Production Schedule

Production Schedule

Date of filming (two separate dates)	10th February & 13th February 2016
Who will be filmed	Matthew Wills (the psychologist) & Jasmine Croft (the current version of the girl who is seen in the flashback)- 10th February 2016. Jamie Thompson (17 years old) who plays the child-minder & Lily Grace Butler (9 years old) who plays the young female child – 13th February 2016
What will be filmed	We aim to film all of the shots on the storyboard and any extra we add in which will be the entire opening sequence. The first date will be the beginning of the film up until the flashback when the babysitter event is recalled; this scene will be filmed on the second date.
How will it be filmed	The opening scene will be filmed inside a room for the questioning using two camcorders and a tripod. On the second date, the first camera shot will be an establishing shot of the location (Alex’s house) followed by an Over the shoulder shot of Lily Grace Butler looking out the bedroom window from upstairs. The camera angles will continue as explained in the storyboard until the child and child-minder meet at the door when two cameras will be used for a shot reverse shot using both tripods.
Equipment necessary	Two HD cameras, two tripods, a small knife, butter/spread, a blank white paper book for the child’s drawings, pencil, cello tape,  red ribbon, crayons

RISK ASSESSMENT
Health & Safety issue/concern	Low risk		Medium risk		High risk
When using the knife prop, small cuts or injuries could occur if the knife isn't handled properly. The tripod will sometimes be on uneven ground such as the pavement by the house which may fall over if there is wind. To minimise this and damage to the camcorder, it will be mounted properly and stuck with cello tape if necessary as well as never leaving the tripod unattended when the camcorder is mounted on.	(Very) low risk	Medium risk

As this isn't filmed on private land, permission is not necessary to film. The only precaution is to ensure the house is free on the day to minimise unrelated background noise and disturbance when filming. 

15. Analysing BFI Data on Genre & Audiences (Genre & Clasffication)

Table 4.1

In 2013, 64 Thriller films were released which is 27 more than Horror which released 37. However, the latter produced more gross at the box office making £57.5 million compared to Thriller which only made £29.1 million from its 64 releases. This shows the horror genre was more successful and made more profit in this year. The most successful genre was Animation with the top performing title Despicable me 2 helping to make animation 21.4% of the total box office, (the most out of all genres). Its appeal was largely young children and adults which meant its target audience was wider so able to make more sales at the box office

Table 4.2

At the widest point of release, the average number of sites was highest in Horror with 145 compared to Thriller which had the less of the two with 89. Although Horror had a higher average number of sites at its widest point of release, the genre released 27 fewer films than Thriller which released 64 but from these releases made a gross of 57.5 million at the box office, more than Thriller which made a gross of £29.1 million. Horror made more money at the box office from its fewer releases than Thriller suggesting the releases were more popular and produced more ticket sales so had a higher profit. Also, the demand for the films in the higher genre was more as it had a higher average number of sites at its widest point of release. The figures show the most successful genres to be Animation and Action which had grosses of £246.6 million and £215.4 million respectively.


Table 4.3

The table shows box office revenues per site by genre which ranks Horror 6 places above Thriller out of all the genres for the "average box office per site". As well as this, the total gross at the box office was £57.5 million for Horror which is £28.4 million higher than Thrillers (£29.1 million). From this we can infer Horror performed better in terms of gross but was considerably less than the highest earning gross at the box office which was Animation which made £246.6 million. Interestingly, the total number of sites is very similar between the two genres; Horrors is only 300 less than Thriller which total number of sites is 5,667. These are higher than other genres such as War, Documentary and Music/Dance which shows the two genres were expected to produce a higher total gross and expected a wider audience range so more ticket sales per site.


Table 4.1.2 (Table 4.4) - Ranked by gross box office.

Out of all the releases, Action made the highest gross at the box office with £64.1 million which made up 25.1% total of the box office in the year.  Horror included 10 less releases with only 7 being released ( 5% of all genre releases) compared to Thriller which released 17 (making up 12.2% of all genre releases). However, in terms of profit Horror was far more successful making a total gross at the box office of £14.8 million where as Thriller made only £4.1 million.

