Evaluation

Logo Development

We used the programme 'LiveType' to make the logo,

Character and location shots

Rough Cut analysis

The clips starts showing two back packers walking away from the camera in a pan shot, the location is uninhibited to show the viewer that the back packers are alone. This scene was inspired by the opening to ‘American werewolf in London’ in which two back packers are walking alone in the moors. It then cuts to a medium close-up of the main character ‘Carl’ and then back to ‘Percy’ as they briefly converse. We used a minimal amount of speech as most horror films aren’t overly speech reliant. The sound track here is inspired by ‘The Hills Have Eyes’ and ‘Zombieland’ which both use a heavily distorted guitar and bass line to add tension build up and increase the tempo of the scene, however we need to add more to the soundtrack for our final cut also altering and dubbing the voices in some scenes. We then see a low shot of the two characters climbing up a sand dune, we chose to film the opening sequence during the day as we were inspired by the film ‘Shaun of the Dead’ which was also filmed in day time and this subverts the horror stereotype yet is being used more and more often in modern horrors. The next shot is a over the shoulder shot showing two people kissing on a beach, the camera then zooms in to give the viewer a closer look. It then cuts to a match-on-action shot of the zombie grabbing the humans arm and then quickly cuts to the girl being pushed over onto the sand using a high shot to show her inferiority. The zombie is wearing regular clothing, again inspired by ‘Shaun of the Dead’ to show how quickly the virus can take over the body. The zombie then climbs on top of her and high pitched screaming can be heard, after which a zoom-out shot shows the zombie’s shadow moving out of shot and a body lying on the ground. We then cut to a scene in which the characters are breathing heavily to show their fear, cutting to the zombie climbing up the sand dune in front of them, the zombie’s face is very bloody and bruised as well as there being a maniacal look upon her face to emphasize the difference between human and zombie. A close-up of the zombie’s face is used to show the victim’s P.O.V. however we need to shorten this clip in our final cut as it is too long and distracts from the plot line. The next scene is of three other female zombies climbing over the other side of the sand dune showing the viewer the victims are now trapped between them, a popular association (can’t remember the right word but it begins with a ‘c’ not connotations) with horror films. We cut to the next shot showing ‘Carl’ and ‘Percy’ surrounded by another angle intensifying the scene. The next clip shows ‘Percy’ falling down a sand dune in his attempts to escape, with a second shot of him falling from another, lower angle – however this needs to be edited to show more consistency and will be altered to a ‘jump shot’. A high shot then shows ‘Percy’ cowering on the sand cutting to a medium close-up of ‘Carl’ as they panic. We cut to a pan shot showing the main zombie approaching ‘Percy’ and then dragging him slightly, then cutting to another pan shot showing the other zombies jumping from the sand dune to attack ‘Percy’. The sequence ends with a shot of ‘Carl’ running away and the title of the film, ‘Zombie Nation’, appearing on the screen in a blood red to accentuate the horror and zombie connotations.

Rough Cut of opening sequence

Animatic

Preliminary task

Make-up Examples

Our group looked at some youtube videos to get ideas of how to create the zombie make-up.

We liked this video and as I am in charge of mise en scene I think I am capable of creating this effect on our zombies.

Shooting Schedule

DATE	SCENE NO	D/N	INT/EXT	LOCATION NAME/ ONE LINE DESCRIPTION	CAST
Monday 1st March 2010	Two back packers walk over an unpopulated area.	Day	External	Seaton Carew, Hartlepool	Adam and Paul
	The two backpackers arrive at the sand dunes and see two people ‘kissing’ on the beach.	Day	External	Sand Dunes,Seaton Carew Beach, Hartlepool	Adam, Paul, Katie, Charlee, Sarah, Anna, Annie
	The backpackers are on the beach, they see zombies and run away. (One of the backpackers dies)	Day	External	Seaton Carew Beach, Hartlepool	Adam, Paul, Katie, Charlee, Sarah, Anna, Annie

Characters, Location and Costumes

Characters, Location and Costumes

Actor/Character List:

Paul Hegarty and Adam Strickland - 2 male backpackers; Carl and Percy

Handful, approx. 4-5, of female zombies.

