Contributor's Release Forms - 30/09/2011

We asked our actors to fill in these contributor release forms before filming:



Production Schedule for Filming - 25/09/2011

Our group decided that we would attempt to get all of our filming completed in nine days, so that we could gather enough footage to start editing as soon as possible. But before filming, we created the following production schedule in order to organise when our media group and actors were free for filming, since we all had various commitments (e.g. jobs) that prevented us from picking random times to do the filming:

This is a spreadsheet of the hours in which we would spend filming in each different location. The colours coordinate with the locations as following:

• Saturday 8th October, 10am-5pm (Yellow) - Filming four death scenes in the house on The Cleves in Lydiate. We will film the 'KNIFE', 'FALL', 'TRAPPED' and dragging death scenes
• Sunday 9th October, 2pm-4pm (Green) - Filming the Tara bathroom scene (where pink lines appear on her wrists and neck) in the house on The Cleves in Lydiate
• Monday 10th - No filming
• Tuesday 11th, 4pm-5pm (Blue) - Filming 'SUFFOCATE' death scene in the Blundell building in Deyes High School
• Wednesday 12th, 11am-5pm (Purple) - Filming in park on Sandy Lane, Lydiate
• Thursday 13th, 10am-1pm (Orange) - Filming in park on Seymour Drive, Lydiate
• Friday 14th - No filming
• Saturday 15th, 7pm-8pm (Red) - Filming 'FIRE' death scene in fireplace in house on Sandy Lane, Lydiate
• Sunday 16th, Noon-2pm (Grey) - Filming 'RUN' death scene in underground subway tunnel in Maghull

Daily Planning - Props, Actors, Costume and Equipment Needed for Each Day of Filming
Saturday 8th October

• Props - Knife and Hangman gloves
• Actors - Emily Oakes, Conor Wynn, Charlotte Williamson and Victoria Dunn (me!)
• Costume - All above character's costumes (as shown in the Costume List) are needed
• Equipment - Camera, camera charger and lead to attach camera to computer

Sunday 9th October

• Props - No props needed, location has everything required built-in (i.e. sink and mirror)
• Actors - Charlotte Westall (Tara)
• Costume - Tara's 3rd costume choice (as shown in the Costume List), and red lipstick to draw realistic-looking red lines on Charlotte's wrists and neck
• Equipment - Camera, camera charger and lead to attach camera to computer

Tuesday 11th October

• Props - Hangman gloves and white suffocating cloth
• Actors - Conor Wynn
• Costume - Conor's costume (as shown in the Costume List)
• Equipment - Camera, camera charger and lead to attach camera to computer

Wednesday 12th October

• Props - Hangman book and Melanie's school bag
• Actors - Lucy Rimmer-Hall (Melanie), Charlotte Westall (Tara) and Benjamin Jones (Will)
• Costume - Both of Melanie's costumes, Will's costume and Tara's 1st and 2nd costumes (as shown in the Costume List)
• Equipment - Camera, camera charger and lead to attach camera to computer

Thursday 13th October

• Props - Hangman book, prefect badge and Tara's school bag
• Actors - Lucy Rimmer-Hall (Melanie) and Charlotte Westall (Tara)
• Costume - Melanie's 1st costume and Tara's 1st costume (as shown in the Costume List)
• Equipment - Camera, camera charger and lead to attach camera to computer

Saturday 15th October

• Props - None needed, location provides everything necessary for shot (i.e. fireplace)
• Actors - None needed, only fireplace will be seen in shot
• Costume - None needed, only fireplace will be seen in shot
• Equipment - Camera, camera charger and lead to attach camera to computer

Sunday 16th October

• Props - None needed, location provides everything necessary for shot (i.e. underground subway tunnel)
• Actors - Benjamin Jones (Will)
• Costume - Will's costume (as shown in the Costume List)
• Equipment - Camera, camera charger and lead to attach camera to computer

Props List - 24/09/2011

Here is a list of the props (along with photographs) required for our shoot. These props are essential in revealling the storyling to the audience and transforming Hangman into reality:

