Final cut

Draft Final cut

This was our draft final cut. We then re filmed some of the shots in it such as taking out the school scene with Theo and replacing it with a scene of the protagonist in bed with someone else. We also added a shot of a mans hand, the antagonist, going through a womans handbag finding condoms, showing she's sexually available and then finding the lipstick. We also took out some of the many jump cuts as we thought we had to many of them in and our audience feedback also told us this.

Evaluation

In our media product we have used, developed and challenged forms and conventions of real media products. Our research showed us that in the openings scenes of slasher films there is always Narrative enigma. This is used to grab the audiences attention and get them engrossed in the film. This then makes the audience want to carry on watching in order to know more about the film, therefore answering the questions that the opening sequence has aroused. For example, in Scream where Drew Barrymoore is on the phone to an unidentified man, the audience wants to know who he is and why she is talking to him. We demonstrated this as we only showed the killers face at the end of the opening sequence and then the picture of the protagonist and antagonist comes up, explaining why he killed her.

We decided to have a quick killing, as it is something that happens a lot in slasher films such as Scream.There is also an aspect of sexual tension/references. For example, in Halloween when Micheal Myers sees his sister in her underwear. This was also included in our production when you see the protagonist in bed with another man. The protagonist has to hold the duvet across her chest to give the illusion she is naked, you can also see the mans bare chest. We decided to do this as the sexual characters in films are typically the ones which are killed first. These strong sexual references also appeal to the target audience which is a youth audience.

We decided the location of the house should be in a middle class area with a large detached house. This is what is expected in the slasher genre as it gives the illusion the no neighbours or passers by can hear the action or anybody scream.

We stuck to these common codes and conventions as we didn't want to confuse the audience to which genre the film was. We could have made the film more original as we used lots of inter-textual references but even if we planned not to use inter-textual references this would have been virtually impossible from the amount of horror films there is. Therefore we used the post-modernism idea that all media products are recycled to create new ones.

In our film we have mainly focused on one social group which is a ‘youth’ audience as all the characters are of a youth age (17-20). We decided to target a youth audience because we are youths ourselves, so we know what factors youths enjoy watching in the media. We decided to have the main protagonist a brunette to give the impression to the audience that she wont die as its usually blonde characters which are killed first. We also did this to stop the audience from being bored and sick of seeing the same stereotypes. We thought a brunette character might also bring in an ABC1 audience by a brunette protagonist as its going against the stereotypical blonde character which is typically seen in horrors. The protagonist represents typical females as she is interested in fashion by what she's wearing and takes care with the way she looks. An ABC1 audience is also brought in by the location of the house. We chose to have Will, the character who the protagonist is cheating on, because he is older then Mandy and Matt (shown by his hairy chest) therefore younger audiences may aspire to be like him as he is moral by telling Mandy he wants to end there affair. We decided to delete the school scene where Mandy dumps Theo as it wasn’t creating the right impression to the audience as some people found his character humorous when we wanted them to find him ’cute’ and ’geeky’.
We had initially chose to have his character portrayed that way to bring in the pink pound audience even though it is know deleted, the pink pound audience may like just as much seeing Will topless.
Our media product also represents Northern England, signified by the accents, and when Mandy is caught cheating on the antagonist, when she is leaning against the window sill you can see out of the window which is fields. Stereotypically, characters in Northern films are portrayed as being Working class, thick and common (through aspects of nudity). Our film doesn’t fit with the majority of Northern films such as Full Monty (Pete Cattaneo, 1997) and This is England (Shane Meadows, 2006) due to the middle class location. We decided not to exaggerate the Yorkshire setting, even though it may have worked in our favour with our potential Yorkshire audience, as we have noticed in other slasher films that the State (as they are normally set in America) of the film is not an important factor as it is typically just a town in America. We did this because we didn’t want this to harm our potential prospects with a national or international audience or go against typically codes and conventions.
Although, This is England only featured northern characters and focused on the mass unemployment in the north of England, it still was highly received at the international film festival. Our primary target audience for our film would be teenage boys as there are 2 character personality types in our film which they can relate to. The prop of the knife was used as it helps bring in a male audience as it is seen like a phallic object. Also, boys tend to dominate horror films.
Even though our film has a narrow representation, it doesn't mean film wont have a wide appeal across a socio-economic spectrum.
The type of distributor that would distribute our film would be a small budget company because we are unknown and it is our first production. They should also have previously distributed horror's before so they know advertising techniques etc. Production companies such as, Warp x as they did Donkey punch which is similar to our film. Warp x also focuses on producing and distributing British films. ‘Screen Yorkshire’ May also distribute our film as it normally funds regional films. It would then be likely for it to get shown at ‘Leeds young people’s film festival’. Studio Canal is another option we could use as they typically distribute British films.

