Animatic

Our electronic storyboard.

Costumes And Props

Dummies:

We have chosen to use this prop; as it portrays that an infant or newborn has been around the area that the babies dummy is left.













Baby Bottles:

This prop also indicates that a baby has been around the setting that the bottle is left in.














Baby Photo:
We have decided to use a baby photo that has been ruined or damaged; this is to make the audience think "May be that's Abigail". 












Mirror:

The mirror is a significant part to our opening sequence as it will be used in two different forms; broken and unbroken. This prop will be used to inflict damage and danger in regards to the lose of 'The Mother's' child.









Teddy:
This prop will also be used in two forms within our movie; one is how it is show in the image sitting down: this portrays happiness, also it shows maybe a child has just played with it and put it down.













Crayola Coloured Pencils:

The reason we chose to use this item is, to show the mother has gone made when she picks it up to start drawing with it on a piece of paper (paper is another prop of ours).







Sewing Needle:

We are using a sewing needle in one of our shots, to show the mother is perhaps sewing something back together (could even meaning the teddies head).











Yarn; Sewing Cotton:

This will be used to show, the mother picks this up to start sewing with it. It links back with the needle shot.












Buttons:

We will be using buttons, to connect with the sewing needle and cotton; to almost summarise up to making the audience think she is creating a toy or a doll, reason she tore the teddies head of in the previous shot.

Location Reece

Location 1:

- How/why this was a suitable location for our film?

A filming location is a place where some or all of a film or television series is produced, in addition to or instead of using sets constructed on a movies studio back lot or sound stage.

As a group we all came up with three different locations that we would consider using within our filming. This location is one of the options out of the three; the reason we chose this was mainly because it was the closest to our collage out of the other two.

This is an advantage as then it allows us to come back and forth with the equipment, in case something was forgotten etc.

Another reason to why we chose this location was because the outside of the house looks modern; giving off the idea that a normal middle class person lives within it and that there is nothing out of the ordinary about it. The reason we kept this in mind when choosing the location was because, in our film (as explained in the mood-board previously) we want the audience to think it’s a normal house were a normal mother lives with her newly-born child (Abigail).

- What changes would I need to make to this location in advance of filming?
However, when you enter the house there are shoes places right in front of the door, for health and safety reasons especially around filming equipment this will have to be removed and placed elsewhere.
Also, behind the door there is a pram placed there, for the same reasons explained above the push chair will have to get moved, even though it does give off the idea a child live there, we personally just think it’s not safe. 


Location 2:

- How/why this was a suitable location for our film?

This is our second option out of the three; the reason we chose this place was mainly because it’s a vintage looking house; which gives off a warm motherly sense. Therefore, making the audience almost feel safe at the start of the film; this is also a smart hook factor when trying to engage the audience to the film.

 Another reason why we chose this location was, also due to the distance of the house from our collage location. It is only 15 minutes away and therefore will allow us to go back and forth from one place to another.

 
 
 
What changes would I need to make to this location in advance of filming?

However, if you look at the image there is a car parked right in front of the door, in order to use the door we will need to ask the owner to move the car away from the front of the house, so we can use the drive way area to set up out camera and the tripod.

Location 3:

- How/why this was a suitable location for our film?
This is the final location that we have in our list; and the reason we chose this location was mainly because of the greenery you can see growing above the door. This adds a creepy, yet suburb look to the scenario; showing the audience it’s a normal house with a twist to it.
Another reason to why we chose this location is because before you enter the porch there is a gate, this could be added into a shot making a creepy gate nose; which will ass suspense to the opening sequence. 
Also, there is a lot of space to set the tripod up on as there is a large grass area to the right of you when you walk in the gate.



- What changes would I need to make to this location in advance of filming?
 
However, to get to this location is very time consuming and would not be convenient enough considering our deadline times and getting access to the equipment to take so far to film with.

Final Decision:

As a group we discussed which location to settle with, after a good discussion we came to the conclusion of using location one as our area to film in. The reason we chose location one is because it had the most advantage points and the least disadvantage points; and the disadvantages is did hold can be solved physically.

- The location is easy to get to; as it is close to our collage where the equipment is.
- It looks modern and doesn't give away any feeling of abnormality. 
- There is enough space to set up the equipment as the driveway is very big.
- The handle of the door can be push down to be opened; which allows a build up of tension ( as in location 3, the door handle doesn't move).



Location 1 - The Dark Room:
- How/why this was a suitable location for our film?

