GCJ The Asylum Final Cut Screening

The Asylum Screening



Here is the Asylum Screen To an Audience to get feedback. This helped us to gain and improve aspects of the final cut.We managed to get a screening in our classroom as our peers were very helpful to give up their lesson time for us.

We asked the following questions:

•Overall thoughts

•What they liked about the film

•What they would change and why

•If they were to make this film how would they do it differently




Here is the Audience feedback for the final Cut screenign, we gained possitive and negative feedback rusulting in contructiveness for future edits and wor.

The Original Story Board For The Trailer

Trailer Storyboard

Sheet 1

Sheet 2

These are the original copies of our storyboard for the trailer of our film. We used these as a guideline to what we had to film. However, we didn't stick to what we had down on our storyboard, we changed things that we thought didn't seem right. Such as the desk shot, we thought our trailer would be much more effective if we didn't include it

Slasher Soundtrack

Soundtrack: Halloween (John Carpenter, 1978) 

Halloween Cover

Budget

$325,000 (estimated)

Gross

$47,000,000 (USA)
$60,000,000 (Worldwide) ( 1978)
AUD 900,000 (Australia) ( 1979)
$782,277 (Germany)
HKD 450,139 (Hong Kong) ( 1979)
SEK 2,298,579 (Sweden)

Admissions

750,000 (Germany)
118,606 (Sweden)

Rentals

$18,500,000 (USA)

As Halloween opens there is a high pitched faint piano keys being played as well as a pattering on a drum or symbol to provide an nervous feel for the audience. then at 17 seconds when the pumpkin is shown with the opening titles, much deeper notes are introduced layered on top to create a deeper sound and to create tension. At this point, these deep piano notes turn to longer drawn out notes. At 49 seconds into the opening synths are then added which are much higher notes but are also long notes as well to go with the other instruments and to not sound out of sync. Then at 1.05 the deep piano notes and the high pitched synths are taken out and what was originally there in the beginning is only two instrumental sounds - the piano and the tapping. At 1.14 the long drawn out piano notes return to create tension - this gets gradually louder until 2.00 when the first two instruments are back again as the dennotation (Haddonfield, Illinois) and (Halloween Night, 1963) is shown. The volume of the piano is lowered and the digetic sound of children's voices are introduced.

At 2.20 the iconic house POV shot is shown and all instruments draw to silence. The only sound is the digetic sound of nature and the sound of the couples voices inside. Inside the house the digetic sound continues until 3.14 when a high pitched long drawn out keyboard note is added to build suspense as the POV stalks the two in the house.

The Asylum Re-Shoot

Our Re-Shoot 

After shooting our first rough cut, we decided we needed more footage to make our final piece great. so in school we arranged to meet at my house for the shoot, with the following characters:

Psycho shower scene

Heather: scream queen
Jake: The Dr
Curtis: The killer
George:Camera Man/Director

We arranged the first murder scene in the bathroom, using a kitchen knife and ketchup as blood. We used strategies that many films use, probably the most famous, the Psycho shower scene, where they used fast pace editing.

Like the attic stairs we used

We did our shoot after school, planning our shoot within my house. Preparing the scenes we had to do during the week. We had 2 Killing scenes, one of the final girl and one of the Dr.

to make it look much more realistic when special effects aren't available.

The second murder Took place in my bedroom which is up some stairs in the attic. we thought it would be very effective to us this as the stairs are very effective. We did one continuous take with a false scare and a real scare leading up to the death Jake at the end which then goes straight onto the Titles after
.

ALL Rough Cut Feedback

This is Ben watching our 6th rough cut



Ben gave us some really positive feed back on the start of our opening and credited our build up of the tension through our use of digetic and non digetic music and sound effects. the editing also is well done which is what we were trying to achieve a continuity for our opening. However for improvements our opening is very long and Ben suggested that we could shorten some of the takes, this is what we had considered previously in our other rough cuts but it is clear that some takes still need shortening and we can see that too. Also a bit more sound was suggested which we had also taken into consideration previously but what i think Ben means is sound linking scenes together for example the scene form the mental asylum to the scene of the doctor getting out of his car. Additionally Ben said that we could include a basic soundtrack which could work well with the opening to the film and the opening to the opening of the credits.

