Sweeney Todd - The Demon Barber Of Fleet Street.

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'Sweeney Todd - The Demon Barber of Fleet Street' I watched this movie with my mum the other day and I have to admit I was really scared!

The film is set in the 19th century and Sweeney Todd has arrived in London along with others, including a sailor. The plot basically is that Fifteen years ago, Sweeney was a barber, married to his wife when a corrupt Judge set his fancied his wife and had Benjamin arrested and sent off to prison. Now seeking revenge, Sweeney sets up shop above the restaurant where his former landlady, the worst meat pies in town. Learning that Turpin has his now grown-up daughter locked away. Sweeney decides to lure the judge into his barbershop and slit his throat with one of his rusty razors to get revenge. The judge gets away the first time Sweeney sees hm but takes his anger out on other vctims by slittingtheir throats, You then see the woman cutting up the remans to put in her pies!
With Turpin determined to marry the horrified Johanna, Sweeney waits for his next chance to get the judge in his barber's chair to get his revenge on him.

The whole movie is basically a flashback of the past, which is Sweeney getting revenge. On each murder there is a negative effects with a razor blade sound. Also the film hasn't got vibrant coulour which I noticed, it's all very dull which is similar to our film as it's shot at night mode.
This is such a good effect which would go well with our film! This was exactly the type of flashback I was thinking for our movie!
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Friday the 13th

Effects and Transitions

Today I watched Friday the 13th on sky movies and it was really good!
Many of the effects fit in well with the scenes. In one scene I noticed there is a white transaction from the room is dark, this is what we were thinking of putting in between each flash back, also some negative effects.
This film is quite similar to our openings as you see the killer strike then the rest follows on. Hopefully we'll be able to create similar effect to those used in this film.
The music in this film was quite dramatic whereas in our film it will be more calm, however the music will have an edge and that's what I like about it.

Film edit and changes - 1

first draft of film.

As our group have been trying to get our filming finished we haven't had much time to get editing done recently. We still have allot to go as adding more scene builds up the pressure. Here is a snippet of our work so far.




It's important to get audience feedback at each stage of the film so you can collect it all together and improve and edit things people point out.
We've already shown one viewing to a year 10 group.
They seemed to really enjoy, We've decided to add 'Damian Rice' music to our film. Or recreate something similar. Although this isn't a typical horror music style, we thought it would build up tension. The class seemed to really like the music and agreed with us that it builds up tension and was excited to see what happens next.
However some girls found the music sounded more of a romance genre than a horror, however when we re-create the music we'll be adding other effects and beats on top.
We hope to do another viewing to get more audience response in the near future!

Futher music research

Youtube research

Looking on YouTube for some more music clips to fit in with our film I found a few. We want the music to be calm and instrumental, but also edgy. This might be a little difficult to replicate on garage band, but not too hard. Starting from about 1:26 I thought was a calm and edgy melody.
I thought this could be used for when the victim is being chased, although the scene is dramatic we need something in the background to break up the visuals.

Audience response

School showing

Our group have been extended our ideas to make our film into a two minute opening rather than a film. We found faults in our film when showing this to our teacher and a year 11 class. Although everyone really liked it, it was kind of a film not an opening as it had a beginning, middle and an end. This made us re-think about our ideas to follow on.
Bearing in mind we've already filmed most of the scene we just need a few extra too carry on the story line so the audience will want to watch more. We've come up with two ideas we're going to film to see which one fits in better. We have the camera over the Christmas holidays so we'll be filming soon.

First Idea:

- We see the killer getting out from his van. We see the killer in his layre and see him sticking hair to a newspaper article.
- Two girls laying flowers outside there friends house
- Police men talking about the killings
- Then we see flash backs of previous killings:
(Girl strapped to a chair, Trisha walking home from laying flowers and seeing a shadow figure)
- We then return to the killer and see him picking up a knife and leaving, then zoom in on some . articles.
- The police then find his layre.

Second Idea.

- Following on from the previous footage we see the victims best friend laying flowers outside the victims house with the killer lurking in the background.
- She starts to walk home and notices he's following her so she starts running then he catches . . . her.

