Are we Creating British Cinema?

I think we are creating British cinema for a number of reasons. Firstly, we are British and our production is set and will be filmed in Britain. Our location is in the Yorkshire country side and is quite a stereotypical area to represent this. All the cast in our production are British which means their accents are local to the area and the audience can easily use this to establish the setting for our production.

However, most films that are for a worldwide audience (USA) and that are set in Britain tend to use London or the southern countryside. They do this because it has recogniseable mise-en-scene and the accents are what other countries would stereotypically know as British. An example of this would be Bridget Jones' Diary and Notting Hill.

Casting, Characters and Mise-en-scene

CASTING + CHARACTERS

In our production you will see 5 characters altogether:

• Scream Queen
• Final Girl
• Scream Queen's boyfriend
• 'Outsider' of the group
• Killer

stereotypical scream queens

Scream Queen:

For the scream queen we plan to cast a very stereotypical scream queen. The qualities that we associate with a scream queen are blonde hair, very confident, has a boy friend and usually discusses stuff in the narrative that may be seen as immoral. We are going to cast someone who is blonde, could easily play the part and convincingly come across to the audience as this, however the narrative and her confidence is more important than her appearance.

archetype final girl Laurie Strode

Final Girl: We would like our final girl character to also be a stereotype final girl character. We are looking to cast somebody with brunette hair and to act quite sensible and maybe show some academic qualities. She should not participate or agree with anything that her friends talk about that is immoral or wrong and should come across as quite an independent character.

'Derek' in Scream 2

Scream Queen's Boyfriend:

He should have a lot of similar qualities to the Scream queen and also shows immoral qualities. Acts a bit like a jock.

Outsider of the Group: The outsider should be male, and look like he doesn't really belong in the group. He should not really care about his appearance and almost be a binary opposite of the 'jock' like scream queens boyfriend.

Jason Voorhees in Friday the 13th

Killer: In the opening sequence of the film the audience will not be aware of who the killer is, by the use of narrative enigma. Therefore, when casting the killer we don't necessarily need to cast on looks, but we would like it to be a man. 

MISE-EN-SCENE

We will show mise-en-scene in our production by set dressing the area in which we are filming with small signifiers for the audience to pick up on. We will most likely set our opening in or around a forest area as this has connotations with dark/evil like the killer character. 

Assessing Past Coursework

Film titles, intertextualty with scream (Wes Craven, 1996)
The sound over their title sounds like a childrens toy adn uses a few different layers of music.

It starts with long drawn out notes and one of the openig shots is filmed behind some branches.
This connotes a point of view shot.
They use a false scare near the beginning of the opening. They also have interetextual references with the omen.

They use an elipses to fade out into the next shot. They use signifiers like the girly room, pink room and features. Quite a lot of shot variation. Dialogue is useful for exposition. To sometimes get away from wooden acting they could have used cutaway shots. A bra is thrwon over the box to imply sexual activity, they use a cutaway shot to do this. They use 'female gaze' here. A good shot is to put the camera i the cupboard before someone opens it. Some of the action could be better synced.

 After hearing the bang they could of used a number of other shots like a whip tilt , or at least a lot more shot variety. Mise-en-scene is used by the use of fake blood. An elipses probably shouldn't have been used here as it would have been more realistic to see the boy running up hte staairs. Needed more shot variation when he finds her dead in the bath.






The white font on the black background signifies realism.  The audience would know that the drink in his hand means he is going to be a victim. They use 'in association with'. They show the shakey point of view shot to signify he is drunk. The shot from behind the trees signifies that soeone is watching him.  Not much justification for the elipses after the violence. Good mise-en-scene with the blood effect in te snow. All you see of the killer is feet and legs, this is good use of narrative enigma.

The effect used is trying to signify CCTV. Good blood effect on the side of the face. They used layering to make it look like they had more shots. The sound of the rattle of the chain works well. The camera position should be the other way round to signify the power that the character has. Couple of references to psycho at the end.







The titles are animated and the font and transitions are well thought through. The diegetic sound is lacking when it goes back into the house. This breaks the verisimilitude. Bit of a reference to scream like they use the popcorn, theree is a kettle in this.

Slasher Overview Vodcast: Notes

Psycho early archetype to slasher genre - 40 shots in 50 seconds. Very fast paced editing.
Killing with knife, now chosen weapon in a lot of slasher films.

Texas Chainsaw Massacre moving on a generation. Redifined genre. Much more gore and realistic violence than before, this is also the same in Last House on the Left. Tobe Hooper the director got a lot of students involved in the making.

