Final Storyboard

Storyboard New from Marc

Original Location Options

Natural History Museum
                                     
The reasons which we chose this as one of our location options is because the building has an unfriendly look, as its architectural structure is made from sharp edged shapes which create a tense atmosphere.The buildings size also contributes to the harsh and unfriendly look it has, this is because the building is very wide and has a middle structure , which gives the appearance of power because it has tow tall tower structures and a structure of steps that are placed a long way in front of the building. The harsh appearance of the building could also be used to put the idea in the audiences minds that the characters might be putting themselves  in danger and that things might start to go wrong.  The appearance of the building is also slightly historic this is a good connotation of sprits and ghosts because they are associated with the past.


The building stands alone, but in the places we would have been filming it would be in the areas where the public aren't usually allowed where they keep the exhibit specimens. In an area of the building which not many people pass through, this means the location does not have a real sense of community, and this then therefore means that the feeling of security is not conveyed to the audience by placing the characters on their own away from big crowds of people it means that they are vulnerable because they don't have anyone to help them if they get into danger. The natural low lighting which the location has creates a moody effect.

There were a few reasons why we didn't choose this particular location in the end even though it was our first choice to begin with. The reasons were: permission issues, travelling to the location, disruption and big crowds of people. These three things we discussed the issues each of them had.

Permission issues

The museum did make an agreement with a few conditions they stated that we could film in the museum if the footage was not distributed through any public sharing sites, such as ‘youtube, facebook’ etc. This was the main issue we had that stopped us from filming at this location because this site ‘blogger.com’ is a public networking site which anyone can view whatever is posted for free. The reason why the museum placed this condition is because they have a lot of collections which most are irreplaceable and valuable, the footage if it showed too much detail might give someone a lot of information about the layout of the museum and entrances this means the museum would be risking their security and safety because of the danger of that someone could thieve.

Travelling to the location

If we wanted to film in stages or reshoot any footage it would be expensive in train travel from Sevenoaks to London Victoria it costs about £13.70 for an adult second class ticket, this is excluding the cost for the tube changes. As this would be the quickest way of travel to the natural history museum. Another issue is that the equipment that we would need to take to the museum it might be a risk to take the camera and also be hard to take all the equipment we need for the shoot, which would mean the expenses of petrol which could add up to quiet a lot depending on if we had to reshoot or not. Or if it was difficult to take the equipment on the train the petrol might add up to a large amount.


Disruption and big crowds of people

If we wanted to set up equipment like a tripods this would cause disruption in the areas of the museum which are public, which we would need to film in because the characters would need to be shown on their way to the room they can’t just start at the room, this is because it would confuse the audience as they wouldn’t know where the scene was set, if the characters weren’t shown making their way to the
This would mean that there wouldn’t be good continuity in the film piece unless the aim was to try and confuse the audience. And it would also mean that the camera footage would have to be handheld, which could work if you wanted to make it look as if it is in the ghosts prospective looking at them, but it would be hard to make sure it had a professional look this is because you wouldn’t be able to make the camera move freely as there would be large crowds and people moving around.

It is possible to get the museum at a time when there is no public there, but the museum only allow this for bigger productions who are paying them for a percentage of loyalties from the production which has the purpose of making a profit and for commercial broadcasting use, meaning that it is to be broadcast to the public and sold to make profit and that would mean paying them for  you would have to pay for usage of the space, which would be quiet a large fee this is because staff would have been needed to approve each shot which is taken and supervise the while the filming was taking place.

Knole House and park

The reasons why we thought the location might be suitable for filming our introduction sequence is because of: the background history, old building fits genre and the appearance of the building. The background history says something about an old lady mourning the death of her sons in an article written by the telegraph.

'The figure of a former society beauty and heiress creeps through the pages of a diary she kept during her years at Knole in the early 17th century. Lady Anne Clifford, the wife of the feckless and unfaithful Richard Sackville, had taken to searching out the secret corners of the garden, with her prayer book, and when that source of consolation failed, being seized by fits of “blubbering”.
No wonder. She was mourning the death of three infant sons within as many years; and as Richard careered around the country, cockfighting, gambling and carousing, Anne passed “many wearisome days” at Knole, the house slowly sucking the breath out of her. Anne’s experience prefigured that of several future chatelaines. Here she was, shut out of the day-to-day running of the house by her husband’s stewards, acutely aware that one day her hated brother-in-law, Edward, would inherit and her own daughters would be disinherited'.

Reasons why we didn’t choose these locations

Disruption

Lots of kids and families visit it at the weekends this means that we would have had to film in the evenings and this would not have been practical, as we would have had to make many trips to get all of the footage we needed. Also because for the footage we need an area where there is not much community and so that the characters seem vulnerable in the audience’s minds , because we wanted the characters to seem vulnerable and helpless when something goes wrong in the storyline.

Cost and permission

The national trust who own the property charge an admission fee of £11.50 for adults for the property, we would have to pay this emission fee because children are classed as 5-15 years old. Also we would have to get permission if we wanted to film in the house because it might cause disruption if we were to set up lights and a camera on a tripod in a public place, this permission could take a while to get which we decided this wasn't worth the effort or wait because the Knole park house and area didn't suit our needs in a location enough for it to be worth it.

