Hammer Horror

Hammer Films is a film production company that is based in the UK. The company was founded in 1934 by William Hinds and James Carreras. The company is best known for a series of gothic films made from the mid 1950’s until the 1970’s. Hammer also produces thrillers, science fiction, film noir and comedies and, in later years, television series.

 Hammer eventually ceased production in the mid 1980’s due to the saturation of the horror film market by competitors and the loss of American funding forced the changes to the company. In 2000, Hammer was bought by a consortium including advertising executive and art collector Cherles Saatchi and publishing millionaires Neil Mendoza and William Sieghart. They announced that they had plans to begin making films again but after that, none were produced.

In May 2007, Hammer was sold again to a consortium headed by Dutch media tycoon John De Mol. He announced that he had plans to spend around $50m (£25m) on new horror films. The new owners also acquired the Hammer groups film library which consisted of 295 movies. Simon Oaked, who took over as CEO of Hammer, said: “Hammer is a great British brand and we intend to take it back into production and develop its global potential. The brand is still alove but no one had invested in it for a long time.” Since then it has produced the feature films Let Me In (2010), The Resident (2011) and The Woman In Black (2012).

Mood Board of the Horror genre.

This is a mood board containing images that we have used as inspiration for our opening. 

Shots in filming.

Match on action- 

Match on action (or cutting on action) is an editing technique for continuity editing in which one shot cuts to another shot portraying the action of the subject in the first shot.

180 degrees rule- 
The 180° rule is a filming guideline that participants in a scene should have the same left-right relationship to each other, with filming only taking place within the 180° angle in which this is maintained in a conversation, for example. This allows the audience to have a greater sense of location in the scene in terms of what may be off-screen in some shots, for example in shot reverse shots.

Shot reverse shot-
 Shot reverse shot is a continuity editing technique used in conversations or simply characters looking at each other or objects. A shot showing what the character is supposedly looking at (either a point of view or over the shoulder shot) is followed by a reverse angle shot of the character themselves looking at it, or of the other character looking back at them, for example. Shot reverse shot often ties in with the 180° rule to retain continuity by not distorting the audience’s sense of location of the characters in the shots.
Shot reverse Shot-
Shot reverse shot
30 degree rule-
The 30 degree rule is a basic film editing guideline that states the camera should move at least 30 degrees between shots of the same subject occurring in the succession. If this rule isn't followed a jump cut occurs and there is a risk that the audience starts focusing on the filming technique instead of the story that is being narrated.

Rule of thirds-
The rule of thirds is a concept in video and film production in which the frame is divided into into nine imaginary sections, as illustrated on the right. This creates reference points which act as guides for framing the image.Points (or lines) of interest should occur at 1/3 or 2/3 of the way up (or across) the frame, rather than in the centre. Like many rules of framing, this is not always necessary (or desirable) but it is one of those rules you should understand well before you break it.

Street View of the Abandoned House

This is the Google street view of the house we found on Wednesday before it began to be demolished. The old hotel sits at the end of Maddox Lane in Great Bookham. These street view photos were taken in 2009, five years ago. It was originally a large hotel that looked beautiful.

Filming Attempt 1

On the third of December the three of us, accompanied by three other actors, traveled to our decided filming location. Having found out the day before that we would not be allowed to film at our original choice of location due to security changes, we had to walk two and a half miles to an abandoned house in Bookham, Surrey.

  There are a lot of risks associated with having to find a last minute location. And as far as risks go, turning up and finding the house being renovated is not one we had considered.

  Not letting this step-back stop us, we decided that in an area so densely filled with old buildings, there must be one that we can find permission to film in.

  Sadly, our search was in vein. After walking around for about four hours, we decided to throw in the towel. Our time would be better spent researching a new location and filming a different day.

Draft first script for our opening scene.

Characters 

Matt-Jock
Zoe-Girl
Bill-Average guy
Conor-Darker guy
Billy-Geek
Luke-Monster

Introduction

Independent film making studio's (IFM)
Beginning credits

*Camera pans upwards, revealing setting, main characters walk past the camera and enter the settings doors with the doors shutting behind them, panicked gasps are heard from some members of the group, Bill places hand on door and attempts to open it to no avail*
"Matt: well, there's no turning back now"
*Anxious looks between Billy, Zoe and Billy as they look to Conor for answers*
"Zoe: Whats the plan then"
"Conor: Well......."
*Conor takes a Ouija board out of his bag and reveals it to the group*
"Matt: A Ouija board really?"
*A dim light appears through the darkness from one of the rooms, the group share some uneasy looks and then proceed to head towards the room, camera cuts to the designated room where candles are placed appropriately around the room and on a table*
"Conor: Well here goes nothing"
*Conor places the Ouija board onto the table in the appropriate place*
"Matt: You know what to do guys"
*The group position themselves accordingly around the and place one hand on the pointer* 
"Zoe: are there any spirits here?"
*Pointer moves to yes; as a close-up is shown*
"Conor: Can you tell us what happened to our missing friends"
*A few candles on the outer ring burnout and the pointer points to no*
"Zoe: why not"
*Camera focuses on group (birds eye) as more candles burnout and pointer moves in quick succession of three letters (you)*
"Matt: You? what do you want from us?"
*pointer points to five letters (death), group looks uneasily at each-other, a few close-ups one used and focuses on Billy*
"Bill: death?"
*Ouija board bounces slightly, group gets startled and Bill and Billy step back, Ouija board begins to vibrate violently*
"Matt: whats happening "
*Ambient sound presents spirit presence, which is followed by a birds eye view of the group, each member pushed back into the darkness behind them and the remaining candles go out, shuffling is heard, followed by some heavy breathing*
*Flicks lighter twice before igniting on the third attempt to shown to be distressed and looks around quickly, heavy breathing becomes more apparent and other ambiance stops. A ghostly face appears from the darkness behind Matt s left shoulder, creature becomes angry as shown on its face, the lighter is extinguished and a loud scream is heard*

Costumes for Characters.

We have chosen to have the outfit for the 'Average' character as casual and comfortable clothing so he looks like he is in his everyday attire. This is a stereotypical ordinary teenager.

We have decided the attire for the 'Dark' character will be all black to emphasize on the fact that he is a little quirky and disturbed as he suggests the ouija boars. This is a stereotypical punk teenager.

The geek/wimp's outfit will give off the impression that he is timid and fragile. The superhero themed t-shirt will suggest that he is vulnerable also. This is a stereotypical nerdy teenager.

The girls outfit is a casual but pretty outfit as she is a stereotypical teenage girl, popular and wimpy a little like nerd character.

The jocks outfit is more sporty and casual which shows that he is often the leader of the group and has more power due to the sports training. This is a stereotypical teenage boy.