Hangman Book

The Hangman book is the most essential prop in our film - it is the basis of our whole storyline. Melanie finds this book under a bush in her local park, and she starts completing the missing letters inside the book. The majority of the book is now filled in as shown above, since these pictures were taken after filming, and words such as 'SUFFOCATE' and 'FALL' link to the sinister death methods that will be conveyed in our trailer. The book creates a sense of mystery (which coinicides with our horror-mystery movie genre) - is this book cursed by the mysterious Patricia Applegate student whose name appears on the front cover, or is it just the sick, twisted mind of an anonymous Hangman serial killer? This prop will make several appearances in our trailer, as we intend to have the completed Hangman game words flash on screen before each death scene. For example, the word 'TRAPPED' would flash on screen just before we see our death scene character Charlotte being locked inside a wardrobe by a ominous black-gloved Hangman hand. We created this book by finding an old school exercise book and scribbling sinister words such as 'KILL', 'HATE' and 'DIE' all over it along with the unfinished hangman  games. We then soaked a tea bag in some water and dabbed it over all the pages throughout the book, to match the old-age of the book and the yellowing, withered feel we were trying to give it. After that, we wrote the name of the mysterious 'Patricia Applegate' ('Patricia' being a name used decades ago and no longer commonly in use, thus adding to the old-age feel) and tore/ripped several pictures to make it seem more overused and withered.   

Hangman Gloves

Like the Hangman book, the Hangman gloves are a vital part of our trailer. These long, sleek black gloves will represent the Hangman, as they appear in almost every so-called 'death scene' in our trailer. The longness of the gloves will ensure that the identity of the Hangman remains anonoymous, and thus creates a mystery as to who this evil being could be. The colour black has several sinister connotations - evil, death and mystery - all aspects that identify with the Hangman exactly. Therfore, these black gloves are perfect in representing the Hangman as the ominous, harbringer of death that he (or she!) is.

 Knife

This large, sharp knife appears in one of our first 'death scenes'. Although we never actually see it being used, we see the ominous black-gloved hands of the Hangman pulling it slowly out of a knife block in a kitchen, and immediately the audience will realise that the Hangman intends to use it on his next unknowning victim. It is a regular kitchen knife that would be used in everyday life in everybody's kitchen around the world, so we our turning an innocent kitchen tool into a devastating murder weapon.

Suffocating Cloth

This white cloth is used in the 'SUFFOCATE' death scene, and will be used by the black-gloved hands of the Hangman to suffocate the unsuspecting victim. It looks like a regular cloth that may be used to clean a table or dry some dishes but when used in our trailer, it has a completley different sinister use. Strangely, white has the connotations of innocence and goodness - yet the Hangman uses it for evil and suffering. Therefore, this white cloth could match the innocence of the Hangman's latest victim, but also represent how he (or she) is taking goodness into his own hands and twisting into something completley malevolent. 

 Prefect Badge

This prefect badge is used in the earlier scenes of our trailer - the scenes just telling the storyline of our film. Melanie is trying to pin this badge to her jumper but accidently drops it, and Tara takes the opportunity to swoop in and poke fun at "the perfect smelly melly". Tara then throws the badge far away, where it lands near some bushes. This is how Melanie discovers the Hangman book - her prefect badge lands right next to the bush where the book is sitting underneath. This prefect badge conveys Melanie's clean-cut and nerdy image, whilst playing a leading part in the finding of the evil Hangman book.

Melanie's School Bag

In the opening scenes of the trailer, we will see Melanie leaning against a fence rooting through this bag. It is mainly used to coincide with the characters age group (sixth form students) and give Melanie something to do whilst waiting for Tara and Will to walk past and shout insults at her. This prop links well to the location also - she could just be in the school field looking for something in her bag, whilst Tara and Will just saunter past mocking her. The bag further links to her geeky character - people her age would typically use on-trend leather bags or other fashionable alternatives, but Melanie uses a sporty-looking bag that would not be usually taken to school by people of her age.

Tara's School Bag

Tara's bag on the other hand, is big, overpowering and more stylish than Melanie's sporty bag. The size of the bag represents Tara's massive power over Melanie, and the sleek, stylish woman on the front encompasses Tara's character completely. This bag again coincides with the age of the characters and the fact that they are all still in sixth form school.

Costumes List - 23/09/2011

Costume choices are vital in producing our film - the wrong kind of outfit can send out the wrong message to our audience. Here are the outfit choices for our characters and the reasons why we chose the combination:
Please note that the majority of images are taken from Google, but are the same as what we made our actors wear.

