Evaluation Part 3

What have you learned from your audience feedback? 
Throughout my production I have been continually getting audience feedback so that my product could be as sucessful as possible. 

• Due to my initial anamatic not proving popular with the focus group I had available (as it didn't have an interesting twist in it, a very important convention of short films) I decided to change my concept completely and merge it with a sinister cannibal story. When I ran this story past a selection of the target audience they were a lot more positive and so that is the one that I chose to develop.

• Once I had filmed my initial footage for the night time scene (the first scene that I filmed) I pieced it together in sequence and showed it to my media class [this rough cut can be found here]. They were able to give me good, useful audience feedback that I was able to use to improve the scene. They suggested focusing more on the arm shot, as it was difficult to see and needed highlighting, and also that I might want to  draw out the ending a bit more as it was too abrupt. One person suggested showing some of his clothing discovered in the woods the next day by some passer-bys, and as other people agreed this would be effective I developed it.
• After I had filmed the internal scenes I pieced it together with the other footage and put the video on popular networking site Facebook. This was so that I could get an extensive range of feedback from my own age-group, as this is the target audience for my film. As I am friends with several media students on Facebook, I was able to get more technical advice, as well as general plot and aesthetic feedback from others. They suggested improving on the sound quality (which I did by adding in a voiceover when the girl speaks) and they provided suggestions for the type of music that I should use. One person suggested using the stereo to provide music and I developed this to produce the diegetic soundtrack that I settled on. 

• Taken from the inital audience feedback I changed the shot of the arm and then added an extra section at the end, including fading titles (a common feature in many short films I researched) and a panning shot of the woods floor coming to rest on the male characters show that has been discarded. At this point I also had a soundtrack which I put on the footage. I then posted this new rough cut on Facebook to recieve more feedback. 

• From this audience feedback I established that the soundtrack was popular, but the dance track at the start needed to be edited so that it wasn't quite so loud at the start. I then had the idea to make the music diegetic, growing louder and quieter depending where the camera was in relation to the stereo, and then cutting off when the door shut. Many people thought this was a good idea so I used it.
• At this point I had pretty much finished my editing, but I showed to my media class again to ensure that there wasn't anything else I could do to improve it in the time left. My media teacher suggested that I needed more exposition at the start that shows the relationship between the two characters, but then members of my target audience said that the begining was the right length, if not a little too long. As they were my target audience I decided to keep it the length it was. It was also suggested that I could add some foreshadowing about the cannibalism, either by including someone eating some meat in the background, the characters walking past a butcher shop, or some sort of poster in the background. Had I had the time to reshoot the scene, I wanted to put a large "Meat is Murder" poster behind the two girls as they enter, as in this film eating meat does actually invovle murdering a human being. Unfortunately I ran out of time and resources and was unable to include that.

•  Also using the networking site Facebook I was able to publish my film poster and get audience feedback on that. It proved to be popular, and although it was suggested that I should take out the rating and BBFC mark, I felt that it would be sensible to keep these in as they are both common conventions of promotional film posters.

 I found it very useful to have audience feedback throughout the production process. It was particularly useful to be able to air my rough cuts to my media class, as they are not only in my target audience, but they also know technical skills that I could apply to my product realistically. Also through my audience feedback I found out that there is a distinct difference between the opinions of the youth audience and a slightly more mature audience (involving the exposition at the start of the film). This is something that I can use in future productions to understand the audience more fully.

Ancillary Text 2 (Magazine Article)

Helena's Magazine Article  

My magazine article followed the conventions of a film article that I discovered during my research. I was careful not to divulge the entire plot, as this would make the actual film obsolete, but I included a brief synopsis to provide the reader with the basic storyline and leave them interested in the rest of the film. I put this at the start of the article so that the reader had more of an idea about the film before reading the rest of the article.

 I kept a colour scheme throughout my article, keeping a simple white and blue formatting. I think this makes it look more professional and fits with the conventional model of a film magazine article. I did this by colouring the title block, drop quotes and indented captions with blue.

