Casting

Casting:

. Killer- Ben Brearley
.Scream Queen- Lucy Johansson
.Scream Queen's Boyfriend- Will Coates
.Final Girl- Melissa Elam

Killer:
Needs a motive to kill and a story behind the mask, an example of this is Jason Voorhees' hockey mask in Friday the 13th as he breaks in to a store and picks up some clothes he discovers his iconic hockey mask and uses it in the rest of the Friday the 13th franchise, and we've chosen to go for the butcher look for our killer for the obsession with chopping meat, in this case human meat,

Scream Queen:

Black Nightmare's Scream Queen

Stereotypical Scream Queen

With our film we're going to go for the stereotypical scream queen instead being blond and sexually active, an example of a stereotypical scream queen is this one from Scream where she is blond and comes across as being sexually active. We've decided to not stray away from the common stereotypical scream queen so the audience can recognise our characters and so it's easier to follow.

Scream Queen's Boyfriend:

Steve

Jock

We're going to use the stereotypical jock of a boyfriend who isn't scared and can confront the killer but
results in being killed , to signify him being this stereotypical jock he'll be wearing an sportsman top/hood, and an example of the stereotypical 'Jock' boyfriend is Steve from Scream who only appears at the opening with his girlfriend not saying much as he's killed off but he's sporty, also this links with the narrative that our 'Jock' will have as he won't have much to say like Steve in Scream.

Laurie Strode , final girl.

Final Girl:
In our film the final girl will be a counter type to the normal stereotypical academic, sensible and brunette. Instead she'll be blond and less academic , this making the audience think she'll be the scream queen when in actual fact she'll be the final girl.



Teaser Trailer.

Shoot Plan 3

Shoot Plan

Slasher Genre Overview Vodcast

Music In The Slasher Genre.

One of the most important aspects of any horror movie is the music as the music in horror films are used to increase fear levels and tension. The horror would decrease dramatically, if not disappear, without the music. Just imagine the shower scene in ‘Psycho’ without the shrieking violins, or the thunderous music as ‘Jaws’ approaches gone. It would completely dull the fear factor for the audience.

As with most elements in the horror genre, especially the slasher genre, the importance of music emerged with Alfred Hitchcock’s ‘Psycho.’ The shower scene music, is fundamental for the evolution of music in the horror genre. The violin in that scene is so effective because it is used as percussion, suggesting knife strokes. From ’Psycho’ onwards, horror movies and Hollywood started to pay attention to the score and sound effects more and more.

My Defnition Of Film Distribution

It's the action of sharing something out among a number of recipients, or the way in which something is shared out among a group or spread over an area, and in the film industry it's where the distribution companies make it available to watch a movie for the audience.






Helpful Links:

The Film Distributor...

Film Distribution...

What is Distribution?..

Evalution Question Help...

SlasherEG1: Halloween II orig

Halloween II 

(Rick Rosenthal, 1981)

PRODUCED BY: De Laurentiis, Universal Pictures
DISTRIBUTED BY: Universal Pictures (USA) Columbia-EMI-Warner (UK)
BUDGET: $2.5m
BOX OFFICE: $25.5m
IMDb Rating: 6.4
WIKI ,

RUNNING TIME OF OPENING: 6:45 mins

IDENTS:

De Laurentiis is revealed in the idents of this film however it's nothing high tec it's not original just something that looks as if it was put together to go with the rest of the sequence, whereas today you'll get idents like the Warner Brothers who have their own unique ident that stands out. Also like the first Halloween "Moustapha Akkad presents" is shown first showing the importance of the producer by revealing him before the actual title of the film, along with the stars names being revealed first.

TITLES:

The titles in this film are very odd compared to the first Halloween where the titles are shown at the start of the opening sequence , because in this the titles are revealed at the end of the opening sequence, this could of been done because this film is the follow up from the first Halloween. Also like the first Halloween both the producers, Dino De Laurentiis and Moustapha Akkad, have been revealed before the title, along with the main stars Jamie Lee Curtis, Donald Pleasence , which makes it seem like a common convention is this Halloween franchise. The title is then revealed after these and it's similar to the first Halloween with it being bold and the sans-serif font which most slasher films were to give the more serious feel to the film, also it's in red font on a black background standing out which is also significant for slasher films, and the red font is a signifier towards death and the slasher genre. Also the auteur theory is used again in the same way as it was in the first Halloween by repeating to reveal John Carpenter and Debra Hill the writers and the makers of the music.

