Free House Preliminary Cut- post preview

I think my movie has been a success!!!

After my first shoot I wasn't happy at all with the footage that I had captured but I tried my best with it and it was an overall failure

which is why it is named the rough cut.

So I sat down, rewrote parts of my storyline to make it more interesting and gave each of my characters a personality which

in turn gave them a purpose. I also planned everything out carefully, all my props, the locations (thanks to no 27 Wykham

ave for letting me use the front of your house for the killers residence) and even some scripting to get the twists in my story

clear. And the second time my cast came over it gave me some great footage which I could join with the old footage that was

decent. I also gave the story a catchier name "Free House" which is what teenagers say when their parents have gone out

for the night which makes it more appealing to my Target audience.

I manage to find a great piece of suspenseful music which I put into garageband to cut and rearrange so that it would fit

with the on screen action. I also added the strong drum beats where necessary to emphasize certain parts, give them

impact and add to the overall audience mood enhancement.

I then wrote the titles at first my placement wasn't very successful so I moved them around to give them more impact

when they showed up on screen.

I am extremely proud of my "Free House" final cut and I really enjoyed making it.

The test will be if the target audience (teenagers), enjoys watching the film when I have my preview after which they

will give me feedback on how I can change the film to make it more appealing and enjoyable, this will become the Final Cut.

I just hoped you enjoyed watching it just as much!!!

Final Shoot and edit

My cast came round the other day for the final shoot.

I filmed all my extra scenes which would add just that little bit extra suspense.

Last night I found a great piece of music which I edited in garageband, added a percussion track to get that strong silence cutting beat and cut the music it to fit the action on screen.

So today I was able to add in the last transitions and put my titles together to make the final cut of

"Free House"

I hope you enjoy watching it!!!

researching opening titles

click here for the ring title sequence

In this I liked the Little clips of horror to get the audience in the mood. I also thought the whispering child was effective.

click here for Masters of horror title sequence

I thought the dripping blood was effective and also the style of writing was very horror form.

also the imagery was very powerful.

In my title sequence I will have text made of dripping blood over black at first for impact then over action.

Editing programs

Software

iMovie- this is my editing software. I will use it to edit my raw footage into my final cut. It came ready installed on my eMac and I find its user interface extremely easy to use and it has a vast array of effects, transitions and titles as well as a bank of sound effects that can all be added with the click of the mouse.

Garageband- This also came ready installed on my eMac and it is an extremely good music composition package. its user interface is good it is easy to learn and has an infinite bank of sounds, instruments, effects and loops. I will use this to create my soundtrack.

Flash 8- I use this for animations but for this project it is what I drew my storyboard onto using my bamboo pen tablet.

Adobe Photoshop- I used this to add blood and other effects to my film.

how my thriller meets thriller conventions

•Thrillers often take place wholly or partly in exotic settings such as foreign cities, deserts, polar regions, or high seas.

- My thriller is based in and around the area of a friends house. this challenges the convention because the characters should not be in any danger there.
•The heroes in most thrillers are frequently "hard men" accustomed to danger. However, they may also be ordinary citizens drawn into danger by accident. 

- My characters are ordinary teenagers drawn into danger by a sinister school peer and his satanic friend.
•Thrillers often overlap with mystery stories, but are distinguished by the structure of their plots. In a thriller, the hero must thwart the plans of an enemy, rather than uncover a crime that has already happened.

- My story does not overlap with a mystery but in the end one of the characters does thwart the plans of the sinister pair  to save himself.
•Thrillers also occur on a much grander scale the crimes that must be prevented are serial or mass murder, terrorism, assassination, or the overthrow of governments.
- My thriller only effects a handful of teenagers for one night which challenges this convention but also makes it more relatable to my target audience.

•Jeopardy and violent confrontations are standard plot elements. While a mystery climaxes when the mystery is solved, a thriller climaxes when the hero finally defeats the villain, saving his own life and often the lives of others.

- My thriller does contain Violent and gory confrontations between the victims and the murderers.
•In thrillers influenced by film noir and tragedy, the compromised hero is often killed in the process.

- The most likely hero is killed in a rather pathetic way while trying to play up to the part of hero.

Story idea feedback

I pitched my idea to my media teacher and he pointed me towards the idea that I could have a double plot going on between the guests and the killer and switch between the two to build suspense which would climax when the two stories collided and became intertwined. 

I then told my peers and they agreed with my overall story and gave me a few tips on how it could be enhanced to create the best thrill.

Storyline/ setting/ title/ roles

Roles

acting- Lee Rowden, Mike Mclean, Chay Atkins and Sam Umhoefer.