Black Christmas (1974) By everything taking part in one place it reduces the budget costs greatley by only having one location. Black christmas, TCN and psycho are all low budget and have all been remade more recently. This is the first horror film to star John Saxon. The use of the camera as the killers point of view was first used in Black Christmas, even though Halloween get a lot of credit for doing this even though their inspiration for it was from Black Christmas. The audience in effect become the killer and the fact that th audience come to see violence. This film also uses narrative enigma.

Halloween (1978) relies more on scares than gore. People paid attention to Halloween ven though it didnt't include any big stars. Jamie Lee Curtis stars in Prom Night and Terror Train which are both post halloween films. Her mother Janet Lee was the scream queen in Psycho.

Friday the 13th istant hit. A sequel released the following year and 13 films altogether.

Physiologically effects you (music) which then leads to a pyschological effect.

Peeping Tom (1960, Michael Powell) Puts the audience into the killers perspective. proto-slasher (prototype).
Not clear who had done the killings as they use narrative enigma to conceal his identity.

New nightmare (postmodern slasher)
scream (post modern)
scarey movie (post modern)
intertextuality and hybrids are features of postmodernism
self referential are another feature.

 50s and 60s most horror was gothic or creature features. Combination of universal creature features and Hammer Gothic films. Hammer films were the bigges force in horror films all over the world during the 60s.
The main characters were upper class, mature adults. They often used castles and looked very theatrical. The idea of the scream queens were also used in hammer films, with blonde women being heavily advertised for their films.

 70s -The protagonists in last house on the left, TCM and black christmas were middle class or working class people. films with portable shaky camera work and were very realistic in their design. These modern more realistic movies made the hammer films look really silly.

Psycho didn't create a lot of imitators like Halloween did. Peeping tom ruined the career of his director and psycho was also contraversial and thats why studios didn't dare make another similar for at least a decade.

Music - increase fear levels and tension. Commutation test, if you took the music out of the showere scene on psycho then it wouldn't be scarey, or it would be consideratley less. Alfred Hitchcock was one of the first directors to use the auteur theory. A lot of the music in the shower scene was a lot ofviolens holding one note.

In general the audience for a slasher film is probably about 15-24 years old. Especially if you use intertextuality references, it will help justify your age rating with older people as they will be fans of the slasher genre.
Rated by BBFC. Digitisation means that people younger than the age rating are likely to still watch them.
Death of a stranger is a rated 12 slasher movie.

Narrative Structure
Todorov structure: equilibrium, dis-equilibrium and new-equilibrium.
 Halloween is an exception of this as the killer disappears at the end leaving the state of dis-equilibrium. Halloween 2 carries on exactly from where the first one left and the second film does end on a new equilibrium.

False Scare - partialy demonstrating hibridity by bringing comedy into the mox slightly. As the audience may laugh in relief. Often used by an animal like a cat scaring the character.

SlasherEG10: 5ive Girls

DVD cover

5ive Girls
(Warren P Sonoda, 2006)

Budget: $3m (estimated)
Box Office: not stated, no theatrical release

opening shot

The opening shot is an establishing shot and an extreme long shot of a building that is anchored to have a connection to religion. This is signified by the large cross on the side of the building. It also looks a lot like a school.

extreme long shot

The shot then changes to inside the building where it is then clearly shown as a school, signified by the uniform the girl is wearing and the desks and chalk boards. This shot pans over the room so the audience notice all these signifiers and then starts to concentrate more on the girl sat at the desk.

extreme close up

Her father then comes and speaks to her about the religion related pictures she is drawing. Straight away the audience realise that the religion in this film will be very relevant to the plot.

close up

There are some good examples of close ups and extreme close ups of the father and daughter talking and the good relationship they have. I think their relationship is built up as she ends up being the scream queen at the end of the opening, and this way the audience will be more effected by her death and the father can react off it better.

low angle

The girl then becomes possessed, they show this by using a lot of fast paced editing when weird stuff starts to happen. They also use some low angled shot to show that whatever is possessing her is powerful and do an extreme close up of her eyes to also show she is possessed.

extreme close up

The father then manages to get into the room and his possessed daughter is nowhere to be seen but there is a pool of blood on the floor. There is a close up of this.

blood

The credits then start to be shown. They are on a black and red animated background that shows things related to the film and religious figures. The font is in white and is sans serif. This white writing shows up very clearly against the background. The different names change from either side of the screen. This might be something we consider to use in our production.

