Opening Title Screenplay

Fade In:

EXT. night scene 1

TRUNCO THE CLOWN approaches the house, walking down road, whilst the young woman is washing up. Until she receives a phone call from Trunco the Clown.

 

EXT. street - night scene 1

Trunco the Clown’s feet are walking at a fast pace through puddles on the pavement with a distinct walk. (5 steps)

EXT. House - night scene 1

THE YOUNG WOMAN is washing up in the sink casually with no urgency or fright.

EXT. street - night scene 1

Trunco the Clown’s feet are walking at a fast pace through puddles on the pavement with a distinct walk. (4 steps)

EXT. House - night scene 1

The camera has zoomed out to the woman washing up and putting away dishes, casually and with no knowing of the clown.

EXT. street - night scene 1

Trunco the Clown’s feet are walking at a fast pace through puddles on the pavement with a distinct walk. (3 steps)

EXT. House - night scene 1

The young woman is still washing dishes casually, looking at herself in the window and possibly whistling or singing/humming.

EXT. street - night scene 1

Trunco the Clown’s feet are walking at a fast pace through puddles on the pavement with a distinct walk. (2 steps)

EXT. House - night scene 1

The young woman is putting dishes in the drawer.

EXT. street - night scene 1

Trunco The Clown’s feet are walking at a fast pace through puddles on the pavement with a distinct walk. (1 steps)

EXT. House - night scene 1

The woman’s mobile phone starts ringing.

 

scene 2   

INT. THe womans house. night.          

THE CLOWN rings THE WOMAN and THE WOMAN puts the phone down. The radio then turns on and is playing an old song which is saying ‘send in the clowns’. THE WOMAN is getting more and more on edge, then the doorbell rings.

Voice- THE clown

(Over the phone)

          Do you want a balloon?

 

THE WOMAN

Umm..no?

 

Voice- THE clown

*chuckles*

I know you want a balloon.

 

the woman

No, I do not want a balloon. Leave me alone.

          (puts down the phone)

 

EXT. House - night scene 4

The radio begins to falter and turns to the song ‘Send in the Clowns’. The woman tries to fix the radio, bending down struggling. The clown appears at the window suddenly, yet the woman doesn’t see.

 

SCENE 5  

INT. THE WOMANS HOUSE. NIGHT.

THE CLOWN rings the doorbell and THE WOMAN opens it, but when she looks no one is there. She then goes out of the door to look around to see if she can see anyone.

THE WOMAN

(opens door, looks around to see who knocked)

THE WOMEN

(goes outside to see if she can see anyone)

EXT. OUTSIDE OF THE HOUSE. NIGHT.

After doing this she sees a red balloon that THE CLOWN has left outside (but she doesn’t know who it was left by). THE WOMAN goes over to get the balloon, after she has got it the balloon then pops, and it is filled with blood, after the balloon has popped THE CLOWN then pops up suddenly behind THE WOMAN, without her realizing.

THE WOMAN

(picks up balloon, looks mysteriously at it)(the balloon pops)

The Woman

(screams)

VOICE- CLOWN

(laughs)

 

FAde Out:

The End

 

Synopsis of My Idea

My idea for the opening titles of a horror movie is 'Dead Funny'. A film based around a psychopathic clown that terrorises and harasses neighbourhood folk. On first thought, the idea of a clown-based horror seemed risky and hard to pull off but after some elaboration of the idea, me and my group decided that if we were to head in a certain direction with this, then it may work. The two directions in which the film could have gone were, a horror comedy or a very sick and twisted horror that is full frontal terror. We decided to go with the second option, despite the comedic title. The title is a contradiction in itself and the two words juxtapose obviously.

The story

 

Our plot consists of two characters: The victim and Trunco The clown. (Trunco being Latin for mutilate). The victim which will be a female to show more of an dominant personality to the clown as it is stereotypical to people that women are more venerable to men. The male against female
oppression is a good way to show fear in the opening title.