 The auteur theory

The title

  

SOUND + MUSIC:

Just like the first Halloween Rosenthal decides to copy Carpenters idea of using the natural sound of the crickets at the start wether this was done for intertextual reference or for the same effect as carpenter it still works well to set the scene, and also as a genre signifier. Then when Mike Myers rises from the dead , so to speak, non-diegetic music is used to build tension and add the fear factor as the tempo builds up towards where Myers tries to strangle Laurie. The music is key in this opening as it plays with how the audience feels and controls the fear factor all the way through the opening sequence.

LENGTH OF TAKES + EDITING PACE:

Long take example.

Once again like in the first Halloween, as this was an old film it uses long takes with not much range of camera variety which is common in old films, but this doesn't give the same effect as the fast-paced editing used now because it doesn't look as believable and lacks in verisimilitude, for example when Laurie Strode is telling the kids to go down the street and call the police, they have a long emotional conversation where it would of been better if they did medium close up shots to show the emotion the characters would of been showing to make the audience feel it more.

Natural lighting.

However Rosenthal does use natural lighting well here with the shadowing for the light outside, which is useful to look at as natural lighting is a cinematographer's best friend when it comes to filming.

NARRATIVE ENIGMA V EXPOSITION:

This film uses the same exposition in the opening sequence like the first Halloween, as we learn about the setting and time because it's given to the audience, " Haddonfield Illinois" and then " October 31, 1978 " are presented to reveal exposition to the audience, so we know it's on Halloween night and it's 15 years on from the first Halloween so it'll follow on from the first making it the start of the franchise. Also Rosenthal use narrative enigma by making it look like the killer, Mike Myers, has been killed but then he disappears which leaves a cliff hanger and mystery to who the killer will be or if the killer is still alive.

SlasherEG2: Friday The 13th rem

Friday the 13th

 ( Marcus Nispel, 2009)

PRODUCED BY:  New Line Cinema, Paramount Pictures, Platinum Dunes 
DISTRIBUTED BY: New Line Cinema (USA)
BUDGET: $19m

BOX OFFICE: $64.9m
IMDb RATING: 5.5

RUNNING TIME OF OPENING:  23:47 mins

This film has a much longer opening sequence than the older films that I've looked at and more happens in this more modern slasher opening than the older ones.

 IDENTS: 

All these idents are much more high tec than the idents in the older slasher film that I've looked at showing the advance in technologies. Also the idents are shown in order of importance as  New Line Cinema is the most well known and successful. Then Paramount Pictures and finally Platinum Dunes, each ident lasts up to about 6 seconds which is common in the idents being displayed in films they're also all at the start, and all these idents act as a signifier to the genre with the red on black background also each ident has the same non-diegetic music playing over each of them, this is called an audio bridge.

 

 

 

 

TITLES:  

With this film it takes till the whole of the opening sequence is finished to reveal the title, which is commonly used in the modern day slashers. However compared to the old slasher such as the orignal Friday the 13th the opening sequence is only about 6 minutes long so the audience isn't left aslong to be revealed the title unlike this film. However it's gone for the commonly used

sans-serif font in the slasher genre to give the more realistic approach, and it's red on black font acts as a signifier to the genre slasher along with the sort of slashed out letters in the font giving the oblique look.

 

 OPENING SHOT: 

The opening shot has an audio bridge from the titles before carrying on the non-diegetic music into the first scene, and this is common in slasher films.

 EDITING: 

In the opening scene at the end of 1 scene it has a transition fading out from black to act as an ellipsis over time for when it goes from the past to the present this and with this it gives the audience the exposition to the location and time period.

LENGTH OF TAKES + EDITING PACE: 

Unlike the old slasher films such as the original Friday the 13th these modern slashers use fast pace editing for the killings which make it more realistic and make the preferred reading stronger, because with the long take in the old films it started to become unrealistic with the killings and in some cases start the opposite reading , where as with the fast-paced editing used now it's much easier to get the preferred reading in the slasher genre.

