Case Studies of Ouija Boards

We researched case studies written by those that reported using ouija boards and experienced hauntings due to this, in order to get ideas for the events of our film. It also highlighted the theme of ouija boards in our culture as popular, as there were many reported uses of them. These case studies support other ideas of possession commonly used in cinema such as the air growing colder, physically being pushed and unexplained marks around the house. These would therefore be useful motifs to include in our trailer.

• In 2001 we lost two basketball players from our high school by fatal car accident. My two best friends were very close to the one, and I shared saxophone music with the other.
  A few years after the accident I decided to get a Ouija board and have everyone over. We had never used one before but knew how it worked. I'm not sure who brought up the two boys but we started asking it questions only we would know. Their jersey numbers, nick names, and full names were all answered correctly. In between correct answers the marker would circle the board rapidly and eventually fly off.
  It came down to one in particular question. My friend Jake took his hands off the marker and I said, "No one in this room knows this but me, so I'm taking my hands off to see if this is for real." He then asked,"Who does Brandon consider to be his best friend?" Immediately the board spelled out the correct answer. Almost simultaneously my eyes started to water uncontrollably, I wasn't scared or crying. I look to my left and right and both Jakes and his brothers eyes started watering also. I threw the board back into the box and on the way to take my girlfriend home I threw it out the window by the highway. I don't think I'll ever touch a Ouija board again.
  Written by Michael Sullivan, Copyright 2009

• We were happy on how our game worked so I took it to my friends house, and we played it in her kitchen. I asked it if it could show us if the spirit or something was there or not, and the board replied YES. About five minutes later my sister went all twitchy, her head leaned back slightly and she started to laugh at nothing. Me and my buddy were just confused, and she hit her head on the table lightly and she went back to normal, only she said that she left like floating but only she felt like she was going to faint but was OK. We didn't know what was going on so we just quit playing.
  Now crows are attacking her whenever she goes out on her own. We have no clue that it might be the board or if it's something else. But the bottom line is that the board can be somewhat true, but I still need a lot of convincing.

• Well, wouldn't you believe it! Not only did the planchette move to "yes", but the air grew cold as if we were all in a freezer. The scariest thing though was that within minutes of my calling out to the spirits, every single light went off at the same time. Everyone broke the circle after that, and ran screaming from the closet like it was on fire!

• I played a ouija board back in 1996, My ex wife became possessed and we had to go to the hospital. Her body couldn't stop moving. After that we had a evil spirtit around us she seen red eyes, I heard loud bangs on our wallls seen moving objects. and we had very bad luck. I believe the spirit is stil inside her because she is still EVIL. I know the ouija is NOT a game. I tell people to STAY AWAY from it. I know its real and its evil......

• I and my boyfriend played on the Ouija board for days cant start to describe to you what happened only my house was full of evil spirits 7 if I can remember right no 1 could c them only me and my boyfriend they was all on the walls then I tried to go up stairs and did not c the spirit but it blocked my way and pushed me back then 1 evening the corner of my room the ceiling its was like someone was putting leaky wires together it was like lightning and buzzing we got a priest in and he felt them straight away but we ended fleeing the property because they would not go please never play the board I was very ill for a long time and it still affects me to this day and that was 20 years ago. 

• We put everything up, and all went to bed. That night I had a nightmare, almost vividly real. I rarely dream, and if I do, don’t remember them well. This dream I still remember faintly. I was like I was on a purple cloud of some sort, with this old woman in a dark cloak of some kind, with her back to me, I never saw here face, and I was just standing there all night staring at here, this just kept happening over and over in my dream, not much of anything else. Nothing really scary, just strange, but I remember not sleeping well and was kinda hot, not so much like a fever, but just hot and sweaty.
  When I woke up the next morning, my girlfriend, told me that I had deep scratches on my back, as I sat up in bed, as if someone had scratched me with long finger nails, across my shoulder blades, and they were slightly bleeding. And no it wasn’t Kristen. I looked in the mirror and I was completely taken aback by the scratches. I instantly believed everything that Kristen had told me about here Ouija board stories and spirits, especially about the old evil woman, that supposedly followed her around. I became a true believer in evil spirits after that night and day.

