What Makes a 15 Certified Film?

I researched into what classifies a 15 film using the website; bbfc.co.uk.

A 15 certificate film means that no-one under the age of 15 is allowed to view it, rent or buy the film. Issues such as drugs and sex are accepted, however they are not permitted to be shown in detail or to encourage. Aggressive and strong language may be used throughout the film, but not to a high extent where the strongest language is repeated purposefully. Violence and horror are allowed to be shown, as long as the film does not focus on the pain or torture of the character involved for too long.

The horror opening my group will be producing is aimed to be for a 15 certified film. This means that my group will have to stay to the boundaries of the certificate guidelines at all times whilst filming.

What I have learnt from watching horror film opening credits

- From watching the opening credits to "Dawn of the Dead", "Splice" and "Mimic, I have learnt several things which we need to take into consideration when creating our own opening credits.
- As our opening will contain quite a lot of video footage, I think that it would be a good idea for my group to have the writing over the top of the footage, instead of seperately; like on the opening for "Splice".
- Also, I think that it looks most effective when the film name isn't revealed until the end, as it adds anticipation for the audience.
- The opening credits often contain the name of the main actors, and the producers and directors. This is because more people pay attention to the opening credits than they do the end ones, as the film would have already finished.
- In my opinion, short, sharp camera shots look best as they switch from one to another quickly, which adds apprehension for the film.

Mimic; Horror Opening

For my third opening, I watched the credits for the film "Mimic". Again, I took notes on what the opening credits contained.

- Starts with video footage and images.

- The camera shots are quick, and jump from one to another.

- Company is named first; Dimension films.

- Actors names flash on the screen quickly.

- Images of bugs and insects appear.

- The quickness of the shots provide confusion and anticipation to the audience.

- White angled writing.

- Flickering screen on some shots.

- People who helped in the production phases names are shown towards the end.

Splice; Horror Opening

I also watched the opening credits of the film called Splice. Like "Dawn of the Dead", I have taken note of what is displayed throughout the credits.

- The writing is displayed in white font on a black background, and the transition fades the words in and out of the screen.

- The film institution is shown first, (Warner Bro's, a Dark Castle Entertainment).

- Unknown image/video, creates an uncomfortable feeling for the audience as they are unsure what it is.

- The goes on to show actors and actresses names who star in the movie.

- Names of people who are key in the production stages such as make-up, music and special effects are shown.

- Unlike "Dawn of the Dead", the film name appears last in the opening credits.

Dawn of the Dead; Horror Opening

I watched the opening credits of the horror; Dawn of the Dead. These are the features I came across whilst watching.

- The writing was displayed with a red font, on a black background. The transition of the words coming off the screen gave the effect of dripping blood.

- The first thing that I noticed was the film company name appearing at the beginning - (Universal Pictures, Strike Entertainment, New Amsterdam Entertainment).

- The transitions appeared seperately to the video clips shown.

- The film name (Dawn of the Dead) appeared in capital font, in red.

- After this, the main actors and actresses names were displayed.

- Inbetween the writing and text, a short quick video clip was shown, there was a repeated image of a face with blood flashing up on the screen between clips.

- Towards the end of the credits, producer and co-producer names are given.

- The credits end with the name of the director of the film.

- Throughout the opening credits, sinister music and appropriate sound affects were used.

Lesson 22/11/10

In todays lesson, we discussed the task we had previously been set; to be up to date with the pre-production stages of our horror film opening. We then viewed a couple of well known horror film openings to get inspiration and research for our own. We took note of features such as what appears on the screen to the audience, and what affect this gives. I have watched three film openings from www.artofthetitle.com and have taken notes of what I saw. These will be updated onto my blog shortly.

Our Chosen Location

We have chosen to use location 2, (Matthew Tyler's house), to film our horror opening. This is because we think that the layout of the house fits better with our planned storyboard. Also, it has the most important advantages which will affect the turnout of our opening. However, we need to make sure that when it comes to filming, we remove objects such as family photos to make the location look convincing and realistic.

