R+P Post 10: Reflections so far/ looking ahead

I think that we, as a group, have worked very well in the research and planning stage and have exceeded all expectations we set ourselves. We have created a very good idea with lots of potential and have done so with respect for each other and what we have to say,

R+P Post 9: Our opening sequence's soundtrack

The soundtrack we have decided to use is 'Isle of the Dead' by Rachmaninoff. When choosing our music we not only had to ensure it effectively built up tension and suspense to create our desired effect but that it was also copyright free. This soundtrack was created in 1886 and is therefore over 50 years old thus is free of any copyright.

'Isle of the Dead' is a classical soundtrack which is conventional for similar thrillers to build up suspense and mystery without taking away from the action on the screen. We took inspiration for this sort of mood from films such as The Shining.

We sourced all our sound effects from freesound.org. The sound effects we plan to include are:

• Crackle and hiss as camera cuts out
• Long beep sound as news report goes off air
• Phone ringing

R+P Post 8: The credits in our opening sequence

We had three inspirations behind our titles:

1) American Horror Story

Our titles will glitch as they appear on the screen and the time they stay on will vary, however these titles will mostly be positioned in the corners of the screen so as not to take away from the scene that is playing behind it but still be noticeable. This adds a discordant feel to the sequence thus enhanced the eerie atmosphere. Our inspiration for this was American Horror Story.

2) The Shining

Our titles will be imposed onto the screen with some super imposed and clearly the focus. This in conjunction with the effects we plan to give them will increase the tension and keep the audience engaged. It also makes our titles clearly noticeable to the audience. Our inspiration for this was The Shining.

3) Don't Breathe

We decided to make our titles white as we felt it would contrast well with the dark background and help impose the titles even more. Our inspiration for this was Don't Breathe.

The titles we plan to include are as follows in order of first to last:

• Laith Lyster (actor)
• Hector Bloggs (actor)
• Kodie Matthews (actress)
• Abigail Tegene (actress)
• Executive Producer; Aisha Farah
• Screenplay by; Sailesh Shah
• Producer; Ray Baker
• Director; Hugh Teesdale

R+P Post 7: Our opening sequences planned mis-en-scene

Costume: Our film is set in modern day in a contemporary society so therefore costumes will simply be what you would expect as opposed to anything outlandish. The antagonist will wear dark clothing and a hood to help hide his face, the news anchor and reporter will be dressed formally.

The style in which our news anchor will dress

Camera: In the beginning of the sequence we will use a variety of angled shots and minimal long shots, as well as camera movement so as not to show the antagonists face but also as this will help us create an atmosphere of mystery and tension. In contrast we will use still mid shots and long shots for the news anchor as this is what the audience would expect of a news show. In the part where the reporter goes missing we will use shaky handheld shots to add a sense of realism to the scene as it will convince the audience of the danger and the fear the cameraman is experiencing.

This is an example of the handheld shots we wish to include.

Lighting: In the beginning of the film opening when we see the antagonist we will use very low-key lighting in order to make the antagonist harder to see and to obscure any details. This will further emphasise the mystery of the scene. We will use high-key lighting for the news anchor as it is what the audience would expect of a news report being recorded in a studio. Finally, for the outdoor shots in the forest we will use natural lighting as this will add a sense of realism to the scene as it is what the audience would expect.

Settings: Our settings are Laith's house, the school and the forest. For the scenes in which we see the antagonist we will use Laith's house but we will adjust the lighting and camera positioning in such a way that it creates spooky shadows and creates an eerie atmosphere. We will use the school to record the news anchor scenes as there is an ideal location within the school and by using the school we have props easily available to us. The final setting is the forest in which the news reporter's scenes will be shot, this a conventional setting in horror thrillers as seen in the Blair Witch Project.

Props:

• Microphone
• Laptop
• Phone
• News Report Notes

R+P Post 6: Our opening sequence's characters and how we plan to represent social groups

In the film opening only 4 characters are introduced, the only key character being the antagonist. Despite this, all 4 characters have been created to represent both genders and ethnic minorities.

