rationale - Locations
CHURCH-FIELDS - This location is used for our establishing shot of the park and also the location where Alice and Veronica meet. We chose this location because it fit the idea of what we wanted the park to look like; deserted and a bit run-down. The park being deserted meant that we could put our protagonist in the shot alone to connote her initial isolation. The play park also had all the typical aspects that you would find, such as a swing set and a roundabout, so it is clear to the audience where it is. We filmed in this location in the afternoon when the sun was setting as the audience would feel a sense of security in it being light, even though the shot is quite sinister and creepy. It was also a few hours after school so we knew it would be deserted which is what we wanted for the shots.
BEDROOM (ALICE) - For Alice's bedroom we used our friend's room. After looking at other girls bedrooms we felt that hers would work the best for Alice's bedroom, the walls are purple and the back one has a large quote on the wall, the room has a lot of trinkets and fairy lights that connote that it belongs to a teenage girl. The whole room looks quite feminine which worked well to portray Alice's character because we want to make her look as innocent and unexpected as possible. She also has a large desk which we could set a chemistry set up on but also surround it with girly trinkets to juxtapose the idea of the killer still being a normal girl. This room, unlike others we thought of, was big enough to fit the chemistry set as well as the camera tripod and us.
BEDROOM (VICTIM) - In the shot where our first victim is dying in the bed, we filmed at Ruth Secrett's house, in her parents bedroom. Originally we were going to use Ruth's bedroom, as it is an attic room and connoted the idea of confinement and a conventional horror location. However, due to space and lighting constraints we decided to relocate to her mums room which was bigger and had better lighting to make the scene look a lot more believable. This location was convenient as it was the actors house and it meant that we already had an idea of what it would look like. The large bed also makes the victim look vulnerable and small.
TOLWORTH GIRLS' SCHOOL TOILETS - After discussing with our teacher that this should be filmed in a public location we decided to use the girls toilets at our school. This location was chosen because it was convenient and because its not somewhere where you would expect bad things to happen, it also connotes that the 'poisoning' is happening to everyone and that no one is safe. It is also quite dirty and confined which connoted the right feelings we wanted to evoke from our audience when they saw this shot. For a vast majority of the trailer we wanted dark scenes, however we chose a lighter location for this scene as it juxtaposes the fact that our character is dying in this scene.
EPSOM STREET - We used this street in Epsom because it looked like a normal street. This is to connote that this is happening in a normal neighbourhood and could happen anywhere. We also filmed here because it wasn't a busy street and contrasted with the street that Alice stands in as that is always quite busy. It was again convenient for both the cast and for us.
DINING ROOM (VERONICAS) - For Veronica's dining room, where she finds her parents dead, we filmed in another of our friends house. We chose this house because it looks upper middle class, this way it connotes that Veronica is well off and not an expected character to fall into the mess that she is in. This location is also different from the other dining room scene to show that its a different characters house. Again we had an idea of what the scene should look like, shown on our storyboard we wanted Veronica to witness her parents through the doorframe to connote a separation between her parents and her. Louise's dining room fit the perfect description for what we wanted.
FRONT DOOR/PORCH (ALICE) - For this we used the front door of Ruth Secrett's house as it was convenient as well as having the look that we wanted. We were looking for a simple wooden door that had nothing distracting around it. We wanted to show Alice's house as being a contrast to Veronicas. The outside of Alice's house and Alice's bedroom were filmed at different location's and this was due to the fact that each had the right look for the different scenes we wanted. This was instead of using both locations at the same place and one of the shots not being what we wanted.
NORTH PARADE (STREET IN HOOK) - This is the location where we filmed Alice turning to face the camera. We wanted to use this street because it was public and always busy, this way we got the noise of pedestrians and traffic in our background, which is what we wanted as that way she would stick out more and therefore connote to the audience that she is different and could be part of the killings. It also juxtaposes the hectic road and street to Alice standing still and turning to face the camera.
HORTON COUNTRY PARK - This is a local park that has paths with thick trees growing around it, after looking at a forest path in another location we found that this one looked a lot a lot better. It was also the same location we used for our woods scene in our Preliminary Task, this was convenient as we already knew of the location, how to get there and how it looks. We wanted this location because it is a typical stock location that is found in most Horror films. The idea of the woods means that anything could be hiding there. This also creates an iconic setting. We used this location after school, just when it was getting dark to connote encasement, and no escape.
