Planning : Treatment For Our Film Opening

Once you have received feedback from members of your target audience, you are able to move forwards with the planning of the opening of your film.

You need to do this by writing a short description of the idea you want to move forwards with. This is called a Treatment.

This MUST include information relating to the following areas:

Video : What will be happening on screen during your opening 2 minutes
Audio : What will the audience be able to hear - diegetic and non-diegetic
Titles : How will you be using titles in your opening 2 minutes?

It is very easy to get carried away and come up with an idea that includes much more than you can realistically fit into a 2 minute opening sequence.

Think back to the 3 film opening that we watched in lessons. These were all relatively simple without complicated narrative and plot twists - this would be unlikely to happen in the opening 2 minutes.

Planning : Target Audience and Potential Openings

You have developed your idea and this has been pitched and accepted. 

You now need to distill this idea into a synopsis of a single paragraph so that it can be shared with members of your target audience. 

This will be different to your pitch as it needs to be more concise. 

        
Here is an example of how this should be done. 

This example is for the British horror / thriller  'Eden lake' which was released in 2008.

   

Eden Lake

Nursery teacher Jenny and her boyfriend Steve, escape for a romantic weekend away. Steve, planning to propose, has found an idyllic setting: a remote lake enclosed by woodlands and seemingly deserted. The couple's peace is shattered when a gang of obnoxious kids encircles their campsite. Reveling in provoking the adults, the gang steals the couple's belongings and vandalizes their car leaving them completely stranded. When Steve confronts them, tempers flare and he suffers a shocking and violent attack. Fleeing for help, Jenny is subject to a brutal and relentless game of cat-and-mouse as she desperately tries to evade her young pursuers and find her way out of the woods. 

Once you have completed this you need to undertake some targeted audience research to help with the planning of your film opening.

What To Do?

• identify 10 people who fit the target audience for your film - fans of horror films, aged 14-25, regularly watch films, etc would be a suggested profile for these people
• share your synopsis and ask them how they think the film would begin - you need to have a record of their thoughts and this could be done in different ways. 

1. You could give them a sheet onto which they write their ideas and take a photo of their thoughts.
2. You could record an interview with them and upload this.
3. You could ask them to sit in fron of a Mac and use Photobooth to video their thoughts.
4. Once you have the thoughts from this target group, you can then use their opinions, together with your own, to move forward.

You need to create a post titled Planning : Target Audience and Potential Openings and record  evidence for this task.

This is very important as, in the evaluation of your coursework, you will be asked to explain the ways that you have used audience feedback.

Planning : From Production Company Name to 60 second Pitch

The following evidence needs to be presented on your blog by Wednesday 23rd November.

This should be in a post with the same title as this one with separate sub-headings for each area of planning.

60 Second Pitches need to be ready to be delivered on this date at the start of our lesson on Wednesday 23rd November.

Read the instructions carefully and follow these for each task.

Introduction

We have completed research into existing media products and now need to move into Production Companies for your teen horror film.

These are the teams you will be working in for the remainder of your Foundation Portfolio:

Emma, Immy and Wiktoria

Becca, Loris and Bethany

Paula, Meg and Jodie

Sam, Sean and Ashley

Rebbecca, Bernice and Jade

Jude, Jayden and Dom

Harvey, Harry and Jamie

Task 1

Planning : Production Company Name

The starting point will be to create an identity for your production company.

Your production company will specialise in the production of ultra-low budget horror films aimed at a teen audience.

Your name will reflect this fact and should be discussed and agreed upon by you as a group.

Brainstorm some ideas before deciding upon a name for your production company.

Task 2

Planning : Brainstorming Initial Ideas

In your production company, brainstorm your initial ideas for a teen horror film.

You MUST remember that you are thinking of an idea for a complete film and not just attempting to think of an idea for a film opening.

The best way to do this is to take a sheet of A3 paper and just throw down lots of different thoughts. 

I would advise that you use a different colour pen for each member of the group's contributions to this document.

Try to make the sheet as full of ideas as possible.

Task 3

Planning : Decision Making

Once you have exhausted yourself of possible ideas, you need to decide upon the one that you want to move ahead with. 

Make sure that you give this really careful consideration as you won't be able to change your mind. 

You don't need to worry about the opening of the film yet though - concentrate on the idea for the complete film still.

You will need to give your film idea a 'working title'. This is the title that you will use as you move forwards with planning but it may not be the title that the film is eventually given for its release.

Task 4

Planning : The 60 Second Pitch

You should now have a great idea for a film but you need to pitch it to me to get the 'green light' for further planning to take place.

You need to write a 60 Second Pitch for your film ready to be delivered to me.

You will have 60 seconds in which to tell me about your idea for a teen horror film. 

Watch the 3 videos that follow for some ideas about what makes a good pitch and also to see some pitches being made by film directors...

Research : The British Board Of Film Classification

I am at a meeting during our lesson this afternoon but, thanks to the wonders of the internet I am able to provide you with work to complete during the lesson!

Before embarking upon the planning for your teen horror film opening you need to know something about the importance of the classification for your film's commercial success.

Your film must achieve a '15' classification for cinematic release and it is critically important that you understand what the BBFC does and how it classifies different films.

Task

Research who the BBFC are and what they do. 

Make a post to your blog titled Research : The British Board Of Film Classification which explains:

1. Who the BBFC are
2. What is meant by the term 'classification'
3. What the specific guidelines are for a film that is rated as a '15'.

The most relevant page of the BBFC's website can be accessed by CLICKING HERE to help you with the first 2 parts of this task.

Open the document provided by the BBFC BY CLICKING HERE and use the information within it to help you with the 3rd part of the task.

Deadline

This task must be completed and available on your blog at the start of our lesson on Wednesday 9th November.

Research : The Importance Of Sound

Sound is a vital element of any film and the way in which it can position an audience to feel a certain emotion is essential to the creation of atmosphere.

The use of sound in a horror film is vital to the success of this form of media product. It can, in films such as Psycho andJaws elevate the film to such an iconic level that the sound instantly identifies the film.


The following video is also worth a look and gives some advice for film makers.

Sound will play a vital role in your film opening.

The last research task we need to do before we start planning is to investigate why sound is so important to the success of a film.

This task will be in a post titled Research : The Importance Of Sound In Horror Films

This task needs to be completed individually and should be done as a piece of independent research - that means I will give you some guidelines but how much and exactly what you do is up to you. Just remember that this research should eventually inform and influence the ideas you have for the use of sound in your own film opening.

The deadline for this evidence to be on your blog is the start of our lesson on Monday 7th November.

You need to show that you have delved into this art form....

• You could start by reading about research that has been completed into why the music used in horror films scares us. 
• You could include some classic clips from horror films to illustrate how the use of sound is so important. There are 7 iconic films that are totally normal without the sound which can be viewed BY CLICKING HERE 
• There is also a website called www.filmsound.org which, rather unsurprisingly, dedicates itself to the use of sound in films. There is an interesting discussion here of the use of sound in horror and science fiction films which, once you have sifted through the plethora of information about Star Trek contains some useful snippets about sounds in horror films such as 'Psycho'.

There is lots more out there that you can use for this part of your research. Whether or not you find it, is pretty much down to how committed you are.

What your post looks like is up to you.