Representation of Gender:

Although we only have two characters in our film opening, the stereotypes and representations of gender are clearly displayed in our victim and villain.

The stereotypes of males are that they are strong, dominant, in control, more violent and have power over women. The stereotypes of females are that they are weaker, more vulnerable, more emotional and can be under the control of a man.
Our two characters conform to these stereotypes as the villain is expressing his power over the victim and feels like he has the right to end her life as punishment for being a prostitute and becoming pregnant.

In horror films, the villain is often a male as they are seen as more threatening, more scary and therefore more likely to be capable of harming people without feeling guilty. The victims will generally be females as they are more innocent and vulnerable and will be easier to 'be murdered' by a man.

The fact that our victim is a female also ties in with what people first think about prostitutes as she is wearing revealing clothing and is hanging around in a dodgy area, if we chose a male to be the victim it wouldn't be as obvious and might confuse our audience which isn't really our aim.

People look down on prostitution and dismiss those who work in the field and in the media they are mostly portrayed in a negative light and that they like what they do, which is true for some cases but we wanted to show the other side, how some are forced into it and don't have a choice, making the audience feel sympathetic for them, which they wouldn't usually do.

Evaluation of Filming Chase Scene - 02.01.2014

[ADD PIC] On the day we shot the chase scene, Annie, Hayley and the 2 actors came round my house because the park is up that road. Annie began doing Jordan's make-up first; she applied liquid latex and then baby powder and make-up on his hands to make them look old and as if he had beaten the victim before she ran away. Then she put "Adore + Endure Me" and "A+E" on his face.

 

Next, Annie started work on the victim's face, making it look bruised and bloody, as if the killer had beaten her. The victim also had smudged lipstick and mascara on her face, to make her look more superficial and emphasize the fact she is a prostitute.

Annie had made the pregnant belly using a pillowcase filled with stuffing and on the day, when our actor tried it on, it was too big for her. So after many attempts, I managed to take out enough stuffing so it was fitted her but still look large as if she was quite heavily pregnant.

 

 Also, Hayley put the actor's hair in a messy bun which had loosened and strands were coming out.

 This is what our 2 actors looked like at the end of hair and make-up. Overall, the preparation went successfully as our actors looked how we wanted them to, especially the special fx make-up on the killer which looked good after Annie had tried out so many variations of it.

After, we made our way to the park and we took up a ladder so we could film the high angle shots, special fx make-up to the victim's arm wound which comes half way in the chase scene, the story board to direct the actors and the camera and tripod to film with. When we got up there, luckily we found a trolley so we used that to put our stuff in, including actors coats as it was very cold. The trolley was greatly beneficial to us as we kept moving around in the wooded area.

 I filmed the first shot, the establishing shot of the victim running away, using the tripod and this was hard because I had to partly hold the tripod as the ground was slightly unstable because it was extremely muddy. The week we filmed, it had been raining a lot, so when we were all moving around the park, it was very difficult. However, luckily the rest of our opening will be inside Hayley's shed. As well, the path the victim was running down was a popular path for people to walk down with their dogs so there was a lot of waiting for us so that in the shot there was no one else apart from the victim.


 When we began filming (around 2pm), it was relatively bright; bright enough so we did not need to use additional artificial lighting. In many of the first scenes we used natural lighting, however at around 4pm it got very dark so when we filmed the last few shots where the killer catches the victim, we used artificial lighting to illuminate the actor's faces for the camera.

We were not expecting the sky to get as dark as it did within half an hour so our last shots are quite dark. My group and I decided to incorporate this into the story - that the length of the chase had been going on for quite long, so when the killer finally caught her, it was late. This will make surprise the audience that the killer is that determined to get the victim, and will also emphasize the killer's agility juxtaposing the victim and how she tired after a while.

Before it got dark, we filmed the scene where the victim got cut by a branch and we used the ladder for this. The ladder was placed on muddy ground and I was on it so Hayley had to hold the ladder while I filmed. The ladder was against a tree and the branches were blocking the camera so I had to break off a few, but I kept some in the way to make the scene seem more realistic. Being on the ladder was not a problem as it was actually quite stable without Hayley supporting it.
Also, Annie and Hayley poured some fake blood on the branch and the leaves underneath and I filmed the killer approaching this. Meanwhile, Annie was applying the victim's wound from the branch so we saved time and when that was done, we filmed her being cut by the branch.