Camera work, editing, soundtrack- Sam prudence

Story

Three boys go to the house of someone from their school for a few beers and some gaming. The three boys think its strange because they don't really talk to the host that much but they are not going to turn down a enjoyable night so they go. The hosts real friend is a bit of a psycho and the host has invited the boys round to trap them into a murderous game at his house allowing his psycho friend to terrorize taunt and kill his three guests throughout the course of the night. The audience gets hints of this as the boys are arriving but the guests are unaware of the danger looming above them nor do they figure out that the whole gathering is a set up by the host so he and his friend can have some satanic fun.

Title

The title I have come up with is 'Free house'. The reason I have used this title is this is what teenagers say to their friends when they will have the house to themselves and it usually implies that there will be alcohol etc so it relates to my target audience and gets them interested in the film.

I changed it to this from 'My House' because it is more catchy and target audience related.

Setting

The setting is the hosts house and the area around it. I chose this because it means that the guests, being in a party atmosphere, will be relaxed. this challenges the convention that the characters are in a place that poses danger or they feel threatened. Also many teenagers will be able to relate to people walking to the nearest off licence to get more drink when there is a house party or gathering and next time they have to do it this story will be in their mind.

Costume, Props, setting, Mise-en scene

This first picture is of the 'altar' that the killer interacts with before he goes to commit his awful crimes.

This is a picture of the unsheathed Samurai sword that the killer uses to murder his victim in the opening. teenagers will think that such a raw weapon is extremely cool and so it will keep the target audience interested.

The Samurai sword with the sheath over the blade. This is how the murderer carries it around.

This is the terrifying mask that the killer wears to conceal his identity. this is a good way of connecting with the audience because many of them will have worn a similar kind of mask to halloween parties etc.

The bag that the guest was carrying beer in when he was attacked.

This red finger paint was watered down and used as fake blood when necessary. the target audience enjoys a bit of gore and blood in its horror films.

bottles of beer that the teenagers were drinking to make the house scenes more realistic. Teenagers and young people go to a lot of events where alcohol is present so they can relate to this.

The glasses the boys were drinking out of and a few were in the room to add to the realism of the set. also relates to target audience as teenagers enjoy indulging in the use of alcohol.

this bottle opener was in the background amid a few bottle caps on a cupboard to make the scene more realistic to the audience.

the tv that was being used to play the games on to make the 'boys night' gathering more realistic. The target audience can relate to this technology.

The xbox 360 console the boys were using to play games. Teenagers use this type of console a lot especially when friends are over so it will relate and connect with the teen audience.

Thriller storyboard

I used a storyboard to plan each shot and scene of the opening of my film. It allowed me to visualise each shot and also acted as a schedule so I didn't forget to capture any shots. 

I have two sets of storyboards. The first on I did was drawn via design tablet onto flash 9 on my computer. I had my cast over and I shot this storyboard. 

After looking at the finished film I realised it needed more as it wasn't very thrilling so I wrote my second storyboard in the form of a shot plan, numbering each shot and in a sentence explaining the action, any speech and the type of shot for the shots I needed to add, incorperating my first drawn storyboard into the middle as number 11 where I list the footage I already have.

It is relative to my target audience as it allowed me to view each shot and decide whether it would appeal to the audience and what to add if it didn't. 

I found my storyboards very useful when it came to directing my cast as it meant there was no hanging around while i thought about the next shot and it made the shoot extremely organised.

Soundtrack research- Van Helsing

Click here to view opening

The opening soundtrack uses stringed instruments playing a long, high pitched note to create an eerie, creepy atmosphere and a strong steady drum beat which is a bit like the beat of a marching army. It goes well with the scene because the opening is a village seiging a castle because the owner has been digging up graves to create Frankenstein. They all have pitchforks and torches and want to kill the scientist.

I think this is a very strong soundtrack because it keeps the audience engaged with the drum because it feels as if it is pushing the story along. 

It is relative to my idea because I wish to use a strong underlying beat to build tension and suspense and keep the story moving. 

Soundtrack research

To do my research I went onto the Apple iTunes Store to the film soundtrack section and listened to the samples of soundtracks from horror/thriller films such as Van Helsing, 30 days of night and Blade.

The music type varied between each soundtrack depending on the film and the type of feel the director wanted the score to portray.

The music from '30 Days of night' was very disturbing and distorted and I thought this was a really good soundtrack for a thriller/ horror as it set the mood well and also built suspense.

Van Helsing has a good soundtrack too. It uses a lot of percussion with a strong rhythm to set the mood. It also has varying tempos which can build suspense.

The 'Underworld: rise of the lycans' soundtrack is a compilation of different artists and it works extremely well because the tracks have been chosen brilliantly to fit the action on screen. Also the fact that many different artists have been used means that each track brings a different style and dimension to the film so it keeps the audience on an audio rollercoaster.

I think I am going to compose a distorted electric soundtrack for my film. I will do this using the 'Garageband' music composition software package on my computer. This style will suit my opening as it is thrilling and slightly weird and this form of music will portray that feel nicely. I will also use drum beats of varying tempos to build suspense matching the action.

