Initial Storyboard for Gemini

Composition

I took this picture of my dog, Pepper, using the rule of thirds. I was able to bring up the rule of thirds grid onto my camera which allowed me to frame the shot whilst considering head room and nose room. The rule of thirds grid can be seen below , the green points are used to match up your shot so for example if you have a person facing to the right, you would use the top left point to match up with their face which in turn would provide more nose room and would give a more acurate shot. However this does not mean you can never centre a picture, it just makes you think before you take a picture.

Initial Shooting Script

Shooting Script for Gemini

Scene 1 – Exterior – Forest – Night

A teenage boy stands in front of a burning bonfire.  He stares at the flames and his emotionless expression doesn’t change as the camera comes into a close up. Slowly the sounds of the other people around him drown out till there’s nothing but silence.

Scene 2(Flashback) – Exterior – Road – Night

Everything becomes disoriented but still easy to see, a car drives down a road. Suddenly a man appears in the middle of the road ahead of them. A menacing chuckle echoes out as everything goes black.

Scene 3 – Exterior – Forest – Night

Camera returns to the boy as he looks into the flames, a chain of sounds commence. Tyres screeching followed by the sound of a crash then a loud splash. The camera moves around the boy’s head and when it returns to his face his eyes are closed.

The sound of a radio being tuned echoes out silently and a reporter’s voice echoes out.

Reporter VO

…A car was found at the bottom of a lake…two dead, one missing.

The camera slides down only to gradually stop when a tattered book being held by the boy comes into view, the title at the top reads ‘Jekyll & Hyde’. The camera suddenly snaps into the boy’s perspective and he looks over the flames to see a ghostly image of himself appear. It has a wild look and has a smirk etched on his face.

A maniac laugh echoes out as everything goes black. At the left the letters Gem slowly come to the centre while at the same time the letters Ini slowly approach as well till it clashes together forming Gemini

Unknown VO

I will be unleashed!

The Opening of Gemini - Initial Ideas

Opening 1

[Words draw up along the screen.]

‘On the night of December 15th 2007 a family were driving back from a camping trip.’

[The camera opens up to a variety of angles of a car driving down a road near the lake; it ends with a view of the lake as well.]

[Words scroll up along the screen.]

‘As they passed a familiar lake, the father hallucinated’

[The screen instantly goes black and sound effects occur, such effects are the car screeching, smashing into something then splashing into the lake.]

[Static/noise echoes out, signalling a radio being turned on.]

“Nobody knows what exactly occurred but the car was found at the bottom of Lake Tweeling, the parents were found dead, drowned. Reports believe there was a third person but no body has been discovered”

[The camera fades back to showing the front of Cranton High with students both outside and walking inside, the date scrolls along the screen.]

‘January 9th 2009’

[There is a quick shot of a group of teenagers in the hallway talking.]

‘Becky Walton forms a get together with three other students’

[The bell rings and everyone gets to class, the only sound after are footsteps.]

‘But today, a new exchange student will stir things up’

[A classroom door opens and a teenage boy walks in, the teacher introduces him to the class as Alex Haden. He looks directly at the camera with a blank expression then suddenly a distorted image flashes up followed by a maniac laugh.]

[The screen goes black and the words ‘Gem’ and ‘Ini’ appear on each side and close into the centre making GemIni]

Opening 2

[A bonfire burns fiercely in the middle of a forest at night; a teenage boy stands at the fire and seems to stare blankly over the flames ad the camera enters into a close up.]

[The sounds of the other people partying around him start to drown out into the silence.]

[The camera suddenly flashes away from the party and shows a distorted image of a car driving down the road, suddenly a man seems to ‘appear’ in the car’s path and a menacing chuckle echoes out.]

[The camera goes back to watching the guy still staring ahead with no emotion, a chain of sounds happen, tires screeching, collision and then a loud splash.]

[The camera starts to pan around the guy’s face as when it comes back around again his eyes are closed. The sound of a radio report fainting echoes out reporting the finding of a car at the bottom of a lake.]

[The camera slides down and stops to show a view of a tattered book the guy was holding, etched along the top of it was the phrase ‘Jekyll & Hyde’ The camera fades away.]

[The camera shows a close up of the guy’s face and his eyes open, the camera snaps around to become his perspective and an image appears, looking exactly the same as the teenager but had a maniac look.]

[A maniac laugh echoes out coming from the ghostly image.]

[The screen goes black and the words ‘Gem’ and ‘Ini’ appear on each side and close into the centre making GemIni]

Pitching Our Idea

What is our film about?

Title: Gemini

On the night of December 15th 2007, a young boy and his parents were driving back from a camping trip. Everything was normal, for a while. As they passed a familiar lake the father hallucinated. Nobody knows what exactly happened as the car was later found at the bottom of the lake, the parents both died from drowning however the boy was nowhere to be found.

On January 9th 2009 it was a normal day for the students of Cranton High. A group of teenagers grouped together by Becky Walton were forming a get-together. However on that very day a new student arrives at the school. Alex Haden is a teenage boy who seems socially withdrawn and has an odd fascination with the stories of Jekyll & Hyde.

Production Order

Pre Production:

1. Find an Idea or Source.
2. Obtain the Rights to the source Material.
3. The screenplay needs to be written.
4. The screenplay needs to be approved by backers e.g investors.
5. Essential personnel need to be hired e.g Director, Casting Director.
6. The director and other essential personnel hire their own crews.
7. Auditions are held.
8. Contracts need to be signed.
9. Then the location needs to be found or built if necessary.