 

SHOT VARIETY:



2 Shot

Medium Close Up

This film uses a good range of shot variety and verisimilitude compared to the original Friday the 13th where there wasn't much shot variety for example the long point of view shots that were used, whereas in this film they use a much wider range and for the killings it's much more belieavable adding to the varisimilitude with the fast-pace shots. Also what this film does well is the close ups to show the character's emotions which i think the old slasher films lacked and this gives the audience the chance to feel the emotion of the characters.  

 

REPRESENTATIONS:

Scream Queen

They use the stereotypical scream queen in this film opening with her being busty and sexually active, and also the jock in the relationship with the scream queen, along with the obvious stereotypical masked killer. However it's difficult to talk about the final girl as there isn't one in the opening.

SlasherEG3: Friday The 13th orig

Friday the 13th 

( Sean S. Cunningham, 1980 )

PRODUCED BY:  Paramount Pictures, Georgetown Productions Inc., Sean S. Cunningham Films 

DISTRIBUTED BY: Paramount Pictures (USA), Warner Bros. Pictures ( Non-USA)

BUDGET: $550k

BOX OFFICE: $39.7m
IMDb RATING: 6.4

RUNNING TIME OF OPENING: 6:08 mins

IDENTS: 

Ident

Even though this film is a low budget compared to some of the high budget films such as Halloween II ( 1981, Rick Rosenthal ) it's still distributed by a studio film company Warner Bros. Pictures, and the film show the importance of this film company by only showing 1 ident and it being the Warner Bros Pistures.

TITLES:  

Title

This film has chosen to use the white font on the black background for the title of the film instead of a red font on a black background which is commonly used in slasher films. However this still gives the serious feel to it which the audience will feel. Also all upper cased letters are used which gives this serious effect again which most slasher film try to do. It has an audio bridge of non-diegetic music being played from the scene before, violis are being played at a fast pace which is commonly used in slasher films. 

SOUND + MUSIC:
The opening sequence starts by showing the moon on a spooky night and adding to this effect is the diegetic sounds from the crickets in the background, it then goes into a stalk scene where non-diegetic music is played with the screeching of violins which is commonly used in slashers to build the tension to what is about to happen. Also a piano is used with the violins which is what we could look at for our opening in a slasher when we're making ours. The tempo of the music changes slightly as well throught the scene as to raise the audiences heartbeat, which is also something we could be looking at to include in our film. This flms uses a good balance of both non-diegetics sound and diegetic sounds.

 LENGTH OF TAKES + EDITING PACE:
As this is an old film it uses long takes with not much range of camera variety which is common in old films, but this doesn't give the same effect as the fast-paced editing used now because it doesn't look as believable and lacks in verisimilitude, for example in the killings in modern day films they use much more takes where as here it's just one take which doesn't have the same effect and isn't as believable compared to the modern slashers.

NARRATIVE ENIGMA Vs EXPOSITION:
This film gives the exposition of the date and place when this text is show revealing it to the audience, which could also act of a sense of realism for the audience so they're adjusting to when and where this took place, sort of like a documentry. However narrative enigma is used when the killer is kept a mystery leaving the audience in question to who the killer might be, which is commonly used in all openings in slasher films and we can use this with our slasher film. 

SlasherEG4: Halloween orig

Halloween 

( John Carpenter, 1978 )

PRODUCED BY:Compass International Pictures, Falcon International Productions

Box Office

Budget:

$320k

Gross:

$60m                                                                   

RUNNING TIME OF OPENING: 6:45 mins

IDENTS:

Ident

"Compass International Pictures" ident is the only one shown in this film and it's not very high tec just basic and is on show for 4 seconds which is normal for idents. Also the non-diegetic music audio bridges from the ident to the next titles.

TITLES: 

The credits start by quoting "Moustapha Akkad presents" showing the importance of the producer by revealing him before the actual title of the film. "Donald Pleasence  in" is also mentioned before the title showing that he's a big star in this indie budget film which in common in indie films to reveal the start first, and then "John Carpenter's" is revealed with the title "Halloween" showing he's more important and probably more recognised this is also common in slasher films, it's called the auteur theory. "Halloween" is presented in sans-serif which most slasher films were to give the more serious feel to the film, also it's in red font on a black background standing out which is also significant for slasher films.

