Planning Brief

By Jaspreet Hanspal

Planning Brief
Project name:	The Three Wheels of Horror
Medium Format/and length:	Horror opening sequence- 2 minutes
Deadline:	9th December 2011
Group Members:	Jaspreet Hanspal- Director & co-sound manager, Ahmed Khan- Editor, Sahir Ahmed- Cameraman & co-sound manager
Brief Overview of content:	Ahmed Khan is a fairly rude and ill mannered boy. He does not adhere to the rules of school, let alone the expectations of society. He is an unsociable rebel, who not only disrespects his surroundings, but others around him. Ahmed needs to realise he is going on the wrong path, and must be punished in order for him to realise he is going astray. Ahmed is staying after school for a detention his teacher had set up for him. When his detention is over, Ahmed is told he may leave; and leaves in frustration and anger. He makes his way into the corridor, and sees a little girl sat in the corner opposite him. He can hear crying. Concerned and curious, Ahmed walks closer to the little girl and reaches his hand out to her to check if she is ok. However he is quite confused why a little girl would be sat there after school. As soon as his hand nears her shoulder, she turns her face to reveal a distorted horrific clown face, and swiftly gets up and disappears into the darkness. Ahmed steps back in alarm and shock and then shakes his head, in disbelief and continues walking. Although when he starts walking, on the other side of the corridor, he sees the same girl however this time she is on a tricycle cycling. Ahmed runs to her and finds when he gets there, no-one is there, but notices the tricycle is tilted on the floor. He stands there in horror and all of a sudden, the little girl approaches from behind him, and glares at him dangerously. Ahmed is shocked, and in an instant, the little girl grabs his face and drags him away, and they both disappear.
Target audience – Age Group, Gender, Biases (if any), Socio-Economic status and lifestyle profiling:	Our target audience is mainly 12-25 year old males and females, who are most likely to be in full time education. The reason why we are aiming it at 12-25 year olds is because they are more likely to identify and relate the school setting, and able to comprehend the many characteristics of a young rebel, and a school atmosphere. Males and females have been addressed as we feel they are both equally able to understand the motive of the little girl- to punish Ahmed so he gets on the right path; therefore hinting on self-realisation. Also, both males and females will be able to relate to the themes of feeling like an outsider, or not being good enough therefore wanting to subdue your lack of satisfaction by behaving rudely towards others. The socio-economic groups we want to target are primarily groups: C1, C2, D & E, as we believe their lifestyle corresponds with the lifestyle we are trying to portray in our product. Being- able to identify a working area, a public environment, and highlighting education (which most of our audience will currently be in)
Possible Scheduling/Publishing Suggestions:	We first aimed to film on the 19th of October, but due to actors and props being currently unavailable, we plan to film on the 2nd of November. We plan to finish editing by the 15th of November. We will then publish the final production on our blog, youtube, facebook, and twitter, so we can gain feedback. We will also have a pre-questionnaire and post questionnaire on our blog, as well as actively handing out questionnaires to others, to gain as much feedback as possible.
What comparable products have you researched? :	We have firstly begun researching into the filming genre of Horror films, and identified their codes and conventions, and also glanced at thriller films to identify what makes a thriller different from a horror film. We have also textually analysed 6 horror/mixed genre films some of which are: SAW, insidious, Texas Chainsaw Massacre, The Hills Have eyes etc. We have examined the codes and conventions we would ultimately need to include to make sure our production reflects the representations we aim to portray to the audience. For makeup, we took inspiration from ‘The Joker’s character in batman, as that is a clear example of a slightly distorted clown face.
What is the rationale behind this text? :	We aim to grip the audience by adding a lot of intense scenes, and having a USP to draw in viewers. Our USP is that we include the ideas of the norm and social expectations being broken, and the consequences of doing so. We do not stereotypically involve authority handling this, however we involve a secret person, who delivers punishment to those who deserve it, to therefore get on the right track and reconstruct them to do the right things. Ultimately teaching the audience a lesson, and giving them something to walk away with after watching the production. We will also try to make it as realistic as possible, to draw in the audience, and make them believe it, and make it as intense as possible. Editing will help us achieve this, as we will apply the continuity rule to our production to make it as believable as we can.
What representations will be operating in your text, are these justified? :	We will use stereotypical representations in order to get our audience to understand and comprehend the themes, for example: Ahmed will be dressed in uniform, however will not be wearing complete uniform. His costume will include a sporty, laid back jacket, no tie and trousers that are quite low, to represent him to be a gang member, and an outlaw. His hair will be spiked to represent trends, and he will be wearing a chain to show he is tough. The teacher, Mr Cole, will be wearing a suit as costume, and glasses to clearly represent him to be a teacher, as he will be sat behind a computer and sitting on his chair. The little girl, will be dressed in stereotypical pyjamas, a girly colour we would associate to be pink and purple, with her hair in two pigtails. However, her face is supposed to represent a distorted scary clown, which is why she will have a painted smile drawn with blood, a white face and black demon eyes. She will resemble ‘The Joker’ from Batman, which is where we got our inspiration.
How will you test If the product is successful? : How will you check that it accomplishes the intended effect? :	To test if our product is successful, we will chose an audience to watch our production in groups, then after watching we will request them to fill out the post questionnaire of the product, to gain feedback. We will also ask them to watch the production and then film them talking about the feedback they want to give, so that we have evidence of it. We will use the feedback to then improve areas which have been said to need improvement, and try and make the product the best it can possibly be.
What general codes and conventions will be operating in your text? :	The codes and conventions we will be following are mainly through location- a school, and costumes, replicating uniform for a teacher and a student, and also pyjamas that you would normally expect a little girl to wear, and hair and makeup to suit every character. The props also enhance the location and plot, to give a sense of realism and make the location look real and believable. The lighting in our film will usually be kept quite neutral and normal, however become quite dark to capture the mysteriousness and highlight Ahmed’s curiosity.
Are there any hidden messages incorporated within the text? :	The one dominant hidden message we aim to present to the audience, is ‘not to rebel, cause terror or harm, it is to serve a righteous purpose to others, and be a good human being.’ And if we were to cause terror or harm, we must suffer the consequences. Giving almost a warning to the audience to do the right things instead of following the wrong path; and showing them an example of what could happen to you if you don’t adhere to rules set by school and society.
Identify and recourse constraints – (time, money, equipment, human resources) that may affect your production and hopes for your product.	We are dependent on our actors showing up, because without them, our production cannot be filmed, we are also relying on location, being of a good standard and capturing what we want to represent. We are also counting on the equipment to help us depict a clear image and capture the scenes we need to put it all together. Another vital element is time, and having enough of it to comfortably film what we need to. Money is also important, so we can buy costume and props to therefore create a feel of realism, because without them, the product would feel incomplete, and confuse the viewer.

