ALL- Podcast 3- Casting and Audience

In this podcast we talk about the ideal cast and who we have cast in our opening. Also about our audience research.

MA- Location for 'waxed'

During the holidays we went to see out two possible locations for filming our coursework film opening. There were pros and cons for both locations and we are discussing our options and will decide which within the next two days. One of these locations was a salon in Ilkley and the other in Burley so it would probably be easier to access the one in Ilkley... Since then we have changed the idea and now we are filming in different salon in Ilkley for ease. As the post below shows the location.

SD- Filming Arrangements.

We are filming on tuesdays the 25th of January. We are filming in the salon 'Angels Retreat'. We have made this decission because our origional cast were not able to get to the previous set location- the home salon on silsden moor also the location of the salon is in Ilkley so we can access it more easily and there is a wider range of equipment.

Although we originally said we were going to film in a secluded location on Silsden moor we have decided to change to a salon in ilkley so our cast can access it easily to film and we can take any further shots if we forget on Tuesday (tomorrow).


We think becasue its quite a small salon with street lamps outside it would be a better choice, also there are more than just one room with beauty equipment in. As the salon is call angels retreat it is ironic because we'll obviously be filming violent and murdering scenes.

SD & MA- Casting

Our working title is 'waxed'. For our filming we want 3 actors/actresses. Originally we were going to have 3 women actors, one murderer, one victim and one client. Since then we have changed the idea to add another dimension to our film. By adding a male character we are hoping it will show how our film is a counter-type of most slasher films. We wanted to do a feminist spin on the genre hence us deciding to have a female killer.

Our ideal victim if we had a choice of a scream queen would be Drew Barrymoore from Scream or Jamie Lee Curtis because they are blonde and signify a typical scream queen.

Heidi Montag (right) the reality star of the US would be the perfect scream queen because she has long blonde hair and a large chest although obviously we could never have her in our film due to us having no budget and that we are playing around with stereotypes to confuse our audience and be different.

Our ideal killer would be Jessica Alba because she would represent a more intelligent and thin woman with brown hair although she tends to be casted in rom-coms. For example a strong female killer although obviously we cant get these people to be in our film so we have chosen to have a Brunette killer that is busty and a Blonde scream queen that is not busty to make the audience think about and question the potential of who will be the killer.

FINAL CASTING:
Killer: Katie Mallows

Victim: Colette Howarth

Second client: George Clayton.


We have chosen this casting because katie (the killer) is well done up and has brown hair signifying a beautician role also she has a large chest so she fits more of the scream queen role if she was blonde. The victim, Colette is blonde also signifying a scream queen so they audience prosume the killer is the man who we learn about first in the opening but this is not the case. We create false scares such as a scream in the waxing room.
We thought of someone like Milla Jovovich who plays alice in the film 'Resident Evil' She is the last surviver (final girl). We obviously cannot get her.

 Katie Mallows who will play the killer in our film.

Colette Howarth will play our victim.

George Clayton will play the role of the other customer whos appointment is after Colette's.

ALL- Podcast 2- 'Waxed'- Cast and Location

This is the second podcast, we talk about our location and our ideal characters.

ALL- Podcast 1-'Waxed' Introduction of basic idea.

This is our first podcast. It explains who we are, our first pitches and why we chose the one we did.
We also explain our idea and the changes we have made.




In the next podcast we'll talk about our cast and location.

ALL- Call Sheet 1st draft. 'WAXED'

This is the first draft of our call sheet. With the sequence we will shoot the shots.

IMG_0013

Call sheet 3rd sheet waxed

ALL- Storyboard for 'waxed' 1st draft

This is the first draft of our storyboard for our working title 'waxed'
Storyboard for 'waxed' 1st draft

Storyboard for 'waxed'

EM- Deconstruction: Sweeny Todd (Tim Burton,2007)

Deconstruction: Sweeny Todd (Tim Burton) (2007) 

Budget: $50 million

Gross: $53 million 

The infamous story of Benjamin Barker, a.k.a Sweeney Todd, who sets up a barber shop down in London which is the basis for a sinister partnership with his fellow tenant, Mrs. Lovett. Based on the hit Broadway musical. 

• - Starts in an animated form showing blood, London town and a barber shop.  Introduce the main ideas of the film.
• - It starts to rain (stereotype of London) the rain then turns to blood to introduce the horror themes of the film. 
• - The cartoon then takes us to a barber shop where blood splashes against the window. We then see the barber chair which is the main focus of the film.
• - Victorian style pictures drawn in blood - Introduces the era of the film/blood is a common theme
• - Blood from pictures drip onto the barber chair down onto the clogs. Audience is taken on a journey down to the sewers. Conveys that this is where most of the action will take place. 

