First ideas for Storyboard

These are some of the starting ideas we have for our storyboard...

 

Kill Bill escape scene

"Kill Bill" Deconstruction

The film "Kill Bill" directed by Quentin Tarantino includes a scene where the main protagonist is trapped in a coffin; literally "buried alive". It brilliantly mirrors our idea for a horror film by exploring feelings of claustrophobia and entrapment.
The the major source of light is emitted from the use of a torch. The lack of lighting adds another scare factor, and hones in on another common fear; a fear of the dark. It further casts dramatic shadows, which illuminate the protagonist's face, exaggerating emotion and creating a tense atmosphere. However, from examining the clip there seems to be another light used to balance out some of the shadow so the audience can properly view the enclosed space. But this light is used discreetly to not detract from the realistic use of torch light.
The camera angles used in this scene have significant importance. Tarantino cleverly uses the same technique used in theatre; the fourth wall. The fourth wall is the imaginary "wall" at the front of the stage in a traditional three-walled box set in a theatre, through which the audience sees the action in the world of the play. Other camera angles are deployed to portray the small enclosure of the coffin, such as a shot above showing the protagonist's expression.

The "Fourth wall" (The Glass Menagerie)

The sound used in the clip is a mixture of diegetic and non-diegetic. The non-diegetic music reflects the determination of the protagonist's escape, however we will most likely have more diegetic sound in our teaser trailer to mirror the horror of the situation.

 The character in "Kill Bill", Uma Thurman or "the bride", is a strong and violent character bent on revenge, subverting typical conventions of a brave, but innocent hero. Her character is particularly interesting because although she is brutal, the audience still sympathise with her, and are undoubtedly on her side. This idea reflects a relatively current theme in horror; violence begets violence, which examines human nature at its worse, mirroring the pitfalls of war and how morality is not clean cut.

Shawshank Redemption poster deconstruction

(B)

Mean Machine poster deconstruction

Snow White Tale of Terror (1997) teaser trailer deconstruction

The trailer begins in a typical fairy tale way (slow motion, dream like, Prince on white stallion).
After anchorage explains that it is based on the fairy tale Snow White, the music becomes more dramatic and scenes more disturbing, showing it to not be a typical fairy tale.
It mostly features music rather than dialogue, although there is some voiceover in extracts from the film towards end which vaguely summarises the film- it explains that someone is trying to hide/ escape from someone who makes it clear they are trapped.
There is much more screaming towards end, juxtaposed with calmness of voiceover which enhances the meaning of the screaming- she's screaming suggesting she needs help but the calm voiceover suggests that she will not get it.
Lots of clips featuring falling connotes the audience will fall into the deepness of the film and shows that it is much more dramatic and dark than the Disney version of the fairy tale.
The emphasised symbols parallel to the actors names zooming towards the screen emphasises them, although they do not appear for very long and aren't widely known. However, the audience are shown which actor plays which character because there is a short clip of a close up of each character before the corresponding actor's name is shown.
The sudden closeure of the hands after the shot of 'Snow White' is shown reveals to the audience that she is in trouble, but provokes intrigue in the audience because it is a close up so they cannot see her surroundings and therefore are inclined to watch the film to find out more.
The sudden change back to light, twinkley music and the anchorage enhance how this film is not similar to the cartoon version while the black background shows it is a dark and mysterious version. The swirly, white writing contrasts with this idea and supports the happy cartoon version but, as there is more black on the screen, does not suggest it is a particularly happy film.
The music box playing at the end has creepy connotations as it is related to children yet the film clearly features death, represented by the blood running accross the screen. This relates to the fairy tale because Snow White was said to have "lips as red as blood", also the black carriage, trees and horses at the beginning and the snow relate to her "hair as black as ebony" and "skin as white as snow"- these three colours are the only ones that appear in the opening sequence of the film. Also, the title is written in the same white, swirly writing as the anchorage enhancing the fairy tale theme. Above "Snow White" is, in more sincere font, "the Grimm Brothers'" which enhances that it is based on the fairy tale Snow White, which they published in the 19th Century. The film features the dark aspects which were once present in fairy tales, again setting it apart from most other adaptations in its relation to the original.

This trailer is a teaser trailer because it has not much voice over, briefly and vaguely outlines the narrative and has fast editing with parallel music.

How British drama conventions have changed over time

BRITISH DRAMA

1.Traditionally British drama films were about the family dealing with realistic social occurrences. Typically they concerned white British heterosexual male and female characters.

2.However since then it has been more conventional for British drams to show characters who are influenced politically. A film that is coming out soon called “Made in Dagenham” directed by Nigel Cole, is about women right activists.

3.Recent films in British drama tend to educate people about the wider community. They deal with aspects of race, poverty, drugs and alcohol. Due to the range of people now portrayed in British drama a wider and more diverse audience are attracted.

Codes and Conventions of the British Drama and Horror genres

Horror
We have watched two classic horror movies, 'Scream' and 'Halloween', with the aim to find recurring or iconic codes and conventions within them.

