Storyboards For Our Production

Page 1:-

These are the beginning scenes of our opening sequence up till the part where the body of her best friend is found in the lift.

Pages 2 & 3:-
These parts of our opening sequence are where the other friend is murdered however we have 2 alternate endings in which the final murder of the opening sequence differentiates.     
                                              

Reconnaissance For Filming Location

We need a building with 4 floors and a lift for our opening sequence as well as an intercom system. I think the location I've photographed fits the criteria for our filming.

"The 4th Floor"

Lift Interior

Landing That Leads From The Lift To The Flat

Intercom System

Target Audience

We handed out a questionnaire to 20 people who we knew liked horror movies and just asked them a few questions to determine the features and plot of our opening sequence. Because our film has a ehite cast and they are the majoeiity population in the UK we've chosen white, English people. Horror movies are particularly popular among young men so we have targeted males aged 15-18 who would likely be studying at school or college.

Questionnaire

This is just a short questionnaire to determine the target audience for our upcoming horror movie we'll be filming. We would greatly appreciate if you could spare 5 minutes of your time to fill it in for us! Thanks!

           Please circle one answer for each question:

       1. What is your age?

           16-18    |   19-21    |   22-24    |   25-27     |   28-30    |    30+

       2. What is your gender?

            Male    |   Female

       3. What race are you?

           British    |   African    |   Asian    |   Eastern European    |   North American    |   South -                        American    |   Other (Please state) ….......

       4. What do you do in life?

           Working     |    Student     |    Un-employed

       5.  What sort of locations do you go to when you go out with friends?

            Bars    |     Cinemas    |    Parks    |    Restaurants    |    Other (Please State) ….......



These were our results: 

As you can see from our results that most of our target audience
 is 16-18year olds so this is who our horror movie will be aimed at

A majority of the people we questioned were also males.
This gives us another demographic for our target audience.

Also a majority of the people questioned were British.

They were also mainly students so we'll have to make sure
that students can relate to our movie so that it'll interest them.

As the majority go to the cinema the most when out with friends
this would be an ideal spot to advertise our movie if we were
distributing it.

From the majority of our results we've decided that our specified target audience is:

• 16-18 Year Old
• Males
• British/White
• Students

Further Research Into Similar Texts

I've now researched the 2010 film "Devil" seems as me and my group have a final idea. A great amount of the film itself is set in a lift which will be one of the main locations for our opening sequence so therefore I thought this would be a suitable text to research. In the movie a group of people become trapped in a lift with no one other than the devil him or herself! The film directed by John Erick Dowdle continuously keeps the audience in the dark (literally) throughout the whole movie with the clever use of blackouts within the lift. Each time the lift blacks out another member of the group dies and with the clever use of sound effects during the blackouts the audience understands exactly what happens to the victim. This would be quite a clever aspect to take on as in our opening sequence we want the killers identity to remain a mystery. So with the clever use of sound effects we can still get the full effect of the murder.

Movie advertisement for "Devil"

Final Idea & Synopsis

After me and my group discussed our ideas we finally came up with a final plan for our production.
Our introductory title for our opening sequence is "The 4th Floor". Our opening sequence will consist of two girls and one killer. One girl arrives home with some shopping and buzzes up to the other girl through the intercom system in their block of flats asking for her to help her however when she gets to the top with the bags of shopping her friend discovers her blood smothered dead body in the lift. At this point her friend runs back inside to call the police but when she crosses the threshold of the door, the door closes behind her and at this point we realise the killers in the flat with her.

Research Into Similar Texts

As you've previously read. I have had ideas on both a slasher opening sequence as well as a zombie opening sequence. So I have decided to look into and research texts similar to that of which I'll be producing.
I firstly looked into slashers and one film in particular which was "Halloween". Made in 1978 and directed by John Carpenter. It is easily one of the most iconic and recognised horror films of all times. Also where its one of the first ever slashers, I thought it would be an ideal text to get some background information on the slasher sub genre. It uses quite simple sound effects as well as a simple yet iconic soundtrack to gain the viewers attention instantaneously. The second you hear the "Halloween" theme, you know automatically that something bad is about to happen and to achieve that simply through a soundtrack is quite impressive in itself. Theres also plenty of point of view shots from the killers perspective where we get a clear and horrifying view of how exactly he's killing his victims. Just those two little aspects of the entire movie make it quite an entertaining and effective slasher.
I then looked into some of the first ever zombie movies by George Romero. I particularly looked into "Night Of The Living Dead" which was the first in a popular zombie trilogy and even though the movie I looked into was in black and white and didn't have all the special effects, props and make up that many modern zombie movies have. Romero's work is still considered to stand out above the rest and is probably one of the best zombie movies of all time. This is because Romero was capable of creating such fear and tension within the film that the audience could acctually relate to and by doing this through his filmwork he was able to create an effective piece that earned over $18 million internationally.

Movie poster for George Romero's "Night Of The Living Dead"

My Initial Ideas For The Opening Sequence To A Horror Movie

There are 2 possible ideas I have at the moment for the opening sequence to my horror movie...

1. I was firstly thinking of a slasher opening based upon "Jack The Ripper". So the opening sequence would involve a mysterious individual stalking his prey through a secluded location to show his or her vulnerability, followed by the murder taking place and then the opening titles etc. Which sounds quite basic but with the right effects added as well as costume, make up and props. I think it could be quite an effective opening piece.
2. My second idea is a zombie based one. Basically, it would be based upon the Nazi's experiments during WW2. Where a group of Nazi scientists would discover how to bring the dead back to life. So the opening sequence would consist of their success in this experiment but with the twist of the resurrected human turning into a flesh eating, crazed maniac.

A Nazi Zombie