• - No characters in the first 2 minutes of the film. Audience focuses on the main themes of the film and therefore are not distracted by the introduction of the characters 
• - Graphics in the opening scene are cartoon like. This makes the opening scene more comical for the audience and therefore it is polysemic.
• - The titles appear in the middle of the screen in white text. The white text signifies that it is a serious/dramatic film. 
• - The main title of the movie appears half way through the opening scene when it  falls with the blood down the sewers. This sets the tone for the movie and also shows that it is a horror. 
• - Sinister organs are played throughout the opening scene.
• The music creates a tense and dramatic mood and also creates suspense.
• - As the title appears the music becomes more dramatic and builds up to emphasise the title of the film
• This film is a good example of using blood in the opening. We should use this to influence our decision on using blood.

ALL- Deconstruction: Toolbox Murders (Dennis Donnelley, 1978)

Deconstruction: Toolbox Murders (Dennis Donnelley) (1978)

Budget: Low Budget film ($185,000)

Box office: Non as it was banned in cinemas until 2000.

Toolbox murders is a horror film about a maniac killer in a ski mask in an 

apartment block killing off the residents with nly the instruments in the tool box he carries and was banned in the UK until 2000 after being released in 1978. There is a scene in the bath which links it to American Psycho.

1. Horror film signified by non digetic sound, music genre is clearly denoted.

2. San Cerif font in red signifies Blood and horror.

3. Flash backs are signified by an orange tinit on screen.

4. Time period is signified by the clothing the actors/actresses wear amd that they are upper/middle class.

5. Weapon (drill) also signifies horror.

6. Unfitting music in the apartment block does not provide anchorage and instead signifies oppositional reading.

SD- Deconstruction: Nightmare on Elm Street(Robert Shaye)

Deconstruction: A Nightmare on Elm Street (Robert Shaye)

Budget: $1.8million

Genre: Horror

Box Office: $10.8million

1. Establishing shot in a macanics? Wait for anchorage.
2. Making some sort of blade for a knife - signifies violence to come.
3. A number of short take closeups one after the other a common characteristic of horror films aims especially those that are aimed at teens to keep them interested because they get bored easily.
4. Extreme long shot after close-up of potential victim- scream queen with blonde short hair.
5. Victim running down a corridoor by herself being followed?
6. Dark corridoor with a blue tint signifies horror.
7. Victim dressed in a nightgown/pajamas signifying it could be a dream or she could of escaped from somewhere.
8. False scare of a sheep following her instead of a killer- used to scare the audience so they dont anticipate the real scare and find it more scary.
9. Abandoned factory/warehouse anchored by mise-en-scene such as mental/iron equipment and smoke rising from machinery.
10. White text on black background signifies seriousness.
11. Orange tint signifies heat in the boiler room
12. No speech, signifying another dimension or under some sort of medication.
13. Non digetic and digetic sound eg when she screams at the end of the dream before waking up.

SD- Deconstruction- Peeping Tom (Michael Powell, 1960)

Deconstruction: Peeping Tom (Michael Powell) (1960)

Budget: £135,000.
Genre: Horror.
Box Office: $83,000.
- Establishing shot: Extreme close up of the eye.
- Woman on high street suspected prostitute: dresses in red (signifies danger,sex blood etc.) with fishnet tights and heels
- Prostitute also signified by vocabulary choices
- Prostitute killed off for being bad (sexually active quite young paid for moneypunished for being sexually active).
- Slight blue tint signifies horror.
- White text signifies seriousness.
- Screen shots give home video anchorge when the killer films his victims deaths with black horizonal and vertical lines across screens.
- Man enters a newsagents with naked/topless woman on magazines on the door signifies the film will later include nudity and sexual scenes.
- Beginning based around a brothel where he films his first victim, brothel signified by scruffy house with alot of beds and clothes scattered on the floor.
- Possible scream queen signified by long blonde hair, glamour model signified by the clothes she wears eg. red corset suspenders and high heels.
- Clothing at party signifies occasion maybe birthday due to the amount of guest. Later anchored by birthday cake and age saying 21.
- Accent signifies upper/middle class.
- Red light signifies blood/danger/sex etc.
- Main character had a troubled child hood and was maybe abused by his father anchored by hime filming him being disturbed in his sleep and putting a lizard on him to scare him (could be suffering from mental problems).

