Individual Analysis of Hair, Make-Up and Costume

Prop Ideas

Props are a significant and important part of any type of media; they contribute to the realism of the piece, for example a woman answering a phone or holding an inanimate object all helps for the audience to feel like what they are watching is real life and the possibilities of it happening to them all become very real, which of course is the desired effect we as a group hope to achieve.

The Screwdriver

Weapons are a typical and conventional prop that are needed in any successful horror movie. The weapon of choice in our horror will be a screwdriver. A screwdriver is quite a brutal weapon to use rather than a knife, the idea of stabbing another person with a screwdriver to stab and torture someone with. A screwdriver is better than a knife because it is unconventional and therefore perhaps more effected than a knife. By using a screwdriver we will be shocking our target audience and adding to the fear factor. We have also chosen the screwdriver to create a symbiotic link between the weapon of choice and the main predator in our trailer; Dennis, is ‘screwed up’ so it seems to make sense for him to choose a weapon which isnt exactly a ‘normal’ weapon of choice for a killer to choose as he is ‘screwed up’ and not ‘normal’.

The Wall of Photographs

A very effective prop we have decided to use is a wall of photographs that Dennis has in his house that he has taken of Mary-Anne and her family, he often sits at home and stares at these pictures. This is an instant warning to the audience that the menace in this film is clearly insane as the shot we show of him looking at the wall will be very intense in the trailer. By the audience viewing this in the trailer they will be able to instantly see the horror in our trailer and recognise that it belongs to the psychological sub-genre.

The Bunch of Flowers at The Grave

There will be a scene in the trailer where Mary-Anne lays flowers on her mother’s grave. Her mother has recently died under suspicious circumstances and Mary-Anne is overcome with grief. The flowers and scene in general will allow the audience to sympathise with Mary-Anne as she will be sobbing and look very distressed (The beginning of her mental state deteriorating) the audience may form a relationship with Mary-Anne and become protective of her and this will affect them when the torturing begins. The laying of the flowers on the grave does in a way represent the goodbye of purity and happiness in the film; Mary-Anne lays down a beautiful bunch of flowers and then will leave the flowers and from then on the trailer will lead into darkness; the flowers symbolise the happiness the woman once possessed, and the fact that it is now gone.

Dennis’ van

Another prop that will feature in our trailer will be Dennis’s van; it is a van that is blue with darkened windows. This reflects Dennis as a person; he is blue with depression and has a black soul. The van will be wherever Dennis is, whether he is in it or not. If the car is just parked outside it will be a warning to the audience that he will be appearing soon, and also a warning to Mary-Anne as she soon starts to notice the car parked outside of her house and then she begins to realise something creepy is happening around her. Dennis lurks in his van constantly watching the house; the fact it’s a van will unnerve the audience as he can just take anyone he likes whenever he wants, shove them in the back of his van and drive off to the destination of his choice; which may not be a nice one. This may create dramatic irony for the audience as if they catch on to what he is capable of they may guess that Mary-Anne will eventually be kidnapped. Dramatic irony is important to our target audience as they like to know what’s happening in the film constantly in order to keep their mind exercised.

Other less significant props will be used in the trailer that add to the main effect of the trailer such as a telephone that will ring and no one will be there and a wine glass that will signify the fact that Mary-Anne turns to alcoholism. What we hope is that the props above will create the unnerving, intriguing and sick to the pit of your stomach feeling about Dennis and his plans for Mary-Anne.

Individual Analysis of Props

Location Ideas

The Family Home

This is set in a quiet, suburban area, the ‘perfect’ family home. We also see 'the perfect family home' setting in the film 'Orphan'. The house is situated in a cul-de-sac, which could mean that Mary-Anne is at a dead end in her life or that her life is in danger of coming to an end. The use of a cul-de-sac could also symbolise a loss of hope generally, while there is, again, an element of irony because a cul-de-sac should offer protection as it, effectively, keeps intruders out. In this case, however, the characters remain exposed to danger. With the appearance of the street and the house in general, you would think that this family live in a safe environment, but obviously, this is not the case. In terms of the house, it is a three-bedroom terrace with a big front and back garden; the family are wealthy because Mary-Anne’s husband is a successful businessman. However, the house is not so big that it takes away the idea that Mary-Anne’s is a normal family living a normal life. The location of the family home creates realism for the audience, but also takes the audience to a new level of horror as once again a ‘safe’, ‘normal’ place is at the centre of dismay, robbing the audience of their faith in the safety of the family home.

