Planning: Writing A Treatment For Your Chosen Opening

Treatment for the opening 2 minutes (including titles) of ‘The Unknown’ by Alpha Productions

The film opens with alternating cuts of various establishing shots and opening Titles excluding the characters involved in bold sharp white font. After the final titles has been shot it will fade into to sky from a white screen; this then pans down into an establishing shot of west coast high school and when the school is in frame, non-diegetic sound of a school bell ringing will come in to the scene.

This cuts to a long shot of the corridor, cuts to a long shot of Kai in the corridor by his locker, then it cuts to a mid shot of Kai by his locker pulling out books, then this cuts to a mid shot of Kai closing a locker then a tracking out shot of him and his three friends walking through the corridor to their classroom.

After this they enter the classroom with a mid shot of them going to sit down in their free period. As half an hour passes by Alicia, Sarah and Jermaine decide to go the canteen while Kai carries on to study, Kai then notices something mysterious about the room he is working in, the lights tend to flicker continuously and the screen turns on automatically. This cuts a close up shot of Kai’s face getting worried and non- diegetic sound slowing coming in. both odd occurrences stop for a while and Kai gets back to work as he thinks it was just a faulty with electricity. 

Suddenly a very loud bang is heard from behind him. He turns his head and as he turns it cuts to the other direction to show him looking at what the noise was from the other side. All Kai sees is a door with a sign saying “Do Not Enter” Eerie music now starts to play as he looks at the mysterious door. Kai looks around the room to find anything else that could have possibly made the bang but he found nothing, reassuring him it came from the door. Kai is not slightly afraid, but his curiosity got the best of him leading him to walk towards the door slowly with a tracking in shot.

Kai then slowly reaches to open the door, this leads to a long shot of him opening the door from inside the room the very dark room, Kai is very surprised of what he sees inside and shouts as the eerie music comes to a sudden halt. This then goes to a black screen showing the characters acting in the film while the walking dead theme tune plays throughout to the end where it will subtly fade out.

Planning: From Initial Ideas To A 60-Second Pitch

We first started by writing down all our initial ideas down onto a mind map; which included various characters, plots, scenarios, etc. This would allow us to have some options when it came to deciding on what we would include the main task. Below is a screenshot of all our ideas we came up with for our main task.

Throughout the process, we discussed our ideas as a group and decided upon which ones we would include in the project. The below photo shows us in the process of our group doing this.

Finally, we moved onto finalising our ideas for our horror film, we all decided on an idea for the main task and put them into a concise 60-Second pitch for the final idea, which can be seen in the clip below starting at 0:50. 

Research Essay: Analysing Codes and Conventions in Existing Teen Horror Films

Within all horror films there are two types of codes. These codes can either be technical or symbolic and are used to create different meanings within the film. Technical codes are used to tell a story for in the way which the medium is used. This can involve different things like camera shots, angles and movements. This means they will include media techniques like shot size, long shots, mid shots, close ups and extreme long shots to add more depth to a story. Symbolic codes will show you what is going on behind what we can visually see on the screen. For example, you will be able to determine the emotions and feelings of a character through their actions. This can involve them either speaking differently or just moving differently; which could symbolize something to the audience. Other codes like music can fit into both categories.

Conventions are the generally accepted way of doing things in media. They are usually things the audience will always expect to see depending on what genre of film/medium it is. For example, in a horror film, you would usually expect for people to die, someone to go missing, a noise to come from upstairs even though no one is home, etc. 

Codes and conventions are important in not just horror films, but all other genres, as they help to set the scene, to build up the tension or to elevate emotions within characters. They are all essential parts to any film.

Dead Wood
Dead Wood starts with an establishing shot in the secluded scene of a forest, akin to both Dead Mary and Wrong Turn. The camera then pans down to the forest floor, with the non-diegetic sound of a sombre piano. All seems peaceful, but is quickly broken as the male character crashes into the scene, sprinting through the trees - a common convention in Horror films. Through the use of a rapidly-paced tune, we quickly ascertain that, although we cannot see it, he is being chased by a threat. Through his body language, we can see that he is terrified. POV shots are used in this scene to show the character's perspective. Much like the other openings, you cannot see the threat, but we know that is it present through the use of rustling leaves. As the male character reaches the ditch, the music stops and the camera cranes over him. He can see that safety is only a stones throw away, but we know, as this is a horror film, he won't make it. The rustling leaves are used to indicate that the threat is quickly approaching, causing the male to attempt to jump to the other side, but does not succeed.Through the camera's use of low-angle shots to show that he is stuck and high angle shots to show he has no power at all. We then hear the sound of something stabbing him and is dragged away. Then, the female character comes out of the tent, revealing her legs first. The camera then pans out to an (extreme) longshot of the character to show that she is now alone and extremely vulnerable, as the music changes back into the sombre, slow-paced piano music. Some of the classical horror conventions which are included are that they are in a secluded location, the male character inexplicably trips up, safety is always just out of reach, he doesn't warn the female character of the danger, eerie music is used to create tension and that a character is killed in the first 5 minutes. The use of Mise-en-scene in this opening makes the male character seem as if he is a fool as he is wearing a Hawaiian-themed shirt and that he has blood on his face; suggesting he narrowly escaped a previous encounter with the threat. The editing in the scene can mainly be seen when the male character attempts to jump over the ditch as it goes into slow motion - referencing the amount of effort he is putting in to make it to the other side.