Figure 4.1

This shows the proportion of box office by genre for all films, UK films and UK independent films. With 5% of all films from this genre, it outperformed Thriller which contributed half this amount as well as making less money in the  UK films with Horror making up 5.8% and Thriller 1.6%. However, it's UK Independent films was more at the box office with 2.7 compared to Horror which was only 0.3%. These are all significantly lower than the two best genres for the box office in all films which were Action and Animation. Overall, Horror made more profit at the box office than thriller in all films and UK films but was outperformed by Thriller in the UK independent films meaning  Thriller Independent UK films were more popular than Horror.

Figure 4.2

The proportion of releases by genre for all films, UK films and Independent films was higher in Thriller than Horror. In all films, Thriller released 9.2% where as Horror released 5.3% and in UK films 12.2% were Thriller compared to only 5% being Horror. More than double Horrors 4.9%, Thriller made up 11.4% of UK independent films released which is 6.5% more than Horror which shows a high interest in Thriller Independent UK films as well as the UK films. It also shows there are more films available to a wider range of audience which isn't as age restricted as Horror where teenage audiences/families may be able to watch some Thrillers instead of strictly adults.

Synopsis: "My Friend Charlie"

The film is based on a girl (played by Lily Grace Butler) whose parents go away for the night leaving her with a babysitter (played by Jamie Thompson). It begins by showing a psychiatric interview session in place with the girl as an adolescent. Here it allows us to see that there was evidence to show her prediction of events that happened later  concerning disastrous outcomes ( 9/11 attacks, Isis etc). As the story unfolds we see a flashback of her as a young girl with a babysitter, writing a storybook. However, this books appeared to be chillingly accurate, as the main character in this book is the babysitter. Going back to the interview after seeing this event we are able to understand that perhaps sit wasn't the girl that thought of these ideas, but someone or some form telling her. Someone called Charlie.

16. Scripting/Planning evidence

 To formulate the ideas on filming our opening sequence, we used storyboards. The first one is the flashback and the second shows the opening of the sequence.

 The sequence will be filmed in the evening towards night to establish an eerie tone and a singular pathway for the babysitter to walk on highlighting her isolation and that she will be alone with the child in the house. ( As our ideas on the plot developed, we decided to use a male as our babysitter to go agains the codes and convenions of stereotypical horrors). As shown in the storyboard, suitable camera angles will be used throughout with the opening an establishing shot of the house with the girl seen in the window. This is followed by an Over the shoulder shot of the girl peering out the window looking outside. A pan shot shows the babysitter knocking on the door which is followed up to the knocking on the door. 

Below, the storyboard shows the opening of our film set in a formal environment when the girl is being questioned by the Psychologist for. There is limited dialogue here to highlight what the psychologist saying and the poker face effect of the girl. 

We planned a script for our actors during this scene to give them ideas on what to say. However, the improvised scene was more realistic so we used this for the actual film.

Post on feedback

Completed:
 ALL TASKS up to 12 (excluding ones not for our group)



To be completed
Textual analysis: Differences/Similarities between Hollywodd studio logos
Embedding your studio logo/title sequence
Analysing BFI data on genre & Audiences
Any scripting/Drafting/Storyboard planning evidence

12. Media Theory:Stereotypical Represenations of Horror/Thriller Genres/Characters

Representations that are pre established exist in genres such as Horror/Thrillers so the audience can know what to expect before they watch the movie. Certain representations have now become the stereotypical expectation which enables the production of Horrors to be continuously remade. In the horror classic Dracula, the Archetype of the protagonist remains the same in the current era of Film