EPSOM HIGH STREET - Here we wanted another public location to again show the seemingly 'normal' neighbourhood in which bad things were happening. This is also a dramatic part of the trailer where one character punches another, so we wanted to film it in a busy location to make it more believable and look as if the fight is spontaneous and make the audience wonder why it started. However, after going there to film we decided it wasn't exactly what we wanted, so instead we walked around until we found a less well-known but still busy street. This meant the audience wouldn't feel comfortable watching the scene.
DINING ROOM (VICTIMS FAMILY) - This is the other dining room that we are using to show another families home. (This is the family home of the victim who dies in the car later). We chose this location as it was convenient to use and we knew that her parents would be willing to be filmed eating their dinner for us to film. Their dining room is also quite small which could denote family closeness and therefore the death of the main girl later would come as more of a shock. It is also quite a family room, which reflected in our characters and the situation they are in.
TOLWORTH GIRLS' SCHOOL LIBRARY - We wanted to film in a school library because its a public place and a library always seems like a safe place to be and somewhere you wouldn't expect someone to die. It also gives the audience a sense that people are dying everywhere and that no one is safe any more. Our school library is also convenient and we could use students places around the shot to make it more believable. Furthermore, as a library is usually a place of quiet and no noise the idea of someone coughing and dying their makes the audience feel uncomfortable.
BRICK WALL (TOLWORTH) - For the last shot in our trailer we had Alice's character standing in front of a brick wall, we wanted this to represent that it was a dead end and that there was no escape for her. The wall also contrasts with what she is wearing, which is still her feminine dress, even though now it is torn and muddy. It also means there is no distractions behind Alice, and makes the audience focus fully on the actress and how she looks.
BEDROOM (ALICE) - For Alice's bedroom we used our friend's room. After looking at other girls bedrooms we felt that hers would work the best for Alice's bedroom, the walls are purple and the back one has a large quote on the wall, the room has a lot of trinkets and fairy lights that connote that it belongs to a teenage girl. The whole room looks quite feminine which worked well to portray Alice's character because we want to make her look as innocent and unexpected as possible. She also has a large desk which we could set a chemistry set up on but also surround it with girly trinkets to juxtapose the idea of the killer still being a normal girl. This room, unlike others we thought of, was big enough to fit the chemistry set as well as the camera tripod and us.
BEDROOM (VICTIM) - In the shot where our first victim is dying in the bed, we filmed at Ruth Secrett's house, in her parents bedroom. Originally we were going to use Ruth's bedroom, as it is an attic room and connoted the idea of confinement and a conventional horror location. However, due to space and lighting constraints we decided to relocate to her mums room which was bigger and had better lighting to make the scene look a lot more believable. This location was convenient as it was the actors house and it meant that we already had an idea of what it would look like. The large bed also makes the victim look vulnerable and small.
TOLWORTH GIRLS' SCHOOL TOILETS - After discussing with our teacher that this should be filmed in a public location we decided to use the girls toilets at our school. This location was chosen because it was convenient and because its not somewhere where you would expect bad things to happen, it also connotes that the 'poisoning' is happening to everyone and that no one is safe. It is also quite dirty and confined which connoted the right feelings we wanted to evoke from our audience when they saw this shot. For a vast majority of the trailer we wanted dark scenes, however we chose a lighter location for this scene as it juxtaposes the fact that our character is dying in this scene.
EPSOM STREET - We used this street in Epsom because it looked like a normal street. This is to connote that this is happening in a normal neighbourhood and could happen anywhere. We also filmed here because it wasn't a busy street and contrasted with the street that Alice stands in as that is always quite busy. It was again convenient for both the cast and for us.
DINING ROOM (VERONICAS) - For Veronica's dining room, where she finds her parents dead, we filmed in another of our friends house. We chose this house because it looks upper middle class, this way it connotes that Veronica is well off and not an expected character to fall into the mess that she is in. This location is also different from the other dining room scene to show that its a different characters house. Again we had an idea of what the scene should look like, shown on our storyboard we wanted Veronica to witness her parents through the doorframe to connote a separation between her parents and her. Louise's dining room fit the perfect description for what we wanted.
