2. In this PowerPoint I have reflected over the different types of genre research I did
into the movie genres and have applied them to the work I had done on the
“Indifference” Film Project.
3. Type of Genre.
Our film promotional campaign; “Indifference” has been judged to fill the genre of psychological-thriller, and maybe edge its way
into the horror category. So I have based my genre research on “The Pact” and “The Cabin In The Woods” simply because their
marketing campaigns create fear and excitement to see the films. And that ‘heart-pounding’ tension is perhaps what we need to
make this film stand out from the rest.
Our Narrative:
Essentially a girl by the name of Vicky, underwent a life threatening operation when she was younger, and died for a brief period
of time. But she didn’t come back whole. Everyone call her “Freak” etc. and the audience don’t know why. Until a group of friends
invite her to a camping trip, accompanied by her old friend Eliza (who turned against her and bullied Vicky). And Vicky has
developed schizophrenia and when she changed personality a potential psychopath is left on the hunt.
The Pact Narrative: (Information taken from http://emptyscreens.com/2012/06/06/review-the-pact-2012/ )
Following the death of her mother, and the sudden disappearance of her sister Nicole (Agnes Bruckner), Annie (Caity Lotz) returns
to the place of her troubled childhood – a ordinary looking Victorian-dressed house riddled with nightmares and mysteries she’d
rather forget. As she realises there may be more to Nicole’s vanishing act than meets the eye, and supernatural elements begin to
take their toll, she’s forced to delve further into the house’s – and her mother’s – past, uncovering lifelong secrets that no one,
least of all herself, could have ever imagined.
The Cabin In The Woods Narrative: (Information taken from http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1259521/ )
Five teenagers head off for a weekend at a secluded cabin in the woods. They arrive to find they are quite isolated with no means
of communicating with the outside world. When the cellar door flings itself open, they of course go down to investigate. They find
an odd assortment of relics and curios but when one of the women, Dana, reads from a book she awakens a family of deadly
zombie killers. There's far more going on however than meets the eye as the five campers are all under observation. Written
by garykmcd
4. Narrative Themes
The narrative themes of these different genres all link around murders and
have a connection with a psychopathic route. Whether it is spiritual or
physical. But all the films show the protagonist being stalked by them. Our
narrative story approaches the two different aspects of physical and
spiritual as the protagonist is haunted by this other side of herself which she
isn't conscious of.
Due to the narrative themes of the “Indifference” project we chose a very
enclosed area for the location of the trailer and filming. As it matched
stereotypical ideals of the horror and thriller genres, and both narratives
are based in enclosed, dark and creepy location, and this woodland area
can be creepy and very eerie at dark/evening.
5. Mise-en-Scene
The two different pictures show the difference in clothing
styles between the two different horrors. For example
“The Cabin In The Woods” all the actors and actresses
have very colourful and individual styling of clothes.
Whereas “The Pact” has very dull clothing and styles.
Which seems to match the traditional horror where
everything is dim, and doesn’t appear to be vibrant. This is
where our film connects more to “The Cabin In The
Woods” as the clothing styles are set to casual wear, that
The Cabin In The Woods
the actors feel would suit the characters, which was given
to them in the character information.
The Pact
6. Characters in the Film Project “Indifference”.
Mise-en-scene
(Props): Folders, pencil case, bags etc
Vicky: Vicky: needs to have normal but attractive clothing, so in the “This message was very brief
scene she blends in with the crowd, but stands out to the audience.
(maybe black and reds or something like that) to the actors about what they
should wear for the filming
Eliza: You need to wear very indie style clothing, maybe some
denim jeans or a jacket. However she has very colourful clothing, day, although it is very brief, I
maybe a vest under a long sleeve shirt. But again Eliza can wear talked to each actor and
anything as long as her colour style is vibrant. Make up optional.
actress about what they
Stacey: Style needs to be more mainstream, different types of should wear in more detail
clothing. But very bland (plain shirts) either that or branded
clothing (Bench or something). Make up optional with them, and gathered
some of their ideas about it.
Josh: Dark clothing, Jake this will be fine for you :) your style
matches already, just wear your black jacket etc. But I interlinked this with the
character bios which I earlier
The rest of the guys: Nick, Gavin, Joey and Pete you have a very
basic style, wear anything normal guys would or what you would released to the actors and
normally wear. There is no specific cloth design for any of you. actresses.”