Graveyard

We will be filming a scene at St Martin's Church/Graveyard, Ruislip. (see left) This is where Mary-Anne will be introduced to Dennis when she is laying flowers at her late mother’s grave after her mysterious death. This location follows horror conventions, as it is a typical location for a horror film. It is an eerie, dark and creepy place; perfect for our psychological horror. We see a similar use of location in The Uninvited when Anna is at a funeral. The act of Mary-Anne laying flowers on her grave will also be significant in the respect that it will demonstrate how, unlike Dennis, Mary-Anne knew her mother, had a relationship with her and shared a bond with her.

Car Park

We will also be filming in a car park (see right). This is where the main character, Mary-Anne will be kidnapped and where the secret will begin to be revealed to her. We have chosen this location because it is an every day place that the target audience will be familiar with. It will create realism for the audience and make the audience feel intrigued and scared, as they will feel the terrifying events that are occurring could happen to them. A car park is a ‘normal’ place for ‘normal’people.

The dark torture chamber

The final scene will be filmed in a cold, dingy, dirty, blood struck garage full of dangerous tools. It is where Mary-Anne is tortured and put through her worst nightmare. The tools connote danger and horror while the coldness reflects Dennis’ twisted mind. Meanwhile, the white walls suggests Mary-Anne’s innocence, vulnerability and purity.

Location Analysis of Existing Horrors

Camera Ideas

There are many ideas that can be explored when thinking about which type of camera effects that would be useful when filming our trailer. Each camera shot or angle have specific uses that generate a certain reaction from the audience, so when choosing the specific camera shot or angle it needs to be carefully done to give the best possible outcome for our audience.

We have chosen to use an 'extreme close up' shot whenever Dennis is on screen. (see still shots) The reason behind this choice is because our aim is for most of Dennis’s face to be hidden behind shadows or darkness. This suggests to the audience that this man has a darkness that he holds within. It also adds to the mystery of him; he’s never seen fully throughout the trailer which shows that the other characters in the trailer haven’t ever fully seen him either. This will also make the audience feel as if they too are in the movie as they are feeling the same way as the characters and are having the same experiences. Overall, the shot will create an eerie vibe that if Dennis has never fully been seen then how he is supposed to be caught?! These particular shots were inspired by director Stanley Kubrick - since he uses symettry within his films to create an eerie effect, however, since we do not have a huge budget, using a close up of the eyes helps to create symettry where we would otherwise be unable to.

'Close-up' shots of the character's faces will be a common feature in our trailer. (see still shot left) This shot helps the audience to register the raw emotion our characters will be showing. Choosing this particular shot was inspired by the classic psychological horror, Psycho as directed by Alfred Hitchcock. He used many close up shots during his films to really catch and enthuse the characters faces. This ultimately joins the audience into mirroring these emotions and feelings. These feelings will be hard to escape or ignore due to the adrenaline that is given by the character's faces being in a 'close up' shot on screen.

'Long shots' will also be used throughout the trailer. (see still shot right) This links Mary-Anne and her family, and family house all as one; signifying that the disruption won’t just be affecting Mary-Anne but the whole family home as well. This increases the tension as it shows Dennis’ capabilities to completely destroy a whole family to pieces. It also allows the audience to recognise the power of the human mind and how disastrous it could turn. By using a 'long shot' we are completely capturing all of Mary-Anne and her family into the shots, showing that all of her is being effected and this allows the audience to see her body language and her facial expressions mixed together to generate an ultimate reaction of emotion from the audience whether it be fear, anxiety or pity for the innocent woman and her family.

Other conventional shots will of course be used in our trailer such as 'establishing shots', 'medium shots' and 'medium long shots' (see stills below) etc, but these three (above) will be the ones that dominate our trailer and allow the success of the trailer to be higher as the chosen shots will be used effectively and to our advantage. Choosing these particular shots will give our group the perfect outcome that we have tried to achieve through thinking about which type of shots will be most effective.

