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.

Moodboard

Planning




This is a picture of our mood board. As you can see, it shows the three things we will be focusing on in our feature: Gore, the police, and antagonists.

We wanted the antagonist to be masked, so we compiled images, and so we have a better image in our heads on how he will look. This also applies to the police.

The gore will not be as extreme as whats shown, but it does show what draws viewers in, and so using basic versions of this could be useful

Film classification - the BBFC

Research
The BBFC, or  the British Board of Film Classification, is a non-profit organisation based around the regulation and classification of films. Their aim is to protect audiences and children from content potentially dangerous to their age.

They Classify films into 5 categories:



U: The U symbol stands for universal and is suitable for ages 4 and up. In a U film, the language should be mild at the worst. Also, there would be no focus on sexual behaviour, but there may be obscure references to sexual behaviour.












PG: The PG symbol stands for Parental guidance, and this means that It is suitable for general viewing, bu younger people must be accompanied by an adult. There may be occasional swearing, such as "shit". And sexual references must be infrequent, unless they are in comedy to lessen the impact.





12: The 12, is simply for ages 12 and over. In the cinema releases, it is released as a 12a, so that means people under 12 can see it if there is a adult accompaniment. Strong language may be used, as long as it is justifiable by context etc. Sex can be seen in a 12, as long as it is brief and portrayed discreetly. Sexual references can be moderate at this point, but frequent crude ones are unlikely to be in this category. Moderate violence is also allowed but injury and ore must not be its main focus, only to build drama. Occasional gory moments can be seen depending on context. Physical and psychological horrors can be classified at 12, as long as horror sequences are not frequent, and the overall tone of the film is not too disturbing or horrifying. Dangerous behaviour such as suicide can be seen in 12 films, but must not go into too much detail which younger people could imitate. Drugs misuse can be seen infrequently as long as it has a clear showing that it is not glamorous to abuse drugs.





15 films are only suitable for the ages 15 and over.

You may see any of this in a 15 film:
  •   strong violence
  •  frequent strong language (e.g. 'f***').
  •   portrayals of sexual activity
  •   strong verbal references to sex
  •   sexual nudity
  •   brief scenes of sexual violence or verbal references to sexual violence
  •   discriminatory language or behaviour
  •   drug taking
There is no limit on the amount of strong language that can be used, however the strongest language shall be used infrequently dependent on the context. Sex can be shown in an artistic manner, but without a large amount of detail, and it could be brief.   Strong violence is permitted and will probably be commonplace in a 15. Dangerous behaviour  shall not go into detail which could be copied, These films must also not encourage drug abuse. In horror terms, there can be strong horror, and threat can be strong, but no sexualised threats can be used.
Image result for bbfc 18


 Films rated 18 can only be seen at the cinema or bought/ rented by adults.

 In 18 films no theme is prohibited, even if it may offend some adult viewers, as long as the material is not illegal or potentially harmful.
There is also no limit to the amount, strength, or context of language used; it can be direct or aggressive. Discriminatory language or ideas can also be used as long as they don't breach any legislation.
In terms of nudity there is also no limit in a non-sexual context and some sexual depictions are also allowed as long as the material is not a sex work ( a work whose primary purpose is to arouse viewers). Explicit images of sex may be used in the context of an educational work.
Violence can be strong and portrayed in detail with strong gore; including in a sadistic or otherwise sexual manner.
Drug use is allowed but the promotion of drug misuse is not.

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