FRONT DOOR/PORCH (ALICE) - For this we used the front door of Ruth Secrett's house as it was convenient as well as having the look that we wanted. We were looking for a simple wooden door that had nothing distracting around it. We wanted to show Alice's house as being a contrast to Veronicas. The outside of Alice's house and Alice's bedroom were filmed at different location's and this was due to the fact that each had the right look for the different scenes we wanted. This was instead of using both locations at the same place and one of the shots not being what we wanted.
NORTH PARADE (STREET IN HOOK) - This is the location where we filmed Alice turning to face the camera. We wanted to use this street because it was public and always busy, this way we got the noise of pedestrians and traffic in our background, which is what we wanted as that way she would stick out more and therefore connote to the audience that she is different and could be part of the killings. It also juxtaposes the hectic road and street to Alice standing still and turning to face the camera.
HORTON COUNTRY PARK - This is a local park that has paths with thick trees growing around it, after looking at a forest path in another location we found that this one looked a lot a lot better. It was also the same location we used for our woods scene in our Preliminary Task, this was convenient as we already knew of the location, how to get there and how it looks. We wanted this location because it is a typical stock location that is found in most Horror films. The idea of the woods means that anything could be hiding there. This also creates an iconic setting. We used this location after school, just when it was getting dark to connote encasement, and no escape.
EPSOM HIGH STREET - Here we wanted another public location to again show the seemingly 'normal' neighbourhood in which bad things were happening. This is also a dramatic part of the trailer where one character punches another, so we wanted to film it in a busy location to make it more believable and look as if the fight is spontaneous and make the audience wonder why it started. However, after going there to film we decided it wasn't exactly what we wanted, so instead we walked around until we found a less well-known but still busy street. This meant the audience wouldn't feel comfortable watching the scene.
DINING ROOM (VICTIMS FAMILY) - This is the other dining room that we are using to show another families home. (This is the family home of the victim who dies in the car later). We chose this location as it was convenient to use and we knew that her parents would be willing to be filmed eating their dinner for us to film. Their dining room is also quite small which could denote family closeness and therefore the death of the main girl later would come as more of a shock. It is also quite a family room, which reflected in our characters and the situation they are in.
TOLWORTH GIRLS' SCHOOL LIBRARY - We wanted to film in a school library because its a public place and a library always seems like a safe place to be and somewhere you wouldn't expect someone to die. It also gives the audience a sense that people are dying everywhere and that no one is safe any more. Our school library is also convenient and we could use students places around the shot to make it more believable. Furthermore, as a library is usually a place of quiet and no noise the idea of someone coughing and dying their makes the audience feel uncomfortable.
BRICK WALL (TOLWORTH) - For the last shot in our trailer we had Alice's character standing in front of a brick wall, we wanted this to represent that it was a dead end and that there was no escape for her. The wall also contrasts with what she is wearing, which is still her feminine dress, even though now it is torn and muddy. It also means there is no distractions behind Alice, and makes the audience focus fully on the actress and how she looks.
rationale - cast
We wanted most of our actors/actresses to be young, this was to be in contrast to most Horror films already on the market. Furthermore, we learnt from our questionnaire that most people are scared of the younger generation and therefore this would make our film more intimidating.
ALICE - Abigail Palmer - We chose this actress because we wanted someone young around 11-12 age range, who looked young and innocent. After asking our focus group what they thought her character would looked like, and they said that they imagined her blonde, young and innocent so we made sure the actress we found fit that description perfectly. We also know her through mutual contacts which is both convenient for her and us for keeping in contact.
VERONICA - Rebekah Secrett - We wanted Veronica's character to be the same age as Alice, and look just as innocent but less feminine. This way there is a contrast between the two characters, we found this actress because she is best friends with the one who we found to play Alice. This way they already had a relationship that came across well on camera on some scenes. This way its more believable that they are friends and won't be nervous to work together.
BULLIES - For the bullies we wanted a mixture of both boys and girls who were young teenagers. They had to look older than Alice and Veronica, but not too old to make it believable that they could go to the same school or hang out in the same neighbourhood areas.