• I looked in the bathroom mirror and my pupils looked a little bigger than normal, and were very slowly getting bigger, so called my friend into the bathroom and said look at this what's wrong with me, she was like " that's crazy" I could feel my pupils moving across my eyes as they were expanding, my heart beat a little faster I started feeling really hot, but as my body's signs were racing my mind felt calm, as though I wasn't scared or I was really messed up on drugs, but aware of what was going on.
  At this time I couldn't move I just stared at my eyes, which were now fully black, I didn't think to talk or move or run I just stared, I could hear my friend talking but I wasn't listening to her, then the hotness got even hotter. I felt really dry like my entire body was dehydrated, and got the feeling you would get if you heard someone you love just died the feeling of your heart dropping, I could see my face turning white, it started at the top of my forehead and continued down my face, I saw my skin coloring changing like it was draining down my face, my friend was yelling at me now "what's wrong with you?!" at that time she grabbed me to pull me away from the mirror, when she grabbed my arm she immediately let me go and said "oh my god your on fire, I'm going to call 911" as she said that, I got lifted off the floor and thrown sideways into her toilet, the back of the toilet flew off as for the rest of the stuff on it, lifted up again and thrown into the bathtub taking the shower curtain and rod with me. I was being thrown around its like I'm getting my butt kicked but I don't feel a thing.
  I was picked up again and thrown back into the floor, I could see my friend still in the doorway with a horror look on her face, but I was still calm even though I was in a fight and being thrown around by nothing and losing, I still felt like I was okay, lying on the floor my friend reached in and grabbed the back of my shirt and jerked me out of the bathroom.

•  I asked if your hear with us, do u like us living here, the shot glass went to yes. I said, can you say my name into the recorder? The shot glass went to yes, I said go ahead and say my name. We heard nothing, my daughter and I were quiet to give it time to do so, I then asked did you say it? and the shot glass went to yes. I then asked a few more questions, found out they were both in there 80′s and found out the mlk, stood for May, that’s all she would say. I asked if they were nice ghosts and she said yes, I said do you make noises in the house to try and let us know your hear, and she said yes but didn’t want to scare us. I then said you do know if I ever see you I would move out. and the shot glass went to yes I know, and then moved to, we don’t want to scare you. I said yes I would be scared.
  Well we finally quit the game and I went outside to smoke and when I came back my daughter said she was listening to the tape and she said you can hear a woman’s voice on it. I said no way… she said ya, listen, she “May” didn’t answer by voice to all of my questions but when I asked her to say my name, you can hear right after I ask, someone or “her” saying Cindy, perfect as day, and then when I asked, you know I’d move if I ever seen you, you can her a, yes, right after that.
  At the end when we were closing out I had said if your nice and you don’t scare us, you can stay but I don’t want to see you or we will move out of here, and then you can hear, a yes… it was only me and my daughter in the room and every time we asked a question we were both quiet, you can even hear the glass sliding in the recorder cause we weren’t talking, so that freaked me out that you can hear her voice on the tape. 

