Rough Cuts

This is one of our rough cuts. We have decided to film it again as the camera is two jumpy and doesn't need to move to follow the protagonist's actions as she will fit in the screen without the jumpiness.

This is another rough cut. We had to delete this scene as a Sophie on the far left is in this scene and when it goes back to this scene in the shot reverse shot, she is not there. See clip below.

We have had to re-film this shot as its supposed to be an over the shoulder shot of Peter, not Matt so were re-filming it from a over the shoulder shot of Peter/Point of view shot of Matt. Another reason why were re-filming is you cant actually hear what Peter is saying, so a boom mic would have been essential here.

This is the school scene which was in the draft final cut. We then decided to take it out for the official final cut as the audience didn't react to it as we expected them to, they laughed at his character. This is then replaced by the scene of the protagonist in bed with the male character.

Our groups initial ideas

Long shot of a door at the end of a coridor, camera moves towards the door, the door is opened to find a boys feet dangling from a height. You hear his mother shouting from downstairs " Tom...You need to get up now! Don't forget your dad is picking you up with his new tart of a girlfriend!" It then cuts to a news clip of a woman saying that a young boy of 17 has commited suicide in his house with no further information given. It cuts again to Tom, the unidentified boy, walking around school with a voice over saying " Im Tom Schofield, this is my story, this is my life..." Then further on it shows you Tom getting bullied by other students being pushed around and teachers paying no attention of him and just sending him out of class. He then goes into a toilet cubicle,you see him going mental hitting things, screaming and throwing toilet paper around. He is then sick from all his built up anger and frustration, he stands up turns around to the camera wipes his mouth and then a close up of his face shows tears rolling down his face and then the screen fades to back. At this point fast paced music is used and the credits appear on the black screen.

We then changed our idea as it didnt fit into a specific genre and we would have struggled to fit it in to 2 minutes. Also, 3 cuts in a 2 minute opening would be to confusing to the audience.

Micro drama Narrative theory

This is our micro-drama. We filmed this in october 08. This film, and the preliminary task is what we used to research the equipment and come to grips with the software.

The task was to create a micro-drama, a short fictional text of around 1 minute. To then be introduced to 4 key theories and to explore these theories then apply them to our own fictional narrative. The Theories are:

Propps character archetypes

Todorov's model of narrative structure

Levi-Strauss' Binary opposition concept

Barthes' narrative enigma idea

When we were filming this we weren't particularly focusing on camera angles and including these theories but they are still applied.

We used Propps character types in our media. Lucy was the villain, the hero was Lauren and the false hero was Sophie as she ran back to help Kristie just so she didn't get into trouble. Kristie was the victim.

Todorov's 5 part narrative formula consists of,

1. a state of equilibrium at the outset

2. a disruption of the equilibrium by some action (wanting to steal the phone)

3. a recognition that there has been a disruption. ( arguing)

4.an attempt to repair the disruption ( running back to help)

5.a reinstatement of the equilibrium (calling an ambulance)

There are binary opposistions between the 3 bullies and Kristie by the way there dressed, there actions and the way there speaking. We did this to make it clear to the audience who's on which side.

There is narrative enigma as you don't know if Kristie will survive and what will happen to the bullies for stabbing her.

Production plan

http://www.scribd.com/share/upload/11248945/2gsiujguxrkgey3rij7c

Production Schedule 2nd

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Below is the production plan before we made changes to the film. Above is the link to the changed production plan.

Storyboard

This is the correct storyboard for our production after the changes have been made.

Below is the 1st storyboard before we changed some shots.

Logo

This is our groups logo.
We decided to use a simple and accessable logo as when people look at the logo it is obvious its a film company. We chose the name 'tracking' as its a filming technique. I googled our production name and it isn't being used by anybody else.

Casting

We decided from the beginning we would have a brunette as our protagonist to go against the stereotype of having a blonde protagonist who is killed straight away. Also, our character has similar looks to Lisa (Sian Brecklin) from Donkey Punch who is the final girl. We did this to give a twist to the story, to make the audience think that she may get away and not get killed.

For the main characters we did not hold a casting session as we thought it would be to time consuming and we had a few ideas of people we knew who could play the parts. We had already decided to use a group member as the female protagonist.
The main male protagonist in the school scene was chosen because he creates a binary opposition between himself and the female protagonist, Mandy. This is because the girl is pretty and 'cool' as she has a group of friends surrounding her and the guy is not as attractive and 'geeky' by what he is saying and his mannerisms, in contrast to the female who seems cold and not as interested in the fact there splitting up.
The antagonist was chosen because again, he is binary opposition to the other male and female as he is a lot taller and bigger then the other two characters. It conotes he is more powerful and strong, making the female look vulnerable.