• An initial introduction into 'normal'/socially accepted daily life.
• A grotesque or unexplained death, with the murderer either known or unknown.
• Teenagers/youths in an iscolated setting, either physically or just 'home alone'.
• Enigmatic phone calls or other form of communication.
• An iscolated, vulnerable victim
• A killer that does not die successfully (leaving ending of the film open for speculation/sequels)

British Drama

We have watched two British Drama films with different ‘feels’ – Trainspotting and Four Weddings and a Funeral - to find the common factors within them.

• Smoking and drinking 
• Violence
• Regional dialect
• British scenery – for example Big Ben
• The typical British sense of humour –Dry jokes, swearing

Horror theory

Freudians
Freudians would argue that horror villians satisfy our "return of the repressed".

Feminists
Feminists argue that more often than not horror films are a portrayal of the battle between the sexes. With more recent films showing that battle to be won by women.

Friedrich Nietzsche
There is a dual recognition from the audience between both the villian and the heroic protagonist. Nietzschean notion explains that in the case of an increase in the feeling of power there is pleasurable and accounts for horror-pleasure in terms of such power feelings.

How horror conventions have changed over time

HORROR
1.Convention of gore. The 1957 movie The Curse of Frankenstein shocked audiences by showing blood and gore in colour and teenagers loved it.

2.The main attraction became the torture and mutilation of young beautiful women with Herschell Gordon Lewis who is said to be the inventor of gore.

3.After the success of “Halloween” it came a typical convention to have teenage characters, as they became the recognised target audience. Films such as Friday the 13th, Don’t Go In the House, Prom Night, Terror Train, He Knows You’re Alone, and Don’t Answer the Phone were all released in 1980. – known as “slasher films”.

4. Another convention that progressed over time was the notion of a “final girl”. For example A Nightmare on Elm Street, Halloween5 , Friday the 13th VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan, The Descent and Final destination3

5. “The Texas chainsaw massacre” is an example of how news reports have become a convention of horror to add a realistic aspect to the narrative.

6. The film “Scream” directed by Wes Craven identifies the key codes and conventions of horror such as you may not survive the movie if you have sex, if you drink or do drugs or if you say "I'll be right back.” Since these have become classic conventions comedy takes have exploited these obvious traits in horror such as the film “Shaun of the dead”. As such horror presently tends to steer away from obvious conventions to complicate the story line and make it seem more original.

Horror and British Drama deconstructions

The Omen (1976)

- Music becomes more sinister as tension increases. The theme of the film has a choral, sacred sound to it but the lyrics (in Latin) have been changed to have a more Satanic nature.
- Dog’s panting becomes a chant. The dog is a recurring motif throughout the film.
- Most sinister elements of the storyline occur in darkened settings such as a cemetery.
- Something usually seen as innocent made to seem sinister mainly through mise en scene and music – the actor playing Damien is literally only standing there smiling but the music and setting accompanying this make his actions seem sinister.
- The priest dies in stormy weather – although the lightning is part of the cause of his death the weather is also significant as it indicates that something bad is about to happen.
- In the part where Robert Thorn cuts away Damien’s hair in an attempt to find the “666” birthmark, a technique has been put on the film which makes it look slower and almost less “believable” than the rest of the film. This is done as this is the most tense point in the whole film, thus it is emphasized.

Trainspotting (1996)

- Very few special effects used – very realistic.
- Gritty and every day – more fist fights etc than guns and explosions. This can be seen when Begbie is angry about being wanted for armed robbery when it was not a real gun.
- Lots of use of voiceover so that you can hear exactly what the protagonist is thinking, for example the monologue right at the beginning of the film. (“Choose life…”)
- Despite it being predominantly realistic, there are some surreal elements, for example when Renton is hallucinating due to heroin withdrawal symptoms and he sees how the drug has affected other people in his life.
- Very familiar settings, situations and terms used – emphasis on the “Britishness” of the film.
- Familiar music is also used – such as popular music of the time and some classical music. No music was composed specifically for the film, but the music selected was chosen to fit in with what is happening.

[By Sofi, who left the group]

Syd Field's 3-Act plot structure research

Benefits and constraints of horror and British drama

Horror
Benefits:

• Low budget
• Often dark scenes so fewer lighting problems
• Popular with teenage audiences
• Can use quick flashes for effect so perfect continuity is not essential
• Don't necessarily need a lot of actors so it is easier to coordinate

Constraints:

• Can look tacky/ poor quality/ obviously low budget
• Can be hard to find a suitable location
• Hard to create a unique storyline
• Need to find appropriate actors which could be difficult

British Drama
Benefits:

• Setting- we're already in Britain!
• Gripping, high action

Constraints:

• Need lots of people and a range of cultures
• Continuous shots- could present continuity problems
• The higher level of action would be hard to film (fights, driving etc)
• Generally set more in the north than the south, so would present travel and accent issues

This research shows that it will be easier for us to promote a horror film rather than a British Drama.

BRIEF

Brief: To create a promotional package for a new film, to conclude a teaser trailer together with two of the following;
- A website homepage for the film
- A film magazine front cover, featuring the film
- A poster for the film

Coursework = 50% of A2 level.