Continuing our Pitch

On Wednesday 20th October, we continued with our pitch, finalising our synopsis of our teen horror film and also adding the names of the characters in the film and our working title. We then wrote up a script for our pitch so we know who's going to pitch what, ready for Monday 1st November. After that, we started thinking about our opening two minutes of our teen horror film.

Making our Pitch

In todays lesson, we talked about the three different stages of Production. These stages include the Pre-Production (everything that takes place before filming), the Production (the filming) and the Post-Production (everything that happens after filming). We then got into our groups and started to come up with a pitch for our teen horror film, including ideas for a working title and the storyline of our film. We would need to be ready to pitch our idea to our teacher on Monday 1st November.

Preliminary Task Storyboards

These are the storyboards that me and my group created to help us plan and film our Preliminary Task. In each box we had a different shot showing the location, camera shot, angle/movement and sound of that shot. This helped us on how and where to film the different shots of our footage. However, this was our basic plan of our Preliminary Task, when it came to filming it we changed a bit of it slightly and added a few more shots.

Finishing Preliminary Task

In my free time today, I added the opening title which we called it 'The Talk' and also added the names of the two actors, which was me and Scarlett, at the begininng too. I then added the end credits, showing who directed and edited the Preliminary Task. After finishing, I exported it as a Quicktime movie and saved the Preliminary Task Final Movie onto the desktop of the Mac and also on my memory stick.    

Editing Preliminary Task

On Wednesday 13th October, we started editing our Preliminary Task on the Macs. We put all the footage together so it all runs smoothly and also added some transitions and effects to it. However, it still needs more added on to it to be finished.

In our free time on Thursday 14th October, we added more transitions and effects to it so that it would be more interesting to watch. All it needs now is the opening titles and the end credits then the Preliminary Task would be completed.  

Prelimary Task Filming and Downloading

On Monday 11th October, we had a double lesson. In the first hour, we went to film our Preliminary Task using different camera shots and movements, giving us a variety of shots to choose from when it comes to editing. After filming, we downloaded our footage from the camera to the Macs so it would be ready to be edited next time.

Horror Film Openings: Wrong Turn

On Wednesday 6th October, we looked at the article about the opening of 'The Shining', a classic horror film starring Jack Nicholson. We then watched the opening first few minutes of the horror film 'Wrong Turn' (2003). Whilst watching the opening, we made notes about the use of visual and audio elements.



There are a wide range of visual elements in the opening of 'Wrong Turn'. Some of these include shots like bird's eye view, establishing shot, and point of view shot. These are needed to create the feeling of fear, tension and suspense that are expected to keep the audience on edge.

The bird's eye view shot at the beginning shows how isolated the location is. This is important as it shows that the victims are in the middle of nowhere which hints the danger. The establishing shot of the cliffs and the woman also shows how isolated and helpless the victims are, intentionally making it hard for them to get out and escape the danger when it comes. The point of view shot of the woman in the chase scene actually makes it look like the woman is running away as the camera is hand-held. It shows the audience how fearful the woman is as the camera is shaking which reflects her panting and panicking. Also it would bring tension and suspense to the audience as they don't know what is chasing the woman.

The editing is faster to create the 'false scare' to the audience to keep them feeling the tension before the actual danger and horror comes. The example of this editing is the scene where the woman nearly falls down after losing her grip of the rope. This would make the audience jump as the start of the opening would have kept them on edge.

The audio elements in the opening are just as important as the visual elements in creating the tension and suspense. The audio elements include the music in the background and also additional sounds. 

At the beginning of the opening, the tempo of the music increases to suggest the sense of danger is nearby. Also there are drumming over the top which emphasizes and pinpoints the danger. The music is orchestrial which includes stringed instruments which is significant in creating the feeling of fear.

The enhanced sounds are louder so the audience would feel the suspense as they wait and expect for the danger to happen. One of the sounds that is enhanced is when blood drips on the woman's face which for the audience is the beginning of the horror.

Horror Film Openings

On Monday 4th October, we discussed the conventions of horror films relating to narratives, characters, settings and iconography. We then watched the 5 minutes opening of 'Jeepers Creepers' (2001), 'Jeepers Creepers 2' (2003) and 'Dead Wood' (2007). From these openings, we noticed that they included young characters, set in isolated locations and all of them had a threat.

Introduction to Horror Genre

On Wednesday 29th September, we looked at the conventions that we would expect in horror movies and the history behind the horror genre.

This is my presentation on the history of horror movies and the horror film 'Carrie'.

History of horror movies presentation

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