“This year's festival will present the very best new and unseen films made for and by young people from all corners of the globe. A range of free hands-on workshops and master classes will also enable young people to find out more about film making and the industry.”

www.yorkshireeveningpost.co.uk/features/The-Knowledge-Young-People39s-Film.5117219.jp

During the construction of my micro-drama, preliminary task and film opening I have learnt how to cut, edit, add sounds, transitions and titles. All of which have been used in all 3 projects I feel that I have been able to progress on the skills needed for this throughout the tasks. An example is in the micro-drama the camera was unsteady and shaky and the framing of characters was off but through re-filming and the preliminary task, by the time it got to the film opening we knew how to keep the camera still and frame properly.
During the micro-drama we didn’t use a storyboard or screenplay or production plan and to then use one in the film opening showed us how much easier and quicker it is then to make it up on the spot. I have also learnt how to use the camcorders. I feel I have progressed in filming point of view shots as there was a tricky sequence in our film where it was a point of view shot of me walking up the stairs. We had to re film this a number of times as the camera was to shaky but in our final piece its not very shaky and you can tell its supposed to be someone walking up the stairs. Although, a steadi cam, like the one used in Halloween, would have been a lot better to use.
During the filming process I felt I didn’t film as much as I would have liked to, due to the fact that I was the protagonist. But whenever I wasn’t in the shot I did film them scenes as shown in the production plan.
From doing the preliminary task I have learnt that planning is essential. In terms of location being adequate, the shots being set out and planned. Also, that ideas may seem good in your head but when you come to try set it out and plan filming it, it is to confusing.

We also decided to design a advertising poster to show how we would target our audience. We put a knife going into a bra as the knife is a phallic object and represents a penis. The bra emphasises the aspects of sex within the film.

Deconstruction of media film:

The establishing shot is of a tap being turned on then followed by a knife being placed down. This is the set up for the fake suicide.
You see a mans hand writing “I’m sorry” on the mirror in lipstick. This automatically gives a narrative enigma to the audience as they wonder what he’s done and what he’s going to do. ( Although there is one spelling mistake here as he writes “im sorry” not “I’m sorry” but this was only realized after we had filmed and edited so had no time to re-film)
It then goes to a flashback, shown by being in black and white, of someone walking into a room and seeing a boy and girl kissing in bed with the illusion that there naked. The girl then leaps up and says “Oh my god Matt, I thought you where going to call first?” This dialogue shows she knows who the man is but the audience doesn’t see him. “I thought you where going to call first?” shows how she doesn’t really care that she’s hurt him. We decided to use a point of view shot here as it looks like this is an insight to his memory and how he recalls things.
We then decided there to be a cut here as this is supposed to be where Matt leaves the room but the conversation still carries on.
We used shot-reverse-shot to show the dialogue between the 2 characters and because it is a common code of convention. Will then says “I didn’t know you had a boyfriend” which is anchorage to the audience that the protagonist has been caught cheating on her boyfriend. Her reply gives more exposition to how she really doesn’t care about her boyfriends feelings. The way that she is getting dressed in front of him shows how she is sexually available. We then used the 180 degree rule to show the conversation between the 2 characters. We used inter cutting of scenes as it is similar to The Warriors, it helps get the film straight into the action and introduce the protagonist and antagonist.
There is then a shot of someone going through a handbag and finding condoms, again exaggerating the fact that the protagonist is sexually available, and finding the lipstick.
The flashback has then ended and there’s a tracking shot of the protagonist walking down her street and into her house. We used jump cuts here as its more fast pace editing which appeals to a youth audience.
Then as the protagonist walks through the door we should have used a variety of shots to emphasis the door was already open.

There is then a point of view shot from the protagonist walking up the stairs. It would have been better if we had used a steadi cam like the one used in Halloween see link.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vKLlcI0cWI0

The music, long drawn out strings, comes in louder as you see the antagonist come out from the other room and follow the protagonist down the corridor. We dressed the character in dark clothes, similar to Micheal Myers in Halloween.
The protagonist is then knocked out with a baseball bat and dragged to the bathroom and placed in the bath. In hindsight, it would have been better to see some pieces of clothing being removed.
We shot the slitting the wrists scene from a variety of angles to create tension. The protagonist is then left in the bath, while the antagonist leaves and as he walks past the camera, smiles as if to say he’s done nothing wrong.
There is then a picture of the protagonist and antagonist together, which shows the audience that they were in a relationship and it was him who caught her cheating on him.