When looking at a Star Trek article from Total Film Magazine I saw that they used images of the production process, and I thought that this would be a good thing to do. Articles include this as it gives the reader the impression that they have more to offer than other sources, and that they're seeing something that other people won't. Because of this I included and image of me during the editing process, and one of the two main characters reading through the script.

Another common convention of magazine articles is using drop quotes taken from the text that are formatted in bigger, coloured letters. This is because the reader will be drawn to them first, and that means that they will generally be positive or summing up the content of the article. I included positive quotes from some of the actors (actual quotes that I asked them for) to fit with this convention.

I included the image from my promotional poster, although not with any text on it, instead of stills from the film in order to provide the reader with some idea of what the film would look like without giving too much away. I think that this is the most dramatic image I could have used within this criteria, and it will tie in with the other ancillary task.

At the end of the article I included when a film would be aired on a pre-established short film channel, as this s a common way of ending a film article. I kept my formatting simple as I think that looks more proffesional, and I kept the usual columned format to conform to the standard article model.

Ancillary Text 2 Research and Ideas

For my second ancillary task I chose to create a magazine article about my film. I had to do research about what existing magazine article were like. I used 2 main sources; Total Film and Empire, popular film publications.

 I looked at several different editions of both magazine, to get comprhensive look at the codes and conventions of film magazine articles. From observing the articles in these magazines I have discovered some common ingredients in designing an article. Things that were present in most, if not all, of the articles I looked at include;

• Stills from the film - There is usually at least one still from the film OR
  
• The poster - either promotional or teaser, although occasionally both are used. 
• There is often at least two columns of text in magazine articles, as this means that more text is fitted onto the page, saving space and money. It also adds to the aesthetics and breaks up the text into smaller sections so it's easier to read for the audience. 
• The headline of the article is generally followed by a smaller caption. The first one will often be a confusing or interesting title, so the caption will often be used to explain it

• Quotes from the text can be picked out and placed in a seperate box, usually using a different font or colour, so that they are more noticable and draw in the attention of the reader.
• There is always a colour scheme throughout the article (In the title, the drop quotes, the formatting and outlines).
• 
  
  Other forms of media can be advertised, usually at the end of the article. This could be a product (dvd, computer game etc.) or a website.
  Many articles (such as this one from Total Film) include production pictures or the cast or crew. This gives the reader the impression that they are seeing something that other people won't see, and makes the article more appealing.
   
  I will try and incorporate as many of these conventions as possible when creating my magazine article to produce an interesting and authentic piece.
  

Ancillary Task 1 - Final Poster

 This is the final production of my promotional movie poster. Although I developed other ideas, this was the one that was most sucessfull.

I originally started developing the first concept that I came up with. For this image I planned to have a single image with very little editing. I went out with my actors and took some pictures but it didn't turn out the way that I wanted. As you can see the cannibals aren't noticable enough, and having the poster set in daytime does detract from the sinister feel that I was trying to put across in the poster, so I decided to develop another concept.

My second concept was the one that I then developed. Although I had originally planned to use images seperate from the film for the poster, I found I was able to use stills, and decided that as this would link the poster closer to the film it would be a better idea. I chose a still from when the girl first says his name at the bridge, as he looks worried but not terrified.
As you can see in the draft sketch that I drew, I'd planned to have an image of one of the cannibals masks fading out of the dark. I took a still from the end of the film as the cannibals swoop down on him for this idea.

I think this would have been effective and would have provided a link with the teaser poster, but it was difficult to place it so that it looked good. I tried it out but it didn't produce the effect that I wanted, so I changed my idea. It was also difficult to get an image of the cannibal that wasn't blurred as it was taken during a very fast-paced bit of the film.

I then decided to incorporate the fire into the poster as this is where he discovers that they're cannibals. It's an important setting to the plot and also fire connotes danger so it would suggest that the action is dangerous. I took a still from a clip that I didn't actually use in the film, but it looks very effective. It has the cannibals crowded around the fire, looking down at it as they are before he talks to them. I decided to put this in the background to provide anchorage about what he's afraid of.

