Character Influence: Michael Myers

The thing I personally love about the character of Michael Myers is that he is a psychopath that actually scares me. The thing I have a high regard for the most has to be how people can just look at him and instantly get a thrill. I think that the main reason for this is that it is never actually explained why he is, they way he is and also why he prefers to conceal his face away from the world by wearing a mask. This makes him mysterious and ominous because the audience is confused by him and finds him unpredictable.

I have read various details about the Halloween movies on IMDb and found that the writers looked well into detail with the character of Michael. It may seem obvious that they would seeing that he’s basically the main character, however the research the creators underwent to discover what actually is scary and thrilling is admirable. By looking at their research I’ve found that the main aspect of Michael besides his backing story that makes him so chilling is the simplicity of his character. He doesn’t shout or run; he walks slowly and never speaks. He appears content at all times and this makes it always seem as if he is in control.

It is assumed that a teenage male would admire such a character but I as well as my group feel as if it would be a great idea if we had our own interpretation of Michael Myers in our thriller film. We are not going to completely rip off everything about him but we will try to interpret Michael’s key characteristics into our own masked characters. This means that we are not going have our masked characters talking and running and acting really aggressive, instead they will remain contempt a lot like the villains in the film “the strangers”. We will conduct a focus group and research what kind of masks frightens people the most.

-By Harvey Young

Costume/Props

So far as a group, we have decided on most of our costumes and props. However these decisions are not perminate as they suit our potential script which we have not decided is final. For the main villains of the film we have decided on basic white masks which conceal their identities. As mentioned previously we want the masks to be of a simple design as this will make the villains mysterious and scary as opposed to a cheesy complex mask. However we have not decided on their costumes as their backgrounds are not finalised. For example, if we choose to have the villains as mafia type gangsters, then we will probably have them wearing black suits with ties. However, another option we have is to make the villains stereotypical thugs wearing hoodies and jeans, although we are shying away from this idea as it seems too cliche and cheesy.

For the main character of the film he will probably be wearing a red t-shirt with jeans as the colour coding of this symbolises danger which will foreshadow the film. He will be a typical 16 year old male who is walking through the woods to get home.

For our props we have decided that our villains will carry and use blunt weapons such as metal baseball bats. This is because our villains aren't out to kill the main character but instead severely hurt him. So far we have decided to use two metal baseball bats and a lead pole. Below is one of the baseball bats that will be used in the film.

So far we have most of these items but we are still researching the masks. We want to get cheap masks but don't want them to look silly and extremely fake. All the masks will be identical to each other however, we are going to personalise each one using spray paint. The villains have no dialogue throughout the entire film as we wanted them to feel mysterious and seem extremely scary. Because of this we are using the spray paint to show the personalities of each of the villains. For example one of the members may have a happy looking mask with a big smile to emphasize the fact that he is phycopath that enjoys committing these crimes.

- Jack Windsor

Initial Thriller Ideas

During our Media Studies lesson today we thought it was crucial to sit down as a group and discuss our thriller ideas to finalise the script. As a group we all came up with what we thought was a great script and we also figured out what props/costumes and locations we will be using. Below is a video of Harvey Young answering some important questions regarding our Thriller.



- Jack Windsor and Harvey Young

Character Influence: Travis Bickle

As a group we were all very influenced by the film 'Taxi Driver.' Mainly we were influenced by the main character 'Travis Bickle.' Travis is a Vietnam veteran who becomes a night time taxi driver in order to cope with his insomnia. During this time he sees a lot of crimes including the prostitution of a 12 year old girl. Because of this Travis decides confront all the people responsible for this prostitution and kills them all. What makes Travis an effective character is his transformation throughout the film. For example at the beginning of the film he is pretty much just an average guy. However, during the end he looks drastically different as he has shaved off most of his hair to form a mohawk.



We wanted our villains in the film to be very similar to Travis Bickle in the sense that they lead a normal life during the daytime but become psycopathic at night. However instead of preventing crimes our characters would commit them instead. We also wanted our characters to change their appearance during this time and decided on the idea of masks as this would make our characters mysterious and the audience would not be aware of their appearance.

