STORY BOARD

Case studies

One Missed Call (2008)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0479968/


2:11 minutes long

NARRATIVE AND GENRE ( macro elements )

What elements of the story are revealed? Your phone rings with a different ringtone to yours and you hear your death. You don't know who is calling and how. Lot of people die and one girl tries to find out who rings the phone and who is the source.

What characters appear? A few characters appear and you also see a few of them die. You can work out who the two main characters are by the camera being mainly focused on two girls but they show more of one with brown hair so you guess she is the main 

What iconic elements of the genre are present? There is creepy looking people who you see one minute then you don't the next. One scene is in a hospital. You can already see alot of people die just from the trailers.  

MISE-EN-SCENE.

What costume and make-up is visible? The make up of the victims is very natural , there clothing is casual. Throughout the trailer the main characters clothing turns from tight to baggy. 

What décor? The victims house is normal looking and nothing seems to be out of place very neat and tidy. The decor of the house where they link the call to is very empty and has what looks like to be a baby's crib. Also the walls are made out of stone.

What props? 4 flip up mobile phones in different colors  , red marble ball , a old cut up photo of a family.

How are the actors arranged within the frame? Sat by the window makes her look like an easy target and also sat close together. Girl is kept on the far left of the screen which makes you think something is going to come out at her from the right. Girl sitting on her own in a chair makes it look like a electrical chair. girl standing close to the camera and big stone house in the background makes it look creepy and spooky.

What locations have been used? Victims house , Alley way , Train track , police station , cafe  , construction site , old manor house.

SOUND

Describe the music used in the trailer. The sound used in the trailer is very dark. They play the same chimey ringtone over and over again to aware the audience this is a spooky creepy sound. The music played in the background is high pitched and almost like a nursery rhyme. There is also a ticking noise in the background while the music builds up and turns to a choir of people. They also use alot of heavy breathing noises and echoey sounds.

Dialogue- what do you notice about this? (Use quotation) 'Thats your voice , thats you dying' at an early stage they tell the audience what happens. 'It's like you get a voicemail , you hear your death and then you die' again they clearly tell the audience what its about. 

Is silence used in any particular way? Describe it. Silence is used a few times before something bad happend to create the audience a feel of no knowing and wanting to know what is happening.

Are any sounds amplified? They amplify the screams over the music.

CAMERA

Identify a sequence of shots used and for what effect. 

Medium close up

Two shot

close up

medium close up 

choker close up

choker close up 

low angle shot

medium shot

medium close up

over the shoulder shot

medium shot

medium close up.

Discuss the movement angle and position of the camera- are any elements used frequently? Why do you think 

this is? They use alot of medium close up to show the characters face and to recognize the main character.

Editing

What is the pace of the editing? Fast/ slow The editing is very fast as they use alot of black fade outs

Scream 4 (2011)

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1262416/

30 seconds long

• Black fade outs
• Deep mans voiceover
• Builds up
• Short 1 second clips
• Moves fast
• 
  

Horror film posters

Horror presentation

http://www.slideshare.net/geenelly/horror-films-10171204

SCREAM - codes and conventions

Scream

You may not survive the movie if you have sex. 
You may not survive the movie if you drink or do drugs. 
You may not survive the movie if you say "I'll be right back." 
Additional rules (according to the killer):

You may not survive the movie if you ask "Who's there?" 
You may not survive the movie if you go out to investigate a strange noise

Scream 2

The body count is always bigger. 
The death scenes are always much more elaborate, with more blood and gore. 

Scream 3

"You've got a killer who’s gonna be super human. Stabbing him won’t work, shooting him won’t work, basically in the third one, you gotta cryogenically freeze his head, decapitate him, or blow him up." 
"Anyone, including the main character, can die. This means you Sid." 
"The past will come back to bite you in the ass. Whatever you think you know about the past, forget it. The past is not at rest, any sins you think were committed in the past are about to break out and destroy you." 
Basically in the third movie, all bets are off.

Horror film poster

Horror film codes and conventions

• Codes and Conventions of a Horror

1. Example of Horror Films
   • “ Psycho”- Psychological
   • “ The shining”- Psychological
   • “ The exorcist”- Religious
   • “ Wolf Creek”- True story
   • “ The Decent”- Monster/Gore
   • “ Saw”- Psychological- gore
   • “ Texas Chainsaw Massacre”- Gore
2. Horror film
   • Horror Films are unsettling films designed to;
   • Frighten and panic
   • Cause dread and alarm
   • Invoke our hidden worst fears
   • Captivate and entertain us in a cathartic experience.
   • Often conclude in a terrifying shocking Finale.
3. Fears created by horrors
   • For different types of audiences it can deal with our fears;
   • Nightmares
   • Our vulnerability
   • Alienation
   • Revulsions
   • Terror of the unknown
   • Fear of death
   • Loss of identity
   • Fear of sexuality
4. Characters
   • There's always a lead character, that often results as the survivor in the film.
   • The Killer/ monster often has a trademark characteristic in the way he kills, for example the people he kills or the weapon he uses to kill them.
   • Its usually good against evil, the two characters conflict.
• The outcome is the good person always survives, or defeats the “bad guy.
• The villain tends to have a trademark characteristic as to how they kill e.g. weapons used, who they kill.
• Binary opposition good vs evil.
5. Sound 

Fast pace music for tense scenes or  action scenes 

Common use of choir singing.