BED VICTIM - RUTH - Ruth Secrett - For this character we wanted someone who was young, but not a child. We decided to use one of our friends who is our age (17-18) to have a variety of ages in our trailer. Using her for that scene was also convenient because we could film at her house, and it was easy to arrange times to film.
CAR VICTIM - CAROLINE - Hannah Jordan - We chose this actress because we needed someone who could drive a car, we also wanted someone to be a similar age to Ruth so we could convey that this poison can spread anywhere. It was also convenient for us to use this character as she is another friend and we could organise filming schedule quite easily.
SCHOOL TOILET VICTIM - HANNAH - Louise Robinson - The school toilet victim is also a teenage character, fitting with the theme that we wanted young actors, we used her because she looked normal and innocent and not the stereotypical stock character girl that always dies first in most horror films. We also wanted someone in school, so we could film in the school toilets so signify that the poison is also reaching into schools.
FAMILY HAVING DINNER - The Jordan Family - We found two parents and their daughter through a mutual connection, this way it was easy to film them during a dinner for convenience. This way it also looks more believable that they are a family.
GUY ON STREET - JAMIE - Jamie Longcake - In his character we were looking for someone that like Veronica and Alice, was slightly opposite to Zayn's character to create more juxtaposition in our characters. We also wanted someone who could look sinister, we used another acquaintance as this was convenient for in organising a filming schedule.
OTHER GUY - ZAYN - Zayn Malik - We chose this actor to create more diversity in gender, we wanted someone who would look intimidating because his part in the trailer would be punching someone else. We were also looking for someone like him who was a young adult, as that would create more suspicion with the other teenage characters.
ALICE - Abigail Palmer - We chose this actress because we wanted someone young around 11-12 age range, who looked young and innocent. After asking our focus group what they thought her character would looked like, and they said that they imagined her blonde, young and innocent so we made sure the actress we found fit that description perfectly. We also know her through mutual contacts which is both convenient for her and us for keeping in contact.
VERONICA - Rebekah Secrett - We wanted Veronica's character to be the same age as Alice, and look just as innocent but less feminine. This way there is a contrast between the two characters, we found this actress because she is best friends with the one who we found to play Alice. This way they already had a relationship that came across well on camera on some scenes. This way its more believable that they are friends and won't be nervous to work together.
BULLIES - For the bullies we wanted a mixture of both boys and girls who were young teenagers. They had to look older than Alice and Veronica, but not too old to make it believable that they could go to the same school or hang out in the same neighbourhood areas.
BED VICTIM - RUTH - Ruth Secrett - For this character we wanted someone who was young, but not a child. We decided to use one of our friends who is our age (17-18) to have a variety of ages in our trailer. Using her for that scene was also convenient because we could film at her house, and it was easy to arrange times to film.
CAR VICTIM - CAROLINE - Hannah Jordan - We chose this actress because we needed someone who could drive a car, we also wanted someone to be a similar age to Ruth so we could convey that this poison can spread anywhere. It was also convenient for us to use this character as she is another friend and we could organise filming schedule quite easily.
SCHOOL TOILET VICTIM - HANNAH - Louise Robinson - The school toilet victim is also a teenage character, fitting with the theme that we wanted young actors, we used her because she looked normal and innocent and not the stereotypical stock character girl that always dies first in most horror films. We also wanted someone in school, so we could film in the school toilets so signify that the poison is also reaching into schools.
FAMILY HAVING DINNER - The Jordan Family - We found two parents and their daughter through a mutual connection, this way it was easy to film them during a dinner for convenience. This way it also looks more believable that they are a family.
GUY ON STREET - JAMIE - Jamie Longcake - In his character we were looking for someone that like Veronica and Alice, was slightly opposite to Zayn's character to create more juxtaposition in our characters. We also wanted someone who could look sinister, we used another acquaintance as this was convenient for in organising a filming schedule.
OTHER GUY - ZAYN - Zayn Malik - We chose this actor to create more diversity in gender, we wanted someone who would look intimidating because his part in the trailer would be punching someone else. We were also looking for someone like him who was a young adult, as that would create more suspicion with the other teenage characters.
Call sheets
We decided to make two different call sheets, one for the cast with the shots on that they would need. The other for us with every single shot on it. We gave the sheets out without dates on to begin with, then had a meeting with our cast to see which dates everyone could do. These were then hand written in at the time of the decision.