Vlogs 15th October - Highgate cemetry scouting

Trailer Update - 15th October 2014

On the 15th of October 2014, James and I went to take some location setting photos for our trailer. We travelled to London, up to Highgate Cemetery, where we spent around 2-3 hours taking photos and discussing between each other and planning what we would like to do for our trailer. We had to pay £4 for entry to the cemetery; this is due to there being famous individuals buried there such as Malcolm McClaren, Karl Marx, etc. Throughout the day, James and I did some video blogs to update the audience of our blogs, to show them where the location is and what it is like to be in our position. These video blogs (Vlogs) will be placed on the blogs in the next couple of days.

Title Change to More Than Human

We changed the film title because this title would make more sense, the font and title itself would be more iconic just as scream did with their title, if we make ours like this, more people would become familiar with it and known to our brand. With the lines continuing going down, it makes it seems as if blood is running down a wall. I believe changing the title name and font would have a great influence on our film.

More Than Human - BBFC rating of 15

The certificate of my film I decided will be a 15 certificate. The reasons for me deciding to choose this certificate are because of the audience of my type of film and other films similar to genre. I found that with films similar to mine that I’ve studied (the Ring etc.) to have a reasonably high audience of teenagers and in particular people aged 15+ in these sorts of films, so it would therefore make it suitable and appropriate to make my film a 15. In terms of appropriateness, I feel that my film would fit in with the 15 certificate because it would contain violence/language of a reasonable level but not too extreme of what would expected of an 18, this is why my film would be a 15 certificate.

Film Certification - 18

18 rated films are the highest rated films on general theatrical release. There is also 18R, but these films are not shown as widely, and are reserved for sex shops and specialised theatres. 18 rated films can go extremely far in regard to violence, sex, language etc, and the boundaries are continually being stretched. Twenty years ago, what is now rated an 18 would have been banned, showing the development of the film industry and the acceptance of some topics being shown on film. 18 rated films are not always pointless sex, violence and swearing, but a lot of 18's have actually won Best Picture Awards, such as American Beauty in 1999. Due to it being the highest film rating, there is a very wide range of what is shown in an 18 film. Some are reasonably mild and only show the odd bit of violence, but others are completely crazy, and go all out in every aspect. Films such as 'Saw' turn film away from an art form, and simply turn it into what is known as 'torture porn', and I personally do not think that these films are needed, as they degrade the art form. For our film 18 may be a little extreme, however if we feel that we'd need to delve into 18 territory to tell the story better, than we shall. The trouble with 18's is that it reduces the audience, and stops the teenage audience going to see the film. Teenagers make up a big part of the film's earnings and without them, the film would lose out on a lot of money. Seeming as our target audience is 16-25, we would lose one fifth of our audience by making it an 18, so I think that it may be inappropriate.

Film Certification - 15

If a film is rated 15, it means that no one over the age of 15 is allowed to view it, even if accompanied by an adult. These films can include more gore, harder swearing, more sexually explicit scenes and more. They tend to be taken more seriously than the lower classifications, as they are primarily aimed at an adult audience, with no attempts to please anyone younger. A lot of films that are aiming for the teenage audience cut out a lot of their violence in order to appeal to a wider audience. 'The Hunger Games' cut out seven seconds of violence in order to stick with its target audience and to allow teenagers to watch it. A similar cut was made in 'Taken 2', which is an interesting example, as the first 'Taken' film was rated '18'. 15 rated films do well because they attract a wide range of audiences, by sacrificing the younger years, they attract far more of the older generations, who, after all, are the ones with the money. This would be a good rating for our film to be, as it could include a fair amount of gore and swearing to make it more realistic, while keeping with our target audience.

Film Certification - 12

12 rated films mean that the audience has to be over 12 to be able to watch it, or they can be accompanied by an adult. These films are a significant step up from 'PG's' as they can include a bit of blood and they are allowed mild swearing. These are the borderline of adult films, as they are the start of getting into more serious topics, but they are still very mild. 12 rated films tend to appeal a lot to a teenage audience, as they allow all teenagers to see it, however this means that an adult audience may be reluctant to go and see it. The James Bond franchise is an exception to this rule, however, as it is an accepted franchise that is loved by all ages. 'Licence to Kill' was the only Bond film rated higher than a 12, but nowadays would probably be considered a 12.

