Research into Similar products and conventions.

Our genre is a Psychological Thriller. 

This blog post will research other areas of media that are similar to our opening sequence idea.

A film that is similar to our idea is 'As Above, So Below.' The film is about a group of explorers who explore the catacombs of Paris and they come across some disturbing and scary secrets. 

As we can tell by the film's poster, the majority of the colour is red which represents blood and the Hell which is part of the theme of this film and our sequence.

The narrative of this film is similar to ours, they discover inner Demons and I am quoting this from the IMDB storyline "The eternal home to countless souls." Part of the storyline for our film is that our antagonist has completed multiple rituals before where a girl has been sacrificed to a creature and murdered and their souls lie in that ritual basement. 

 Our Main Characters look incredibly similar and have relatively similar statures even though they play opposite cameras. Ben Feldman is the protagonist in the film and Ed Lewis is the actor in the sequence.
As you can tell by the trailer, there are many close-up shots which we will be using in our sequence, The are also many quick close up shots of the monsters The film is shot and edited like its a documentary however our sequence is more like a film.




Another Film that is relatively similar to our opening sequence is 'Devil Dog : The Hound of Hell' IMDB's blurb of the film states that "A dog that is a minion of Satan terrorises a suburban family."

This dog is also a Satanic creature like our creature in the film who is also a minion of satan but equally as scary. 

The Narrative of the film matches pretty well, a satanic creature terrorising someone.

Here is the trailer for the film.



After analysing the trailer, towards the end we can see the Hound becoming scarier and more effective because of its eyes and its teeth.

In the film, many dutch angles are used to create confusion and disorientate the audience. There are also many short close up shots of the characters and the dog. We will use different editing techniques as in this film they aren't that good in all honesty.



This fits our genre because its Cleary a horror film judging by the trailer which is about a creature that was sent from hell. The hound has inspired our creature and we have the same target audience who are those who enjoy being scared. In the trailer, and apart from the storyline, the element that is different is the editing techniques are that there are a lot of shots of short duration which we probably will not be using in our piece.

A TV show that relates heavily to our sequence is 'PSI Factor : Chronicles of the paranormal.' Its about a pair who investigate a man who went up in flames. One of them has a theory that he spontaneously combusts the other believes that his soul was taken by a creature from Hell.

This Tv drama isn't too similar to our sequence but towards our whole film's narrative which involves another character as a policeman tracking down our antagonist after hearing of multiple deaths in that same area. The series is also slightly based off true event and our sequence is not based on true events but made to look as if it was.


Other areas of media that are similar to our opening sequence is are video games. An example of a video game that related is 'The Devil may cry' series. In total, 5 games have been made with the same title. The earliest one being bought out in 2001 and the latest in 2019.
This is a video showcasing all of the game's trailers.

The story line isn't that similar but there are certain elements that aren't too dissimilar from our sequence and the whole film itself. 

Another game that is about a creature is - Gears of war 3

This description is taken from 'Apptrigger.com'

As we can see from the image, the creature's eyes look similar to the creature in our sequence with the yellow eyes and the worn down facial features.

Location (other)

Our backup location for the Shoot is the basement at Bwebb which is one of the other boarding houses. It is darker but less convenient because of the lack of space.

Media Location test shoot

We visited our shoot location, and tested the creature mask and also came up with some ideas because of the facilities inside the location.

New Props

Here are the Tea lights

And the Stage cigarette which will create the breath effect

The Roles on our Set

On the shoot day, I will adopt the role of the Camera Operator/Cinematographer. I am expected to film the majority of the shoots and think of creative angles. 

Lottie will take the role of Editor for the sequence, she has a lot of experience editing and is the best editor out of our group. Alfie is the director, his job will be to oversee the acting on set.

Second research post - Satanic Ritual Abuse

There have been many allegations towards satanic ritual abuse in many countries around the globe

Lots of cases are linked to the same types of abuse - Child Abuse, these satanists are using children in their rituals and abusing the to the point of murder...

A Serial Killer in Belgium named Marc Dutroux took women off the street to take part in his ceremonies. someone described it as 'a goal of disorienting new victims, causing them to doubt the reality of their memories and prevent disclosure'

In 2001, a priest in a Melbourne was convicted of taking part in satanic ceremonies where a number of deaths occurred way back in the 1960s. He paid compensation to. a surviving victim.

In the Uk the National Society of Prevention of Cruelty towards Children made a number of Allegations against the SRA. The Government produced over 200 reports of abuse but only 3 were proved to be a crime.

Sequence covers the them of satanic abuse which adjourned by the the girl being kept in the basement by our antagonist.

This is from our test shoot (this isn't the same actress) But we can see that she is being held captive. 

Construction of the Mask - Research Post

This is our Monster mask

These are our lights, I'm going use Cello-tape to stick the two items together.