After we finished filming that, it began to get very dark, as mentioned, so when we found a thick enough tree for the victim to hide behind, we needed artificial lighting. Annie filmed the last few shots and Hayley and I held the lights. While Hayley and Annie were setting up, I directed the actors on what they had to do. All this saved time as we knew it was getting dark quickly. The lights were small which meant they did not project masses of light onto the actors which was good because when we watched over the recordings, the surroundings were dark and only the victims faces were illuminated, making the scene more scary and fitting with horror and slasher conventions of darkness to reflect the killer's inner darkness.

Once we had finished filming we looked over the scenes to see if we needed to re-do any however we felt they had turned out well. The filming process took around 2 hours, and our chase scene will be about 1 minute long. The only complications during filming was the muddy ground, we wanted our victim to be barefoot, then we decided she would wear heels but when we saw the ground, we decided she would wear trainers to make her seem less dignified and careless about her image. Also, the dog strollers were a minor issue which, again, we could not help so we had to work with.

Actor Scouting:

Villain:

For our villain we knew the type of guy we wanted but it was quite difficult to find anyone who would be willing to participate with our filming.

Jordan (20)

He is around the appropriate age for our villain, and although he isn't that tall we can easily change the camera angles to make him appear taller. The main feature that is ideal for our villain are his eyes, he wears either glasses or contact lenses and they look creepy at times, which would be good if we decided to have an extreme close up shot of his eyes.

Victim:

For our victim, we want someone who looks particularly feminine and yet innocent and vulnerable. They also need to be available to film and if they are around our age, they could be busy with school work etc. All of our main choices are in our school year, which is a similar age to our villain, but we decided to go with Catherine as she is slim and has long hair which is a perfect fit for our character.

Catherine (16)

 Emily (16)

 Kayleigh (16)

Deconstruction: Victims and Villains Clothing

Deconstruction of the outfits worn by the villains and victims:

ATM:

~ The mysterious anonymous killer in ATM is never revealed, throughout the film he wears a winter coat with the hood up to hide his head. This is unusual as it seems like an ordinary item of clothing, not something a serial killer would wear, but the simple change of having the hood up and the use of lighting to darken out his face makes him appear so much more creepier and scary. 

~ The victims of this particular attack are three colleagues who have come from work, this is why the men are wearing smart business clothes, but slightly different shades so they don't look identical. The woman is dressed in a smart yet casual coat, possibly over smart work clothes so we can assume they all have a 'high-paid' successful job and are just three ordinary people stopping at an ATM. 

~ These outfits aren't typical of a victim from a slasher film but they are suitable to their individual characters, this gives me the idea that our costumes for our victim(s) should be linked to their personalities and attitudes, not just because they are the victim. What I found from researching victims is that their outfits are closely linked to either their jobs or personalities, so unless we go for a specific type of victim (which we might be) then our characters costume should be based around them.

A Nightmare on Elm Street:

~ Freddy Krueger's outfit in the A Nightmare on Elm Street franchise could have been considered ordinary (excluding his skin and hands) but has now become an iconic costume, related to the character and will also be connected with it. He is usually seen wearing a dark coloured trilby hat and a red and black stripy jumper with dark coloured trousers. If worn separately, they would look normal but when put together someone would instantly see the resemblence to Freddy Krueger.
~ Taking inspiration from outfits like these, I think it would be effective to have our character wear something slightly ordinary, but as it's them wearing it, they should make the items of clothing creepy and well-known to a killer. On the other hand, it can also be good to have something completely out of the ordinary but relatable to our villain.

Practical Investigation: Victim and Villains Clothing

Villain:

~ For our villain, I think it would be important to have a costume that either we already own, can be made easily or is relatively cheap. At the same time it has to be relevant to our character so the audience can understand that they are the villain. At the moment, our villain is an adult male, somewhere in his twenties or thirties and his main victims are young teenage girls, who become pregnant when underage. I liked the idea of our villain being simply dressed in something completely inappropriate, such as a pristine suit. This would be confusing as not many serial killers would wear a suit whilst murdering their victims. 

~ We could even take it a step further and make him wear a tuxedo or a groom's wedding suit, maybe hinting that he was jilted or his wife died suddenly. If we did decide to do this however, we would possibly have to make sure that the reason for his inappropriate outfit was explained during the two minute opening as we wouldn't want to confuse the audience. 

~ Similar to the ideas above, I also liked the idea of our villain wearing a police uniform. This would be juxtaposition as well with the idea of good vs bad, police vs criminals. Again, if we chose this option we would have to explain why he would be wearing it, maybe in the past he was a police officer but something happened so he had to change jobs or he saw something that changed him mentally. 

