In today's post I will mostly be sharing pictures of the props used during the filming and some I built and put together.
Part 1: The tools
All throughout the "Scare Crow works on the cure he needs his tools. This includes the basic non made tools such as construction tools. Take a look for your self!
Part 2: The stands and holders.
I found 2 things I could use to hold these said tools. They connect together to make a stand for these tools. I also found a jar where he will put the herbs for the cure in.
You connect the two pieces as seen in the gap to make the stand.
Today, I want to dedicate my planning post on the location which I will be filming. I chose to film in my house but more specifically inside the garage.
Why the garage?
I chose to film inside my garage as it will best fit the narrative and idea of the "Scare Crow". It has open space giving me a lot of room to record and set up different angles for different shots. The garage also has a murky type of feel and in a dark setting would amplify the sense of horror in the opening.
But enough about the garage, take a look for yourself!
Since it will be darker and the shots will be much tighter you will not be able to see all the stuff in the back round of the garage. I will set up a table and chair where I will place all the props and will act as the work bench in order to make the cure.
Here are shots from the entrance of the garage.
The shots in my back yard where the "Scare crow" puts on his mask upon hearing the intruders.
In this separate blog post I will be going over my script and providing it with .
The opening starts with a man grabbing a flashlight and flicking it on as he walks into a dimly lit room. He turns on a mostly useless light as his run down garage has no power but still barely illuminates from the little there is left. We get shots highlighting the tools the man is using to build his cure as the credits play throughout . We get a shot of his bench and a photo of a man labeled "times with dad", he clutches it not wanting to let go. We then hear stomping and chatter, the man, the "Scare crow" leaves the room then puts on his scare crow like mask and clutches a weapon as the noise gets louder and closer. Then, title card.
Although my opening is horror centered and most of the time have no character development in them. I have came up with a story for the antagonist "The scarecrow". Why implement character development at all? Well, character development prevents the character from being boring and dull and drives his intentions further.
Example: Friday the 13th
In the original Friday the 13th the plot revolves around a young special needs boy named Jason Voorhees as he attends a camp named Camp Crystal Lake and drowns as the counselors do not notice since they are distracted and drinking. This enraged Jason's mother, Pamala. Who sought to kill all the counselors who wronged her and letting her son die. She then dies after trying to murder the final girl. In the later films, Jason goes on killing sprees from the commands of Pamala's voice in his head.
Although, there is no excuse for murder Pamala's reasoning is quite tragic as she lost her son and went ballistic. Shortly after her raged induced son follows in her sprees. Both these characters are evil but have development and reasoning to why they do the things they do.
(Pamala Voorhees)
(Jason Voorhees)
Why does the "Scarecrow" do the things he does?
The main antagonist is a very cruel person in the methods he uses to deals with intruders. But there is a method to his madness. Throughout the opening he is building something but what? As he holds up a picture of his father and inspects the herbs we piece together he is developing a cure for his father's cancer back at home and will do anything to stop any outside information from figuring out what he is doing. He believes if word gets out, the government will dispose of him quickly giving the audience sympathy to his cause even if it is extremely wrong. This makes the audience question if the antagonist really is the antagonist for taking the safety of his father into his own hands as he can't rely on the health system.
Sometimes, the key to making a horror movie scary is not gore or jump scares. But rather the audio heard during the scene. The audio influences the tone and immersing the audience as it creates a tone.
The Music
Let's talk about a horror movies music. The music in a movie makes that film memorable and keeps consistency throughout while establishing its tone. A very famous and extremely praised music score goes to the original Jhon Carpenter's Halloween as it ticks all the boxes to what makes a horror movies audio affective.
For my opening I will implement music that is not as provident but more subtle and gives off a feeling of despair as the antagonist continues to develop his contraption. I will use non-copyrighted music since I do not want to get permission from the artist.
The sounds
For the majority of the sound affects in the opening I plan to use foley. Foley is sound created using props and devices a good example being recording a creaking floor. For the scenes of the loud roaring of the contraption I will use the tools in the shots during the credits such as the hammers, screwdrivers, and saws. the sounds will be a lot more prominent.
A amazing example of great of foley is that of Gary Hecker's foley in A Nightmare on Elm Street remake.