-Jack Windsor

Prelim Log - Final Choice of Music for our Preliminary

During the editing of our Preliminary Film we came across a problem. We were not able to access the site which allowed us the download the chosen track for our film and consequently could not use it. However there was a small choice of music avaliable on the computer already so we decided to choose from one of these. We decided on "Beethoven's 9th" as Anthony Wilson and Harvey Young were heavily inspired by the 1971 thriller film "Clockwork Orange" directed by Stanley Kubrick. Anthony Wilson said "Beethoven is a running theme throughout the film and is normally use contrapuntally." He highly recommend this piece of music and as a group we decided the music flowed very nicely and therefore we used it in our film. Jack Windsor tweeked the music slightly so it was very faint during dialogue scenes. It also gradually built up and finally ended on a crenscendo during the last scene.

Below is "Beethoven's 9th Symphony"



-By Jack Windsor

Prelim Log - Editing our Preliminary

Seeing that we were so far ahead of other groups we decided to get our editing out the way so we could concentrate more on comming up with the concepts for our thriller film. Harvey, Mike and Ant all watched as Jack amazed us with his editing knowledge which proved to help us a lot in both the speed and ultimate success of the production of our preliminary task. The fact that we are able to edit so quickly and precisely gave us a lot of confidence for our thriller film. Mike Holttum, Anthony Wilson and Harvey Young were able to contribute towards the editing by telling Jack what we thought and watching as he created it or edited it to fit our ideas and concepts. As a group we made every decision together and made sure that everybody’s voice was heard. The group managed to agree on the title; "Jack Got Wood".

During the editing we had an unforeseen problem where we broke the 180 degree rule, we realised that it was more important to stick to the rules set than getting the dialogue we wanted, purely because the dialogue wasn’t that significant to our film. We managed to tackle this problem because Jack Windsor cut out some unnecessary dialogue scenes in order for our film to stick to the 180 rule.

Below is a video of all of us putting in the final touches to our film in the editing suite.



By Harvey Young

Prelim Log - Music for Preliminary Task

Because we finished filming our Preliminary Task and knew it was nearly time for us to edit, we decided to look into what music should be in it. We were not sure if music was meant to be played but we decided to find a suitable track just to be safe. We found a website called Freeplaymusic.com which had various tracks to be downloaded, copyright free. Because our Preliminary was more of a 'Comedy' than anything else, we decided to have a very upbeat and happy song. We came across the track "Turn The Volume Up" which suited our Preliminary very well. Below is a sample of the track that we uploaded to Youtube.com





-By Jack Windsor

Prelim Log - Storyboard for our Preliminary Task

By Jack Windsor, Anthony Wilson and Michael Holttum

Prelim Log - Planning the Preliminary Task

We were asked to create a short film for our preliminary task to show that we could use cameras and editing appropriately. For our task we were asked to demonstrate and show an understanding of match on action, shot/reverse shot and the hundred and 180 degree rule, by incorporating it into our preliminary task. We started by designing a storyboard showing all of the camera angles, run time, Mise en scene and more. Jack Windsor and Anthony Wilson drew up the storyboard using camera angles that they thought would work well, while Mike Holttum gave his opinion on each shot and came up with changes. Harvey Young was absent and consequently had no input on during the initial designing of the storyboard. However, when he returned he gave us his opinions on the storyboard.

Jack and Anthony decided to do a comedy where a boy (Jack Windsor) would walk around school carrying a doll (Woody from Toy Story.) He would later meet up with his friend (Harvey Young) and the pair would leave the room holding Woody’s hands. The toy would break and Jack says “I knew I should have got a F**cking Buzz Lightyear” and the pair would walk off.

During the filming each of us took on a different role:
- Jack Windsor was the main actor of the film.
- Mike Holttum filmed each shot.
- Harvey Young was an actor on the film and gave his opinion on each shot.
- Anthony Wilson worked closely with Mike Holttum to ensure each shot was filmed correctly and that we would have no jump cuts due to not planning each shot.

The picture taken and uploaded by Harvey Young shows Mike and Anthony during the final shot of the preliminary.