SD- Deconstruction: Axe (Frederica R Friedel, 1997)

Deconstruction: Axe (Frederica R Friedel) (1997)

Budget: Non given.

1. Close up tracking shot of a tree then moves down to a secluded house on a hillside.
2. Establishing shot of a detached house.
3. White and red tittle seuence and white text on black background showing names.
4. Tracking shot of ceiling.
5. Men in suits signifies that they are upper class maybe business men with cigars.
6. Business meeting dressed corporatly.
7. Holding someone hostage while they wait for the other victims to join them so they can beat them up and kill them maybe they are loan sharks?
8. Quality of colour signifies the time period with low technologies and anchorsthat the film is not a new release.
9. Lift close up big relevance later on in the film maybe.
10. Drums non digetic sound in the background to buld up the audiences tension as they wait for the victims to arrive.
11. Violence signified by outfits and guns anchoring they are gangsters.
12. Point of view shot from the victims are all over the place as they are being beaten up.

ALL- Deconstruction: April Fools Day (Fred Walton) (1986)

Budget: $5,000,000.

Box Office: $12,500,000.

Remade in 2008.

Re-make Budget: $5million

Synopsis-A group of college students staying on a remote island in a mansion are slowly killed off by killing taking place on April fools Day starring Deborah Foreman and others.

1. Set in the present day, filmed on a home-video camers signified by black and white lines on the screen due to the tape being worn out.

2. Set on a pier signified by mise-en-scene such as boats, dock, life jackets etc 

   - setting also signifies the characters are middle/upper class that have money.

3. Exposition, uggested they are all sexually active.

4. The scream queen is signified by hair colour and size of chest but also the way she speaks and what she says suggesting she is not hugely educated and being very open about being sexually active.

5. Transition to a basement, obsession with a jack in the box anchored by numerous close-ups.

6. Cut to a flashback of the girl recieving it as a present.

7. Scream queen counter type. In flashback child lloks determined rather than innocent.

8.Broken dummy foreshadows what is to come later on.

9. Brown-haired girl in modest chlothing- could be final girl.

ALL- Deconstruction: 5ive Girls (Warren.P.Sonoda, 2006)

Budget: $3 million

Box Office: Not available.

Never released in cinema

Architype Films.

Synopsis: Five wayward teenage girls are sent to a reformatory and discover they possess unique powers to battle the ancient demon, Legion, which holds thrall over the sinister institution.One girl in particular we get a unique impression of her relationship with her teacher.

1. Establishing shot- slow tracking shot of fence- signifies discipline. Extreme long shot of the Religious school setting.
   - Bright light signifies a pure/virginal impression of the girls and god in the school presence.
2. Music and sound - Eary, slow the organ is being played (Digetic sound)
3. Mise-en-scene: Cruisifix on the wall, girl in quite contivertial uniform which apparently draws in the devil because she's doing something wrong with the teacher signified by him putting his hand on her shoulder. Cross on the wall smashing= forshadowing. Lighting quickly changes from light to dark.
4. Start equilibrium- School girl in a religious school.
5. Fence around the school in a tracking shot signifies discipline.
6. Ellipsis - time passing from outside to inside
7. Student in the classroom alone signifies isolation and vulnerablity.
8. Girl in the class rooms costume: short skirt, knee high socks, blonde hair all signifies she is sexually active and anchors the sexual link between her and her teacher because of the extreme close up of their hands touching
9. Shot variations provides anchorage that it is aimed at teens because they tend to get bored more easily.
10. Non digetic sound and very short takes when the devil arrives to signify change and panic.
11. The roar from the girl signifies the devil has got into her similarly to the way it does in the horror film The Excorsist released in 1973.
12. The 'father' (preist/teacher) obviously going to be important in the rest of the film.

ALL- Deconstruction- Saw (James Wan, 2004)

Saw (James Wan) (2004)

Budget: $1.2 milllion.

Genre: Horror.

Box Office UK: £6.6million.

               US: $55 million.

Saw is a film about two victims waking up in amurder lair of a serial killer named 'Jigsaw' where he orders them to take part in a 'game to survive'.

