereotypically fast moving but more to do with crime solving and espionage. The opening set is a deserted tube-station where a train has stopped. The scenes we see are generally very dark and dull especially in the scene which is set in a mortuary and gives off a sense of depression, sadness and loss, we know from this the female character has lost someone close to them. I think it could be her husband she has lost (who we see is in the coffin in the mortuary) because we start to see flashbacks of her with this person, walking with him in a street linking arms, along side sad and reflective music. As this scene of her and him together is about to end, the soundtrack suddenly goes off in a tangent and becomes freaky, alarming and atonal like music, and it signifies to us that the mood is about to change and goes back to the depressing dark, dull scene of the mortuary. However, she could be imagining being with her husband, for instance at the train station right at the start, he walks over to her and they both get on the train together.

Stir of Echoes - Parts of the opening sequence doesn't conform with normal conventions of a thriller, this is because part of the sequence is just dialogue, the males main character is talking to his wife after finding out she is pregnant and this scene carries on for most of the sequence. The opening at the very start we see the credits and along with that we hear a little boy singing a nursery rhyme, and next a visual shot looking upwards at a house at dusk time and with this we hear joyful screams of young children, little like a playground at school; I reckon that from that, that the story has something to do with children/child playing a big part in the thriller sense of the film. From that scene we cut to a young boy playing in the bath with no soundtrack at this point to go with it. After his father (we assume this is his father) gets him out of the bath and dries him off he is left in the bathroom all alone and we peers round the corner as if he is waiting for his dad to have left the room completely, only now the suspense music comes in and the boy asks himself or asks someone else 'Does it hurt to be dead?' we don't know who he is speaking to so we might think he sees people that others don't and that is where the thriller element come in. After the dialogue part after the scene with the kid in the bathroom, we now see the child in bed and this is where the suspense, classical music plays and a patturn starts to occur that when ever there is a scene with the young child we get the tension building music, that can suggest that the child has a vital and important role in the film.