Lighting Ideas

There are many different types of lighting that we could use in our trailer including: artificial lighting, ambient lighting, profile lighting, incident lighting, back lighting, available lighting and low key lighting etc. Lighting is very important in moving media; it is used to enhance the mood and atmosphere of the scene, to direct attention or reveal/hide the identity of a character and to convey time of day. Lighting such as, profile lighting, ambient lighting, incident lighting and artificial lighting are mainly used in horror films. We have chosen to speak about three types of lighting that will feature in our trailer, they are: profile lighting, ambient lighting and available lighting.

Ambient Lighting

Ambient lighting will be used throughout our trailer. Daylight will be used to portray the fact that everything seems normal even though it isn’t, time is still moving even when Mary-Anne isn’t, the sun always rises in the morning but will she ever rise? Moonlight will be used to create an eerie effect for the audience. It will create suspense for the audience as it is a common convention for horrifying things to happen at night time. The opening scenes will be filmed in the day to show happiness and brighter times and the ending scary scenes will be filmed at night. We see a similar use of lighting in 'The Uninvited' scary scenes are usually at night time.

Profile Lighting

In the trailer, Dennis’ full face and body is never revealed to the audience to keep them guessing about who he really is. Profile lighting will be used to make this possible, only one side of his face will lit to divulge his identity to the audience. The fact half his face is light and the other is dark highlights the fact that somewhere inside Dennis’ distorted, dark mind lies a man who is innocent and longing for someone to love him.

Available Lighting

Available lighting is any lighting that is not sunlight. Generally speaking, available lighting is lighting which is man-made and can be flicked on and off with a switch. In our trailer, available lighting will be used in a form of a torch. When Mary-Anne is captured the only light in the room will be from a torch, this will create a terrifying and eerie effect for the audience. It is a well known fact that people are scared of the dark, but not exactly the dark but what lurks within it. In the final scenes a torch will be shone into Mary-Anne’s face this will reveal her gruesome facial injuries and petrified expression.

Individual Analysis of Lighting

Film Name Ideas

We had many ideas for the title of our film, our ideas are below with our final decision...

‘The Unearthing’

This title would suit our horror film as it hints towards the narrative (i.e. Mary-Anne unearths a horrible secret.) It also creates a sense of intrigue for the target audience, who will naturally want to know what is actually ‘unearthed’ within the film. The word ‘earth’also connotes natural imagery; since birth is a natural part of life, and since Mary-Anne’s mother, Ethel, put Dennis up for adoption, she is going against human nature. The prefix ‘un’ is used in words which suggests something is not quite right and negative e.g unusual, unknown. Therefore ‘un’ and‘earth’ put together subtly signal further towards the narrative of the film –therefore this title is extremely appropriate. It could also further be argued that ‘earth’ signals specifically towards mud – disgusting, dark and grim, just like the truth Mary-Anne discovers.

‘The Unwanted’

We like this title as, after all, Dennis is the unwanted child within the film. It is also upfront and blunt compared to the other titles. It suggests Dennis never was and never will be wanted in anyone’s life – a fact he is struggling to deal with throughout the movie and throughout his life. It also reflects the fact that Mary-Anne’s life was perfect until Dennis came into the picture – his presence causes unwanted problems and disturbs Mary-Anne’s peaceful, happy life. However, this title does also suggest that the disruption within Mary-Anne’s life is caused by a presence, as opposed to a person, and therefore isn’t very representative of the actual narrative or sub-genre therefore this title could possibly attract the wrong kind of audience.

‘The Forgotten’

This title could be extremely appropriate, as it, again, conventionally hints towards the narrative of our film (a forgotten son comes back to wreak revenge on his sister). ‘The’ also suggests that his presence has a significant impact within Mary-Anne’s life, as, after all, he is the most important role within the narrative. However, this title does also suggest, again, that a force comes to disturb Mary-Anne’s life, as opposed to a person. You can also link this title to 'The Uninvited'

‘If You Sit Quietly’

This is a significant line within our film; Dennis says this throughout the film as he was told to sit quietly by his abusive foster mother and it is stuck in his warped mind. The fact Dennis tells Mary-Anne to ‘sit quietly’ also suggests the narrative and the sub-genre – he is trying to control her, and get into her mind (making it a clear psychological horror). Therefore its eerie-ness will stand out to the audience, making it memorable and an appropriate title for our film.

