- Alarm clock rings at the same time, receives a phone call
telling him to wake up and come to station by a friend.
- Main character wake up from bed and vision of his room is
blurry.
- Puts on slippers and heads toward the bathroom.
-Brushes Teeth and is washing hands, sees blood on his hands so frantically starts washing his
hands, glances at the mirror for a split second and looks down again and sees
no blood.
-Washes face and is drying with towel
-As the towel covers the screen, when the towel comes down off his face the scene has changed back to his bedroom
-Gets change and Runs downstairs while putting on tie.
- Unlocks the door, turns back round to lock it and turns
around but sees a scary Zombie person.
- Film journey to train station
- Film him walking down the road and comes to a stop.
- About to cross the road but starts to hear voices, feels
dizzy until someone budges past him and he is back to normal.
- Taps in at station and walks to the platform.
- He sits in the train and a flash of a dead body appears next
to him.
- The arm of the dead body touching him and he has a flash
back of him putting on gloves and sharpening knives.
-The screen Blacks out.
As we had made our decision as a group on what our concept should be we now moved on to develop our plot.
Equilibrium - A group of students wake up and get ready to go to university. They brush they teeth and get ready as they do every morning.
Disruption - The Group of friends go to a nearby hypnotist show. One of the friends, 'Jason' was targeted by the hypnotist and was hypnotized in the audience without no one noticing him do so. 'Bob' begins to sleep walk, but this isn't normal sleep walking, as 'Bob' kills people in his sleep but has no memory of doing so.
Recognition - 'Bob' begins to have flashbacks of the events that take place during his sleep, he realises the horrific things that he is doing, that he is murderer. He has no choice but to turn to his friends for help, they try to figure out whats wrong with him.
Repair - They realise the murders only began after the hypnotist show as 'Bob' sees flashes of the hypnotist in his dreams, so the group go out to find this man and to put a stop to the murders. However they cant find the hypnotist as he left town without a trace. 'Bob' tries to stay awake as long as he can but falls asleep. He attacks his friends and his friends have no choice but to kill him.
Return- After 'Bob' funeral, the friends make there way back to there homes and try to return to normal university life.
Todorov believed that every story has a 5 stage narrative structure to it.
Stage 1: Equilibrium, this is what is 'normal' life for the characters, what they do on a day to day basis.
Stage 2: Disruption, this is something that causes a disruption in the characters 'normal' life.
Stage 3: Recognition, this is when the characters realise what the disruption in there lives is and they plan to resolve the issue.
Stage 4: Repair, this is when action is taken by the characters to resolve the Disruption.
Stage 5: Return, this when the characters return to the equilibrium, 'normal' life is restored or they establish a new normality. Example 1: 'Finding Nemo'(click here to view trailer)
Equilibrium: 'Marlin'(Nemos' dad, fish) is very anxious about 'Nemo 'being independent, 'Nemo' is embarrassed of his Dad.
Disruption: 'Nemo' gets caught by human divers and is taken away.
Recognition: 'Marlin realises 'Nemo' is lost, he panics and then decides to search for his son; meanwhile 'Nemo' realises he is captive and plans his escape back to the ocean.
Repair: 'Marlin' puts his plan into action and swims across the ocean to find his son, he finds Nemo.
Return: 'Marlin' and 'Nemo' are reunited, they return to their home. 'Marlin' is now less anxious and allows 'Nemo' to be more independent, 'Nemo' is no longer embarrassed of his father, instead he sees him as a Hero.
Example 2: 'Immortals'(click here to view trailer) Equilibrium: 'Theseus' is living his normal life as a peasant with his mother, they live in a small village in Greece.
Disruption: 'Theseus' mum is murdered, his village is destroyed, others in his community are killed however he is held captive and accepts defeat.
Recognition: 'The Oracle' saves him as she see's him in a vision, after escape captivity, they plan to stop the evil King from releasing the Titans.