Originally the story was wrote by Bram Stoker in 1897 but was made into film in 1922 titled "Nos Faratie" directed by F.W Murnau. This set future adaptations with the representation of Dracula remaining the same as its original form. These include; Always being a white male, upper class, Eastern and European accent who speaks broken English whilst wearing a long black coat and associated with bats and Gothic imagery such as grand castles. The age of Dracula is usually middle aged between the region of 40 to 50 years old. It is important for film makers to maintain the stereotype  of Dracula as audiences relate to previous films and stories told so understand the concept. To change the appearance or the ethnicity of Dracula would not conform to audience expectations and is too risky for Hollywood producers to invest in as viewers may be disappointed with an altered Dracula. In other famous Horrors there is a stereotypical representation of the character such as Hannibal Lector,  Mike Myers in "Halloween" The clown from "IT" and Norman Bates from "Psycho". These are known as dominant representations. White men who may appear solitude and middle aged often are these characters which fits in with Alfred Hitchcocks Psycho where Norman Bates is this representation. The victims are female whom are conceived to appear weak and vulnerable. The archetypal victim is a single, white female (virgin) who is alone and cannot find help so has to fight the killer off themselves. However, this convention is slowly being broken as females are not stereotypically the victims in some horrors in more recent times. Resident evil depicts a strong woman and in Tomb Raider which are shifting the perpetrator roles. In the era horror films such as "Halloween" was published, society had more sexist views and portrayed women to be less independent making it easier for them to be the victim and susceptible for danger.

                                                                                                         
                                                                                                       

Thrillers are dominated by white male protagonists within the key roles. Many of the actors and directors have been white and rarely of black ethnic minority who play minor roles. Hollywood's roots are white centric and meant ethnic minorities suffered in starring major roles in the thriller genre. David Finchers Se7en was revolutionary to thriller as it's major role as a detective was played by Morgan Freeman who is of black ethnicity. Because of this, in films and dramas today those of black ethnicity star the main roles such as Will Smith in "I am Legend"  and TV drama "Luther" with Idras Elbar. This cultural bias has decreased in Hollywood since it begun but is not equal in all aspects. Gender bias meant females were restricted to playing the victim role or the femme fatale, (seductive and can't be trusted) along with Homosexual bias which didn't allow for homosexual/lesbian protagonists. Even in the most recent of films, it is rare for a protagonist to be openly gay or express a sexuality other than heterosexual in thrillers.

5. Textual Analysis:Se7en Textual analysis

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-k2gsEI34CE

"Se7en" includes an unconventional opening opening to a film in it's time (1995) which would re establish the pre title sequences in future cinema. The dark eerie tone helps to set  plot of the film.

The opening begins with page being turned  and an out of focus hand in the background. As we are unable to see the hand or the writing, the identity of whom this belongs to is not known which creates immediate suspicion. A short lasting explosive sound begins the sequence which is followed with syllables played to a beat. Extreme close ups show the skin of a fingertip carefully being removed by a sharp knife/file which conveys secrecy as this is most likely to avoid detection through fingerprints; It also distracts us from who the antagonist is. In between the brief shots the cast names appear momentarily  in bold white but the font is distorted and exits as the next cut takes place. These jump cuts create uneasy viewing. Meanwhile the routine syllables continue to play amongst a white noise, (there are layers of sound which do not have a pattern) similar to the erratic  jump cuts.

A drone sound begins and the music begins to increase in volume at which point the mystery of all the meticulous actions intensifies. Close ups on faces and words being crossed out could suggest the tracks are being covered or that the person strongly disagrees with the words and their meanings on the pages and who they belong to .Midway through at 1:14 the focus draws on words written in black ink. However the ink is bold and doesn't appear to be for professional purposes due to the jagged appearance It is therefore more personal and handwritten solely for the intent on the person writing it. The non digetic sound increases in tempo and when combined with sequences of paper being layered down with photos and the threading of needles in the paper, the unknown process is like a puzzle to be solved by he audience with time running out. This could also reflect the plot of the film as it is crime orientated.  Transitions remain fast and non linear but slowly come to and end. A heavy focus on sharp objects such as tweasers (1:54) demonstrates intricacy but also emits fear as the purpose is deliberately masked by the camera angles which are so close, only part of the sentences or pages are shown. Part of a dollar bill is extracted, (the word God) which suggests a religious reasoning to the characters work. It is accompanied by a man saying "You get me closer to God" which is the only narration in this sequence which could show his only reason for all this was to be associated with God. At this point all the background music comes to an abrupt end and cuts to an establishing shot of buildings. The religious connotation of "Only god can judge" is employed through this phrase which could reflect the ending of the film as the man is or isn't brought to justice for his actions.