The document provides details on the research conducted for props, costumes, locations and atmosphere for a student film sequence. It discusses: - Props like candles, crosses, ropes and chairs to enhance realism and tension. Costumes like torn clothes for the victim and a devil costume for the antagonist. - Two potential locations - a member's house or graveyard. The house allows easier access but a graveyard is a more typical horror setting. - Atmospheric lighting techniques like low-key candle lighting are discussed to increase tension without access to professional equipment. The document considers budget constraints and how to maximize realism, tension and narrative mysteries on a low budget through creative use of props, costumes and

1. RESEARCH FOR OUR SEQUENCE
Danny O’Brien, Daniel Regan, Geraint Padfield and Edward Dew

2. INITIAL PROP RESEARCHEDWARD DEW
A large section of our film is similar to the opening of the
successful thriller “Se7en”, therefore, I have watched the
opening to this many times to make sure we maximise
the enjoyment of our sequence. From doing this research
I was able to pick up many prop ideas. However, as we
do not have the budget that the producers of ‘Se7en’ had
not all ideas could be used and this was taken into
consideration whilst watching the opening.

3. •
The candle will be used in high quantity and
will be the only source of light for a large
section of our sequence. We have decided to
use this technique as candles are very
atmospheric and increases the tension
dramatically. It also does not reveal the
characters face due to the low key lighting
and this will create further narrative enigmas
and raise the tension significantly. This
atmosphere is key because it is a convention
of horror thriller films and candles will
complete this atmosphere perfectly. On our
low budget we cannot afford special lighting
and so candles are the perfect substitute and
we will already have many collectively around
our households.

4. • We will also have a cross as this is
a key symbol for religion. The
cross will be held to enforce the
ritual and this will increase the
realism when the ceremony is
taking place. This is important as
realism is a problem for us due to
the mysterious events that take
place in the sequence.

5. • We will also be using a chair and rope in a
later part of this sequence. This will be used
in the ritual to hold the victim in place. We
thought this would be effective as it
enhances the realism of the scene as he
has no escape and is in serious danger. It
will also highlight the generic conventions of
an antagonist as it shows he is brutal and
smart and this increases his danger and
intimidation and therefore he is more feared
and this will consequently increase the
tension further.

6. •
The bibles purpose will be similar to the
cross, essentially, to enhance the realism
of this sequence, something we feel is very
important. Also, as in the ritual the
antagonist is required to speak In latin
(supposedly from the bible) we realised this
would be difficult as we cannot speak latin,
therefore the bible is a good place to hide
the dialogue he is reading so he can read
off this and it will come out better and
therefore be more effective. This will create
a narrative enigma as to what he is reading
and the purpose of it.

7. •
We will have a notebook that the antagonist
will be flicking through (inspired by the
se7en opening). In this notebook will be
mysterious images and many narrative
enigmas will appear. This will be dramatic
as the audience will wonder what
importance this book has in the story.
Included in this book will be pictures of
people that are crossed out and old
newspaper articles. These are generic for
our genre as it creates narrative enigmas
and emphasizes the seriousness of this
dangerous antagonist which further raises
the tension in this sequence.

8. •
For the climax of our sequence we will
be using these all white contact lenses
that will appear at the end of the ritual.
The purpose of these is to connote that
the victim has been converted and is
now evil. These again enhance the
realism and tension as the audience will
realise this victim has been converted
from this strange ritual. It will also
portray the antagonist more powerfully
as the audience will see what he has
done works and see his danger, this will
all be very exciting and the realism now
enhances this. It will also create
narrative enigmas as to what has
happened to this victim and his eyes.

9. INITIAL COSTUME IDEAS – GERAINT PADFIELD
•
In any film Genre, costume is a vital to
the mise en scene. Its what tells apart
the antagonists from the protagonists. It
also reveals the characters nature.
Generic conventions of Horror/Thriller
movies are mysterious antagonists, who
match the protagonists with their
intellect. Below are some examples of
costumes worn by antagonists in Horror
movies. If you look at the two famous
costumes, you can see that they’re quite
intimidating and mysterious. They Leave
narrative enigmas for the audience to
discover.

10. •
The key component to our film opening is the costume of the Antagonists. In our case, the
antagonists are a devil cult, performing an act on an innocent person. As our group’s
genre is Horror Thriller, we need to ensure that the antagonists costume is mysterious and
relatively frightening. Our initial idea for the antagonists costume was a sort of devil dress
The purpose of this costume is that it creates a narrative
enigma as to who is the under the dress and the purpose
of the clothing. Although it doesn’t reveal much about the
antagonists physical features, it does reveal a lot about
the characters nature. It connotes to the audience that he
is a danger to society. The only drawback is that a costume
like this could be quite expensive or hard to find.