-Emily

Japanese and British Horror

Japanese horror has a background in old folk religion, such as possession or exorcisms. This can be seen in films such as 'The Ring' or 'The Grudge', in which spirits are unable to pass on from this existence due to strong emotions. This is a repeated theme in Japanese horror. There are different terms for the kind of binding the ghost has to the world depending on the emotion that they experience. The most common is known as 'Onryo', which is the need for revenge. This kind of idea is also reflected in other Japanese media such as manga novels or anime, showing the genre's popularity in the culture.
This idea is also used in Western cinema, although perhaps not with the same frequency. There is also a difference in that Japanese horrors often incorporate intense gore or grotesque beings into the horror films while depending on the rating of American or British films the violence can be completely downplayed and only suggested. This could suggest a difference in the acceptance of gore between the cultures, or just the difference in cinematic themes as gore becomes more intense in Western cinema constantly. This difference could therefore link to the number and variety of media texts available, such as video games as well as cinema. If there is more available in Asian culture, it could be understandable that they are more accepting of violent gore. As more media is introduced into Western culture (as it is often actually developed in Japan, for example), the Western acceptance of gore is also heightened as audience become more used to it and expect more in order to be shocked.
British horrors are becoming more popular in a variety of genres, such as '28 Days Later', a zombie apocalyptic film, and 'Creep', more of a slasher film. Often, the subjects are more physical violence-based, such as the idea of cannibals and werewolves, as opposed to the more abstract theme of spirits. Certainly, some of the better known British films are films such as 'Shaun of the Dead', '28 Days Later' and 'The Descent', all of which focus on humanoid creatures and physical threats. While some themes of these horrors are transferable to other genres, such as the idea of imprisonment or vulnerability, the main cause of the disequilibrium is not as commonly spirits as in Asian cinema. A factor in the difference in cinema could be the budget afforded to the creation of the film. British budgets are often much smaller than in Japanese cinema, so the effects that can be achieved are lessened, so the horror must be more reality-based.
The differences in cultures could be linked with what is popular in the cultures at the time of creating the film. In Japanese film the folklore element is often used due to the traditional nature of their culture, while British media and the news is often linked with more physical problems such as spreading viruses (which could cause an influx in zombie films) or human criminals (which could cause the creation of films linked with human threats such as 'Gnaw', featuring cannibals). That which is reported in the news that affect the population, such as the case of Tony Martin who shot a teenage burglar, are recreated and reflected in the cinema.
Tony Martin's crime was reported inspiration for 'The Reeds'. The co-writer and co-producer of the film, Simon Sprackling, stated that this effect is how many British horrors are now "urban-based". Despite this, there are still a number of possessive themed films, especially in recent years. For example, 'The Disappeared' uses this urban theme but creates a haunted house idea within a council estate. It could be said that Western cinema became more involved in mysterious elements due to the Asian cinema using it as a theme repeatedly.
British cinema also uses classical British idiosyncrasies as a basis for films, such as the idea of team-building days or council flats.
The combination of Japanese and Western cinema is shown by the Japanese horror director Hideo Nakata working with a mainly British cast for the film 'Chatroom'. It is also shown in the number of Japanese horrors that have been remade for English speaking audiences. As effects become cheaper to achieve and technical abilities improve, it is becoming easier to create the sort of supernatural effects that are seen in supernatural films. Remakes are also a clear indication of the combination of the two cultures, although differences still exist between the original and the remade version. American remakes are usually more simple than the Asian film which can be very complex, and accepted rules of life can be completely revoked but with little explanation.


Through examining the differences between the two cultures we have decided to incorporate elements of Japanese horror into the British film we are making. Due to the popularity of spiritual haunting in Japanese film, we will use inspirations from the culture in our film, such as the idea of revenge driving the spirit. Japanese media has also popularised school uniforms, so we may refer to the Japanese culture of the inspiration of our character's costumes. We will also use some typically British techniques such as using British idiosyncrasies as a basis. We will use the idea of British private school girls in our film. Although urban areas such as council estates are being used frequently in British cinema, we are going to use a more typically American location of a large house as the main location in order to support the representation of the characters as wealthy. Due to the budget we will move away from Japanese horror conventions of intense gore and use minimal injuries instead of mutilation. This will also add to the mystery of the supernatural when no immediate source of the threat is seen.




-Emily

Codes and Conventions Related To Narrative

In order to support our questionnaires, we researched the codes and conventions of typical possessive horror films and decided how to relate these to our story line.


Settings:
The homes of the protagonists or other areas that they frequent are common settings. For example, other settings could be the school they attend or their church, although the main location is often their home. This is a common theme in supernatural films due to the subversion of the security that is usually linked with being at home. When an area that would usually be considered safe has been breached and become threatened, this creates feelings of unease and heightens fear, thereby inciting feelings of fear in the audience as well as the characters of the film. Homes are also used in possessive films as they make it feel more personal to the viewer and more realistic. This can create the idea that it could happen to them and create a more intense dependency on the outcome of the film as they hope that the antagonistic being is defeated. Other common locations can be abandoned houses, woods or graveyards. These kind of locations are seen in films such as 'Insidious' and the 'Paranormal' franchise.
We decided to set our film mainly in the home of one of the protagonists, and include few other locations in order to create the sense of imprisonment and isolation from the real world. This is aimed to incite feelings of claustrophobia and discomfort in the audiences as the characters experience a lack of control and cannot escape the events as they occur. We decided to include another location at the beginning of the film in order to introduce the characters, showing their school. The school establishes the girls as teenagers, applying to our target audience and also making them appear somewhat more vulnerable.


