Film Opening Mood Boards

Brief Film Overview

Quick summary of film opening:
Actor 1, Jasmine Haskins, is in her school dance studio doing her routine that gives her flashbacks to the time she was tormented. During her [contemporary] dance Jasmine goes through a series of flashbacks that show her running away in a wooded area. The jump cuts between flashbacks and the dancing begin to speed up and the running away progresses to Jasmine being pushed and hurt and lying injured on the forest floor. Through the entire sequence titles/credits will be shown, printed over the footage and 'Run Boy Run' will be played over the entire thing. (When the panting/ running is not being heard).

Genre of Film: Horror/Action

Where?

Portishead Lake-grounds' wooded area.

The film is going to be set around Portishead lake-ground's wooded areas and along nearby roads. We we also use shots from Gordano School's dance studio from both inside and on the out.

Gordano School.

Actors: Jasmine Haskins, Joe Davidson, Georgina Bell

Costume; 

Dance Studio- Simple t-shirt, black leggings, hair away from face. We chose a red t shirt for Jasmine to wear while she dances as it represents fear and bloody horror and also correlates the red cardigan she will be wearing in the outdoor shots of the film opening.

Outdoors- Casual clothing, black/white dress, red cardigan and black boots. We chose this as the red cardigan matches the red t shirt she was wearing in the dance scenes so the audience can see the flashbacks and that it is the same girl. Also because the red is a symbol of 'dark' things and implies she is running in fear.

Music/Sound effects- 'Run Boy Run' Woodkid, general sound from actors panting/running away.

Titles/Credits, Actor management

Below is an exploration of various fonts we were thinking of using for the main title of our film 'The Recall.' In the end we decided on 'The Goldsmith Vintage.'

We have also spent time deciding which fonts to write the credits in. Below are four fonts in one of our actor's names. We decided on 'Alex's Writing' for all the credits.

Our credit names that will appear in the opening will be as follows.

Producers/Directors: Lucy Taylor and Holly Haskins
Actors;
Jamie (Young girl) - Jasmine Haskins
Antagonist 1 - Georgina Bell
Antagonist 2 - Joe Davidson

Actor Management:

We chose the actors we did as we felt a young and physically small girl would be the best role for the 'victim' in our film opening. We used one of the producers sisters, Jasmine Haskins, as she fit the role and had experience doing short films and similar for school/college coursework. For the antagonist roles, we needed someone who was physically bigger than Jasmine and towered over her to create an intimidating presence. This would give the audience a clear sense of whose role was whose and who had power over the other.

Film Storyboard

Shot 1
Large title screen with production name; LHProductions
Shot 2
Title screen with film name 'The Recall'. (Edited/artistic graphology)
Shot 3 FW
Flash forward of actor 1 lead in forest, injured.
Shot 3
pan over school building/dance room. Muted sound as pupils get on with everyday life.
Shot 4
Close up on actor 1's feet dancing, bare feet, dance studio.
Shot 5
Neck down shot of dance studio and actor dancing, contemporary.
Shot 6
Long shot of actor dancing and moving around room. Overview of dance

Shot 7
Dancer still being shot (long shot) in dance studio, stumbles and stops.
Shot 8
Close up, zoomed in shot of actor 1's face, looking at floor/depressed. reminiscing
Shot 9
Continuation of actor 1 dancing
Shot 10
Flashback, cut to scene in forest. Frantically running away, looking back. (Actor 1)
Shot 11
Cuts back to dance studio, focus on facial expression. Continuation of dancing.
Shot 12
Long shot cut, pan over forested area/road.

Shot 13
Tracking shot, actor 1 running through wooded area.
Shot 14
In/out focus of actor one from behind tree.
Shot 15
Cut back to dance studio, actor 1 dancing.
Shot 16
Actor 1, injured, focus on facial distress.
Shot 17
Close up on actor 1's face, camera tracking around head shot.
Shot 18
Continuation of dancing, zoomed in shot of head/shoulders upwards.

Shot 19
High angle shot of actor 1 being pushed to ground, identity of actor 2 still hidden.
Shot 20
High angle shot of actor 1 distressed on ground.
Shot 21
Actor 1 lead on forest ground, bloody face/nose/injured.
Shot 22
Cut back to dance studio, actor 1 lead on floor in same position as last shot.