Film Certification - PG

'PG' stands for parental guidance, meaning that people under the age of 12 should not watch it without the consent of their parent. PG films are a slight step up from U films in the sense that they can subtly reference drugs and sense and nudity is allowed, but not in a sexual way. PG's are still not very explicit in any way, and are still aimed at a young audience. Again, I do not think that this would be a suitable genre for us to do, as it would not appeal to an adult audience, and they may not think that it is serious enough for them.

Film Certification - U

This is the lowest film classification; it stands for 'Universal' - a universal audience. This means that anyone can watch it, from babies to elderly people, however they tend to be aimed for a very young audience. A lot of U rated films are animation and almost all of them are aimed at the 5-7 audience. There are a few exceptions, such as a few of the Star Wars films are U rated, however they are aimed for a very wide audience. This film classification is very much for family films, and you do not get many thrillers that are made for this age group, especially not serious thrillers, because of their dependence on threat and violence. I don't think our film is rated for a universal audience as it is aimed at a 16-25 audience who may think that watching a U rated is childish, and it would reduce our audience.

Film Certification - Introduction

When a new film is released, it undergoes a process known as film classification that gives the audiences an idea of the sort of audience that is recommended for the film. For example, more violent, swear-heavy films would have a higher rating, as they are not suitable for a young audience. In Britain, films are classified by the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC). In the following series of posts I will go through each of the ratings and talk about what makes a film that rating, and what sort of audience it would attract.

Font

I think in order to make this film successful, a font is needed which is eye catching and audience would know straight away that it’s from our film, just like Scream 4 did, I will try to find a font which is suitable enough to use.

After some time of researching what font would be most suitable to use for our film trailer and bearing in mind it needs to link into horror, I have decided to use a font called ‘chiller’.This looks very creepy, and would suit our genre.

More Than Human

Directed by Daniel Malamud and James Young

Questionnaire analysis

What gender are you?

I asked this question to see the range in gender between males and females when the subject is on the basis of film, and the feedback on this question raised suggestions on the gender audience. It mainly shows that the male audience is most probable and more common on film interests. This tells me I should try to include more male appealing elements in my film. 

How old are you?

The age categories of people who filled out the questionnaire suggested that the majority were young people, mainly teenagers between the ages of 13-18 as they both made up around 73% of the total. 

How often do you watch films at the cinema?

I asked this question in order to see how interested people are in newly coming out films. In my finding the majority never go to the cinema, which gives me the impression my trailer has to stand out to attract the audience attention. 

What is your favourite genre?

I asked this in order to find out what is the most popular genre people are interested in, which was horror, with just under a third of the votes.

How often do you watch horror films?

I asked this question to see how often my audience where engaging with horror films, and coming out with the majority(40%) of annually, means I would have to make it stand out quite a lot in order to make the audience.

Would you sacrifice realism for spectacle?

This question was used for me to know whether people will enjoy it being more imaginative than realistic, telling me people are willing to sacrifice realism for entertainment/show as 60% of votes show.

What do you expect from horror films?

I asked this question to see what viewers would expect from a typical horror film. With 40% answering an enjoyable show followed by blood/murder at 33%, I clearly need to make the film a pleasurable way to watch, with frightening scenes which include blood.

What is the most important element of horror films?

From this question I wanted to find out whether editing/filming (47%) is just as important as horror sequences (40%) which were close answers, and I will have to consider both.

What setting would you associate with horror films?

Having asked this question, I wanted to find out what locations would be best to shoot at. Being answered with abandoned place at 40% and then woods at 27% I will try to take some of our shooting at those locations.

Conclusion
From these, I have made the decision that I will age rate my film a 15. This way, I can allow a large variety of audience to watch it, but also, I can have a little freedom in making it; I won't have to censor or tone down the clip too much in order to make it suitable to minors. Also, seeing as though this genre of film appeal to both genders, I will have to find a way to attend to their needs more, but also listen to what the minority are looking for in such a film. I am happy with the research I have done on audience profiling, because it has allowed me to get an insight into what my target audience looks and therefore, I will be able to more effectively meet the requirements for this genre of film.

