Scream 4

Scream 4:

The film Scream 4 is known as a ‘slasher’ film and is a stereotypical horror movie in which a masked figure named ‘Ghost face’ goes around tormenting, stalking and finally killing high school teenagers for fun. This film links to my group’s storyline as we will have three teenage girls being chased and stabbed to death by a man in a mask who has a van.

As the movie starts it firstly shows the title sequence of the main production company that produced the film, and it then straight away starts with the film, as the ‘Dimension films’ comes onto the screen so does the diegetic sound of a phone ringing.

 It then starts with the girl answering the phone to Ghost face; it uses a close up of this shot as it wants the audience to see the girl’s reaction to what the man is saying to her.

It then uses a shot-reverse shot to the other girl using an over the shoulder shot to show irony as the girl is playing with a prop knife whilst also talking about killers in popular horror films.

An eye line match is then used as the two girls both look at a phone's screen and is a close up shot to see the girl’s reactions.

 When the girls go towards the door it is clear that one of them doesn’t want to open it as it uses a medium shot to show how far away she is standing from the other character and she also has her back to the camera. The shot includes the door as it wants the audience to focus on that, as the tension builds to see what is behind the door.

The next shot that is used is an extreme long shot to show the girl’s house as it establishes the scene and also makes it clear that there is no one outside the house that the girl and the audience can see, this makes the tension unbearable as the audience should know that something is about to happen.

As predicted the two girls are killed as one is stabbed and the other’s throat has been cut, to show her perspective as she is spinning round, the camera seems as if it is on a slope, or is tilting like a canted angle to try and include the audience with how the character is feeling as she bleeds out with the fake blood.

However, it then quickly cuts to a title ‘Stab 6’, this title has been juxtaposed with a knife going through the ‘T’ and also uses the colour red to represent blood, also in the background of it you can hear the diegetic sounds of a scream. This is done to baffle the audience as to what has just happened but then makes it clear as we realise that the last scene wasn’t real but instead a movie that others were watching.

As it then changes to an establishing medium close up shot of two different girls that are both looking at the TV, this makes it look like they are in fact looking directly into the camera, this is an eye line match, and it also uses a faded background so that the audience focuses on the two characters. This makes the audience wonder if this is in fact the real start of the film, and to confuse them further.

As it continues, there is a long shot of the surroundings and shows the back of one of the girls sat on the sofa looking like she is reaching for something, this creates suspense as the audience suspects that something is going to happen next.

As the girl comes back onto the sofa they discuss horror movies and just as suspected something does happen. The other girl pulls out a knife and next shows a close up of the knife that has just been plunged into her stomach, this is to shock the audience as they weren’t expecting that to happen and it is also made to look real with the blood and the knife lodged into her stomach.

Although, the next shot is of another title sequence, this time it is for ‘Stab 7’ it uses the diegetic scream in the background again and the same style as it is from the same series of films, the audience is again made to be confused and is again asking themselves if this time it will in fact be the real movie.

The next shot is of another two different girls that have just been watching the film, when the eldest sister hears a noise, as she is going up the stairs it shows her from a low angle shot as she has the power rather than her little sister.

The next shot is of a phone; this implies that something bad has happened to the other girl, then as the phone rings it makes the audience jump and the close up of her face is to see her reaction.

An over the shoulder shot has been used so you can see the dead girl’s body and to see that she is already dead as this helps to create an eerie atmosphere as it is obvious that something is going to happen to the other girl.

As the girl runs for her life screaming, a long shot is used so that the audience can see that she is being chased through the house by ghost face.

Finally high/low angle shots of the girl and ghost face is to show the power change as she is left crawling on the floor, he is walking towards her, about to kill her as she is weak.

 

 

 

 

 

 

It finally ends with her being killed and cuts to the proper title sequence of ‘SCRE4M’, as the establishing scenes are over. The title has been juxtaposed with ghost face’s mask in the background and the title on top, this also represents that time will have passed as when it comes back on it is a new day.

Madison County Film similar to ours first 15 minutes analysed

Madison County

A group of college kid’s travel to a small, mountain town called Madison County to interview the author of a tell-all book on the accounts of several grisly murders that happened there. But when the kids get to Madison County, the author is nowhere to be found and the towns people act like they haven't seen him in years. They also say that the killer never existed and the murders never happened. However, when the kids start digging around to get their own answers, they find out that the stories may be more real than the townspeople are letting on.