titles

titles

Vodcast: Stalk and Slash scene

SlasherEG9: Friday the 13th JasonX

DVD cover

Friday the 13th Jason X 
(James Isaac, 2001)

Budget: $11m (estimated)
Box Office: $12.6m (USA) £230k (UK)

opening shot

This is one of the opening shots of the film. As this is a sequel the majority of the audience will have watched the previous films and know that this is the antagonist of the franchise. In this opening shot he is tied up and this puts the audience in a false sense of security as they think the situation is in equilibrium.

medium close up

This a medium close up of a character that comes across as a final girl type. She is brunette seems intelligent, sensibly dressed and when threatened by authority, still sticks to being sensible and reasonable. The audience at this may presume she will be the main antagonist for the film.

OTS

This is an over the shoulder shot of the 'final girl' character talking to an authority figure. She is telling him that they can't transfer the killer as he is secure at the moment and it would be too dangerous. The audience at this point know something bad will happen.

close up

At the end of the opening sequence the 'final girl' character is killed by the killer after he escapes. This shows how the film makers wanted to go against the stereotype of the scream queen, by having a more typical final girl to be one of the first victims. This is also a close up of her face. This will be done to emphasise what has happened without showing the gore which could be seen as more unrealistic.

SlasherEG7: Urban Legend

DVD cover

Urban Legend (titles+idents)
(Jamie Blanks, 1998)

Budget: $14m (estimated)
Box Office: $38m (USA) £1.1m (UK)

ident

 The first ident you see for Urban Legend is Pheonix.






Urban legend shows the titles of and credits in white serif font on a black background. I think they chose to do this as the contrast makes it very clear and the serious traditional lettering and style make it suit the slasher theme. This style is used in a lot of slasher films, especially the old ones. Because of this it is becoming a recognisable convention of the slasher genre.

 The writing then becomes layered over the first few shots which is a good way to fade into the film. The film starts with quite a dark scene so the white writing is still clear enough to be contrasting against the background and to be seen.


The titles then finish and the title of the film isn't shown until after the opening sequence and the first killing. This is a good way of breaking up the opening sequence and the main narrative. The shot being shown behind the titles is heavy rain fall. Showing weather like rain and storms is a commonly used technique to show that bad things are going to happen. This also keeps to the slasher genre.

Slasher Overview Vodcast

SlasherEG6: Prom Night

DVD cover

Prom Night 
(Nelson McCormick, 2008)

Budget: $20m (estimated)
Box Office: $43m (USA) £1.2m (UK)

the first titles

The first titles you see are white on a black background and in a serif font. This is a very clear convention across a lot of slasher films.
 The titles then carry on as the opening shot is shown, the titles are to the left hand side of the screen in the same font as the original. The shot is doing a panning shot and following a specific car.

opening shot

panning shot

It is heavily raining in these opening shots. This is a common convention of a lot of slasher films as it sets the mood that something bad may happen.

more titles

 The shot then changes to a close up of the final girl character of the film. This final girl is not the stereotypical final girl, and at first may be mistaken as a scream queen due to her blonde hair which is usually a characteristic of a scream queen.

OTS shot

close up

close up

final girl character then goes into her house, not finding anybody. There is then a close up of a blood covered hand, revealing that her Dad is dead and she hasn't realised. This is an example of dramatic irony, when the audience are aware of more than the characters.





She then sees her dead brother and hides under the bed, there is a good example of close up here. She then sees her mother get killed from her view under the bed by the killer.

the mother

main action

After this opening sequence it then switches to the present tense and you find out this was a dream she is retelling to a councillor. The main action of the film starts here.

SLasherEG5: Slashers

Dvd cover

Slashers
(Maurice Devereaux, 2001)

Budget: $165 000 (estimated)
Didn't have a theatrical release.

opening shot

Slashers immediately starts with dramatic music and a shot of people running through some kind of colourful maze and screaming. There are no titles, idents or credits. Within 3 seconds of the film starting you can see who is chasing them and within 6 seconds the first victim has been killed.  The first death is framed as a medium long shot with the victim and killer in the centre of the shot. The blood looks quite fake in this first killing.

tv show opening

first killing

The next shot you see in the opening is of somebody talking and subtitles of what they are saying coming on at the bottom of the screen. There is some kind of audience behind him and it is a medium close up of the speakers face. All the signs in the background that the audience have signify that it is some kind of TV show, and maybe these killings are involved. This is then anch

tv credits

ored as the opening credits to this TV start showing that these killers are the 'stars' of this show.

tv show opening titles

The opening credits to this TV show cheerleaders singing and encouraging the killers (slashers) to kill the people. The next shots are of what the viewers would see of the show. There continues to be subtitles on the bottom of the screen when the male host is speaking in Japanese. The shots continue to be from the viewers point of view watching from the TV at home and show a lot of panning shots of the audience and cheerleaders and medium close ups of the hosts talking.

