Music/Sound Research

Slasher Film Music Research

First Cut Vlogs/Log of progress made filming "The Executioner"

Log:

Wednesday 15th December 2015-

We filmed shot 8, which was of the executioners layer where he keeps all his weapons and spends most of his time planning how to kill his next person. We shot this in the drama studio and used some props such as knifes and a rocking chair to create a mysterious atmosphere. During filming this shot, Mitchell and I used our phone torches to act as a dim spotlight as we couldn't get the real spotlights to work. This worked just as well and turned out looking good on camera. We purposely chose to have a dim light as we wanted it to look dark and have the light just focus on particular things, for example the weapons. We used the tripod with the wheels as we wanted to move the camera around for some of shots and as it was easier.

Thursday 16th December 2015-

We filmed shot 6, which was of the executioners layer with him kneeling on the floor surrounded by photos of his victims. We also decided to add something new to the opening sequence, this included filming close ups of one of the victims face and then the executioners face. When we edit these they will be flicking at a fast pace between the both of them to symbolise that the executioners mind is set on his victims. In order to film all of these shots we used a different drama studio as we were able to get those spotlights to work. Mitchell was in charge of controlling the spotlights, Jaden was in charge of filming and I was in charge of laying out the props. When we did close ups of the executioners face we cut out the white light and just had the red lights on as this symbolised danger and death. We also decided that he should rip up one of his victims photos as it would show his aggression and obsession.

Currently our film would most likely be a low 2 or high 1, I decided this after watching our current piece and comparing it to past pieces displayed in class. All of our group agree that a level 4 can be easily achievable if we re film all the footage and execute our plan well. We need to get a new mask as the one we are currently using has a sizing issue, too small for our villain and it is also slightly broken. Reasons for low level : 

Not enough footage (only 50s)
Not enough camera shot variations
Editing is poor as we have rushed it so far.
No credits added yet.

 Points to improve:
 Improve lighting on set
 Re-film all footage
Take time over our editing procedure Add effective , not 'in your face credits'
 Our film is lacking fluidity at the moment. The flow of the film needs to seem more cinematic and less like a trailer, this can be done through gaining more raw footage and editing effectively.
 We are going to re film every scene.

"The Executioner" Victim Photos

Evaluation:

These are some victim photos of people who the executioner has killed. The photos are going to be used as props in shot 6, they were all taken on a iphone camera. They are going to be scattered on the floor after being printed out, around the executioner. To make them look more creepy and warn out we are going to cut them up and cover them in fake blood so they look like he has had them for a long time, it makes them look more mysterious.We decided to take photos of the executioners victims that he stalks before he kills them. We wanted to take the photos at different angles and at different locations so it looks more realistic and natural and like the executioner has taken them without them knowing. Altogether there are 10 photos which I chose out of a bigger range as these were the best ones. The photos are going to be printed in black and white so it looks more medieval and aged. 

These are what the photos look like aged and covered in blood. I chose to print them more than once as it looks like he has more victims. Some pictures are bigger than others which makes it more dramatic as we can film close ups of the bigger ones to capture the detail in them. I personally really like what they look like, and they show the executioners anger and how he is a very disturbed person.

Since the executioner has killed the people above, we decided to write dates on all of them so it looks like the executioner keeps track of everyone he kills. Some of the dates are straight after each other, so it looks like he has killed people day after day in different years. This will make the audience feel disturbed by what he is doing and make them think why he is like this.

Makeup test/ Jason Miller character Audition reels/ Shot selections for "The Executioner"

In our opening scene all we need is blood on the executioner's hands in the ideal of make up as all of our actors faces are covered in either a mask or a hood. For the first test we used face paint which was thick and easy to apply to my hand, it also created a blood type effect and looked like a real blood wound. With the watercolours we needed a lot of water to get the colour to work properly and when Kate was applying it, it was able to blend in the colours really well. Overall the face paint worked better than the watercolour as you could see it better and it looked realistic, so for our filming we will use face paint instead of the watercolours.

We asked them to scream as this comes into a scene in our film as they are executed by the murderer. This was to see who would most appropriately convey the ultimate fear that the character must show when a close up of his face is shown.

We casted Adam as he did drama A level and so had experience with acting and also he portrayed the fear in the way that we were looking for. Seb was a bit too dramatic and therefore took away from our quiet, subdued atmosphere.

These 2 shot selections both work effectively as they highlight different elements of the pain and suffering, the medium shot represents the isolation as there will be nothing surrounding him, just the spotlight from the drama studio.
The close up is also effective as you can see the excruciating pain and suffering in the facial expression, this also further represents his heavy breathing and pain, his tactic is used in the murder scene in 'Psycho'
When it comes to filming, we may decide to use both shots and decide which looks most effective in editing.
Personally, I think that the medium shot works better as it highlights the isolation.

Comparative Shots

Film Rating/Target Audience

Evaluation of planning and production

Overall, I think that my group has worked well together. We all took up different tasks that contributed towards our slasher horror film which has kept us up to date, even though one of our group members was absent for 2 days.

Idea- During the planning process we each came up with a different horror sub genre film idea and made a video where we pitched all of them. Looking at the poll results Mitchell's idea was most popular which was called "The Executioner" and therefore chosen by the group to go ahead with it. This is a slasher horror film set in medieval times which encounters the types of torture methods used back then.

Title research/Logline- I did the title research and logline for the film. In order to this, I searched up 10 different horror films all linked to our chosen sub genre of slasher e.g. Scream and The Shining. Altogether, I think this went well as I was able to get inspiration and ideas of how the title could look by looking at the real titles of films. Similarly, I found that most of the titles were short to create a dramatic effect. I then decided on a couple of different potential titles and as a group we were able to agree on "The Executioner". For the logline I just summarised the main plot of our film without giving too much away.

