Sound - Lullaby research

• For our teaser trailer we want to use either a lullaby or jewellery box music to begin with 
• We want to portray our teenage protagonist as creepy and disturbing and this sort of music would have connotations of a child not a teenager so this would appear strange to the audience 
• A typical convention of some horror films is to use childish objects such as toys, jewellery boxes to create a creepy, disturbing feel 
• I looked at examples of lullabies in existing horror films to understand why they work and are effective as being scary

Nightmare on Elm street

• In Nightmare on Elm street there is a lullaby about the killer Freddy Krueger which is sung by little children
• The lullaby exploits the innocent nature of children as they are singing about a killer this can make the audience feel uncomfortable and ultimately scare the audience 
• The lullaby is like a countdown from to when Freddy comes after his victims  
• The pace of the music gradually builds which creates tension

Hocus Pocus 

• Unlike Nightmare on Elm street this lullaby is much longer more like a song
• This has less of a horror theme I feel in comparison to Nightmare on Elm street but still is creepy and disturbing
• The woman's voice sounds very enchanting and angelic which contrasts her evil intent of beckoning children
• The idea of innocence I feel is quite prominent for lullabies as it makes the audience feel scared as they aren't expecting something scary after hearing innocent sounding music 

Pan's Labyrinth 

• This theme music from Pan's Labyrinth is played through a music box
• We are thinking to have music like this more so as it does not have lyrics which would create a sense of enigma
• I really liked how you could hear the winding of the music box at the start, we could use this sound at the very start of our teaser trailer 
• The melody is very simple with a slow pace which I feel makes it more creepy
• By starting our trailer with a melody similar it would help build pace and enigma at the start before leading into the manic, chaotic torture scenes which would have contrasting faster paced music  

Amy Freeman

shooting script 'mouldy food' 3

Final 'smile' make up

• After looking at several 'smile' make up examples in media products and testing out the make up looks we liked the best we decided that we preferred the 'Chelsea grin' look in preference to the painted smile
• We thought that this make up look lent itself more to the idea of torture as it looks gruesome and gory
• The 'smile' has in our trailer become one of the torture scenes as the victim refuses to smile at the birthday party and so our main protagonist cuts the smile into her face as a punishment 
• We found that on camera the make up looked realistic and really effective for the purpose of a teaser trailer as it is visually exciting and portrays our slasher horror theme well
• The first test of this make up look went so well that we decided to keep exactly to the method used 
• As before I used 3D gel, concealer, powder, eyeshadow, eyeliner, fake blood and food colouring
• Below are photographs which show the process of each stage of the make up and the final result on our actress 

Amy Freeman

Day 2 Evaluation

• The second day of filming consisted of more shots for the dungeon location as well as re-filming of shots from the first shooting day.
• We focused firstly on the master shot and other shots that focus on all actors gathered around the table. We thought that this was important to get done as it involved all the actors being available. 
• We started with a static shot of Amy sitting with the characters but we thought it would look more threatening if she were standing above them, demonstrating her power. 
• We then tried a moving shot that sweeps through the food towards Amy on the table level and then tilts up to her face, which further demonstrates her power. 
• Originally we attempted to look at the victim’s faces as the camera swept past, however this movement didn’t look natural.
•  Another shot of Amy we tried was a hand-held zoom from the master shot position towards Amy’s smiling face. We thought this shot would look good at increased speed to create a crazed, psychotic effect.

• We looked to film close-ups of the victims at the table. 
• We started with a two-shot of two victims each side of the table, firstly Frankie and Lewis and then Harry and Tara for which we wanted them to look drained and scared. 
• We then tried a single close-up of Lewis waking up. This went well as the acting was adequate and the shots will be quick so the acting won’t be focused on.

• Next, we moved on to re-filming the scene where Harry gets hammered in his eye. Tara replaced me (Daisy) as the girl, as I was not happy with my acting. 
• The re-filming involved including Tara replacing me in the shots as well as adding more to create more dramatic effect and add more to the story. 
• We made Tara look like she’d been pushed into the shot by Amy, but the majority of the rest of the shots were the same.
•  We changed the way the hammer was moved as when we reversed it in editing, it didn’t look natural as it was too quick. 
• We also had an after shot of Harry’s eyes covered in fake blood dripping.