By Jack Windsor, Harvey Young, Michael Holttum & Anthony Wilson

Potential Location

As a group we all met during half term to discuss where we would film our main task. The group had many ideas on where to film but we wanted a location that would suit our Thriller Film. Finding a location in London was one of our first ideas, however after we discussed it in more detail we decided against the idea as it would be a hassle getting there and would probabily not suit our task very well. We all decided that a field or woods would be a great idea as it would suit the storyline and would add an eerie atmostphere to our film.

We all live around the Shenfield Area and we found a great field which is a walking distance from all our houses. There is also a McDonalds right in front of the field so we could easily get a lift up there. Our draft storyline features one of our character getting beaten up in an isolated area so our chosen location seems like a great choice.

Below is a sattelite view of our chosen location.

So far this seems to be our favourite choice for our location, however this is not permanent and if we stumble upon a better location we may use that instead.

- Jack Windsor

UK Film rating system

U – Universal - This is the lowest film rating and should definitely be suitable for audiences age four and above. “U” films should have a positive moral framework and counterbalance violence, thriller, threat and horror.

PG – Parental guidance – An unaccompanied child of any age is able to watch films under this rating and it should not disturb children ages eight and over, but younger children’s parents are asked to consider whether accompanying them would be necessary.

12 – This means that no one over 12 can view the film

12A – This rating is for cinema films only, it means that children under 12 can watch the film as long a they are accompanied by an adult

15 – This means that the film is only suitable for children aged fifteen or over, it is illegal for someone under the age of fifteen to rent or buy a video work given the rating “15”

18 – It is illegal for anyone under the age of 18 to buy or rent a video work rated “18” this can often due to graphic material.

R18 – Films with this rating may only be shown in specially licensed cinemas, and only supplied licensed sex shops to people over the age of 18. The rating “R18” is a film classification primarily for explicit works of consenting sex or strong fetish material involving adults.

By Michael Holttum

Music sequence influences

Me and Jack have been working closely on coming up with ideas for the music for our final film. Seeing that we have not started filming yet and only have very brief ideas on what we want to do, me and jack deemed it appropriate to take a look at the music sequences that we personally love and try and work out why they work so well. Bellow is several videos consisting of me and Jack's favourite thriller music sequence;

I chose the ending sequence to Donnie Darko, one of my favourite films. I also find that the music that goes with the sequence when Donnie meets frank in the bathroom “Manipulated Living” an influence, however this scene truly is a masterpiece and has the effect on me that I want to transfer onto the people that watch our thriller. I especially like how the camera is showing everyone’s perspective at the end of the events that have occurred and how the song is so appropriate for what is happening.



The scene I chose is a huge contrast from Harvey's choice. I decided to go with my favourite scene from one of my favourite films 'Shaun of the Dead'. The scene starts by playing 'Don't Stop Me Now' by Queen. However this music is Diegetic as it is playing from the jukebox. This music is also very contrapuntal as while it is playing Shaun and his friends are beating an old man to death (because he is a zombie.) However the way they do this adds to the hilarity as they do syncronized motions which almost look like a dance routine. I believe the choice of music really makes the scene as it is a very happy song with an upbeat tempo which is completely out of place in a zombie film, making it pure genius. This scene is guarenteed to make you laugh even if you have seen it already. This use of music has influenced our entire group and we have a few ideas about how we can incorperate contrapuntal music into our own production.



-By Jack Windsor and Harvey Young

Initial Ideas

During one of our Media Studies lesson we decided to settle down and discuss initial ideas for our thiller film. At first this proved to be a struggle, as we all had our own ideas of how we wanted the thiller to be, however we decided to make a hybrid of all of these ideas and create a spider diagram showing all of our best ideas.

Jack Windsor and Anthony Wilson came up with the idea of having a police interview with a man who has been brutally attacked. The Mise of Scene would be of a small room with very low key lighting. There would be a table with two chairs and beam of light in the centre of the table. When the Police Officer asked Anthony a question, such as "Who did this to you?" we would have a flashback to Anthony Wilson being stalked and attacked in the woods.

As a group we decided this would be very successful if we did it correctly. For example we didn't want it to come off cheesy with a bunch of hoodies chasing after one guy. We wanted to have menacing men with masks stalking the lone character an attacking him with no emotion. The men would be very reminscent of main masked character from the thriller film "The Strangers." This character showed no emotion as he tortured and killed helpless innocent people. How the characters were portrayed in the Strangers film really thrilled the audience and we wanted to do something very similar to this.



