The group's original production plan included four members but one left, requiring changes. They decided on a horror genre and storyline inspired by a member's experience. Research was done into horror conventions and successful elements. The storyboard went through revisions to improve the ending. Casting and costumes were considered to match characters. Sound, camera techniques, and typeface were researched to enhance the title sequence. A production schedule was created to shoot over two days.

1. By Naomi, Russell & Khemi

2. Production Position
Originally, there were four members to our group. Recently one
member chose to leave the group and we had to work around
this.
• Naomi – Typeface; responsible for exploring different fonts, sizes, colours which
coordinate with the genre.
• Khemi – Research into the musical elements of horror films and how music is used to
set the mood and create suspense.
• Russell - will be looking at the work of the camera in horror films in order to have input
in these areas later on.
• Diana (The member who left) – Storyboard; Think up a suitable story for the title
sequence and organise it onto a storyboard on paper which is accessible by all members
of the group. As Diana left the group Khemi took on this role as we all discussed as a
group a story line we found effective.

3. Pre-Production Planning
Genre
We explored different title sequences from all different genre’s some being
from the films:
- Comedy – ‘Catch me if you can’
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gaLDyrun_Cc
- Romance – ‘Romeo and Juliet’
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3sukP4NpPVE
- Action – ‘Casino Royale’
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oWEPGNjDi1M
- Horror - ‘Panic Room’
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sqIclb4qsJI
After discussing with the group we agreed that we felt horror would be a
more interesting title sequence to do.
When Diana was in our group she had an idea of a storyline which she
felt would be effective for our production and worked with the genre we
had chosen, she discussed this with our group and we all agreed that it
would be effective.

4. Pre-Production Planning
What Makes a Horror Film Successful?
After deciding Genre we brainstormed ideas as to what we thought
made a horror film successful including things such as a good
narrative, an unexpected twist in plot as the film progresses, and
“jumpy moments” in attempt to scare the audience. Following this
we began discussing horror films that successfully embody the ideas
above, such as “Scream”, “Orphan” and “Drag Me To Hell”. We also
shared accounts of scary situations that happened in real life.

5. Horror Film Conventions
 Blood
 Death
 Killing
 Villain
 Victims
 Haunted houses and isolated settings
 Monsters
 Supernatural
 Evil
 Suspense

6. Storyline Synopsis
Storyline was partly inspired by a previous group member’s ‘true story’ of an
experience a family member had. Much of the content is also inspired by the
film we chose to look at in the most depth which was ‘Drag Me to Hell’…
It’s just a normal day in the selfish self obsessed world of Joseph Francis; his
manager shouting at him in one ear accompanied by the voices of angry
customers and screaming phones in the other. Of course, little does he know
that this day was going to be far different from any other he had
experienced.
Born into an Christian family, Joseph dismissed any idea of there being a God
when he was robbed of his parents at the age of 8 in their efforts to defend
him as a burglar ravaged their home.
Consumed by hatred and bitterness, Joseph became cruel and as cold as the
marble steps that he used to walk up to enter the mosque.
However, when Joseph encounters a sinister spirit in the image of an elderly
woman he becomes cold not because of his hatred towards God and those
who took his parents… but through terror and fear.
Will Joseph rediscover and restore his faith in God and forgive those who
caused him so much pain, or will he be consumed by the evil that not only
resides inside him, but floats before his very eyes… The Stranger…

7. Title Sequence Content
 We wanted to our title sequence to draw viewers in straight away
and decided that the best way to do this would be to display the
titles over moving image i.e. the opening scene. Animation
wouldn’t really have suited this kind of film and sticking to a
simple title sequence like that of Saul Bass’s ‘Man With the
Golden Arm’ would not have done the job.
 When the time came to begin storyboarding, we knew we wanted
to show our main character’s journey through the park and his
encounter with the ‘Stranger’, but we weren’t sure where to end
the sequence…

8. Storyboarding
The First Draft… (Draft 1)
In this draft of the storyboard wanted to see the
following things:
•A close-up of the main character’s feet and mid
shots of him as he walks through the park. Text
overlays are meant to appear in different corners
of the screen throughout these shots.
•His encounter with strange woman
•A shot of main character running away after
seeing woman in true form.
•A shot of his house from outside then of him
lying on his bed traumatised. Then,
•The title ‘Stranger’ appearing screen over black
background.

9. Storyboarding
Revised Storyboard (Draft 2)
We weren’t quite happy with this
ending and thought it would be a
better idea to cut out the shot of main
character running away and those of
his house and him on his bed and end
it differently.
We decided to instead fade in
(through white) the main title after a
‘The Ring’ style CU shot of the our
scary woman, then end the sequence
with a shot of our main character
waking up suddenly. This would
suggest everything just seen had been
a dream or some kind of flashback.
This would get viewers already asking
questions which is exactly what we
wanted to achieve.

10. Storyboarding
Title Sequence Ending
This is an scanned image of the end
section of the second draft of the
storyboard.
We have recently had to revise the
tenth frame due to concerns about
whose bedroom we would use and
how convenient it would be. We
decided it would be easier to set it
in the college and have him waking
up during a lesson after falling
asleep at a computer desk or
something along those lines.

11. Storyboarding
Final Revision
1 2 3 4 5
6 7 8 9 10
11 12 13 14 15

12. Casting & Costume
Cast
 The only other challenge we faced was getting the costumes and
make-up ready and figuring out who was available on which days
so we could start planning our production schedule…
 Whilst studying the casting to ‘Drag me to hell’ we realised that
choosing your actors/actresses is a crucial part of the film. Casting
can only be chosen after the plot is in place which we learnt from
the producer of ‘Drag me to hell’ in his explanation on behind the
scenes of ‘Drag me to hell’.
 we wanted an actor/actress which fitted the character profile and
felt the audience would also become connected too.