Using Photoshop Elements 5.0 I was able to take these two images and put them together. Having used the lasoo with magnet tool to outline the image of Ash, I then put it on a seperate layer in front of the fire image. I then had to blur the edges of the primary image so that it looked as though it had been taken at the same time. I had to adjust the colour saturation and hue so that it looked like he was standing near the fire, but on Photoshop this is very simple and easy to do. This is the image that I used on the final poster.

Also on Photoshop I produced the text that was required to produce an authentic looking promotional poster. I took the tagline "in the woods no one can hear you scream..." directly from the teaser poster as this would provide a link between the two, and I kept the font and colour the same. For the title Masque I tried to use the same text that appears in the titles, but when asking fellow students their opinion it transpired that this didn't look good. Instead I chose to use a Sans Serif font in a dark orange colour (the orange signifying fire). I then applied a slight filter over the top of the text to suggest the words had been burnt, and then put a "ghost" behind the word. This symbolises the supernatural, and adds to the mystery of the poster.

As Ash is an unknown actor I had to write "introducing" before his name, so the audience is aware that he's not a big-name actor. As short films don't often have famour actors in them, this isn't a problem. When researching film posters I discovered that they usually have at least one rating or review on them, usually from a famous source or film magazine. I chose to make mine from Total Film, a well established film magazine, as this would attract the audience that would read this publication. Like the rest of the text, I chose to put the review in orange with the burnt effect placed on top of it. This ties it in with the rest of the image.

The billing block I chose to be in white text as this is a common convention of film posters with dark colouring. It is in a plain font, as it's not the focus of attention. Coming Soon is written in bigger font as this is also common of promotional posters. The BBFC 15 rating mark is placed off-centre, just above the billing block, because this is also not the main focus of the poster but does need to be visable. The billing block contains several different important roles in the production of a film, roles that I noticed were on many movie posters.

Evaluation Part 2

In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products? 

Short films are generally anywhere between 3 and 15 minutes long, but I found most were within the 4 to 6 minute bracket. Therefore I made sure that my film fit within this time scale so that it conformed to this general rule. It lasts roughly 5 ½ minutes, so fits comfortably.
My characters develop conventions of not only short films but television dramas and blockbuster films too. My female character, who remains nameless, was based on Effy Stonem from the Channel 4 drama Skins, although the stereotype of mysterious,

practically silent girl is also present in several other existing texts (e.g. Maggie in 17 Again, Ray in Channel 4’s Hollyoaks, Eli in Let The Right One In).

She is presented like this to provide narrative enigma (what makes her so interesting to him?) and also to foreshadow that she will be part of the sinister action later one in the film (connoted by the dark clothing, the almost trance-like way that he follows her without really thinking about it). My central protagonist, Chris Parks, also fits in with convention. He represents the shy, quiet boy who has trouble with confidence and therefore girls (much like Alex in 17 Again, Ron in the Harry Potter series and Christian in Baz Luhrman’s Moulin Rouge).
All of these characters are very shy, and when presented with the chance to talk to his one true love acts foolishly and bashfully (although they generally get a sudden burst of confidence like Christian).

).

In Masque I’m challenging the stereotypical gender roles. Generally the girl would be shy and reserved, with the boy being the confident one that commands their attention, but I chose to reverse it in this film. This is very like the relationship between Effy and Freddie in Skins at first, and that’s what I tried to imitate. I think that the shy male character would appeal to a female audience, as vulnerable men tend to do, whereas the strong, confident, sexy female character would attract the male audience.
My soundtrack both conformed and challenged conventions of the short films that I researched. The music in short films tends to be primarily to build the tension or enhance the mood of the moment, but for the first section I chose to have diegetic dance music coming from the stereo. I chose to do this to provide anchorage of the age-group of the characters, and also to provide a light-hearted atmosphere to contrast with the sinister one later on. It also allowed me to play around with lyrics, and I was able to time the girl looking into the camera with the word “night”
to add another hint of a sinister plot. However, towards the end of the dance track I put in quiet, drawn out strings notes in order to add a slightly uneasy edge to the music. This drawn out minor key music continues throughout the corridor scene. This provides a narrative enigma; why is the music sinister when the action appears to be very positive? For the second part of the narrative I chose to have a stereotypical soundtrack, using timpani, violins and French horns to reflect the tension and the more dramatic moments in the action. I think that cutting it up was a good idea as it places more emphasis on certain important moments, but I ran out of time towards the end of production so was unable to do this as well as I’d like. I did like the way that the crescendo of drums ended just at the point when they started to rip him apart, and then faded to quiet music for the shoe shot, and this has proved popular with my target audience.