Our cast is quite a narrow representation of the general public as all the characters are 17 years old, appealing to the youth audience. The characters are also all white, and middle class characters. But this doesn't mean it wont appeal to a wide audience as most productions who have no non-Caucasian characters, don't suffer for it commercially. Horror films which do include ethnic minorities, such as Scary Movie with the character 'Shorty Meeks' who dies in the first half of the film. This could show that films show a negative representation of ethnic minorities.

Eventhough we have a narrow representation of the public, we decided it would be more accessable to have teenagers playing teenagers, as it would be more realistic than having teenagers playing a doctor or police man. Although, it is not a big problem that we have only representated teenagers as many other successful films have done the same, such as Final destination.

A conventional slasher with middle class characters targets C1C2DE audiences. Films that generally appeal to a ABC1 audience are high budget with no teenagers, as our film is low/no budget and is based and teenagers, this may mean we have no appeal to ABC1s audience.

We could have gained a cross over appeal to an older audience by featuring a parent, even for a short amount of time just till the audience feels they can relate to the character. Or by using a song from the 70's/80'/90's era but due to copyright complications, this wasn't possible.

The Protagonist and the Antagonist

Mandy: Matt:

Dead End Poster

This is the poster which would be seen in advertisments for our film. The poster was edited on photoshop. The font was serif, as similar to Halloween, and the first and last letter was bigger, as similar to Halloween. The knife was centered and the biggest image on the poster as its seen as a 'phallic' object and signifies death. The knife was put into the bra to signify that its woman that die, and its also an intertextual refernce to Scary Movie. Our logo is also in the corner to show its a 'tracking productions' film.

East is East Powerpoint

East is East

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Genre Research

To gain genre research I used the book 'Legacy of Blood' by Jim Harper. We specifically researched two topics, the Heroine and the Killer.

The Heroine

We used a counter-type as the girl who gets killed first is almost always a dumb blonde, but we went against this as our girl was brunette and there normally portrayed as intelligent, smart and resourceful but our girl walks straight into a death trap. The fact that our protagonist has a had a boyfriend makes her look like she's not a virgin therefore not innocent and pure, adding to another reason why she should die and could be seen as one of the killers motives as sexually active characters are normally first to be killed.

'Burning' and 'Friday the 13th' are the only 2 films that have a final male so we decided to carry with the stereotype of having a final girl (not seen in the 2 minute clip) so its easier for the audience to relate to the characters as that's what there used to seeing in horror films. We decided to use the name 'Mandy' for our protagonist as it is a feminine name and means 'lovable'. John Carpenters Halloween's final girl was called 'Laurie' which is quite a masculine name, it reflects how she has lasted to the end by the masculinity in her character, which our character has non of. Also, the final girl normally has a degree of psychic ability, being able to avoid the killer, in contrast to our character who is killed in the first two minutes.

The final girl is not usually seen in any sexual/shower scenes as they are normally portrayed to have a lack of male gaze. But a film who went against this stereotype is Nightmare on Elm street as the final girl is seen in the bath. The final girls boyfriend usually tries to help to but he is usually killed. The police, who normally have a strong authority in society, are always killed and are never able to help the characters no matter how hard they try and are normally shown as being stupid and making wrong decisions. An example of this is in 'John Carpenters Halloween' as the police attempt to help but end up getting killed. Characters tend to be most vulnerable when in a bath or shower scene, this is why we decided to have the protagonist killed in the bath to emphasis her vulnerability.

The Killer

Weapons and equipment used by the killer stick in the audiences mind. For example, Jason with hockey mask and knife in Friday the 13th. The killer is normally a male who acts alone but there is a few expectations, as in Urban legends there's two groups. Something has normally affected them to create a motive for the killings as all teenagers in slasher movies are naughty and are punished for breaking the rules of society.

The knife, constantly used in horror films, acts as a 'phallic' object when its penetrated by a man in a woman acts a symbolic rape. Emphasising the masculinity of the male killer and the vulnerability of the female.

