Main Task- Script

'The Whisperer'(first draft)
The majority of the first scene(before the flashback),is silent as it only involves the main character(Alicia) and the figure, who is constantly in the distance. I also think that the lack of dialog in this scene is appropriate because it adds to the suspense.

Scene One:
(Girl heavy breathing and crying historically,shot zooms out to reveal a figure behind the girl)Figure:(heavy whispers) Aliiiiiciiaaaa...Aliciiia...Liiiicccccciiaaaa..(whispers get louder and louder as figure gets closer) Aliiiicccciiiiaaaaaa?????


Alicia: (Looks around petrified) Leave Me Alone..Pleaseee!!(Pleading with the figure to leave her,still crying,fear in her voice).
(Figure appears right behind her)(Alicia Screams)
(Figure disappears,Alicia staggers around,looking around nervously)
Alicia: (Heavy breathing,gasping) 

Scene Two
(Flashback to how everything started)(Alicia walks out of a party,looks cold,gets her phone out her back and calls her friend)


Alicia: Hey Chlo,listen can i ask you a favor?? Like i know your at home with Darren and everything but...
Chloe: Go on Al..Whats up?
Alicia: It's just i went to Abi's party after all,but then Joe started being really fucking weird like, he started to scare me.
Chloe: Haha..Really?? See i told you to watch him..So what's that favor you wanted anyway??
Alicia: I walked out of the party..and i don't think i can show my face in there again..not after Joe chased me out the house with his fucking trousers round his ankles(chuckles)..Will you come pick me up?? Please??
Chloe:Haha Babe,i would but i can't.. Darren forgot to fill it up with petrol the little bastard! I'll call ya tomorrow yeah?(Hangs Up).(Alicia is left to walk home alone in the dark,starts to walk slowly)(Sudden tap on her shoulder,she thinks it's Joe)
Alicia: Whats wrong with you Joe?? Can't you take No as an answer..Just leave me alone.(Taps again)
Alicia: For Fu....(turns around to face something, but that defiantly isn't Joe)(Figure puts hand over Alicias mouth)
Alicia: (Gasps for breath)

Main Task- Possible filming Locations

Once I had decided where my scenes will be set I had to look for the locations. My task was to find some where forested, spooky, mystifying, sinister etc…. Having the right location for each shot is significant as they create mood or atmosphere for the viewers. For example, a room covered in candles would feel romantic; a stormy day with an abounded house on hill would create a horror; a sunny beach would feel warm. Having picked the best locations was essential as we could not afford our own film sets. So we decided to go on a hunt for location’s that would narrate to our genre and synopsis perfectly. Overall the pictures below are locations that we would possible be filming our production at:   

Main Task- Timeline

This is the following timeline that me and my following group members will be folling for the main task.

Preliminary Task - Oct1st - Nov1st
Research and Planning - Nov11th - Dec 17th
Filming - Jan 4th - Feb4th
Editing and Evaluating - Feb 5th - Feb21st
Synopsis: Murder, flashbacks occur up to event, cliff hanger unsure as to who done it
Stunts: N/A
Extras: a group of students of boys and girls
Cast: Daphine Bikaba, Moses Kimuyu, Aimee Moynan
Props: IPod, phone, long coat, handbag.
Wardrobe: casual party wear which reflect personality

Main Task- Equipment

The equipment that we will be using throughout all of the tasks for filming and editing, Is as followed:

• A Cannon Digital Video Camecorder

• Tripod

• Apple Macintosh Computers

• Torch

•  Loaders assistants pouches

Main Task- Target Audiance

 Our film The Whisperer is a dark teen horror/murder mystery film, which I think would be aired in cinemas around the world. I would say that the main target audience for our horror film would be young teen/students who are fun seeking, active young people, high-spirited and most likely to be on a low economic statues. I think all different categories of young people such as Boys and Girls, different races and also people who understand English from abroad would be a prospective target audience. However adding subtitles for different languages would be ideal, as this will create a wider target audience that will get attracted to watch our horror/murder mystery; but this is an option worth considering. When doing my target research I decided to also create a mood bored (below) to show an idea of who we are trying to aim our film at.

Mood Bored

My mood bored (above) shows a variety of teenagers that would be interested in our film, altering from ages fifteen and onwards. I decided that this was an ideal age group to target because it would be easier for us identify the foremost gratification needs they would want.

