Monday 1 February 2010

Locations used in peekaboo

The locations that we are going to use for the opening of the film are going to be my dining room which as two doors and a computer in it, as we need all of these elements for our actions scenes to work.
The second location that we will use is my kitchen as this again has two doors and leads to the dining room. This is perfect for the final shots of the killer sneaking up upon the two female characters.
For the bullying scenes we will use the college classrooms and corridors as these look like the school that these scenes are based in.
For the scenes of Simon setting up his suicide we are going to be filming them in a males bedroom as it is not particular where this has to be filmed.



Outline of the Opening Sequence of Peekaboo


The main credits of the film will appear on the screen in white font on a black background. They will be typed on a computer, to open up the sequence with the computer theme of the killings in the film.


The next next shot of the film will be a medium close up of a computers web cam, which Will then zoom into an extreme close up of the web cams lense, as though the viewer is looking at the person watching the video. This again adds to the web cam and computer theme of the film.


The killers masked face will then appear on the screen, as it Will shock the viewer and also introduce the main character of the film.


From this point the next 4 shots are quick snappy and Sharp images of web cam images, mobile phone and a person horrified reaction to something that they have just seen.


Following these images will be photos that are going to be one by one placed on a table as though someone is looking at them from the cameras point of view. They will all have one male in them and this will be Simon, they will all be different showing him and his interests such as computers, and school studies. This introduces the second most important character in the film and the fact that he is missed and being thought about by someone.


The next 5 shots will be flashbacks of actions that took place in Simon's life and are very important to the film. Him being bullied in school,him being sad and affected by this and finally him starting the process of hanging himself and finally his gravestone with the screen fading to black. These shots will be telling the audience the background story of Simon's death and the fact that his death is very important for the storyline and what is going to happen.


The diegetic sound of the typing of a keyboard can then be heard with the image of fingers typing, the camera then tilts up to show the computer screen typing the remaining credits of the film that were not shown earlier on.


The following shots will all be the action that will take place in the first shots of action in the film.


Two females will be seen sitting at a computer desk typing on msn and also on web cam being watched by a male friend that was seen earlier on in the film when Simon was being bullied in the corridor at school.


Some scripted conversation can then be heard between the three characters talking.


The audience and the male can then see the killer enter the room behind the two girls but when asked who else is in the house they reply by saying no-one except them.


Naomi then asks Becky to go into the kitchen to get her a drink. The camera does and match on action as she enters the kitchen and starts looking through the different cupboards.


The camera then changes into a steady hand cam and is from the killers point of view as he enters the room behind Naomi as she sits at the computer.
She is shown being dragged from behind and the male watching her on web cam can be seen with a horrified reaction.


Becky then walks towards the computer room and as she does the killer can be seen coming behind her. She is finally seen being dragged from behind and her screams can be heard.


The screen sharply goes black and blank. The tile of the film then appears being typed in white font. Her screams continue into this frame.


How all of the characters throughout peekaboo are linked

Simon- Secretly best friends with Kieran

Kieran- Friends with Becky


Naomi- Kierans ex girlfriend


Naomi and Becky- used to bully Simon


Reece- Kierans older brother and the detective on the case of the killings

Our character list for the opening of peekaboo

Suicide Victim- Simon

Simon is a very geeky character. He wears glasses, dresses smartly all of the time, and always has a book in his hand. He is very smart, achieving top of the class in all exams that are taken, he enjoys playing world of warcraft and blogging about how he feels on his Internet blog site. He is the victim of very serious bullying at school and because of this suffers from a very string bout of depression, leading to him having therapy regularly. During this therapy he is advised to blog about his feelings online allowing his bullies to see how they are making him feel. He also has a secret friendship with the most popular boy in the school Kieran and he tutors him on a regular basis.

Killer- Kieran

Kieran is the most popular boy in the school. He is rich, good looking, sporty, well dressed and secretly very smart. He enjoys attending house parties, going out with multiple girls, appears to be very shallow and cocky but he is secretly very sensitive, enjoys reading novels, receives tutoring and is Simon's only true friend.

Naomi- Kieran's Ex- Girlfriend (1st female victim)

Naomi is a very good looking girl, well dressed, popular and the richest person in the school. She is well dressed, obsessed with boys, best friends with Becky, likes parties, clothes, money and her hobbies are social networking being shallow and coming across as very cocky.

Becky- Naomi's Best Friend

Becky is and average looking girl, well dressed, very quite and always comes 2nd to Naomi in their friendship. Well of financially, popular, likes clothes, books, parties and secretly always fancied Kieran. Her hobbies are social networking and being friends with Naomi.







Friday 18 December 2009

The Questionnaire

Questionnaire:

1.What gender are you?

2. How old are you?

3. How many horror films have you watched this year at the cinema?

4.What is your favourite horror film?

5. How much would you rate this film out of 10? (10 being the best)

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

6. Who is your favourite horror villain?

7. What scare tactics in this film did you find effective?

8. Where do you prefer the setting of the film to be?

9. What type of horror film do you prefer?


  • Vampire
  • Serial killer
  • Zombie
  • Monster
  • Alien
  • Other
10. What is your favourite murder weapons in horror films?