Location List:

Sand dunes, Seaton Carew.

The beach, Seaton Carew.

Costumes and Prop List:

Backpackers – Coats/hats, backpacks/bags, casual clothing.

Zombies - Normal casual clothes, ripped and covered in fake blood, make-up

Script

Script for Horror opening sequence

Carl- Kurt

Perci – Paul

Hart Village:

(After walking down the road)

Paul: Where is everyone?

Kurt: Yeah I know, this town is pretty dead.

(Continue on their journey)

(See them walking in various places)

(Get To Seaton (or Crimdon))

(See two people ‘necking on’’ on the beach)

Kurt: Well there’s the first life we’ve seen since we got here!

(Hear a scream and turn around)

(They turn back and a zombie is standing in front of them)

Kurt and Paul: AAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH(look at each other, still screaming, then look back)

(Start to run away)

(Zombie chases them)

Paul: Carl! I can’t go on!

Kurt: You have to Perci! She’ll kill you if she catches you!

Paul: NOOOOOOO (falls down)

(Zombie catches up to him and starts dragging him away, Carl watches helplessly)

(Blood-curdling screams come from behind the dune, ripping sounds)

(Close up of Carl looking scared, then he turns and runs)

End.

Mind Map of initial ideas

Top 10 Slasher Horror Movies

Rank	Title	Studio	Lifetime Gross /Theaters		Opening / Theaters		Date
1	Scream	Dim.	$103,046,663	1,994	$6,354,586	1,413	12/20/96
2	Scream 2	Dim.	$101,363,301	2,688	$32,926,342	2,663	12/12/97
3	Scream 3	Dim.	$89,143,175	3,467	$34,713,342	3,467	2/4/00
4	Freddy Vs. Jason	NL	$82,622,655	3,014	$36,428,066	3,014	8/15/03
5	The Texas Chainsaw Massacre	NL	$80,571,655	3,018	$28,094,014	3,016	10/17/03
6	I Know What You Last Summer	Sony	$72,586,134	2,524	$15,818,645	2,524	10/17/97
7	Friday the 13th (2009)	WB (NL)	$65,002,019	3,105	$40,570,365	3,105	2/13/09
8	Hallowe'en (2007)	MGM/W	$58,272,029	3,475	$26,362,367	3,472	8/31/07
9	Hallowe'en: H20	Dim.	$55,041,738	2,669	$16,187,724	2,607	8/7/98
10	My Bloody Valentine 3-D	LGF	$51,545,952	2,534	$21,241,456	2,534	1/16/09

When looking at this table we can see that the Scream franchise has had a huge success and we would like to incorporate elements from this film into our own opening sequence.

Research into target audience and genre

The audience of horror films tend to be adults, mainly due to the fact that the BBFC usually rates horror films above the rating of 15. This is due to the severe graphic content that is displayed throughout a horror film, including gore, extreme violence and death. These type of themes are deemed inappropriate for younger teenagers or children, however must teenagers from the ages of 13-18 will have seen the most gory productions in todays modern film industry, and even consider horror being their favourite genre of film.

research into genre

HORROR

• noun 1) an intense feeling of fear, shock, or disgust.

2) a thing causing such a feeling.

3) intense dismay.

4)informal a bad or mischievous person, especially a child.

— ORIGIN Latin, from horrere ‘shudder, (of hair) stand on end’

The Gothic Origins

Horace Walpole's 1764 novel, The Castle of Otranto, initialised the term 'horror' as it was full of supernatural surprises. Many people imitated this and today it's called the Gothic Genre. Later on in 1818 the first great horror classic was written by Mary Shelley - Frankenstein.

Nineteenth Century Writers

Many novelists tried to write horror fiction such as Emily Bronte writing Wuthering Heights and Charles Dickens with The Signalman and A Christmas Carol. Edgar Allen Poe is also another celebrated author of the gothic genre and has written literary classics such as 'The Tell Tale Heart' and 'The Raven' - both of which have been parodied in the Simpsons.