Moodboard- Kate took on the task to design the moodboard as she is artistic. She was going to create the moodboard online however, as a group we thought it would be better if she created a hard copy. By doing this she was able to stick images of weapons and masks that our killer would use and also have material testers to get a feel of what the clothing was going to be like. Overall, I think that worked out really well.

Film order of events- Mitchell and Jayden laid out how the film was going to unfold step by step. They mentioned the main parts including the plot of our film. This showed an outline of the main story even though we were only creating the opening sequence.

Storyboard/Script- Kate and I designed the Script and storyboard. We chose to do this together as the two tasks worked well together. We were able to write the script and create the storyboard along side each other. This took us 2/3 lessons and one of our free periods to get it done to a high standard. Jayden also helped us with the script and had some input as he was absent for two days.

Casting and Wardrobe planning- Mitchell decided to do the casting and wardrobe planning. He went out of lessons along with Jayden to go and take pictures of the main characters that would be featured in the opening sequence of our film. I thought this went well as they chose characters that were right for the part and that fitted the majority of the codes and conventions we needed for our slasher horror film.

Location Shot- Mitchell was responsible for the location shot, before he did that we all agreed on the Middleton Church as we thought this would be the best place to shoot our opening sequence. Its has the right scenery we need for our film as its isolated, mysterious and creepy all at the same time. I then realised we also needed to include the drama studio that we were going to use for 2 of our shots and ended up creating a slide for that specific location to go along with the church location.

Shot list- Kate and I made the shot list. We decided to do this last as we could use our script and storyboard to help us choose the right camera angles, props and action that will be featured in the different shots of the opening sequence. By doing a shot list this helps to organise how each shot is going to look and what its going to include which makes it easier for us to film and plan.

Time schedule- Mitchell decided on what days to film which was Monday, Wednesday and Friday and checked with the rest of us to see if it was possible as some people couldn't do certain days or times. Not only did we agree on what days to film, we also decided how many shots to film as well. We ended up breaking the 12 shots we had into 3 shots per day we were filming, this made it easier and worked well for all of us.

Shot List

Location Shot

Executioner Props

Casting and Wardrobe planning

Adam plays a person that the executioner is still hunting down, so therefore he is a potential victim and is not dead.

StoryBoard

Storyboard

First Draft of Storyboard

This is the first draft of the storyboard. We chose to do a rough sketch of it as we were just planning on what shots and descriptions to have. 

Draft 2 of Storyboard

We chose to have 12 shots for our opening sequence. Where we couldn't get all the shot angles in we wrote a description of what it would look like. We were also able to display the different scenes. I think our story board looks good as it fits alongside the script and shot list. We chose very dark colours for the story board as well as the mood board because this creates a mysterious atmosphere. The connotations of the colour black is death, evil, and generally negative things. We thought that this would be good to use as the main colour of the costumes in the story board as this links to the executioners up bringing and the fact that he is surrounded by death and evil.

Draft 3 of Storyboard 

This is an updated version of our storyboard, as you can see we have changed a lot as we thought it was not continuously flowing. This opening leads the audience into the main plot of the film which I think is much better.

The Executioner Script

The Executioner Script

Draft 2

The Executioner Script

Script Evaluation

We have two drafts of the script for The Executioner. We liked the first draft however, we felt it didn't look good enough as it didn't link to the medieval times that well. This was because the woman walking in the scene looked too modern and we wanted to open in an interesting way. We also thought by having the executioner just capture her which results in her screaming was too predictable. Using ideas from the first draft of our script we incorporated those into our new script. In my opinion this script was much better than the first one as it linked more to the medieval times as instead of a woman walking we have three people all dressed in black holding a rope. We kept most of the ideas the same as we thought they worked really well in the script such as the different flashbacks of the executioners childhood. This shows the audience what he's been through and builds up his character for the rest of the film and explains how he got to where he is in the film. We also decided to keep the church the same as that is a main part, as the film is to do with religious traditional things that he has learnt from his past experiences. This plays a big part in why he does the things he does. We chose to have no dialogue in the script as we thought it would break the mysterious atmosphere of the opening sequence. Instead we are going to use music that will fit in with the action and hopefully tell the audience that something is wrong and that its set in medieval times.

Draft 3

This is an updated script for "The Executioner" and fits our storyboard. I think that this script flows continuously rather than having lots splice cuts which take the audience out of the opening, which is much better.

Codes and Conventions of slasher Horror films

Film Order of Events

Planning for Mood Board

Mood Board Evaluation

We chose to have our mood board displayed like this as we thought it looked more effective than making a digital copy. By doing this we could incorporate material testers for the wardrobe and also create the font accurately for our title. We went on the internet to choose what medieval text would look like and ended up choosing the text that is just below the title. This text fits in with the theme of our film as it is written in medieval writing. We have three different masks as we couldn't decide if we wanted a full mask or a half mask for the killer. In the corner there are some medieval torture method pictures which are going to be used in one of the flash backs within the opening sequence of our film. In the left hand corner there is a colour palette. We purposely chose dark colours for the wardrobe and palette as horror films tend to use dark colours for dramatic effect such as, "Friday the 13th". The colour red represents blood and violence and since our chosen genre is slasher it would fit in really well. The colour black links to death which is a main part of the film. Its also quite a solid colour that you cant really see through, this could link to the way the executioner is isolated and alone when growing up.   

Planning for Title Research/ Logline