‘Forgotten’

This title is significant of the fact that Dennis is forever alone and is also forgotten by his family – the single word represents the loneliness which drives Dennis to stalk his sister, Mary-Anne. The fact it is a single word also makes it sound much more dramatic, than say, ‘The Forgotten’ as it is a word which doesn’t seem to make sense on it’s own. This makes the audience much more curious about who/what has been forgotten and why; they need to figure it out by watching the movie, and therefore as it provides food for thought, it will attract the perfect target audience. Therefore this is why we have selected this title as the title for our film; although ‘If You Sit Quietly’and ‘The Unearthing’ are extremely suitable titles for our film, we feel that ‘Forgotten’gives it a much more chilling feel.

Film Magazine Name Ideas

In our attempts to create a unique name for our magazine, we explored a number of possible options that are displayed below…

Film Fresh

We have chosen this as a possible name for our film magazine because it has a quirky and cool feel to it. Our magazine is about films and it is fresh, full of all the newest gossip in the film industry including actors and films and this is why it is an option. However, we chose not to use this one as our target audience were not fans (as you can see by the pie chart) and we felt it sounded unprofessional and childish.

Filmtastic

‘Filmtastic’is another great idea for our film magazine; it reminds the reader that the magazine is fanatical about fantastic films. The title suggests that the magazine offers fantastic, intriguing information about films that would appeal to the reader. However, we chose not to choose 'Filmtastic' as it sounds a little bit too youthful, light-hearted and unsophisticated, which could alienate an audience of intelligent professionals.

Screen/Silver Screen

'Silver Screen' is a chain of cinemas, just like ‘Empire.’ We thought this was a good title for our magazine because readers will screen the films they read about and notice it is similar to 'Empire' as they are both cinema chains. 'Empire' is a well established film magazine company and we want ours to be too. 'Silver Screen' is one of our favourite ideas but we left it to our target audience to decide...

Cinematic

We like the idea of our film magazine being called ‘Cinematic’ because it is interesting and different. It suggests to the reader that the magazine is full of all the new films in the cinema, offering views, write ups and ratings about films. It sounds professional and sophisticated with a hint of fun which is what we are aiming to create for our magazine. 'Cinematic' is another of our favourite choices.

Our group couldn’t decide which title to use as we like them all equally, especially 'Cinematic' and 'Silver Screen' so we asked our target audience which one they’d prefer in a survey...These are the results:

It was a close call between ‘Cinematic’ and ‘Silver Screen’ but ‘Cinematic’ was the most favoured choice of film magazine title. There was a range of different reasons why they chose this title, most of our audience said they chose it because it makes the magazine sound professional, elegant and sophisticated which is exactly the type of style we are going for. Many people said the word ‘Cinematic’is unique yet traditional and makes you think of classic films. Also we believe that it is a convention of film magazines to have a one-word title such as‘Empire’ and ‘Cinematic’ is one word therefore we are embracing typical film magazine conventions to make our magazine front cover look as professional as possible!

Tagline Ideas

We wanted a tagline that hinted at the narrative and combined and complemented the image and title of the film. Below each tagline we have positives (+) and negatives (-) of the tagline(i.e. hints at the narrative + , not scary enough -)
As we changed the idea for our poster we obviously had to change the tagline, at first we were going to use 'A tormented soul never forgets' obviously this had to be changed as it no longer matched the image. We decided to use 'Blood is thicker than water' as our final tagline, although in the brainstorm a negative of this tagline is that it is not scary enough, we now believe it is a perfect tagline as it hints at the narrative and complements the new image for the poster (blood tear drop).

Tagline ideas from charmitch21

Film Magazine Idea

When it came to creating the film magazine, we wanted it to look as professional as we could make it look. From researching existing film magazines which promoted horror, we decided that in order for it to look professional, we had to choose one of two options; make a film magazine which is solely dedicated to the horror genre, or create a film magazine about film in general, with the main sell-line promoting our horror film/the front cover dedicated to our horror film. We started thinking about what kind of magazine to make, but were unable to make a decision collectively. 