Wide shot of girl as she wakes up in the back of a van that is moving, panics, camera shakes to resemble her panicking, there is non-diegetic music, which is like screeching, it becomes louder and louder as she gradually raises her body and look around. The pace of the shot is fast, and she stays on the screen throughout the whole scene, it moves fast to resemble the girl, she is panicking and scared, her heart will be moving fast just like the scene. The lighting is natural, outdoor lighting, to create a real life situation and feel to relate it to the audience. The woman’s performance is as if shows her to look scared and frightened as she does not know where she is going. The costume on the girl is just underwear, which is dirty and ragged and her makeup is dirt and blood effects as if she has been put in danger, it makes the audience wonder what kind of situation she is in and what has happened to her.  The setting is a road and a vehicle moving on it, the audience are made to be curious as to where the vehicle will be taking her and wonder who his driving it.

Two shot of the man as he goes towards the girl to hit her with the shovel, the camera shakes and moves backwards as she runs away from the man. The screeching music gets faster and carries on to get louder, which connotates the man’s movements as he moves towards her, himself getting faster. Building up to a crescendo as the man hits her. The girl is heard crying and whimpering as she tries to run away it resembles her struggle and there is a sound effect as the spade hits the girl. The pace of the shot is fast as she runs away to resemble the speed of her running; the lighting is once again daylight to resemble the real world. The performance of the man is anger, rage and power as he tries to get the girl; this makes him seem more powerful against the weak girl who tries to escape. The prop used by the man is a shovel which the man next uses to hit the girl over the head with.

An establishing shot of the title of the film; it is in red which connotates danger and resembles blood which relates to the genre of the film which is horror.

The shot then changes to the start of the film where the story begins, the cast are shown setting off on their road trip. It is a wide shot from far away and it seems to be in the perspective of somebody who is watching them as it is blurry too. The sound is just muffled voices talking as if somebody is trying to hear what they are saying.

The shot is a wide shot of the girl as she brushes her teeth, she is seen turning as she hears somebody in the trees, and the audience see that the person is watching her.  The sound is non-diegetic and is low and quiet, there is also the sound effect of rustling which is mean to sound like the person in the woods walking as they watch her, it puts the audience on edge, and they wonder what will happen to the girl next. The shot focuses mostly on the girl and there is an eye line match as she watches for someone in the woods.  

Audience Profile

Our chosen film storyline is aimed at the age range of 15-35 year olds, this would mean that the certificate of our film would be a 15 because of the violence, gore and the mask that the killer wears, as it may be too frightening for anyone younger than this as it is a horror, however, it doesn't involve much swearing so this is why it is rated a 15. Because the storyline is based around three teenage girls, it may be mainly aimed at females, however some males may want to also watch it. The target audience should be interested in horror films, thrillers, and action movies as it involves someone being stabbed as well as girls being chased. The audience should be interested in films such as the Scream franchise, The Blair Witch Project, Madison County, The Lovely Bones and The Friday the 13th franchise, as they all involve people being killed and in most of these horrors/thrillers they feature a masked killer, who's identity is unknown. As the film's location is in an empty field with some houses around it, it will appeal to anyone as it won't feature anything that only people from South Yorkshire will be able to understand. Therefore, our film will be an independent film for small audiences, as it isn't being produced by big hollywood producers or distributors. So, our movie, is more likely to be played in cinemas such as; Parkway, Odeons and other local cinemas in small towns.

The Lovely Bones

We have decided that our genre/subgenre is psychological thriller/horror. I think that our target audience would like the film The Lovely Bones because it has a similar storyline to our film (the main character is a teenage girl who is taken and murdered by a strange man). This film is also a 12 which suggests that any thing within it is appropriate for our audience. As our 2 minute film will mostly feature Amy's death scene i have decided to analyse the death scene from this film.

In the first shot of her death scene she is sat across from the man who at this point has taken her to a strange underground house. She is only shown from high angle shots (also he is only shown from high angle shots) which suggests to the audience that she is in a vulnerable position. There are only many close ups on her face which show her worried expression. This also suggests to the audience that she is the protagonist of the scene. The only lighting of the scene is from candles or small lamps which gives the scene an eyrie feel.

The long shot of the room sets the scene for the audience. It shows how small and cramped the room is. Also at this point of the scene the pace of the shots speeds up whilst the heartbeat of the girl also speeds up as she is getting increasingly scared/worried. (The audience know this because the sound effect of a heartbeat is added to the scene.)

The deep focus shot has only the girl and her murderer in focus. However her face is shown, and is also close to the centre of the frame, whereas his is not. This suggests that she is who the audience are supposed to be watching and is therefore the protagonist of the scene.