Timetable

Titles and Credits

Fonts for the titles of the movie.

These depend on the genre of the movie. Typically, designers and editors include colours that represent the mood/atmosphere of the film. For example, a gory movie may have a red theme. I looked into specific horror movie fonts for titles and here are a few examples.

The designer starts with finding/creating a font that relates to the film. Horror films will most likely have some variation of scary font such as scratchings, 'dripping' font to represent blood or a font that looks like it has sections missing or has been scratched off.

After finding the correct font, the designer will involve a colour palette that also emphasises the mood or atmosphere of the film. The colours of the title of the film are also usually contrasting to the background so it is bold and stands out more.

When all features are added together (Credits/involvements included) an advertisement or opening scenes for the film should look like this. 

Some examples of well known horror/action film titles are below:

Silence of the Lambs, a famous horror film. Bold and dark letters to give audience a sense of whats to come.

Hanna, an iconic drama/action film with bold, striking letters to emphasise the name.

This horror film focuses on the effect of blood splatters being used in the title screen, to enhance the fact that it is of horror genre and murder/gore is to come.

Horror Genre - Key Directors

Top 5 horror film directors and the films they have produced

Number 5 - Wes Craven

He began his career with the film The Last House on the Left which was a huge hit in the horror business. From there, Craven gave us The Hills Have Eyes and Deadly Blessing, right before he created one of the most iconic characters in horror movie history; Freddy Krueger. Featured in Nightmare on Elm Street. Craven also took part on helping with the Scream franchise. (Shown above).

Number 4 - Dario Argento

From 1970-1990, he made the films The Bird with the Crystal Plumage, Cat O' Nine Tails, Suspiria, Inferno, Phenomena and Opera.

Number 3 - John Carpenter

Carpenter has done everything from Asian martial arts to sic-fi and comedy. his 1978 homage to Hitchcock, halloween that established his career. A visual stylist who could craft suspense from an unseen killer with a butcher knife in hand.

Number 2 - George Romero

George Romero deserves most credit for his contribution to the zombie film genre. Before this director, there was not much more than a voodoo after thought. Once Night of the Living Dead was once of his biggest hits. Romero also created the original cannibalistic corpse and all his 'Dead' films are iconic.

Number 1 - Alfred Hicthcock

One of the most iconic horror genre directors of all time, bringing us some of the most memorable films of all time. Such as Psycho, The Birds, and Frenzy. Films he directed that blurred the lines between thriller and terror include Strangers on a Train, Rear Window and Shadow of a Doubt.

http://www.popmatters.com/post/176112-the-13-greatest-horror-directors-of-all-time/P1/ 30/11/15

About the Genre

History of Horror

Horror films started as a focus from english literature, as a separate genre, in the late 1700's. This was called Gothic Horror. Developed by writers in both Britain and the United States, the gothic part of the name refers to the pseudo medieval buildings that took place. For example, gloomy dungeons, forests and dark alleyways. 

Famous gothic writers include Mary Shelley, Bram Stoker and Edgar Allan Poe.

Horror in silent films

The inspiration for horror silent films came from the booming public interest of horror from the genre of literature. At the time, the genre was popular in books and theatre, and the term 'Horror' was never actually used until the 1930's. Instead 'Gothic' was used. 

A popular 1930's silent horror film

Early horror films

In the late 1920's, directors starting to use sound effects transformed cinema. It was big jump, especially for the horror genre as it enhanced the scenes and spooky effects even more. This jump in technology, using sound effects, had more of an impact on the horror genre than probably any other.

Roger Corman

Horror films in this century 

Monster films turned increasingly to CGI effects for scares such as Species, and Anaconda. Psychological Horror and Thriller have remained popular throughout the 90s and 2000s including films like Silence of the Lambs, The Sixth Sense, Se7en, The Others and The Ring.

Silence of the Lambs

Lighting

How big is the light?

Small lights:

Small lights, like bare bulbs and sunlight, cast strong, hard shadows. They can be softened with a diffuser, or you can fill them to reduce the shadows - with another light or reflector.