We're thinking of filming both ideas and seeing which fits in best depending on time. We hop to get this done by the Christmas holidays.

Questionairre

I conducted a questionnaire from 20 people to get feedback and more a background impression to what the audience think of films. I collected qualitative and quantitative data to get a statistics and rich data to help me with my research into my film. Here are a few of the main questions:

1. Are you male or female.
I asked this to see if films were genre specific. However this wouldn't make a difference. Most of the people I questioned were females anyway.

2. How old are you?
I think this question is of relevance because this would help me decide on the age certificate and to aim my film towards this age.

3. what is your favourite genre of film?
It was important to see what my audience's favourite genre was as they would be the ones to watch it so it's their opinion which counts. My results show me that 14 our of 20 people enjoyed thriller/horror the most. Most people circles More then 2 genres which shows romance the second highest. This question was then elaborated to why this would be your favourite. Most people commented on the scariness and unpredictable stereotype of thrillers. In my film I would want aspects to jump out and be scary.

4. which gene did you dislike the most and why?
Most people seemed to dislike musicals, western and action. I think this was because I aimed my questionnaire on 16 - 18 year old girls. This would have an impact on the genre as if i asked a male the least favourite is like to be romance.

5. Does the opening first two minutes of a film give a perception to the rest of the film?
I asked this question as I'm making a two minute film so I need the audiences opinion. This will help me decide What kind of footage to add. For example more action packed and the credits.

6. what way of advertising do you find most appealing when a film is advertised?
This is and important question because if I were to publish this film I would have know the best possible advertising scheme. The best advertising approach to films was bus advertisements and TV adverts.

Damian Rice

Damian Rice

For our music our group were thinking of having a calm melody with instruments such as the violin and piano as it will set a tranquil setting, but will also be tense for the audience due to the visuals. The music contrasts with the film, but sets a good atmosphere for the scenes, also creating sounds effects to go on top of the music.
We'll be re-creating music from ideas we've picked up making our music at garage band.
One our group have been looking at is Damian Rice '9 chimes' This music has a soft melody but with the help of sound effects is easy to replicate and gives an edge.

Film ideas - improvements

Film Ideas

So today we had another discussion to discuss other ideas and to improve ideas in the progress. We need to keep in mind that were doing a two minute film opening, not a film. Many of our ideas previously have been changed and a new twist added to make viewers be enticed to see more of it. Here are some improvement ideas we came up with:

• 1. There will be a pan shot of friends laying flowers outside the bath victims house. We will decorate the house and outside to look like a crime scene. we then focus behind them to see the killer in the back ground which will be slightly blurred.
• 2. There will be a two shot of police men showing how seriousness of the case thinking it could be a serial killer.
• 3. There is again a pan around of the killers layre to his wall e.g. pictures and hair of the girls he has killed then going on to quick flash backs of a couple of his murders to give more of an insight to the story. He then picks up a knife and leaves.
• 4. We then see an over the shoulder shot from the killers point of view to the girl as he's walking behind them.
• 5.The police find the killers house and run into it realising he's not thee but find all the evidence. he police will b shown running in at a low angle shots of their feet to show suspense and the panic surrounding. probably with a hand held camera.
• 6. Then we see the girl shut her front door and curtains and sit down but out the back we see the killer standing outside through the glass window.

Adding these extra scene will create a story to carry on (an opening) which audiences will be excited to watch more. We are thinking of having dialogue in the police scene.

New ideas.

Film changes

Whilst having a talk to Miss foster on Friday our group have had discussions to change parts of our film and then add a new story line. We've been thinking about our film and the criteria says an opening to a film. Looking back on our story line so far our film adds most of the gore and horror it he first two minutes leaving no cliffhanger or tension to add. If our film was getting marketed you wouldn't want to watch this as most of the excitement is in the opening!
However we are still going to keep our footage but just add more to keep the story line going and making people want to watch it.
Miss foster mentioned having a serial killer so the story goes on. Like that in 'Se7ev' when the seven sins are carried out and the police find out its a serial killer. This film is probably one of the best films I've seen making me want to watch it again; this is how people should feel about our film, but at the moment you see everything and so no suspense is left.
One of our group members Danielle is moving house soon and we seen this as a disadvantage, however now we've realised this can be added as a whole new twist in our extract and be used to our advantage.