I also researched Carol Clover for her ideas on the 'final girl'. From her book, 'Men, Woman and chainsaws'

Most theorists label horror films as a male driven/ centred genre, Clover believes that "in most horror films, especially Slasher, the audience male and female are 'forced' to become attached to the young female, the final girl, who survives the serial attacker and normally puts an end to the killings. So while the narrative dominant killer's subjective point of view may be male within the narrative, the male viewer is still rooting for the Final Girl to overcome the killer." Examples of this are within Halloween with Jamie Lee Curtis, Friday the 13th with Betsy Palmer and Nightmare on elm street with Heather Langenkamp.

What is expected from a horror genre opening scene?

For further research we asked a number of teenagers (our target audience) what is expected from a horror opening scene. We found that:

Tension music

Jumpy parts

Narrative enigma with the protagonist and antagonist

Victim

Subtle references to plot

Immoral activities

Exposition

Nudity

Masks/Concealed identity

Night/Darkness

Equilibrium

Weapon

Gore

Target audience and BBFC

We decided to rate our film 15 as the themes and context could be deemed as inappropriate for an audience which is any younger. But things such as piracy and downloads may make this inevitable, but a rating needs to be applied for the box office and when it goes to the video store. The source www.sbbfc.co.uk showed us the guidelines to which films have to stick to in order to fit into that classification and we also compared it to other films similar to ours in terms of themes, language, nudity, sex, violence, imitable techniques, horror and drugs.

The is only a small amount of nudity in our film. When the protagonist is in the bath, she is covered up but the audience know that she is naked because she is in the bath. We decided to have the character naked in the bath as when characters are naked they are most vulnerable. Following BBFC guidelines, "the violence in our film is strong but does not dwell on the pain and suffering of the victim." The same applies to imitable techniques, as self-harm is included but it is not dwelt on and you can't fully see it, but the audience knows what's happening. We also had to consider laws such as The Video Recordings Act 1984 which requires there to be

"1.No harm to any of those likely to view the video.

2.Any harm to society through the behaviour of those viewers afterwards."

The 2nd factor here could be debatable, as it has been argued that violence in films is what society is influenced by in a real life setting.

Due to piracy etc. we have targeted our film at the youth audience of 14-34 as the characters in our film are reflective of our target audience from there age. Even-though they are all the same age most horror films generally target the youth audience.
Our production doesn't include any non-Caucasian characters, but if we did this would reinforce its appeal to a multi-ethnic audience . However, this does not mean our text only targets a narrow Caucasian audience as many other productions continue to sideline non-Caucasian talent and still are successful. Such as Donkey Punch is a successful british horror which just feature white characters.

The slasher genre is typically a male dominated genre but to avoid only appealing to half of the target audience, a tough, resourceful 'final girl' character helps to draw in the female audience. Many films such as Halloween with Laurie Strode, Donkey Punch with Sian Breckin use the final girl theory. The final girl is not present in the 2 minute opening but in the rest of the film there will be one. The protagonist is like a 'scream queen' character apart from the fact she has brown hair instead of blonde. We did this to give a polysemic meaning to make the audience think she's the final girl then be shocked when she gets killed. Also, we didn't go along with the stereotypically blonde girl as it is often looked down upon by feminists but by doing this we may have lost some of the 'male gaze theory'. We considered the movie-as-date factor as the couples going on dates are predominately teenagers so even though horror films target males more, there needs to be characters which the female audience can relate to. There is a contrast between the two male characters as the first male is seen as 'geeky' and could make the female audience sympathize with him as you'd expect to see a boy splitting up with a girl not the other way round. The antagonist is big and strong, emphasizing his masculinity, so the male audience may aspire to be like him. This is similar to Micheal Myers in Halloween as he to is big and strong.

From our research into Horror films we found that most horrors are aimed at C1C2DE which use stereotypes, but as we have used counter-types this may bring in a ABC1 audience. Also as it is using middle class characters and a middle class setting this will also guarantee a middle class audience. To bring in ABC1s we could have used a adult for them to relate to but because of the time restrictions, we didn't.
Even-though Northern films struggle a lot at the box office we still decided to keep with the northern accents and settings as there isn't a lot of dialogue in the film anyway. However, there is advantages to using southern English characters and settings as it has an hegemonic status. Films such as Notting Hill, which is set in London, makes it accessible for a UK wide audience to relate to as its the capital of the country, therefore making it successful. Using northern England stereotypes could jeopardize the foreign sales as the southern England stereotype is normally the one given out to other countries. But there are successful Northern films which have overcome this such as Full Monty and This is England as the main themes in the films are accessible to all audiences. For example, the main theme in the Full Monty is unemployment, and the main theme in This is England is Thatcherism ( a prime minister which has been described as a dictator) Warp X and Redwave films chose such broad themes as everyone can associate to a time where they or there country has been unemployed or had a high unemployment rate, and the audience all know of a country which has had trouble due to the countries leader. After considering our options, we still decided to keep to keep our northern accents as we don't see it as a great problem. Also, if we had decided to use southern accents, then there would be the problem with sounding realistic etc.