 
 
 
The reason we chose the dark room as one of our locations is because the room looks scruffy and the lighting can be changed to either red or you can brighten up the room with a spot light. We thought these two elements can add the feeling of confusion and fear to the audience.

 Also, the room contains a black board so we can use it like a green board is used; meaning we can add a background to it later when we are editing the shots.

- What changes would I need to make to this location in advance of filming?
 
However, the main problem with this location was that the room was far too small to even be able to fit the tripod in, and the room was a safety hazard; there was too many different equipment and equipment pieces lying around on the floor and the desks.

Location 2 - The Drama Room:


- How/why this was a suitable location for our film?

 The reason we chose this location was mainly down to the spacing of the room. The drama room is a very large room with dim lighting that can be brightened to you specified needs. This is an advantage as it almost can add an effect to the shots when filming the part where the mirror is smashed.
Another reason we chose this location is because the curtains are pitch black – therefore just like the dark room we can used the curtains like a green board.






- What changes would I need to make to this location in advance of filming?
 
However, this location is a room where students are taught; therefore interference between timings could be an issue.

Final Decision:

In the end we came to the conclusion of using the drama room as our second location. The reason we chose the drama room was because it had the most room to set the equipment up in. Also, another reason we chose the drama room is because the curtains have light coming out from the bottom so it would make a good background in one of the shots.

Essay Question 3: In What Ways Does Your Media Product Use, Develop or Challenge Forms And Conventions Of Real Thrillers

The sub genre of our film is a psychological thriller. This genre includes elements such as mystery, drama and thrills. Conventions in psychological thrillers are Shadows and low key lighting, props such as mirrors, costumes such as  dark clothing and locations such as an abandoned or open area. The sounds used within a psychological thriller is very eerie and intense, they use a build-up effect of tension in scenes to create a shock factor within the audience. Camera movements include a lot of quick movements, this is used particularly to keep the pace of the movie fast, this adds a feeling of panic, so it is like the audience to feel the same emotions as the character. The editing includes  montages, flashbacks and the use of black and white. The reason for this is because these three elements add and enhance the effectiveness of the shadow effect. Therefore makes the audience to adapt to the mood of the movie as it changes.

Our movie also uses these different conventions.

 

Mirrors : We use a small hand mirror in an over the shoulder shot to show the mother talking to herself to show that she is crazy.

Low Key Lighting : We use a lot of low key lighting especially in the house, we do this to show how its dark in her home and that something isn't quite right.

Shadows : We follow the shadow of the mother when she goes upstairs in the movie.

Editing : Our editing will be very fast paced so it is very in your face to make you feel uncomfortable when first meeting the mother.

Tension Building Music : There will be a lot of tension building music to make the audience slowly build up there fear and feel like something is going to happen.

Black and White : We will use black and white to create an eerie feeling of unknowing, to give a feeling of fear in the audience.

Essay Question 2: Who Would Be Your Audience For Your Specific Thriller?

 Audience Profile

 

   

Age: 18-40

Gender: Female

Ethnicity: All

Interests: Looking after children, coffee with friends.

Music: Pop music.

Job: Full time Mum

 

The reason the age is 18-40 is due to the fact that because there is a lot of psychological scarring things in our movie, it would not be suitable for under 18s and 18 will also be the age certificate for our movie.

 

The reason the gender is female is due to our story line being about a mother who has lost her child, we feel that females, particularly mothers will be able to relate to the movie and know the deeper feelings as they know and feel the mother and child relationship so they can really go beyond the movie rather than just what they see. Also due to current affairs with the Madeline McCann case it has a slight link to that so it could have more public interest.

 

The reason we said all ethnicities was because it doesn't matter what culture your from, if you are a female with a child you will understand the mother child connection whether you are white, black or brown, it will appeal to all as everyone understands that deep connection with your child.

 

The reason we said their interests would be looking after the children and having coffee with friends was due to the fact that it is a very common motherly thing to do as they want to spend as much time with their kids as possible showing a deep connection with them which relates to our movie.

 

The reason we said she would be into pop music as because it can be very cheesy and mums are often very cheesy with their children so we thought that the cheesiness through pop music will come out in the mothering, showing another connection to our movie that would interest them.



The reason we said the job would be a full time mum as if they are like that then they are spending near enough every moment of the day together with their child which again links to our movie as it shows a very strong bond with the child.