Characters:
The main characters are commonly shown to be normal before the events of the film, making the events of the film appear more shocking while also allowing the audience to identify with the characters so that they are more invested in the outcome. The characters are usually females. Combined with our own research it became clear that the females are commonly young, typically attractive girls. This can make them appear more vulnerable while also appealing to audiences. We found that the main characters are often seen as kind or moral people, making them easy to relate to, although perhaps plagued by a secret or past event.  This kind of character is seen in films such as 'Paranormal Activity' and 'The Ring'.
We have decided to include a group of five teenage girls and include them all as protagonists of the entire film. This allows us to examine stereotypes in characters and expand the focus to a larger group as a twist on some supernatural films. This kind of group-haunting is seen in some films such as 'Night of the Demons' and 'A Nightmare on Elm Street', and is successful as the audience can watch the group struggle to survive and relate to them, while also allowing some sense of justice if an unsavoury character dies. There will be no adults in our film, as although typically some form of authority such as a priest is often called, we enjoyed the convention linked with slashers in that the adults are useless and the teenage characters are left to defend themselves. We have therefore combined and used inspiration from other sub-genres.


Character costumes:

• The costumes of the characters before the events are usually stylish and attractive, showing them to be appealing and aspirational people. The costumes are usually conservative such as trousers or business attire, in neutral colours that do not make them stand out. This acts to suggest the character is moral or normal, and contrasts with the completely unnatural events to come. this can be seen in films such as 'Drag Me To Hell'.
  We have decided to go against this convention by making our teenage girls appear more promiscuous and sexually appealing. This links with their ages and the trends of current fashion to sexualise fashion, therefore making their characters more realistic. However, we will be using more conservative costuming for the main protagonist that will survive the events of the film, in accordance with the Final Girl Theory, by making her apear less immoral and bearing masculine traits.
• As the events unfold, the costumes of the characters usually become more unkempt and dirty, relating to their struggle to survive and lack of control. For example, their clothes may be ripped or bloody.
  We are going to adhere to this convention by giving the protagonists injuries.
• Although the antagonistic being is not always shown, when it is there is usually dark costuming or shadows, with pale make up and perhaps some injuries. This is also true when a protagonist has been possessed, their make up usually being used to pronounce circles under eyes or white/disgusting skin.
  We are going to adhere to this convention, as we mean for some of our protagonists to be possessed by the spirit. We will use make up to achieve the look, although most of the possession will be shown more through their actions rather than their appearance. The make up will be used to create one main shot that will be used to shock audiences as the extent of the possession is shown.

Weapons:

The weapons used by the protagonists to protect themselves is similar to other horror sub-genres in that they are picked up from the surroundings in desperate attempts to protect themselves. This relates to their lack of control and desperation, making the events appear more realistic. These could be bats, crowbars, knives or in some cases home-fashioned weapons such as crosses. The use of normal everyday objects makes the events seem more possible, so incite more fear in the audiences as they consider what weapons they would use in the same situation. The antagonistic entity often does not use weapons in the same way as in slashers, in that they often cause death by possessing protagonists or making unnatural events occur that lead to death.
Most of our protagonists will not have the chance to use weapons, but the main protagonist, who is the survivor, will at one point be seen with a knife trying to protect herself. The spirit will not use conventional weapons and will attack by possessing the victims.

Lighting:

Low level lighting and shadows are often played with in supernatural horrors. This could be linked with the weather, such as storms or night-time, or could be due to blackouts caused by the spirit. This lighting shows the desperation and entrapment of the characters, while also enhancing the sense of mystery created by the unseen antagonistic entity. The use of darkness can also enhance vulnerability as the character is unable to see, and this can create ominous tones as the audience fears for what is hidden in the darkness.
We will contrast natural and normal lighting at the beginning with darker lighting and silhouettes once the spirit is attacking in order to contrast the equilibrium of the characters at the beginning with the disequilibrium created by the supernatural events. It will also show their helplessness and inability to protect themselves.