We would expect our target audience to be interested in films which are similar to ours, especially the horror classics. Such as Halloween, Scream and Friday the 13th. This may be because these films are the ones that got our target audience interested in horror films in the first place. Friday the 13th and Scary movie are films which carry out the post-modernism theory, as they both recycle ideas from other films. Post modern films tend to target a younger audience such as 14-24. Our promotional poster has reference to Scary movie and Halloween as it has a knife going into a bra.

We decided to have Theo, the boy that the protagonist splits up with, as he would bring in the 'pink pound' audience. Because he is 'geeky' and they may think he is cute.

Screenplay

Dead End Screenplay

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Above is the correct screen play altered because we changed some of the shots. Below is the old screenplay before we changed some of it.

During the filming process, we then changed some of the dialogue we initially put on the storyboard. This was because it was to lengthly and didn't fit with story. for example, we took out the scream as the killer was behind the girl so she didn't know he was there or what was going to happen.

Final Synopsis/The Pitch

"Dead end" is Saw meets Aprils fool's day.

It also taps into the Zeitgeist by linking into the news story about the canoeist who faked his own death. 

There are inter-textual references to Saw because the killer kills the victims because they haven't appreciated their life. There are similarities to this in our film as the killer kills the victims as he believes they need to be punished for their actions resulting in their death.

In Aprils fools day the characters fake there own deaths as a joke but in our film the murder makes the deaths seem like a suicide by the way its been set up. 

Preliminary task

This is my edited version of my groups preliminary task. The task's criteria was a "continuity task involving filming and editing a character opening a door, crossing a room and sitting down in a chair opposite another character, with whom she/he then exchanges a couple of lines of dialogue. This task should demonstrate match on action, shot/reverse shot and the 180-degree rule"

To make our task successful , we had to think about a number of questions such as audience. The audience should be targeted by being able to relate to characters, plot and setting. To make it easier for the audience to relate to the characters, we used characters that are the same age as our target audience. There could be a cross-over appeal by music used to appeal to a older/younger audience but then a problem of copyright free music occurs. We also had to consider the shot types used to ensure there was a variation and used the shots in the criteria.

Shots we included were close ups to show emotion, medium shots used to show action and emotion. Tracking was used to follow a character walking across the room, and a dutch angle to imply tension and that somethings wrong. We used a low angle shot on the bully (brown haired girl) to emphasis her power and a high angle shot on the victim (blonde haired girl) to show her vulnerability. A match on action shot( this is when an action that begins in one shot is continued or completed in the next) was used when the bully was opening the door, and shot reverse shot(where one character is shown looking at another character and then the other character is shown looking back at the first character. The viewer then assumes that they are looking at each other), the 180-degree rule(this states that 2 characters in the same scene should always have the same left/right relationship to each other) and a over the shoulder shot was used during the dialogue. Below the 180-degree rule.

We decided to shot it in the toilets as it was an accessible location to all audiences and had artificial light as there was no windows. We story-boarded the task before hand to make the filming as quick as possible, and so everyone knew what they were doing and what was going on. The storyboard included the shot types and dialogue. We also wrote a screenplay going into depth on the characters age, gender, ethnicity and stereotypes.

We repeatedly shot scenes to ensure we got the best from the acting and the camera angles then during the editing process we individually chose the best shots of each scene. The slap scene was filmed the most as its a critical part of the task as it emphasises the bullying of the story and the equilibrium/ disequilibrium between the two characters.
Problems we incurred were the first time we filmed it we accidently filmed it horizontally instead of vertically which meant it was the wrong way round, we then had to quickly film it again which made us have a shorter amount of time to edit. We also should have put the characters in school uniform as a polysemic meaning could have occurred because the uniform would be anchorage to it being set in a school. In normal clothes it isn't as obvious to where the setting is.

This task reminded us how important classic continuity editing is, when the editing looks invisible or un-noticable. Because we only had one camera, it is easy to film a scene then cut, then try to film another scene but realise the characters have moved. Then when the shots have been put together it is obvious and doesn't flow correctly.