 

The clown will be terrorising the woman in her own house by first calling her in her house and asking her if she 'Wants a balloon'. We took this inspiration from the movie 'SCREAM'. We liked the opening few minutes of that and we thought that it could be cooperated into our opening sequence. So we've taken that as our inspiration and we've also taken inspiration from the  movie 'IT'. We liked the sadistic nature of the clown and we liked how everybody is creeped out by them even if they are supposed to be entertaining and funny.

 

After calling the young woman, the clown will proceed to harass the young woman in the 'comfort' of her own home. This is to basically suggest and imply that there is no safety, even when you're in the haven of your own home, Trunco the Clown will still get you! Whilst in the house, the woman's radio will produce static and change to the song 'Send in the clowns' which we think will produce a tense atmosphere because the song is slow and old fashioned. After the radio scene, the clown will appear at the window of the kitchen where the woman will be standing. This will hopefully scare the viewers and give a short insight of what is to come in the movie in terms of horror. We're trying to get this movie as sadistic as possible to try and freak the audience out as much as possible because after collecting results from our questionnaire, we found that the majority of people that watch horrors, enjoy being scared.  Using this information, we've decided to incorporate this into our film.

 

After the window scenario, we have decided to use a balloon and add that into our sequence because they are stereotypically a clown's prop. We also took inspiration from the film 'IT' as when the balloons pooped with blood. We liked the sick and twisted idea of the loud bang, followed by a splatter of blood. We thought this was very dark and therefor used it in our film. After the balloon had exploded blood all over the woman, we decided we should have one more scare before we cut the titles off, so Trunco will be standing behind the woman in the dark, staring over shoulder with an evil grin.

The Mise en Scene

 

For our movie, there will only really be 2 settings for the most part: the street and the house. The street will have little lighting, only street lights and the moon as actual forms of light (possible some house lights as well). We are hoping to get it as dark as possible to put across the idea that Trunco the Clown only comes out at night, and to really emphasise his horror. In the house, the light will be much brighter, as we're going to use normal lights to make it seem more safe for the woman when actually, no where is safe. We're really trying to put across that NO ONE is safe from this clown. The kitchen will be lit up brightly, and the outside will be dark, we're hoping to get this contrast right so that when the face appears at the window, it will be coming out of pure darkness. As a kind of symbol of evil.

The sounds used in the film will be used to create tension and presence emitted by Trunco. Sounds like the song 'Send in the Clowns' and the sound of the balloon popping will produce a scary atmosphere inside the film, however outside the filming and while we edit, we're going to be using loud noises when the face pops up and also static when the radio cuts off. We hope that these edited noises will project tension into the film.

 

Authenticity

 

Hopefully, we're going to make this movie as sadistic and scarring as possible because we strongly believe that with a horror movie, the viewer needs to have that 'hide behind a cushion' feeling all the time. That feeling is what i believe to be the key to horror movies. This movie will not be so different from others but we hope to en corporate every other great horror theme into this film so that if we get the mixture and recipe of themes spot on the it will provide a sickening yet entertaining atmosphere that will not be forgotten.



Costume in Horror Movies

The costume in horror movies is very important because the antagonist (villain) in a horror movie is essentially the main character of the movie. This means that it is important to get the costume right because the antagonist is the person that inflicts fear and entertainment into the audience. There are certain items of clothing and make-up film makers purposefully use to cause more fear and tension.

The character which our group is using is a clown, so that similar of 'Pennywise' from the movie IT. There are certain parts of the costume that are purposefully placed to give extra effect. However, as the clown is in itself already a character, we have to obide certain stereotypes, for example, the red nose and big hair. We have to try and maintain a 'clown look'.

If we were to look at Pennywise the clown, we could see why the film makers have decided to give him certain characteristics. The red hair and red nose could be implied to signify danger or blood within the film. The red nose and red hair on the pale white face shows extreme contrast between colours. The white could show that the clown is not human, as there is no sign of 'pink' skin. We often say that skin can look 'full' or 'fresh' when it has colour and healthy skin is often tanned. So this lack of colour make Pennywise seem as if he isn't human but a ghost or monster.

