Sound and Music Planning!

After creating my storyboard, I have began to brainstorm what sounds will be necessary to produce my film opening. Horror films use sound effects to create suspense in the atmosphere. I am aiming to create an eerie atmosphere by using a lot of old school music. The music in the majority of my film opening will come from a record player. Not only that, but the two main characters will be listening to a radio, not an iPhone or a computer. I want the atmosphere to become very old-fashioned, so modern technology cannot save the characters in times of danger.

For example, in the movie Annabelle (2014) there is a scene that uses a record player to create a creepy and eerie atmosphere.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LMRaSJi2rLQ

The sound effects I am planning on using will create suspense and enhance specific aspects of the film. For example, I will use the pencil tapping sound effect to further convey the idea that (Character 2) is anxious. The clock ticking will also show the audience that time is of the essence in this scenario. To create suspense, the footsteps and knives sound effects will be used.

For example, the movie Paranormal Activity (2007) uses footsteps to make the scene very suspenseful and scary. It creates mystery and a horrifying effect.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S1s9cXYpxNo

Here are all the sound effects and music I brainstormed:


Furthermore, I have also written a script for the radio station news report and conversation between the two main characters. This is a rough draft and its purpose is to arrange my ideas together.

Radio Station:
*Character 1 turns on the radio*
Reporter 1: "You know, it's really getting out of control and the police should start to take action. This masked murderer has already killed three high school girls."
Reporter 2: "I totally agree. I heard people are starting to call this murderer the (undecided), because he always targets his victims by leaving threatening notes in their library books."
*Character 1 turns down the radio volume*
Character 1: "Do you hear that? That's crazy!"
Character 2: "Oh my god! I'm late for practice!"

Speaking of the radio, I will be using a prop to portray the radio:


Sources:

Haider, Arwa. “Culture - What Makes a Great Horror Movie Soundtrack?” BBC, BBC, 31 Oct. 2016, www.bbc.com/culture/story/20161031-what-makes-a-great-horror-movie-soundtrack.

“25 Iconic Horror Movie Props.” Rotten Tomatoes Movie and TV News 25 Iconic Horror Movie Props Comments, editorial.rottentomatoes.com/gallery/photos-25-iconic-horror-movie-props/.

New Shot List and Storyboard!

After conducting more research and watching more film opening samples in class, I have decided to make some changes to my storyboard. Before creating a new storyboard, I made a shot list to convey my ides more specifically. I originally forgot to include room for the title and I did not consider where the credits would go. In my new shot list, the credits will appear in the beginning with a series of shots of the murderer's house. This will convey more about the character and his background. These shots will consist of iconic objects and actions relevant to the conflict in the film.
Next, I have decided to introduce the audience to the main conflict by having the characters listen to a local news station on the radio. This news station will report the recent murders and all the respective clues. More specifically, the radio will explain how the murderer targets his teenage victims by leaving notes in their books. The film opening will end with Character 2's book falling on the floor. This will reveal to Character 1 that her best friend is being targeted by this unknown murderer.

New and Improved SHOT LIST:

1. (Film Production Company) Presents:
2. A film by Grace Sullivan
3. Several CLOSE UP SHOTS of posters
4. HIGH ANGLE shot of stacked books and a library card
5. Shot of highlighters and ripped paper
6. Shot of washing forks and knives (POV SHOT)
7. Shot of (Murderer) putting on gloves (POV SHOT)
8. CLOSE UP shot of eyes through the black ski mask
9. MATCH CUT to a shot of (Character 2)'s eyes
10. CLOSE UP SHOT of (Character 1) turning up the radio
11. TWO SHOT of (Character 1) and (Character 2) working
12. MEDIUM SHOT of (Character 1) writing
13. MEDIUM SHOT of (Character 2) fidgeting
14. CLOSE UP SHOT of (Character 2)'s pencil
15. CLOSE UP SHOT of the radio
16. POV SHOT of (Character 2)'s book and pages
17. MEDIUM SHOT of (Character 1) working
18. MEDIUM SHOT of (the clock
19. MEDIUM SHOT of (Character 2) realizing she's late for practice
20. HIGH ANGLE shot of (Character 2) packing her stuff up in a hurry
21. CLOSE UP SHOT of the ripped paper falling on the floor
22. SIDE ANGLE shot of (Character 1) picking the paper off the floor)
23. CLOSE UP SHOT of the paper and its highlighted code
24. CLOSE UP SHOT of (Character 1)'s frightened face
25. Cut to a LONG SHOT of the sunset and the title flashing across the screen