Group Scenario

Our group scenario is about a man who goes around killing people who he thinks are doing things wrong and taking things for granted but he makes there deaths seem like a fake suicide. In the rest of the film the killer will carry on killing girls and will never get caught.

Cinematography and Editing.

The establishing shots are 3 close ups, firstly on the tap, then the knife, then writing on the mirror. We used a close up here instead of a pan across the room to show the audience these aspects were important. We used close us so they had to focus on the items and not misread the importance by looking at something else. Then its cut to the flashback. In the flashback we used 180 degree rule, shot reverse shot, and mid shots. We used 180 degree rule so it was obvious to the audience the characters were having a conversation and mid shots were used to get the other characters, who stood behind, into the frame. The characters were all centered in the middle.

As the protagonist was walking down the street we used a tracking long shot as the camera was following her, We used jump cutting here as it creates tension and cuts down the time on a potentially time consuming shot. The angle was also at a dutch angle to signify that something is wrong. We used a mid shot of the protagonist getting her key out but then to see it had already been opened. Looking back, we could have used a close up here to emphasis the fact the door is already opened. There was a mid shot of the protagonist walking into the house. We used this as we wanted the setting of the house to be in the background giving more exposition to the audience of the house and setting used. This then follows onto a point of view shot as the protagonist walks up the stairs, this was used to also build tension and links into Halloween as the point of view shot is also used in the introduction to Halloween.
There is then a mid shot of the protagonist walking into the bathroom to be able to fit the setting and character into the frame. The camera the pans around the bathroom to show the audience this is the bathroom they first 3 clips are from.
There is another mid shot as the protagonist and antagonist walk down the corridor, again jump cutting is used to add tension. Then when the protagonist is on the floor, there is a birds eye view shot of her to show her vulnerability. The camera then tracks her as she is being dragged back to the bathroom. A high shot is then used over the antagonists shoulder to be able to see the action. Then as the antagonist leaves the room the camera tracks him.
We added a slow mo effect, transitions and fades to create a sense that some of the footage was supposed to be previous to the rest of the film or flashbacks. This is an inter-textual reference to the ring. We also used inter- cutting as it is used in The Warriors and this creates a sense of fast pace movement.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aTDWyTJDaec&feature=related (the Warriors intro)

We composed the sound for our film on garage band which is an application from the Mac computers. We decided it would be a better idea than using copy right free music as it then fits more with the narrative of the film.

Audience feedback

26th March 09

We showed our target audience a rough cut of the film. The feedback we got was...

Lucy, 17

"Really good, found it scary and got creeped out! but the point of view shot going up the stairs is a bit shaky and doesn't then fit in with the speed Lucy is walking at when she comes up the stairs"

Dave, Teacher

"need to re-shoot the hello hello bit as the camera is too jumpy. Add multiple pauses to create tension, blood needs to be more obvious as it loses social realism. Longer pause when walking to door to emphasis more somethings not right. Avoid long takes and shoot from a variety of angles"

Final cut 2nd April 09

George, 16

"Like the music links in really well with the genre, liked the variety of angles"

Andre, 16

" I really enjoyed the inter-cutting and slow motion. The music was really scary! and the variety of angles were great"

Catherine, 17

" It looked really realistic and scary, i enjoyed the acting and felt scared for the character!"

Final Cut after re-filming 28th April 09

Laura, 17

good titles signfies blood. Music adds tension.

Catherine, 17

Alot better than before. Good how its in black and white can tell its a flashback.

Andy, 17

Music is really tense.

Emma,17

Scary! like how you've done the titles and slow mo adds tension.

We received the feedback throughout the editing progress right until the final piece. We did this because we had to constantly make sure the audience understood and followed the story. The audience feedback really helped and was an important aspect of the film. If we hadn't have got all the audience feedback then we probably wouldn't have re-filmed which looking back, was essential.

Sound and Music

After searching through many copyright free websites such as,
http://www.creativecommons.org.audio/
http://www.ccmixter.org/
http://www.copyleft-music.com/
http://www.audiojungle.net/
http://www.on-holdmusic.co.uk/

We still hadn't found the perfect sound to fit with our film. We then found out we could use garage band, which is an application on the Macs. We sat down with Rob who knows how to use the garage band application thoroughly, and showed him our film and explained to him what we wanted. We decided it would be easier to have Rob put the sound together as we had never used the application before. We decided on a 'heartbeat' sound to begin the music with to make the audiences heartbeat beat faster therefore making them feel tense. Then when the antagonist hit the protagonist, long drawn out strings were added. We did this as it is a common code and convention from real media products such as Halloween. We chose the music to sound like this as it appeals to the type of audience that watches horror films. Also, the audience that watches horrors expects to hear music similar to the one that we have used. We chose not to go against this expectation in order to not confuse the audience.
During the filming process there are some scenes we had to film again due to sound. Such as when the camera was too far away in one of the school scenes. We wouldn't have had to re film if we had a boom mic but as we don't, re filming was essential. We could have dubbed over, but as we weren't used to this process we thought the best idea was to re film.