As she tries to escape (in the critical moment of the scene) she is centred in the frame and is also more in focus. These devices, once again, suggest to the audience that she is the protagonist and also forces the audience to watch her rather than the man.

The scene ends with an outside shot which is above the murder scene. As no one is around it suggests that no one has heard the girl's screams which adds tension to the atmosphere. It also ends the scene with an eyrie atmosphere because it shows how dark and cold the setting is.

Final Storyline Proposal

Horror:
Pick Me Up- 2 minute version

At the beginning three girls will be shown walking through a derelict field. Girl A suggests that they should play a game of hide and seek and Girl Ais "on". Girls B and C wander towards the trees, to hide, whilst girl A counts. Unbeknown to the girls they are being watched by a man in a mask. As Girls B and C are walking away (to hide), Girl A screams and cries. This is because the masked man is grasping Girl and throwing her into a van. After a few seconds the man in the mask climbs out of the van holding a bloody knife.

The other girl's heard her calling/screaming but ignored her just believing the screams were a way of cheating, and therefore carry on with their game.

The van is seen driving away. The two girls realise and start to find each other in panic (screaming and starting to cry).

 

Full film version
Start: The girls are shown on the phone to one another planning a sleepover, whilst there is a cut to a separate scene of an over the shoulder shot where the man is looking on Facebook at the girls profile's.
Middle: The next day the girls are shown playing there game of hide and seek, where Amy is taken away and stabbed.
The two friends are shown running and trying to ring her, with a shot afterwards of the girls bloody hand and mobile next to her limp and lifeless body. The girls go back to her house to see if she has gone home but no one answers the door, as they begin to become frantic with worry and start to walk back to the field.
End: A van slowly pulls up and follows the girls down the hill, they start to walk faster, realising that the van is following them. The van then comes to a standstill and the masked man gets out of the van, the girls slowly turn around as the man withdraws a knife and begins to chase them, they scream but no one acknowledges them, and are left running for their lives down the steep hill to one of the girls houses, however she has no key and no one is in. As they are chased they split up and hide and as one of them is killed, the other girl hears her piercing screams and quietly runs away as fast as she can, but to no avail as she is heard and is hunted down like a deer she is ripped open by the knife and is left lying in the dark alley alone with her insides on the outside. The man stalks away and blends with the shadows, happy with his work.

My Horror Storyline

Storyline: What started as a harmless game turned into something much more sinister... Whilst three teenage girls are playing an innocent game of 'Hide and Seek' to pass some time in a nearby field, one of the girls who is trying to find the others starts to hear strange noises, and rustling in a nearby bush, she starts to panic and call out for the other girls to come out but they think she's cheating, therefore leaving their friend in danger as she is chased by a masked figure, she is left running for her life with no clear escape, the girls finally realise she is missing and begin to chase the piercing screams of their friend. Will they save her in time?

My horror storyline

As the genre we have chosen is horror, my story line will base around the lives of three college students as they are in some sense 'stalked'. As one girl begins to notice and feel there is something wrong, she begins to become paranoid and worried much to her friends disbelief. They doubt her and laugh as she speaks more and more about a man she keeps seeing wherever she goes. But it isn't long until her friend becomes in danger and all three are left trapped in a game where the only prize will be survival.
The beginning
Girl number 1, will be shown walking home from college along the streets and alleyways, as normal. A dark shadow will follow behind her and she will begin to turn around, panicking and shaking, the camera will move for affect. She will become closer to her home and she will turn to realise nothing is behind her, the camera will be close to her face to show her worry and panic, also there will be heavy breathing for sound effects.
Next the two friends will be shown laughing and joking as she tries to explain and make them believe that she is being followed, but they believe she is just being dramatic.
Middle
Girl number 1 and 2 out together in the park, begin to notice a man closely behind them but think nothing of it until later when he is once again walking close by as they walk home. Later that night as they sit at home and worry, girl 3 will be told but she is still in disbelief when they try to warn her and tell her.
End
Girl 3 is seen taken away by the man, and her two friends are left trying to save her. The ending will show all three girls tied up, as the man has his back to the camera and is seen holding a sharp object. The last sound is the girls cries and screams.

Kelsey's Horror Storyline

Plot: A girl leaves college to go and pick her brother up from school but is kidnapped on the way there.

Start: Girl is leaving college and is talking/saying bye to her friends, explaining that she is about to pick her brother up. She begins to walk home.

Middle: Has to walk through a field/forest alone and it's dark early because it's winter. She's listening to music with headphones and so doesn't hear the men/man getting closer. They then grab her and drag/throw her into a van. Her brother has finished school and so is waiting for her. Van drives off with girl whilst brother waits and teachers start phoning home.