The actual costume of Pennywise is brightly coloured and personally, i think that this is to do the opposite of what bright colours are supposed to do. If you were to think of bright colours like orange/yellow/green then you would think of mainly pleasant things, however, in this scenario Pennywise's colours are somewhat ver the top and creepy. They look out of place, like any clown does. That is what i think the main message of the costume is. They're trying to make Pennywise seem out of place and abnormal just like all horror characters should be. This is common because the audience are aroused by abnormality, because it surprises us and enetertains us.

Props in Horror Movies

The use of blood on props in horror films imply danger and fear and is one of the main themes which people immediately link with horror. In our movie we will be using a lot of blood to make the props more scary, or even if it's not blood, we still want to use as much red based objects as possible to signify blood and danger. For example on our weapon (knife) and as well as on our costume. Also, when the woman is washing up, we will use ketchup on the dishes to portray blood and maybe red wine. This use of red really places danger into our opening titles.

The props in horror movies are made out to be more terrifying than what they actually are. Objects that would not usually be seen as particularly scary are somehow made to portray fear. Items and objects such as knives and hammers are not scary in realy life but when in a horror movie we instantly think "weapon". So what makes these connotations pop into our heads? Well there's numerous things that directors and movie makers do to props to propose such horror.

Another way in which film makers make props scary is the material that the object is made of. For example, if there was to be a chair in the  middle of a room, it would seem ideal to use a wooden chair as they are more old fashioned and maybe more spooky than if we were to use a plastic chair. Also, to make something a little scarier in a horror film could be to mise en scene (the lighting or sound). By this i mean that if you were to have a vase in the middle of the room that has light, it won't be as chilling if it was dark. This is to do with our connotations of darkness. If something is in the dark it instantly gives it a mysterious atmosphere or aroma. Again, with the sound, if you were to play a spooky soundtrack over the sight of the vase then this would cause more tension than if there was no music.

Opening Titles Storyboard

This is our storyboard of each scene we will film in our opening titles. Drawing by me and jemma, writing by me and kayleigh. It's just a rough draft really. Our main guide to our film list will be our screenplay.

 

 

 

This was our pitch in which we showed our ideas and thoughts and presented them to the rest of the class. We may have some faults however we were given feedback from the class and we aim to take on board the feedback and focus that criticism on our final recording. Making it as good and as accurate to the specification as possible.

This is my questionnaire i've used for research for the opening titles of my horror project. Feel free to fill it in!

My Idea Prezi

This is the prezi my group created to present in our pitch. It includes our inspiration, setting, sound, theme etc ideas for our opening movie title.

The Evil Dead

The Rationale

I have chosen this movie as the other two movies I have analysed have a mix of gore, psychopaths and monsters in them. I found that a lot of people liked the gore in horror movies they have watched, especially the younger generation that watch horror movies (teenagers). So I think that the ‘Evil Dead’ has a good amount of blood and gore (which can be seen in the opening titles) and a mix of monsters and psychopaths (demons). It also has elements of a supernatural nature which is also supposed to provide a great deal of terror within the horror genre.

The analysis

Well the main theme of this opening title sequence is definitely blood. The red colour is obviously associated with blood and danger, which are the major themes of this movie. The colours red and black are seen as negative colours and the blackness of what seems to be flesh in the sequence could signify death and the flesh being impure and contaminated or dirty. Also, the overwhelming amount of blood could suggest an overwhelming amount of death and destruction in the film which in certain cases attracts the audience as we are aroused by this gore. We want to see this in a horror movie.

The props in the sequence are mainly blood, flesh and weapons which are all violent things. The way that the scene shows the cutting of the flesh and dismemberment of limbs just shows that this movie is going to be a gore-fest. The over-emphasis of blood is really used to fuel the audience’s love of gore. The shots of the sequence are mainly close-ups which look closely into the detail of the blood dripping, trickling and hovering down stairs and through collapsing floorboards, into the basement. The basement is the key setting of the film and the fact that in the opening sequence, the basement is where the blood accumulates, shows an insight to the amount of terror that will fill the basement in the movie to come.

The lighting of the sequence is low-key and is used to show the emphasis of the bright rose-red blood. The blackness of the background makes the blood look fresh among the darkness of the flesh and floorboards.  