 

~ We are currently thinking of including a scene in our opening where the villain cuts into the victim, almost like a cesarean and then we had the idea of dressing our villain in something related to a hospital, as that would be related to the character but creepy at the same time. If choosing this option, then we could also include a surgical mask that are normally worn by dentists although nurses wear them as well, this could have negative effects on our audience and maybe bring up bad memories. 

 Victim:

~ If we did decide to go with the underage pregnancy/prostitute obsession then as our villain's targets are so specific, they would all be wearing very similar clothing. Our victim would be wearing very revealing clothing, depending on the time of weather, but if we choose to set it in winter, then it would be more obvious to the audience that she was a prostitute as she wouldn't choose to go out in revealing clothing in the freezing cold weather. If we definitely go with the pregnant idea, then we would have to make sure the top would be loose enough for the victim to have a 'baby bump' but still cling to her body. I think our victim should almost definitely be wearing a short skirt, to exaggerate her femininity and her attempt to show off as much of her body as she can. Below are some of the outfits I could imagine some of our victims wearing, although it depends on how far into the pregnancy he takes them, but these photos give a general idea. Obviously the summer-y aspects would need to be changed, they might not be as colourful or pretty but in terms of size I think they are accurate.

Deconstruction of Killer's Den:

Deconstruction of the killers den:

ATM (2011):

~ In ATM, three colleagues are trapped in an ATM by an unknown man, two of them die and the third one is framed for the crimes (as 'THE MAN' did not make himself shown on the security cameras), in the final scene of the film, the hooded man is returning to his lair (a storage locker). It all looks normal until he moves a few boxes and we can see there is a hidden room behind one of the walls, containing all of his information.

The Man opening the locker.

~ I like this shot as I think the silhouette of the hooded man is really effective against the white of the locker. We still don't know who the hooded man is and I think it is clever that he does not have an identity or personality at all. I think we should definitely consider the idea of the killer remaining anonymous, or only revealing certain aspects about him as it can be good to leave the audience in the dark for the majority of the film. I also think that if the majority of our film opening is filmed in the killers den, it would be extremely important how we should the location on screen and the mise en scene. The killers den is often an extremely vital insight into the life of the villain and who he is exactly.

The 'normal' room.

Secret door.

~ I also like the idea of the villain having a way of stopping people from entering their den, like seen in ATM, he has a normal room, so if someone were to open the locker accidentally, then they wouldn't be suspicious of what they would find, as it all seems like a normal storage locker. I think when considering the location of our villain's den, it would be important to consider how easy it would be for someone else to enter it, for example the police, if making a raid. Also the idea of a secret room shows his intelligence and his urgency of not wanting to be found.

Sitting at his desk.

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Desk

~ Then we get a shot of the wall above his desk, and it is filled with bits of paper which we find out are things like maps, pictures and blueprints. This shows that all of his murders are extremely planned out, and the pictures of the security cameras with details is clever, meaning that he is never caught on tape and so is never seen as playing a part in these crimes, making the victims themselves look extremely suspicious and often getting blamed for the murders.

~ The fact that the lighting comes up through the tracing paper makes his hands look darker and more like a silhouette, adding to the creepy effect. We can also see the detail that he goes into when annotating his sketches and blue prints. A small detail but important, the pen he uses is red, symbolising the blood of his victims, it's the small details like these which can be really effective if the viewer is paying enough attention to pick up on them and that is why mise en scene is extremely important in a killers den.

~ Here are some more examples of the things located around his desk. There are the blueprints of a building and he would need to use these to plan out exactly where everything will happen, including himself. The picture of the security camera looks like he has taken it himself and I can personally imagine him going to these areas before hand, to check whether they would be suitable for his plans. He's also written on it that the focal length is 120, this would be useful so he knows where to stand without being seen clearly but also must be quite difficult to find out, assuming he had to research the specific type of camera and this shows the depth he goes into to find out out the correct information.

~ There are also a few maps on the wall, this would be needed so he knows where the best locations are to commit this type of murder, obviously he likes the idea of ATM's and my guess is that he goes to all the local ATM's and checks whether his idea would work successfully or not. In the last screenshot, he is drawing a line with a ruler, I particulary liked this as I thought it represents his mind almost, that everything single thing has to be precise and accurate and that everything must go according to plan.

~ I believe that the general area that our film is set in, isn't as imporant as some other aspects as we are limited with locations to choose from, not being able to travel too far. I think it would be more important and also effective to focus on the killers den, as the villain is the main part of our film opening, and with our current idea we are planning on focusing on them more with flashbacks of their previous murders, and if they are mostly inside then the outside location isn't as important as the inside of their den.