  • Knife
  • Gun
  • Chainsaw
  • Disease
  • Bite
  • Other

Questionnaire results

1. Eight Females. One Male.

2. Five 16year old.

Two 17year old

One 19year old

One 50year old

One 22year old.

3.

  • 2
  • 1
  • None
  • 3
  • 5
  • 1
  • 1
  • 7
  • None
  • 1

4.

  • Paranormal activity
  • Alien
  • Jeepers Creepers. x2
  • Haunting in Connecticut
  • One missed call
  • The unborn
  • The Grudge
  • Orphan
  • Drag me to hell

5.

  • 8
  • 8
  • 7 and 5
  • 8
  • 7
  • 8
  • 7
  • 9
  • 8

6.

  • Hannibal Lecter
  • Hollow man
  • Jigsaw
  • Jason x2
  • Freddie
  • The old lady from drag me to hell
  • Michael Myers
  • Doesn't have one x2

7.

  • Sudden movements with loud music
  • Silence, sudden loud noise effects.
  • Jumping scarecrow.
  • Music, sound effects, quick camera movement.
  • suspense, music.
  • Thing that make you jump.
  • Sound effects.
  • Surprise use of everyday objects.
  • The way in which people are made invisible.
  • Sound and camera shots.

8.

  • Deserted houses/areas
  • Mansion
  • Outside
  • Homes x3
  • The woods x2
  • Forest
  • On the moon or in space.

9.

  • Ghost/ spirits
  • Alien
  • Serial killer x3
  • Other x3
  • Monster
  • Vampire
  • Zombie

10.

  • Knife x4
  • Other
  • Chainsaw x5
  • Disease
  • Bite

Conclusion

From these results i can conclude that this now gives more of a direction on what path to take in what to put in the clip. The answers from the audience of horror films has let me know what is favourable in horror films and what excites them, and type of characters scenes and settings are enjoyable to watch.This will help the group to now make decisions on what would be appropriate to include in the clip. The use of the feedback from the questionnaires will be very helpful.

Wednesday 9 December 2009

Pitch Idea:
Cluedo

  • Six teenagers are staying over at one of their houses.
  • They decide to play a game of Cluedo a murder mystery game.
  • As they play, one of them go off to the kitchen to get some food, whilst the rest are also being noisey around the huge mansion.
  • All of them return to the game except for one.
  • So somebody from the group goes to look for that person and finds them dead.
  • They return to tell the others who are mortified and question who could have done this. They start to blame each other and get into an argument.
  • They try to contact the police but can not get through onto the phone line.
  • They decide to try and survive the night, until morning when the owner of the house returns.
  • The rational person suggests that they all stay calm and stick together at all times.
  • As the night goes on they each have to leave the main group for the toilet, food and to move around.
  • They all start talking of who out of the group that they think the killer is.
  • This person is found dead which means that they could not be the killer.
  • Another member of the group is also noticed missing from the room and they become the victim of accusation of being the murderer.
  • This person then does not return but their body cannot be found, making everybody believe that they are still in the house.
  • The three remaining survivors decide to all stick together at all times, so when one of them decides they need the toilet they all go together.
  • While this person is in the toilet the other two people wait outside, but they start to argue and agree to walk away from a fight and come back in five minutes to meet their friend when they come out of the toilet.
  • When they return the door has been smashed up and their friends face down in the bath. They have been drowned.

Tuesday 8 December 2009

Shanice Collins pitch:
Games at night.
  • A teenage girl has a sleepover at her house with four friends.
  • They all decide to play the Ouija board as a bit of fun.
  • The bad spirits start talking to them- sending messages of death and murder.
  • They say goodbye and stop playing the game, dismissing it as nonsense.
  • They invite some friends over and start drinking and having a good time.
  • One of the girls decides to go downstairs to get some more drink. As she tries to go back upstairs she sees something in the mirror behind her.
  • The girls upstairs notice her missing from the party and one of them volunteers to go and get her.
  • She finds the body.
  • They then spend the rest of the night trying to survive this group of demons that are passing through their house.
  • One by one they start to die off with the demon continuously appearing then disappearing.
  • The girl who's house it is survives the night to tell her parents of the demons.
  • When her parents return she tells them of her horror and what happened through the night.
  • The police are called and when they analyse the body they decide that she killed the girls, as they were killed by knife and hitting of her body. (Head and face).
  • She is arrested and her parents are left in the house alone through the night.
  • They are also killed, but not by her as she was in prison. The police don't believe this mystery killing was a demon and pass it off as a mass murder, by someone else.

Monday 7 December 2009

My Horror Pitch:

In the Graveyard



  • A group of teenagers go to a Halloween house party and get drunk


  • Then they all decide to visit a graveyard.


  • They start to vandalise the old grave stones by kicking them, throwing drinks at them etc.


  • They all start towalk away, when all of a sudden the ground starts to shake and the tombstones shatter.


  • Then zombies start to appear out of the ground walking slowly towards the teenagers with their arms out in front of them making a groaning sound.


  • The teenagers try to run away from them and hit them off, but the zombies still attack.


  • The zombies start to eat the teenagers by pulling their limbs apart and taking big bites.