Star's name mentioned first.

 







SOUND + MUSIC:
Whiles the idents and titles go on screen non-diegetic music is being played which acts as exposition to the genre as it gives away that the genre might be a slasher, because it's a fast paced piano being played and it builds up getting louder toward the end of the credits whiles zooming in on the pumpkin, this is used to raise the heartbeat of the audience and build tension, and this sort of non diegetic music is a common convention used in most slasher film.

Then when it goes into the opening scene Carpenter chooses to use natural diegetic sounds, such as the owl to add this spooky effect, and the crickets in the background for when the killer is stalking up getting closer to the house building up to the climax. Also when the light turns off non-diegetic sound is played a high pitch screech to act as the trigger that somethings about to happen.

Distribution Companies.

Digitisation has changed the way the distribution industry operates now because of how hardrives and computers can hold films instead of paying thousands it simply can be done for free, and this way indie companies or even new film makers like us can stand a chance against the big time distribution companies, this is because most films now are distributed digitally by either social networking or other sites on the Internet.

Indie/Studio.

Indie Film Company

Studio Film Company

20th Century Fox and Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc, would be high end budget films , with the money to spend on casting like famous stars and the filming equipment where as Indie companies such as Optimum Releasing will be under a tighter budget and won’t often have Hollywood stars and would normally have actor that will be starring for the first time in movies, an example of this is Wes Craven’s original nightmare on elm street (1984) where Johnny Depp starred for the first time and this was by an indie company New Line Cinema whereas when he starred in the first Pirates of the Caribbean (2003) it was by a studio company Walt Disney Pictures with a high budget because by this film he was a well known actor.

SlasherEG5: Halloween rem

Halloween
 (Rob Zombie, 2007)

PRODUCED BY: Dimension Films, Nightfall Productions, Spectacle Entertainment Group
DISTRIBUTED BY: Dimension Films (USA), Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) (USA), Paramount Pictures (UK)

BUDGET: $15m

BOX OFFICE: $80m

IMDb RATING: 6.0

RUNNING TIME OF OPENING: 26:45 mins

IDENTS: Dimension Films is the only production company mentioned as the others weren't as it's the only studio company with importance, and like other idents it stays on screen for about 6 seconds making it seem like this is the common time for idents to be on screen.

TITLES:  The film title is shown straight after the production company ident is shown, it's before all the titles for the casting which isn't what most slasher films do they normally reveal the producer, director or stars before the film title. However this film is an acception, also it's gone for the more serious colours of font by using the white on a black background instead of what the other Halloween's used with a red font on a black background, this white font makes it look more serious and give the sense of realism along the the sans-serif font which is commonly used in slasher films giving the preferred reading.

LENGTH OF TAKES + EDITING PACE: Unlike the old slasher films such as the original Halloween these modern slashers use fast pace editing for the killings which make it more realistic and make the preferred reading stronger, because with the long take in the old films it started to become unrealistic with the killings and in some cases start the opposite reading , where as with the fast-paced editing used now it's much easier to get the preferred reading in the slasher genre.

 NARRATIVE ENIGMA V EXPOSITION: 

 This film goes against Barthe's theory about the narrative enigma as there is no mystery into who the killer might be as we see straight away that it's Mike Myers, so no information is held back from the audience instead exposition is provided in revealing the killer straight away. Also the audience is given a date and place in the opening scene when it's show as " HADDONFIELD, ILLINOIS OCTOBER 31" .

 

 

Scream Queen

REPRESENTATIONS:

They use the stereotypical scream queen in this film opening with her being blonde, busty and sexually active, and also even though we know who the killer is he still uses a mask so the setreotypical masked killer is used here as well.

 

 

 

SHOT VARIETY: 

Over the shoulder shot

 As it's a modern film we see a lot more camera shot variety than we do compared to the old slasher films where they took long takes , this way the audience can experience more, for example in the close ups when they're used in the shot reverse shot in the conversation the audience can see the emotion that the characters are feeling.

Medium close up

 

 MEMORABLE ASPECTS: 

What shocked me in this film was that there wasn't really any narrative engima been given which is surprising as it's very common in slasher films infact most slasher films if not all.