Post Production

1. The camera footage needs to be edited.
2. The music then needs to be created either copyrighted or original.
3. Special effects (SFX) are then added.
4. Dialogue is re recorded if necessary.
5. Sound effects are added.
6. The film is promoted with various advertising e.g trailers, posters and previews.
7. The Film is then released.

Conventions in Horror Films Found in "Jeepers Creepers 2"

Bad Title:

The title of Jeepers Creepers 2 in my view is a bad title for a horror film. The reason being is that the title does not say to me that this is a horror film. It tells me that this film could have been a comedy rather than a horror film.

I have not seen this film before and having watched it, i think that this is a bad title chosen for this film as it sounds more comical than a horror type film.
TIME - MENU


Secluded Location:

The film is set in an American countryside with a single road running through fields of corn etc. This is a secluded location because during the film, there are little or no other characters in the scenes apart from the teenagers which are stranded in the middle of this farm land at night.

This works in horror films as it creates tension for the viewers, this is because the viewer is focused on these few characters and they see what happens to them during the course of the film.
TIME - 0:19:58 - END


Someone Investigates a Strange Noise:

In this scene of the film, One of the characters here's a sound which breaks the silence. They go and take a look to see what has caused this noise, When the character wanders away from the group, the killer picks them off.

This is because that character is vulnerable because they are on their own. This makes the viewer focus on that particular character which leads to a scare as the character will most likely be murdered.
TIME - 0:25:51


Victim Locks Self In With Killer:

In this scene, the killer is on top of a school bus with students inside who coming back from a basketball game. The bus they were travelling back in has broken down and the killer has surrounded them. The killer then begins to shake the school bus and there is an extreme close up of a bolt falling off of the bus doors.

The students then realise that the killer has shaken the bus to try and lock the doors and has succeeded. This adds tension to the film because the viewer believes that there is no means of escape.
TIME - 0:37:44


Killer Doesn't Stay Dead:

In this scene, the killer reveals that he is immortal and cannot die following what would have been fatal injuries. Sometimes this can seem quite comical in the film as the injuries which the killer received would have been fatal in any normal circumstances which in my view makes the film less horrific.
TIME - 0:51:36

The History of Horror Films

Horror Films were made for the viewers to feel fear,terror and of course horror. When horror films were first made in the 1890's there was like today's horror films a theme of death or the supernatural or maybe even mental illnesses.

Also many of the horror films made in the early and late periods would include a central villain. There was usually only one villain involved because it was easier for one particular person to be focused on by the audience when he/she created horror such as commiting murder etc.

Early horror movies were largely based on classic literature of the Gothic/horror genre such as "Dracula", "Frankenstein", "The Phantom of the Opera" and also "Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde". However more recent horror films draw inspiration from how people lived and how insecure they felt after World War 2, This then gave rise to three related sub genres which were

- The horror of Personality which can be seen in the film "Psycho"

- The horror of Armageddon which can be seen in the film "Invasion of the Body Snatchers"

- The horror of the demonic which can be seen in the film "The Exorcist"

Horror films over the years have been criticised as being violent, low budget made and exploitation movies. However all the major studios and also many respected directors including Alfred Hitchcock and Roman Polanski have made various films in the genre. In the 1890's to 1920's, supernatural events appeared in several silent short movies by film pioneers such as Georges Melies. The most recognized short silent horror piece was called "The House of the Devil" and was directed by Melies. This short piece is sometimes credited as being the first created horror film.

In 1910, Edison Studios made the first film version of Frankenstein. This was then later released in 1933 because the film was thought to be lost but a film collector Alois Felix Dettlaff came across a copy and so re released the film. In the early 20th century, The first monster appeared in a full length horror film called "Quasimodo" this then brought more and more interest into the genre and also bigger audiences.

In the film industry, the horror genre is ever growing with more and more fans awaiting new films to be released. Viewers say that they get a thrill from watching horror films. So Although horror films have been going for over a hundred years, they will be going for hundreds of years to come.

“The Thing” is a 1982 science fiction horror film directed by John Carpenter and was released on the 25^th June 1982. The film is a remake of the 1951 film “The Thing from another World”. The film is based around an extra terrestrial life form which can imitate what it kills. This life form infiltrates an Antarctic Research Team, taking the appearance of what it chooses to kill whether it be animal or human.

Kurt Russell, Wilford Brimley, Keith David, David Clennon, Donald Moffat, Thomas G. Waites, Joel Polis, Peter Maloney, Charles Callaghan, T. K. Carter, Richard Dysart, Richard Masur all starred in the film.

In the winter in 1982, A U.S Antarctic Research Station is alerted by gunfire and explosions. An Alaskan Husky makes its way towards the camp while a helicopter is chasing behind and the Norwegian occupants trying to kill the dog using rifles and thermal charges. After pursuing the dog and in view of the U.S researchers, the occupants misplace a thermal charge and the helicopter ends up being destroyed.

The research team take the dog into their kennels with their other sled dogs, not knowing anything about the new dog, only to find in a matter of minutes that their new visitor has dismembered their other dogs and has shape shifted into the form of a monster. As the film progresses, this mysterious being picks off certain members of the research team and then shape shifting into its kill so that the other members of the team do not realise that the monster itself is living among them.

Later on the film paranoia starts to set in as the last remaining team members are not sure where the monster is but more importantly, who it is.

First Blog

This is my first Blog Test.