These are the Photos showcasing the construction and completion!

I used sellotape to tape the lights into place, it stuck really well but its quite delicate

The lights work really well and are very demonic

Our Antagonist

This is Ed Lewis who will be playing our antagonist...

Location

Our filming location is the basement of Ewhurst Place which is one of the School's of campus  boarding houses.

We believe this location will work really well with our theme. We have many options as to where the protagonist is held captive. We tested the creature mask out and its incredibly effective and really scary.

Pros -
- Its spacious
- Its dark
- Its scary

Cons -
- its cold

WHY the costumes?

It all helps with the Mise-en-scen of the sequence but also with the accuracy so it looks good on camera and viewers will be affected in some way.

These costumes are part of the vision we originally had for the piece. The white dress implies purity and weakness. The trench coat implies a traditional approach along with the trainers contrast the character's appearance.

The Monster mask will be the main part, we won't see the actual mask - Just the outline. The fur will make the creature scary. 

Organisation of Costumes

Lottie is purchasing the trench coat and the white dresses. Me and Alfie have given money to her so she isn't spending loads of her own money.

I have sorted the mask for the creature and I need to construct it.

We plan to have a props and costume box so that everything is organised and in the right and same place.

How will we get these props.

We will be able to get these props on websites like 'Next, Amazon, Depop and other websites that sell cheap clothes.

For the creature mask, I already have the mask! 
And the majority of the clothes that the antagonist will wear, he already has apart from the trainers which belong to me!

What Costumes do we need?

The costumes we need are several white dresses for our protagonist. Along with warmer clothes underneath because it will be cold in our location.

The costume for our antagonist is a black jumper, with black cargo trousers and Adidas trainers finished off with a trench coat. This shows that even though rituals are seen to be ancient our antagonist is putting a modern but slightly retro feeling to it.

For the creature costume, we have a mask sorted for it, for the sequence, it will be dark and so we really only see the outline as it may not be convincing.

Why these Props

All these props are effective towards the sequence and have a part to play in the Mise-en-scen of the sequence. The creature is no-doubt the main part that has to be the most effective element. But all the other props are extremely useful in building up the tension and helping to create a mysterious effect.

Who is organising the props

Lottie will be organising most of the props including the satanic items and Alfie will also be doing the same.
I am managing the props for the creature and the candles. Along with the crucifix which will be made from two sticks.

Backups.

If the creatures eyes aren't effective enough, I have some red light-up thumbs, These are fairly bright and are easy to operate.
Fake-blood back up is to make our own from an internet recipe.

How are we going to get these props?

How are we going to get these props?

The majority of the props that we need will be bought on online websites such as Amazon and Depop. Lottie is organising the online shopping but the whole group have given £20 to the cause.
My job is finding the right props for the peace and Lottie is sorting out the costumes. Alfie is researching how to create fake blood.

Our Crusifix will be made of two sticks to show that the antagonist is authentic and original and doesn't have a lot of money for his 'profession.'

I am going to create the head for the creature, I am going to use the same method that was used in the previous blog post. For that I will need Blu-tac/cellotape or clay/playdo. This will help me stick the eyes onto the monster. The portable charger will be given to me on the day. And I also need stage cigarettes.

I will also be able to sort out the tea lights and other candles. 

What Props do we need?

What Props do we need for our opening sequence?

We need a  knife - Either a rubber, Dummy Knife off a website or a real knife, not sure about the danger it proposes.

Fake blood, we know how to create fake blood which we will be applying to Cait who is playing the Girl, we will also create Blooded knuckles for for Ed who is our other Actor.

For the creature, I have got RC car headlights which plugs into a USB, we will stick these in the eyeholes or a Werewolf mask I have got along with a portable charger. We will borrow two stage cigarettes to make the breathing effect for the creature.

We also need candles which we can sort out as I have loads of tea lights at home. This will create the little light which is held in the basement.

Titles Workshop

In Today's workshop, we learnt about the actual titles for a film and how to edit them to their full effect.

There are a few rules that you can follow which makes the title sequence professional.

The Read x3 rule.
The length of time that a title should be visible for is the length of time that is takes to read it 3 times.

Executive Producer, Executive Producer, Executive Producer...

Another rule to follow is putting the job role in lower case and the NAME in UPPER CASE.
        

We then went into photoshop where we started to design a title theme. For example the film title was 'Tower In The Roses'. We created a 'thorn' effect on roses because obviously roses are associated with thorns.
The letter T in tower was made much taller than the rest to represent its sheer hight compared to the rest of the words. The words 'of the' were made to be smaller as they are less important than tower and roses. Because tower and roses are important words to the title they needed to stand out and so we made them a blood red. This emphasises that thorns can pierce skin ad release blood.