Later in the century Sigmund Freud continued Poe's work however advanced the topics including psychological terms with madness and insanity becoming key genres in this new mode of writing. Popular gothic novels included The Turn of The Screw in 1898, and The Yellow Wallpaper 1899. Another revelation in the horror novel genre was Dracula in 1897 which included sexual themes as well as the psychological and horror.

The First Horror Movies

These previous novels have been transformed into the early classic horror films such as Frankenstein which has had many modern adaptations. Other first horror films include:

• The Golem 1915/1920
• The Cabinet of Dr Caligari 1919
• Nosferatu 1922

Horror films of the 1930's include Bela Lugosi, Boris Karloff, Dracula, Frankenstein, Freaks, The Mummy, King Kong and The Bride of Frankenstein.

Contemporary Horror - The Noughties

Due to horrific terrorist attacks such as 9/11 the world's perspective of what is terrifying altered and horror films became reborn with these new fears. There was even calls to ban horror movies for world peace, but in 2005 the horror genre became as popular as ever. The classic monsters have been replaced with paranormal activities such as 'death' in the final destination franchise, which is seen as an unstoppable force as appose to a disfigured beings.

Horror films of the noughties include:

• Final Destination (2000)
• 28 Days Later (2002)
• Dog Soldiers (2002)
• Death Watch (2002)
• The Grudge (2004)
• Hostel (2005)
• Exorcism of Emily Rose (2005)
• Wolf Creek (2005)
• Slither (2006)

Also in this time a new phenomenon is Asian horror films which are slower paced, heavy thrills and draw heavily on the spirit instead of a material world focusing on ghosts and curses. They do not have so much of a logical plot which creates an aura of strangeness adding to there appeal. Although not popular yet with a mass audience this sub-genre is steadily growing.

As for the future who knows? Only time can tell...

Mind Map conventions of genre

individual analysis of scene

This is the opening sequence to Saw 1.

When the scene starts the lighting is very dark and non synchronous eerie music

can be heard, there is a Birds eye view shot of a mans face under water, there is

a lot of coughing and spluttering obviously coming from the man who is under the

water. The coughing is very frantic that gives you the idea that the man is scared.

The man then begins to scream 'Help' and sounds completely terrified while this is

going on the screen is completely black nothing can be seen you can just hear the

mans terrified cries for help. Another mans voice is hear his voice sounds very

husky as if he has a sore throat and he sounds more relaxed than the first man

but he says "there's no point in yelling, I've already tried that" which explains he

has been there and already tried shouting for help so although he is more relaxed

than the first man he still sounds very anxious but has calmed down.

The lights are turned on and the lights are very bright and hurts the mens eyes,

there is a panning shot to show the lights turning on one by one, and then a point

of view shot of the first man hiding his eyes from the light. The first man is wearing

a normal striped shirt with a white T-shirt underneath. The second man is wearing

a shirt and tie and patches of sweat can be seen under the arm pits and around

the neck, the seconds mans face also seems to have dirt on it.

We now see the setting of the scene and we see very dirty white tiles behind the

characters and very rusty pipes and a sink can be seen near the second man

and it looks full of grime, It looks like a very old bathroom.

There is then a point of view shot showing the first man and it is very blurry this is

as if the camera is showing what the second mans eyes are doing as they are

registering to the bright lights trying to get a glimpse of the first man.

There is then a tilt down to show what the men are looking at and there is a birds

eye view of a body laid on the floor tiles, with a lot of blood surrounding him.

There is then an extreme close up of the bodies head and then of his hand which

is holding a tape player and then to his other hand that is holding a gun.

The two men then realise they are chained to rusty pipes and cant move much,

there is terrifying screams from the second man while close ups of the chains

and padlocks are used to show the terror the man is going through.

I think this is a really good opening sequence because the audience will already

be freaked out and will want to know why the men are there and why they are

chained up.

Brief and group members!!!! :]

In my group there is myself, Sarah Lester, Anna Frostwick and Adam Strickland and we are going to create a horror film opening sequence.