Therefore there are a few points we can take form this constructive piece of feedback which will be put into context of our final film. As well as our feedback as a group we feel that there are still tweaks that can be changed in our opening but feedback has helped massively on all of our rough cuts. This way we know what to improve and that it will be to our target audiences taste as our feedback was from people between the age of 15-26 as we don't want to change anything that hasn't been suggested unless we are confident that it will be effective.

Target Audience Feedback: Facebook




Facebook comments for our 5th Rough Cut

 Trailer Feedback

Facebook comments for our teaser trailer

ALL Titles from the slasher genre

In our film, at the beginning we provide exposition, as our film is inspired largely by Halloween we felt that we should take inspiration from the film. Therefore we provided the location at the start of our film opening saying 'High Royds' this was to introduce the film and to give the audience a sense of where the location is.

We then took another inspiration from Halloween and provided another bit of exposition with providing the times/dates of when the scenes are. This also gives the viewer a sense of time and information. As the film is not continuous exposition is needed for the viewer.

Here is the titles of the film SAW it is a sequence of titles after the short introduction, just like our film. it has the effect of running blood down the screen then has the letters in blood like effect, this is the kind of inspiration that gave us to do our titles and what our titles are going to look like.

In the titles of Halloween it introduces two of the main characters, with their name in big letter the 'in'. this is because the names of these two are either recognised or are main parts in the film. As me and Curtis Tiplady are both recognised names in our media society from doing the swede and the micro-drama, we are going to do the same as this

ALL Asylum Mise-En-Scene & Costume

Mise-En-Scene

Here is our opening shot, here we give the audience a view of the mental asylum, this was to give an insight into how big of an escape this is as the size of the building lets you know that it is a large scale asylum. The reason we chose this building is because since a few years ago it has been a fully functional mental asylum. this we thought was absolutely ideal for our opening as we feel it still has the eery buzz about it with its dark,
mysterious look about it.

Here we used a Mercedes car which is my mums. We used this to signify how old the character is as he is a Dr in his early thirty's, using a Mercedes would signify his age and that he is an adult character. so we took a shot of him getting out of the car and locking it to give the audience an idea that he has just driven it home, this we thought was an effective feature to signify his age and his social class.

This shot is one of my favorite shots of the killer, i think it is very effective, building suspense as we break some of the narrative enigma to the audience showing the full body of the killer. we did this by arranging the position of Curtis (the killer) by shouting out of the window so he was in the right spot. We managed to get the perfect position and used an outdoor light to make the shot more effective to show the killer more clearly.

Costume

Here we have a shot from in the cupboard it shows the costume of the Dr. As he is a Dr it is a smart uniform he is wearing, i chose chino trousers and a smart shirt buttoned up as this is what was in our mind as a stereotypical Dr from first hand experience and from watching television. To add to the costume we used my Driving license as an identity for the Dr, as we thought it would add to the stereotypical look.

Here we have the bottom half of what our scream queen was wearing, we asked her to wear shorts as this shows a lot of skin especially with the top she was wearing as well. This was used as it is very stereotypical of the scream queen archetype to be blonde and wear revealing clothes.

This is the killer running from the Asylum. The killers costume, is inspired by the patients escape. He is wearing the Dr's lab coat and was the reason he was able to escape by disguise. We went to the schools biology department and they let us borrow the lab coat, this worked very effectively

Our fake blood

We used fake blood for verisimilitude  for our killing scene it also made our film a lot more realistic as the victim was killed with a knife.


Here is the useful resource we used http://www.wikihow.com/Make-Fake-Blood

ALL Asylum Narratives

In our opening it goes against Todorovs theory of starting with equilibrium. Our film starts with complete dis-equilibrium as there is massive panic as a psycho patient has escaped the asylum. it goes from dis-equilibrium to equilibrium when we go straight to the house, this is the complete opposite to Todorovs theory. We decided to do this as we thought it would be a very effective opening to the film to get the audience on the edge of their seats.

