Slasher Soundtrack - Cherry Falls

Cherry Falls 2009 Geoffrey Wright

The first sounds we hear are church bells and choir singing, whilst there is a shot of a church. The sound is both diagetic and non diagetic as we can see the church but not the choir. When the shot changes to a waterfall, here is still diagetic sound as we can hear it flowing. The church bells slowly fade away and the music changes to a fast tempo beat to increase the heart rate and therefore tension. It also creates an audio bridge to the next scene.

The next scene has diagetic sound of a girl and a boy talking. Fast paced music slowly gets louder to build the tension up to the killing scene. Loud drum sounds are used when the killer enters the scene, further building tension.

The sounds of the car door opening are exaggerated, and the music is fast paced and loud all the way through the killing. When the boy is hit by the killer the sound effect is loud and also exaggerated.
During the killing the noises of the knife slashing and stabbing are loud and inter-cut with the girls screams. The music is quite high pitched and fast paced.

When the girl goes to lock the car door the sound is exaggerated and the music gets quieter before the second killing happens. During this killing scene, the same music is played as before.

Here is the Trailer for Cherry Falls:

PP- Script - Second Shoot

Charley: Guys, We are nearly there.

Ashley: I can't be arsed.

Ryan: Whatever

Patrick: (rambling quietly about the surroundings)

Charley: Lets have a break here.

Ashley: Argh I can't be arsed going any further, I'm going to ring my Dad and get him to pick me up.

Ryan: Oh Shut up will ya. 

Charley: It's only 5 oclock I think we should hang on until we get a bit further. 

Everyone but Ashley stands up and walks on.

Ashley: (on phone) Hi Dad, I am really sick of being here, can you come pick me up? call me back when you get this. 

- cuts back to friends - 

Charley: Look, I can't believe it was a year ago today (looking at grave)

- cuts back to Ashley - 

Charley: ASHLEY?

Ryan: Was that Ashley?!

Behind The Scenes: Shoot 2

This video shows me and Kate directing Poppy during the chase scene.

PP- Casting, Characters & Mise-en-scene

CASTING + CHARACTERS

In our production you will see 5 characters altogether:

• Scream Queen
• Final Girl
• Scream Queen's boyfriend
• 'Outsider' of the group
• Killer

stereotypical scream queens

Scream Queen:

For the scream queen we plan to cast a very stereotypical scream queen. The qualities that we associate with a scream queen are blonde hair, very confident, has a boy friend and usually discusses stuff in the narrative that may be seen as immoral. We are going to cast someone who is blonde, could easily play the part and convincingly come across to the audience as this, however the narrative and her confidence is more important than her appearance.

archetype final girl Laurie Strode

Final Girl: We would like our final girl character to also be a stereotype final girl character. We are looking to cast somebody with brunette hair and to act quite sensible and maybe show some academic qualities. She should not participate or agree with anything that her friends talk about that is immoral or wrong and should come across as quite an independent character.

Scream Queen's Boyfriend:

'Derek' in Scream 2

He should have a lot of similar qualities to the Scream queen and also shows immoral qualities. Acts a bit like a jock.

Outsider of the Group: The outsider should be male, and look like he doesn't really belong in the group. He should not really care about his appearance and almost be a binary opposite of the 'jock' like scream queens boyfriend.

Jason Voorhees in Friday the 13th

Killer: In the opening sequence of the film the audience will not be aware of who the killer is, by the use of narrative enigma. Therefore, when casting the killer we don't necessarily need to cast on looks, but we would like it to be a man. 

MISE-EN-SCENE

We will show mise-en-scene in our production by set dressing the area in which we are filming with small signifiers for the audience to pick up on. We will most likely set our opening in or around a forest area as this has connotations with dark/evil like the killer character. 

Audience Feedback

We asked Daisy and Alys to watch our final production (- sound) to get some feedback and see things we could possibly improve. Daisy and Alys are both within our target age audience.(15-24)

As Alys was in the opening. she found some of the group scenes quite funny. However, Daisy though that the group shots looked fairly realistic, and was able to tell the roles that each character was meant to be playing.
Both Daisy and Alys though that the stalking scene was effective, but the chase could be improved slightly, and the whole stalking would be more effective and scarier with sound/music. When they were watching the killing scene, they thought that the blood looked realistic and the fast paced editing made the killing more frightening. However, they said that the killing would be improved a lot when we add sound.