Common use if a beat in the time of a drum/heart.

Piano/Organ music - whethr it be fast or slow it has a spooky feel.

      6. Location

Churches - huge relation to supernatural and Christ ( main base for supernatural genre)

Barns/farms - deserted , dark , old ( very traditional)

Fields, country roads - deserted, associated with creepy looking surrounds e.g. trees, animals and birds etc.

Things you are likely to see in a horror film which follow the traditional codes and conventions:

• An introduction to a typically normal day to day lifestyle.
• A bizarre/unknown mysterious death.
• The credits would fit into the theme of horror, by using a creepy font, and odd movement depending on the film and how modern it is.
• The majority of the characters would be quite young, most likely to be teenagers showing their vulnerability and naivety.
• If there are teenagers, it’s normally an American film so there would normally be a typical American teenage couple, i.e a ‘jock’ and a head cheerleader, most likely to be blonde.
• Mysterious unknown phone calls from the killer.
• Attempts at heroism, often from the teenage boys would be unsuccessful.
• Led to believe that the main character/victim would die, they would normally overcome the killer miraculously.

Audience Profile

Do not disturb.


Age: 15-25 
Sex: Male 
Ethnicity: White 
Education: Secondary School/College/University Students 
Lifestyle: Computer Games/Internet/Nerdy  
Location: Urban

My film will be aimed at 15-25 year olds who live in Britain as it will be shot in Britain as they can relate to the location. It will be mostly aimed at males as  .My film will be able to be seen at all A, B, C1, C2, D and E Demographic categories but my film is mainly aimed at B, C1, C2 and D Demographic groups. These groups intended for are the middle classed, unemployed group of people around which is around teen-young adult 15-25. 81% of 15-25 go to the cinema at least once a year. Teenagers and young adults were the most frequent cinema-goers in 2009.


For the age certificate being 15, this allows the film to be aimed at teens-young adults as a 15 certificated film can contain the same depth of an 18 film but in slightly less detail. We can do this by minimizing the swearing and the amount of violence in the film but still having enough for the realism of horror to be in effect. Also, certificating the film at 15 allows the audience of the film to be aimed at a wider range of people. More and more people are starting to play electronic games like the Playstation 3, Xbox 360 and standard computers. Over 16.71 million have an Xbox 360 and 39 million have a PlayStation 3.

S.W.O.T

Swot chart for...

Strengths

• strong genre 
• appeals to a wide range of audiences (mainly young people) 
• strong market to appeal 
•  you can make it with a low budget
• the story doesn't neccessarily have to make sense.
•  have suspense, tension, heart-racing action, and if the writing is good, the payoff of a satisfying ending.
• released around Halloween time.
• Around 214567980 teens in the world watch horror films.
• Paranormal Activity brought in  $193,355,800 (Worldwide) (21 January 2010)

• Annual Ticket Sales

  
  
  

  	1995	1996	1997	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008	2009	2010	2011
  Tickets (billion)	1.22	1.26	1.42	1.44	1.44	1.39	1.44	1.58	1.55	1.49	1.40	1.41	1.40	1.37	1.42	1.33	1.26
  Revenue ($bn)	$5.29	$5.59	$6.51	$6.77	$7.30	$7.48	$8.13	$9.19	$9.35	$9.27	$8.95	$9.25	$9.63	$9.85	$10.65	$10.46	$10.06

  
  
  Note: Figures for 2011 are at an annualized rate.
  
  

Weakness'

• Wont have top Hollywood actors in.
• Less publicity than other films coming out.
• Are around 45,678,091 horror films  (worldwide)
• Some big well known competitors coming out the same time like Paranormal Activity 3 ($114,559,442) (worldwide)
• 19 horror films coming out the same month.

• Top-Grossing Genres 1995 to 2011

  		Movies	Total Gross	Average Gross	Market Share
  1	Comedy	1,709	$44,109,306,498	$25,810,010	23.68%
  2	Adventure	492	$37,125,069,606	$75,457,459	19.93%
  3	Drama	3,014	$32,944,364,172	$10,930,446	17.69%
  4	Action	545	$31,305,996,370	$57,442,195	16.81%
  5	Thriller/Suspense	538	$14,730,162,612	$27,379,484	7.91%
  6	Romantic Comedy	393	$11,044,888,007	$28,104,041	5.93%
  7	Horror	318	$9,000,873,568	$28,304,634	4.83%
  8	Documentary	1,015	$2,044,463,420	$2,014,250	1.10%
  9	Musical	109	$1,739,896,338	$15,962,352	0.93%
  10	Black Comedy	81	$776,887,611	$9,591,205	0.42%

Opportunities   

• Halloween is coming up. 
• wide range of audience. 
• Mainly appeals to young people which is one of the best markets to appeal to.
• Low budget which makes it easier to break even. 
• Out in halfterm where young people will have alot of spare time

Threats 

• Other films in this genre would be coming out at the time. 
• Unknown director. 
• Not top actors will be in the film. 
• Low budgets. 
• Up against films which have much higher budgets.