We asked Mrs. Cookson what she thought of our idea. She said It was a solid first idea, however she thought the attacking scene could destroy the film if done badly. We took this advice onboard and made sure we won't do anything ridiculous such as a Chasing Scene.

-By Jack Windsor and Anthony Wilson

Outtakes

Because we finished editing our Preliminary before everyone else, we had some time to spare and decided to create an Outtakes video. We took all of the funniest outtakes and put them together. We also added text over the video to make it more humourous. For example we added "Fail" over parts when that take became a failure. Jack Windsor did the majority of the editing with Anthony Wilson helping him ocassionally.

We showed our outtakes to a few people during a free period and they told us it was extremely funny. During the outtakes video Jack Windsor taught Anthony Wilson how to do some basic level editing. Because of this Anthony now knows how to edit down the raw footage which will become extremely useful during the Final Thriller.

Below is our outtakes video:


As you can see, Jack's unintentional comic performances provides for an extremely funny outtakes video that has also become popular on YouTube as a fail video. Jacks higher ability of editing has helped our group a lot and will become tremendously useful will be a significant contribution towards the success of our final thriller film.

- By Jack Windsor & Harvey Young

A Clockwork Orange Analysis

Immediately the audience is greeted by a red screen which instantly gives a sense of danger before the film has even begun; this is supported by the very dramatic eerie music playing, which is usually associated with the thriller genre, there is then a close up of a sinister looking man’s face staring directly at the camera, then dramatic music continues to play as the audience begins to notice the long take used on him, giving a sense of importance to this character. The camera then slowly begins to zoom out revealing 3 other men staring blankly without a purpose, the man also appears to be slightly in front of the others suggesting that he is in control of them. Non diegetic dialogue then kicks in as the audience learns that the sinister looking man is named Alex. As the camera zooms out fully the voice over states the words ‘ultra violent’ and the non diegetic music suddenly raises in both pitch and volume giving a sense of danger, and that these men could perhaps be very dangerous. Within this scene there is a lot of colour coding of the colour white and high key lighting, from the mise en scene of their clothes, to the mannequins scattered around the room, this gives the sense that the 4 men are within their own environment in this room.

There is then a sudden clean cut as the non diegetic music stops revealing a close up of two bottles of alcohol and a man’s hand, the lighting is of a complete contrast to the previous scene going from high key to low key- a typical convention of the thriller genre- explaining to the audience that they are in a different place. The diegetic sounds of a man singing can be then heard and as the camera slowly zooms out revealing a homeless man it’s clear to see that its coming from him, the camera zooms out from a close up to a long shot showing him very vulnerable and perhaps in danger as the shadows of 4 men move into frame, suggesting that these men have brought the danger. The audience can then hear the ambient sounds of footsteps slowly walking towards the man as the voice over links directly to the images shown on screen ‘dirty old drunk’ as the camera quickly cuts to the 4 men slows walking towards him in an extreme long shot. Behind the men is a light source shining onto them, linking them back to the place the audience saw them first, their own environment, suggesting that these men have done things like this before, as it appears they are ready to attack. The camera comes slightly closer into a long shot keeping all men in the frame but still giving the impression that they are in contact with the homeless man. We then see a mid shot of the homeless man being threatened by one of the four men, as shot reverse shot is then used with an extreme close up of Alex’s face, this almost confirms that he is the leader and is in charge as he is the one doing the threatening. As the four men begin to attack the helpless homeless man, its noticeable that the mise en scene of the props used are typical conventions of the thriller genre, with bicycle chains being used as weapons, bats and even knives being used all to the sounds of the men laughing at his pain, giving a contrapuntal feel to it all.

There is then another clean cut used as once again the lighting is a contrast of the previous scene going from low key to high key, the audience can see a close up on a picture of a vase holding flowers, with what appears to be non diegetic classical music in the background, a sight which would usually portray peace and happiness, however it is broken up by the diegetic sounds of a woman screaming. The camera tilts down revealing an establishing shot of what appears to be a run-down theatre. However, the non diegetic classical music doesn’t at all reflect what is going on onscreen as it shows a woman being attacked by 4 different men. The music therefore is contrapuntal, and this straight away gives off some enigmas – often associated with the thriller genre – as to why the beautiful classical music could be playing to such violent images being shown on screen, and could give an insight of what type of person the character of Alex really is.