The expectations of the film they would have is that there would be a lot of mind games in the movie that makes the audience think, they will go in knowing they have to watch the whole film to understand what is going on and the reasoning behind it. They will also be expected to be put through the emotional ringer as they watch about someone's child dying and trying to kidnap someone else's, they will expect to get very emotional due to the fact they have that mother child connection which is huge in our film.

The main thing that would attract our target audience would be the fact that it is about a mother and a child. They will feel they can relate as they know what it feels like to have a child. As well as that, another thing that would attract them is that it would make them feel emotional and stereotypically females like emotional films so knowing it would make them feel emotional will also attract them to our film.

If I was designing a poster a key thing I would have on the poster is the main image being the mother squeezing a baby tight so it shows how close the mums relationship is with her child, like she never ever wants to let go, which would attract the target audience as they will feel the connection between them. I would also have Abigail in a fade away font as bits of the text are missing so it feels like the mum is missing something in her life, which she is, her child, Abigail.

Another film my audience would probably watch is Mama. They would watch this as its another movie related to mothers, which would attract the same audience as they are all mothers and can relate to the movie.

I would expect prior to watching the film the audience would already know that they will have to think and it may mess with their mind, I also expect them to know it would be fairly emotional so in knowing this we know that we have to make sure we stick to the codes and conventions of a psychological thriller in order to make sure our film attracts them.



Essay Question 1: How Does Your Opening Sequence Represemt Particular Social Groups?

Who Are The Key Characters In Your Film

The key characters in our film are the Mother who is the main character, the mothers baby who passed away "Abigail" and the police officer known as "Mark Davis".

The Mother - Will be a female actress in the 30+ age range. Her role in the film is the mother who has lost her child Abigail. The loss of her child causes the mother to becoming psychotic and having an obsession with everything to do with children. Which leads her to kidnap another child and eventually gets her in trouble at the end and arrested by the police officer "Mark Davis".  We feel the mother would have an appearance like this :

 

Abigail - Abigail will be a female child actress around 9 months old. Her role in the movie is simply to be in a cot, cry and be babied by the mother and made a huge fuss of to show us how much that the baby meant to her and so you can feel the mother daughter connection. We feel Abigail will look something like this :

 

 

Mark Davis (Police Officer) - A 32 year old male actor who's main role in the movie is the detective on the case on catching the mother who has kidnapped someone's baby.  He eventually catches the mother and arrests her and gives the baby back to the original parents. We feel the police officer will look like this : 

 

 

Analysis of Each Character and Technical Aspects

 

The Mother  - Appearance : The picture above is similar to how we want our character to look, with hay like hair sticking out everywhere to show the audience that she doesn't look after herself and also it symbolises craziness. So the simple aspect of hair can give off a lot of ideas about the mother as soon as you see her. We also would like her to appear pale as the pale skin would show that she doesn't wear make up so she doesn't take pride in her appearance, also the combination of pale skin and hay like hair gives off a very uneasy feeling about the character as both together symbolise craziness and also gives us off the feeling that she doesn't look after herself which gives the audience an unsettling feeling about the mother. We would also like her to wear dark clothing to give off an idea that she is miserable and sad as well as the dark colours symbolise sadness. It would also be typical clothing that most people where.

 

Behaviour : Her behaviour will be psychotic, almost like one with schizophrenia as she acts like everyone is against her and that she is a social outcast. As a person on her own, her house is covered in babies objects, which shows her obsession with children and also gives off a creepy feeling to the audience as she is surrounded by stuff you would only expect a little child to have. She also doesn't look after herself or wash and clean which is represented in her house as it is all messy which also represents her personality as she doesn't care about anything but the child which leads to a expressionless uncaring personality.

 

Camera : Whilst the mother is on camera the style will drastically change, there will be a lot of close ups to make the audience feel uneasy as it feels like you are getting to know her straight away without any introduction. Also we may have some tilts as it gives off an idea of the mother being out of control.

 

 

Sound : In some scenes the mother will be put on screen with the sound of screams and baby laughter but her main tune will be an eerie version of ‘Humpty Dumpty’ the nursery rhyme. We chose this soundtrack in particular is because the breaking of the egg in the song represents the breaking of the mothers heart; and how it cannot ever be put back together again. Also the nursery rhyme tune makes gives off a creepy feeling as music boxes are common things to use in thrillers as they give off creepy feelings so the use of the humpty dumpty tune will really give off a creepy feel.