NEW STORYBOARD:

    



Based on my research, the horror genre has a very predictable plot and unexperienced victims. The purpose of a predictable plot is to create suspense for the audience. In this case, the audience is waiting for problems and scares to occur. On the other hand, inexperienced victims are used commonly in horror films to put them into harmful situations. This creates conflict and puts them into bad situations. These characters are crucial to progress the plot. I incorporated both of these concepts in my film opening. I introduced a very predictable conflict behind a mysterious murderer. Both of the main characters are young and have never experienced something like this before. This will force them into trouble for the plot of the film.

Sources:

amberloo20 Follow. “Codes and Conventions in the Horror Genre.” LinkedIn SlideShare, 24 Sept. 2015, www.slideshare.net/amberloo20/codes-and-conventions-in-the-horror-genre.

Golding, Kaylee. “Codes And Conventions Of A Horror Film.” Prezi.com, Prezi, Nov. 2014, prezi.com/8m6mpn9vmcoq/codes-and-conventions-of-a-horror-film/.

Costume Design Research!

As I mentioned before, I want to implement trendy clothing into the costume designs. I have researched popular influencers, fashion trends, and movie characters to create effective costumes.

The first thing I researched heavily upon was influencers. In other words, I researched social media stars, fashion icons, and teenage role models. The most popular social media influencers nowadays are Emma Chamberlain, Olivia Rouyre, and Maddie Ziegler. They all have millions of followers on Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube and have a big impact on fashion. Their platform allows them to embrace their styles and begin trends among teenagers.

          

Most influencers like Emma and Maddie are have a very classic and old school style. They are always wearing mom jeans and layering t-shirts over each other. Not only that, but Doc Martens and Brandy Melville belts have become increasingly popular. All of these pieces together create the edgy and grungy look that I am going for in my main character. This will further intrigue the young horror audience and make them more relatable.

            

 

Furthermore, I also researched well known movie characters to establish another costume design. In my film opening, I want the villain to seem mysterious and frightening with a ski mask. I researched similar characters within TV shows and movies who had a similar background as the character I am trying to portray. In the popular TV series, Riverdale, season 2 revolves around the "Black Hood" who is a masked murderer. The only thing that people know about him is that he wears a ski mask and has green eyes. I want to resemble this idea within my own film opening. The villain (Undecided name) will wear all black and a ski mask. His eyes will be visible and the only clues he will leave behind lies in the library.

      

Sources:

Heller, Susanna. “16 Trends You'll Only Remember If You Grew up in the '90s.” Insider, Insider, 16 Aug. 2017, www.insider.com/best-90s-fashion-trends-2017-8.

“The Role of Social Media Influencers in the Lives of Children and Adolescents.” Frontiers, www.frontiersin.org/research-topics/9295/the-role-of-social-media-influencers-in-the-lives-of-children-and-adolescents.

Wilberg. “How Social Media and Its Influencers Are Driving Fashion.” Digital Marketing Magazine, 10 May 2018, digitalmarketingmagazine.co.uk/social-media-marketing/how-social-media-and-its-influencers-are-driving-fashion/4871.

Storyboard!