Didn’t quiet fit in with our storyline choice

This location would have been good if we choose the camping plot because of the outside area which has a real natural feel with all the nature but if we wanted to have the teenagers trespassing into a room then we would have to have permission this we decided wasn’t worth it because it is not a location which meets all our needs and it could take a long time for permission. Also in the house there could be issues such as causing disruption if there are members of the public visiting the house with setting up equipment like the natural history museum, or extra fees if we didn't want the public to be there.

Postern Heath Barn

Reasons why we thought that the location might be suitable

This was the final location we decided on in the end this is because of the following reasons:

We wouldn’t disturb anyone

The location is in an area where not a lot of people are this means that setting up equipment like a tripod wouldn’t cause disruption like it would in a public place. This means we can get the shots we want without any problem with disruption it also means that we don’t have to stop and start filming on a consent basis because members of the public aren't there to get in the way.

Permission wouldn’t take long to get

Unlike a public place with the barn we would only need to get a verbal agreement, this means that the process of getting permission would be shorter and take less time. This means that there is more time which we can allow for filming, it also means that if a reshoot has to be done then there will be time to improve the final quality of the film, otherwise we might have footage that we aren't happy with being in the final edit of our film introduction.

Travel is easier

Because the barn is in ‘Tonbridge’ this means that it is local to where each person in our group lives, this means that it makes reshooting possible if it is necessary if we are not happy with the footage which is produced on the shoot or if we wanted to re shoot a couple of shots.

Isolated building away from much community

This is the feature which we wanted the most in our final location, this is because we want to create the idea that the characters are helpless because it adds to the scary feeling of the film and also helps create tension and a moody atmosphere, which we want to create.

Natural low lighting

Inside the barn there is natural low lighting which we also wanted in our final  filming location because it is more effective if it natural because it has a more realistic effect. The natural low lighting is also being used to add to the moody effect in the atmosphere, which we want to create.

Updated Shooting Schedule

                                

Revised Shot List

Shot no.	Type of shot	Action in the sequence	Info (Costumes, props, location, personnel etc)
1	Long shot	In this shot the two characters will be walking together while having a conversation.	The two characters will be wearing similar, casual clothing to signify to the audience that they have the same social standing. This shot will also be outdoors with high key, natural lighting.
2	Close up	We will have a close up of the Ouija board while the character is holding it and walking with it.	This shot will still be outdoors in the same area as the previous shot.
3	Long shot	The two characters will be climbing the ladder to enter the barn.	This shot will still be outdoors with natural lighting.
4	Close up	One of our characters will be trying to forcefully open the door.	This shot will be of the characters hand pushing the door open; this will still be outdoors with high key lighting.
5	Long shot	This shot will be showing the two characters entering the door to get into the barn.	This shot will be in the interior of the building and the lighting will be low key.
6	Medium	This shot will include the two characters lighting the lantern in the building.	This shot will be handheld and taken from behind a wooden beam to give the impression that someone is watching the two characters while they light the lantern.
7	Close up	This shot will show the two characters lighting the lantern.	This shot will still be inside the building with low key lighting
8	Long shot	This shot will show the characters moving further down into the barn to a place where they can play the Ouija board.	This will include low-key lighting in the interior of the building.
9	Long shot	In this shot the two characters will be sitting down to play the Ouija board	This shot will also include low-key lighting.
10	Shot reverse shot	The one character will ask the other character whether they should light the candles	We will use the lantern to make the lighting light up the characters face from underneath which is a convention which is often used in horror films.
11	Shot Reverse shot	The second character will answer the other characters question by saying’ yeah I think that’s a good idea’.	We will use the lantern to make the lighting light up the characters face from underneath which is a convention which is often used in horror films.
12	Long shot	One of the characters will light both of the candles and turn off the lantern	The candles in this shot will provide low-key lighting for the shot.
13	Long shot	Both of the characters will place their hands on the board and begin to play	This shot will have low-key lighting from the candles.
14	Close up	This shot will be very short and sudden and will show both of the characters hands on the board while blood falls and appears on the board and there will be a sudden scream.	This shot will be very short and sudden, which we will use to scare our audience. It will still use low-key lighting, which will be provided by the candles.
15	Long shot	The characters will suddenly jump up and try and run to the door but it will shut before they get to it and lock the characters inside the building	At the end of the shot we will fade to black and include a voice telling the characters that they must finish the game to escape.

Todorov's Narrative Theory

Todorov suggested that there a 5 stages to a conventional narrative, which are:

• 1    A state of balance for the characters lives at the beginning
• 2    Something disrupts the balance of their lives
• 3    The characters recognize that something is wrong and it needs to be fixed
• 4    The characters take action
• 5    The problem is fixed and balance is restored.

The film "Dawn of the dead” which I analyzed is very similar to this structure of narrative, although this film begins without a state of balance, which is similar to the film "Se7en" as well. It may be common for horror films to start within a state of unbalance and fear to immediately draw the audience into the scary situation but not all horror films follow the same path because some may want the audience to experience what the characters go through when they discover the problem but some may want the audience to immediately know that something is wrong, "Dawn of the dead" does this by beginning the film with the world already being infested with zombies. Many horror films also end without the problem being resolved such as "my bloody valentine" which I think is done on purpose to leave the audience still fearful at the end of the movie and have a lasting effect rather than a happy ending. I think that this structure or framework may not be able to apply to all genres because they all tell different stories. Our opening title sequence follows closely to these 5 steps but also deviates from them where the characters try to escape the problem. Each film tells a different story so therefore it is difficult to generalise this theory to all films especially when films want to leave the audience with a different message or emotion at the end so that they do not become repetitive and boring.