The storylines of short films are generally stranger and quirkier than that of feature length presentations, as due to their short duration they do not have to develop a storyline too thoroughly. However, I chose to base my film around cannibalism, a subject that can be (and indeed has been, e.g. Silence of the Lambs)

developed into a longer narrative. I decided to use cannibalism as the twist because it was interesting and sinister, and provided much scope for several possible storylines. I decided in the end that I would try and merge this idea with my original idea of the love story, and came up with the final narrative.
When researching horror shorts I noticed that the titles were often white text on a black background that faded in either midway through or towards the end. I found that after a particularly tense part of the action the titles faded in to produce most fear in the audience as they have to imagine what’s coming next. Therefore I decided that I would try and use this, and placed a fading black screen just after the cannibals descend on him.
This also acted as a break between the night time scene and the final scene set in the morning.
I sought to conventions in order to make my film stand out and be more interesting, although merely developed some as they had proved successful in other texts.

Evaluation Part 1

How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?

I think the combination of my main product and my ancillary texts is effective, and they worked together to produce an authentic and believable promotional package. I chose to create a promotional movie poster and a magazine article for my ancillary texts and I think this was a good choice. Both ancillary tasks have certain intriguing aspects, although neither gives too much of the plot away to make the film not worth watching.

For the poster I wanted to incorporate the masked characters to provide a link with my teaser poster. Although they were different masks, I think it is possible to associate the two images successfully. With the teaser poster I was unable to include an image of the central protagonist as this would have gone against the conventional model for a teaser (e.g. James Cameron's Avatar poster doesn't include any of the characters). However, I was able to incorporate Chris Parks onto the promotional poster. I had an image taken from a still in the film (at the point when the girl says his name at the bridge) that had him looking worried and a little scared. I then took another still of the cannibals around the fire to place in the background, to suggest that it’s them that he’s scared of. This provides narrative enigma for the audience; why is he scared of the people by the fire? I think it makes an interesting overall image and entices the audience to watch the film.

Also to tie in with the teaser poster I included the same tagline in my promotional poster. Although some films have had different taglines for different promotions, (e.g. Nolan's The Dark Knight; teaser poster "Why So Serious?" and promotional poster "Welcome to a World Withough Rules") I decided that the same tagline would provide more anchorage that the two posters were referring to the same film.  I used the same font for the tagline as well, although made it different from the rest of the font on the poster. The billing block and “coming soon” were written in white, but the tagline and film title were a shade of orange that I took using the palate tool on Photoshop from the heart of the fire. The fire connotes danger and is a sinister source of light in the darkness, so this provides anchorage that my film is quite dark in nature and has a sinister plotline.

The actor that I used in my film, Ash Caton, is mostly unknown so when including his name in the poster I had to use the word 'introducing' to indicate that he is not a well-known actor. Having un-heard of actors in a common convention of short films as many short films have very limited, if any at all, budgets, so I think it was important to incorporate this in the poster.

My magazine article followed the conventions of a film article that I discovered during my research. I was careful not to divulge the entire plot, as this would make the actual film obsolete, but I included a brief synopsis to provide the reader with the basic storyline and leave them interested in the rest of the film. I also included positive quotes from some of the actors (actual quotes that I asked them for) and placed them in bigger, coloured letters so that the reader is drawn to them first.

I kept the formatting of my article very simple and minimalistic as I didn’t want it to look too overdone and tacky. I think being blue and black on a plain white background gives it a more professional look. This format was taken from my research into film magazines such as Empire and Total Film. I included the image from my promotional poster, although not with any text on it, instead of stills from the film in order to provide the reader with some idea of what the film would look like without giving too much away. I also included images of myself editing the footage and the actors reading through the script to show the full production of the film rather than just the finished product.