Weekly Updates- week of 26th September

Myself and Ahmed decided to constuct the production schedule, and uploaded it onto the blog.

Treatment

TREATMENT

PRODUCT: The product our production company- (Spine Chiller Productions) is marketing a 2 minute opening sequence horror trailer called ‘The Three Wheels of Horror’. The marketing campaigns which our group aims to utilise are platforms such as TV, Cinema itself, the internet and newspapers. The use of internet is significant as we are then able to access our target audience in an efficient way; as a lot of teens today use websites such as YouTube and Facebook, which therefore makes it easier for the consumers to view our product online. Also, TV itself has a huge influence on teens, and mainstream channels such as Channel 4 and E4 are greatly watched by the vast majority of the population, and will therefore become more recognised and popular among teens and adults.

TARGET AUDIENCE: Our target audience is aged from 12-25, and our film certification is 12A, as this then allows all that are 12 and above to watch the film legally. The socio-economic groups we targeted were the lower-middle, and working class, as the younger generation do not usually have high incomes, if not any as they may still be in education, or starting out fairly new in the working world. We are also aiming to market to both males and females who have an interest in horror films such as SAW and The Hills Have Eyes. Our aim is to initiate a positive effect on the audience, as horror films can be quite eerie and disturbing, by using a simple one-stranded narrative which therefore allows us to build up enigmas being raised in their minds, and almost bridging onto psychological-horror. We are aiming to target a mass audience within that category, and teens and adults who have interests in watching horror films would be a more accurate target.

CONTEXT: We hope that our product will become popular through the means of mediums we use to create awareness of it; the platforms we aim to use are; TV (E4, Channel 4, Channel 5 etc), the internet- allows direct contact with the audience through Facebook, YouTube, google search etc, and newspapers. This would increase awareness of our product, and therefore allow our audience to access the film at ease- meaning the film obtains more views and more feedback. Publicising the product inevitably leads to larger awareness and popularity, which is what we are aiming for.

Media Languages: In our opening sequence, we aim to follow a lot of the conventions of a horror film, to therefore give the audience a sense of realism. We plan to do this by focusing on location, and where our target audience would be most familiar with, and the actors themselves must be around the same age to give a feel of reality. Also by using lighting and editing, they can help create a scary, eerie atmosphere for the audience. In addition, the shots within our 2 minute sequence are going to be used to create cause and effect, with build ups of tension and enigmas in the viewers mind. An example of this would be when Ahmed is walking down the corridor, the young girl cycles towards him from the far end of the corridor, a quick transfer of attention from Ahmed to the little girl (using a snappy cut whilst editing) speeds up pace and builds up tension. Sound is also important, as too much dialogue can often take away from the scary effect, which is why we plan to include minimal dialogue, which is also another method of adding sound effects and background music. For example, when Ahmed leaves the classroom, diagetic sound will be used in sync of this to correspond with the door being opened, however when Ahmed is sat in the classroom, a clock

Ticking sound could be added to emphasise the time ticking- hinting on possible death, and foreshadowing something bad could happen to the protagonist.

Institutions: Our company is called Spine Chiller Productions- our product from this production company will be distributed across a wide range of mediums such as TV, internet, newspapers, radio; which therefore enables us to reach audiences not only nationally, but also globally. Spine Chiller Productions is a British company, and will firstly showcase its product to UK viewers, and judging on its success, will become a internationally targeted film.