-By Anthony Wilson

Advice We Received from Year 13s

During one of our Media Studies lessons we received alot of advice from Year 13 Media Students about what to do during the making of our Thriller Film. Below is most of the advice we recieved:

1. Remember to bring all parts of the camera as it is crucial to filming good, steady shots.
2. Choose good realistic locations that ties in well with your storyline.
3. Use the 180 degree rule to allow your viewers to understand what is going on in the scene.
4. Choose your group carefully. Make sure you choose people that will pull their own weight and will take the tasks seriously.
5. Always remember to rewind the camera when uploading it to the computer.
6. Remember to use the correct cables when connect the camera to the computer as using the wrong cables could corrupt your footage.
7. The camera is not good at picking up sound, therefore keep the dialogue to a minimum.
8. Be careful of lightning as the footage may appear darker when viewing from a TV.
9. Plan shots carefully as you don't want to have any 'Jump Cuts'
10. Make sure that when filming keep the same, weather, time, place and costume to keep the continuity editing.
11. Ensure that everyone in the group is well prepared and all equipment needed is brought to the location, along with a fully charged camera.
12. Ensure that we are loyal to the main characteristics of a thriller film and at the same time reframe from creating yet another cliché.
13. Plan everything with your group to save time and to ensure that filming doesn't occur over multiple days.

- By Jack Windsor, Harvey Young and Anthony Wilson

Mask Ideas

The main aspect of our project was to guarantee that we didn’t plagiarise anyone else’s ideas and create something unique but at the same time ensure that we were portraying the key factors of a classic thriller. Coming up with a story line was hard enough however we also encountered problems with the iconography.

One of our main themes was to have mysterious masked characters however seeing as this was to be a big part in our production, we wanted the masks to be spot on and create the right atmosphere that sets up the entire sequence, so we decided to ask Pete McLaughlin (Member of the group responsible for Regent House) why he chose the masks he did.
Pete’s explained how the simplicity of the masks was the key to their success in creating a chilling feeling within the audience whenever they watched the thriller sequence. This made a lot of sense because the basic idea of a face being concealed is much scarier than a stupid monster or ghoul because it is way more believable.

As a group we decided that we would use basic masks made from simple materials to simply conceal our faces rather than expensive complex masks that dismiss the sense of realism that all thrillers must feature.

Below is an example of the contrast between a complex mask and a basic one;



By Harvey Young and Jack Windsor

Top 10 Thriller Films

While doing some independent research, I came across a site that had a list of the Top 50 best thriller films. These were calculated by the number of votes they recieved from their online community. Many of the Top 10 such as 'Fight Club' and 'Silence of the Lambs' are big influences on the designing of our Thriller film and 'Fight Club' is one of Harvey Young's favourite films ever. Seeing that so many of our favourite films are actually classified as thrillers and are included in the top ten thrillers, it has been made obvious to us that most of these films and the style they were shot in will have a huge impact on the production of our own thriller. Our main goal is to create a thriller that has the same core aspects as our favourite films but remains matchless and unique. Because of this I thought it would be appropriate to upload the Top 10 of the Top 50 list which

comes directly from IMDB.com

- Jack Windsor and Harvey Young

Storyboard Planning

During one of our Media Studies lessons we were asked to analyse the opening to the thriller “One Hour Photo.” The opening sequence was very short and was only 30 – 40 seconds long. However, there were many different shots in this sequence and some lasted only half a second long. This made us think about just how many shots there were in this short amount of time. Thrillers use many shots to make the film seem more realistic. We were asked to storyboard the opening and we realised how time consuming this was.



- Jack Windsor, Anthony Wilson, Michael Holttum and Harvey Young

Key Terms and Conventions of a Thriller

By Anthony Wilson

Cape Fear Opening Sequence Upload

One of our tasks was to analyse the opening sequence of “Cape Fear”. We decided to split up the essay, however the sequence was not on youtube.com, so this proved to be difficult, because of this we used a capture card to be the first people to upload the sequence onto youtube.com and we remain the only youtube channel to have an upload of the opening sequence of “Cape Fear”.