Things I will do to appeal
To appeal to this potential audience, I will use a lot of jumpy scary scenes that include a lot of fear. Violence and swearing will be included to make the film parallel with real-life situations. I think using this variety of methods will act in appealing to my chosen target audience and make the film more of a success, because I am giving them things they anticipate and things that will excite and entice them.

Questionnaire Analysis Process 3 - Making pies

This is a very simple way of making diagrams to show your data which has been collected in a clear and easy way to read. Just by highlighting the information which is wanted to be made into a diagram, ie in the example one I have shown the males and females and how many of them there was for each one. In the top bar, you can select whatever diagram you wish to use to represent this data. 

Questionnaire Analysis Process 2 - Data Insertion

In this blog I have gone through a process of making analysis on data which I have collected. 

This screenshot shows the data being already entered into the table, and the counted analysis of every answer being filled in automatically.

Questionnaire Analysis Process 1 - Setting up

In order for me to analyse my questionnaire I had to use some kind of software to help me to this, so I used Microsoft Excel to assist me. I have chosen Microsoft Excel because there are options to control the type of data or the values that users enter into a cell. So for the qualitative data I collected from my questionnaire, I needed to restrict data entry to a certain range of dates, and limit choices by using a list. This software helped me make pie charts to analyse these. I have uploaded some photos of my procedures.

This screenshot shows how I inserted the data listed in the bottom half of the picture into where the table is by using data validation. 

This screenshot shows how I used the "countif(...)" code to add up all the 'male' answers in this column, continuing to do so with all the other results.

In this screenshot, you can see a vital detail change, which includes the "male" after square number as that will add up all the results which are entered as "male" otherwise it would enter any results entered. I will continue doing this for the rest of the grid.

This screenshot shows that I entered all the data, just have to find 15 people to answer the questions and fill in the results.

Questionnaire - Target audience research

The genre of trailer will be horror; therefore, I researched the typical audience profiling of a few horror films to compare their average age and gender turnout. Hopefully, this will give me an insight into genre requirements and conventions, so I can produce a product that fits and appeals to any specific target audience I may find.

Credits Research - Se7en

Opening credits are written information within a film which tells the audience who is starring in the film as well as the production roles such as director. The purpose of opening credits is to inform the audience; this helps the audience understand the film as well as outline important people within the film. Opening credits provide the audience with the information of the film such as actors who have played certain roles as well as who is in charge of different production roles such as director, editor etc.

Opening credits are essential in creating a reaction from the audience. For example in a thriller film the opening credits are confusing due to the video content where images don't make sense to the audience and don't relate to each other. Credits can also be enhanced due to the input of sound; for a thriller film sound can create tension and fear as well as build the suspense of the film.

In the opening credits of 'Se7en' some information is presented to the audience. The names of actors are shown in the opening credits in order of famous actors down to amateur actors. This helps the audience know who the characters are in the film as well as become familiar with the film before it starts. Keywords such as 'rape', 'transsexual' and 'God' are presented in the opening of the film. This information in the opening credits is used to confuse the audience as well as relate to the narrative of the film. it also makes the audience think about the links between the words and building suspense.

For the purpose of creating my own thriller film opening credits I looked at what order the information appeared in. The film production title first appeared in the opening credits to present to the audience who made the film. The name of the film and the famous actors who played within the film then appeared next. This allows the audience to know the name of the film they are watching as well as the people who are playing the important characters. The amateur actors names are then presented which are followed by job roles of the film such as casting director, music manager etc. The directors name then appears on the screen finally followed by the name of the film again. 

Generic conventions of a thriller film are also presented to the audience in the opening credits. There is a constant use of close ups throughout the opening credits which allows to see detail such as keywords (as above) as well as emphasising horrific elements which relate to the narrative. From the close ups used the audience can see the characters dirty finger nails; this disgusts the audience and already creates resentment towards the character. Photographs are used in the opening which makes the audience think about the theme of obsession or stalking which relates to a conventional thriller film. Medical equipment such as a needle and tweezers are used which the audience could infer as being weapons or tools to torture a victim who is conventional to a thriller film because the audience expect to see this.