The Walking Dead Opening Titles

 

 

The opening titles of The Walking Dead series signifies a horror genre as the Mise En Scene such as the props and composition of the scenes are horror-like. Such as the Tombstone and the Zombie eye in the scene. These props/costumes signify death and darkness within the programme to come. The name hints at the idea of zombies so the picture of the zombie backs this up and shows the viewer what is to come.

The derelict settings used in the sequence show despair and chaos as there are no humans to be seen in the title sequence which possibly suggests the idea of a lack of human life. The centipede used in the opening credits show a form of life, however, an insect could be seen as disgusting and minuscule, so the fact it’s alive could imply that only the disgusting are walking the earth (zombies and insects). The badge on the floor, show a chaotic element to the story as this signifies no law or order and the prop is a key affect to show an insight into the life in a despaired world.

The title sequence attracts the audience as the destruction and violence in the video attracts people. Humans are somewhat aroused by this violence and death. Also the derelict places also attract the audience because they want to see what it would be like if the world ‘stood still’ and had no order. The idea of something abnormal and against the ‘run of play’ interests us as people as we like to see what could happen.

The target audience of the TV series are teenagers and adults that enjoy blood and gore. Teenagers and young adults are stereotypical viewers of this television programme as they are more likely to enjoy watching this sort of programme due to the action, chaos and graphic nature of the series.

AMC are the producers and they are shown at the start of the sequence before anything else. This is seen with the first title next to the abandoned car. This places the importance of the producer as they are first.

 

 

Opening Title Analysis

SE7EN
The opening titles of Se7en are very unique in terms of being spontaneous and random. For example, the way the writing of the credits flicker throughout the scene could imply that throughout the movie there will be distortion and distress as the flickering has no real sequence and seems to happen with no pattern. Also the font of the writing is white which could signify multiple things like 'hope' an the blackness surrounding signifies the overwhelming evil. Which could be why the writing is somewhat blurred into the background, suggesting the good is overwhelmed by the evil.

The lighting in the opening titles are low-key and there only seems to be a primary light focusing on what the person is doing. This could imply that all the attention is around the doings of the person. Also, this dim lighting can also suggest that the setting is a place with no background lighting (windows,doors) which means that the person in the scene may be in somewhere such as a basement or attic where they may not necessarily want to be found or discovered. Showing a deal of secrecy and mystery to come.

 

The props also used in the scene seem to be old fashioned and unique. Such as the film reel and weapon-like instruments such as the razor blade. These props are meant to show an indication to the viewer that violence and gore may be included in the movie, giving a little insight into what the movie might have to offer, gripping the audience like any title screen should. The fact that as humans we like to be disturbed and distressed via film is used to the scene's advantage as the different sharp objects used to cut human skin is disturbingly arousing to the viewer. 

The soundtrack plays throughout the title screen and starts of slowly and picks up a speed and become more tense which could also be said about the actual movie itself. The track begins with the sound of clunking machinery and then is followed by a loud scream-like sound. The music seems to pick up pace when the 'victim's' eyes are crossed out which could suggest that the story will pick up some tension when the first victim is killed. Lastly, the track ends with the words 'You bring me closer to God' which could possible signify religious motives of the killer.

 

Joe G

Preliminary Task (Complete)

 

 

This is my groups completed preliminary task and you can tell that there are some obvious areas to improve on however i think that it's not too bad in terms of mise en scene, setting and the overall story. The sound is also not too bad given the equipment we could use.

 

The lighting wasn't a strength as we didn't know how to properly work the lights we used so we made do with alternating lights that took some of the effect away from the scene and looked unprofessional in some areas. It made one scene look different to another and it wasn't symmetrical, making the overall presentation look off.

 

Also, the camera shots were blurry and this also made it look less professional again. The focus was out in some areas and the differences in shots could be noticed again making it flow less and easy to watch. The editing wasn't too bad as in it flowed well in some areas however there were some times that the scene transitions could be trimmed a bit more to make the continuity in the segment better.

 

The good bits are the lighting in terms it's originality as not a lot of people would think or actual record their scene in pitch blackness and it would have worked well to add more atmosphere to the recording if we sorted out the problems. The sound was okay considering we only had a camera to record the sound with. You could hear the speech and also not TOO much background noise.