Gary Hecker stated in an interview by Tory Hoen (October 12, 2012) "For the last Nightmare on Elm Street, I had to come up with the signature sounds for Freddy’s deadly hand: a series of slicing, razor-sharp metallic “shings.” I used a creaky leather ammo belt for the glove part, and then two types of blades: a machete to give that ringing blade sound, and surgical steel blades to give the sound of sharpness. Every time he clacks his blades in the movie, it’s a combination of these elements."
Of course I wont only use foley sound effects such as a downloaded sound of muffled knocks and chatters indicating our protagonist that there are intruders breaking in.
Last time we focused on the costume and props with how they make that film important and how I was going to incorporate costumes. Today I will go over the lighting and location of my opening instead. Lighting and the area can influence the scene's tone and can amplify the feeling of fear through these elements.
Lets talk about the two major types of lighting, low-key and high-key lighting. High-key lighting which is rarely used in horror is bright with a minimal amount of dark areas and creates a mostly more open tone. Low-key lighting uses the dark spaces to create a more fear inducing mood and is used in horror almost constantly. In my film opening I will definitely be using low-key lighting here are a few examples!
(A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors)
(The Exorcist)
I will use low-key lighting in most of the scenes during the credits and take advantage of a buzzing light giving the scene a grim tone and highlights the objects used and makes the credits pop.
A set's costumes and props make the production and characters what they are. The audience can tell a lot about a character judging on what they wear, and the things they use or hold close to them. While the production's setting and mood could be established by the character's attire as well. Today, I will be going over my sets props and costume!
When I say a character's design costume and prop wise can speak for them I am not kidding! Look no further than these two famous slasher franchises, them being Friday the 13th and Scream.
(Halloween, 1978)
(Scream, 1996)
What is so special about these 2 movies and there set design though? Lets go over it starting with the franchises main antagonists, Michael Myers and Ghost face.
(Michael Myers)
Michael is the main antagonist of the film Halloween known for terrorizing the fictional town of Haddonfield every Halloween and sports a grayish green jumpsuit with an expressionless white mask and a kitchen knife. From first glance the audience can already tell he is the main antagonist of the film through his concealed face and overhand grip on the knife. The main and most iconic part of Michael's costume is the mask. The reason being, it symbolizes Michael Myers as a emotionless killer through the white and blank expression on the mask contradicting his jumpsuit but some how also complementing it despite opposing colors. This costume and signature kitchen knife belongs to the one and only Michael Myers making it an excellent costume design.
(Ghost face)
Now lets talk about Ghost face. Unlike Michaels unique look to him and him only the thing that makes the Ghost face scary is that anyone can be him. He sports a black robe and white mask in a scream like state and is as easy to acquire as going to the costume store. Throughout the Scream franchise we have seen several masked killers all wearing the same costumes. This makes the costume extremely iconic and worn almost all the time during halloween!
The goal of these costumes are to establish the character along with the items they use.
If you want to see a list of all the ghost faces check this article out!
In my case the scarecrow's main costume design is with a rather torn and tattered clothes with a sack like mask resembling a scarecrow. Why is this? The scare crow is building something beyond comprehension and wont let anyone stop him. He scares away and deals with anyone interfering with his progress just like a scare crow. He uses the all different types of tools to his advantage and wont let anyone see what he is creating.
For this blog, I will show you guys my storyboard!
A storyboard is important for many things. What is a storyboard? You may ask. A storyboard is a visual representation of a story with multiple sequences of pictures and drawings including descriptions. A storyboard is helpful as it gives the maker a brief idea of how they want the final product to come out and is a great way to share ideas.
In today's blog post, it is finally time we talk about media theory's. What is a media theory you may ask? Well, to put simply, a media theory is studies put together of specific mediums of communications to analyze and identify them further. Today I will be incorporating one into my opening. Here are some that were given:
This leads us to the question, "which media theory did you choose?" I chose the "Binary opposition theory" as I felt it fit my film opening PERFECTLY. The Binary opposition theory was made by Levi Strauss that states "we experience life through the concept of opposites like good vs. evil, birth and death. This theory relates to narratives where elements of the story are constructed through opposition."
Like I said this theory fits perfectly into my opening as the story will be from the perspective of the antagonist "The Scare Crow". Similar to this shot from the movie In a Violent Nature.
For a while now I have just been describing my genre and what my opening is going to be like but I've never went into full detail about what it actually is. So without further ado, feast your eyes on my film opening!
