Insidious Story board

Sequence

For my sequence Im choosing to do the narrative disruption, what happens is:
At the beginning of the sequence, the audience is shown the attic and will zoom on a small rocking chair which will move slightly, it will then cut to outside the attic near the steps where something will be thrown down from the attic and be shown falling down the steps. Before zooming in on the object and then going back to show the 'Grace' the ghost girl stood on the steps before moving down to the floor. It will then switch to a shot of the radio on (bars moving on the screen) and then 'Sammie'  and 'Russel' asleep (Sammie on the bed and Russel sat on the floor) before switching back to the door opening. Showing grace walking into the room, then a shot of radio silent and then standing over Russel lifting a heavy object (yet to be decided) over him. Close up on 'grace' about to drop it when it switches to 'Sammie waking up and then showing a pan round the room showing no one there. Next shot will be the the door slamming and then showing 'Sammie' and 'Russel' jumping up.
The reason I chose to do this sequence is because it is the first time the antagonist is introduced to the 'Sammie' and 'Russel' so it is the narrative disruption. With the genre being Horror it is the first time in the film which the genre becomes obvious as I want to make the shots quite short to build up tension.

Draft 1 synopsis

This is a film in the horror genre, set in the location of a family home on the edges of a city. The filming will be done in the evening/night time as this is when it is deemed the creepiest time of day. The protagonist is 18 year old Samantha Wall who has just finished college and will be starting university soon after moving into the house. The protagonist is meant to represent your average student so that it can relate to the audience and she is quite witty and smart making her a likeable character. The action that opens the narrative will be Sammie entering the house carrying boxes with Russel discussing funeral plans for the parents. This causes Sammie to get irritated with him. Russel is Sammie’s child hood friend she has only just recently met up with again at college after he moved away to a private school. This character is meant to help Sammie but in the end starts to cause problems by being too protective and leaving her alone to go investigate weird noises on his own.  No real special equipment will be required just an old rocking chair which I already have which can be used. The audience is encouraged to dislike Grace due to the fact she attempts to kill off Sammie and Russel on several occasions. The action that ends the narrative is Sammie leaving the house for good and selling it to a new family by talking on the phone but trying to warn them and failing. The best part of the film will be when Grace is investigating the house now that she’s loose and trying to scare Sammie and Russel away. The film will be targeted at young adults and teenagers as I want them to be able to relate to the characters due to a similar age range and the idea of them being a student.
Feedback from tutor:

Development of Characters

Characters:

• The villain/Antagonist (creates the narrative complication / disequilibrium).
• The hero/Protagonist (saves the day and restores equilibrium; sometimes he’s been on a quest to find something. The central protagonist in the action of the narrative). 
• The helper (aids hero in restoring the equilibrium)

Dream Cast & Character Bio:

Protagonist: 

Actress: Emily Browning

Bio: Moving into the edges of a city, at the age of 18 Sammie is beginning her new life living on her own after the tragic death of her parents. Who died in an unfortunate car crash recently, now she inherits the family home after finally getting a student flat she finds herself moving back home.

The helper:

Actor: Liam Hemsworth:

Bio: Childhood friend of Sammie, Russel is asked to help Sammie with her unpacking and re-packing her parents belongings after meeting up again at college for the first time in years after moving away to a private secondary school. Russel is quick protective of Sammie which causes his disappearance (death) in the story.

The Villian/Antagonist:
Actress: Chloë Grace Moretz

Bio: Due to how old the house it there is quite the history with old home owners. One family who lived there previously is who this character 'Grace' is from. Once living there with a father and mother, the daughter 'Grace' lived happily until her mother became ill with a disease which took her life. After her father went insane from grief he locked her in the attic where she later died of cold and starvation. 'Grace' now haunts the attic which is why its been always been avoiding being used at night by later house owners who have passed the message down. Now disturbed by the changing of house owners Grace escapes from the attic now that it is no longer left locked and begins to cause havoc.

