Thriller/Horror Film Research

Prom Night
I recently watched Prom Night (2008) which is based on Richard Fenton, an obsessed ex-teacher of Donna Keppel who killed Donna's father and brother and when Donna hid after finding the dead bodies, killed her mother infront of her. 3 years later, he escapes from prison to return to finish the job. He checks into a hotel where Donnas prom is being held and silently kills a maid, he then kills 2 of Donna's friends, next he kills a hotel employee when he is looking for the missing maid. He then kills Donna's best friend and manages to escape in the uniform when the building is being evacuated by Chief Detective Winn. By now Donna has returned home with her boyfriend. Donna returns from the bathroom at home to see that her boyfriends throat has been slit. She hides in her wardrobe when she hears footsteps, however Fenton is already hiding in the wardrobe. Donna bites Fenton and tries to run however she falls, Fenton is then stood above Donna ready to kill, but in his psychotic, obsessive way looks at her for a while and admires her. In the nick of time Winn comes in and shoots Fenton to death before he kills Donna. Donna is still traumatised but is relieved it is "all over".

This film has shown how stalkers and killers are stereotypically represented in films, giving us ideas for our own film's plot. I think we are going to use the same sort of body movements that Fenton does, such as putting his hand out slowly in a possesive way with our stalker to his victim.

Preliminary Task Final Clip

Here is our final preliminary task;


By doing this task we learned how to direct, take directions, edit and how to create different camera angles and effects. We also learned how essential the 180 degree rule is. We made a few mistakes such as missing out filming me sitting down after walking into the room so we replaced it with a close up of Sarah's face looking scared.

Our Preliminary Task Script and Storyboard

Here is the script for our preliminary task;

Charlotte: (Walks past door of room outside and cannot be seen, reappears in the middle of the door from below looks at Sarah angrily through window of door)
Sarah: (Looks shocked/scared as of seeing Charlotte)
Charlotte: (Storms into room and sits down opposite Sarah) Wanna be startin' somethin'?
Sarah: You've got to be startin' somethin'!
Charlotte: Wanna be startin' somethin'?
Sarah: You've got to be startin' somethin'!
Charlotte: Your too high to get over..?
Sarah: Yeah, yeah..
Charlotte: Your too low to get under..?
Sarah: Yeah, yeah..
Charlotte: Your stuck in the middle..?
Sarah: And the pain is thunda'!

This is one frame of our storyboard which we used to plan out our shots with;

Other Groups Preliminary Tasks and Film Opening Ideas

Preliminary Tasks
Last Wednesday groups 2-5 completed their preliminary tasks very well although some groups had small problems with laughing at their friends being filmed and the context from time to time. This was okay for the Preliminary task however when it comes to real filming it will be much easier to have a sensible plot and sensible people starring who will be able to take our project seriously as this will save time filming and editing. Apart from that all groups made very effective films and now only group 6 is left!

Film Opening Ideas
This week we've been thinking out some rough ideas for our film opening which is going to be Thriller/Horror themed, we decided to do something chilling and supernatural rather than a gory slasher film. We've been finding ideas off the top of our heads very difficult, even as a group, so we have all decided to research the genre further and get back with ideas.

Preliminary Task & 180° Rule

Preliminary Task

This week we began to discuss each groups preliminary task, this is a 30 second video filmed by each group and must include a person walking in through a door and then sitting down opposite another person with a conversation taking place. This clip must include 3 different camera shots and show understanding of the 180° rule.

In Wednesdays lesson, as a class, we looked at previous years' finished preliminary tasks and we then discussed in groups what we would base ours on and who would be in the video and who would film and direct. We decided to do lyrics as we believe it would help the video run smoother rather than dialogue which would not necessarily be remembered well and perfectly enough to be said many times through. We had a few ideas for which songs which were all amusing however we did finally decide on Michael Jackson's "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'" as each line could be spoken by one of the group and it would sound similar to a conversation. After deciding this we began to decide camera angles and started to draw out our storyboard.

In Fridays lesson, being in Group 1 my group filmed first. Sarah and Me were filmed while Molly and Aimie were filming and directing. We filmed me walking into the room angrily, sitting down and then beginning to recite the Michael Jackson song like normal conversation. We filmed around 4 different shots; over shoulder of myself and Sarah, a two shot over the table while we were sat down and one of me walking in. It took 17 takes but I believe the end result will be very effective and amusing aswell as showing clear understanding of the 180° rule.
After my group had finished filming Group 2 began filming with the time left in the lesson, however there were a few faults in which Sophie attempted to use her mobile phone to seem as though someone was calling her but her phone played music when she was not ready and would not play when she was, which shows us that using some technology in filming may not always work.




180° Rule
The 180° rule states that in film making if two characters are in a scene together, they must have the same left/right relationship together.
In a set-up scene, the film makers will imagine an invisible straight line, the camera may only change shots 180° around this line. The only time this may change is if the camera is moved over the line and is show to the audience. If this rule is broken the audience will be left confused and disorientated. The example above shows how the 180° rule should be set out in a scene. The green area shows how the camera may move and how it will look on screen. The red area shows where the camera cannot go and how the characters will look on screen and how this will confuse the audience as the characters change sides of the screen.