To further plan my film opening, I decided to create a storyboard. A storyboard is a great tool that helps producers picture scenes in sequential order. While making the storyboard, I organized all my ideas took many aspects of production into consideration. Everything on my storyboard is subject to change; however, the basic components of my film opening have been established.

   

The film opening will begin with the title and cut into a suspenseful shot of boots walking across the screen. This creates mystery and establishes one of the main locations. The audience is then introduced the the library with an establishing shot. This is where the two main characters are shown. This is a very brief scene, and the next few shots consist of the sun setting, all the books on the table, and the car driving. The next scene is very important to the plot. The radio station is playing in the car, and the two girls are listening the the recent news report. The man on the radio is describing how a murderer is on the loose. He leaves behind clues within books by highlighting certain words. One of the girls becomes very frightened because she thinks she is being targeted. The next shots show the car on its way home, and the girl rushing to her room in a hurry. A close up shot of her eyes reveals her fear, and immediately cuts to a close up of the murderer's eyes in the same context. My film opening will allude to conflict, establish the locations, and introduce the main characters.

Brainstorming!

Today I made a schedule to help me plan out my filming process. This schedule will keep me from falling behind and keep all of my ideas organized.

            

Not only that, but I started to brainstorm various aspects of the film opening. Here are my notes:

     

Sources:

Golding, Kaylee. “Codes And Conventions Of A Horror Film.” Prezi.com, Prezi, Nov. 2014, prezi.com/8m6mpn9vmcoq/codes-and-conventions-of-a-horror-film/.

“25 Iconic Horror Movie Props.” Rotten Tomatoes Movie and TV News 25 Iconic Horror Movie Props Comments, editorial.rottentomatoes.com/gallery/photos-25-iconic-horror-movie-props/.

amberloo20 Follow. “Codes and Conventions in the Horror Genre.” LinkedIn SlideShare, 24 Sept. 2015, www.slideshare.net/amberloo20/codes-and-conventions-in-the-horror-genre.

archives - October 21, 2011. “Classic Horror vs. Modern Horror.” Pipe Dream, 21 Oct. 2011, www.bupipedream.com/ac/4102/classic-horror-vs-modern-horror/.

Costume Designs!

To plan the costume design for my film opening, I made a look book of the three main characters and their respective styles. This helped me form aesthetics and picture what pieces look good together. Within the next week, I will go to thrift stores to find the clothing pieces that I don't already have. Costume design is very important to my film opening, because it helps portray the characters personalities and interests. Not only that, but costume design will make my characters more relatable to the teenage target audience, since they will be wearing trendy clothing.

First off, the protagonist in the film (Meghan), will be wearing a very edgy and grungy outfit. This will bring out her classic and rebellious personality from the beginning of the film. 

Secondly, Meghan's younger sister (Emma), will be wearing athletic attire to portray her interest in sports. This style is completely different from Meghan's, and helps bring variety to the film.

Lastly, the murderer's outfit is very basic. The mysterious murderer is dressed in all black to remain unknown to the public. Not only that, but the black color scheme shows the evil and bad nature of this character. 

Sources:

Heller, Susanna. “16 Trends You'll Only Remember If You Grew up in the '90s.” Insider, Insider, 16 Aug. 2017, www.insider.com/best-90s-fashion-trends-2017-8.

Horror Film Openings!

Horror film openings aim to engage the audience with frightening content. The main goal of these film openings are to spark interest so the audience continues to watch the rest of the film. Horror films achieve this goal by enhancing genre characteristics. These genre characteristics include low key lighting, isolated setting, helpless characters, dolling, close up shots, and more. All of these characteristics help establish the plot and tell the audience more about the remainder of the film.

