Location planning

Planning

In lesson, we had a group discussion about the locations we could use for our filming task. 

During the opening scene, Alistair is seen waking up and putting on his clothes. So in order for this to feel right, we need a place that is like a home. we found out quickly that none of our bedrooms were suitable, so we then discussed how he could be waking up on the sofa still in the uniform from yesterday, surrounded by work linking to the investigation he is so intent on pursuing, this would also explain why he had the nightmare. We decided to use one of our houses for this, so this will most likely be mine.

We thought the most suitable place for the workplace of Alistair was a police station, so we have emailed them to see if we could use it for filming, as it is definitely ideal. If the decline, we have two other places: The Oasis center, or school.

ImageWhile we would also need permission for this choice, it is closer and a community center, and so they are usually more accepting in tasks such as this. Also,it is fairly close to Emily, so this may be a good option.


School is the least suitable of the three proposed, but it is our last resort. It is the most accessible, so many meeting rooms and corridors will be free, so creating a police feeling will be easy enough to do with what we would have








Update: We have been contacted by the local police station, and they said we could record as long as were not in anyone's way and do not have access to any confidential files or information. We will also have to be supervised by an officer at all times, which is of no consequence to us so we shall be filming at the police station

Costume - Initial ideas.

Planning
During the course of this lesson, we had to plan our costumes for our characters to use in the start of the film. We, of course, started with our protagonist Alistair Murkland. His occupation is a detective, and as such, getting reference from google images is difficult the the amount of Sherlock cosplays and overly revealing women's costumes.







As shown here.

Because of this, we decided to look upon our mood board to get the feel of what a modern detective would look like, and we thought of a plain suit and tie, but the problem with this is that he fades into obscurity.

We then thought of having him without the jacket of a suit, making him seem more casual, which we all liked the idea of. We decided on his shirt being white instead of dark,as it helps with the idea of him getting desperate as time progresses and his shirt gets dirtier. Next is the red tie, as it insinuates the violence for his alter ego.






Awh, so cute.


Next is the mask for the antagonist. 
We decided that we cant have a truly original mask design as that would be expensive or very time consuming, and so we said we would develop an already existing mask to our needs.

We thought this mask would look good and incite fear into people because of the large pupils and facial features incites uncanny valley into the minds of he viewers

Title Ideas

Planning
Through research, me and my group soon realised that the title of the film should be proportionate to the protagonist. Therefore names such as Alistair and Murkland came to mind (The forename and surname of the protagonist). However after talking it over we sided wit the name Murk, using the term as the protagonist or viewer cant see what lies beyond what is directly in front of them. Therefore slightly and discreetly implying that he is also the antagonist and villain.


this is our rough ideas of what we wanted the title to look like:



We wanted the title to switch back and forth between two fonts, to show the difference and distortion between the two personas. Below are the two fonts.

Production company research

Research
Blumhouse productions was founded  by Jason blum. The first success came in the shape of paranormal activity, where the budget was a mere 15k, and the managed to gross $194 million. They also produced the sequels to this, the insidious series ( grossing $94 million), and the purge (grossing $94.3 million)

This is primarily a horror production company, but sometimes they try different genres. Here is the filmography



