Killer Doll

The 'killer doll' featured in our film opening

Sam and I bought this doll with it looking completely child friendly and the first thing we did in order to change that is burn it's right arm and the side of it's face. Because of the burn marks, we think it would be a good idea to make our slasher opening look as if  it's a sequel and we are thinking about opening the scene with a shot of the doll being buried and the person burying it looking old fashioned, possibly wearing a suit and top hat, then checking a pocket watch. By doing this, the suit, top hat and pocket watch will connote to the shot being set around 100 years ago and therefore the doll being very old which adds to its scariness. To bring the doll back, Sam and I are going to try and film a dog digging in the ground and then bringing the doll into the house; it will be difficult to make a dog do this but we'll try our best and we think it'll be a very effective way of bringing the killer doll back to life. The dog will then bring the doll into the house and then drop it onto the wire which will then electrocute it and bring it back to life.

Sam and I, after burning the doll, nailed a bolt into its head just to make it look scary, this could connote to someone having tried to kill it in a past life and the blood stains signify that the doll has endured pain or caused pain to someone, the bandage also connotes to the doll having endured pain, possibly from someone trying to harm it. The doll is quite hard to make move, the legs aren't very flexible. However, Sam and I have filmed some practice footage of the doll walking and it will be uploaded on Friday so that we can receive feedback on it. We are filming and editing tomorrow in order to get our 2nd rough cut finished. This doll can perform the same movements than the original action figure can, however it is harder and may look less effective. This doll though does look a lot scarier than our original action figure and we're happy with how it looks.

The only problem with this doll is that it doesn't relate to the colour red at all, apart from the blood and this isn't enough to keep the name Red Run. 'Red Run' however is a working title and can be changed at any time, the only problem is that Sam and I don't have any other names that we have thought of so we are going to concentrate more on trying to get some red clothes for the doll which we can rip up and make to look scary to fit the slasher genre. It was suggested that we dye the blue pants that the doll is wearing red so that we can keep the name and we are considering this.

Improving Our Rough Cut

To improve our rough cut, Sam and I need to pay more attention to little details when filming. One of these details is the amount of time that the shots are one for; for example, on our first rough cut, there are point of view shots of the action figure walking towards the teenage boy who has just been tripped and fell down the stairs. For this shot, Sam and I need to make it shorter or break it up into seperate parts so that it's more believable and doesn't lose its effectiveness. Also, we were thinking about adding an effect to make the shot more blurred by using layering and and adding to layers over to make it look as if the character is dizzy after falling down the stairs, we were also thinking about adding a video effect or transition to make it look as if the character is blinking; it's little effects like this that should make the overall product more convincing and mroe enjoyable to watch. Another aspect of our rough cut that needs improving is the mise en scene. Sam and I are going to change what's lying on the floor at the beginning of the rough cut as the electrocution occurs, we will add things that are more scary and more suitable to the slasher genre. We're not sure what yet but we could link it in with another film to add intertextuality to our film opening. Another idea is to add a slaher film such as Halloween or Friday 13th poster to the wall of the room to provide some intertextuality.
Also, taking the feedback that we received from our first rough cut into account, we need to change the lighting of the shots and make it darker to make it scarier and mroe intense as everything is scarier in the dark and once again, this will suit the slasher genre more.

'Red Run' Rough Cut 1

This is LS29's first rough cut for the Red Run film opening. The feedback that Sam and I received made it clear that the red action figure used as the killer wasn't appropriate for the slasher genre that we are attempting to achieve and that instead we should use a doll like in the Child's Play films. I will look for a new doll, preferably a child's toy. However, Sam and I need to focus on keeping the doll part of a red theme to avoid having to change the name of our working title this late. Also, I think that the lighting in the shots is too bright and that it would be more suitable to the slasher genre if the lighting is darker. As well, obviously the rough cut doesn't have a good ending and Sam and I are still deciding which ending to go with; we like the idea of having another doll that looks scary, however kills the other doll and saves the teenage boy. We will have another rough cut up on Thursday with both endings so that we can receive feedback as to which one to go with. Some other feedback that we received is that the electrocution of the action figures at the beginning is good but would be better with sound effects

Week 5 - Podcast

Filming

Last night, Sam and I did some more filming towards our rough cut video. We re-filmed the movement of the action figure (doll) and of the action figure entering the room and walking around on the other side of the door. We filmed this by turning off all of the lights in the room in which we were filming, placing the camera on the floor, looking underneath the door into a room where the light is turned on. I then control the doll, moving it's legs to make it look as if it's moving and walking around on the other side of the door. Watching this back, Sam and I think it looks good but Sam forgot the battery for his camera so we had to use an iPod camera which obviously didn't work as well and the quality wasn't as good. However, we are still happy with how the filming went as we think it looks realistic as if the action figure really is walking around on the other side of the door. We will definitely re-film these shots using a better camera though.

When filming, we also filmed the action figures hand pushing open the door and then walking in; this was harder to do because we had to be very careful how we filmed the shots as we had to avoid filming my hands which were controlling the action figure. We did this well but it was made harder by the fact we were using an iPod camera because it wouldn't go on a tripod and the shots are most likely going to be very shaky which isn't good at all; this is even more reason to re-film these shots and Sam and I will do so tonight and tomorrow, using better cameras!

At this stage, we are still behind on filming and should have already produced a rough cut video including all our practise footage and a basic idea on what happens in our film opening. We haven't filmed all of our idea yet and haven't filmed the whole of the opening. We will have this completed though within the next two days.