Story type

Structure - Tzvetan Todorov (equilibrium narrative model):

Equilibrium – disruption – new equilibrium

Thematic - Levi Strauss:

suggested that narrative structure depends upon binary oppositions e.g. good vs. bad, dark vs. light. If one half of a binary is at work in a film text, then the other MUST be present in order to define it and vice versa.

The Wanderer story type:

The character arrives in a new place and discovers a problem associated with it. In facing the problem she reveals why she left the last place, then attempts to move on again.

Robert Mckee's genre/sub genre: Disillusionment Plot:

protagonist's worldview changes from positive to negative

Examples of Horror films

Blair witch project:

The blair witch project was the first of its kind, by making the film using hand held cameras and a low budget  the blair witch project was presented to its audience as a documentary about film makers who went missing in  some woods researching a horror story. This caused great impact on the horror industry because of how realistic it seemed and introduced the idea of hand held cameras in filming.

The shining:

The film doesnt just use the basic storyline to give the effect of a horror to its audience. It also uses very clever film making as the editing, mise-en-scene and sound are the main reasons. It shows that monsters or creatures aren't required in a film to scare the audience. 

Insidious:

I chose to use this film as an example as it includes the use of ghosts, creatures and demons instead of just the one. For the beginning of the film it isn't shown very often what the antagonist is until halfway through it is revealed. This film is a good example for sound as often in film sound is what is used to show the family there's something there. For example talking through a baby monitor or crackling when the demon is around.

Horror Conventions

Conventions of typical horror films include :
Setting: 

• Small communities
• isolated places
• large cities
• ghost towns
• abandoned: houses, hotels & insane asylums
• lakes
• roads
• woodlands
• shopping centers
• graveyards

Mise-en-scene:

• weapons
• religious artifacts
• blood
• knives
• masks
• cloaks
• shadows

Music & Sound:

• orchestral
• Heartbeat
• heavy breathing
• loud bangs
• white noise

Themes:

• Corruption
• the unknown
• science gone wrong
• Nature
• religion
• death
• monsters
• murderers
• supernatural
• nightmares
• madness
• lust
• suicide
• Good verses evil ( Binary)
• childhood issues

Narrative: 

• Establishing characters
• Discovery of a problem
• confrontation
• resolution

Characters:

• Antagonist
• Protagonist
• survivors
• Victims

Narrative structure:

• typical horror movies feature a main protagonist (or 'final girl') who must embark on a mission to survive or kill to solve their problems
• Often narratives are formulaic (particularly present is sub genres like slashers films). for example after an event that turns the killer insane or some childhood trauma, the villain returns to his home town and preys on teenagers. As the teenagers represent 'immoral behavior' and tend to be killed off quite quickly (with exception of a possible single survivor which is usually a woman)

Key Iconography

Iconography of Horror films ten to involve 'creepy' or isolated settings like haunted buildings or ghost towns. Horror films also tend to use darkened settings like woodlands or cellars. Whilst antagonists tend to have iconography of masks, mutations or blood splatters featured on them. They also tend to be shown with weapons which there are the classic examples of chainsaws, knives, guns, stakes (the weapons also tend to be connected to the protagonist who often have to use them in life or death situations). Other iconography includes screaming victims, religious icons, ghosts, creatures, Halloween, symbols of death, isolated characters and having the binary oppositions of good verses evil.

Chosen Genre

My chosen genre for my AS film studies work is going to be:

 Horror 

I have chosen this genre because the conventions make it so you can use a large amount of creativity. For example you don't have to use large groups of people, you can have a single protagonist but there is still the option of using groups. Combining this I have more available props that could be used for a horror storyboard and due to it being a storyboard, its easier to express the genre with lighting as no sound is featured, as generally horror films feature quite dark and expressive lighting.

Aims and Context

• The genre is Horror
• The sequence is from an extract of a longer film and this scene is the disruption in the story line
• My target audience is older teenagers and young adults, ages 16 to 25.
• My key stylistic is Mise-en-scene and as a secondry focus Im doing cinematography