The lighting and colour throughout the opening credits is dark. The low key lighting makes the opening appear mysterious and compliments with the images shown throughout the credits. The colour red is used frequently throughout the credits when some shots are changed to have a red tint as well as splatters of red that fall into a page. These elements within the credits are conventional to a thriller film because the lighting and colour create responses of suspense and making them uneasy before the starting of the film.

Finally the slow gothic/metal soundtrack added to the opening credits makes it effective when connecting to the audience. The slow soundtrack creates suspense within the audience and makes them feel uneasy when they hear scratches of some metal or radio turning. This is conventional to thriller opening credits because this builds the audience up to the rest of the film.

I think that the opening credits from 'Se7en' create impact on the audience because the opening credits are used to confuse the audience. However they contain essential clues to the films narrative which catch the audience’s attention and provoke the audience to work the clues out. 'Se7en' is a good example on creating an impact on the audience because it also makes the audience focus on the film by leaving them to guess the narrative. This opening credit scene has influenced me with my own thriller film as I have ideas on what elements to use to slightly confuse the audience. 

Own film treatment

 

Directed by Daniel Malamud and James Young

Synopsis 
Two teenage boys aged 18 and 19; were brutally attacked last week at a cemetery in the North of London. Their bodies were left hanging as a warning to other individuals not to trespass at the cemetery. Left behind was two camera's to show the world the disturbing images these two teenage boys faced and their experiences before the distressing deaths of both of them. The found footage of both of these teenagers soon leaked onto the internet and now on news channels across the globe.The trailer includes terrifying scary and daunting moments, aims to discomfort the audience and think of what the future could really hold with the technology growing high, but cures aren't keeping up with it, could a situation like this happen in real life? And could this prepare viewers for an apocalypse which is just around the corner?
Trailer will be out January time. Brace yourself!  

Codes and Conventions

The codes and conventions of our film are similar to that of an horror film, being fast-paced with fears and scares. Our film trailer involves many fearful moments. These are all typical, expected conventions in horror films. Another convention of horror films is that there is always someone to run away from or/and survive, we included this in our trailer as the guys try to survive from running away from the infected people. Lastly, one of the most common conventions of an action film that we have included in ours is death.

Starring
Daniel Malamud - Denzel Shedd
James Young - Jack Buskley

Other possible locations

North Leatherhead
Despite my associate and me feeling as if this location may not be ideal; we still feel that this location could be effective for our trailer. We just feel that this location has useful elements that are most and more suited to our film genre and guidance of plot which are darkness, fear, dread, anxiety, horror .

The graffiti, council flats, urban look environment and good lighting help enforce the genre clichés and but would not help get the best out of our planned film which is why this location is considered the worst within our opinion.

Guildford castle
With good lighting, and right frames, we could take some great shots of this building, maybe beginning ground it, or a ‘drone’ like shot, could be included in the trailer.

Leatherhead common

This location was chosen as its mainly woods based, creating a creepy and scary setting as it is, I figured out this would be a good location to take some shots in.

Location 3 research - Highgate cemetry

We got the idea to film in Highgate Cemetery after realising that filming in a ‘haunted’ graveyard could set a very scary setting for the audience. Highgate Cemetery is probably the most famous cemetery in England and as there are lots of famous people buried there, there are a lot of impressive looking and creepy graves. As the whole graveyard is covered in trees it makes it very dark and atmospheric in there, so this will add to the creepy mood of the graveyard. It would fit in very well with the plot of our film, as we are considering making a found footage movie. Graveyards are just the sort of places that these sorts of films tend to go to, so I think that we could get some very exciting shots there. 

The practicalities of shooting there are slightly more difficult. The cemetery is open for the majority of the day. However there may be a lot of people around and there may be security guards who might stop us filming. To counter the first of these we've found an inset day in the middle of the week, and as this is only a holiday for our particular school there shouldn't be too many people around - who goes to a famous cemetery in the middle of the week? I'm not sure what security will be like, but I'm sure we'll be able to get around it and that we'll at least be able to film something. The only other problem is that we won't be able to do so much planning in advance, as there aren't pictures that would show us the whole location and where all the interesting parts are.