Our antagonist, Damien, is not seen throughout the entirety of the film opening. We see his body but nit his face. He is a quiet, introverted young adult who having been bullied all his life has now started seeking revenge against society as a result of his psychological issues. The xenophobia that stems from not seeing him creates a greater sense of mystery and fear whilst also putting the focus on the psychological issues surrounding this character than the character himself. Through this not only do we represent psychological issues but we also represent the pain that some people suffer having been shunned by society.

Jim Moriarty from Sherlock inspired us for Damien. Moriarty according to Holmes is a powerful criminal mastermind who can commit any atrocity to perfection without losing any sleep over it.

Our news reporter, Jean Smith, is a professional young black Muslim woman as connoted by her clothing and job. This therefore represents an ethnic minority group and the female demographic. In terms of the horror genre this is conventional as she is portrayed not only as the stock black character who seemingly dies first but also as the vulnerable young female.

A typical news reporter from real news programmes.
This is Fatima Manji from Channel 4 News.

This shows the manner in which black characters are under-represented in films, therefore by including a black character we are representing an ethnic minority.

Within our film opening, we have represented Jean Smith in two different ways. When we are first introduced to her she is represented in a very positive manner. As discussed above, she is a young professional, British, Muslim woman which positively represents females and Muslims, as it shows them in a high-level occupation, thus avoiding the traditional negative British stereotypes surrounding these demographics. However, the way she is represented changes to a more negative one once she becomes a victim. As discussed above, she is then represented as a vulnerable, female victim which reinforces negative gender stereotypes, as it shows her to be weak as opposed to the strong initial representation she had. However, having a vulnerable female victim is an archetype of the horror genre and therefore, despite being a negative representation. it conforms to audience expectations.

Richard May who is our news anchor is the typical young professional male. There is little opportunity for him to display any characteristics in our opening however his appropriate reaction to the disappearance of the news reporter, as well as his composure and professionalism to deal with the situation connote this.

A typical news anchor from real news programmes.
This is Huw Edwards from BBC News.

R+P Post 5: Our opening sequence idea

Beginning: The beginning of our opening sequence sees the male antagonist walking up the stairs and going into his room, sitting down and opening his laptop before cutting to a news report. This sequence will be edited for continuity.

Middle: The middle is where we see the entire news report in which it is reported that two teenagers have gone missing. Following a question and answer session between the news anchor and news reporter the reporter sees something behind the camera, alerts the cameraman to it who then pans around and when the camera pans back the reporter is nowhere to be seen, The camera is then dropped at which point we see two feet walk past before the camera cuts out. We then see a panicked news anchor saying there are technical difficulties before the news report cuts out.

End: To close the film opening we cut back to the antagonist who closes his laptop, picks up a phone and simply says "it's done." Then the screen cuts to black from which the film title "Disturbances" will come on screen.

This is a picture of the script for our film opening

There were two key inspirations with regards to the news report. The first one being that Quarantine inspired the idea to have a news report, and the second being that Blair Witch inspired the key event of the camera falling and breaking.

The Blair Witch scene which inspired our key event in which the camera falls and breaks


Binary Opposites:

• Safety of the indoors vs the danger of the outdoors
• Unknown (hidden face of the antagonist and unknown attacker in the forest) vs vulnerable victim

Enigma Codes:

• Low-key lighting when we see the antagonist. Raises questions of who the antagonist is.
• Phone ringing. Builds suspense the antagonists response raises questions of who the caller was and what they were saying.