I think that both ancillary texts provided the audience with interesting images and information that would make my film appealing. Having a four-star rating on the poster from Total Film, a well known film magazine, would not only show the audience that the film is a good one, but also make it appeal to readers of the magazine, potentially widening the target audience. Similarly, including positive comments in the article would make people want to see why critics have acclaimed the film by watching it themselves. I think that the images used will make the film appear interesting and appealing to the audience, and that’s why I think that my ancillary texts are complimentary to my film. I think that the overall package is very effective and would attract a wide audience.

Final Cut

Final Storyboard.

Storyboard Sheet 1

Storyboard Sheet 2

Ancillary Text 1 Research and Ideas

In the course outline it gave us a choice of three ancillary tasks; a film poster, a film magazine cover and a film magazine article. For my first task I chose to create a promotional poster for Masque. I chose to do so as my teaser poster was sucessful and I feel I could create a dynamic promotional poster to go alongside it.

Before drafting out a poster I first needed to look at exaisting products to establish the codes and conventions of a promotional poster rather than a teaser poster. I looked at many posters to get a wider range of genres so that I could establish whether each genre had its own characteristics, but I found that most posters are very similar.

Almost every film poster I looked at has either the central protagonist or few central characters very prominantly in the foreground of the image. As shown in The Calcium Kid poster, this can just be the central character in some kind of situation that gives exposition to genre or plot, or like The Truman Show it could have the character incorporated into an image that would exist within the setting of the film. For The Truman Show, the poster shows the central character, Truman, on a very large television screen, signifying that he is watched by millions of people. Sometimes (as in Harry Potter and the Philosophers Stone) the main character can be centered, but surrounded by images of supporting characters. This is often used in films with many "big name actors" in, to provide a selling point and create a wider appeal (e.g. Alan Rickman, although only a supporting role, is placed centrally in the image to draw in his fan base)
In my poster I would hope to get a centralised image of Ash Caton (playing Chris Parks) and also find some way of outlining a slight idea of the narrative; not enough to give the plot away but enough to cause interest for the audience.

Another way of widening the appeal of a film is to provide intertextual links to other films. This is more often done in satirical productions, or "spoofs," as they are mocking established texts that can be easily linked into posters, promotions and obviously the film itself (for example, Another Teen Movie has references to many teenage-based films). As my film was inspired by Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight I can try to get some kind of reference to that into my poster.
As my film has quite a sinister nature I would like to incorporate the masked figures either in the centre of the frame or behind the central protagonist in order to add sinister implications. Having Ash in the centre of the frame would give anchorage that he's the central character. Using dark colours is typical of both thriller and horror posters, signifying mystery and danger. A blue tint suggests supernatural forces, as seen in the poster for The Dark Knight. Fire on an otherwise dark or dull background draws the eyes attention and as my film does include a fire it might be a good idea to incorporate this into my promotional poster. Again, as half of the film is based in the nighttime, it would be simple to get a dark image to fit in, and so I can use dark colours to suggest the genre/plot.

As my concept has to fit the common codes and conventions of promotional film posters, there are several features that are present in every poster I have looked at. By incorporating all of these aspects into my poster I should be able to produce a realistic, believeable and high quality promotional poster.Therefore I would need to include;

Cast names (using unknown actors I would have to say "introducing..")
Release date or Coming Soon (generally towards the bottom of the image)
Billing block containing the details of everyone involved in the production of the film
Tagline (taken from my teaser poster)

FIRST DRAFTS / IDEAS

This is the first concept I came up with. I decided that a plain background would be too dull for my poster, and so I have the central protagonist standing against a tree looking worried. In the background, peeking out from behind another tree, are the two other main characters. This image would be taken in daytime, and so would lessen the sinister effect. The title would be just to the side so as not to block the male character, but the billing block would be central at the bottom (this follows the conventions of many movie posters.) I haven't decided where my tagline would go, but in this image probably at the top of the frame.

