Shooting Process

 Today we finally got to record. We got everyone together and went to Markham Park and found our spot. We decided to shoot out of order so that we could get everything done along the way and finish faster. We made sure to bring all of our props and costumes to represent each person's character.

we went around 5 so that the sun would be a little lower to create a grim mood. we spent around 2 hours shooting and got as much done but the park closed so we had to leave we will go back another day this week so we can finish shooting and make sure everything is perfect. We still have to shoot the school scenes as well making another day we need to schedule to finish. A problem we ran into is that we couldn't find any fake blood therefore we had to shoot the scenes of alex getting stabbed so you cant see the blood. We will try to see if we can edit it in post but we don't know yet if we can.

Storyboard

We have planned our story and created a storyboard to accompany it. We want our first minute to be a chase scene, while the second minute is a story and progression of the said story. We tried to incorporate multiple shots and camera techniques to add diversity and create a more interesting look. These are shown in our storyboard below

With this, we now have our exact plan down on paper so that we can record it efficiently. We are planning on recording on Saturday, so we have all week to edit, discuss our plans, and schedule any needed reshoots.

Character development

 Elaine

For our killer in the story, my partner chose to name her Elaine. She chose this name after going through some of her favorite horror films and wanting to name the character after another iconic character from the film 'The Love Witch'. The character from that movie is similar to this film because they are both man killers who, at first glance, seem completely normal. In our movie, Elaine is a normal high school girl who gets hungry for blood and goes on a frenzy over a boy who wronged her, while in The Love Witch, Elaine is an eccentric young widow who seduces men with her witchcraft but ends up killing them.

Elaine's character is meant to be misleading. She looks like the 'girl next door cheerleader type, but she is secretly on a hunt for vengence. My partner took a lot of her outfit and personal style inspiration from the original girl next door, Mary Jane Watson, from the Spider-Man films. This concept is similar to the Jennifer's Body movie in terms of a girl misleading the other characters in the movie, but instead, Elaine will be a lot more school-oriented. For example, she may be upset at the boy who wronged her because she feels cheated and almost like she wasted her time, and it just overwhelms her with anger causing her to hunt him down and kill him.

Props

Today my partner and I went to search for some props we felt would fit the intro's theme and, more specifically, the killer. The first thing we thought we needed was a mask for the killer to wear like any good killer has. We settled on a clear mask like the one shown below.

This gives us room to work with and personalize the mask. We have decided to paint the inside of the mask all white to hide the killer's face and paint red lips, rosy cheeks, and mascara running down the mask. This adds to her character because she is a crazy ex who was heartbroken and sought vengeance.

The next prop we found was her weapon. We decided to make her use the knife show in the movie The Love Witch. This is because our character has a heavy influence from Elaine in The Love Witch; therefore, it is a nod to the movie. Our killer's personality has a lot that resembles Elaine, so we thought it only fitting to give her the correct weapon.

We also went out to buy the costumes for each character, so we bought a Star Wars shirt for the nerd, a plain tee and hat for the "jock" and a nicer outfit for the "preppy" kid. For the most part, now we are almost all set to start filming next week and start the actual creation of our project.

Sound

For our sound, we plan on using a mix of foley and music to create the tone and environment for the scene. However, for the first couple of seconds, it will be primarily foley sounds. Since it takes place in the middle of the forest, we will create sounds replicating running through the woods, wind, and more to curate the perfect soundscape. After we create the world that they are living in, some background music may play as the scene intensifies. This first-minute scene will use both diegetic and non-diegetic sound with a few stings to add to the emotion in the scene.

These are some audios we have fallen on.

-Ominous Pursuit

This audio is royalty-free and is perfect for the chase scene with the quick pace it begins with and even the 80s synth in the background. I think that it not only fits into the theme of the movie but also establishes the setting, period, and story for the rest of the audience. I think this audio will probably be our best bet.

City of the disturbed

This audio I think we will be less likely to pick just because I think it's a little grungy for our scene and it also sounds a little bit more 90s. It also sounds a little more dystopian, almost like it would belong in something like The Walking Dead. But I like how calm it is, and I think it would definitely make the scene seem very unsettling for the audience if we were to include it.

For the chase scene, I don't think we will use non-diegetic sound just because we want it to be as quiet as possible for the more psychological part of the film. Almost like in a hospital, we want it to be uncomfortably quiet, so it seems almost sterile compared to the intense scene that was shown before. This will also enhance the silence even more.