Repair: They confront the King, however he manages to release the Titans, The Gods come down from heaven to aid 'Theseus', They fight the Titans and stop them from being released into the Mortal World. 'Theseus' Kills the Evil King.
Return: 'Theseus' dies as a Hero and is given a place in Heaven as an immortal, He is also gifted with a Son. The Son lives on earth with his mother 'The Oracle' While 'Theseus' is up in the heavens fighting the war against 'The Titans'.
A title Sequence is usually presented at the start of a movie, this helps set the tone at the start of the movie.
Here are some of the conventions of a title sequence:
Theme Music- Many Title sequences have some kind of theme music that is linked to the main characters, when the audience hears this music they know the character is coming, for example James Bond has his own theme music which is shown in James Bond Dr. No title sequence and again in James Bone Tomorrow Never Dies title sequence. This theme music is played regularly in all James Bond movies.
Names of cast and crew -Every title sequence has the name of the Producer, Director, Main actors in the movie, and some of the crew. These names are usually placed on top of the images we see in the title sequence. We can see examples of this in all title sequences. Distributors -These companies are the people that sell/advertise the film before and after the films release. They are shown at the start of the title sequence. Here are some well known Distributors.
Title of Film - Every title sequenceshows the name of the Film usually near the start of the movie but sometimes at the end to. Enigmas - Enigmas are questions which the audience wants answers to. Title sequences use images and sound to create Enigmas. The more Enigmas a title sequence has the more likely the audience are to continue watching the film as they want the answers to all there questions.
Title Sequence analysis
Cirque Du freak
Shot
Shot 1 - The first thing were shown is the name of the distributor, Universal pictures is well known in the movie industry so the audience are likely to recognise the name and link it to past films they've seen.
Shot 2 - Were shown the title soon after as the audience need to know what their watching so they can refer to the film by its title after the movie.
Shot 3 - Shows us the name of an actor, again some would recognise the name and link it to past films they've seen, if they liked the movie the actor was in before then they would be thinking positive about this movie, however if they dislike the actor they may get put off. The shot shows a Grave yard after zooming into a mans mouth, the man is most likely to played by the actor 'John C. Reilly' and the mouth of the man having 2 big sharp teeth tells us the plot involves vampires.
Shot 4 - We see a Spider which shoots its web and the name 'Chis Massoglia', another actor. We see the spider and its web a few times so the spider is also likely a key part of the plot.
Shot 5 - We see two people running from something and shadows trying to catch them, they have strings attached to them like puppets. We see them running throughout the title sequence so they must represent the two main characters, they must spend most of the film running from something chasing them. This creates Enigmas like who are they running from and why are they running?
Shot 6 - We see the name of a crew member 'Special effects supervisor Todd Shifflet', we also see a woman with lots of hair on her chin, this tells us that there's probably a bearded lady in the 'cirque du freak'.
Shot 7 - We see a graveyard and the names of the executive producers on the gravestones. This makes us think the film will be set in a graveyard and there's lots of death to come.
Shot 8 - We see the name the writer who wrote the original book that the movie was based.
Shot 9 - A shot of a puppeteer who is pulling the strings of the two characters we see running throughout the title sequence. We wonder who is, he is in control of them so he must be another key character in the film.
Catch Me If You Can
Shot 1 - In the first shot we see the name of the production company, 'Dream works pictures'.
Shot 2 - Were introduced to character walking, hes played by a well known actor Leonardo DiCaprio.
Shot 3 - In this shot were introduced to another character, played by the actor Tom Hanks, he is looking at Leonardo DiCaprio's character.
Shot 4 - After we See Tom Hanks Chase Leonardo DiCaprio the title comes up, 'Catch me if you can'. The title links to the chase in the title sequence.
Shot 5 -We see a police car chasing a taxi, we assume this is Tom Hanks chasing Leonardo DiCaprio. We also see a name of another member of the cast Martin Sheen.