Representation: Our product will represent the characters in a stereotypical way, which will help the audience to identify characters in their stereotypical roles, and familiarise with them. For example the teacher actor will be dressed smart, sat in a classroom with Ahmed for his detention. Ahmed will be in school uniform, looking rather rough depicting a rebel student, which corresponds with the fact that he is in detention. The little girl on the tricycle will be dressed to look like a sinister little clown, which resembles SAW, as the little man who comes up on the screen and says ‘let the games begin’. The idea itself has come from SAW, as it ties in with our theme quite well, as we are focusing on the punishment and consequences of being a bad person in society- which can also have a positive effect on our audience, to point them into doing the right things for society.

Genre: Within our opening sequence, we are aiming to follow the codes and conventions of a psychological horror, as our film does not initiate scenes of blood and gore, instead creates enigmas within the mind used as a tool to scare the audience. Also having a stereotypical cliff hanger of the protagonist dying, or disappearing during the trailer, or in some sort of struggle to save their life; so that the audience are able to loosely predict what is going to happen, and follow the film and not become confused. Another convention we are planning to use is the good vs evil theme- as Ahmed is a rebel, and a threat to society himself (yet he is the protagonist) and the little girl is who will punish him for being destructive and badly behaved (however she is the antagonist). The roles almost contradict each other in the opening sequence, however in the rest of the film, there is a twist (another stereotypical convention) which therefore ties in with the genre well. Our location however, doesn’t maintain a sinister torture chamber like it does in SAW, however the school we will be shooting in will be used after hours, which will create eeriness, and will be easier to maintain silence during the film. With the use of our unexpected location, it will increase suspense which will deliver the final incident of Ahmed disappearing.

2 Minute Outline (2nd draft- rewritten)

Two Minute Outline 2nd Draft

Weekly Updates- Week of 26th September 2011 (week 2)

This week we began by collating ideas together for the brainstorm, and as the director, i took it as my responsibility to decide what the plot and genre was going to be. I decided I wanted to go forward with the horror genre, and began relating the brainstorm to the production. I first wanted to figure out what our USP would be, as i feel as if originality is key in order to grasp an audience. By taking the film SAW as an example, and the ideas of education and rules set by school and society, i wanted to link the two together as i wanted to create something new and innovative. I decided our production would border on ideas of conforming to the expectations of society, and if this wasn't to be done, consequences would have to be suffered. This makes the audience think and reflect upon themselves, as well as becoming entertained. I had to make decisions on what i wanted for costume, location and plot. I finally decided i wanted to film in school, as it would be easy and efficient. The group began making arrangements and planning how we would plan to do this; however leaving it for next week when we would begin compiling the letters for permission and location notes. Sahir created a facebook group, twitter group, and youtube group, to therefore make our production more public. He also posted a poll on facebook, and added all the members to the poll so we could observe the progress made. Furthermore, through conducting my genre research, i decided stereotypes were vital as utilising them helps enable the audience to relate to the themes and genre more, making them identify what you are trying to portray clearly. Ahmed was conducting research into the BBFC, and we all came to a group agreement that we should aim for our film to be a 12A, reasons being- there will not be any involvement of blood and gore, however there will be shocking and intense scenes.

Facebook Group

180 Degree Rule

Production Schedule

Production Schedule Jazz Ahmed Sahir

Genre Research- Horror Codes and Conventions (1st draft and 2nd draft)

Genre Research As

Brainstorm

Weekly Updates- Week of 19th Sept 2011 (week 1)

This week we were set the task, we held an introductory meeting and began to decide who would do each role. We began by talking about our strengths, and where we were best able to utilize them. Ahmed said he had experience with editing before, and took on the role of editor. Sahir said he was quite happy to take on the role of cameraman as he is able to adapt and use technology well. I myself took on the role as director, as i feel i am responsible enough to hold the role as a team leader, as i am able to delegate duties and roles, and be organized. We then discussed what the theme of our blog would be, who would manage it regularly, and distributing roles within the group. Sahir said he'd be happy to manage the blog, and found a great blog background, which tied in with the horror theme. After delegating roles fairly, we decided we wanted to opt for the horror genre, as we thought it would be easier to replicate on camera. We then created our own blogs and began completing the work as stated on the blog corresponding with the dates they had to be completed by.

Production Schedule

Production Schedule

Production Logo

Created by:
Jaspreet Hanspal,
9/09/2011

Preliminary exercise: Continuity task involving filming and editing a character opening a door, crossing a room and sitting down in a chair opposite another character, with whom she/he then exchanges a couple of lines of dialogue. This task should demonstrate match on action, shot/reverse shot and the 180-degree rule.

Main task: the titles and opening of a new fiction film, to last a maximum of two minutes.

All video and audio material must be original, produced by the candidate(s), with the exception of music or audio effects from a copyright-free source. Both preliminary and main tasks may be done individually or as a group. Maximum four members to a group.