Age Rating

Given that I’ve decided to go with the age gap of 15 year olds and onwards, we will have that age rating printed out on the DVD covers, posters and billboards. However, the age rating is always showed at the beginning of the movie and trailer, so will be doing something similar.    

                                    

          Age Rating

 





Main Task- Settings

In my main task once I finished my Synopsis, I realised I will have to look at some setting background that I would use while filming. As my storyline was and did not sound like it was set in one place. The setting’s I have chosen each have to fit in with what is happening and I have to make sure that the Mise-en-scene relates and signifies everything. 

However, when thinking about my scenes that I had come up with, I realised they were all set outside except one or two. So when choosing my setting’s I will have to look at were the location is set and not set in a busy or load area.

In these woods the main character will get attacked by a person or creature, however it will be filmed during the night and in foggy weather.

 

The restaurant the friend will be at when she’ll receive the phone call from the main character. A happy load atmosphere will be placed in this setting.

The club both characters will be leaving from, but the main character will stay back for a bit longer. Also the main character will be making the call from here to the other character.

An alleyway where the character will make a short cut while walking towards home during the night. 

Main Task- Synopsis

Throughout my researching into horror films, I deciding that I was going to create a horror film for my main task. I and my following group members had similar ideas based around the horror concept and decided to created a storyboard each and see the idea we came up with. When it came to sharing our ideas in conclusion our storyboard looked similar and our ideas were alike to. So then we decided to combine all are ideas from our group and come up with a horror synopsis for the main task.

            However, we then brainstormed and came up with the following possible names for our horror movie:

• Route 101
• The Night You Never Dreamt
• The Whisperer
• Day vs. Night
• The Whisper
• Shadows

But overall we decided to choose ‘The Whisperer’, as it related to the storyline our group had come up with. In addition, we then together brainstormed three different synopsis and decided our final synopsis. That’s the following:

The horror film is set in the modern 21^st century. The first two minutes opening of the horror film will be as a reverse flashback. Therefore the first one min approx. will be about what has happened towards the end of the film or even at the end; except the rest of the opening will be about the events that occurred that led to the reverse flashback. 

             In the first scene, Alicia the main character is heavily breathing for air, panting as if she’s been running. As we have chosen horror as our genre, the suspense in the two mins we create, will be building up from the start. As a result, in this scene while Alicia’s heavily breathing, she begins to comprehend and identify something or someone is slowly whispering her name behind her. Also the camera slowly zooms out and establishes into a long shot then the viewer’s begin to observe the figure behind Alicia that’s whispering out her name. Randomly Alicia then screams out hysterically. Then the figure fades out and disappears, for the time being Alicia looks around in a panic. From this point onwards the camera would do a 360 degree turn around on Alicia, this shot makes the viewers feel what the character is feeling like right that moment and the surroundings the character is seeing. Followed by the next scene would be a blackout.

             Subsequently the next opening scene starts off with Alicia leaving a friend party and then calls her friend (Chloe) for a lift home. While having a conversation with her friend (Chloe) telling her about a boy (Joe), who freaked out in the party she was at because she denied to have sex with him. On the whole, her friend (Chloe) can’t give her a lift because off her personal issues she’s got in her life. Once Alicia offer of getting a lift gets rejected, she restlessly starts walking home. But as she’s walking home she suddenly feels a hand grabbing her on the shoulder and she then freaks out. Alicia gets furious and tells him to leave her alone. Unpredictably it’s the same boy who was hitting on her at the party; because of this the viewers hint that this maybe the same figure at the beginning who was whispering ‘Alicia’. However, Alicia keeps on walking home and there’s a long shot of her walking. 

           Lastly, the final scene is when she’s walking through the woods while listening to load music. In the background though the viewers can hear something walking and running etc… As Alicia starts changing the song on her IPod, she realizes something is wrong and that someone or something is following behind her. This causes her to become hysterical and then she starts panicking and so forth. But then Alicia comes to a conclusion that it was just a squirrel climbing a nearby tree. As soon as this finishes, all of a sudden a figure puts his or her hand over her mouth. Then the screen blacks out. The last defining shot is of Alicia in the woods, lying on the floor covered in cuts and bruises dead or passed out. The camera then zoom’s out and the viewers see the figure of the murderer leaning over Alicia.