Sound:

• A mixture of parallel and contrapuntal music is employed in the genre depending on the events in terms of the soundtrack The use of parallel soundtracks can be seen through the use of intense music during confrontation or battle scenes (typically towards the end of the film) or through whining strings to enhance an ominous tone (usually used to build tension throughout the film). Contrapuntal music can be used to contrast situations such as the use of childish music during unnatural events, often linked with child ghosts. It could also be used through the unnatural use of the characters possessions, such as if their radio keeps turning on to a particular pop song to build tension.
  The soundtracks we use in our teaser trailer will be parallel in that they will match the tone of the scene, although they will act to contrast with one another. The first will be club music during their introduction as teenagers, relating to their interests and lack of morals. The second soundtrack will be introduced once the unnatural events start occurring, and will be industrial music with a metallic sound to relate to the uncomfortable and intense events unfolding. Editing will be used to make the soundtracks reflect the tone even more, such as making the club music somewhat distorted to show the characters to be drunk, and thudding booms in the industrial music to create tension and emphasise fear.
• Unnatural sounds are used in possessive horrors, such as disembodied whispers or laughs that refer to the spirit and their unnatural presence. These enhance the tension of scenes and are used to subvert normal understandings of sounds to make the audience feel uncomfortable. For example, laughter is usually considered positive, but in these situations it is seen as threatening.
  We will use unnatural sounds to relate to the spirits, working with the soundtracks to emphasise certain events and enhance the atmosphere. 

Common motifs:

Creaking doors and curtains blowing are often used to create tension towards the beginning of the film, before the true nature of events is shown. They can also be used later on to show that the spirit is coming to create fear for the protagonist. The linking of every day noises or events to the spirit creates fear as it incites a reaction in audiences in their own homes upon experiencing these events, making them feel more afraid even after the viewing of the film is over. Other such events could be candles flickering or going out, lights turning on and off, patches of water with no clear source, or shadowed hiding places with peepholes to look through.
We will use some of these common motifs to enhance the tension, such as having characters hide behind doors and the use of noises with no known source.

Seances are also commonly seen in possessive films, as the characters attempt to contact the spirits in order to communicate and find out the reasons for their haunting. If not during the seance, some form of communication is often seen from the spirit as they show the protagonist what they want from them. This is seen in films such as 'Drag Me To Hell' and 'The Haunting in Connecticut'.

We will use this motif as the basis of the haunting, as it is the seance through a ouija board that seems to summon the spirit to the protagonists. Communication showing what the spirit wants will also be shown as a repeated theme throughout the trailer.

The protagonists often make some form of discovery of the spirit's past or the reason for their haunting, and this can be through the seance or through exploration of the haunting area. This is seen in 'The Haunting in Connecticut' as the ghost leads the protagonist to discover their past.

We will not show discoveries of the spirit's past in order to make it appear more mysterious and also threatening through lack of understanding. This will also lend to the feeling of helplessness that we want to incite in audiences. However, as mentioned above we will include some form of explanation as to what the spirit wants.  

-Emily

Questionnaire Results

Through examining the results of our questionnaires from the projects of last year and this year, we were able to choose the direction in which our film would be aimed.

Last year, our questionnaire found that possessive/supernatural films were popular, although less popular than other sub-genres of horror such as slashers or psychological.


However, through examining trends in current and recent cinema releases we have found that possessive horror films are continually being created. This has especially been seen in recent years with the themes of ghosts, possession and demons recurring in cinemas. Examples of these are seen in 'The Exorcism of Emily Rose' and 'The Exorcist', both of which focus on the idea of being possessed by spirits or demons. The popularity of this sub-genre of film is also seen in the re-creation of past films, such as 'Night of the Demons', which was a successful film in 1988 and was remade in 2009. The remaking of past horror films shows the popularity of the genre and also the success of similar ideas.
Another theme in recent cinema and television is the idea of urban legends being retold or examined. This can be seen in cinema releases such as 'Boogeyman' and the less successful 'Don't Look Under The Bed', and is the underlying premise of successful television programme 'Supernatural'. We thought that this was interesting so decided to choose a topic that is surrounded by legend on which to base our film. The theme we settled on was the idea of ouija boards and the possessions that can occur if not used correctly or with respect.
Linked with remakes, it is common for Japanese horror films, which are usually of the possessive/supernatural sub-genre, to be remade. This is shown in films such as 'One Missed Call', 'The Ring' and 'The Grudge'. Due to their popularity we decided to take into account the Japanese influence in our film.