Location 2 research - Therfield School

This may not be the ideal place for a film shoot, but this is an option for us, but this is a backup option. Having this place to film we can edit some rooms into being creepy and use horror clichés and conventions in this location. We could use the same idea with the first location as a disease has hit a small town in the southern of England, all ways out are blocked by the army and we are trying to survive in the school building. Or alternatively we could use the school building as a mental hospital which is rumoured to be haunted and we wanted to check if its true but I am not sure if the trailer will look as good with that. I filmed my AS media at this location and it wasn't too bad, I think taking a few shots at this location would be a great idea.

Location 1 research - Leatherhead town

The idea of this location is that a little town in the south of England has been infected with a disease, with the army surrounding the town to barrier the borders so no one gets in or out to spread the virus. We could take shots in this location late at night or early in the morning when there aren't many people around; with editing we can multiply the actors to make it seem realistic. With this location we could start the trailer with getting an adult to do a news report, we won't even have to see the person, we could just hear the voice of the person saying how the town got infected, what's happening etc. giving some info to the audience with black and white titles and then quick snappy shots of us surviving. Sound and music will be vital in this to make a good trailer.

 

Our Film Institutions

Paradox Entertainment was founded in November 2013 by me, Daniel Malamud. It is currently comprised of two sub divisions - Paradox studios and Para Cinema.

Paradox Cinema is a production company that specialises in virtually no-budget
blockbuster epics. The past project is the feature-length motion picture 'Swan Song'(April 2014), which revolutionised cinema.

Paradox Entertainment saw the success in the first movie it released and decided to produce another film, this one a horror film ‘More Than Human’(Release date 2015 TBA)
The video below shows how we will aim to do the title, this sets the mood for the rest of the trailer, which is scary especially with the sound;

James and I decided that we should include two institutions in order to try to target a wider range of audience, here is the second institution we have created:

Other film institutions research

DreamWorks tend to make films aimed at a younger audience. DreamWorks films include: Shrek and Madagascar. Mostly make animated films, wouldn't suit our film.

In recent years Lionsgate have started to have to join together with bigger companies in order to get the money needed to make films, but they are still making, high grossing films, famous for Hunger Games and Saw. This institution may be relevant to us as they are famous for making horror films such as Saw.

Relativity media at the moment is very low-key, seeming as it was only founded in 2004, and is still growing. Their films include The Social Network and Bridesmaids. To us their film House at the end of the street would apply the most as its a horror film. We will think about using this institution.

Formed in 2005 by the Weinstein Brothers. The Weinstein Company seems  to be aiming to do well in the film industry. Even though they are known for making classical films such as The King's Speech and Django Unchained, they produced Piranha 3D which is a big horror movie. We could consider using this institution.

Revolver entertainment is a film institute that’s originated in the UK. They distribute mainly British films consisting of some variety of film genres. A reasonable percentage of these films that they've distributed are urban/action films including Kidulthood, Anuvahood. Could be argued as its originated in the UK it would appeal to us, but they aren't a known institution for us to have this film globally hit.

MGM has been having financial problems, so haven't really been releasing anything, they tend to make a wide range of films. Most famous MGM film has worked with was James Bond Skyfall, all others are less known. So this institution wouldn't apply to us.

There are more film institutions out there, but they are not accepted as big. The ones mentioned here are the 'official mini-majors', but there are a lot more.

Universal Pictures research

Founded in 1912, it is conglomerate to NBC Universal (NB CU).

Through its Focus Features imprint, the company also produces lower-budget specialty films including Broke back Mountain, Lost in Translation, and Milk. 

Universal Pictures is part of Universal Studios, which also operates theme parks under the Universal banner through Universal Parks & Resorts.

Some of their films include Back to the future trilogy and Bourne Franchise. This institution varies its work all over the grid, making all kinds of films, I think this should be an institution for us to consider using.

20th Century Fox research

20th Century Fox was founded in 1935, It is owned by News Corporation, as they also own the Fox television channel, which gets them a lot of their money. 

They make high budget films.

The Art Deco 20th Century Fox logo, designed by special effects matte painting artist Emil Kosa, Jr., originated as the 20th Century Pictures logo, with the name "Fox" substituted for "Pictures, Inc." in 1935.

Some of their films are Avatar and Star Wars. They produce films all of the grid, from animation to action to horror, may be an institution for us to consider.