The 5 S's - Storyboarding

Above is a Slide presentation of my groups storyboard. When doing the story board we decided to plan it out how we would visually like it to come across in the final production. So the Slide presentation shows the stages of which we wanted each scene to come out. Next to each scene we wrote how long we wanted it to last for and what type of angle we wanted it to be shot.

The 5 S's - Schedule

After prepping for planning our trailer , we then sat down and decided to work out what days would be best for one another to get together to film , as we wouldn't want anyone to miss any days of filming. So from then we planned out what days we would be best to get as much done as possible. We firstly sorted out a day which we should by the costumes and the masks and all the props needed for the trailer. After sorting this out we then had a clear schedule of when we need to film and what times would be best to give that 'horror' effect (e.g after 8 ,when its dark and foggy). So after careful consideration of everyone in the group needs we planned when and where we would like to film and on what days would be best , this will ensure us that the film will be done to the best of our ability.

The 5 S's - Stock Characters

We discuss as a group how many people we would like use in our trailer. We decided to keep the characters quite minimal we felt the use of props & locations would speak for themselves.

The only form of characters we are using with speech is a reporter. This reporter is used to inform the audience this killing has been happening over a period of time & the people in the area are aware of the situation. We are going to use props to insinuate that a murder has happened or is about to. We are going to use a 'random' victim to just emphasise the amount of killings. Our main victim we are focusing on will be a girl, we want her to be shown as vulnerable because when we are challenging our stereotype the killer is going to be shown as very strong & the contrast between victim & killer will be emphasised.

Victims tend to be very vulnerable in horror films. The killer will be very different from our usual killers we see in films. Our killer is going to be femine she will wear a long cloak with red heels, red lipstick & long hair. She will be wearing a femine mask to keep the mystery alive. Masks tend to be used in films to do the exact same thing and I feel it keeps the story more alive when you dont know who it is. For example in the film "When a stranger calls" the man was not wearing a mask but his face was never revealed to the camera. Every other aspect of him was apart from his face & to me as the audience I felt this kept the suspense and intrigued me more.

The 5 S's - Shot List

As a group we sat down and decided on what shots were going to go 1st and how we were going to organise it in relation to filming. After careful planning we decided how we would like the shots to go and below is the organised shot list.

Before going into production it is vital to plan out how the movie is going to be shot. Directors always have their own planned out shot list for planning out the movies shot selections.

Above is the picture of our shot list (click on the picture , then click again to enlarge)

The 5 S's - Script

In our trailer there will be hardly and talking as we would like to keep it snappy and attracting to the audience. So because of this decision we made we decided to only let the reporter in our trailer speak about the 'killings' that will take place. So therefore the script below is only written about the reporter - which will contain overlapping voices of other reporters to create a sinster effect.

Reporter 1: (After the Dark room shot) * Woman's Voice* " Im standing just infront another YET gruesome murder. Last night another murder was committed at 11.54pm. A girl was brutly killed, she was thought to be ...
Reporter 2- *Speaking over* *Womans voice* "Another murder at 11.54pm another girl was kille left with no identification of who she is , she was thought to be...
Reporter 3- *Speaking over* : A woman was walking her dog when she found a girl covered in blood , it seemed that she been left here for quite some time , she was thought to be...
*VOICES ALL TOGETHER* : "Some are saying this is a massacre!!!!!"


(Example of a script)

Certification for Midnight Massacre 2

As a group we decided to aim our film at 15 years and over. We decided to do this because we feel that we will be covering a wider audience base , as that is the age that they are more prone to watch horror films. Also because our film will not contain any explict scenes or hardcore violence will feel it would be a suitable age to set it for.

Below is a classifcation outline of what it means for your film is your plan on aiming it and 15years and above.

BBFC 15 CERTIFICATION RULES:

These categories are awarded where the material is suitable, in general, only for those aged 15 and over. Works classified at these categories may upset children under 15 or contain material which many parents will find unsuitable for them.
The ‘15’ category exists only for cinema films. No one younger than 15 may see a ‘15’ film in a cinema unless accompanied by an adult, and films classified ‘15’ are not recommended for a child below that age. An adult may take a younger child if, in their judgement, the film is suitable for that particular child. In such circumstances, responsibility for allowing a child under 15 to view lies with the accompanying adult.
The ‘15’ category exists only for video works. No one younger than 15 may rent or buy a ‘15’ rated video work.

Risk Assessment - Filming

When conducting a risk assessment, consider all the likely hazards, who may be harmed, property which may be damaged, and the controls already in place. Then, for each likely hazard, bearing in mind the controls already in place, record the ‘risk assessment’ level which can be seen on the following table. The further actions to be considered will be determined by the level of risk assessment.