 

Editing and Mise En Scene : We will keep the editing with a mother fairly slow to keep the eeriness and strangeness of the mother prolonging so the audience will have that creepy feeling for a longer amount of time and is likely to keep inside the audience's head. The setting will be predominately in a dark room but also on the outside world to show the other families and the housing from the outside but most will be set in the dark room to show the creepiness of the mother. We also will have her in very dark dull clothing to show that she is sad and miserable.

 

Abigail : Appearance : The appearance of the baby will be very simple, it will be a 9 month year old baby girl with blue eyes, behaving as normal babies do so.

 

Behaviour : The babies behaviour will be simple to a baby, it will giggle, will cry and play around just like an every day normal baby girl.

 

Camera : The camera on the baby will be very natural with the shots being straight and having long shots of the baby so you can see everything of the baby.

 

Sound : We will have the baby giggling and laughing but we will also have the humpty dumpty tune which represents her as a baby as it is a typical nursery rhyme sung to children.

 

Editing and Mise En Scene : All should appear natural and normal like its a normal life of a baby so it shows the baby thinking that everything is normal and everything with the baby happening is normal.

 

Mark Davis (Police Man) : Appearance : The policeman will appear in uniform like a normal uniform and have a very serious expression face which represents his personality as he will be very serious.  He will be of white British ethnicity and short army like hair style to show leadership and strength.

 

Behaviour : The behaviour of the policeman will be always serious and will always be on the case and on the job without any break of character on his job, you will never see anything but the policeman being serious on the job.

 

Camera : There will be a lot of older the shoulder shots due to police interviewing, but there will also be a lot of pan shots whilst the policeman will be on the run trying to find the mother.

 

Sounds : There will be a lot of dramatic tension building music in the scenes where he is on the run looking for the mother to build up the tension before he gets her.

 

Editing and Mise En Scene : The editing will be slow motion during a chase when he is close to catching her to make it a lot more dramatic and the costume will follow a simple police uniform.

 

 

Comparisons Of Characters From Our Film To Other Films

 

 

The mother is similar to May from the movie May as she has just lost it and is a complete psychopath as you can see from this video clip 

 

 

The baby Abigail is similar to a lot of movie babies as they just lay there cry and laugh but don't have much major input in terms of dialogue or behaviour. One  it is like is hunter in paranormal activity as he is seen as innocent as Abigail is.

 

 

The Policeman Mark Davis is similar to the inspector in inspector calls as he is very serious and on the job to find out what is happening and how to sort it out.  As you can see in this video from 8:27 onwards

 

 



 



Production Group Ident

 As you can see from the image we have chosen to use only three letters to represent our company. The reason we decided to use the name “JCR Productions” was simply because they are the first letters of each member of the team’s names; Joe, Courtney and Ruksana. Also, if you look carefully the letters have been interconnected; we did this because each letter that we have used contains a tail, therefore this helps to symbolise the groups connection between not only each other but also with the audience.

The font used to create the ident is called “Old English” the reason we used this particular text is because it has a medieval effect which represents the ‘Olden times’; which also links with our movies as it’s about how the past affects the future. As we did research on font styles before actually creating the ident; we found out that this particular style follows the codes and conventions of a thriller movie.

The colour scheme that we have decided to use includes; red, black and grey; the reason we chose these three main colours is because it also falls under the typical thriller codes and conventions E.G; Michael Jacksons cover photo for thriller, it contains almost the same colours.

This idea then lead to another; which is the dripping blood which you can see is coming off the tip of every letter. The reasons we decided to go ahead with this idea was because it adds a sense of death, which is also connected to our movies; as the mother’s child passes away.

Fonts For Titles

We used dafont.com to get a variety of fonts that we thought would be suitable for our titles in our opening sequence. We clicked on the gothic section of the site as we thought it would appeal with our thriller movie as it is very dark, so we thought that these fonts would be suitable. They are all similar as they are mostly old style writings which gives a creepy feel.

We decided to use the " Haunted House " font for all the titles other than the movie name, we chose this as we thought that the bottoms fading looked effective as it looks incomplete so it makes the audience think that in the movie there is something incomplete with someone in the movie, which it is as the mother feels incomplete as she lost her child.

We decided to use the " Flesh Wound " font for the movie name " Abigail " due to the reason that the outter layer of the font has a bloody effect which adds the feeling of death to the title of the film. Also, as in the movie the main characters child 'Abigail' has died, this adds a smart link to the movie.