11. •
There is only one protagonist aside from the devil
cult, so the amount of costume used is quite limited.
The group need to find a way to signify to the
audience that his life or welfare is in serious jeopardy.
The initial idea for clothing is torn T shirts and shorts.
•
We will rip the t shirt to connote to the audience that
the protagonist’s life is in danger. Another suggestion
is staining the t shirt to signify he has been held
captive for a long time. In order to make the scene
more realistic, our group has decided to make the
protagonist wear shorts as its less formal attire and it
fits the situation he is in. This will connote the
dangerous situation the victim is in and it be more
realistic and therefore enhance the tension.

12. •
The benefit of having shorts and a stained or ripped T shirt is that they’re easily
accessible and relatively cheap. The makeup side of things may be harder to gain access
to and we need someone skilled to make the protagonists facial features look realistic.
•
The initial costume ideas are very common and stereotypical in the Horror thriller genre.
The monk/devil costume reveals a lot about the characters nature and beliefs, but hides
his physical features which leaves a narrative enigma for the rest of the movie and keeps
the audience engaged.

13. LOCATION RESEARCH – DANIEL O’BRIEN
•
Our group has a few different ideas for the possible locations in which will act as our main
setting. The candidates for our location are the house of one of the members of our group
and a graveyard. We have not fully concluded where we will film as of yet but this is
something important to us and it will massively effect our film so we are conscious of
making the right decision. As our film is based around a plot of a somewhat
psychologically impaired antagonist in a graveyard/house, we have decided to film in a
graveyard or a house of one of the group members. The decision to film in the house
would be made through the ease of accessing the location and the low shooting problems
within the house. The graveyard would be a preferred location because it is a more
generic place to film a horror thriller film, however is less easy to access and we would
most likely have to get permission to film there. We have taken images from our two
locations and inserted below.

14. •
This is a shot of the garden in the
house where we potentially intend
to film, it is a good sized garden
with features that could be used
well in our film such as the garage
for a slightly dimmer lit area. The
garden also offers a stereotypical
representation of our antagonist, of
his class in particular. A possible
issue with our location is the
amount of noise that could be
coming from the surrounding
neighborhood which could affect
the sound quality of our film in a
negative manner.

15. •
As it is outside it gives us the freedom to
choose between many different camera
angles and shots when filming as there is a
lot of room to move round and try different
things. We plan to film our opening when it
is getting dark to ensure the lighting does
not affect the amount that can be seen by
the audience and to give us a mixture of
high and low key lighting. Another benefit
of filming when it isn’t very dark is that the
risk of running into something such as the
tree for example is massively reduced,
there are fortunately no other health and
safety issues with filming here.

16. •
The interior of the house is a typical
representation of ethnicity and class – white
British and C1 to be specific. This
semidetached house has a study, which is
shown to the picture to the left; studies are a
commonly found feature in houses that are
considered of class C1. It is a small room,
therefore limiting our ability to vary our
camera angles and framings. The curtains
in this room can be drawn which will allow
us to create a dark, more menacing
atmosphere in the room than would be
created without the window being covered.
It can also give us the flexibility to have low
key or high key lighting, which could prove
of great importance in the portrayal of our
antagonist, helping make him seem more
frightening.

17. •
This is the other location that has been suggested by a
group member that we film in. These photos below are
all located in a graveyard, which is typically more likely
to feature in a horror film and helps set the scene
admittedly better than filming in the house would. This
location is slightly less accessible than our other
location and would require us to be granted permission
to film here, nonetheless it would be a more generic
setting and many generic conventions and narrative
enigmas could come as a result of filming in this
particular location. The graveyard is a quiet place
which would enable us to have maximum sound quality
on our film and allow all dialogue and effects to be
heard. There are not many health and safety risks
associated with this location, apart from minor low risk
risks such as trip hazards which should not act as a
reason for us not to film here.

18. •
This pathway shown on the right could work well
with our narrative which involves a scared
individual at various points. This individual at one
of these moments could be walking down this
path, easily allowing us to make it scary, which
will be one of the main generic pleasures the
audience will get from watching our film opening.
Another positive thing about filming here is that it
gives us a stereotypical appeal for the genre as
many other horror films have footage within them
that has been shot in a graveyard, and from the
research we have done of other films we think we
could replicate this effectively.

19. •
The picture on the left shows a large amount
of space just behind the above picture where
a camera on a tripod could be placed to film
one of the characters walking down the
pathway. It gives us a lot of room for wide
shots and other interesting shots to make
sure that we do not lose the interest of our
audience during our opening. We plan, if we
decide to film here, to do so when the sun
has gone down and it is dark, mainly to add
suspense and to heighten the drama in our
film as we aim to make it gripping.