Characters:

• Alicia
• Figure
• Chloe
•  Joe

Main Task- Initial Idea Screenplay

The above screenplay is my screenplay related to my Main Task; though I had to scan my screenplay in because I had decided to do it by hand and not electronically. In our group of four we decided to each make a screenplay and would then decided the final one out of the four. By doing this we would have a lot of ideas and could maybe mix our ideas and create one new storyline with all our ideas involved in it. The below screenplay is done by one of my other group members. However we decided we would work from his screenplay (below), but will add and change bits and pieces from his screenplay. Overall our final film product will be related to his screenplay but will be similar and not same.   

 

Research- Horror Film Opening 'The Amityville Horror'

When making my notes I had watched the clip (The Amityville Horror, Part1) from youtube, but unfortunately it has now been blocked. So I've put a small trailer of the film on to give you an idea, on how the film is.

 

(1/6) The Amityville Horror (2005) (Full Movie Part One)



Research- Horror Film Opening 'Silent Hill'

During my research in horror movie, I decided to look at opening scene from a few horror movies that have been realised in the past. When watching these opening scenes, I took detailed note of the opening scenes. As then I can use them to create my own film, and when it comes to editing too. Here are some of my notes I took and have now written into small paragraphs from the films ‘The Amityville Horror’ & ‘Silent Hill’. These two films I choose to publish my notes on are the ones that I found that fit more effectively into my own production.

Here are the notes I gathered from watching the first Two minutes of the film ‘Silent Hill’:

· When the film starts the entertainment logo appears, with a non-diegetic sound of some slow music in the background. But then the sounds change from a slow sound to a fast tense sound with Production Company name appearing and then fading away to a blank screen.

· Two seconds later the credit of the film appears and fades away into the black blank screen, while in the background you here a voice of a female woman shouting out a single name and when the credit fades away, the same voice shouting out a different name.

· Half a second later a mid shot of a women appearing shouting the first name out (“Sharon”), while in the background you see a blur of another person that maybe behind here or standing on higher grounds instead.

· Two seconds later the shot changes to a low angle with the same women looking left and right; the background introduces a big house in the background and with a man now not blurred out, while standing on a balcony.

· It goes back to mid shot of the women turning around and leaving, while the camera turns (still on a mid shot) and faces towards the other character standing on a balcony that’s panicking is well.

At this point, both characters that have been shown in the first few seconds of the film look tensed up and worried, the film producer has done this to create and build up tension. However, in the first few seconds of the scene no non-diegetic or diegetic sound have been introduced, only the voice of the women has acted out as a sound in this scene.

· A long shot transferring into a low angle while the women walks down some steps and then stops to pick up a teddy bear. In this shot there are natural sounds, but sound like they have been added in (heavy breathing creating tension).

· High angle moving down to a long shot (scene may be set in a frost or woods), with non-diegetic sounds.

In this scene the camera has moved and changed its angles and shot’s a lot, this is because the producer wants to show different shots of the locations they are using.

· Diegetic sound of traffic gets introduced into the scene with a bridge appearing and a car going past; then a long shot of the same women running down the steps, while heavily breathing the shot goes to a low angle.

· Then it turns to another low angle but this time showing it off the traffic and close ups of car wheels with diegetic sounds of the traffic.

· A few seconds after another low angle of the women comes

· It then goes back to a high angle showing the traffic including the traffic sounds in the background, the camera then changes angle to an over head shot with the women running and the sound of a waterfall in the background.

· A long shot of the waterfall appear after a second with non-diegetic sounds the waterfall with the women shouting out the name ‘Sharon’.

· Over head shot appears again with non diegetic music and a new character is then introduced; the shot changes once again going from a high angle to a long shot focusing on the women that’s in a shock and is panicking.

· Close up of the women is then introduced while in a shock and non diegetic sound of the waterfall in the background.

· Medium shot of the girl with non diegetic sound in the background.

· Over head shot of the waterfall with the girl.

In the whole two minutes were I watched and took notes, I noticed from the start of the film the tension had started to get created and was building up till the end. All the start of the scene is set during the night. Overall the main thing I noticed there were a lot of different angles and shots used to make the whole sequence up. I personally liked the change of the different angle because it showed a lot about the location and created a tense atmosphere.

When making my notes I had watched the clip (Silent Hill, Part1) from youtube, but unfortunately it has now been blocked. So I've put a small trailer of the film on to give you an idea, on how the film is.

Research- The Horror Genre

 

Once I finished doing my Preliminary task, I decided to look at genre Horror. I have done alot of in-depth research into the horror genre, so that I could have an enhanced understanding of what the genre horror is; it's history and how it was first developed. By doing this I will have a better understanding of the genre horror and what the audience expects to see in a horror movie.