Locations, Mise-en-scene, costume, props

Location:

We always knew it would be easiest to film the school scene at our school but the time and part of the school was harder to find the we thought. Because we had to film at lunchtime due to the only available time convenient for the cast, the issue of noise was a problem. From a school setting you would expect classrooms or play courts but because these were being used at the time, we had to settle for a 'path'. We chose the school setting as it signifies the age of the characters and it is a general location which the audience can relate to. We decided to have an urban setting for the rest of the film in a middle class detached house. We chose this as it is a similar setting to nightmare on elm street as they use a detached house as it makes the characters look more alone and like no-one can hear them if they scream etc. We initially thought the bathroom scene would be difficult to film then in other locations due to bathrooms tend to be smaller. But to get around this, we kept the door open and filmed from standing out of the room, and used mid/close up shots.

Mise-en-scene:

The first part of the house you see is the door which is unopened. The protagonist has her key out ready to go into the house this signifies that she was expecting the door to be locked so there must be someone in the house. As you go into the house there is just stereotypical items such as coats, shoes ornaments and pictures. This makes the audience relax as there is nothing out of the ordinary to scare them.

Costume:

The first male character in the school scene was dressed in high jeans with his t-shirt tucked into his jeans. This conotes he is a 'geeky' character also by the glasses he is wearing. We dressed the protagonist in a pink dress to show the audience that she is a girly, bitchy character. The antagonist was dressed all in black as he is the killer to show he is trying to hide himself. By having his hood up throughout the film was his trademark sign. Costume is a very important aspect as they are unsaid factors which affect how the characters are portrayed.

Props:
The 2 main props we used were a baseball bat, used to knock out the protagonist, and a knife. The knife was chosen as it’s a ‘phallic’ object and has inter-textual references to ‘I know what you did last summer’.

These are photos from the bedroom scene. We chose this room as the duvet and walls are white signifying pure which in contrast it was there opposite as the protagonist is cheating on the antagonist in the bed.

Overall, the locations we chose were good locations as they were easy to film in. We did encounter problems with the props though. As obviously we couldnt see the protagonist being hit over the head with a baseball bat so it was difficult to film it without actaully hitting her whilst looking realistic. We then decided to this footage off screen but we didn't see this as a problem as it has been used in other films such as Halloween.

Hardware

The camera we used was the Canon MD205.
Features of this camera are:
Canon 36x Advanced Zoom
True Wide High Resolution 16:9
Instant shooting with Quick Start
Microphone input connection
Joystick interface for easy control
DIGIC DV for true-to-life colours
LCD video light
Easy Mode and Program AE modes

We became familiar with the hardware during the micro drama and preliminary task.

Before taking the shots we tried out the zoom on the cameras and how easily the camera moves on the tripod. We also did the white balance test to check the settings. This includes getting a white piece of paper and holding it infront of the camera so it picks up what white actaully is.

In the first school scene which is now one of our rough cuts, a boom mic would have been essential as the reason why we have refilmed it is the camera is to far away to pick up the sound.

Software

The software we used for our production is imovie 06. As I have only used this programme briefly with the micro drama and preliminary task I went on the imovie tutorial to ensure I was getting the most out of the software used. The tutorial gave step by step guidance and really helped me come to grips with the new software i was using.

From using imovie I found it is clear and simply set out. Especially how all your clips are down the right hand side and you can chose and drag the clips you want into the bar at the bottom. This stopped there being confusion with the clips you didn't want are deleting clips by accident as there was a clear divide between them. The effects were also easy to find and apply to the clips. Although, at first we thought that you couldn't apply an effect and a transition to one clip. But once we had realised that you could just split the clip into two, apply one effect to the first part and the transition to the second it cleared our problem up. But it still would have been easier to be able to apply more than one effect to a clip.

The effects we used were jump cuts, where you simply cut out small sections of a long clip. We did this to create more tension and stop the shot being to long and continuous. For the part where the antagonist hits the protagonist with the baseball bat, obviously we couldn't have him actually hitting her so we later filmed hitting our hands loudly on the table and then extracted the audio to fit with the hitting of the bat on the film. We put some of the shots into black and white to emphasis to the audience that they were flashbacks. We also added a slow mo effect to create tension.

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