Location Idea 3

This location idea is for Inbox(1) to be filmed at Roxie Bright's house.

Advantages;

- Spacious front room allowing wide camera movements and angles

- Double glass doors (fits in with storyboard)

- Space in the hallway to see both the kitchen and living room (as storyboard plans)

Disadvantages;

- Layout of room isn't as planned on our storyboards

- No blinds covering the double glass doors, as we need them as part of our opening

Location Idea 2

This location idea is for "Inbox(1)" to be filmed in Matthew Tyler's house.

Advantages;

- Double doors leading outside (fitting in with storyboard)

- Large main room giving plenty of room for camera movement and required shots

- Plan and layout of house easily fits in with storyboard ideas and will be filmed easily

Disadvantages;

- Family pictures on walls (will need to be removed)

- Small kitchen, possibly not much room for certain camera angles/movements

Location Idea 1

This location idea is for Inbox(1) to be filmed in Hannah's house.

Advantages;

- Has double glass doors leading onto patio (fits with storyboard)

- There is access for the camera to be able to film the kitchen and living room at the same time (a pan shot from one room to the other)

- Most of the storyboard fits with this location

Disadvantages;

- Room with double doors is not yet decorated (no curtains/blinds at the doors)

- May not have smooth continuity as the room may be getting decorated soon

Characters for "Inbox(1)"

Name: Karen Osborne Age: 42
Character name: Karen Galloway
Character age: 38
Part Description: Parent of Emma Galloway, going away for the weekend with her husband.

Name: David Osborne Age: 46
Character name: David Galloway
Character age: 41
Part Description: Parent of Emma Galloway, going away for the weekend with his wife.



Name: Connor Tullett Age: 16
Character name: Unknown
Character age: Unknown, guessed around 40.
Part Description: This character is unknown and mysterious, only seen in glances. Uses a false Facebook identity, "James Coldan" in which he uses to speak to the teenage girls, Emma and Claire.



Name: Roxanne Bright Age: 16
Character name: Emma Galloway
Character age: 17
Part Description: A teenage girl looking forward to a weekend with her best friend whilst her parents are away. Emma is an only child, and finds this isolating, therefore see's Claire as a sister figure. Emma's strong mind sometimes gets the better of her, and shows a controlling and stubbourn side to her. She manages to control her emotions and put on a front to Claire in tough times.

Name: Hannah George Age: 16

Character name: Claire Clayton

Character age: 16

Part Description: Teenage girl staying at her best friend's (Emma's) house for the weekend whilst her parents are away. Claire is seen as a bit of a flirt and is currently single. Her family have been through a tough time recently due to the death of a close relative. Emma has been very supportive and has invited her over for a chance to take her mind off things.

Storyboards for "Inbox(1)"

Above, are me and my groups updated storyboards; the ones that we used for our final footage. We changed our storyboards to fit our new idea, the reasons given in other posts on this blog. We feel we will be able to edit our footage together more easily with these storyboards, and that it will fit the horror genre better. Also, we have cut out the dialogue. In our previous storyboards (shown below), we had a lot of dialogue planned. However, the camera's sound recording isn't of a very high quality, therefore we would not be able to make it sound professional. We are confident with working with our new storyboards now we have all the footage, so we think that it will work in the editting stages of production.

Below, is me and my groups original storyboards which we are not using anymore. We did start to film our footage based on these storyboards, however after discussing our ideas, we decided it would easily go over our time limit of two minutes, and would not have enough time to emphasise the horror genre in the opening.

Lesson; 17/11/10

As a group, we discussed which location we will probably choose from to use for our filming. We then drew a rough plan of the location and made sure that our planned storyboard would fit in and work with the layout. We checked that the location had all of the requirements we would need; for example double glass doors leading to the back of the house. Also, that we would be able to place the camera in suitable positions to film the footage we had planned.