13. Audience
Establishing Target Audience
It is a well known fact that a large sector of a horror film’s audience is made
up of teenagers as many researchers have stated this, so it was clear that
it would be a good idea to try and appeal to a teen audience as much as
possible. An obvious way of doing this was to make the main character of
young adult age which we did.
After we established this, some research was done into the impact
of gender on a horror film audience.
It was found that Males tend to prefer violent and gory horror films
e.g. Saw and that Women are more likely to be drawn to films
where the story is told from a woman’s point of view and the
woman is the main protagonist of heroine.
"Recent high grossing horror movies such as The Ring and The
Grudge all had predominantly female audiences" - Laura Standley,
The Temple News Online.

14. The Rain – barriers, the wet
dampening his thoughts. Bad
Mood Board weather represents hurt and
struggles.
Head spinning – Confusion,
no sense of direction.
Grey spirals – works with
head spinning. The colour
sets a negative mood and the
spirals represent no set path,
a stand still to the characters
every day life.
The woman underneath the
storm – represents evil
Old person sleeping on the
bench – vulnerability,
tiredness and exhaustion.
Emotions picture – different
emotions which are felt and
represented to the audience.
Man sleeping – represents
last scene in the production.
Dead end sign – Characters
life coming to a stand still.

15. Casting & Costume
Costume + Make-up
 We were going to have the Stranger woman
dressed in rag-like clothes and then in a red
dress when she is shown in her true form.
 We then had to re-asses this as the colouring
didn’t really fit in with the nature of her
character.
 A ghostly figure usually appears in rags or in
off-white, white or some kind of pale attire.
Red whilst it can be associated with danger or
anger, it is more often used to symbolise
passion and sexuality, especially when on a
female.
 As far a make-up was concerned, we drew
some inspiration from Halloween costumes
and immortal characters from other films.
Shot from ‘Drag Me to Hell’…

16. CASTING & COSTUME
Casting
Whilst studying the casting to ‘Drag me to hell’
we realised that choosing our actors/actresses
is a crucial part of the film. Casting can only be
chosen after the plot is in place which we
learnt from the producer of ‘Drag me to hell’ in
his explanation on behind the scenes of ‘Drag
me to hell’.
When choosing the cast for ‘Drag me too hell’
the producer identified someone who they felt
stood out and related to the character, they
chose a person who the audience would feel
sympathy towards. Our group decided that we
wanted to follow the same technique; we
wanted an actor/actress which fitted the
character profile and felt the audience would
also become connected too.

17. Type Face - Naomi
 Fonts
 Sizes
 Positioning
 Layout
I explored different fonts using www.youtube.com and by entering word processors and
seeing which fonts are available on a basic programme’s. As our genre is Horror I
investigated which typefaces would not be suitable for our production by looking at
different genre title sequences such as comedy and romance and compared them too
horror title sequences.
With this I found that round typefaces such as ‘Comic san MS’ and feminine fonts would
not fit the criteria of horror. However there were many fonts which were suitable for our
‘algerian’, Blackadder ITC,
presentation, this includes
Chiller, Matura script capitals.

18. TYPE FACE
Size of Font – For the crew members the size is going to be ‘32’ , For the title
is going to be ranging from minimum to maximum, by the use of
transitions.
Effects – A lightening effect is going to be used on the title. A soft glow is
going to be used on the crew member credits. With the transition of a
random appear and disappear at different positions on the screen.
Spacing of letters – The spacing between the letters are going to be quite
close together to give a feeling of suffocation and no escape. This will add
to the intensity of the title sequence.

19. Sound Research - Khemi
Music plays an extremely important role in the a horror film. My job was to look at the different kinds of
music used in horror films and identify which ones would be suitable for our project.
I looked at the work of composers of horror film soundtrack and different styles which have been
previously used.
I started having a look at the free music and found a lot of good music but haven't yet found anything that
would fit fully. They weren't neutral enough and don't really allow for a subtle transition. So I had the
idea that we could do something I've seen done in a number of movies; I thought we could have the
main character listening to some loud music then cut between having the music playing from the
main characters point of view, i.e so we can hear it clearly as if it were part of the main soundtrack,
then have it playing from a viewer's perspective i.e. so the music is muffled and distant sounding.
After much searching I scrapped this idea when I finally found a piece of music that would fit perfectly with
our project.
[sound clip]

20. Camera Technique Ideas - Russell
 We thought of different camera techniques
that could be used in an effective way in
horror. For example, using a “whip pan”
shot then freezing on a scary character
would be effective as it has the element of
surprise.
 Whip pan- when the camera moves
sideways so quickly that the picture blurs
into instinct streaks.

21. Mon Tues Wed Thurs Fri Sat Sun
4th PRODUCTION SCHEDULE
5 6 7th th
8th
Costumes and
th
Camera to be
9th 10th
props are collected from the
going to be college
collected for
our actors.
11th 12th 13th 14th
Second day of
15th 16th 17th
Practise shots First day of
shooting – Actor
around the college shooting
waking up at his
to get used too the (Depending on
workplace looking
equipment. weather) - Actress
confused and
walking through
scared.
Pictures to be taken the park and actor
via camera of our on bench.
Putting footage on
group working to
the computer and
put on blogs.
defying time
length.
18th 19th 20th 21st 22nd 23rd 24th
Applying effects and Adding transitions
type face with the and effects where
audio necessary.
25th 26th 27th 28th 29th 30th 31st
Finalising production.