Melanie/'Smelly Melly'



It was important that Melanie adopted the geeky, bookworm role, which led us to choose simple looking school clothes that were not particulary fashionable like Tara's costume. These simple and plain clothes match the school-loving and nerd-nature of Melanie, and causes the audience to immediately recognise her unpopular role in the film.

Tara

Tara's characteristics were mean, popular, fashionable and a hardcore bully, so her outfit choices had to match these traits. Charlotte originally had short blonde hair, but we have decided to give her extensions to match her girly personality and make her seem more flipant when she tosses her hair at geeks like Melanie. We wanted to keep Tara's style simple-yet-trendy, so she is going to wear dark skinny jeans and a black vest top, with pink and black blazers the same as the ones shown above. The blazers convey how she is clean-cut and involved in high fashion, but still links to her age group since teens generally wear blazers to school. The boots are more of a grungy biker-style than the rest of her outfit, but it gives Tara an edge that would match her mean bully style.

Will

Will is a cool, laid back guy that follows Tara's mean ways and bullies Melanie. We wanted to keep his style simple and typical for boys of his age, so we have decided to dress him in dark jeans, a black tshirt and black trainers. These are dark colours that match his dark, cruel personality and do not distract from what is actually happening on screen.

 Emily

Since Emily's part in the film is minor compared to those of Melanie, Tara and Will, we wanted to give her simple clothes that wouldn't distract from the drama occuring on screen. Emily only appears in a small death scene, so we are giving her a dark brown tshirt and jeans to match the darkness and sinister aspects of the scene. However, the girlish pink socks reiterate Emily's innocence and youth, which makes her seem more like the terrified young female victim.



 Conor

Like Emily, Conor will only be taking part in a minor and brief 'SUFFOCATE' death scene, so we do not want his clothes to distract from the actual drama. We decided to dress Conor in typical black and white sixth form school clothes in order to match his teen age, and also give another setting for these sinister deaths - it shows that the Hangman can even kill in the students own school! Conor would be wearing the Deyes High sixth form tie to match the Deyes High setting, along with typical black pants, white shirt and black jumper. However, the black converse add a tint of rebellion to his character, as young people never want to conform to the school rules and dress code. This outfit adds to the innocence of Conor, and the converse convey his fun nature and show that he is still only a young man.

Charlotte

Like previously, Charlotte's outfit is simple to not distract from the action on screen. The purple 'ABBA GOLD' tshirt matches the pop culture of teens, and yet adds to her innocence as a young woman. The ugg boots are also worn by the majority of young girls today, so they too emphasise her teen age and fashionable teen culture. 

 Victoria

My part is minimal in the film, so I wanted to again keep the clothes simple. However, the ditsy floral print emphasises this notion of innocence and makes me seem younger, more care-free and like the victim in contrast with the dark and ominous Hangman. The clothes are from high street stores, that would match the typical teen culture and represent the youth of today.

Locations List - 22/09/2011

We need to use various venues for our filming in order to set the scene of our movie. Here are the locations we are planning to use, along with photographs of the venue:

Kitchen - Inside a house on The Cleves, Lydiate, Liverpool, L31 9PR

This kitchen will be used in the 'KNIFE' 'death scene'. We will not see any actual action, but there will be the eerie sight of a black-gloved Hangman hand pulling a large, sharp knife out of a wooden knife block (knife shown in props list blog). We decided to film most of the death scenes (apart from the 'FIRE' scene) in this house on The Cleves road, because it had all the best scenery and locations for our intended scenes, and it was simpler to do it all in different rooms in the same house so we did not have to move all of our equipment from place to place and provide transport for our actors. When editing, we will make this room dimmer and more fitting for the horror aspect of this scene. 

Living Room - Inside a house on The Cleves, Lydiate, Liverpool, L31 9PR

This is the location where the 'death scene' in which Emily Oakes is dragged across the floor into the room on the right by the black-gloved hands of the Hangman will occur. Although the lighting in this image is very bright, we intend to close the curtains shutting out all sunlight and dim the scene using the lighting tools on the iMovie editor on the iMacs in school. Also, we will move out all difficult obstacles that will get in the way during our filming - for example, the rug, picture frames and ornaments on the floor and around the fireplace. This room is ideal to film this difficult dragging scene - the wooden flooring is more slippery than a carpeted floor, and thus the Hangman will be able to drag his (or her!) victim across the floor with ease. In addition, the room to the right of the picture is perfect for this scene - the Hangman will be able to drag Emily into the darkness of that room, creating tension as to what will happen in there and symbolising the sort of dark 'Hell' he is dragging her into.