Shot 6 - We see a character swimming in a pool and a woman sitting by the pool and the name Amy Adams.
Shot 7 - In this shot we see One character running from the scene dressed as doctor and a detective talking to the nurse and looking for the Doctor. We also the names of other cast and crew members.
Shot 8 - We see a party and Big Piano, we also see who made the music John Williams which links to the Piano.
Shot 9 - We see the detective chasing the man again and another crew members name, Screenplay by Jeff Nathanson.
A lot of Enigmas are created. Why is he running? Why is he dressed as an airline pilot and then a doctor? Who are the Women? Why are the police chasing him? What did he do?
These questions intrigue the audience and makes them watch on.
My group and I decided not to use my concept as none of us were intrigued by it so we decided to work together to come with a completely different concept. Group concept development
We decided we wanted to do a horror movie and came up with a number of different ideas for this. First we thought of doing a movie about demons and demonic possessions. However, there are already a lot of movies out that have a similar concept. As we wanted to something more original. we decided to think again. I then came up with idea of following the life of a priest who goes out and performs exorcisms on possessed people regularly. We could show how this 'job' or 'duty' effects his life and the risks and troubles he goes through facing these evil demons. But my group members weren't keen on the idea so we came up with another one.
Final Concept After a long discussion we came to an agreement of this concept. A hypnotist, hypnotizes a university student, the student begins to act in strange ways while he's asleep but he never realizes what he's done.The genre of this movie will be thriller/horror. The main target audience will be 15-25 year old's as the main character is a young adult so we want to target an audience of a similar age group as they would be able to relate to the character in some ways. We had some inspirations for this Film concept from the Scream movies as they also involve a serial killer, so we took the idea of the a serial killer and tweaked it to make them the victim instead of the villain which is one of the unique selling points of our film concept. Another unique selling point was that there aren't many movies that come to mind involving a hypnotist. We all thought this was a good concept idea so we decided to ask some people outside of our group what they thought of our film concept.
Here's what we found...
After our audience research we decided to keep our Final Film concept the same.
After researching into the Horror Genre, this is what I found:
Horror film is a genre that aims to create a sense of fear, panic,
alarm, and dread for the audience. These films are often unsettling and
rely on scaring the audience through a portrayal of their worst fears
and nightmares. Horror films usually center on the arrival of an evil
force, person, or event. Many Horror films include mythical creatures
such as ghosts, vampires, and zombies. Traditionally, Horror films
incorporate a large amount of violence and gore into the plot.
Examples of Horror Film:
(click titles to view trailers)
A Nightmare on Elm Street - Freddy Krueger, an evil being from another world, stalks a group of teenagers and kills them through their dreams.
Saw - Two men are held hostage by a psychopath, who is
set on teaching his victims the value of life by putting them into
demented life or death games.
Friday the 13th - While trying to re-open a summer camp, a group of camp counselors are mysteriously murdered by a machete swinging slasher.
Sub-genres of Horror:
Comedy-Horror
Comedy-Horror combines comedy with traditional horror movie themes and
characters. Comedy-Horror films aim to scare
the audience, but also provide comical outlets that let the audience
laugh at their fear.
Examples: Beetlejuice, Zombieland, Shaun of the Dead. Teen-Horror
Teen-Horror is a sub-genre that revolves completely around a teenager or
a group of teenagers. Typically, these movies have a large cast and a
clear hero or heroine. Teen-Horror films often play upon traditional
teenage issues, such as dating and prom, and turn them into suspenseful
and thrilling situations.
Examples: I Know What You Did Last Summer, Scream, Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Monster-Horror
A Monster film is sub-genre of Horror that centers on a struggle between
human beings and a monster(s). Often, the monster in the film has been
created in an “experiment gone wrong.” The monster usually serves as a
villain, and the film portrays a hero or heroine that ultimately saves
the world from the monster. Although these movies commonly fall into the
Horror genre, Monster films have a long tradition within
Science-Fiction and Fantasy film as well.