Lesson; 15/11/10

We finished the main part of our storyboard for our horror film two minute opening. However we do still need to add what opening credits we may want, and where we wish them to go. We have not done this yet, as our title "Inbox(1)" is still just a working title, therefore may be changed. Also, we have not cast our characters yet, so cannot introduce them until they are confirmed. After we had completed the main sections of the storyboard, as a group we started to discuss the possible people which we could use to cast as needed characters. Using a word document, we wrote a list of people in which we could choose from, and wrote which character that we may want them to play.

Lesson; 10/11/10

This lesson, our group continued with the process of making our storyboard. We got a lot further with this, and it is almost completed. We discussed the different sound effects which we may need in creating this opening, and we also discussed the characters which we will need to cast. We came up with a few location ideas, which we will look at later on; once the storyboard is complete.

Lesson; 08/11/10

In todays lesson, me and my group started to produce the storyboard for our final chosen idea for our horror film opening. We discussed what we wanted the opening to look like and decided on different camera shots, angles and movements which we think will make the opening effective in its purpose; to suit a teenage audience. We discussed the option of the opening containing dialogue, and have come to the decision that we will include certain sections with dialogue involved.

Our Final Chosen Idea

Our chosen idea is Idea 1. This is because we thought it would appeal the most to the teenage target audience, and was our original idea. The idea of Facebook being involved would relate to teenage viewers, and we agreed that due to costs and practicallity, we would be able to produce this opening more efficiently and realistically. This idea has a better variety of camera angles and shots which we would be able to use.

Horror Film Opening Ideas for "Inbox(1)".

Idea 1

Two teenage girls, Roxie and Hannah, are on their own for a weekend whilst their parents are away. In the evening they are on the laptop and set a facebook status saying that they have a house to themselves for a weekend. They then get a friend request (apparently being a teenager) from someone they don’t know. They then start to talk to the person on facebook chat and they act friendly; but seem to want to know why they are on their own. When Roxie goes to draw the curtains in the front, she sees a dark figure standing on the street opposite her house, talking on the phone. She thinks nothing of it, but suddenly there is a knock at the door. They don’t answer as they weren’t expecting anyone so just choose to leave it. However just a few moments later they hear slow footsteps on the outside decking at the back of the house, and glimpse a figure through the gap in the curtains. There is a loud repeated knock at the glass patio doors, so the girls go to a different room to get the house phone. When they come back to the room, the doors are slightly open, and a breeze is moving the curtains; but nobody is there. 

Idea 2

Two men are in an isolated old building a few miles away from civilisation. Surrounding them inside the building are dead bodies and severed body parts and many different tools covered in blood. One of them seems to be on the phone giving details of two teenage girls being on their own, and gives an address. There is a laptop in the corner where the other man is using the social networking site facebook. There is a flashback of girls screaming and being tortured, and panicking whilst a dark figure is standing over them – the flashback from the figures point of view. After the flashback, back in reality, is the two men putting huge sacks into the back of a van, and getting into the front; leaving a hand print in blood on the white van door. They then start to drive down a long country road towards a town where the lights of buildings can be seen in the distance. 

Idea 3

Two teenage girls are seen on the floor of a kitchen, both covered in blood. One of the girls is dead, the other is sitting up staring straight ahead of her breathing heavily. Lying on the kitchen floor, also covered in blood is a birth certificate; with a death date written over the top in the dead girls blood. The objects in the kitchen are all smashed, the windows broken, the doors off their hinges and everything is wrecked. The girl picks up a smashed photograph which is on the kitchen floor, of the two girls which was taken earlier that month. She cuts her finger on the shattered glass and more blood drips over the photo, dripping down the half with the girl who is now dead. As she is looking at it, it goes into a flashback which will then show the whole story behind what happened, and why they are left like this.  

Making Our Pitch; 01/11/10

As a group, we made our pitch for our horror film opening; working title - Inbox(1).
We introduced the synopsis for our entire film and we got approval to start the pre-production stages of the opening. The pitch was filmed and will be uploaded to this blog on a later date. From the pitch, we can now start to plan the storyboards, locations, and characters etc for our horror opening.