Theories

Genre Theories

According to Schatz's theory, genre is separated into two types; genre of order and genre of integration. My product would be considered mainly as genre of order as it conforms to a conventional horror style. In my piece the group of main characters as a whole could be regarded as the 'hero' because of their communal effort to restore order. Conflict is externalised because of the uncertain environment and results in the elimination of the majority of the group, including the villain. The integration theory is not consistent with my plot because it usually deals with a female dominated group in a civilised space where conflict is internalised through emotions and resolved through love.

In regards to Altman's theory, that genres reflect the concerns of the time, my product probably refers to the theme of anti-social behaviour among teenagers; the idea that young people are out of control and when left unattended will throw parties that may involve underage drinking, drug taking, vandalism and violence. Another theory is Collins', that genres are blurred because there are so many hybrids.

Narrative Theories

There are many types of narrative structure:
Open-ended
Closed-ended
Multi-strand
Point of view
Enigma

The human mind relies on a narrative to make sense of things, we connect events and make interpretations based on those connections.

Todorov's theory:

There are 5 stages the narrative progresses through:

1. A state of equilibrium (All is as it should be)
2. A disruption of that order by an event.
3. A recognition that the disorder has occurred.
4. An attempt to repair the damage of the disruption.
5. A return or restoration of a new equilibrium.

In the case of my product:
1. The group are at school, as normal.
2. The group are invited to the party.
3. The group attend the party and bad things start to happen.
4. They try to locate the killer.
5. The killer is stopped and the survivor is safe.

Levi-Strauss:
This theory says that the constant creation of conflict or opposition propels the narrative and that the narrative can only end with the resolution of conflict. Opposition can be visual e.g. light/darkness, movement/stillness or conceptual e.g. good/evil, man/nature.

Propp:
His theory looks at 31 functions of character types, these narrative functions are spread between the main characters:

Hero (Protagonist)
Villain (Antagonist)
Donor
Helper
Princess
Dispatcher
False-hero

Campbell:
This theory takes the idea that most narratives follow the form of the mythic hero quest, journey or monomyth and also looks at archetypes, which he names as:

1. Hero
2. Shadow
3. Outcast
4. Devil Figure
5. Woman Figure (Earth Mother, Temptress etc.)
6. Wise Old Man

'No Way Out' Trailer

Original Shot List

Here is the the shot list for our trailer:

Day 1

Filming shots 1-14, 25, 32

School shot

Five actors actors walking

Bloody hand print

Halloween party flyer

Coin flip

Group around the Table

Day 2

House scenes 16, 18, 19-30

Day 3

Party scenes 17 and 15

Storyboard

Evaluation

Our horror film 'No Way Out' would probably come under the category of 'teen horror' as it focuses on the teenage lifestyle and party attitude. It could be compared to Carrie as we have used the idea of possession and supernatural influences. It could also be compared to The Blair Witch Project due to our use of home movie style filming in order to show points of view. The Shining has also given us the inspiration of using an isolated group of people and the idea of an insider being the enemy, as well as the added element of supernatural forces having an influence on the characters' state of mind. We stuck quite closely to the typical horror movie form but decided to challenge some conventional concepts, such as the 'final girl' theory, in order to make our film more different and exciting.

Our film would target teenagers and we have tried to address them by creating scenarios and characters that they may be able to relate to. Social activities and school is something that young people can relate to internationally, therefore I believe that basing our film around this area will be effective for drawing in our target audience. Horror movie viewers are excited by plots that they can compare to their own real life experiences and so I believe that 'No Way Out' will be more appealing.

Media technologies have played a big part in the production of our 'No Way Out' trailer. We have blogged our progress throughout and used iMovie to edit the trailer together. I found iMovie quite easy to use and we made the most of the cutting and audio effects available. Overall I am pleased with our finished trailer. I think that there is a good range of shots and that it fulfils it's purpose of creating suspense and encouraging viewers to see the film. However, when we started the production process a number of factors meant that we had to deviate from the original treatment and shot list. Our original plan was very adventurous and we had to change and remove some shots but I believe this alternate outcome delivers the same intended narrative. If I could change one thing about our trailer I would not have it entirely set at night because of lighting issues.

In post production we used Photoshop to create a movie poster and movie magazine cover, using a photography studio to capture the featured photos. We decided to keep the magazine cover quite sophisticated and simple, choosing to represent the actor from our film rather than the character he plays. Because of this we needed to emphasise the horror theme through the content of the magazine, naming it 'The Horror Issue'.

On our movie poster we decided to include all of the main characters and a sinister black shadow to represent the villain. Again we wanted our poster to be quite simple yet appealing, using mainly black and white and minimal text, in order to create more authenticity we also added some star ratings.