The film opening of The Conjuring (2013) successfully introduces the audience to an entertaining film. This opening scene features a creepy doll that haunts a group of people. The directors introduce this concept to the audience by having a group of paranormal investigators listen to the story of the creepy doll. Many close up shots are used of the doll to instigate the evil powers it beholds. The low key lighting scheme is used proactively to conceal the the corners of the room, faces, and the doll itself. This strategy intensifies the situation and creates mystery within the film opening. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZKDDyaViwj8

Scream (1996) uses a similar approach in its opening scene. Scream is about a teenage girl who is targeted by a mysterious killer. This film opening features the main character, Casey, who gets creepy phone calls from the mysterious killer. He is watching her from outside her house and knows everything about her. Dolling and shaky videography is used to further convey the horror genre. The Dolling shows that she is being watched and the shaky film further conveys her anxious and chaotic feelings. She is alone in an isolated setting as well. Overall, this film opening is very creepy and introduces us to the main characters very well. The plot and future conflict is established, and alludes to the content in the rest of the film.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G3lSvJ5RXKA

The Purge (2013) has a unique film opening. The opening scene is a combination of different "Purge" clips. These clips show people viciously killing each other in the span of a few hours. This film opening alludes the to conflict in the rest of the film, and introduces the audience to the murder theme that lies ahead. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r0lcdgDCytA

More Horror Genre Research!

The horror genre aims to entertain its audience while frightening them with petrifying content. Horror films target young people ages 13-25. This target audience finds thrills and intense violence more entertaining than older adults. Furthermore, horror films stereotypically target males, because they are more "immature" and are more likely to be entertained by blood, guts, and gore.

Horror films usually feature young and inexperienced main characters. This makes them more relatable to the audience and gets them into trouble within the narrative. On the other hand, the antagonist varies from film to film. It can be a shark, such as Jaws (1975), or a supernatural character such as Toby in Paranormal Activity (2007). The antagonists always target the main character and help the plot of the film progress.





The narrative of a horror film is always very predictable. Every horror plot aims to create suspense and scare the audience. However, the horror films can be a variety of themes. Common horror themes include religion, revenge, murder, survival, and supernatural. For example, The Exorcist (1973) is a horror film that revolves around the concept of religion.

Costumes and colors play a big role in the development of horror films. Protagonists are dressed in lighter colors to represent hope, while antagonists are dressed in darker colors to represent evil and power. Costumes are crucial and help the audience depict the background of the characters.

Many production techniques have become quite common within horror films. Regarding camera use, many horror films use close up shots to emphasize the facial expressions of the victims and horrifying situations. In Psycho (1960) the film uses close ups of the girl's face while she is being stabbed to death in the shower. These shots help the audience understand the fear and helplessness she is feeling in the situation.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s22lNU5jXM4

Furthermore, some horror films use a handheld camera to make the scene look more realistic. In The Visit (2015), a handheld camera is used periodically throughout the film. The children are making a movie and film their creepy grandparents. The shaky videography helps convey the idea that the children are filming this scene.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OzWA6M7VnGg 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W_0WRTR2vSc

Some other camera shot techniques include tilt disorientation and dolling. Tilt disorientation helps portray the chaos going on in a film, while dolling is used often to show the audience that the main character is being followed. These techniques both create suspense and mystery.

Lastly, horror films and known for using low key lighting. This helps create a dark and eerie effect in the atmosphere. The darkness makes the audience feel more vulnerable because they are unable to see what lies in the dark. This sets up the scene for obstacles and jump scares. Not only that, but silhouettes are often created by artificial lighting to infuse the scene with uneasiness and mystery. The Hitcher (1986) uses this iconic silhouette in their movie cover to portray the potential horror of the film.

Music Blog Post!

a. My genre is alternative rock. This genre first emerged in the 1980s and
became increasingly popular in the 1990s. Alternative rock enhances the
defiant and unique nature of its listeners. 

b. Marketing trends within the alternative rock genre typically reflect its
young and rebellious target audience. These people like to explore, take
risks, and separate themselves from the norm. Therefore, alternative rock
artists aim to develop a unique brand and take advantage of trends. 