Because of this, we started researching existing media texts, and found that when it came to film magazines that were dedicated to horror, such as Fangoria, there wasn’t any available in print, and there were very few in general. We then researched more into general film magazines, such as Total Film and Empire, and found that none of these had ever had a horror film being promoted on the front cover. This made the decision really difficult as we worried that the film poster wouldn’t look professional at all. However, we felt that Empire and Total Film looked extremely professional, and since there was many examples available in print, it would be better for our group to take inspiration from these magazines, by creating a general film magazine, but break conventions by promoting our horror on the front cover of a general film magazine. Even though this went against what our focus group preferred, we felt that choosing to do this meant that our film magazine would look as professional as it could, which would fulfill the aim that we had when we started the project. 

We decided to aim it at a similar target audience to Empire, as this magazine was a big influence for ours, because of it's reputation when it came to film magazines. This meant creating our film magazine for a male audience, who are ABC1 and mostly aged between 15 to 24, who are extremely interested in the world of cinema. 

Introduction to Characters and Actors

Main Character: Mary-Anne

Portrayed by: Lyndsay Burch

Mary-Anne is a stay at home mother, who is happy in her marriage to her loving husband, John. Although she isn’t career minded, as a person she is an intelligent, strong and independent woman. She is turned into a shadow of her former self once she discovers she is being stalked, causing her marriage to start to crumble...

We chose Lyndsay to be the lead actress within our trailer, as she appeared keen to play a part in the trailer in order to gain acting experience, since it is a hobby of hers. She is also much older than us, which we felt would make the trailer look professional; featuring real adults would mean our audience would be able to relate to it better, and the film would seem much more realistic. Since she is blonde, we also wanted to use her in order to defy conventions; throughout the film, the audience will be wondering if she will have the same fate as many other blondes in horror movies, for example, Casey Becker in Scream. Since this is a psychological horror, the women who feature are often brunette and, therefore, 'smart' - we wanted to challenge this stigma. 

Main Character: Dennis

Portrayed by: Bob Mitchell

Dennis is a bitter middle-aged man who has seeked revenge on his mother, Ethel, and now wants to take away everything Mary-Anne has in life that makes her happy. Although he has stalked Mary-Anne for years before he tries to kill her, he becomes more and more obsessed as time goes on – from killing Ethel, and getting away with it, he feels like he now has the power to ruin Mary-Anne’s life – something he has always wanted to do...

We chose Bob to play Dennis because he was one of the few adult males who fitted the image we had of Dennis in our mind; he was also willing to act within our trailer, and was keen to help out. We also felt he looked somewhat similar to Anthony Hopkins, who plays Hannibal Lecter in Silence of the Lambs - another psychological horror. This will therefore anchor his 'psycho' look. 

Character: John

Portrayed by: Jake Walker

John is a career minded male, who loves his wife, Mary-Anne and daughter, Lizzie, very much. He is the main breadwinner in the household, and therefore isn’t at home very much. Due to this, he fails to catch Dennis when he is stalking Mary-Anne, and so doesn’t believe her when she tells him she is ‘being followed’. This causes their marriage to break down...

We chose Jake to play John because although he is an adult, he and Lyndsay (who is playing Mary-Anne, his wife) look around the same age range. He was also often available to film a lot of the time, and is good-looking, making him suitable for the role, as it add's to the appeal of Mary-Anne's idyllic family, giving Dennis more motive for 'revenge'.

Character: Lizzie

Portrayed by: Emily Mitchell

Lizzie is a quiet teenager who believes she is misunderstood; she is an ‘emo’. She appears to not get on with her parents, who can be strict, but, although she’d never admit it, they are a big part of her life. Since she has just hit adolescence, she is often out with her friends, and so doesn’t notice directly how her mother, Mary-Anne, changes, once she discovers she is being stalked...

We chose Emily as she is a very experienced actress; she appeared in the West End when she was younger. We felt that she could relate to Lizzie’s personality a lot, as they are around the same age and have similar interests, therefore we felt she could make the role her own, and truly embody who Lizzie is. 

