I Never Told You - 1st Rendering!

Below is the first cut of my music video, I Never Told You What I Do For A Living.

The middle is currently missing, but the beginning and end are in place. I'm planning on adding titles to the speech scenes, because what they say is relevant to the plot. I'd also like to add a colour treatment to make the atmosphere gloomier to match the sinister story line. Overall, I'm progressing at a good rate!

Set Layout

On both day one and day two of filming I needed to use the kitchen, but I had to make sure the layout was exactly the same on both days. To ensure this, I took a photo of how the kitchen counter looked at the end of day one filming, and mimicked it the next day.

Final Prop List

I made a full list off all the props I would need on set and for each character, to make sure I had everything I needed for when filming began. This helped me stay organised and on top of all the bits and pieces I needed, so I was sure about location layout.

Filming Day 1 - Plan

These are my plans for filming on day one at the house. I estimated the time well because I got everything I needed filmed.

Props - Bloody Sheet

A key prop to my final scene is a bloody sheet which my main character bundles up, implying that he is disposing of the evidence of a dead body. Being so close to Halloween, I bought a lot of fake blood and found two old bedsheets. The first I left blank to be a 'before murder' sheet, and the second I made a blood pool with a few splatters and let it dry to be the 'after murder' sheet.

I used these images from actual crime scenes that I found on Google as a reference for my blood pool layout:

Here is me 'decorating' my own sheet:

A Final Re-cast!

Disaster struck when, a night before filming, my main male actor dropped out! Thankfully he organised a replacement himself, and filming will still stay on schedule.

Exit Polls

To broaden my understanding of how popular the thriller genre was, and with what age group, I researched two exit polls from the BFI website for two recent thriller movies. Exit polls are used to collect opinions of respondents.

The first I researched was The Keeper of Lost Causes, directed by Mikkel Nørgaard (A mystery/thriller film). This study found that 49% of their respondents were under 45, and 51% were over 45. This is a fairly even divide. The most common way that the respondents discovered the film was through online ads, which 20% confirmed. This was closely followed by trailers before a film at 18%. This proves that advertising is most effective when conducted online or by other media technologies, rather than traditional magazine advertisements.

The reason behind people seeing the film was because they were a big fan of foreign films, with a staggering 49% giving this response. The next highest was 39% of respondents saying they enjoyed the genre.

The second exit poll I analysed was for A Dangerous Method, directed by David Cronenburg (A drama/thriller film). This study found that 46% of their respondents were under 35, and 54% were over 35. This is, again, a fairly even divide. Interestingly, the most common way that this film was discovered was through magazine/newspaper reviews. I believe that this is because this exit poll was conducted in 2012, and The Keeper of Lost Causes was conducted in 2014, meaning that in just two years our reliance on and use of technology has increased dramatically.

44% of respondents said that they watched the film because it's based on the work of Freud and Jung. After some quick research, I discovered that these are both theorists. Freud believed that behaviour is driven by fears and desires locked in the unconscious mind. Jung believed in 'archetypes'- a representation at an unconscious level of everything we understand by a certain person; for example, a 'mother'.

Re-cast... Again!

Unfortunately, the two actors I had previously re-cast have dropped out due to timing issues. With two weeks until the due filming date, this caused a panic. Nevertheless, I have managed to find two more friends who are free on the filming dates and are willing to act.

Ideal Costume

I used Polyvore, a fashion website, to make a mood board of the sort of costume I would like my actors to wear. They should be in comfortable, cosy autumn wear.

Production Meeting

Yesterday the class gathered and discussed the final ideas for our end product. After, we were given feedback.
I was told my piece was a good idea, but that I'd have to leave a lot of hints leading up to the murder to build suspense. For example, using an unusually large knife to cut the sandwich.
Something that another group was told to try was doing a hyper lapse. A hyper lapse is an exposure technique in time-lapse photography, in which the position of the camera is being changed between each exposure in order to create a tracking shot in timelapse sequences. Here's an example:

I think it's a really beautiful effect if done correctly and used well.

Location Permission

I found a location that I deemed suitable for my music video- a small bungalow with the all-important back storage room. Seeing as they are a family friend I wrote them a letter asking permission to use their house as my main location. I told them what the main plot is for the video, as well as alerting them that I will need to move things around their house. Below is the letter I wrote.

I got a reply within the week, agreeing to the filming. Next is talking to the owner of my local cafe, and then I will be all set for prop and costume organisation.

Casting Update

I put a second post on Facebook and started asking around school to see if anyone was interested in the acting vacancy, and got two responses. After considering both of them, I have chosen an actor who will now be in my music video. As well as this, I have also written up a letter asking for filming location at my desired location, which will be sent (hopefully) this weekend. I will make a post about the details of it later.

The storyboard is also in progress. It was a slow start but I am working harder now and getting more done, so I will be able to plan dates for filming quite soon!

