KS: Sound Research

http://www.watchthetitles.com/articles/00182-Splice

Lilli what do you think about the soundtrack in this opening for 'Splice'. I think a similar instrumental piece with overlayed sounds of a heartbeat, and/or a child singing could be very effective for our opening.

http://www.watchthetitles.com/articles/00156-The_Invasion

This opening for 'The Invasion' has a particularly atmospheric soundtrack where the sound creates tension and builds suspense as the film proceeds.

http://www.watchthetitles.com/articles/00135-Terminator_Salvation

Lastly, 'Terminator Salvation'. Although the soundtrack has quite a masculine feel it is very punchy and dramatic we could attempt to try and create something similar with a higher pitch but with a similar tempo to still capture the dramatic tension. Lilli, look out for how the titles edgily fade out, it is something we have seen before and liked. It uses an interesting tracking back camera technique, and shoots directional light on certain areas which I think look very effective. 'Terminator Salvation' also shoots through bars as we previously saw in 'Sweeney Todd' with a similar dark black colour wash.

KS: Location Recce

After going on our own location recce we were able to freely experiment shots in new areas, to test out whether they would be appropriate locations when it came to filming our real opening. Although the weather was poor we traveled to various places in Sevenoaks, including a park, a graveyard and lakes to observe and draw conclusions if they are suitable to use for later filming.

We tried out shooting both footage and took stills for our montage editing using a variety of camera techniques and thinking carefully about our composition to create unique videos. By using our prop dolls we could identify with different heights and lengths of shooting, so we were able to see a more realistic picture to what our final outcome would look like. I think the graveyard shooting was most successful as it really created an eery and dramatic atmosphere that we will definitely use for our film opening. We also tried to recreate a similar shot from our Wilderness Woods recce of the swing through wood, however we were not sucessful so are now considering using our original footage in the future. Particularly the tomb stones, and the ivy covered grave stones created a mysterious authentic feel which we had previously wanted.

We still need to find a large warehouse area which we will use as the psychologists room, but we have now selected all the exterior locations including, the dolls style house, a park, a lake, a graveyard. Also a studio where we will film the scenes with the mirrors and distorting reflections, which has bright directional light which will be appropriate for that particular scene in comparison to the darkened settings we will use for the others.

Below are some of the stills from our shoot.

Audience Research Questionnaire

We used surveymonkey.com to create a survey to help us with our audience research.

Click here to take survey

LH: Mood Board

Wilderness Woods cut1

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yk7QpDWRgG8

LH: Vertigo

What I like about this piece is the use of close-ups and the use of a colour wash. Both of these techniques are things we are thinking of using in our final piece. The colour wash of red is quite sinister, so in our piece we could use a slightly more mellow colour such as amber for some of our images. In our final piece we could do similar close-ups of a dolls face, this could look effective and be quite chilling for the audience.

LH: DRAFT Treatment - The Dolls House

The Dolls House. It opens with flashes into a girls mind, making the audience unsure of whether these images are memories or pure imagination. It cuts away from the harsh images to a girl sitting motionless on a large sofa, with a ghoulish facial expression. A male voice is heard, a calming voice. The girl does not react but stares blankly into the camera. FLASH, FLASH, FLASH. Disjointed and cruel images parade across the screen, seeping information about the girl into the audience's minds.

India McAllister was more or less and ordinary teenage girl, until she moved into number 48. Resembling a dolls house, the house was one inhibited by a young girl and her dolls. After finding fractions of dolls faces, India's whole life begins to change. As if possessed, India begins having erratic behaviour.

Worried, her parents send her to a psychiatrist as a bid to get there daughter back. Dr. Coomber is a divorcee who was never able to have his own children. As the sessions draw on India only shows signs of increasing instability. It is up to Dr. Coomber to stop what is happening from happening. What do the writings on the wall mean? Why is the girl so violent? As attacks begin happening around India and her loved ones, someone must protect her.

But India won't be saved if The Dolls House has its way.