  • All of the teenagers are dead except for one who survives.


  • All of the zombies return to their graves accept for one.


  • The last girl standing walks home to tell her family what had happened. She enters her house and shouts for her family but nobody answers. The television is on and she can see the back of her mother, farther and also her younger brothers head.


  • She runs in front of them to tell them what happened but only to find their throats bitten with big chunks of their neck's missing.


  • She turns to find the zombie standing in the corner of the room walking slowly towards her arms out making those grotesque groaning noises, with its arms out in front.

  • She screams!

The end


I think that this pitch would make a successful horror film because it is similar to other classic horror films. The fact that my storyline contains zombies, which are also known as 'the living dead' in other films are very popular characters to have in horror films. My pitch also has blood and gore through out the story which keeps it within horrific, sticking to horror. However my storyline also has a group of teenagers as part of the main cast which i personally think would attract the teenagers as an audience for this film.


Thursday 26 November 2009

Codes and Conventions



Horror films are said be the focus of the dark side of life and to bring out people's fears and nightmares, alienate us and make us vulnerable inside. This involves peoples fear of death and dismemberment, loss of identity or fear of sexuality. Horror films can often attract and repel the audience at the same time.To do this different sub-genres can also be put together with the genre horror such as; Fantasy, supernatural or science fiction.



The frighten and panic causes the audience both dread and alarm and invokes our fears usually with a shocking finale, also captivating and entertaining us at the same time in a cathartic experience. Horror films are often combined with science fiction when the menace or monster is related to a corruption of technology, or when earth is threatened by aliens. The fact that horror films have made it so successfully even left the genre with different names they are also known as; Chillers, Scary Movies, Spook fests, and the Macabre.
Horror films can also often be combined with other sub genres such as science fiction which is usually a scientific visionary,comic strip like,with imaginative settings with the use of gadgets and advanced technology. Special effects are also at important use when combining the two together.
The supernatural sub genre used with horror is usually the more spiritual side to the films which includes ghosts,miracles, gods and goddesses and other similar ideas extraordinary phenomena.
Fantasy is also another sub genre put together with horror films. However unlike science fiction films that base some of their content on the bases of scientific truth, fantasy takes you to more of a fairytale place where events are unlikely to occur in real life.



Top 50 Horror Movies of all time.





1. Psycho (1960)

2. Alien (1979)

3. The shining (1980)

4. Aliens (1986)

5. Diaboliques,les (1955)

6. Faust (1926)

7. Jaws (1975)

8.Planet Terror (2007)

9. Cabinet des Dr.Caligari,das (1920)

10. Grindhouse(2007)

11. The night of the hunter (1955)

12. Bride of Frankenstein (1935)

13. Nosferatu,eine symphonie des Grauens (1922)

14. Testement des Dr. Mabuse, das (1933)

15. spoorloos (1988)

16. Frankenstein(1931)

17. Jungfrukallan (1960)

18. King kong (1933)

19. Dead of night (1945)

20. The thing (1982)

21. Onibaba (1964)

22. The innocents (1961)

23. The exorcist (1973)

24. Invasion of the body snatchers (1956)

25. Dead man's shoes (2004)

26. Rosmary's baby (1968)

27. Kaidan (1964)

28. Repulsion (1965)

29. Shaun of the dead (2004)

30. The invisible man (1933)

31. Night of the living dead (1968)

32. The unknown (1927)

33. Yeux sans visage, les (1960)

34. Dawn of the dead (1978

35. What ever happened to Mary Jane?(1962)

36. The birds (1963)

37. Halloween (1978)

38. The haunting (1963)

39. Peeping Tom (1960)

40. The holy mountain (1973)

41. my name is Bruce (2007)

42. Survie style 5+ (2004)

43. Vargtimmen (1968)

44. Evil dead 2 (1987)

45. Profondo rosso (1975)

46. Abre los ojos (1997)

47. The hound of the Baskervilles (1939)

48.The phantom of the opera (1925)

49. Freaks (1932)

50. Dracula (1958)













Review on the continuity clip

The storyline to this piece was a simple storyline to show that we could film different types of shots from different angles, also by doing this we could show that we know how to use a camcorder. The types of shots that we recorded were:

  • Match on Action
  • Shot Reverse Shot
  • 180 degree Rule.

The storyline was about a boy meeting up with a girl and giving her a gift which was a rose. The expression and body language of the boy and girl were both shown using medium close up shot, close up, and long shot. My partner and i also filmed the boy walking away at a distance from the camera at the end.

We thoroughly enjoyed filming this clip as we had learnt how to use the camcorder in a way that will be relevant to us and our work. However we did not have the smoothest run through when filming this clip as we had a couple of set backs. The first mistake we had made was when we had filmed half of the clip in one lesson then the other half in the next lesson. When we went to film the second half of the clip we had accidentally left a long 2 minute pause inbetween the first and second clip. Because of this we had to delete the second half of the clip and re-film it at the appropriate part of the tape. The second difficulty that we had come across was that we had not filmed our Match on Action clearly so we had to re-film that part as well.When we had done that we had successfully finished filming our continuity piece.