Please remember to read the script and be prepared for
tomorrow :)
7. The Character Bios
Josh: Joey:
Josh is very quiet, awkward but can be head strong at times. Josh finds Joey, The Glue that connects the group. He is the mutual friend of
himself in a twisted web between romance, and paranoia. He has had everyone and connects Eliza and Stacey with Josh, Nick and Gavin. He
a troubled past and finds it very hard to associate with the group but is brutal, funny but arrogant, he believes he is always right, and tries to
takes an interest in Vicky as he can sense her distress, and can tell she get whatever he wants.
isn’t completely together, meaning those two can relate on a new
level…However will his paranoia over take him? Bios:
Bios: Age: 18
Nature: Confident, Cocky, Jester, and Clever.
Age: 19 Motive: It seems Joey has an interest in Vicky, but is it all a sham? He
Nature: Strong headed, quiet, and dark. doesn’t make this clear, but shows this when he makes a wrong move,
Motive: To feel accepted within the group, but mostly to protect the Joey has no other motives than to get drunk and have a good time, but
ones who need his help. However he isn’t all together, meaning his was he cut a little too short?
motives are sometimes forgotten.
Nick:
Gavin:
Nick, is quiet and a good person, often looking out for those in need,
he seems to be the most normal of the group, and is honest and caring Gavin is a very sensitive soul, easily breaks down, and follows Nick’s
to those he knows, but could this be his own little false sense of footsteps in trying to be a good person. However Gavin has been
security. someone people used to bully a lot, so it is possible he is finding this
chance to seek revenge?
Bios:
Bios:
Age: 17
Nature: Calm and Creative, Docile. Age: 17
Motive: Unknown. All that is know is Nick and Gavin seem to be best Nature: Calm and Creative, Docile.
friends and have come along to have a drink and socialise. Motive: Unknown. All that is know is Nick and Gavin seem to be best
friends and have come along to have a drink and socialise.
8. Pete: Vicky:
Quite simply Pete is the one person, everyone seems to dislike. Just for Vicky is our main character; she is very quiet and shy, keeping herself
the pure fact he is there. He hasn’t done anything wrong but seems to to herself. She is often referred to as a “freak” because of her
be the main target for isolation. Could It be that Pete has been driven traumatic and haunting past that made her disconnected from the rest
to seek closure? of the college year. Often Isolated, and lonely she is however given a
chance to hang out with a group of new people, from the returning
Bios: “friend” Eliza, who left her feeling low and depressive. This journey
Age: 17 with her new found friends leads her down a spiralling road that leads
Nature: Nerdy, friendly and passive. her to realise who she really is.
Motive: He attempts to get close to the group but no one really knows
why… Bios:
Age: 17
Nature: Docile, Shy, Unsociable.
Eliza: Motive: To be excepted as an individual in a group of people, and
finally gain normality in her life after ages of being excluded and
Eliza was Vicky’s old best friend, they were inseparable, but due to isolated from everyone. She also finds particular interest in Josh.
traumatic events in Vicky’s life things changed, leading Vicky to
become socially isolated and hated, meaning Eliza had to choose Stacey:
between her best friend or being excepted in college. However Eliza
followed the wrong crowd and ended up bullying Vicky for what she is. Stacey isn’t all together. She can be very slow sometimes, other times
This made them distance and lose contact with one another. she can be very clever, but no matter what everyone seems to love
However after this long time apart, Eliza misses Vicky and wants to her, for her charms. Often the funny one of the group, she is often
have her back in her life and ceases the opportunity to drag her into a surrounded by the boys. But she knows how to play them, keeping
group camping trip, but is Vicky really wanting to take her back? them interested but under her control. Being the new best friend of
Eliza, she tries to stay away from Vicky out of jealousy until she realises
Bios: Vicky isn’t too bad…but is it all too late?
Age: 18
Nature: Confident, Caring but easily misguided, Loyal (to an extent), Bios:
social. Age: 18
Motive: She aims to bring Vicky back into her life one way or another, Nature: Bubbly, Friendly and charming. Flirtatious. A bit dippy but
to make up for the mistakes she has made, but realises her awkward often clever. And always gets the centre attention.
mistake of making Stacey her best friend. There are hints later on in Motive: Stacey doesn’t carry many motives, she is just there to
this story that unveils that Eliza has a liking for both Josh and socialise, drink and have fun…However seen as though Joey sees his
Nick…however is she willing to kill to gain what she wants? And why end could that create a killer out of the innocent? Maybe…Just maybe
does she really want Vicky back in her life? she wants her best friend Eliza back from Vicky’s grip.
9. I tried to keep the Character bios, along the lines of the story so that the
actors and actresses would get a feel for their characters, and understand
how to act them, what they’d wear, their mannerisms.
10. Eliza.
Joey. Pete. Stacey. Vicky. Nick.