Dead Mary
The start of Dead Mary's opening uses in-out of focus extreme close-ups of the old and worn sign to give the impression that the location has not be tended to for a very long time. The metallic sound that the chains produce make the scene have a weird atmosphere, suggesting an imminent danger. The camera then tracks out to show a car stopped in the middle of the road, either broken down or out of fuel. This suggest that it is a very dangerous place for the characters to be and are vulnerable. The camera is used to give a lot of detail to what the female character is doing. For example, the character shows a lot of skin during the scene. During the scene, she is rifling through through the gloveboxes of the car; finding a flaregun - which will probably be used later on in the film. She checks her phone for signal and using the radio, attempting to contact someone. However, like most horror films, neither of this will work, in order to build suspense. Whilst this is occuring, the camera switches to the perspective of something hiding in the forest nearby. The camera slowly pans and tracks closer to the car. The sound of the leaves rustling adds more tension to the scene in addition to the non-diegetic eerie music. The camera is unfocused as the male character approaches the car, making him seem like a potential threat, however, it turns out to be a false threat; another common convention in horror films. Some more conventions which are seen are; secluded location, 2 people (a boy and a girl), no signal, the car won't start and an unseen threat. The use of editing, while linear and using match-on-action but also helps to indicate the potential threat that is lurking in the woods.

Wrong Turn
This opening scene involves plenty of technical codes to emphasize the vulnerability of the male and female character on the cliff-face due to high-angle/crane shot, but mostly the female as she isn't the immediate victim. She is shown to be struggling to reach the top. Low angle shots are also used to show that she is quite high-up and in a dangerous position. Close ups are used throughout the scene to show that she is panicking and scratching at the wall of the cliff for something to hold onto. While we don't see the male character being killed, the sound of him being hit is heard from a low-angle shot - representing the female's point of view. This is done so that we are unable to see the threat as the corpse is thrown off the cliff. The threat attempts to pull her up to the top, but she falls off the cliff. Close-ups are used to  show the dead body of the male and then to show her running for her life. POV shots are used to show that she is not far at all from safety (i.e. the car). The use of discordant non-diegetic sound also helps to build up tension in the chase scene whilst she is running through the woods to her car - which is a convention within horror films. The conventions in this opening are being in a secluded location, male and female Characters, the fact they are both roughly the same age as the audience, a character is killed in the first 5 minutes and that a character inexplicably falls over. The use of mise-en-scene in this opening shows that the female is wearing quite revealing climbing gear - which is seen as stereotypical within films. Editing within the scene is used to create smooth match-on-action so that the scene makes sense to the audience.

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Research: Codes and Conventions In Horror Films

What are codes?
Codes are a system of signs, which are used to create meaning. Codes are divided into two categories - technical and symbolic.

Technical codes are the ways in which equipment is used to tell the story in a media text. An example of this is the editing or use of sound (diegetic and non-diegetic).

Symbolic codes, on the other hand, show what is beneath the surface of what we see. They are usually seen through aspects of Mise-en-scene. For example, a character's actions show you how the character is feeling, a character's costume can be decoded to help us understand what type of person they are, certain props have connotations which can be decoded by the audience, etc.

What are Conventions?
Conventions are the generally accepted ways of doing something. There are various general conventions in any medium, such as the use of quotations in an article, but conventions are also genre specific.

Examples of the conventions in Horror films include:

Secluded Locations
In most horror films, characters are placed in a locale where there's no one around to help them. Examples of this are the woods, a ghost town, a summer camp, a house in the middle of nowhere, etc.

Power Is Cut
Light suddenly go out at the worst possible moment. Note to any would-be serial killer, definitely cut the power before you start killing. There is very high chance no one will think it's out of the ordinary.

Victim Inexplicably Falls Over
This one is pretty self-explanatory. Person falls over for no reason. Why do they do it? No-one will ever know.

Vehicle Won't Start
Need I say more.

The Fake Scare
One of the oldest and most over-used conventions in horror films. They can take on any shape and size, but in general, any scare in a film that is not connected to the threat.

Warning Goes Unheeded
It is a basic part of human nature to go where one is told not to go, and do what one is advised against doing.

Someone Is Killed In The First 5 Minutes
It is either brilliant when done well (i.e. Jaws) or completely pointless.

History of Horror

Introduction to Main Task

Preliminary Task Evaluation

Describe the set brief for the Preliminary Task. What was it that you were asked to create? Use the correct media specific vocabulary and show that you understand the meaning of these terms.


