Film Brief Re-sit

I rewrote and updated our film brief, which can be found here on the group blog. The reason we created a film brief is so that we have a basic storyline to follow, and even though we don't make the entire film, it enables us to have something to work from, ensuring that hints are given in the trailer to help the audience work out what is happening. It also shows that we understand the conventions of horror films and are able to apply these to our own work.

Our brief is to create the two minute opening of a horror movie, including a title sequence and the institution logo. We will need to make a film production company name and the logo to go with it.

Horror films in particular use their openings very effectively; normally within the first few minutes, the over all plot is hinted at and the viewer is aware of what is to come later on. Another way the openings attract viewers is that, especially in thrillers, the audience is given a series of clues which help them reach the overall conclusion of what will happen. In "The Exorcism of Emily Rose" the ending on the film is shown first, which captivates the audience because they want to know how and why that ending was reached.

The over all plot of our film revolves around stalking. The film would see six young women being stalked in various places and ways by hooded or masked men. The women would be seemingly unconnected, apart from the fact that they are being stalked by presumably the same men.

All the women, once caught, would be taken to the same remote location in the countryside, which is down long and winding roads, creating a sense of foreboding for the audience. The exact location is never shown for the same reasons. It can also be seen as mirroring the anonimousity of the stalkers themselves.

The idea behind the plot is that each member of the "stalking group" are targeting their victims not only for a slightly erotic reason but are sycophantic; all females own something they require/desire. i.e a body part (such as limbs, eyes, hair). The antagonists are a group of psychotic scientists aiming to create their perfect being and relentlessly killing any object of their desire along the way. As the film itself progresses, the women will be seen together, laying unconscious with big, bold, black crosses marking various aspects of their body. This will highlight to the audience the body parts the scientists require from that particular person, and reiterate their final goal of creating the perfect person from various bodies. This idea is reminiscent of the novel "Frankenstein" and although the idea of creating the perfect person from different bodies is explored in the novel, the method and the over all production is entirely different.

Our opening 2 minutes shows an example of one of the characters attack on her way home from an unknown destination. The audience are made aware during her journey that she is being followed although she is not. We view her walk away and every so often the camera flicks forward in time for a short loud burst of the attack on her that is yet to take place. The camera will then switch back to her journey home. The flashes will become more regular throughout the two minute opening, becoming shorter and quicker to give a flickering film reel effect, detailing exactly how the woman was caught and subsequently tortured. The film flashes show her with the antagonists inside her house and eventually attacking her. The forward flashes become quicker until the present time zone catches up with the beginning of the flashes as the female goes to let herself in her house.

We hope this will leave our audience in suspense, questioning what the marks on the bodies mean. We plan to give no clear indication of the state of the females and how many there are to keep the audience questioning the scene. It will not become apparent until right at the end that one of the women survives, and which woman it is. The audience becomes aware of this when she is telling her story in a court room after she escapes. The antagonists will be seen for the first time unmasked, where they look completely normal and unassuming, making the audience feel unease because this highlights that stalkers and murderers could be anyone, and you can never tell. The sharp frames we hope will shock the audience but also indicate whats in store throughout the rest of the film. The main idea of our opening is not a clear cut version of events but clues and hints that firstly may make little sense but as they come together create more answers, yet more anticipation.