GB TC DO'C SD - Compare Film Openings

Untitled from Georgia Barningham on Vimeo.

Barncasarn and LS29 compare their ideas on their film opening. Both companies are based on a Child's Play theme, using a killer doll.

Practise Footage Update

Practise footage should be up soon, we have filmed the scene of the boy in his room and how he comes to life, but it is hard to see and of course this will only be the rough footage, so we will improve on this. We also filmed the stairs scene we have described in one of our podcasts, but the tape we recorded on was corrupted and had lines across the video. This footage though looked really nice and we will defiantly use it for the actual finished project as it really gives the effect of someone falling down the stairs and looks realistic as the mattress is out of shot, and fast paced cutting should make it even more realistic and be more effective for the audience watching.

Practise Footage Update

Practise footage should be up soon, we have filmed the scene of the boy in his room and how he comes to life, but it is hard to see and of course this will only be the rough footage, so we will improve on this. We also filmed the stairs scene we have described in one of our podcasts, but the tape we recorded on was corrupted and had lines across the video. This footage though looked really nice and we will defiantly use it for the actual finished project as it really gives the effect of someone falling down the stairs and looks realistic as the mattress is out of shot, and fast paced cutting should make it even more realistic and be more effective for the audience watching.

Teenage Wasteland - The Slasher Movie Uncut: The Final Girl (further reading) (GB)

Ever since 'Laurie Strode' in Halloween, t has become almost a cliche that a lone woman will be the one left standing at the end of a slasher film. Before Halloween, heroines had survived horror movies, but the climactic battle between Laurie and the bogeyman was a 'veritable blueprint' of what was to follow. Sometimes there was a final boy (Alfred in The Burning) but that was a rarity.
The final girl was usually a virgin (unlike most of her friends) Shy, but smart and she turns the cat and mouse games to her advantage in her battle to make it to the closing credits. In many ways, the final girl has taken over the role of the traditional male hero in slashers.
Some final girls, such as the one in The Dorm That Dripped Blood make it through the movie, but in a cruel ironic twist of fate, fall at the finish line. However, even if the girl does make it to the end of the film, there is still no guarantee that she will live through the sequel.
The final girl appeals to both males and females, through her possible attractive looks and also an inspiration to the female audience.

Week 4 - Podcast

Filming In The Snow

Today, Sam and I re-filmed the shots of the house which we are using to set the typical slasher scene; an isolated, big house, usually in the dark. However, this time we went to re-film the house because it's snowing and we think that this adds extra effect to the shot. We will post videos of both the shots, one with the snow and one without and get feedback from people on which one looks better. The first time we filmed the house with the snow, it was light and we did this simply because it might not still be snowing when it gets dark but if it is we will film it again and then we will have even more footage to compare and get feedback from other people.

Tomorrow, Sam and I will film again when the is more snow on the floor because we think it will look better, we may even film it in the morning and again at night, we could then play around with the idea of fading one into each other. Also, when filming tomorrow, Sam and I will do more filming inside and re-film the shots which use the stairs and show the teenage boy falling down them, onto mattresses obviously which won't be seen by the camera. We need to film these shots again because the first time we filmed them, the tape broke and put lines across the videos so unfortunately we can't use them but hopefully this time we can get more footage and film it better this time.

Sam and I are slightly behind on filming and haven't yet produced a practise footage video which we need to do. Even though we have the footage, we haven't yet filmed practise shots of everything that we're doing in our film opening. We know what we want to do but haven't yet got around to it; we will film some more next week and produce a practise footage video which we can show to people to gain some feedback, comments and advise.

Red Run - Stairs Scene (Practise Footage)

The mattresses on the stairs used to cushion the fall.

Today Sam and I filmed some practice footage to test some of the scenes from our slasher film opening. In our film opening which involves a killer doll, similar to 'Child's Play', the doll is attempting to kill a teenage boy with the boy desperate to escape, he sprints through his house until he's stopped by the doll jumping and grabbing hold of his leg causing him to fall down the stairs. To film the boy falling down the stairs, Sam and I put two mattresses down the stairs to make the fall comfortable and filmed from the top of the stairs, making sure that the mattresses weren't visible because if they were, it would be obviously how to shot was filmed and it would lose its effect. We didn't film the shot where the doll grabs onto the boy's leg but as he's holding the boy's leg when he falls down the stairs, we tied the doll around the leg making it look as if he was holding onto it, causing the boy to fall. Obviously at this stage of filming, the shots aren't as good as they could be and there are definitely some things that will need to be changed to improve them. Sam and I will upload our practice footage to Vimeo and embed it on our blogs so that others can watch it and give us feedback, helping us to learn what we've done wrong and what needs to be done to make the shots better.

We also filmed some practice footage of the doll's feet moving in light underneath a door; this was easy to film as I could control the doll's movements whilst Sam filmed and after watching the footage back, it looked good and we were happy with it but we know it could be better and the shots will be uploaded with the footage of the stairs scene so that they can be reviewed and analysed, giving Sam and I feedback to make the shots better.

Sam and I are also planning to film on Saturday, by then we will have gained feedback and we will be able to use it to improve on what we've already filmed. We will film the shots that we've already filmed before but also film some scenes that we haven't yet filmed. We are doing the filming in my house although we're setting the scene in a different house which is big and Victorian, making the setting scarier and more suitable for the slasher genre.