End: Girl's mum picks up her brother for her but everyone is still unaware of girl's location. Mum rings girl's phone and she doesn't answer as she's been knocked out (and is still in the back of the moving van).

Research into similar films- Scream franchise

I have chosen to research into the Scream franchise as they were all directed by Wes Craven and distributed by Dimension Films, and are all similar to how our film will be, as we are using a similar idea of a masked serial killer and our chosen genre is horror/thriller like these films. However, the franchise is an 18 certificate which is higher than ours which will be a 15, as ours isn't as graphic and doesn't include sexual scenes or much bad language.

The films are:

• Scream
• Scream 2
• Scream 3
• Scream 4 also known as Scre4m.

SCREAM (1996) 

Storyline: A killer known as 'Ghostface' begins killing off teenagers, and as the body count begins rising, one girl and her friends find themselves contemplating the "Rules" of horror films as they find themselves living in a real-life one.

Director: Wes Craven

Writer: Kevin Williamson

Genre: Horror, Mystery, Crime, Thriller

Rating: 18 for strong graphic horror violence, gore and language

Actors: Neve Campbell, Courteney Cox, David Arquette, Drew Barrymore, Tatum Riley

On the film reviewer website 'Rotten Tomatoes', they have rated Scream 'Certified Fresh', meaning it is a good film with 83% and 70% of the audience have also agreed that they liked it. They have also said 'A great mixed of bone chilling suspense and witty dialogues.'

http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/1074316-scream/

SCREAM 2 (1997)

Storyline: Two years after the events of the first film, a new psychopath dons the "Ghost face" costume and a new string of murders begin.

Director: Wes Craven

Writer: Kevin Williamson

Genre: Horror, Mystery

Rating: 18 for strong language and strong bloody violence

Actors: Neve Campbell, David Arquette, Courtney Cox, Jada Pinkett Smith, Sarah Michelle Gellar

On the film reviewer website 'Rotten Tomatoes', Scream 2 has been given 81% as a rating and also 54% of the audience agreed that they liked it. As it was described as funnier and scarier than the original and was given 6.8/10.
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/scream_2/

  

SCREAM 3 (2000)

Storyline: Ghostface pays Sidney and her friends a third visit while they visit the set of "Stab 3", the third movie based upon the Woodsboro murders.

Director: Wes Craven

Writer: Kevin Williamson

Genre: Horror, Mystery

Rating: 18 for strong horror violence and language

Actors: Neve Campbell, David Arquette, Courteney Cox, Patrick Dempsey, Kelly Rutherford

This review from 'Rotten Tomatoes' on Scream 3 shows that only 36% of the critics gave this film a positive review, and only 39% of the audience wants to see it. It also says that its 'lost its freshness and originality by falling back on the old horror formulas and cliches.' the average rating is 5.2/10.

http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/scream_3/

SCRE4M (2011)

Storyline: Sidney Prescott, now the author of a self-help book, returns home to Woodsboro on the last stop of her book tour. There she reconnects with Sheriff Dewey and Gale, who are now married, as well as her cousin Jill and her Aunt Kate. Unfortunately, Sidney's appearance also brings about the return of Ghostface, putting Sidney, Gale, and Dewey, along with Jill, her friends, and the whole town of Woodsboro in danger.

Director: Wes Craven

Writer: Kevin Williamson

Genre: Horror, Mystery

Rating: 18 for strong bloody violence, language and some teen drinking.

Actors: Neve Campbell, David Arquette, Courteney Cox, Anna Paquin, Kristen Bell, Hayden Panettiere, Emma Roberts, Rory Culkin, Adam Brody, Lucy Hale, Shenae Grimes, Britt Robertson, Roger Jackson.

This review on Scream 4 by 'Rotten Tomatoes' shows that film critics have given it a rating of 5.8/10 and 58% gave it a positive review. Whilst 55% of the audience said that they liked it with an average rating of 3.3/5. It also says that the film is better than the last one, 'with just enough meta humour and clever kills'.  

http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/scream-4/

Horror Film History

We've chosen Horror as our genre so i'm going to look at the history of horror films.

The first horror films were silent shorts by Georges Méliès in the 1890s. The Haunted Castle (also known as Le Manoir du diable) was made in 1896 and is sometimes credited as the first horror film. It was released on Christmas Eve (1896) and is only three minutes long. The film starts off with a bat which turns into a demon (human) who then produces such things as skeletons and ghosts. Someone then appears and holds up a crucifix which makes satan vanish into smoke. The film also has no sound.  

