I have decided to take the fairy tale of the 12 dancing princesses and create a thriller / horror movie
with them. The setting will be a medieval castle and the style will be a surprising contrast of cartoon
style happy princesses with a frightening situation, whereby they become trapped with a killer in their
own castle.
I think my target audience will be skewed towards female younger teenagers 15 — 17 years. Older
than 13 years because of the movie restriction ratings — as mine will have murder in it. Female
because it is based on princesses and girls dancing — plus will have a sense of familiar princesses
from their Walt Disney watching years. About 4 / 10 teenage girls surveyed liked the horror / thriller
genres. All of them like comedy — this isn’t a comedy, but is perhaps a black comedy — taking off
the happy Disney-like cartoons and turning it into a horror/thriller. Good music will be key as this
group liked music. (extract) [1]
..As I am looking to create a horror thriller but using cartoon animation. I will create a tone of tension
and surprise by contrasting known images with surprising outcomes. I will mix up slow panning scene
setting images with fast paced ones for tension when my characters are hurrying to escape and
panicking. In contrast to the fast paced shots I’ll use slow lingering zooms or pan set to build tension.
This is to make the audience feel that something could jump out at any time. ….I like the idea of
starting happy and then an event, close up shots, speeding up, running, dramatic pauses with the plot
running through [3] – that will be a broad approach that I’ll use. My style will be dependent on the
limitations of the medium I am going to use…..(extract).. [2]
Setting (tense / scary /exhilarating): The setting will create the tense mood and the scary feeling I am
trying to evoke. I will fuse my elements of fantasy (the fictional princess characters) with the qualities
of a horror! thriller film. Such as dark lighting, menacing expressions, gothic like settings (medieval
castle and furniture.) As my target audience generally seeks and adrenalin rush / exhilaration... I will
use a lot of contrasting techniques to give the ultimate rush when a section surprises or scares
them…(extract). [4]
Music: I’ll use pitchy, high and refined violin effects with dissonance and loud, menacing percussion
sounds or non diagnetic sounds to create a tense atmosphere. l’ll have a push and pull of expectations
or tension during the trailer to appeal to the target audience. [4] I’ll also use contrasting, calmer
music or strategic silence to create the element of surprise, which should appeal to my audience. It
will be less monotonous. …(extract). [1] [3]
Betrayal: I believe that betrayal is a good convention for this trailer, as it adds intrigue and
distinguishes the good from the bad characters. It also diverts the film from the expected happy (but a
bit naughty) princesses and indicates that they are going to be caught out. This will appeal to my
target audience of teenage girls! It is also less typical of a fairy tale…(extract)..
I have decided to use cartoon characters -picking up on the more recent idea in movies that cartoons
and animations can appeal to an adult audience e.g. high ratings of “Family Guy” and the Simpsons
movies, as well as adult humour in Shrek etc which took a new look at Fairy Tales. The research
survey was not that helpful at letting me see whether there would be interest in this mix of fairy tale
and genre. It would be useful to test interest in cartoons and whether cartoons would be a good
method for selling a horror / thriller as it has not really been done before. It will be unique, which I
like but may not be acceptable (extract)
As drawing is my forte and also I can imagine how animation works in my head plus I can do stop
motion and have spent quite a lot of time learning about Movie Maker this is the approach I have
decided to take
— as I am not the keen on clay — I think it looks unprofessional and I like to get more detail. I also
am not interested in using toys or dolls which I couldn’t create my own characters from — they would
look generic. I also have no idea how to use Flash…..
but after a few days I have realised this was going to take way too long to create 2-3 minutes of a
production. It took 275 individual drawings to do the first very short production title and this had
to be 5 times longer. Also I couldn’t get colour into it so then - I am planning to use Flash. …….
[5]
I plan to take 1 day learning flash and 2 weeks at school and 1 — 2 weeks after school week plus
most of a weekend creating the movie trailer. I don’t need actors, props or a location —just my
imagination and an ability to create. But I think on reflection that I may be underestimating how
complicated flash is. I know what I want to achieve and create characters with moving lips and
eyebrows and arms but I am not sure if I know the best way to put them all together. I have found out
from a person who did this, that it is like layers of movies within movies and my movie might get too
complicated. I also know that the system at school is not compatible with what we have at home so
that will be a problem. I need to re think my production schedule. [5] [6]
After a couple of days, I decided if I could get dad to include in his new computer a flash programme
I could teach myself this…I could then draw my own characters, in colour and get a genuine and
different look…… I think that the villain will be the brother …(extract) [5]
Equipment and Resources [6]
Maccomputer
Flash programme
Space to sit and create — location at home
Internet — access to You tube
Disney Princesses
Pre-Production Activities
Develop Castle, Characters and Animation Pieces
Select Music and sound effects : Apocolyptica path —violin section at the front, door squeaking
shut, female horror sighs and screams found it difficult to synch this so only had one crucial
sound effect at a key time after suspenseful build up...
Planned Shot list
1. Castle
2. Thunder and lightning effects
3. “they lived in isolation”
4. “they lived away from all evil”
5. Pan to table with princesses sitting around
6. Zoom in on prince brother
7. Evil expression
8. “but would they discover evil among them?”
9. Door frame
10. “each night the princesses would slip away”
11. Princess opening door
12. Facial of princess looking sneaky
13. “to dance the night away”
14. Visual of couples dancing having fun
15. Door locked
16. Evil face of prince staring out form the dark
17. Horrified facial expressions e.g. hand over mouth
18. Prince eyes behind
19. Jump to worried princess ...sound effect
20. Cut to darkness..