In our opening we used some binary opposition, One of the main binary oppositions was the Dr and the patient. The patient is kind of pushed out of society, earns no money and a low social class. then we have our Dr who is a high social class as his job is a very respectable job. He drives a mercedes and looks to have money with his clothes. Then we have the patient with no job, mentally ill etc.

We also provided exposition as we were very influenced by Halloween. We also thought that we needed to provide the audience with information about where they were as it was just an outside shot of the building. it also gives the time as we later on went to the house in the opening, this gave the audience a sense of time in the opening

The Asylum Screenplay

Screenplay for The Asylum

The Asylum

Staring Curtis Tiplady, Jake Wilson, Heather Macphereson


Rough Cut 1

Location 1: The Asylum

The Doctor: (Running down the stairs) (Shouting, exhausted) "Catch him he's escaped" -Jakes facial expression suggests that he's worried.

The shot fades out

Location 2: The House

The Doctor: (Startled)

The Scream Queen: (Coming into the bathroom) (Relaxed) "Hey babe its only me"

The Doctor: "Sorry bad day at work"

The Scream Queen: "Come here then"


Final Cut:

Location 1: The Asylum

The Doctor: (Running down the stairs) (Shouting, exhausted) "Catch him he's escaped"

-Jakes facial expression suggests that he's worri
The shot fades out


Location 2: The House

The Doctor: (Startled)

The Scream Queen: (Coming into the bathroom) (Relaxed) "Hey babe its only me"

My Poster For Asylum

This is our film poster for The Asylum we chose to show very little detail about the film itself. We included an image of the knife and the killer to signify the slasher genre. Also to signify the slasher genre we used a san serif font. As we have looked at previous slasher posters such as Psycho. We also went with the red and black which signifies horror.

Asylum Rough Cuts

Below is Our First Rough Cut we made

Several points from feedback were that the shots were too long and the false scare wasn't scary at all.

 

Here is our Second Rough Cut

This was an improvement however there was a lot of mistakes and still very long. It had to be trimmed down immensely. Also the frame aspect ratio rendered out badly and had to be resolved.



This is our Third Rough Cut

The feedback given to us on this one was that the Black letter boxing had to go as it looked ridiculous and didn't work at all. Also the films



Here is our Fourth Rough Cut

We realized after the feedback on the fourth rough cut that we had to change to effects added to the film. It was too contrasting and sharp, losing the video quality when we needed it the most.



This is our Fifth Rough Cut

We had trimmed the clips down a lot more this time and had created better verisimilitude by changing the match on action shots more continuous. 





Facebook comments for our 5th Rough Cut






 
This is Ben watching our 6th rough cut




This is Ben watching our 6th rough cut





Ben gave us some really positive feed back on the start of our opening and credited our build up of the tension through our use of digetic and non digetic music and sound effects. the editing also is well done which is what we were trying to achieve a continuity for our opening. However for improvements our opening is very long and Ben suggested that we could shorten some of the takes, this is what we had considered previously in our other rough cuts but it is clear that some takes still need shortening and we can see that too. Also a bit more sound was suggested which we had also taken into consideration previously but what i think Ben means is sound linking scenes together for example the scene form the mental asylum to the scene of the doctor getting out of his car. Additionally Ben said that we could include a basic soundtrack which could work well with the opening to the film and the opening to the opening of the credits.


Therefore there are a few points we can take form this constructive piece of feedback which will be put into context of our final film. As well as our feedback as a group we feel that there are still tweaks that can be changed in our opening but feedback has helped massively on all of our rough cuts. This way we know what to improve and that it will be to our target audiences taste as our feedback was from people between the age of 15-26 as we don't want to change anything that hasn't been suggested unless we are confident that it will be effective.


Here is our Last Rough Cut

There was only little adjustments to be made including title sequence and more sound effects and music to be added to build the tension for the false scare and the death of Heather.