Costume

The first element of mise-en-scene we are focusing on is costume design. The costumes can help add a lot of personality and meaning to the characters, especially since we only have 2 minutes to convey as much character development as possible. We want each character's costume to have meaning and explain their personality. The first character we focused on is the killer; we want her to have a killer vibe but still have meaning to her costume. This is why we decided to have her wear a red outfit that seems cheerleader-like because we want the killer to be popular, but the red can represent love and her crazy ex side. She is going to wear a mask, but we want to make it have some sort of broken heart or something on it which also adds to her character and her crazy broken heart/ex mentality. Since her name is going to be Elaine after the love witch, we want her to use a similar dagger to her as an ode to her character.

For the group of kids that witness the murder and have to figure out the murder, we want each character's personality to be represented by each character so we want one person to be a rich kid, one to be super smart, and the last one to be a rebel. So for the rich kid he would wear really nice clothes the smart one would wear some out fit and would have glasses and the last kid would have a lot of chains and baggy clothes.

locations

 For our project, we want to shoot at a few different places so we can develop more stories in the little time we have. We have decided that our first minute is going to be the chase scene and we want this scene to be at a park/ In the woods. We want a place with a lot of trees so we can shoot some running scenes and hide scenes in the trees. We also want it to be a little darker so the lighting will help create that eerie mood. we can shoot all or most of the chase scene here and the killing can be on top of a hill to silhouette the characters.

    next, we want to shoot in a public area either a school or mall so we can show the group of kids that witness these events and how they are coping with the burden of watching this killing. We might also decide to shoot at someone's house and show the kids that way but we are not 100% sure yet.

Media theory

In our movie intro, we would like to integrate the genre theory. This theory basically is a way of categorizing things into groups based on shared characteristics. It can be used to analyze a variety of media, including literature, film, and writing. The main genre characteristics we want to use are from slasher horror movies. So things like jump scares, stings, and a lot of moments that leave the audience tense and on the edge of their seats to have that slasher feeling.

We want to create these similarities to tend to our main audience. This audience and demographic are going to be people who tend to enjoy slasher films and those adrenaline-pumping scenes. Therefore, we are going to integrate this aspect to keep a familiar look to the opening and create something that horror fans alike can enjoy.

Project idea

 we want to do a slasher/mystery movie. We want to begin with a chase scene for the first minute where a crazy ex decides to kill her ex boyfriend and gets a hunger for blood. We want to incorporate a lot of elements from other popular slashers such as Texas chainsaw massacres long road chase scene and jump scares like the ones in Friday the 13th, scream, or Halloween. We want this first minute to have you on the edge of your seat but also set up the rest of the story. We want to end this first minute with a group of kids witnessing this murder and the killer sees them but the kids can’t see the killers face. This sets up a timer for the kids to figure out the killer while the killer hunts down these kids

. 

 The next minute isn’t exactly clear what we want to do but we want the kids to be in a public setting such as school and the kids are all scared in different classes just reliving the killing and seeing the killer in all places. 

Casting

     For our project we want the killer to be a girl and the victim to be a guy who is the girl's ex. We also need the main character which is the person who witnesses this murder but doesn't know exactly who the killer is and is also too scared to say anything but they try to figure it out themselves. This means we need at least 3 actors. We think 2 of these can be Alex Gomez, Andrea Barbosa as the killer and ex. These 2 have previous acting knowledge and have acted in our music video. Their chemistry and ability are exactly what we need for this project.

 We still need a main character though. It needs to be someone who can look shy and lonely to add to the main character's personality but not frail so they can seem like they can fight back in times of need. 

Along with that right now we want to have the 1st minute of the intro and the second minute be a shift to a classroom where our main character can't focus and has dead people talking in their ears telling them to turn in the killer but they are too shy and don't have all of the details. This means we are going to need more actors to play background characters or dead people talking. These plans are subject to change since we don't have a 100% concrete script right now but we are confident and excited to do this project and see where we can take this.

Schedule

 We had to make a schedule for how we are planning out our project lined with due dates and ideas for along the way. I spoke to my partner and we came up with the following schedule for the next 7 weeks

Week 1: Research

• Analyze other horror film openings and take what you like from them and create a list of it.
• Finalize what genre your doing and start to try to develop a plot
• Start brainstorming locations you could use, props, actors, etc.