The idea is to have the 'next' victim moved house because she's worried. (this will be after previous killings) and various shots of the house in boxes. As we can have access to Danielle's new house it will be empty. We're going to have the next victim sitting in a corner rocking with a high angle shot to show he weakness and vunerabilty. The density for the shot will be very plain and bare to emphasise she's moved house and the fact she's scared.

Costumes.

The girl will also be in white to portray innocence with a possible item of clothing which stands out in red to portray danger maybe. Miss Foster was saying to us to maybe have police in our film to carry on the story so it looks like there looking into a murder case. However as our budget is low we cannot afford various costumes so will have to economise with black trousers and white shirt, maybe a police badge and hat.
Another effect we were discussing was having chunks of blonde hair in the previous bath death with blood on it. Then we decided for the previous victims add a memorial form each victim and stick it to each article in his layer to show he's proud of his work. Like that in se7ev when the police find his layer.
Althought the killer is the main protagonist in the fim were not to sure if we should see him again after the first killing.
Following on from the blonde hair idea we then thought of having all the victims blonde so this will create tension if the film was to be produced as audience's would narrow down the victims and be scared for every blonde girl. We just thought this would be an effective principle in our film.

These idea are early days, but tomorrow we will have a group discussion to plan out the next sequence and storyboard it!

Paranormal Activity

Cinema Trip

Wow... what an amazing film!
Tonight my media group and I went to watch 'Paranormal Activity' I did expect the film to of been scarier at the beginning due to media reviews from different sources. The build up of each night leading towards the end created tension and suspense.
The recurring time-coded bedtime sequences make this movie stand out as something special. Unlike other mockumentary films, the shots in Paranormal Activity are long and uncomfortable. Many times the camera remains completely still and, in reality not that much happens. At the end most people squealed; including me!
Another aspect to the film which was effetive was the time at the right hand side of the screen. It showed how long the activities carriedon for making it seem more realsitic; at the same time building suspense.
The film had a resemblance to ours so far as the editing was rough which was part of 'Paranormal Activity' to create a home video effect. The whole of the movie was filmed by a hand held camera, however the night time bits were still framed with a tripod.
Every night the camera would be held on the tri-pod in view of the door way and hall and their bedroom. This holds our suspense as were looking for drama to happen ad even when it does we get scared. The way 'Oren Peli' the directer has thought of this is very clever as not much money has been put into it but is certainly very scary. I think it's to do with the concept of 'the paranormal world' and if it really exists. So because these things are unknown to human kind this ponders mystery and we question if it's real. It is especially effective as their are no credits and the beginning has an opening story to make the audience believe the story line is true.
There were certainly people wondering of it was or not. This links into the film 'Blair Witch' because his film was thought to be true and gave a real mystery!
One of the best features f the film is yo never see the demon or what is possessing her. in our film were using the same theory although ours is a serial murderer. I think this gives a more over all effect as the footage is implied, however may people find that having gore and scary footage is more effective.
I'm looking forward to watching 'Blair Witch' as I've heard so many fantastic reviews. As this film outing was so successful and enjoyable I hope other arrangements will be made in the near future!

Paranormal activity

On Monday the whole of our media group are going to see 'Paranormal Activity' Watching the trailer it look really interesting and similar to all of our film as the film is shot on a hand held camera which is how our editing looks at the moment. This film is relevant to our research as it's a horror and is supposed to be a brilliant film!

Garage band

Music

On Wednesday we started looking at garage band for the first time to try and put together some music. We started playing some beats so see what they sound like and found a really good high pitch sound. I found Garage Band quite hard to use, however when we have a proper tutorial I'm sure we'll find it okay.
I'm really excited to start looking at more sounds. Also doing more research into music to fit our film.