This is the Final Film Opening

Here is the final Film Opening, after a long editing process we have come to the final video. We have had feedback on this and everyone's opinions have said that this is a vast improvement since the first rough cut. They really like it and it gave them the "scary" feeling like most horror/slasher films do. I am pleased with our final opening, however it could have been shorter. We could have managed time better which would have resulted in a better video, however in all i think we gave it our best shot. 

Working Title Productions

• Production company 
• British based film production company - co-founded by Tim Beavan & Sarah Radcliffe in 1983
• Produces feature films and several television productions
• 1992 Polygram became the cooperate backer of the company. 
• Locations include: Ireland, United States , Los Angeles
• Parent: Polgram (1991-1999) & Universal Studios (2000-present) 
• WT² production: 1999 Bevan & Fellner launched a subsidery company called WT² - independent film company- known for films such as: Billy Elliott, Shaun Of the Dead- Ran by Natascha Wharton.
• Working title have grossed $3bn sicne 1992.
• Eric Fellner & Tim Bevan have a great partnership- brought together by Polygram in 1992 when Tim Bevan & Sarah Radcliffee were looking for a cooperate backer- Thats where Fellner comes in. 
• The films were suffering because there was no real structure and, speaking for myself, my company was always virtually bankrupt." Bevan on life before Fellner's backing. 
• Being bought by Polygram - itself taken over by Universal in 1999 - has been liberating" says Bevan.
• Pre- and post-production are "the most powerful times for us", says Bevan. "Quality is everything"

• *Take 2004: "In the year you do Bridget Jones 2 you kind of know that film is going to do all right, so you can take a bigger risk at the other end, which was Shaun of the Dead. Which turned out all right, thank God
• *What with the mixed fortunes of Wimbledon, 2004 was not a spectacular year for them, though they did manage to pull in $600m.
• *"You have to have films that are going to do $200-$400m in box office revenue, and finding them from here is difficult." 
• *They produce various genre films which cater for a large target audience from U's to 18's. 

Examples of films:

Atonement (2007) - Keira Knightly, James Mcavoy, to make: £15 mill, worldwide: £129,266061

Wildchild (2008) - Emma Robets, Juno Temple, to make: £20 million box office takings: £20,273, 551

HotFuzz  (2007) - Edgar Wright, to make: £16 million, worldwide: £80,500,000

Asylum - Shot List

These are our shot list sheets to provide information for me the director about which shot type is used for which part of the opening. We have drawn pictures and labelled the specific shot and why the shot is used:



                       Sheet 1                                            Sheet 2

Audience & Institution (The Film Industry)

An institution (in the film industry)

Definition: any company or organisation that produces, distributes or exhibits films. The BBC makes films with their BBC Films arm; Channel4's Film Four produces films, Working Title also produce films, as does Vertigo Films, etc. Some institutions need to join with other institutions which distribute films. Vertigo Films is able to distribute its own films, Channel Four distributed Slumdog Millionaire through Pathe. Working Title's distribution partner is Universal, a huge US company which can make, distribute and show films. The type of owner ship within an institution matters as, for instance, Channel 4 and the BBC are able to show their own films at an earlier stage than other films made by other institutions. They are also better placed to cross-promote their in-house films within their media organisations. Use you work on Film Four as the basis for most of what you write, Moon is a good cross comparison as Duncan Jones had to create his own institution just to get the film made.


Distribution and Marketing

Definition: the business of getting films to their audiences by booking them for runs into cinemas and taking them there in vans or through digital downloads; distributors also create the marketing campaign for films producing posters, trailers, websites, organise free previews, press packs, television interviews with the "talent", sign contracts for promotions, competitions, etc. Distributors use their know-how and size to ensure that DVDs of the film end up in stores and on supermarket shelves. Distributors also obtain the BBFC certificate, and try to get films released as the most favourable times of the year for their genre, etc.