 

Ryan Clarke- Actor, script writer director

Harry Clarke- Editing

Louis Chamberlain- Camera man

Joe Gamble- Double, camera man

Match-on-Action

Match-on-Action is an editing technique in which one shot cuts into another shot portraying the action of the first shot also in the second. (Confusing?) 

For example, when someone opens a door and the first shot is looking at the person's hand opening the door, and then it goes to the second shot to a view from inside the room looking at the door open. (Still confused? Just look at the amazingly drawn picture). 
This technique is to show to show a continuity in the scene and to create a 'visual bridge' which is supposed to take viewers' attention away from from slight editing issues or cutting problems.

Preliminary Task Script

‘The Solus’ script

*Looking at man*
Persona: “What have we done…?”

Man: “We?!”

*Looking at persona*
Persona: “Yes… we… (smirks) you didn’t stop me”

*Looking at man*
Man: “I shouldn’t have to stop you… you should know when to stop”

*Looking at persona*
Persona: “But we like it”

*Looking at man*
Man: (lashing out) “You like it! (echoes)

*Changes to both but man is alone*

*Back to looking at persona*

*Looking at man*
Man: “You’re insane”

*Looking at persona*
Persona: “We’re insane”

*Looking at man*
Man: “Leave me alone”

*Looking at persona*
Persona: “We’ll never be alone… never”

*Looking at man
Man: “No!” (echoes)

*Changes to both but man is alone*

END.

Mise En Scene

Mise en Scene refers to everything that appears before the camera whilst recording. This includes; characters, props, sets and composition. The Mise en scene gives affect to the actual atmosphere to the movie/recording. They are a major part of adding to the story and background of the scenes. Without them it would be incredibly boring and frankly impossible to make a recording believable or realistic and gripping.

 

The Mise on scene sets a mood of the recording and also the mood of some of the characters, in turn, relating the audience to the film. Key aspects of Mise en scene are:

• Set - The background and place where the recording is taking place in. Also the objects in the scene and the meaning they give to the scene. It is the director's job to get this right to determine the mood of the scene correctly and efficiently.
• Lighting - The intesity, positioning and quality of the lighting also determines the mood of the scene a significant amount. Dark= Gloom  Light=Happy (basic).
• Space - The overall space of the setting and in the setting. Cramping things together could be used to good effect as a form of panic and also the space shows the significance of the characters.
• Composition - The position and organisation of objects and characters in the scene. It is important to retain symmetry within the scene to not confuse the audience.
• Costume - Obviously just the costumes the characters wear. It gives the character more character. This also includes the makeup and hairstyles of each character.
• Acting - The acting blatently has a massive impact on the scene. It's quite obvious really, if the acting is bad then this will take some of the dramatic experience away from the scene. If the acting is good then the scene will benefit.

 

Location Reconnaisance

This is a storyboard of our camera angles that we will be using in the actual location we will shoot our preliminary task in. Using the 180 Degree Rule, Match-on-match action, and reverse shot. 

180 Degree Rule

 

The 180 Degree rule is a term and technique used while recrording two people (or more) often whilst they exchange dialect. The image shown gives an overall idea of what to do and what not to do in terms of the rule.

 

The green line shows the 180 degree arc in which the cameras are supposed to be filming the two characters. This arc makes the scene look symmetrical when the cameras look over each characters shoulder. The camera may be placed anywhere on the green 180° arc and the spatial relationship between the two characters will be consistent from shot to shot, even when one of the characters is not on screen.

 

 The 180-degree rule enables the audience to visually connect with unseen movement happening around and behind the immediate subject and is important in the narration of battle scenes.

However, sometimes the 180 degree rule can be broken and this could be used to some effect. For example, to disorientate the audience in a fight scene or a chase scene in which the characters may be disorientated \also. This would rlat the audience to the characters.



Storyboard

 

The storyboard our group made to show the different camera angles we are going to include in our preliminary task. This includes a range of both techniques and shots.

This is my AS-Level portfolio for media. I will be posting work and suff that i have either done in lesson or as personal work at home. This will include blogs, vlogs, pics and general other forms of media that may have something to do with my A-Level. Woop.