•  Serif font in opening- No establishing shot very slow panning shot.
• Slight movement in most shots to signify realism.
• Character Adam first to be seen on screen- could signify he is the protagonist.
• Exposition tells us it is set in america- the accent of the characters.
• Gun is used which from what ive learned is unusual for horror films as they are normally used in action films.    
• Narrative enigma used, we dont see the killers face at any point.
• Digetic sound is used in a darkened room this is sometimes exaggerated
• Anchorage of the time period from the clothing and tape recorder
• Binary Opposition, two oppsite characters one being a doctor and the other quite scruffy middle class looking guy (scruffy clothes, jeans).
• There is no killer which is unusual for a horror but expected in Saw films as they have to work together and survive or kill themselves. 
• 15-24 (and upwards) Audience like our film opening coursework task, which is shown in Saws box office . 

• From this film i dont think we are going to use many of it ito influence our idea because the story is no where near ours, but like saw we are not showing our killer so we are using narrative enigma. In saw 'jigsaw' i shown but he wears a disguise so you cant see his face. The tools we use are going to be similar, the characters have to use a saw and in our opening we are using an axe. 
• One this we noticed in his opening which doesnt fit with the normal codes and conventions of horrors is that a establishing shot isnt used at the beginning, its obviously why this isnt used, because they want to use narrative enigma as the characters dont know where they are- we will be using an establishing shot in our opening. 

MA- Deconstruction: Madhouse (2004, William Butler)

Budget: $3 million

Box Office: (Not found)

Madhouse seems to be a remake of the 1974 film called madhouse. 

Synopsis: A young psychiatric intern unearths secrets about the mental health facility in which he works.

Distribution: Redbus Home Entertainment 

1. Panning shot- low angle shot of a old style light. Blueish tint to the frame to signify cold and darkness. There is so little natural light coming from the window - it fades in and out. Blue writing on a white wall wihich is dripping like blood "Theres no place like home" this could signify a cold blooded person. 

2. Camers pans to right to show a long corridor, all white which implies that it could be somewhere clean and professional such as a hopsital. Light white curtains all the way down the corridor and wind is blowing them around- this gives off an spooky ghost like feel. Lost of like signifies that there is someone else present. Srcreen fades white.

3. Jump cut to a very short shot of a body covered in blood which looks like a babies body. It also looks to be drowning but more achorage is needed to get the preferred reading- narrative enigma. Cut back to the corridor, woman dressed in white covered in a veil walks towards the camera. Jump cuts to her being closer to the camera we see that she is carrying a small child. Jump cut to a strange drawing, then to a man in a bedroom he looks zombie like and he is covered in blood and his mouth is severed. Cuts bck to the corridor which fades to black.

4. Cut to the same background as the shot with the bloody man but there is a womans face that is also covered in blood. Lump cut to a window with a womans face thats looks all mangled with lots of blood. Then there is a flash and cut to a body hanging unspide down, it seems to be struggling .

5. Cut to a mans face, all bloody and is thrashing around. Back to the corridor. Flash to a drawing with loads of eyes. Cut back to the corridor- brown haired woman in long dress, flashes and she moves towards the screen. Extreme/ close up.

• Time period is represetned firstly by the quality of the camera, it is only slightly worse then the camera quality today. This signifies it is quite a resent film. The corridor that is used in the opening quite a lot, it looks slightly dated with old furnishings such as the lights and doors. When we see a quick shot of the woman stood in the corridor she looksto be wearing a nighty- something people dont really wear these days. There arnt any aspects of modern technology with suggests that the date of the film is slightly older then when it was filmed.
• The clothing of the characters in the flashbacks seems to be dated, the clothes of the people chasing the hooded character seem to be plain and could be part of a uniform. The makeup of the all the characters seems real-like in some ways- the blood looks real. To show that there is lots of gore the characters are made to look dead.
• There is lots of narative enigma in the opening of this film. From watching this it showed me how too much narrative enigma can just be confusing for the audience, it didnt make a lot of sense. What i shall take from this is that in my opening i wiil use more expostion so the audience understand the preffered reading. I also wont have as many 1 or 2 second shots as these can become annoying and also not make any sense.

SD- Deconstruction: Slashers (Maurice Devereaux,2001)

Deconstruction: Slashers (Maurice Devereaux) (2001) 

Low Budget film - $165,000 estimated.

No sequal.

BY SD AND GEORGE GAMBLE :http://geogam111.blogspot.com/ 

Slahers is about a japanese game show wherer the contestant compete to survive, and at the end the final girl/man is giver a sum of $12,000,000.