Title: Scare Crow
The tone: My horror film will not be gory or gruesome. Instead, I want my film to be a-lot more grounded or realistic mostly focusing on the antagonist and his actions and having a dark, grimy, and dirty feel all throughout with no dialogue from our antagonist. The realistic elements I would like and the charm I want to reach is of one like the original Texas Chainsaw massacre. I want to incorporate a sense of realism from the Texas Chainsaw massacre into my film and our antagonist will have a similar design mask wise to Leather face but the weapon is a scythe.
Description: Most of the shots will be filmed in my garage, the focus will be on the tools and gadgets shown to make the antagonist's weapon and mask.It will finish off by the "Scarecrow putting on his mask and looking towards the camera when he hears the door creak open. The opening will be set on the antagonist's rather than the main character's/ survivors running away from the masked killer. Something similar the movie "In a Violent Nature" where the majority movie is from the perspective of the killer "Jhonny".
The editing: I plan to create all these clips through the a high quality I-phone and edit these clips through a software on my computer. The credits will be integrated through the scenes of showcasing the tools. For example, if there is a shot of a hammer the credits will be put to the right of that said hammer.
Today I will be talking about and reflecting upon the first group meeting about our projects and blog posts with suggestions and criticism. Here is what I learned!
But before we start, meet my group members. My group consists of me, Lee, Victoria, Peyton, and Daniela. Here is a picture of my group.
Let's start with the suggestions and recommendations I've received on my blog posts from my group. An outstanding recommendation I have is to interpret what I've researched on my blog posts and describe how I could incorporate them into my own film opening. It was suggested I should make my posts a bit longer and continue to put in multi media but only when it matches or is related to the subject. An example of this mistake on my part was from the schedule blog post I did not too long ago where I included a picture that had nothing to do with the schedule.
Now let's move on to what my group member's ideas and genres were.
Lee is doing a coming of age film mostly centered around themes of not everyone being perfect and bringing teens confidence. The main character is focused on being a "outcast" and how they feel they do not fit in, a great archetype for these types of movies.
Check out her blog!
https://leesentertainment.blogspot.com/
Victoria is doing a horror film, the plot is centered in a forest with a psychological take on the genre as the main character is stuck in a forest with seemingly no way out. This film idea really reminds of a short film on YouTube a group of teenage boys made called "No through road" please check it out below as it is extremely well made and is exactly what I would think when hearing Victoria's idea.
Check out her blog post!
https://victoriasaicemedia.blogspot.com/-
Peyton is also doing a coming of age film called perfect-ish that revolves dealing with self conscious themes and currently has a story board up right now Check it!
https://cheergirlpey.blogspot.com/
Daniella's film is very similar to mine in terms of shots and angles. It is also horror but unlike mine focuses on two protagonist and has a lot of detective work going on.
Here is my target audience for my new film and why.
I chose for my film opening to be rated R. This means my film's primary audience will consist of young adults any gender and anyone looking for a scary and thrilling experience for our generation!
Why is it rated R?
Although it is not a very gruesome movie it does explore violent topics and crime. The mood is very dark, grim and gives the audience a sense of dirtiness all throughout the film. The movie will be mainly based around our antagonist and explores his origins.
I am directly inspired from the original "A Nightmare on Elm Street" as the villain "Freddy Krueger" is very evil and sports an iconic weapon and sporting burns from how he became the dream demon he is. Although my antagonist does not have powers, fans of "A Nightmare on Elm Street" would love this movie.
Similar to my last blog post, I will be choosing out 3 films in horror but instead of analyzing the openings it will be the credit sequences. They will be in no particular order.
(Insidious, 2010)
I chose Insidious as the first credit sequence as I feel it is quite unique and gets the audience already engaged in the movie. We first see the director credit "A James Wan film" on a lamp. We then see a child sleeping in their room when the camera slowly pans throughout the room until we spot some sort of demon, staring at him. The film then cuts to the title card and plays the credit sequence. The credits throughout play with black and white images of a house and all the interior until we reach the family portrait. I really admire this credit sequence as it gives the audience a sense of dread through the empty and emotionless house as we sense something evil is there.
URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VyK-18vb9DQ
(Halloween, 1978)
I chose Halloween because well, it's Halloween! Halloween has the most iconic post credit scene as it gains its charm from its simplicity. The credits are still next to pumpkins with a black back round. That's it. But the reason it's so good is the score. The main theme from halloween solidifies the post credit scene on its own.