YearFilmGenreBudgetGrossRotten
Tomatoes
2009Paranormal ActivityHorror$15,000$193.4 million83%
2010Paranormal Activity 2Horror$3 million$177.5 million58%
2011InsidiousHorror$1.5 million$99.5 million66%
2011Paranormal Activity 3Horror$5 million$207 million68%
2012The BabymakersComedy$475,5118%
2012SinisterHorror$3 million$82 million62%
2012Paranormal Activity 4Horror$5 million$142.8 million24%
2012The BayHorror$2 million$1.6 million77%
2013Dark SkiesHorror$3.5 million$27.9 million40%
2013The Lords of SalemHorror$1.5 million$1.5 million45%
2013The PurgeHorror$3 million$89.3 million38%
2013Insidious: Chapter 2Horror$5 million$161.9 million38%
2013PlushThriller$2 million$28,86429%
2014Paranormal Activity: The Marked OnesHorror$5 million$90.9 million37%
2014Best Night EverComedy$289,5110%
2014OculusHorror$5 million$44.1 million73%
201413 SinsHorror$4 million$803,01162%
2014The Normal HeartDrama94%
2014The Purge: AnarchyHorror$9 million$111.9 million56%
2014MockingbirdHorror
2014MercyHorror
2014StretchComedy$5 million83%
2014Not Safe for WorkThriller$2.5 million
2014WhiplashDrama$3.3 million$49 million94%
2014The Town That Dreaded SundownHorror69%
2014OuijaHorror$5 million$103.5 million7%
2014JessabelleHorror$7 million23%
2015The Boy Next DoorThriller$4 million$52.4 million10%
2015The Lazarus EffectHorror$3.3 million$64.1 million14%
2015UnfriendedHorror$1 million$62.9 million61%
2015Area 51Horror$5 million$7,55620%
2015Insidious: Chapter 3Horror$10 million$112.7 million60%
2015CreepHorror95%
2015The GallowsHorror$100,000$38.2 million16%
2015The GiftThriller$5 million$59 million93%
2015Sinister 2Horror$10 million$48.5 million14%
2015The VisitHorror$5 million$91.3 million63%
2015The Green InfernoHorror$5 million$8.6 million35%
2015Jem and the HologramsMusical$5 million$2.3 million20%
2015Paranormal Activity: The Ghost DimensionHorror$10 million$68 million10%


The ratings weren't too high for anything comedy (looking at you best night ever), so I have a feeling they'll stick to horror from now on.






















Next up on the list is Twisted Pictures.


Twisted Pictures was formed in 2004, after the success with saw, which grossed $103 million dollars. Since then they have only really stuck to horrors (Take notes Blumhouse). They are incredibly good at horrors too, if we see the filmography:

FilmReleaseNotesBudgetGross (worldwide)
SawOctober 29, 2004$1,200,000$103,096,345[7]
Saw IIOctober 28, 2005$4,000,000$147,739,965[8]
Saw IIIOctober 27, 2006$10,000,000$164,874,275[9]
CatacombsOctober 30, 2007Released on FEARnet On Demand and then to DVD on February 19, 2008[10][11]N/AN/A
Dead SilenceMarch 16, 2007$20,000,000$22,217,407[12]
Saw IVOctober 26, 2007N/A$139,352,633[13]
VlogJune 2008Online horror film[14]N/AN/A
Saw VOctober 24, 2008$10,800,000$113,864,059[15]
Repo! The Genetic OperaNovember 7, 2008Limited release$8,500,000[16]$188,126[17]
The TorturedNovember 8, 2009Released at the American Film Market; released to home video on August 30, 2010.[18]N/AN/A
Saw VIOctober 23, 2009$11,000,000$68,233,629[19]
Mother's DaySeptember 23, 2010Released at Fantastic FestN/AN/A
Chain LetterOctober 1, 2010Limited release$3,000,000$585,362[20]
Saw 3DOctober 29, 2010$20,000,000$133,310,178[21]
Texas Chainsaw 3DJanuary 4, 2013$20,000,000$31,627,201[22]

There isn't as much detail as the one with blumhouse, but we can see that all have had a substantial profit, apart from the ones not applicable which are because they weren't in cinemas.

Our production company - Ideas.

Planning









When we discussed the name of our production company, we came up with two ideas:

Unhappy Life Pictures

We produce films with negative themes.
The name parallels with the film we are creating and the protagonist, who lives an unhappy life.
Backstory: we found a piece of paper on the table that said “Unhappy Life”, and felt it was appealing as a title of a production company.
The title could insinuate an album of 'unhappy' life pictures, which could work as opening sequence and/or logo.

Edelweiss Productions

A White Mountain flower, in the daisy family.
The flower was a symbol of rebellion of Hitler in Germany during Nazi rule, used by the Edelweiss Pirates. The flower can therefore be described as the symbol of rebellion. And our film company’s goal is to break out of conformity, to rebel against the modern society and its films that are all the same. We want to make something truly original.
Also, the translation for Edelweiss in German means Noble white, so this could insinuate the cause of ours is a noble one. And the “white” also insinuates innocence, so this could contrast with the dark and evil themes of our films, making them even more shocking.

We decided to settle for Unhappy Life Pictures due to our previous attachment to the name. Also, the edelweiss is a name of a song in the sound of music, and so could confuse the older generation.

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