Treatment

The film begins on halloween with a shot of the bustling school entrance. We then meet the five main characters Jordan, Alex, Gavin, Nessa and Katie as they walk through the school grounds. It is Friday and Alex produces a leaflet that he has been "given" about a local halloween party taking place that night. The teenagers are indecisive about whether to go so they go to the common room and flip a coin. Gavin says "Heads we stay in and watch a movie, tails we go to the party." Alex flips the coin and it lands on tails. The bell goes and they all go home after planning to meet at 9 to go to the party together.

At 9 o'clock they all meet at the corner of a street, it's dark. Katie and Nessa are there first and then Gavin, Alex and Jordan arrive separately. They walk to the party, the front door is open so they walk straight inside, shutting the door behind them.

They all walk into the packed main room and Katie, Jordan and Gavin go straight to the other side of the room to get drinks. Alex and Nessa stand on the other side and mingle. Nessa is holding her phone, she outs it down for a moment to look in her bag. When she looks up again her phone is gone. She just assumes that it has been stolen by someone at the party and isn't too bothered because it was cheap.

Moments later, out of sight and on the other side of the room, Gavin receives a call from Nessa's phone number. Gavin, Jordan and Katie are unaware that Nessa's phone has gone missing at this time. Gavin answers the phone and hears crackling and indistinct whispering. Assuming that it is Nessa and he just doesn't have signal, Gavin goes to the door to get outside. The door is locked, he tries another door, it is also locked, he then tries a window which is also locked.

Gavin tells Jordan and Katie that they are locked in. They feel a little uneasy and try to tell other party-goers. Everyone brushes them off in a trance-like fashion and carries on dancing.

The lights go out. Everyone gasps. There is a state of panic. "What's going on?" Someone feels a cold brush by their arm. A girl screams. Gavin: "Stop messing around guys. Turn the lights on!" A rustling sound. It sounds like Gavin is in pain. "What happened to the lights?" Katie in panic rushes to the light switch and frantically tries to switch it on. "It's not working! It's not working!" The light switch is on the off the button.

And then the lights come on. But the audience can see that the light switch is off. There is dead silence. Katie is still at the light switch. "Hold on! This switch is actually off!" Turns around to see that everyone else has gone and the other four are in a state of shock. Katie: "Where's everyone just cleared to?"

Nessa goes up stairs. "I need to use the bathroom." She opens the bathroom door. She sees Gavin lying face down in the bath with the shower on. "Gavin! Oh my God!" She pulls him slightly over. His face is completely deformed. Blood is dripping from his neck. All of a sudden she notices a large pool of blood in the bath. She screams: "Everyone come upstairs." Everyone attends. He tries to speak but he can't. They pick him up and take him to a bedroom. They lie him on the bed. They try to stop the bleeding with the bedsheets. He still can't speak. "What happened?" Then he dies.

Alex runs to the bathroom and throws up. Then when he looks back up in the mirror he sees a black silhouette behind him. He turns around straight away so it's only there for a split second and there's nothing behind him. He feels scared but he doesn't tell any of the others because he thinks it's all in his head.

They all go back into the living room to discuss what they are going to do next. Alex says that he's going to try to get some signal. And Katie says she's going to see if there's anyone else left in the house. Nessa is having a panic attack so Jordan stays and looks after her.

Cut to Katie walking through the corridor looking into rooms.

Cut to Alex walking into the bedroom. Sees a window a bit open but it's second storey so he can't jump out. He sits on the ledge and leans out of the window and he gets signal. He calls Tom who he saw at the party. "Tom! Where did you go?!".
"What do you mean Alex?" Alex then asks why everyone left the party and why they locked the five in. Tom explains that he was never at any party. Alex feels a sharp pain in his back, he slips and drops the phone out of the window before he can ask for help. He then makes his way back to the others in the living room.

Cut back to Katie looking into rooms. She enters a bedroom and sees someone sitting on a bed with their back to her. They are wearing a hood so it is unclear who they are... She walks towards the person and grabs their shoulder. The person turns around, their face is hidden, and they thrust the blade through her neck. They hold it there for approximately two seconds and then slice to the right out of her throat, leaving her neck dangling to the side half on.

Cut to Alex entering the living room as Nessa gets up to look for Katie as she is worried about her. She leaves the room.

Nessa screams, Alex and Jordan both run into the bedroom to see what has happened, Katie is in a pool of her own blood.

Jordan: OMG

He runs out the room to the living room and the rest follow him. Alex is the last to enter and locks the door without anyone noticing

Alex: Ok what the hell is happening?
Nessa: who is doing this what have we done (crying and hugging Jordan)
Jordan: did you get reception
Alex: yeh i called Tom but dropped the phone
Jordan: (Jordan eyes widen in disbelief) how on earth did you manage that
Alex: look at this (lifts up his shirt to see burn mark) something burned me and made me drop the phone, whoever or whatever is doing this is stopping us from getting in contact with anyone else.
Nessa: How the hell could you drop the phone what's wrong with you?! That was our only way to get out and now we're stuck, you probably did it on purpose
Alex: WHAT are you trying to say? That I’m doing this?