URL:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8_tGvktfjjk
(Smile, 2020)
I love the Smile opening credits for several reasons. It introduces our protagonist to our main threat of the movie the smile virus. After she witness get restrained with the virus she trembles to the floor, traumatized. The camera slowly zooms into her eye, while doing this the studio credits play then cuts into title card. A short yet great way to show credits and introduce our main character.
Choosing only three film openings from the vast genre of horror and thriller will prove difficult as it contains some of the most fantastic and iconic opening scenes in all of film. Fortunately, I have found three spectacular openings, I will list the best opening being the last one I analyze.
(The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, 1974)
The first movie I chose is personally my favorite movie The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre was made on October 11, 1974 and introduces the audience to a disturbing scene taking place in a grave yard in the blazing heat with the sun in the back. The camera pans to a disturbing sight as a grave was robbed and left the body on top of the tombstone zooming in, It also is quite interesting as the corpse was defiled in broad daylight as opposed to night time as most films would do. then it cuts into the opening credits. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre leaves the audience with questions making the audience want to know what happens next and establishes the scorching Texas setting.
Link to opening: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GtgylVZY89k
(IT, 2017)
I chose IT for my second choice, I always admired rainy scenes in movies and this one is a chef's kiss. It starts as a little kid in a yellow poncho named Georgie gets a paper boat from his brother. As he races the boat in the water stream I admire the music being cheery and upbeat, that is until it falls in a sewer drain. The music stops. Out emerges a clown named Pennywise and tries his best to lure Georgie in, it then cuts to a title card. IT conveys a comforting tone in the beginning for that all to be taken away in the encounter with Pennywise doing an excellent job transitioning from comfort to on edge.
Link to opening: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DJWJ6RP55nU
(Scream 1996)
Saving the best for last, to no ones surprise I chose Scream 1996. There is a reason why Scream is crowned with the best horror film opening of all time. It introduces our protagonist and antagonist talking to each other on the phone as the "Ghost face" gets increasingly angry and aggressive towards our main character. He teases her playing with the lights outside and harming her boyfriend. The opening keeps the audience worried and tense for our main character as the Ghost face closes in on her in a area with no one around.
Link to opening: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sn5SkCvPEYo
For my genres, I have chosen thriller and horror. I chose these two as I feel I am the best equipped with props and an area along with a clear idea of what I want it to be. I have been wanting to do a horror type of opening since I feel they are the most iconic and memorable making it stand out from the rest.
What makes Horror, Horror?
(Halloween 1978)
The opening kill of Halloween is a fantastic example of a opening. We can see Micheal Myers as a child kill his sister and gives context on how Micheal Myers was and will be throughout the rest of the film. The point of the opening is to establish his character as a violent relentless killer since a young age.
The main point of horror is to bring out fear into the audience through different methods wether it be phycological or body horror for instance. Horror does an amazing job at building atmosphere and suspense making it one of the hardest genres to pull off but when done successfully you can have an amazing and memorable film just like Halloween.
What makes Thrillers entertaining?
(A Nightmare on Elm Street 1984)
The opening of A Nightmare on Elm Street shows or main antagonist the dream demon himself, Freddy Krueger building his very iconic weapon. Of course the audience does not know its Freddy Krueger or what he is capable of instilling fear in the audience as they wonder "Who is building this? And why? Establishing it as one of the most iconic opening scenes of all time.
The point of a thriller and why A Nightmare on Elm Street does this so well is keeping the audience filled with uncertainty and tension. Thriller and horror go hand in hand as tension is an amazing way to keep the audience scared and accomplishes horror's objective. That being said, scaring the audience is easier said then done making thriller hard to pull off.
In the beginning of the year we were told we would be trained with long term projects and today is the day. My transition and reaction to this project is a little intimidating by the far away due date and large grade. Although I am not the best with managing my time I am confident in my abilities. Enough of that though! If too choose 2 approaches I would is developing character and creating mystery.
I would choose characters as I feel the thing that makes a film a film are the characters that go with it. What do mean by this? You may ask, well to simply put it your film could have an amazing setting and with a great story your film will not be tolerable if your characters aren't. Now don't get me wrong you can definitely have villainous or annoying character's i'm talking about bad written and designed characters.
Mystery, I feel would go hand in hand directly with this character I am thinking of I dont have much to say about it know but I do know it will contribute heavily on its own to not only the character but the setting too.
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