The Set brief that we were given for the preliminary task was to film a scene of two people, one of which opens a door, crosses a room and sits down in a chair opposite the other character, she/he then exchanges a couple of lines of dialogue. This task had to demonstrate match on action, shot/reverse shot and the 180-degree rule.

Explain everything that you did leading up to the point when you started filming (pre-production). Discuss how this process helped to prepare you for filming.

As soon as we had our set brief for the preliminary task, we research the meanings of the media terminology used in the brief. These included match-on-action, shot/reverse shot and the 180-degree rule. We used the OCR Guides to explain each one of these, in order to understand what was need to be in our preliminary task. We then studied the different types of shots we could use in the task. Afterwards, we made our own examples of these shots and posted them on our blog to show that we understood how to use them.

After gaining enough information that we needed for the preliminary task, we then wrote up our group brief and scenario. 'Clayton "Pac" Pakowski walks upon some stairs and down a corridor. He then enters into the room and sits opposite another student, Thom, who says 'I suppose that you are the good cop'; Clayton says that they should 'start again' and that Thom should tell him everything'. Thom then replies with "where should I start'. Pakowski replies only with "at the beginning..."

After deciding upon the scenario, we create a basic 12-shot story board of all the shots we would use in filming. We had to write down the cast needed, location, shot number, type of shot, if there was any movement/dialogue and a quick sketch of the scene. We then used slideshare to get them onto the blog as to outline the basic plot of the task. This helped us to prepare for when we were actually doing the film as we know what shots we needed to film and could tick them off as we filmed. It also allowed use to keep our filming organised and be efficient in the task of filming.

After doing the storyboard, we went to each of the different locations we would be doing the filming and the made sure they were suitable. We then took pictures as to know where we were going to film and posted them on our blog. We then casted the actors who were going to play each character and posted a picture of them on our blog, in addition to explain why we chose them.

When then practiced using Premier Pro, which we would use to edit the clips together. This meant that we could learn the things we needed to edit the preliminary task; so we knew what we needed to do.

Finally, before filming we made a schedule of timings for the filming so that we could make sure everyone knew what they were going to be doing.

Describe the filming process itself (production). How did this go?

Our filming went smoothly. I feel this was due to the planning that we had done prior to filming. Because we had story-boarded the shots, everyone knew what we needed to do and how long we had to do it. I also feel that due to the planning that, we had chosen the correct person to play each role and filming was much easier. Looking at where we were going to film meant that we already knew what angles we were going to be filming and didn't have to spend more time looking for locations.

Explain the editing stage for your preliminary Task (post-production). This should include how you applied new skills you have learnt.

The new skills I learnt included copying videos into the software, learning how to cut the clips and how to remove the clip's respective sound if need, putting each clip into the correct order, editing them to have perfect match-on-action, adding music into the background and the use of transitions. I applied these skills to make sure that the clips flowed well, in order to achieve match-on-action, editing together the relevant scenes that were needed for to meet the brief.

Evaluate your finished Preliminary Task. How well does it meet the expectations of your set brief? Which parts of it do you think are particularly strong? Where are there weaknesses? What can you identify as being an area for development when it comes to producing your Main Task?

I feel that our preliminary task meets the expectations of the set brief that was given. This is because we had two characters, with one walking into the room and exchanging two lines of dialogue each.

Some positives were:
- All scenes were filmed in the same orientation (i.e. portrait).
- The filming was to the point and was done easily and quickly.

Some negatives were:
- There was a lot of background noise in some scenes and quiet in others; making the piece quite inconsistent.
- The speaking of the characters was not very loud which may be down to the filming equipment that we had used.

One area of development for our main task is to ensure that we use better quality filming equipment and make sure the actors speak louder so that the equipment can record their voices. I would also make sure that we had multiple of each shot as to ensure that we can be confident that each scene is the best it can be. 

Learning To Edit With Adobe Premiere Pro

In the last two Media Studies lessons we learned how to do the following things with Adobe Premiere Pro:

• Create a brand new project in Premiere Pro
• Import Video and Audio footage into a project.
• How to navigate through the video
• Crop clips and move them into different locations on the timeline.
• How to use the razor tool to create precise cuts.
• What keys are shortcuts to control/do different things.
• How to adjust the footage to fit into the frame.
• How to add transitions and effects into my project.
• How to Render and export my project onto the desktop.

I also managed to work out how to adjust audio.


Here is the final clip:

Planning: Mise-En-Scene: Casting

Clayton "Pac" Pakowski is a 16-year old Sixth Form student at Kettering Buccleuch Academy. He enjoys playing video games and is very anxious and anti-social when compared to the other students in his class - which is one reason why he is talking with Franklin "Frank" Woods. Pac will be played by me (Cameron Shaw), being ideal for the role due to my confidence in acting.

Planning: Mise-En-Scene: Location Planning

The images below are that of the locations in the production (filming) of our Preliminary task for our Media Studies coursework.