These where the clothes which the actors and actresses showed up in. In my opinion they
didn’t completely match what I had in my mind for clothing of each character. For example
Pete was meant to look nerdy, But this didn’t work until we strapped a bag onto his back. Or
for example Stacey’s clothing didn’t match, who Stacey was in the bios at all but…
11. Although it didn’t match completely, I still thought it worked, as it made the characters
feel more outcast from society (if your basing the different characters on stereotypes
they’d be a group of individuals instead of groups like, Popular, Nerdy, or Goth etc.) than
they should have been. But I did hope to change the dress code for when they go
camping, and perhaps match it more to the colour scheme of “The Pact”, with darker
clothing than the college seen clothing, which had recurrent colour scheme of blue and
red. Looking at the clothing in the photos, the closest group I could possibly connect them
two as a majority would have to be “Indie Scenesters”. But individually their styles
would interlink with the other groups in this picture below.
These styles weren't what I was looking
for. Especially when you contrast them
to they styles of those in “The Cabin In
The Woods” but it worked cause it
showed the different styles that
teenagers wear in colleges etc. these
days. This did however give the feeling
that it was a teenage film, making it
possible better to connect with a
[http://uktribes.com/] teenage audience.
12. I do believe that even though I was aiming for a more “Cabin In The Woods” Mise-en-
Scene approach I did managed to gain a very blue colours scheme which matches “The
Pacts” colours more. With darker clothing.
13. …In terms of character types
In terms of character types, I focused the group into being a mix of different people. For
example Joey was stereotypically based on the American Jock group, the sporty, and
arrogant person. But toned down a bit. Whereas in contrast Josh was seen as more dark and
mysterious, which could be seen as a gothic approach? But the different characters all have
different areas which they can relate to more, which explains why the closest I can relate the
group to in “Indie Scenesters” because their interests all cross over, and does make the
majority of the group seem Indie, or individual if you will.
The character bios focuses on each characters motives, and personalities and partial back
stories or relations with one another. So I have tried to interlink many of them excluding
Vicky, to try show that they hang out with one another for the fact they know them and are
comfortable, meaning there is a mix of different groups.
14. Camerawork
I did some research into camerawork with these kind of genres: Horror, Thriller. And many
of which like close up shots, for example Stephen Spielburg seems to always position the
camera near eyes…
Minority Report (2002)
Director:
Steven Spielberg
Although “Minority Report” doesn’t have much to do
with this genre, it does have a very good close up of
an eye, which can add suspense. This was done by
Steven Spielberg.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0181689/
15. At the beginning this all confusing and distorted to a high-
pitched noise acting like a sound bridge that connects a
flickering eye to a very powerful blue eye, this zooms out
to a very cold white face in water saying “Murder” and it
sinks into the water…this was very tense and suspenseful
when I first watched it, and I appreciate how hard it would
be to recreate so effectively but me and my partner were
planning to introduce an aspect like that with the eye, and
zooming out. To create tension. I have notice Steven
Spielberg do this a lot in his films, and always makes it very
effective.
16. I have also noticed that other areas of camera work, can vary on speed and
clarity depending on the build of tension, and atmosphere.
For example when things are calm in a film the shots are calm and peaceful,
they tend to be very long shots as a comparison to when it becomes upbeat,
and tense and the shots are much shorter, sometimes less stable (shake a bit
[no tripod maybe?], are distorted to make the audience confused and
wonder what is happening).
I have notice that all horrors, and thrillers don’t follow this though, take
Paranormal Activity, more specifically the theatrical ending.
Because the camera stood still as all the action was happening off the scene,
it was relatively quiet until she suddenly throws the body at the camera and
gives everyone a fright. But the camera stays still this whole time (except for
being knocked off its stand) and is just as, or maybe even more effective as
the other method of creating tension.
17. Props and Locations.
Me and My partner had considered this before the
genre research. We spent an entire day looking over
potential locations and reasons why we could have
them there. We created a 45minute long video,
which I have edited down, and shown you the basics
of it. But we had ideas about locations before
comparing them to other films, because ours would
take place on a camping trip, in a remote woods or
forest.
This would have been the first location
for the first camping scene.
18. This gives you an
idea of the day we
had when we were
planning and
figuring out how to
use this location.
During this we look
at possible romantic
interest spots as the
two main characters
would be near
where the group is
for the campsite,
and because at this
time in the planning
stage we hadn't
fully planned out
the storyline.
If the Video does not play then
I‘ll post it in the same blog post
marked video [1].
19. Props.
The props we were going to use, were simply torches, camping equipment and
recording equipment. As the location doesn’t require much props for it to work. So it
would have been a minimal set for example like filming in Vicky’s room.
If the Video does not play then
I‘ll post it in the same blog post
marked video [2].
20. Unfortunately, the indifference film project got cancelled because of some
actors and actresses unable to keep commitments during this holiday period
we had to film it in. However, we intend to used what we have now to
continue with the trailer etc. production.