Ideas for thriller opening

My idea is that I have five different characters.

-three guests

-a host

- a killer



The guests are played by

- Lee Rowden

- Mike Mclean

- Chay Atkins



The host and killer played by

- Sam Umhoefer






The host invites 3 boys to his house as he has convinced his parents to go out for the night. They think it is strange as he is not really a friend of theirs but they go anyway because its an excuse for drinking some beer. Secretly the host has arranged for his sinister murderous friend to pay them a visit. Later in the night the boys run out of beer and one of the guests is sent to get some more. on his way back he is savagely sliced by the killer who is now in a mask. the killer returns to the house where all the guests are contently merry unknowing that their friend has been butchered on the street by a psycho with a samurai sword. he knocks on the window of the room and writes the number 1 in blood on the window and the boys are seen running from the room knowing now that they are trapped in the house by a murderer.

The audience is hinted at the fact that the host and guests are not well aquainted by the
conversation the guests have when walking to the hosts house. The sinister plan is also slightly unveiled by the interjecting clips of the mysterious murderer and their host so the audience is already questioning the true reason for the gathering even as the host opens the door to his guests.

Ideas from Saw are used because the Host is sort of playing a sinister game with his guests who are trapped in the house fearing their lives.

The children uses a quaint setting for the base of its story and in mine the guests are at a gathering with friends and so are in a relaxed state of mind untill the murdering begins.

In the strangers the killers all wear masks so their identity is not known to the victims and in mine the killer uses a mask to conceil his identity.

My target audience are teenagers and young adults because they are the group of people that normally enjoy horror films. To make it more appealing to theis group I have used teenagers as my main characters.

Conventions in Saw 4

Saw 4

The film uses scary suspense building music that is quite continues and the music conducts and enhances the mood of the film.

They have used continuity editing to show how long these characters have been suffering and there is alot of shot changing to make the film more frantic. There are alot of close ups and canted angle shots to show weirdness and distortion. The props are all relevant to the mood and action nseen on the screen. The set is well built up to enhance the mood of the audience and it is all relevant to the film plot. The sound they use is all torturous and sharp eg shouting, chains ang clanging metal.

Conventions of thriller opening- The Children

Click here to view the Children


•Thrillers often take place wholly or partly in exotic settings such as foreign cities, deserts, polar regions, or high seas.
•The heroes in most thrillers are frequently "hard men" accustomed to danger. However, they may also be ordinary citizens drawn into danger by accident.
•Thrillers often overlap with mystery stories, but are distinguished by the structure of their plots. In a thriller, the hero must thwart the plans of an enemy, rather than uncover a crime that has already happened.
•Thrillers also occur on a much grander scale the crimes that must be prevented are serial or mass murder, terrorism, assassination, or the overthrow of governments.
•Jeopardy and violent confrontations are standard plot elements. While a mystery climaxes when the mystery is solved, a thriller climaxes when the hero finally defeats the villain, saving his own life and often the lives of others.
•In thrillers influenced by film noir and tragedy, the compromised hero is often killed in the process.

This film took place in the countryside at christmas so the setting was quite quaint. The Hero in this film was a teenage girl so she is in no way a 'hard man'. The plan ov the 'killer' is never uncovered because there is no killer character.

The scale of the crime seems small but at the end of the film it is revealed that it is actually much greater. There are alot of violent confrontations and you think the teenager has saved herself and her mum untill the last seconds of the film.

Conventions in 'The Starngers' opening sequence

Conventions in "The Strangers" Opening Sequence

view opening

please only watch first 3 mins 8 seconds (until the title The Strangers appears on screen)

The first part is red text over black and it is read out by a man in a voice over. The red text on the black background sets a horror mood because it is a satanic colour scheme. The red could also represent blood. The voice that is reading it out is emotionless so it does not make you fell comfortable. The facts that appear on the screen in this fashion are terrible and the fact that the voice is cold makes the audience feel uneasy.

The screen stays black and you hear a car start up and clips of houses passing by fade in and out with the sound of the car still going so you know the characters are travelling somewhere but you do not know their destination. The clips get later and later in the day until nightfall which sets the mood scary mood and makes the audience feel more and more uneasy because the houses are getting more remote, abandoned and unfriendly each time a clip appears.

Then over black a recording of a 911 call comes in and it is a lady pleading for help and she is extremely distraught, she describes the scene and this allows the audience to build up a mental picture in their head and it is horrific. Two boys are then seen near the end of the recording and they are looking at objects  that tie in with the story you are about to see.

I like this style of editing because it shows the end at the start and you see some of the devastated props such as the car etc and you start asking mental questions which are later answered when the previous nights events are revealed.

I believe the target audience would bee teens and young adults because they are the people who mostly go to see horror films.