By Harvey Young and Jack Windsor

Cape fear - Textual analysis

Immediately the audience can hear the sounds of non diegetic water when the image of an eagle is seen flying above the water we then hear the threatening non diegetic music begin to pick up in pace and volume to help bring the feel of suspense to the scene, with the image of the soaring eagle still in view the audience can see the typography of Robert Di Niro’s name linking him to the eagle, suggesting that this man could perhaps be the predator within the film as an eagle is associated as a predator.

The very powerful threatening non diegetic continues giving an almost contrapuntal feel to it whilst looking at the calm waters, however, the non diegetic music suits the typography as very eerie and slanted to help give the audience the impression that something isn’t quite right. As the word ‘Cape Fear’ appears on the screen through the waters it almost gives the audience the impression that cape fear has some significant to water, this is supported by the non diegetic sounds of water continuing throughout. There is then an extreme close up of both a man’s eyes and nose as they slowly fade from what appears to be within the water, suggesting that perhaps the dead lay beneath the water, this is supported by the colour coding of the colour red, showing danger and maybe even lust, the fact that the person responsible for these people being beneath the water did it for a reason. The camera then turns to a vertical way revealing a close up on a man’s face to make it appear as though the man is outside of the water, looking in at the bodies that lie beneath, perhaps suggesting that he is the predator of the film.

The non diegetic music begins to grow in pace and volume ever so slightly as the opening credits continue as the audience see a mid shot of what appears to be a man’s torso with the colour coding of the colour green as a background, a colour which is usually represented for jealousy or revenge and suggest that the man is looking for revenge and could perhaps foreshadow certain events which occur later on in the movie.

There is then an extreme close up of a eye with a fairly photo negative effect given to the picture, as the camera zooms out revealing a mid shot of a girl sitting down, both the dialogue and the negative effect used on the girl suggests that the girl is talking about something that has occurred in the past, giving the effect that the movie stars as a new equilibrium. The mise en scene of her clothing is a white buttoned up shirt, the colour white is usually associated with purity, whilst her buttoned shirt suggests she is protecting herself from something, or someone, as the camera slowly pans revealing her bit by bit.

~Anthony Wilson

The shot focuses on notorious evil dictators that suffered both paranoia and power addiction. This goes well with the non diegetic dramatic music because we are seeing very dramatic images. The shot then goes on to reveal the tattoo imprinted upon the imprisoned man. The shot has a very smart effect on the audience purely because we notice he has a portrayal of truth and justice tattooed on his back almost in a poetic manner however, as the camera zooms out it is revealed that the man is in actual fact incarcerated, which makes the audience question his motives as well as his history (he could possibly been cheated out of his deserved justice). The jailed man is doing some form of exercise which shows us that he is possibly preparing for something and at the same time gives off the imagery of him bowing down to the pictures of the dictators he obviously admires. The various law books also suggest higher education which provides a contrast between his education and his incarceration.

~Harvey Young

A zoom out of the man, shows us that he is in a cell as the bars are visible. This gives the convention of a thriller as he is in prison because he has broken the law. The diegetic sound of footsteps becoming louder and louder tell us that someone, probably a guard is approaching.

In this sequence, there is a tracking shot of the man walking in front of the guards, this shows us that he is trusted by the guards and also feared by them, this is backed up by the fact that they do not cuff him showing he maybe above the law. The character is asked to leave his cell and a long take is used showing him walking towards the exit. Again we are shown that the character is respected when there is a close up of the guard opening the door for him.

~Mike Holttum

Match on Action is used when the guard closes the door after him and a cut is used on another guard opening the gate to exit of the prison. This symbolically shows that the man is closing the door on his prison life and is opening a door to his new found freedom. A mid shot is on the man if as he is asked if he wants to keep his books. He replies "already read them" showing that he has been in prison for a long time and has managed to read every single book which were of law. This foreshadows that this character could use this books to his advantage later on in the film. There is then mise en scene of a storm behind the mans head as he slowly walks away from the prison, the storm could indicate the fact that the man is brewing a storm, that something bad is coming, and its coming with him.

~Jack Windsor

By Anthony Wilson, Mike Holttum, Harvey Young and Jack WIndsor