(Click on the picture to enlarge it , to view the risk assessment)

Midnight Massacre 2 - The Synopsis

After researching plot lines / synopsis we were able to come together and discuss how we would like to write our synopsis so it doesnt give anything away , like most slasher horror films do.
Typical synopsis consists of killer always looking for a victim , or it starts of all 'jolly' then it hits rock bottom and someone gets killed - this was seen in 'Texas Chainsaw Massacre'. However in
'Wrong Turn' the synopsis was different , it was written straight from when someone got killed then it explains the rest of the plotline which then shows it all 'jolly'. This is something you wouldn't expect as it is a horror movie. So after researching all of this we knew that we had to make ours stand out but still keep it the conventions of a horror movie. Below is our OWN written synopsis of our film.

Midnight Massacre 2 - The Return of the MASKCARADE:
Returning to finish off what she started , The Midnight Masscare killer is back , but her final victim is proving to be harder than she thought.
Anne Hisburg is a returning sociopath , with a undiscovered moral behind her killings but what could she really be hiding? She has set out to kill off her victims one by one as soon as midnight strikes. Her last but by no means least victim proves to be more than she can handle , after hunting her down for a year she finally gets close enough to finish what she started , but with her prey being a more complicated case , there are unexpected consequences for her and her victim. Who says the killer can't be the victim?

Our Title - Midnight Massacre 2 - The Return of the MASKcarade

The title of our film is called 'Midnight Massacre 2 - The Return of the MASKcarade'.

We chose this film title because it gives it a very well known slasher theme. Other slasher films base there themes on specific dates or times , films like 'Friday the 13th' or ' I Know What You Did Last Summer'. By looking at these films it gave us the idea that by making our title link to previous films in the way they have these specific dates or times , can trigger audience expectations of what they would like to see in slasher horror.

When deciding on the name 'Midnight Massacre 2 - The Return of the MASKcarade'. We thought it was really clever as it shows that the whole aspect of the film relates to something happening at midnight. Also by looking at such films like 'Texas Chainsaw Massacre' , it gave us the idea that using the word 'massacre' in our film shows that there has been a numerous amount of killings which instinctively relates to slasher horrors.

The idea of 'MASKcarade' is the fact that the killer is not revealed throughout the film which is typically what happens in slasher horrors such as 'Scream'. We cleverly used 'MASKcarade' in one word because 'masquerade' is an event which participants attend a party in costume wearing masks. However we decided to spell it as 'MASKcarade' to create a play on words.

Planning Ideas - Our Concept

After a brief introduction to our coursework and my research into what horror is and what horror trailers do to make themselves noticeable to the horror genre, I and my group decided to start jotting down ideas of what type of horror film we'd like to produce, the name and the location we should film it at. Above are rough pictures of our ideas that we put together in class. Jotting down these ideas helped us plan foward what and when we'd like to start planning properly , also allows us to converse together as a group to pitch ideas to one another.

Research Into Location - Relating to Our Concept

When researching into locations that slasher horror films use we notice a consistant pattern of a dark mysterious HOUSE in the middle of no where , this was seen in 'The Strangers' , or either woods which is very sterotypical as a horror location, this was seen in the film ' The Blair Witch Project' , there are many typical locations that are used in horror films for example a school when watching a teen based horror movie such as 'Prom Night'.

However there was one film that stood out from the rest that caught our eye which was 'Scream' , as 'Scream' was set in the cinema and we find that this a non-typical idea , something we like tob go with. So by weighing out all the locations that slasher horror films have we decided to not use any typical locations but to mix and match with locations.

Research into Props/Location - Relating to Our Concept

During a lesson my group and I went out to find props we would like to use in our trailer we tried to find props that will connect with the name of our trailer. Since our trailer is called 'Midnight Massacre 2' we decided to use a mask as the main prop in the trailer. As masks are iconic in horror films such as 'Friday 13th , Scream etc , we decided to make it more of a feminine mask so we can go against the typical sterotype of it being a man behind the mask.

Also with the clothes used in slasher horror films , it tends to be rugged and wrecked. Once again we just want to go against that whole sterotype and make the custome of our killer dark yet classy , still giving you the sense of slasher horror but with a twist. When discussing what props we would like to use for our trailer we had to narrow down a number of props to certain props that will make our trailer stand out from the rest.

We decided to use a clock in our trailer to symbolise time ticking away towards midnight , to also show that time is running out. We also decided to use a red pen , red symoblises blood which we were going to use to circle the pictures we are going to use in our trailer - to represent a target. To get the whole horror concept on point , we decided to use many pictures in the trailer to emphasise the killer's psychopathic ways. We decided to use these pictures because since we are only doing a short trailer we wanted the audience to get a glimpse of what are plans are.

Research into Magazine Front Covers

Below are the two front covers we looked at , we used a voice over to talk about the covers and what we saw in it that is going to relate to our own movie front cover.

(Click on the video to hear us speak about the magazines , in relation to our trailer 'Midnight Massacre 2 - The Return of the MASKcarade)

(Click on the link to view more examples of film magazine front covers) >>>

>>> Example of Film Magazine Front Cover