R+P Post 4: Our film's genre, title and plot outline

Title: DISTURBANCES

Genre: Horror/thriller

Themes: Suspense, mystery, psychological issues, final girl

The Joker from The Dark Knight has extreme psychological issues and this is used to create suspense and mystery, therefore it was a key inspiration to us

Plot Outline: Two teenagers go missing, and the next day there is a news report regarding the incident. The news reporter at the scene of the event is about to explain what happens and in the middle of the account the unknown force/criminal makes his second attack by capturing the reporter and then the cameraman. The protagonist of the story is a university student who studies criminology. Her and her classmates try to face the force themselves using their newfound skills from the course. Meanwhile the antagonist is making his next moves for his third attack and the likely victims are the protagonist and her friends. Ultimately, only the main protaganist escapes alive thus falling in line with the 'final girl' theme.

Erin Hardesty from Texas Chainsaw Massacre was a similar 'final girl'

R+P Post 3: Our production and distribution institutions

For our production company we chose the already existing "Hammer Productions." We felt this was the most ideal institution we could use as it had all the traits we were looking for. Hammer Productions is well known for action thrillers e.g. Woman in Black, Frankenstein, Dracula and therefore it would make sense for our movie to be produced by this company. Furthermore, Hammer Productions is iconic for their visual style, this is a style similar to what we want to capture in order to convey suspense and mystery and therefore it makes sense for this institution to produce our film. Finally, this is also a British institution which gives our a British cultural aspect and allows us to appeal to to the British demographic.

We have chosen Warner Bros as our distributor because they have worked with Hammer Productions in the past on very successful films and therefore that gives us synergy and a good reputation which we can exploit for the gain of our film. Furthermore, this institution is fully integrated and has a global presence and is also known for thrillers e.g. The Shining, The Conjuring and therefore allows us to reach as wide an audience as possible and be as commercially successful as possible. To evidence the success that this institution recieves 2015 was the ninth consecutive year that Warner Bros Pictures crossed the $3 billion mark at the global box office with $3.71 billion in worldwide receipts.

R+P Post 2: Our target audience and how we plan to attract/address them

Our core audience is action fans and thriller fans. Our secondary audience are teenagers and young adults of the 15-24 age range.

We will appeal to the action fans in the opening sequence through the climactic disappearance of the news reporter in the woods that will follow an intense fast paced montage. The climax will be further emphasised by a crescendo in the eerie soundtrack and a cut to black. The teenagers are conventionally appealed to by not only the action genre, but also through themes such as suspense and mystery, Both themes will be clearly present in our film opening through an eerie, tense soundtrack, a quick introduction of the antagonist whose face we don't see and low lighting. Mystery will also be built through the deserted woods which makes our main setting as the audience will question what is in there, Young adults will be appealed to in a similar way through mystery and suspense. 

A visual representation of the age group we are targeting

Similar action thrillers e.g. Resident Evil, Blair Witch and The Shining all have a 15 certificate and therefore we have followed convention and given our film a 15 certificate. 

In order to appeal to this audience we will have a cast of relatable characters. They will all be young adults and live typical lives of contemporary young adults and some will have aspirational qualities about them such as courage. An example of one such character is our main character, a 19 year old university student who is studying criminology. This is relatable through a university lifestyle but also aspirational as criminology has strong associations with aspirational traits such an ability to deduce and analyse to a good level.

Conventionally speaking, an action thriller will usually be skewed to the male audience with no real appeal to the female audience, To counter this and appeal to both genders our main protaganist is going to be a female and she will also be the only one who survives. This not only serves to empower and provide an aspiration to the female audience but it also falls in line with the 'last girl' theme - a common theme amongst thrillers.

R+P Post 1: How we intend to work as a group

For this project I will be working with Aisha and Laith.

Aisha (left), Laith (middle), and Me (right)

In order to be time-efficient we will often delegate roles in which different members of the group can work to their strengths on a certain aspect. However, we will always then discuss that aspect as a group and reach a group decision concerning said aspect. This is ideal as it means we are all as comfortable in our work as possible, we all get a chance to input our own opinions and ideas and we get as much work done as possible within the time constraint. This happens in our group meetings which are an hour long and take place twice a week.  If we are doing individual work we also have a Facebook Messenger Group Chat in place to discuss any issues or ideas for our project.