Through these findings we decided to make a possessive/supernatural genre film teaser trailer, as we felt that as well as its popularity and therefore probable success with audiences, it would also be interesting to work with through make up and the less physical threats. The target audiences of possessive/supernatural horrors is similar to other horror film sub-genres, being based between the ages of 15 and 25 due to the use of some gore and upsetting themes. Therefore we chose the same target audience of 15-25 year olds as our project last year, dealing with slasher films. Our questionnaires were put to this demographic, making the information we collected more suitable and reliable in terms of feedback for creating a piece that would be successful. It was found that both male and female viewers were interested in supernatural sub-genres, so this is our target demographic.


The questionnaire that we created this year therefore focussed on possessive films, and we asked what our target audience considered the main features of the sub-genre to be. Reasonably similar answers were received such as the idea of suspense, angry spirits, revenge and unknown supernatural beings.We also asked what they would typically expect to see in a supernatural horror film, and again the answers were quite similar. They expected the houses of the victims to be a popular setting, emphasising their need to be 'creepy' and have gothic features. Other settings such as graveyards and forests were suggested.


We asked what our target audience would expect to see in a teaser trailer in order to shape what we created. A common answer was the idea of quick action shots with unclear focuses, people screaming and unnatural events such as people being thrown around. It was also stated that a concept of how the protagonists' lives were before the haunting must be shown, and then not as much revealed about the supernatural events in order to keep a sense of mystery. Another common answer was the use of darkness to obscure information and create senses of danger.


We asked whether the creature doing the haunting should be seen, and the majority of our target audience stated that they did not want to see the spirit, or not until it was too late. We will echo this by showing the effects of the spirit throughout most of the trailer and then showing the face of the possessed girl right at the end with supernatural make up to make it shocking. It will be at the end of the trailer to create shock for the audience and also reflect that it may be too late for the character.




-Emily

Sound

As was discussed in earlier posts about sound , we are mainly using two pieces of non-diegetic music in our teaser trailer. Having chosen the two pieces of music that we will use, club music for the first half and industrial music for the second half , we have edited the pieces of music.

We edited some of the club music in order to create a distorted effect for a party scene we are creating. This is effective in showing their drunken state and reflecting the lack of control that they have over their actions. We did this using Garageband, before importing the music into iMovie using iTunes. This effect was useful because it created the atmosphere of a party that we were aiming for while also keeping a consistent theme through the music, as it is the same music used in the earlier scenes of the trailer. The distorted sound works with the fade effects used on the shots (added using iMovie) to slightly disorientate the audience and make the fast paced events more difficult to follow, therefore reflecting the party and distortion created through alcohol. The sound and effects used in the party scene are inspired by a party scene in Skins .

Between the two pieces of music, we are working with the idea of silence with added sound effects instead of music. We have experimented with edited whispers (recorded and edited using Garageband), in order to create a supernatural and eerie atmosphere. This couples with shots of the ouija board and longer shots to contrast with the previously fast paced editing to show the scene to be pivotal to the narrative. Another sound effect that we are using is a reversed recording of a girl laughing. This is high pitched and adds to the uneasy feeling due to the unnatural sound, while also creating the idea of some kind of entity watching and taking part in the events. It could create the idea of a child, which has become a common theme within horror films, such as 'The Unborn' . This creates further unease. Towards the end of the trailer we have also incorporated a reversed recording of plates being moved and banged together, as this has made an effective unnatural effect.

The second piece of music used has not been edited, although we are continuing to use the aforementioned sound effects in combination with the music in order to create a more intense piece of footage. We are also using boom effects to emphasise thuds in the music. As the music fades away at the end of the trailer we are going to use the sound effects to create an eerie finish to the trailer so that it is more likely to remain in the audience's mind.