• We also filmed more shots of Frankie’s torture including:

·         Amy pulled Frankie’s head up by her hair with both of them in the shot

·         Close-ups of Amy having the motion of cutting into Frankie’s face with a sharper knife

• I thought that it would be interesting to have Frankie look as if she’s spitting at Amy in anger, for which she took a mouthful of water.
•  We re-filmed shots using the ‘Smile’ make-up, too. 
• When we filmed extreme close-ups of the make-up, the lighting didn’t look scary or manic enough so we decided to have no lighting except a white fast-paced strobe light, which had a flashing effect. 

• Overall, this filming day went very well and it was a lot more efficient than the first day. This is because we planned more thoroughly for exactly what shot we wanted and allowed for more experimentation which meant less time was wasted.

Daisy Edwards

Survey analysis

We created a survey to distribute amongst our target audience, teenagers between the age of 16-19, in order to gain a better understanding of what this demographic would want and expect from a slasher horror teaser trailer. We collected 100 responses which allows us to have a clear view and we can use this information gathered and apply it to our trailer so that it would appeal more to our target audience. These are the results which I have also analysed saying what we will do will the information gained.

Amy Freeman

Evaluation- First day of filming

       Apple Bobbing torture scene.

•      This scene included our main protagonist and one victim (Lewis) being forced into a bucket of water and he is writhing about.
•       We started out with an underwater shot of Lewis’s head in the water, the problem at the first was that it was too close up so we couldn’t really see Lewis. The next shot was the same but this time Lewis didn’t put his head so far into the water.
•       We also made sure that although Amy wasn’t in the shot, she forced his head down into the water so that it looked more natural.
•       Another problem was the apples were in the way of the camera, so we only put four apples into the box and made sure they were in the corners. Later we had a high angle shot where you can see the apples.
•       After we made sure the apples were out of the way and Lewis put his head slightly in the water we had a good shot.
•       The next shot we did for this scene was a mid shot of our main protagonist (Amy) and the victim (Lewis) as she ‘forces his head into the water’
•       The main issue in this shot was the lighting, we needed to make sure both characters could be seen clearly but it was still dark enough to give off the right connotations.
•       After a few takes we used a bright lamp so that the corner was bright enough, but half of Amy’s face was in shadow so that it could still give off the right connotations.
•       The last shot of this scene included another mid shot focusing on Lewis again being pushed into the water; you can just see Amy’s hands on his shoulders.
•       This shot just adds continuity to the whole scene, so that we can see the continuous flow of Lewis being forced into the water.

Cutting of the smile.

•  Earlier in the day we painted another victims face (Frankie) to make it look like she has had a face cut into a smile.
• This shot needed Amy in front of Frankie, and just ‘cutting into her face.’ This proved a problem in terms of lighting again, we moved the lamp and it looked a lot better.
• The next shot was Amy behind Frankie pulling her head up, this worked rather well as the lighting was bright enough and Frankie looked straight at the camera.

Hammering into the eye.

<!--[if !supportLists]-->·       <!--[endif]-->This next shot was when two victims (Daisy & Harry) are forced to hammer into the other person’s eye.

<!--[if !supportLists]-->·       <!--[endif]-->We had to take quite a few shots as the lighting was a problem due to the fact we were filming in the corner of the room, behind a ladder.

Antagonist make up research

The Orphan

• The scene in The Orphan where Esther makes advances on her adoptive father she has very bold and full make up on
• As she is a child this does provide a disturbing image for the audience
• I looked at this make up for our protagonist as we want quite a heavily made up look almost like her make up has been over done
• Esther's make up in The Orphan does make her look overtly sexual however this is not what we want to represent 
• The idea of childish make up is really what we are interested in to show that our character lacks fashion sense as she is more of a social outcast and isn't typically socially acceptable 
• This make up is an option for our protagonist if we want to create quite a dark, striking look to show her evil nature

13 going on 30

• Although it is a romantic comedy rather than a horror film I still thought the make up was appropriate for the look we may use for our protagonist
• Unlike The Orphan this make up look is very bright and colourful which gives a very childish impression
• We want our protagonist to look like she hasn't got much experience at make up suggesting she is making an effort 
• In 13 going on 30 this is what the character does, she makes an effort for her party and her make up looks almost too much which is what we wish to put across in our trailer
• She wears pink lipgloss, blue eyeshadow, pink blusher and slight mascara 
• To create an inexperienced, child-like look for our protagonist I think this example helps us to understand what it would look like and what image of our character it would portray
• This look contrasts The Orphan's as it is not as heavy and dark but I think it would greatly contrast the sadistic, psychotic attitude of our protagonist as she would look almost child-like implying innocence which contradicts her actions in the teaser trailer 

Amy Freeman