The second idea is my favourite of the three I've come up with so far. It has the central character slightly off to the right of the frame against a black background to signify night time. From out of the background appears one of the cannibals masks. This adds to the sinister feel of the image and creates the enigma of why this masked person would be following him. My title is placed high up on the frame in bold, cheerful lettering. This juxtaposition of cheery and sinister is slightly disconcerting and I think this would be an interesting thing to try in my poster. Again, the billing block would be at the bottom of the frame to conform to common conventions.

My third and final idea goes against convention as it doesn't inclue the central protagonist at all. Instead it has three of the cannibals standing around the fire, wearing the masks (although only one has the mask visable). The title on this concept would be made to look as though it was a shape formed in the rising smoke. I think this does give an interesting and slightly supernatural twist to the entire image. Having the title appearing as from nowhere is reflective of the cannibals. The shot would be taken at night time again to add to the sinister feel of the poster.

Screenplay

M a S Q U E Screenplay

Problems with filming (Corridor Scene)

When filming in the common room there was a lot of background noise which I wanted, but because I had to keep taking different shots the sound is inconsistent throughout the scene. To counter this I’ll have to take a long take of sound from in the sixth form centre and play it alongside the footage to keep continuity.
I had originally planned for the girls to sit at the farthest end of the common room from the boy but I realised that from the boy’s point of view he couldn’t see them, so I had to move them closer to him. This meant that I was able to add in the bit with him hiding his sketchbook, which my audience feedback proved was popular.
As the sixth form centre is a public space I had to make sure not to get anyone extra in the back that would affect my continuity. This was difficult, particularly when they leave the room, but luckily the people walking past the door were already extras in my film. Unfortunately one of them was the girl’s best friend Sophie, but in the shot in question she is wearing different clothes and has her face hidden so it shouldn’t matter too much.
Out in the corridor the main problem was sound quality. As I was pushed for time I was unable to use the boom mic, and the lines came out very quietly and greatly compromised by background sound (particularly troublesome was people closing doors or shouting to friends). This may require re-shooting or possibly over-dubbing some sound in the editing process.

Soundtrack.

Myself and Keiron Anderson composed my soundtrack using the music software Cubase and Ejay. On cubase we were able play the video alongside the music track so we could be sure that the two went together. For the diegetic dance track in the first half of the film, we used Ejay because it specialises in dance music, and had pre-recorded vocals that we were able to use. For the tenser parts of the film, on Cubase we were able to generate long, drawn out violin notes (a typical convention of horror soundtrack as it enhances tension), french horns (to add more depth and to create an eerie, sinister sound) and timpani drums to emphasise the dramatic moments. I think the track we composed adds well to the tension and atmosphere of the film.





After audience feedback, many people thought that the orchestral track was very complimentary to the film, adding to the atmosphere particularly well. Several people disliked the dance track at the starts, although they did tend to think that was due to personal taste. Once the levels had been changed to make it seem more diegetic, they were able to tell that it was meant to be coming from the stereo in the room and thought it was worth keeping in.

Sample and audience feedback.

I showed this sample to my media class and some of my actors to find out what they thought about it.



On the whole people liked the way it had been filmed and put together. The main thing that came up was that the arm on the ground wasn't very obvious (due to the pag light being too far away from it) and so I might want to re-shoot that or add in another shot.
Another comment that came up was that the ending was too abrupt; the scream didn't go on for long enough and it felt like it hadn't really ended. One person suggested that I add my title in there to carry on the shot a bit more, but it would require me to record another scream (in the shot used the character started laughing after I cut it off).

Problems with filming (external scene)

I filmed the majority of the external, nighttime scene today. Unfortunately the sound quality is not as good as hoped due to not being able to use the boom mic as it was too muddy underfoot. I used special firelighter logs to create the fire in my scene, which I originally worried wouldn't be realistic enough to make a proper fire, but they worked really well. I had problems with lighting, as it was so dark I wasn't able to pick up much on camera, but luckily I was able to borrow a pag light from a friend who works with film and that greatly enhanced my images. It wasn't the best it could have been, only certain things that were close to either the pag light or the fire showed up, but it was still a vast improvement.

When I filmed the meeting of the girl and Chris, unfortunately the camera ran out of battery as I hadn't checked that it had been charged. I was able to get enough shot to show my "focus group" what I had planned to film, but it does mean that I will have to go back at a later date and re-shoot those shots.