List of Movies Containing Stalkers

I found a list of films containing stalkers, compiled on IMDb. Considering this one of the main aspects of my music video, I will most probably watch a few of them and write a review on them. The Hitcher and Notes on a Scandal both look interesting.

Tertiary Research - Horror vs Thriller

Recently, I found this interesting article about the difference between the Horror genre and the Thriller genre. It was only then that I realised I didn't know what a Thriller genre was. After reading it I started to consider the fact that maybe my music video is more of a Thriller than a Horror. As the article points out my idea uses a realistic plausible situation, one victim, and is more about the chase than the bloodshed.

Casting Call

On Thursday I put a post up on Facebook, looking for actors to play the two lead roles in my music video. Within the hour I cast the female lead, and am currently waiting for a man to volunteer as the male lead.

Primary Research - Splatter vs Psychological Horror Podcast

Product Research - Deadpool Movie Trailer

As the new Deadpool movie trailer came out on August 4th, I thought I would write a quick analysis looking at the first minute.

The very opening shot is a fade-in to a medium close-up on a man and a women embracing, both of which have red eyes to indicate that they have been crying. The first line the audience hears confirms this. As the woman says "I love you, Wade Wilson. We can fight this." the camera shot jump cuts to a close up of them holding hands. This displays their close relationship, but the opening line and slow build of dramatic music implies there is something seriously wrong.

However, Wade's reply is darkly humourous and laced with sarcasm. This gives an insight into his character. It also shows an x-ray of the problems he's joking about, giving the audience an insight into the severity.

The intense music, combined with the narrative, and short clips of Wilson's backstory creates tension and excitement- the audience want to know the outcome of all these experiments.

It's obvious that the treatment Wilson gets is painful- one scientist who helps with the procedure says "One thing that never survives this place is a sense of humour." Wilson retaliates to this with some insulting comparisons to celebrities, which earns him a punch. This shows that he might be a bit too laid back for his own good, and that it will put him in trouble if he isn't careful.

At fifty seconds the atmosphere quickly changes. The Marvel logo flashes up and rap music starts. Initially the audience believe this is a non-diegetic soundtrack to set the mood again, but when the scene opens with a close-up on a radio with a sticker saying "Wade" in red crayon it is revealed that it's something that Wilson is listening to and muttering along to as he draws. His drawing is done in crayon, like the label of his radio, and in a very cartoon-y style. It's a scribbled doodle of Deadpool shooting a bad guy in the head, who is saying "Ouchie!" This makes it obvious that Wilson has a child-like mind and sense of humour sometimes.

Tertiary Research - The Horror Genre

I looked around on the internet and came across this case study, which proved useful to me as it is all about how the horror genre has developed, and why audiences love it so.

History

The horror genre started in literature, with Mary Shelley's Frankenstein (1818) and Bram Stoker's Dracula (1897). However, from the 1930s to the 1970s horror films and novels were extremely unpopular due to them often being cheaply made. This changed in the 1960s with Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho- a movie to actually get a review and one of the first horror films to be taken seriously. A little later two other horror films were released that were also accepted by mainstream audiences. These were Jaws (Directed by Steven Spielberg, 1975), and The Exorcist (Directed by William Friedkin, 1973).

As well as film, horror literature has also proved to be a big hit. Novelists such as Clive Barker, Peter Straub, and Stephen King are among the most popular horror writers of today.

Codes & Conventions
The codes and conventions of horror are used in two ways. Firstly, as a way for an audience to recognise the genre. This is often what spurs the audience to buy the book/watch the film in the first place.

Secondly, for media producers to know what their audience is looking for, and to then supply them with that and make their piece a hit. An example of this is the Star-Wars/Space genre, which was quickly used by producers to combine with the horror genre and revive it.

Some examples of codes and conventions in horror are:

• A secluded location - The woods, a summer camp, a house in the middle of nowhere- a place where the characters have no one around to help them.
• Characters who forget about threat - If there is a curse or threat, the characters often seem to conveniently forget about it.
• Power cuts - At the height of tension the power goes out! No lights, no phones, no internet.
• Victim hides in front of a window or door - A very common and easy scare. The victim cowers against a door or window, only to have the killer break through and grab them a moment later.
• A stormy night - Very effective in terms of setting an atmosphere. This technique has been used since the days of Victorian horror.

Representation
Early horror films were a male-dominated genre. Women played the part of the victim and/or the object of desire. Many critics believe the horror genre is extremely misogynistic because even today there are still many horror films that follow this stereotype. As well as this, it is often found that sexually active "bad girls" are the ones to get murdered, while the pure "good girls" are the ones who are spared or rescued.

There has been some progress, however. Films such as Alien feature female leads, but it's interesting to note that these characters are masculinised- one of the most common lines a female lead says to a male is to "Man up".