Examples:

Universal distributed Working Title's The Boat That Rocked; Pathe distributedFilm4 and Celadors' Slumdog Millionaire after the original US distributor, Warner Independent went out of business. TRONwas heavily marketed across a variety of mediums, Moon struggled to get press attention and Duncan Jones had to really push the film  in obscure places like Popular Mechanics etc. The Kings Speech was distributed by Momentum (a susiduary of Aliance films) who are a major independent film distributor.


Exhibition
Definition: showing films in cinemas or on DVD. Media attention through opening nights and premieres How the audience can see the film: in cinemas, at home, on DVD, through downloads, through television, including premieres, the box office take in the opening weeks; audience reviews which includes those of the film critics, ordinary people, cinemas runs; awards in festivals, The Oscars, BAFTAS, etc.


Examples:

Slumdog Millionaire almost never got distribution. Its early US distributor, Warner Independent was a victim of the economic downturn and went out of business. The film's makers then struggled to find a distributor! Then Fox Searchlight stepped up and "the rest is history". The 8 out of 10 Oscar nomination wins ensured that the film has been the greatest British success in awards and in box office for nearly 60years.
http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/news/boyle-reveals-slumdog-millionaire-was-nearly-never-made-1331821.html

Motherhood took just £86!

Moon. Initially Sony Pictures Worldwide were due to distribute the film but they specialise in straight to DVD features. Following positive reaction following its Sundance film festival the rights were acquired by Sony Classic Pictures who gave the film a limited release in the US in Cities like New York and LA.

Exchange

Definition: The unintended use of an institution’s media text (i.e. a film) by OTHER PEOPLE who use the film or parts of it to form new texts. What happens to a film, etc. after the public get their hands on it using digital technology.  

Examples:
People unconnected to the institution/ film using WEB 2.0 applications such as YOUTUBE, Blogger, Amazon film message boards, TWITTER, Face-Book, discuss the film or edit parts of together to form a new text which the may then put a new soundtrack to and publish on YOUTUBE, etc. When you add a trailer from a site like YouTube on your blog you have been engaging with exchange. Look back to MArk Kermodes video regarding piracy and the new release strategies for films like Ken Loach's "Route Irish" (Loach has reportedly steeled himself for a frosty response from critics and anticipates an underwhelming box office, noting the difficulty he faced securing a distribution deal. Though pragmatic in his view that “people don’t make films to communicate; they make it as a commodity”,an unorthodox release strategy utilising Sky Movies Premier - which will place the film (and by extension, its subject matter) in a wider public sphere than it might otherwise have reached – suggests he hasn’t given up on pedagogy entirely.) or the Jack Ass 3 release on DVD and Sky Box Office.


Vertical and Horizontal Integration

Definition: Absorption into a single firm of several firms involved in all aspects of a product's manufacture from raw materials to distribution.


Example:
Vivendi Universal have integrated film, music, web and distribution technology into the company, including owning big stakes in cables and wires that deliver these services. Therefore they are vertically integrated because they own all the different companies involved in film, from production to distribution to exhibition. They are also horizontally integrated because they have all the expertise for producing media content under one roof – films, TV, magazines, books, music, games thus being able to produce all the related media content for one film under the same roof (see synergy). This is important for the control the institution has over their product/film.


Synergy/Synergies  

Definition: The interaction of two or more agents (institutions/companies) to ensure a larger effect than if they acted independently. This is beneficial for each company through efficiencies in expertise and costs. 

 

Examples:
Working Title know how to make films and they have formed a business partnership with Universal, a massive US company, who have the experience and size in the marketplace (cinemas, stores, online, etc.) to distribute them. (They create the marketing campaign to target audiences through posters, trailers, create the film’s website, free previews, television and press interviews featuring “the talent”, drum up press reviews, word of mouth, and determine when a film is released for the best possible audience and the type of release: limited, wide, etc.) Channel Four’s Film 4 and Celador Films(Celador also produce Who Wants to Be A Millionaire and films, too) benefited by pooling their know-how, experience and expertise to jointly produce Slumdog Millionaire. These companies formed a business relationship with France’s Pathe to distribute this film. In the UK Pathe helped create the poster, trailer, website, etc. In the USA the film found another distributor after being nominated for the Oscars.