Week 2: Planning

• Create a script 
• Create a storyboard when script is finalized about the shots I want to use
• Set locations and have actors set and the days we will be filming

Week 3: Pre Production

• Create vision boards for each character that includes their wardrobe, characteristics, personality
• Get lights, clothes and props that I want to use for the day we film
• Also find non copyright music that I think will fit nicely into the scenes

Week 4: Production 

•  film
• Put all of the scenes together to get a basis of the film
• Cut down on the clips and begin to record foley audio
• Actually edit fully and determine if any scenes need to be reshot

Week 5: Post Production

• Finish editing and add finishing touches
• Analyze first edition and determine if me and my partner are happy with it

Week 6: Revise/CCR

• See my partners edition of the edited video and decide which one we would like to use most
• Work on the CCR's
• Week 7
• Look over the final project and submit

Film openings

     Today we had to analyze 3 opening scenes from the chosen genre. In my case, I analyzed 3 horror/slasher openings. 3 I looked at the 3 most popular slashers: Friday the 13th, Halloween, and Scream. On Friday the 13th something that I really enjoyed and added a creepy aspect was the way that you see a lot of the beginning from Jason's POV. This lets you see what the victims can't and makes the viewer anxious about the victims. I would love to utilize this to some degree in my opening to create that edge-of-your-seat feeling.

    The next movie I researched was Scream (1996). There were a few things I really enjoyed about this opening. The first was how they used the popcorn to create suspense and an auditory aspect that enhanced that suspense. They kept cutting back on it as it got bigger and bigger. Next was the phone convo. This is one of the best parts of any horror opening. It's because it creates that stalker/Creepy vibe off the bat, especially with Ghostface's voice. You feel anxious and scared before even seeing the killer which is an amazing aspect of this opening.

The last film I researched was Halloween. Halloween also does most of the scene in a first-person point of view adding to that stalker vibe. This instantly makes one anxious and scared for what's to come. Another aspect of this opening that really helps tie everything together is the sound. The music and audio really help with the creepy vibe and are the last push to get the intended reaction from the audience. It's what makes the entire scene scary in the end. Lastly, a smart and cool thing the director did was that when Michael went to kill his sister he picked up and put on a mask. This shrank the FOV of the camera making the killing scene easier to record without making it to cheesy.

Credit Scenes

   There are a lot of ideas that I love for our credit scenes but there are 3 that I like the best. One of these films with amazing opening scenes is Se7en. What I enjoy about the credits is the font choice with all the effects on the text. This adds to the story's theme and creates an eerie/ creepy aspect to the movie without anything happening.

another cool part about those credits is that they are small and don't take up much of the scene making it so you can see what's happening behind the credits as well.

    The next movie I looked at was Zombieland. What I thought was really cool about these credits was the way they were animated. It was as if they were actually physical objects that the people were interacting with. It creates a sense of movement and a way for the credits to dissipate naturally which creates a nice sense of uniform.

    The last film I looked at was Watchmen. The way this movie does its credits adds to its comic book superhero theme with the font and color while allowing for a story to be conveyed in the slow-motion scenes behind it. They are the perfect size and stand out because of the color.

Portfolio Project: Genre

 The genre we chose is horror/slasher. we want to start the intro with a chase scene of sorts to create an immediate intensity to setup the mood for the rest of the movie if we were to make one. The first movie I looked at for research and inspiration is the 2008 movie Prom Night. In the movie, there is a scene where the character Lisa is running from the killer but it starts very quiet and leaves you anxious the camera then pans and you see the killer in front of her.

Lisa chase scene

 I love this and think personally I can utilize this idea to some degree. I like the part of the killer just appearing and almost startling the audience but I would like for the killer to say something to the person running to add some background information on why the person is being chased. I would also like to play with lighting here so that you wont be able to see the killer's face very well if possible.

    The next movie I researched was Friday the 13th part 2. The movie is really good with sound/ music but also their chase scenes and scenes to get the audience on the edge of their chair. One of the clips that I enjoyed and would like to utilize aspects of is the scene where ginny the main character is hiding under the bed in the cabin.

Ginny hiding under bed

    this scene is amazing at creating tension and engaging the audience. it gives the audience that feeling of wanting to help and tell the character what to do. Another scene from the same movie that I would like to take inspiration from is the scene where Ginny gets grabbed by Jason through the window.(Couldnt find clip of the scene) Jason grabbing her is an amazing jumscare that was very well done. he came out of nowhere and created a very startling scene so I would like to utilize some jump scares in my project.

Another movie I looked at was the  Texas Chainsaw Massacre(1974). The last scene when the girl is almost home free and is getting chased by both Leatherface and the sibling is amazing. It keeps the audience on the edge of their seat trying to anticipate if she's going to make it or not. 

TCM dirt road chase scene

I would love to end my project with a scene like this where you can see the person getting chased by the killer but instead, I would have the killer catch them and you would pan away as they get killed. It would act as a transition into the rest of the movie which would probably be a crime mysteries slasher.