Medium lights:

• Medium lights, like light from a window or Chinese paper lantern 
• Great balance - big enough to be soft but small enough to be atmospheric 

Big lights:

Such as a cloudy sky or reflected off of a white wall. They give off very even lighting and soft shadows, with little atmosphere. Easiest type to use and also good for detailed photos and group shots.

Direction of light

Light from directly in front is flat and characterless. Three quarter light, from a 45 degree angle is an average/normal place to start in traditional light setups. Light from directly above tends to make people's eyes disappear into shadow, unlike light from the side is very atmospheric though very hard to work with. Light from below gives people a scary look, similar to rim light, from light behind the subject is very atmospheric.

Light from the front.

45 degree angle.

Light from below.

Light from the side.

Rim lighting.

Light from above.

Outdoors

• Using daylight is easiest on days where there is little cloud cover and therefore you can shoot in any direction and get good shots.
• Sunlight is trickier as it can cast harsh shadows and dazzle your subject. For a subtler effect, use it as rim light (behind the subject, out of shot) as in the shot above.

• Low sunlight is tricky to work with but it can be very atmospheric: many films are shot in the rich ‘golden hour’ light just after dawn or before dusk.

Indoors

• You could bounce a powerful light, like a builders’ work lamp, off a reflector, a white wall or the ceiling. You can also use work lamps to shoot low-key (sidelit) closeups. Or you could buy a set of film lights. Halogen film lights get very hot; LED arrays use less energy and run cooler.

Conclusion;

In our film opening, we are going to try and use big lights, to keep a simple and effective atmosphere. We will also try to use outdoor lighting. We will experiment with more atmospheric and detailed shots like rim shots and lighting from below to try and follow the theme  of horror genre. 45 degree angle is going to be the easiest to use and therefore we will possibly include that too. 

Horror Genre

Horror Demographic and Common Certificates

The typical demographic for the Horror genre is likely to be 15-25 year old as they are more likely to watch the film for a thrill or with friends. This is because a large majority of horror films at this present day have a certificate rating of PG12 or 12A and above. Anyone under the age is very unlikely to watch this genre as it is actually a law that anyone below the age limit cannot view. This immediately means we are looking to make a film opening for a [probable] late teenage years range and above.

Below; several common certificate ratings for horror films.

http://www.bbfc.co.uk/  14/10/15

Genre conventions

Setting:

• Small communities or isolated places. Urban environments - dark streets and/or narrow alleyways. Large cities or run down ghost towns. Loose frame forest or open wooded area. Anything that connotes isolation or being alone.
• Often places with a 'dark' or 'twisted' history, like a hospital, graveyard, abandoned houses/hotels or mental asylum. 
• Good locations could be: Open wooed area, forest, country lanes, barns, dark roads with coverage, deep water, abandoned cars or carparks, run down bus or school, factories, attics basements, garages, machinery rooms, cabins, woodlands, open fields, underground railways etc...

Desolate town

Abandoned warehouse/asylum/hospital

Run down theme park

Wooded area

Camera shots:

• High and low angles shots can connote fear and hierarchy/ power over another.
• POV shots can be very effective and important in portraying the fear from the on screen characters mindset, giving the audience the same feelings.
• Hand held shots make it difficult sometimes for the audience to see clearly what is going on.A good example of this shot type would be in the film 'Cloverfield' - since the entire film is shot by a hand held camera, to promote the feeling or terror and the unknown.

Lighting:

• Visually, often dark colours (Red, Black etc..) to link to blood, darkness, fear, loneliness.
• Low key lighting can help create shadows and other non-naturalistic lighting effects.
• Specific lighting techniques can also be used specifically in the genre of the film, for example a lit torch, bonfire or fireplace etc...

Costume and Makeup:

• The horror genre can be more exaggerated than most other genres of film. For example villains or predators may have ripped clothes/ blood smeared or makeup effects like scars, gashes or cuts and bruises.
• Villains and predators may also be a specific theme, such as wearing the mask of a pig or having a specific face paint design. A key example of this would be Jason Voorhees in Friday the 13th, whereby the serial killer wears an infamous hockey mask.

Below; examples of costume and special effects makeup  that could possibly be use/is commonly used in horror movies.