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