I had asked a friend in my media class if I could borrow his fake severed arm to use for when Chris realises they're cannibals, but he forgot it on the day so I had to ask a friend to lie down, hidden by a tree so that just his arm was on show. I think this looks more realistic, but slightly less dramatic than I had originally intended.

Podcast 3 (Created 14.12.09)

Production Logo.

I wanted to keep my production logo quite simplistic but still interesting. This imagae shows a road marking pointing to the wall, implying the road goes nowhere. I like this image and think it looks very dramatic.

My production company name it Hegragabe Productions, the same as my A2 coursework. I got this title from my own name, as I have worked on my own both years.

For my production logo I wrote HEGRAGABE PRODUCTIONS in a sketchy typeface to suggest that it has been carved into the brick of the wall. I also placed these words in front of the arrow on the road so that the eye is drawn to these words.

I wanted the logo to be black and white for the most part, as this effect generally looks more dramatic. However, I did keep some of the blue from the sky coming through behind the wall just to add a bit more interest to the image.

Film Title.

I have decided to name my film MASQUE. It was suggested to me during audience feedback, and I think it ties in really well with the narrative. As the masks that the cannibals wear are a big part of the mystery and fright of the film (first tipping off Chris that something's wrong) it seems a good idea to tie them into the title.

It's spelt m-a-s-q-u-e due to influence from "The masque of the Red Death" by Edgar Allen Poe. In this short story the victims are attending a masquerade ball and this hides their identities when they're being killed. As the cannibals are having their identities hidden by the masks, it seems fitting that I should tie this story in.

Final Narrative.

A boy of about 17/18 years old sits in school. He sits on his own, shyly sketching a picture of a girl. He hears the common room door opening and looks up. There is a mysterious, gothic girl walking through the door with her friend, Sophie, chatting away to her. She doesn't pay any attention to her friend and the pair walk up to sit by the stereo. The boy, Chris, becomes flustered as she gets closer, hiding the picture he has drawn, making it obvious that she is the subject. The girl grows tired of her friend and looks up at Chris. He tries to avoid her gaze as he is unsure how to respond. She gets up, leaving Sophie to talk to herself, and walks towards the door, signalling to Chris that he should follow. Chris looks confused, and thinks about following for a moment, then gets up and walks out the door after her. She leads him down a corridor and stops at the end, waiting for him to reach her. She tells him that she knows he's been watching her. Once he struggles for an answer she asks him if he loves her. He shyly nods, not wanting to say it out loud. She then asks if he'd die for her. He thinks it over but then says he would. She then tells him to meet her at the bridge that night, and leaves without getting a response. He remains where he is, confused but pleased.

That evening, the boy goes to meet the girl at the bridge, as she'd said. He's clearly nervous, unsure as to what to say or do. She's not there at first, and he starts to think that she isn't going to turn up. He turns to leave when he hears his name. He turns around to see the girl standing there, wearing all black. She looks at him, sizing him up, and then turns to walk away with no explanation. The boy follows her. They walk some way into the woods, and he sees firelight flickering from a clearing. He walks through the trees to see a gathering of about 10 people, around his age, all dressed in black. One of them is Sophie. A couple of them are cooking some meat on the fire. Chris approaches them, trying (and failing) to sound confident. He tries to strike up a conversation with one of them by asking what meat they're cooking as he doesn't recognize the smell. All the figures around the fire look up in synchronization and he discovers that they're all wearing masks. He turns to the girl for an explanation and she steps aside to reveal an arm on the ground, half obscured by the tree. He realizes what's going on a starts to run. The masked characters chase after him through the woods. He trips over a root and tries to struggle away. The cannibals catch up with him and start to rip him to pieces, obscuring the view so all we can hear are his screams. It ends the following day with a shot of his shoe lying next to a tree, as there is nothing else left of him.

Several parts of my original proposal have been changed due to filming restrictions or audience feedback. I think that this narrative allows a more dramatic atmosphere, particularly having the main female character saying minimal lines to make her seem more mysterious.