Costumes

In our slasher opening there are a total of 5 characters. We chose costumes which we thought would suit the characters and their roles best.

scream queens outfit

Ashley: Scream Queen

Black jeans - the scream queen wore black jeans to show a contrast between her and the final girl character, who is wearing more traditional blue jeans
White vest top - we thought that the scream queen should wear a white, revealing vest top to signify her character's personality.
Black boots: the scream queens boots are unsuitable for walking in the woods, again showing her personality and role as the scream queen.

Charley: Final Girl

Plaid shirt, buttoned up to the collar - the final girl is wearing a plaid shirt which is buttoned up to the top to show that she is not trying to be provocative. The shirt is more practical than it is fashionable.
It also shows a contrast to the scream queen who is wearing a low cut vest top.

outsider and final girls outfits

Blue jeans - we though that the final girl should be wearing blue jeans to show a contrast between her and the scream queen who is wearing black, more fashionable jeans.
Hair in pigtails - we thought it would be a good idea to have the final girl wear pigtails to show that she is innocent.
Glasses - the final girl is wearing glasses to make her look more intellectual.
Brown boots - look like sturdy well made boots that would be classed as appropriate for walking in the woods.
Bag - She is the one in the group having the sensible responsibility of carrying the bag, and is happy to do so.

Patrick: Outsider
baggy jeans - Doesn't care about his image very much, comes across as not wanting to be fashionable and might be purposefully doing this so he isn't associated with the group.
unfashionable jacket - This anchors the point about his jeans.

Jocks outfit

Ryan: Scream Queens boyfriend/Jock
sports hoodie - He cares a lot about his image and tries to match what he thinks is socially acceptable and what his 'jock' friends would wear.
jeans - the jeans that the jock are wearing are trendier in contrast to the Outsider of the group.
trainers - his trainers show how he thinks that wearing branded trainers will change what other people think of him and how popular what he wears will make him. This suggests he is very self obsessed.

Slasher Overview Vodcast Notes

Early slasher films
50s and 60s most horror was either gothic or monsters 'creature features' (universal)

hammer horror movies - were dominant in the 60s and the main characters were upper class, mature adults
last house on the left and tcm and black christmas - used younger, everyday normal people.
hammer horror, usually looks like its filmed on a theatrical stage
but early slasher movies last house on the left, tcm used portable cameras so it looked more realistic, not stagey.

PSYCHO and PEEPING TOM didnt start the genre - people thought that it was 'sick' and so the slasher genre didnt catch on until the 70s with films such as HALLOWEEN and TCM
hammer horror films were pushed out of the industry by low budget indie films which made hammer movies look stupid.

PSYCHO became an archetype for all other slasher films, the knife in the shower scene is the first thing we see of the 'slasher' genre.

TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE- More gore and realistic violence, same as in LAST HOUSE ON THE LEFT
BLACK CHRISTMAS - (1974) Bob Clark -  All the film is set in one place, reduced costs massively. First film to use the killers point of view, even though HALLOWEEN was credited as the first film to use this. Narrative enigma used in BLACK CHRISTMAS

Jamie Lee Curtis - starred in PROM NIGHT and TERROR TRAIN- both post HALLOWEEN films

Female lead role - to attract a male and female audience

SCREAM- Final Girl signified with brunette hair, childish bedroom

PEEPING TOM, 1960 Michael Powell Put the audience into the killers perspective - prototype -slasher
Higher levels of realism
NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET, HALLOWEEN, FRIDAY THE 13TH & LEPRECHAUN- all have supernatural elements

post modern slasher (taken to the extreme, hybrid between genres, intertextuality) -
intertextuality between SCREAM and SCARY MOVIE

New Nightmare - slasher about a slasher - self referential

Exception to Todorov - there isnt a new equilibrium at the end, the character Michael Myers disappears after being shot, then Halloween 2 is carried on straight after the first film ends.

False scare adds comedy - like a practical joke


MUSIC in slasher films 
High notes - increase the heatbeat, increases tension
long drawn out notes - subconciously hold your breath
horror/scares will disappear without music - commutation test in PSYCHO without the music wouldnt be scary at all.

PSYCHO - Hitchcock - music in the shower scene was just one note but with 40 violins

Ratings
death of stranger - made for tv movie rate 12
15-24 - youth (primary audience)
25-34 - mature youth (secondary audience)

Microdrama Finished Film and Reflection

This is the finished microdrama. It runs for 2mins 2secs. I think that we could have improved the overall look of our microdrama by getting a better variety of shots. as there are a few very long takes which take away the suspense of the film. However i think that the live news broadcast was very effective.