By this point it is into the main plot of the film and there hasn't been any credits or titles of any kind. This makes it hard to identify the length of the opening sequence.

SlasherEG4: Friday the 13th (original)

DVD cover

Friday the 13th 
(Sean S Cunningham, 1980)

Budget: $550, 000 (estimated)
Box Office: $5.8m (USA)

last titles

It starts with a paramount ident. After the ident immediately on the screen is 'A Sean S. Cunningham Film'. This is written in white sans serif font and
on a black background. This is a similar convention in a lot of slasher films and one that we may consider for our coursework production.

Exposition

The film starts with diegetic sound of wildlife and you can hear frogs and crickets in the background. From the original black screen you see clouded moon come into focus. You then start to hear people singing camp fire songs and the shot starts to pan through the darkness to show a lake and some cabins. Some exposition then comes on the screen saying 'Camp Crystal Lake 1958'. The shot then changes to a cabin presumably with the people in who are singing as it has got louder as the camera has got closer. This gives the impression that this might be a point of view shot and someone is watching/stalking these people that are singing. You then get the shot of the group of people sat round singing.

Camp fire shot

Point of view

The next shot looks very hand held and shaky which gives the signifiers that it is definitely a point of view shot. Non diegetic music has also started at this point which is creating tension and suspense for the audience. The person whose point of view this is walks into a cabin with a lot of children asleep in. This may make the audience think that the person might be looking for one of the children or that one of them might be a future victim. This kind of point of view shot would be something that we could easily recreate for our coursework production and it can come across very effective if done and used in the correct way.

killing

In the opening sequence there is also a good example of a stalking scene. Analysing this is very useful for our production as it is something we are likely to do. In this stalking scene the characters are framed a lot with objects slightly obstructing the frame. This is so it looks like someone is stood behind something trying to descreatly watch them. Once again when following them the camera is hand held and very shakey. The non

First titles

diegetic music starts to climax as the first killing approaches. It then stays dramatic as there is a build up to the scream queen being killed. You don't actually see her being killed, it freezes on her face screaming and the audience automatically presume she is killed. This is something that we may choose to do as it doesn't show any gore or blood which could look unrealistic if we attempted to do in an ammeteur way.

film titles

After this first killing the title of the film is shown. This is again white on a black background but the lettering is animated and gradually comes flying on to the screen. A number of titles are then shown on the screen. All in sans serif font and white on a black background.




This opening sequence ends at 6.26

Vodcast: Narrative Representations

Possible Locations: Linton Camp

Top ten film distributors

 2012 Top Ten Film Distributors:
 (US)

1.  Warner Bros.
2. Walt Disney Pictures
3.  Sony Pictures
4. Paramount Pictures
5.  20th Century Fox 
6. Universal 
7.  New Line
8. Dreamworks
9. Miramax
10. MGM 

SOURCE: http://www.the-numbers.com/market/Distributors/

UK figures:

1. Sony: $336.4m (£209.9m) 17.9%

2. 20th Century Fox: $306.5m (£191.2m) 16.3%
3. Warner Bros: $235.5m (£147m) 12.5%
4. Universal: $219.3m (£136.8m) 11%
5. Walt Disney: $197.4m (£123.2m) 10.5%
6. eOne: $129.5m (£80.8m) 6.9%
7. Paramount: $125.8m (£78.5m) 6.7%
8. Lionsgate: $109.3m (£68.2m) 5.8%
9. Momentum: $82.1m (£51.2m) 4.3%
10. Entertainment Film Distributors: $59m (£36.8m) 3.1%

SOURCE: http://www.mi6-hq.com/news/index.php?itemid=10724

My definition of Distribution

The distribution of a film (or movie) is the process through which a movie is made available to watch for an audience by a film distributor. This task may be accomplished in a variety of ways; for example, with a theatrical release, a home entertainment release (in which the movie is made available on DVD-video or Blu-ray Disc) or a television program for broadcast syndication and may include digital distribution.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Film_distribution 


useful links:
wikipedia definition
Eicar film school
Film Distributors Association
Screen online - what is distribution?
Cinema UK