Stairs - Inside a house on The Cleves, Lydiate, Liverpool, L31 9PR

This is the set of stairs that the 'FALL' 'death scene' will occur on. In this scene, we will see a young girl called Victoria (me!) falling down the stairs after being pushed by the Hangman. These stairs are ideal to film this scene on since they are straight and thus, easier to film falling from the bottom of the stairs. We will of course put a crash mat at the bottom of the stairs to cushion the fall (as assessed in our risk assessment forms) and ensure full safety on my part.

Bedroom - Inside a house on The Cleves, Lydiate, Liverpool, L31 9PR

In this wardrobe we intend on filming the 'TRAPPED' 'death scene', in which the character Charlotte Williamson will be rooting through her wardrobe when suddenly, the doors are slammed and locked shut by the black-gloved hands of the evil Hangman. Before filming, we will of course remove all of the clutter from the wardrobe so that Charlotte can move into it with ease - things like the step-ladder, bags and boxes will need to be removed from the floor, as they are a danger and obstruction to our actor. This wardrobe is ideal for this scene, since it is a walk-in wardrobe that our actor can easily move in and out of, and the doors can be locked from the outside rather than the inside.

Bathroom - Inside a house on The Cleves, Lydiate, Liverpool, L31 9PR

In this bathroom, we will see Tara washing her hands and looking in the mirror to discover that horrifying red/pink raw lines have appeared around her wrists and neck. This location is ideal, since the mirror is placed conveniently directly above the sink and it is large enough that we will see the full effect of the lines on Tara's wrists and neck. Also, there is enough room to the right side of the sink behind Tara that we could film the scene without actually being seen in shot through the mirror.

Park - On Seymour Drive, Lydiate, Liverpool, L31 9PR

The two pictures above are of the park where we will film two separate scenes in our trailer - the first image is of the tyre swing which we will see Melanie sitting on when she drops her prefect badge, and Tara saunters over, insults her and throws it into the bush seen in the next scene. Under the bush (shown in the second picture) is where Melanie will find the hangman book, and it sets of the whole storyline, horror and mystery surrounding this suspicious book. The reason why we are not filming these two scenes in Sandy Lane park like the rest of the park scenes (shown below), is because the park on Seymour Drive had the best scenery for what we envisioned. There is no tyre swing in Sandy Lane like there was in Seymour Drive, and this bush was placed perfectly in coincidence with the tyre swing that Tara would easily be able to throw the prefect badge towards a perfect hiding place for the Hangman book.

Park - On Sandy Lane, Lydiate, Liverpool, L31 4DW

Shown above is pictures of the three locations in Sandy Lane Park where we will be filming three different scenes. The first picture shows a cluster of trees, and here we will film the scene where Melanie is curiously reading the Hangman book (trying to uncover the mystery around it) when Tara and Will walk by and snatch the book from her hands. Will mockingly holds it up too high for her to reach before throwing it to the ground, where Melanie bends down to pick it up only to be pushed over by Tara who then snatches the book out of her hands and saunters away with it. This location is ideal since the trees are a perfect hiding place for the lonely and timid Melanie, whilst we will be able to later edit the lighting if it turns out too bright or too dark. The second image shows the metal fence of the basketball court - here we will film the scene that will be shown at the very start of the trailer, where Melanie is innocently rooting in her school bag and Tara and Will saunter past hand-in-hand calling insults such as "Smelly-Melly". This location would work out well, since it is a bland grey fence and Melanie will seem like she is almost trying to blend in with it and go unnoticed and from bullies like Tara and Will. Finally, the third image is of a goal post in the very same park, where we will see an unknown character hanging from it towards the end of the trailer. This goal post is ideal since it is just high enough that the characters feet would dangle high enough from the floor to give the impression that she is hanging, but also not too high that we could not hoist her up to hold onto the top of the goal post and not injure herself if she was to fall. In this scene we would only show the knees-downwards as to preserve the identity of the victim and keep a mystery as to who dies in this brutal way. 