Streaming is the most popular and the most efficient way to distribute
music. Many apps and websites such as Apple Music and Spotify will
help promote new artists and connect listeners to their favorite genre.
Alternative rock artists rely heavily on these streaming services and
their marketing features. 

CDs and vinyls do very well within this genre because they enhance
the classic and old school aesthetic. They attract the young and rebellious
listeners that don’t want to listen to music the typical way through an iPhone.
According to a recent survey, 54% of vinyl sales were within the rock genre.
As of 2019, CD and vinyl sales have grown by 15% and are becoming
increasingly popular.

   

c. Due to our young and rebellious target audience, we have developed
our brand using unique and defiant features. Our band name is Scorpion
Cyanide and the logo is a scorpion. We chose this name to instigate a
distinctive and aggressive figure that will attract alternative rock listeners.
We want the scorpion and the bold colors of blue and pink to become
iconic to our brand. 

To establish this brand, we have made merchandise and marketing
partnerships. Within our merchandise, every piece of clothing and knick
knack will feature our bold scorpion icon. The iconic clothing will attract
attention to our brand because people are wearing the shirt and looking at
it. Not only that, but our partnerships with It’s Sugar and Hot Topic will expand
our audience to people who frequently shop at these stores. With further use
of our logo, we hope that whenever someone looks at a scorpion, they think
of Scorpion Cyanide. 

         

We also used our music video of “My Name is Human” to show off our
band’s unique and simple look. We want our band to seem relatable to
our middle-lower class target audience, so our music video took place
in a grungy garage. The costume design was very simple, but enhanced
the dark and rebellious aesthetic.

     

d. We created a variety of marketing products to attract our young
audience with rebellious tendencies. First off, we created social
media accounts such as Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and Tik Tok
to reach our listeners. Instagram and Facebook are primarily used to
target our younger audience, because these platforms are the most
popular right now among teenagers. In fact, 84% of teenagers say
they use Instagram on a daily basis. On the other hand, Tik Tok
songs and videos often go viral and attract millions of listeners
per day. I have heard several songs show up on the radio purely
because of viral Tik Tok videos. To reach our older audience,
Scorpion Cyanide will be consistently using Facebook and Twitter.

Scorpion Cyanide has also designed its own website:
https://gracesullivan10.wixsite.com/scorpioncyanide. Websites are
crucial to our marketing plan, especially as an alternative rock band.
According to Florence + The Machine, websites are the most efficient
way to distribute information and products within this genre. On our
website, viewers can purchase merchandise, view our photo gallery,
read our biographies, purchase CDs and record vinyls, listen to our music,
and access our social media accounts. It is really important to us that our
website can be easily accessed upon a mobile device, since that is the
main method of viewing media nowadays. 

Scorpion Cyanide has its own merchandise as well. This includes
clothing, phone cases, beanies, pop sockets, posters, and stickers.
All of these products feature our bold and iconic scorpion logo.
Our merchandise will help promote the scorpion icon and establish
the look of our band.

             

e. Throughout the creation of our music video “My Name is Human”
we learned a lot about production. There are a lot of components that
need to work together to produce an efficient music video. The
mise-en-scene, costume design, and lighting were all important factors
to consider when developing our music video. Nevertheless, the hardest
part of the production was editing. Editing the video footage to match
the music was challenging, especially because our promotion video had
lots of lip-syncing. 

I am not very familiar with alternative rock music, since it is not my favorite genre. I am glad I got to explore new music and learn more about alternative rock throughout this project. Within our marketing campaign, I learned about the impact of social media and streaming services. Times have changed and technology has become the most effective way to market and distribute music. Technological convergence is very important to our marketing campaign. Nevertheless, establishing a solid brand and audience throughout our partnerships, merchandise, and live shows is the main goal for Scorpion Cyanide. To learn more about our band and goals, here is the link to our powerpoint: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1jPgz7wW-4BsqQXgtV5TZMoJ75xhnSG1IMnpavr87alo/edit?usp=sharing