Blare Witch Project

Genre-Horror, we have chosen horror as it appeals to both male and female audiences. Horror will be easy for us to work on and more enjoyable when choosing a plot.

Blare Witch Project
This is an example of a horror film that relates to the one we have chosen, it follows the adventure of three College film students in America, Heather, Michael and Joshua. They set out to create a documentary about  the Blair Witch.The three film students set out into the Black Hills Forest to make a documentary on the legendary Blair Witch. Armed with a 16mm camera, a Hi8 video camera, and a DAT recorder, every step, word and sound is captured. After wandering around the Black Hills Forest, Heather, Josh, and Mike are cold, lost and hunted. Finally, one night after the last ray of light had left the forest black, they were never to be seen again. One year later, a bag full of film cans, DAT tapes, and video tapes were found. The behind the scenes, video footage and the film, are cut together, and this is..."The Blair Witch Project."
 This film would relate to ours mostly as it is about students being followed, and the dangers that they are  confronted with.

Research into Genre: Sub-genre/idea/iconography

Horror genre- Scream (1996) An example of a horror film, the first 12 minutes:

Scream (1996)

The opening 12-minute prologue scene in which all-American girl, sweatered Casey Becker was alone preparing pop-corn to watch a video at home when she received an initially playful phone call (she was asked a trivia question: what was her favorite scary movie? - and she replied Halloween (1978)); shortly afterwards, the repeated terrifying calls turned obscene, threatening and ugly ("No, you listen, you little bitch! You hang up on me again, I'll gut you like a fish, understand?...Can you handle that... Blondie?") and freaky when the caller said: "I want to know who I'm looking at"; when she rushed around to lock all the doors, and demanded to know what the caller wanted, the caller simply replied: "To see what your insides look like"; when the doorbell rang and she said: "Who's there?", she was reminded by the caller: "You should never say 'Who's there?' Don't you watch scary movies? It's a death wish"; she then threatened that her boyfriend would be arriving soon: "He's big and he plays football, and he'll kick the shit out of you!"; she was instructed to turn on the patio lights, where she saw her bruised boyfriend Steve tied up and gagged with duct tape across his mouth; in a game of movie trivia, the phone-caller first asked: "Name the killer in Halloween?" and then after she answered correctly, a second question: "Name the killer in Friday the 13th?" followed by her wrong answer: "Jason" (she was corrected with the proper answer: "Mrs. Voorhies", Jason's mother) "Jason didn't show up until the sequel"; her boyfriend was killed for her wrong answer; outside, Casey was chased across the lawn by Ghostface (wearing a Halloween costume), stabbed in the upper chest, choked, startlingly murdered on her front porch with a few more fatal stab wounds, and then hung from the front yard's tree for her parents to view; later, "Her mom and dad found her hanging from a tree limb, her insides on the outside".

The sub genre: of Scream is that Ghost-face is a stalker/serial killer this relates to our film because our killer is also a stalker as he looks at the girl's Facebook pages and watches/follows them in the van, he also kills the girl's turning him into a serial killer if he wasn't already. 

The idea:
Ghost face was created by Wes Craven and Kevin Williamson. The mask is based on The Scream painting by Edvard Munch and was created and designed by Fun World employee Brigitte Sleiertin as a Halloween costume, prior to being discovered by Marianne and Craven for the film. The character is used primarily as a disguise for each of the antagonists of each film to conceal their identity, while conducting serial murders and as such has been portrayed by several actors. Similar to our film, as our murderer also conceals his identity to show the main characters from figuring out who he really is. 

A good horror film has to have a good plot, this means also getting to know the characters as the plot moves on,  also try not to confuse horror with humour, so it can have humour as well as horror but you can't mean it to be one and it end up being the other, therefore it has to have a perfect mix. Another point that horror films can have is that it can be about more than just gore, which is also why it needs to be realistic and the cinematography has to cause tension and atmosphere. Therefore Scream not only has all these important features but our film will also include these to make a good horror film, that makes sense, flows and has character. The music Scream uses is always tense to create suspense for the audience to realise that something is about to happen, then when it comes to a climax it is more likely to make the audience jump, therefore our film will have to include climatic music to create an atmosphere to scare the audience. 

The Iconography of horror films:

Symbolic images which recur throughout the history of the horror film

• The haunted house
• Symbols of death
• The disfigured face or mask
• The screaming victim (in modern horror ‘the final girl’
• The phalic murder weapon: knife, stake, chainsaw
• Binary oppositions of good and evil eg Dracula/Van Helsing
• Darkened places where the ‘monster’ lurks: woods, cellars
• Blood and body parts (body horror)

DAK