Examples: Aliens, Godzilla, Feast. Slasher
Slasher film is a sub-genre of Horror film that revolves around a
psychopathic killer. This killer stalks and murders his victims in
extremely violent and memorable ways. Though it centers on a specific
killer, the violence is what sets Slasher films apart from other horror
films. A Slasher film will devote more screen time to portray murder and
mayhem than a traditional Horror film.
Examples: Halloween, My Bloody Valentine, Black Christmas. Supernatural-Horror Supernatural-Horror film is a sub-genre that includes ghosts, demons, or
other depictions of supernatural occurrences. Often,
Supernatural-Horror films combine elements of religion into the plot.
Common themes in Supernatural-Horror films include the afterlife, the
devil, and demonic possession. Unlike Religious Thrillers,
Supernatural-Horror films are not limited to specific religious elements
and can contain more vivid and gruesome violence. Examples: The Exorcism of Emily Rose, The Ring, The Omen. Zombie-Horror Zombie film is a sub-genre of Horror film that portrays mindless human
beings who are raised from the dead. These films often include a Zombie
invasion, and center around Zombies feasting on human flesh. The plot of
a Zombie film then revolves around the struggle between the living, and
the living-dead. Zombie film not only falls into the Horror genre, but
Sci-Fi, Thriller, and Comedy as well. Examples: Land of the Dead, Shaun of the Dead, 28 Days Later.
Atmosphere
Dark scenes filled with disturbing shadows and strange and
alarming props are typically seen in horror movies. These scenes reflect
the eerie atmosphere required tocreate a frightening
mood. These scenes create suspense and viewers can "get the
creeps" before the actual horror arrives.
Sound
Horror films typically turn normal sound effects into
"creepy" sound elements. With good timing, a sudden loud bang or a
falling object crashing to the floor will deliver a shock factor. It
can also involve a jittery scene set in dead silence, which makes the
anticipation of what comes next more frightening. The beat, pacing and instruments of the music help establish tension in horror movies.
Graphic Scenes
Most horror films include graphic scenes of explicit gore.
These elements typically feature violence caused by humans, monsters or
supernatural beings. Computer advancements that started to show up in
movies in the late 1980s made it possible for film makers to create
convincing special effects. Horror film makers used those special
effects to make their scenes of violence more graphic. 1980s and
1990s horror were mostly low-budget slasher films. By the 2000s, horror
movies typically featured a torture, murder or revenge theme that created horrific scenes.
Evil Forces
A horror movie antagonist can be any type of person, animal
or creature that represents some kind of evil force. Some common evil
elements as of 2011 are ghosts, werewolves, vampires, demons, vicious
animals, cannibals, zombies, masked killers and deranged beings. Victims
of these evil forces are usually characters that have apparent
weaknesses of character or physicality. They are the underdogs that
either fall prey to the evil forces or gather the courage to defeat
them.
The Protagonist
A horror movie Protagonist is usually a female character. This is
because stereotypically, Men think they are able to overcome a threat
more readily than a women, also the audience wouldn't be as scared if
the protagonist was high school football player/jock because they would
feel he can handle the situation by beating up the
slasher. However if the Protagonist is Female it would be more effecting
in creating suspense, as stereotypically, females are weak, vulnerable
and cant protect themselves, so the audience feels having a woman running
for her life is a lot more scarier as its more believable that
the killer will get her.
Distributors
Dimension Films distributes well known films of the horror genre such as 'Scream', 'Halloween', 'The Brothers Grim', 'Feast', 'Black Christmas', so we thought they would be a good distributor for our movie as well as New line cinema another well known distributor of 'Friday the 13th', 'A Nightmare on Elm Street', 'Final Destination' and 'Bride of Chucky'. This made them both an obvious choice as our film distributors.