Underground Subway Tunnel - Central Square, Maghull, Liverpool, L31 0AE

This underground tunnel, known as the 'subway' in Maghull, will be used in the 'RUN' 'death scene'. We will see Will (played by Benjamin Jones) run directly down the tunnel towards to light at the end. The lighting and scenery of this location encompasses everything this scene needs - the dark dingy tunnel with its dull flickering lights give a terrifying and sinister atmosphere, whilst the light at the end of the tunnel symbolises the salvation Will is trying to get to before the Hangman gets him. The subway is also long, flat and straight, which will make it easy to film and make it even easier for the cameraman to run after Will when filming and not trip over any uneven surfacing. The fact that its straight will also cause the light at the end of the tunnel to be seen easily, and be more effective in capturing the audiences attention. 

Living Room Fireplace - Inside a house on Sandy Lane, Lydiate, Liverpool, L31 4DW

This fireplace will be used in the 'FIRE' 'death scene', and all we will see is the bright orange flames flickering dangerously - which will make the audience wonder as to what could happen next. This fireplace in a house on Sandy Lane was more ideal than the one in the house on The Cleves for several reasons - this house had a coal fire which looked more old and worn (which would create a more eerie and frightening effect), this fireplace was much larger and the old, worn fire-guard looked deadly with his spikes poking upwards. This fireplace encompasses every frightening thought regarding fire, and thus will be perfect in our trailer.

Empty Classroom - Inside the Blundell Building, Deyes High School, Deyes Lane, Maghull, Sefton, L31 6DE  

In the Blundell building in Deyes High School, there is a classroom in which there is a window showing through to an empty office on the other side - this is perfect for our 'SUFFOCATE' 'death scene'. Thanks to this window, we could stand to the other side of the window whilst filming Conor Wynn being suffocated by a white cloth in the black-gloved hands of the Hangman. We intend on making the classroom we are filming from dark (as shown above) and the office bright, since we would then see the full impact of the scene and make a seemingly bright/innocent office into something deadly. Filming a scene in Deyes High School will further link to the age of the actors (sixth form students) and let the audience know that even the characters are not safe in their own school. Although it is not obvious that this death scene occurs in school, our costume choice for Conor (typical black and white school-wear with the sixth form tie, as shown in the costume list) will convey the school-setting to the audience.

Actors List - 21/09/2011

This is the list of actors (along with photographs) that are going to play our leading roles:

Melanie (or 'Smelly Melly') - Lucy Rimmer-Hall

 We chose Lucy to play the leading protagonist Melanie, since she is a conventially attractive girl that is just seen as unpopular due to her dress sense (which is shown in the costume list) and her geeky tendancies. Lucy is a wonderful actress that can pull off the nerd role, whilst matching the age of the actual character and being identifiable to the audience. Lucy has starred as the leading lady in the British horror hit 'The Creeps', so she would be instantly recognisable to horror-fanatics and help to sell the movie.

Tara - Charlotte Westall

 

As seen by her expression and pose in the image, it is clear that Charlotte would play the role of mean high school bully and popular girl Tara perfectly. With the fashionable costume choices and long blonde hair extensions, Charlotte would look extremely on-trend and like a typical blonde-mean girl would. After co-starring in the American horror blockbuster 'Death Date', Charlotte would be recognisable to the horror audience and succeed in selling the film to the widest audience possible.

Will - Benjamin Jones

Benjamin is a typically-attractive young male that would fit the role of teen heartthrob Will perfectly. Although this may not be fully conveyed in the trailer, Will is a cocky, mean bully and boyfriend of Tara that bullies Melanie with his girlfriend. Will likes to think that he is the alpha-male in the relationship, but really, Tara calls all the shots when it comes to making Melanie's life a living hell. Benjamin is the best actor for playing this role, having starred in horrors such as 'Kill' and 'Leaving Anna' - roles which will hopefully again make him recognisable to a horror-fanatic audience.  

But we also need people to partake in what we call the 'Death Scenes' - basically, the scenes of the trailer where we see characters in distress due to being pursued by the Hangman. The actors used in these scenes will be:

'TRAPPED' Death Scene - Charlotte Williamson

(Dragging across the floor) Death Scene - Emily Oakes

'SUFFOCATE' Death Scene - Conor Wynn

'FALL' Death Scene - Victoria Dunn

One role we have not yet covered in this list is the most vital role of the film - the Hangman. In the trailer, the only part we see of the Hangman is his ominous black gloves, which creates mystery as to who this killer is. We will not be revealling the identity of the Hangman as we wont to uphold this suspicion and anoymity - you will have to see the whole film to find out!