-Emily

Initial sequence for the beginning of our trailer

                        

For the introduction of our characters we really wanted something that would highlight what type of personalities each girl had, as well as help the audience define who the 'Final girl' is through watching this initial sequence. You can see just from the first few shots why these girls will have to pay 'penance'; the main shots show one girl undoing her blouse so that her bra is on show, to indicate promiscuity, another girl applying makeup, suggesting the girls are focused on their appearence and therefore may be percieved as shallow, and finally another one of the characters smoking a cigarette, which shows they are rebellious and like to supposedly break the rules. The formation of the girls is also key to defining their characters. At the front we see the main girl, the one who is in charge of the others and clearly whose instructions they follow, as they follow her out of the shot after she looks at them. Next are the two more outgoing characters, who, although are confident and independent, do still walk slightly behind the more dominant character, showing they don't have the control of the group they wish to have. Lastly we have another girl whose character is similar to the other two in front, and of course the final girl. She is indicated by the wariness in her expression when she passes the camera, as well as her less promiscuous outfit.

- Rhiannon

Filming Review

In general, we felt that filming went well. Our actors were willing to follow our direction and were mostly able to provide us with the footage that we needed. We shared the responsibility of operating the camera between us.


On the first day of filming, when we were working at  Tonbridge Boys' School  in order to gain the boarding school shots we needed, we found that on the only day when all of our actors were available to film there was a Book Fair. This involved a sign on the main entrance which we had originally planned to use, and a larger number of people than we had expected. Due to the importance of having all of our actors present in the original shots, we needed to complete the shots on this day or reschedule for a few weeks later when everyone was once again free. In order to overcome this problem, we scouted a side entrance that would be just as effective in the shots. There was no sign and the number of people in the background was at a minimum, meaning that we could achieve the shots we had hoped for. Our actors were very good on this filming day especially, as their costumes involved sexualised school uniforms in public, and we received a large number of hoots from passing cars. This minor problem did not affect any of our shots as we would not be using diegetic sound. 


Our other days of filming were on location in houses , so it was much easier to organise filming. We created a table of dates and names so that the actors and filming team could co-ordinate dates in which we would be free to film. Some of our shots did need all five of our characters present again, so we had to carefully organise when all of our actors were free as well as the owner of the house locations. This caused minimal problems as we organised in advance when filming days would occur. Most of our shots in the home locations were achieved easily, although logistics proved that some of our ideas would not be possible. For example, we had hoped to create the impression of a character being sucked backwards through a door. We experimented with some different techniques included jumping out of the room (which would be reversed), or being pulled back by someone out of shot (which would be sped up), however it proved that all of these shots appeared unrealistic when we attempted editing. Therefore we had to abandon some of our ideas and come up with new and more easily achieved shots, such as the shot of a character looking from a window and a hand slamming against it. 


Due to the shots that we wanted to create, we had to use two different house locations. The first belonged to a friend of the team, and the second belonged to Meg from our team. This was useful in creating the appropriate shots and mise en scene, although it meant more organisation. The second location was much more difficult to get to, as the first was situated a few minutes from school and could be walked to easily, but through scheduled filming days it was again easy to overcome. We found that some extra shots were needed of close ups of hands or feet on days when actors were unavailable, so some shots were included of Emily (of the team) running or having an arm dragged through a door. This was effective as it produced good shots and did not require re-filming, so we could make the most of the time we had with our actors to create the more important shots in which their faces could be seen. 


-Emily

Music Research

In the earlier post we discussed music that we were going to use for our trailer, and that would had already chosen a track for the first part of the trailer. We have now chosen a track for the second half, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3xm0L5JnAgI which is high paced and creates a tone of warning and danger, which meets our criteria. We have now added more non diegetic sounds to our piece, including screams, whispering and reversed laughter which we hope will create the atmosphere we want. 



- Rhiannon

Music for our trailer

At the beginning of this process, we discussed different songs that we wanted for our trailer, along with sound effects. We wanted two key songs for the trailer; for the first half we wanted an upbeat 'club' type song with a heavy bass line, as this would create the dance/party mood the shots indicated. For this we chose the first track on a mix called "Summer 2011 Club Music" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G6RzsOviQXI ). We are still looking for a song for the second half of the trailer, although we want a song that creates a darker tone, that is fast and implies the mood of danger and caution, as it will be played alongside the action shots. Meg has suggested the possibility of the use of Industrial Metal music, we will be researching this next.




- Rhiannon






See also... Party Scene - Skins

Mirrors Poster Deconstruction

- Rhiannon