Viral Marketing

Definition: A marketing technique aiming at reproducing "word of mouth" usually on the internet and through existing social networks. YouTube Video pastiches, trailers, interviews with cast members, the director, writer, etc. You can find interviews of “the talent” trying to gain publicity for your case study films on YouTube. Find some clips from the films we have studied to help you in the exam.

Media Convergence
Definition 1: Convergence of media occurs when multiple products come together to form one product with the advantages of all of them. 

 

Examples:

More and more films are being marketed on the Internet and on mobile phones. You no longer need even to buy the DVDs or CDs as you can download films and music directly to your laptop, Mac or PC. Blue Ray DVDs can carry more features than ordinary DVDs and can be played on HD televisions and in home cinemas for enhanced/cinematic picture quality. You can save films on SKY digital, Free-box digital players, etc. You mobile phone has multiple features and applications. With media and technological convergence this is growing year on year. Play-Stations, X-Boxes and the Wii can can connect with the Internet and you can play video games with multiple players.


Technological Convergence

Definition 2: The growing interractive use of digital technology in the film industry and media which enables people to share, consume and produce media that was difficult or impossible just a few years earlier.

Examples:

For instance, the use of new software to add special effects in editing; the use of blue-screen; using new types of digital cameras like the one Danny Boyle used in “Slumdog Millionaire” (The Silicon Imaging Camera to shoot high quality film in tight spaces); you can use the Internet to download a film rather than go see it in the cinema; you can watch it on YouTube; you can use special editing programs like Final Cut Pro to edit bits of a film, give it new soundtrack and upload it on YouTube; you can produce illegal, pirate copies on DVDs from downloads and by converting the film’s format; you can buy Blue Ray DVDs with greater compression which allows superior viewing and more features on the DVD; distributors can use digital software to create high concept posters; cinemas can download films to their projection screens and do not have to depend on a van dropping off the film! The is also the Digital Screen Network. There are tons of ways in which technological convergence affects the production, distribution, exhibition and exchange by prosumers. ( A prosumer is someone who not only consumes (watches films) but also writes about them the Net, blogs and make films out of them, often uploading them on sites like YouTube, etc.

A Mainstream Film

Definition: A high budget film that would appeal to most segments of an audience: the young, boys, girls, teenagers, young people, the middle aged, older people, the various classes in society. Distributors often spend as much or more than the film cost to make when distributing mainstream films that are given wide or universal releases.


Example:

The Boat That Rocked was a mainstream idea and was given the mainstream treatment on wide release. The film flopped at the UK box office on release ( and has not done too well since mid November 2009 on release in the USA. This was mostly because of its poor reviews, particularly from “Time-Out”. However, when young and older audiences see the DVD they generally like the film because of its uplifting storyline and the well-chosen soundtrack.


Art House Films

Definition: A low budget independent film that would mostly appeal to an educated, higher class audience who follow unusual genres or like cult directors that few people have heard of. Therefore it is usually aimed at a niche market. Foreign films often come under this category. 


Examples: 
The low budget film, Once (2007) which found a specialised, boutique distributor in Fox Searchlight fits this label. (FOX the mainstream company usually distributes big budget film and blockbusters); So does “Juno” from 2008 which began as a low budget film about teenage pregnancy that the big studios thought too risky to touch – but it found popularity through its touching story line, engaging music and its Oscar nomination for best script. Like “Slumdog Millionaire” the film crossed over between art-house cinemas and audiences to mainstream ones because of the recognition it received from Canadian film festivals and award ceremonies like Britain’s BAFTAS and the Hollywood’s Oscars.





Ratings bodies BBFC - The British Board of Film Classification

How your institutions films are rated will affect audiences in so far as WHO can see them. Sex scenes, offensive language, excessive violence, the use of profanity, etc. can affect the rating and certificate the film receives and therefore affect who is able to see the film.

The information on this page was taken from Wikipedia, The Guardian and from Google.