Horror Films are unsettling movies designed to horrify, turn your stomach and to invoke our hidden worst fears. They often feature scenes that petrify the audience in many different ways. However, horror films affectively and always centre on the dark side of life. But some horror films do end up combining or overlapping with the genre thriller; in addition horror films deal with the viewer’s nightmares, unseen worst fears, terror of the unknown and the revulsions. Most horror movies have a good deal of it being about supernatural chillers or some films even contain a plot about serial killers, a disease or virus outbreak as the main spotlight in the film.

Finally horror films are often combined with science fiction when the monster or creature is related to a corruption of technology, or when the Earth is endangered by aliens. Horror films are also known as the following:

·         Scary movie

·         Chillers

·         Spook fests

·         Macabre etc….

Preliminary Task- Speed Dating

The clip above was my final cut of Speed dating. My preliminary task (Speed dating) was all about filming and editing a character opening a door, crossing a room and sitting down in a chair opposite another character. Then both characters will exchange a couple of lines of dialogue and the scene will end there. In this filming and editing task I had to demonstrate the three following things:  

• Match on action

• Shot/reverse shot

• The 180-degree rule

During my research and before I started filming, I decided to research online on what actually match on action, shot/reverse shot and the 180-degree rule meant. In the course of my research I found these three following images (above) showing what each of them meant visibly. By looking at these images it made me understand what the task brief was asking for pacifically.

However while filming Speed Dating I focused on getting all camera angles right and working along side the brief. Filming each scene was great fun, I had to think about camera angles, background and dialogue; also I tried to make each scene better then the last scene and by making sure it was kept it related to the topic I had chosen, which was speed dating. When Filming I only used a camera, natural light and switch lights. Once I had finished filming Speed Dating, I started editing and placing the three requirements and camera angles together into the order they fit in the film. Then after watching my film a few time I filled out a self assessment sheet (below) and judged the work I had created; out of 70 on my self assessment sheet I gave make creation 35. This was because it was not up to my full expectations, some of the elements that were requested that I had to put in the film were either not correct or had a wrong timing to it. Also in some scenes you could see the camera had moved or was moving at the time and the result of that was a negative visual scene. On the other hand the match on action was not very good as it was timed out of place, but the shot/reverse shot was excellent, as it fitted in with timing correctly and the 180-degree rule's input was not bad either.

Overall to improve on this production, I have decided to redo the scene that will contain match on action and will be working towards a higher quality result for match on action. I will also be looking at the lighting and will be using a tripod in this production this time, as I did not use in this media product I have made, so during my editing I had noticed some complications. By using a tripod it will neaten up the scene's and will look higher quality. However I have noticed that my backgrounds were the same in this media product, so I have decided to change the backgrounds is well and may be make them more colourful. Nevertheless, when redoing this entire media product, I will film the whole screen from one character of view and then change to the other and then edit it, as while editing it, it will be a lot easier and  I will be able to make it similar or the same to what the brief requires.

This is my self-assessment sheet.

Preliminary Task- Software

Preliminary Task- Software

I will be using professional software to edit the clips that I create for the preliminary task. The software I will be using is iMovie HD, on a Mac Laptop.



iMovie HD

Mac Laptop

Preliminary Task- Equipment

The equipment that we will be using throughout all of the tasks will be as followed:

• A Cannon Digital Video Camecorder

• Tripod

 

• Crops

• Apple Macintosh Computers

 Costumes:

Preliminary Task- Locations

The location of this preliminary task was in a drama classroom at the school I attend.

 It was all based in B block at Cheney School.

The reason for choosing this classroom was that it was easy to set out our props, that were a set of chairs and a table, of which the two characters will sit opposite in, and still be able to have room to move around with the camera to get all the shots we needed.

 If I was to film again I would use a bigger and more colourful room to create a exhilarating atmosphere, so the characters are the centre of attention.

Preliminary Task- Casting

 Obaleoyo- Moses Kimuyu

Girl 1# & Emma- Daphine Bikaba

Girl 2#- Sonia Ahmed

Girl3#-& Rose- Aimee Moinan  

Music- Moses Kimuyu

Editors- Sonia Ahmed, Moses Kimuyu, Daphine Bikaba

& Aimee Moinan  

    

Director- Soina Ahmed