The group start to argue and accuse each other. Jordan finds a bloody hand print on the wall – "Hey guys look at this!"

Alex: it must be the killers, so whoever's hand fits must be the killer

Everyone hesitates as no one wants to go first. Alex goes first, then Jordan, then Nessa. Nessa's hand fits.

Jordan: Nessa??
Alex: it makes sense now, you found the bodies, and you started accusing people
Nessa: it wasn’t me I swear
Alex: she’s lying
Nessa: Jordan you know me, why would I do this, Katie’s my best friend
Jordan: I don’t know, you did find Katie and at the party i got a phone call from you
Nessa: what phone call? I lost my phone at the party
Alex: what did the person say?
Jordan: I didn’t hear it properly, it wasn’t clear, that's when all this stuff started happening

Alex and Jordan gang up on Nessa. Jordan and alex convince themselves that it was Nessa.

Jordan: we've got to kill her
Alex: what?!
Jordan: whatever's or whoever's making her do this, is going to kill us too!

Jordan and alex talk and decide that they have got to kill her.

Nessa: no, please it wasn't me
Jordan: stop lying, your hand fits you found gavin and katie and you made that phone call.

Alex picks up Nessa and ties her to a chair with some cable from the TV. Jordan and alex discuss how they are going to do it, Alex convinces Jordan to do it some how. Nessa still pleads with them to stop and is trying get away. She manages to untangle herself and gets up and picks up and smashes a bottle.

Alex: look she trying to kill us

Jordan walks towards her she stabs him in the arm, Jordan uses a chair to repeatly hit her until she is dead. Jordan goes towards Alex to tell him that Nessa is dead, Alex turns around and his eyes are black, Jordan realises that something is wrong with him.

Alex looks at the hand prints and so does Jordan. The handprint changes shape and Alex puts his hand on it, it fits.

Jordan realises that Alex is the real kill and he is possessed with something, he tries to leave the room but the door is locked. Alex charges at him, he misses and smashes down the door. Jordan runs out the room and Alex chases him.

Jordan picks up a corkscrew to defend himself and alex runs towards him. He jabs him in the eye. Alex grabs his eyes and falls to his knees and Jordan runs out of the room.

Cut back to Alex. Alex gets up. He thinks Jordan has gone outside so he unlocks the front door to look for him. Jordan isn't outside so Alex runs back into the house and runs upstairs. He gets to the top step and Jordan jumps out and pushes Alex down the stairs. He then pushes a chest of draws down and it lands on him. Alex is dead.

Jordan sees the front door open runs out. The film end with a front view of Jordan running down the street.

Brief Outline of Plot

5 friends get invited to a party at school (they are given a leaflet). They discuss whether or not they should go to the party or stay home and watch scary films. They can't decide so they flip a coin, heads stay home, tails: they go to the party.

The party is on the night 31st october. When the party is in full swing they split into 2 groups (3 and 2) from one of the groups, one of their phones goes missing and then someone else in the other group gets a phone call from that phone and there is a weird sound on the other side, thinking it's bad reception they try to go outside to find that all the doors are locked. They try all the doors and windows but they are locked in.

They try to tell all the party goers but they dont pay them any attention. The lights go out and then everyone disappears and there are only the five people left. They realise that one of them is missing and go looking for them. They find them dying and they frantically panic. As there is no reception for mobile signals or any communciation to the outside world they then try to help the person dying themselves but consequently they die. One of them then runs to the bathroom to be sick and when they are washing their face and look into the mirror they see a figure in the mirror they turn around and nothing is there (the figure is the possession but the person doesn't know it)

They decide to split up too. One goes looking for other people, another tries to go and get reception and the other two stay put because one of them is panicking. The person going to look for other people sees something sitting on a bed but you can only see the back of their head, they tap the shoulder and it's a person but we can't see who it is, it then grabs the teenager's hand and kills them with a 'toy' axe but its real. The person trying to get signal finds a window and finally talks to a friend they saw at the party and ask them where did you go and they have no idea what they are talking about and dont know anything about a party. They some how drop the phone and they find out on their back that they have some sought of evidence they have been pushed.

Of the two people who are together, one of them goes looking for the others because they have been gone for a long time he/she screams from seeing the dead body. The other two rush to them and find the dead body, they then come to the conclusion that the killer has to be one of them, and then assume that the killer is the person who found the second body, the other two decide to kill the accused killer before he/she tries and kills them. They tie the accused killer to a chair and kill them brutally. Then out of the two left we find out that the killer is not the friend they just killed but one of the two people left. They struggle to kill each other and finally the possessed one is killed by the last person left.

THE END.