1. Time period is signified by the clothing, hairstyles, the show itself & the attitudes of the contestants (e.g. males view of the female competitors).
2. The location is signified by the language spoken by the host of the show and the fact that it is set in a studio.
3. Social class is signified by contestants' accents and clothing worn, for example Megan is an upple/middle class citizen signified by the clothing she wears (not in any way revealing) and her attitudes towards the show and she is only competing to prove the point she disagrees with the morals of the show wheras other citizens are willing and happy to compete signifing they are working class and need the money.
4. We know from the previous series clips shown straightaway the film is going to involve nudity and violence when a former contestants top is pulled up and she is stabbed in the stomache.
5. Costumes and make-up shown used by the killers shows us that the killings are going to be brutal and that the people involved are not right in the head.

ALL- Deconstruction- Bride of Chucky (Ronny Yu, 1998)

Budget: $25 million (estimated) 
Gross: $50 milllion (worldwide)
Production: Universal Studios
Opening sequence- 4:08 mins
Released in 1998 Bride of Chuckie is a story about dolls, Chucky 'hooks up' with another doll, the murderous couple target two high school graduates.


1. Blue tint used to show its a horror and shows it was filmed in a high budgert Hollywood studio with this technology, also signifies cold.
2. White text on Black backgroun again signifies horror/seriousness.
3. America 'the great' flag shown flying, this could signify that it is an offical building which is ironic because they say america is a great nation although they conduct murders and violence.
4.Dutch angle shot 'Lockport Police setting, porviding exposition.
4. Flashing signifies lightning/ somebody has been there previously.
5. Uses a range of shot types such as panning, extreme close up, establishing, extreme long shot , dutch angle shot etc.
6. Mask and chainsaw are shown on screen - intertextual from Friday the 13th.
7. Point of view shot used to shot the vulnerablility of the victim.

ALL- Deconstruction: Hell Night (Tome DeSimone) (1981)

Budget: $25 million approx (i couldnt find the budget on sites such as IMDB to verify this, the budget does seem very big for such an old film).

Released in 1981 although there has been a sequal since this date such as Happy Hell Night released in 1992.

Synopsis: College students killed off one by one by the surviving members of a family massacre years earlier for trespassing on their living grounds in the old mansion.

1. Scream denotation grabs the audiences attention and signifies horror although it starts off almost as a chick flick as it is based at an abandoned mansion.

2. Lot of props used- devil horns to signify horror.

3. Hair styles and close signify the time period (80s)

4. The sound coming from the stereo on screen also signifies the time period as its more of your typical rock music sang by a woman it appeals to both genders. The sound is polysemic cant be sure where isnt coming from.

5. Lots of woman dressed in revealing outfits we get the idea of who the scream queen is from the opening few minutes of the film when we get inside the house- she is wearing red procovative clothing.

6. Final boy looks to be a geek called- we assume this because he is the binary opposite to one of the other characters.

7. Meet a possiable 'final girl'- she isnt over-confident like the scream queen and we learn shes "pretty enough" through exposition.

8. Red thick text on screen almost blood-like.

MA-Deconstruction-Jennifers Body (2009) Karyn Kusama

Jennifers Body  (2009)

Director: Karyn Kusama
Budget: $16 Million
Box Office: £16.2 Million
IMDB Site

1. Opening Shot- Establishing shot of house. Setting is night. Tracking shot through rather big garden. Mise-en-scene: Swing Rope in corner of shot. This could signify that tchildren live in the house. Having a swing rope instead of a proper swing set could also signify the social class of the poeple living in the house as working class. Also the type of house celarly signifes America- by having the porch. The the production label comes up on screen. Tracking shot towards house.
2. Cut to extreme close up of female scartching her arm. This couls signify this female is the killer rather than hero.
3. Cut to shot out hedge outside and house in the background- tracking shot around the around towards house. This could be a POV shot.
4. Cut back to female- ex.close up of her mouth.
5. Cut to outside- close up of window of house- POV tracking shot. Television in seen in background with diagetic sounds of a programme faint in distance.
6. Cuts to a wicker basket (very little lighting) the film title appears in pink sans serif font. This is not a general convention of horror titles we expect we normally associate it with 'chick flicks'. It doesnt fit with the preferred reading. In saying that, even main actress Megan Fox  (who is a well known actress) stars in this, another general convention of horror is to have rather unknown actrors.
7. Cut away shot of the TV with diegetic sound.
8. Close up of actress face then jump cut to a hooded female at the window and non-diegetic loud bang 
9. Another jump cut to POV from outside the window then the hooded female is gone.
10. Non-diegetic speech and close up of the gilrs face.