Practice Shots

 

Below are images we decided not to use for our poster and magazine front cover and shots we took of our actors in character. We took a range of images, using different camera angles and shots to give us a variety to chose from. There are images of Lyndsay and Robert, because at first we were going to use Robert to star in the magazine front cover and poster but then we decided to use Lyndsay (reasons for this decision are stated below the practise shots):

Call Sheets/Filming Schedule

Film Poster Mock-Ups

 

As you can see below we had many different ideas for our film magazine poster and our idea evolved after trying new things out. Mock up number 4 was going to be our final until we changed our idea completely. However, our old ideas are below and have been analysed to explain and justify our initial ideas..

Mock up number 1 shows a long shot of the back of a man (our main character, Dennis) standing in a dark room holding a bloody screw driver. We liked this idea as a screw driver is the weapon he uses to try and kill his victim, Mary-Anne. In this mock up we presented the title of the film ‘Forgotton’ in a display font to see what it looked like. We decided that we didn’t like it as after research we found that psychological horror posters usually use a script font for the title and we didn’t want it to be unconventional. Our tagline at this stage was ‘He’s Coming to Get You’ which is displayed at the top of the frame and institutional information is conventionally at the bottom of the frame. We decided the relaease date of our film would be Friday the 13^th as this is renowned as a terrifying day. We odted not to choose this as our poster as the font of the title is unconventional, and the screw driver suggests a slasher film.

Mock up number 2 is a medium long shot of man (our antagonist, Dennis)with only half of his face showing. The half you can see is very creepy as he has a disturbing smile on his face. We decided against the idea of this image as when we tried it we found it hard to create profile lighting and to make it look professional. Moving on from the image, the title of the film ‘Forgotten’ is presented in a script font so therefore keeping up with common conventions of psychological horror films. Also, the tagline and release date is presented underneath the title and the institutional information is conventionally at the bottom of the frame in a tall display font. The colours within the mock up are very dark and plain because we didn’t want it to look extravagant as that is unconventional.

Mock up 3 shows a long shot of the back of our antagonist; once again we want to keep up with the mystery of who he is. In this mock up it shows him looking at a wall of photos of his victim who he has been stalking for many months. We liked this idea as it hints more at the narrative. We wanted a way to incorporate Mary-Anne into the poster without her actually physically being in it and the wall of photos is how we decided to achieve that. He is also holding a photo of her which is on fire which hints at the fact that this man doesn’t like this woman. The title is once again conventionally presented in a script font. However, in this mock up we changed the tagline. We done this because we thought ‘He’s Coming to Get You’ was slightly childish and hinted at the slasher genre. We feel the tagline‘A Tormented Soul Never Forgets’ is a lot more chilling and a lot more like a tagline a psychological horror would use. Also, it hints at the narrative of our film. Even though we like this idea, when we tried to photograph it, setting the photo alight was quite a safety hazard so we decided not to use this mock up as our final one.

Finally, mock up 4 is the one we eventually came up with. It is a medium close up of our antagonist looking at the wall of photos, so we still have the protagonist subtly introduced in the poster. The title is in a script yet creepy font and the tagline and institutional information is conventionally at the bottom of the poster. This was our favourite because the whole poster combines to hint at the narrative and it is also creepy and intriguing.







After analysing and discussing these ideas we decided that we didn't like this idea any more. We felt having the image solely of his back broke conventions too much. There was no direct address, it wasn't scary enough and was too ambiguous. We decided to use the protagonist, Mary-Anne instead below is the mock up of our new film poster: 

Film Magazine Mock-Ups

We had one idea and one idea only for our film magazine. We didn’t want it to be a horror film magazine wholly because after researching them we found them ‘tacky’ and unprofessional looking. We decided for it to be a normal film magazine but the Halloween/horror special! And we decided our film ‘Forgotten’ to be the main sell-line! And after a surveying our target audience we decided to call the magazine ‘Cinematic’. Our first mock up shows Dennis as the image, however this had to be changed to Mary-Anne after we decided to change the poster, so obviously the magazine had to be changed as well to create a symbiotic link. Below you can see the idea with Dennis and the final mock which is of Mary-Anne:

Storyboard

Storyboard from charmitch21

Ancillary Tasks