Film Influences

Planning - Filmic Influences:


The Seventh Seal:





There are several reasons as to why we have chosen Ingmar Bergman’s ‘The Seventh Seal,’ as one of our influences for our short film.

The first, and probably the most obvious and blatant, is that ‘The Seventh Seal’ features one of the most famous images in cinema history, that of Death, played by Benget Ekerot, appearing suddenly on a beach in the opening scene, armed with a scythe, ready to take Antonious Block, played by Max Von Sydow, away into death. Given the nature of our film (i.e., dealing wholly with the theme and nature of death, and using lots of death imagery), it felt appropriate to sit ‘The Seventh Seal,’ as an influence because A) it is, as we have said, one of the most famous examples/depictions of Death in film, and B) because there are themes within ‘The Seventh Seal,’ which are clearly echoed within our film (i.e., that of Death coming to take an person unexpectedly, etc, etc), and so it felt fitting to use this film as an influence.

The second is the heightened use of ambient and natural sounds. In our film, we are planning to present all aspects of the ‘world,’ within our film, in particular the sounds and scenery, in such a way that it proves to be very disarming and disorientating towards the viewer. We feel that ‘The Seventh Seal,’ is a perfect springboard in order to allow us an insight into how to do this effectively.
The third and final reason is the use of Gunner Fischer’s black and white cinematography. Since it is arguable that the use of black and white cinematography within ‘The Seventh Seal,’ was used by Bergman in order to act as a metaphor for death itself and the bleak situations the characters find themselves in, we feel that it would be a worthwhile consideration to shoot our film in black and white, as this would be, like ‘The Seventh Seal,’ the perfect way to get our point across.

The Godfather:



There are several reasons as to why we have chosen Francis Ford Coppola's 'The Godfather' as one of our influences for our short film.
The first is Coppola’s heightened use of sound. In the earlier part of the scene, before Don Corleone is shot, there is the very loud and distracting use of a trumpet. It may be implied that this trumpet sound, whilst maybe just being there in order to add an extra layer of “street realism,” to the piece, and to be very much in keeping with the time and place in which it was set (i.e., 1940s Italian America, etc), it may also have been used to add emphasis to or foreshadow a particular event (i.e., Don Corleone’s shooting).
The second is the way in which Don Corleone’s murder has been staged/framed. Coppola makes heavy use of medium close ups of both the Don and his assassins in order to possibly add emphasis, drama and tension to what is going to happen/is happening, and trying to draw the audience closer to the action. The use of the medium close up of the weapons may be to, again, emphasise danger, and that this man is going to be killed. Also, the guns possibly connote phallic imagery, which may add to the feeling that this killing is very much to do with honour and respect, themes which are stereotypically linked to the male psyche. Finally, the use of a single, unbroken take of the Don as he slips from the car in agony is not only effective in hammering home the point that this man is close to death, but is also (as was the case with ‘The Seventh Seal,’) one of the most famous and iconic moments in film history, and this again gives us a springboard for our own ideas and the desire to, with our film, create images which are just as visually powerful as the ones we have sited.
The third and final reason is Coppola’s use of costume. For instance, the Don is presented as wearing a long, brown coat and a pinched Fedora hat. This is effective as this is indicative of who this character is (i.e., that he is a smart, sophisticated man with a wonderful dress sense). Also, not only is this choice of dress indicative of the sort of character we are watching, but it is also indicative of the period in which the film is set (i.e., late ‘40s, etc). This helps to create a sense of realism and verisimilitude and has given us ideas in to how we can dress our characters in our film to create the same type of feeling.


American Psycho:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IXlkq9vHuAE

NOTES: Bateman's interior monologue, the use of music, fitting with the motifs of the film and the character's construction.

Taxi Driver:



Again, the music is very brooding, the scene itself is very internalized, giving us the events going on in New York from his point of view. What he talks about fits in with what we see on screen. His interior monologue is very judgemental of the society which is being portrayed. We are using this because it is, again, a classic example of proper use of interior monologue which we wish to integrate into our film. There are constant use of extreme close ups in addition to slow motion shots, which helps to further internalize the events seen on screen, and to imply that we are seeing a biased, twisted view of society. Also wished to use slow motion in our film which again is seen in this extract.

Peep Show:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NOe5n8M0ldw

NOTES: Very realistic, full of versimilitude. Also, comedic in style, which is expressed through in interior monologue. Also, again, what is heard in the monologue complements what is seen on screen.

The Texas Chain Saw Massacre:



We have also selected Tobe Hooper's 'The Texas Chainsaw Massacre,' as an influence in our film because of the way in which Hooper chose to introduce the killer, Leatherface, and the way in which he kills his victim, is almost identical to our film. To explain - we want our film to end very much with a "surprise," that the audience never sees coming (i.e., the young boy being killed by being hit with the hammer). Since a possible way of presenting this can be through a point of view shot, and since the way in which the shot in 'Texas Chainsaw' is presented is very similar to a p.o.v. shot, it felt appropriate to site this as an influence. Also, the overall atmosphere of the piece, and the way in way Hooper gauges tension (such as the animal noises, the constant cutting back and forth between Kirk and the empty, ominious doorway [which is, arguably, similar to our film, metaphorical of death and a transition into the unknown]) is undoubtly a major influence on us, and that is why we have selected 'Texas Chainsaw' as one of our influences for our film.

Music influences

Planning - Musical Influences:

Aftermath - Tricky:





This song helps to establish an uneasy atmosphere. It is ideal for the opening credit music of a film such as ours, in that it is very mysterious, intriguing and captivating. Also, considering that it is a hip-hop/r’n’b song, it helps to combine the eerie and the strange with the modern and the current, which are themes which flow through our film.


Blame It on the Boogie - The Jacksons:






Fix Up, Look Sharp - Dizzee Rascall:





These songs help to stay in keeping with a sense of naivety and innocence which is prevalent within the character. They could be played during the dressing up scene, serving to make meaning by setting a tone that helps establish the character. These songs are also in keeping with current trends of music that youths listen to today, therefore contributing to the realism.


Music for Strings, Percussion and Celestia - Bela Bartok:





This piece of music is a key influence on the music which we should use during the scene in which we are introduced to the killer. This music is very mysterious, strange and ominious. It is also revealing as it implies something extremely odd and bad about this character. It is almost as if we are being warned about this character by hearing this music. Also, as there are no lyrics, and this is a classical piece, it is fitting as the representation of silent killer is a classic of the thriller genre. The effect achieved is that this piece of music is his theme tune, connoting menace and evil.


Hell is Round the Corner - Tricky:






Teardrop - Massive Attack:







Teardrop - Newton Faulkner:




These two pieces of music are very downbeat, grungy and dirty, and are capable of evoking a strong response within our audience. The music ends the film on a bleak and pessimistic down note – there is no doubt that this boy is dead.

Ideas for Film

Planning Ideas:

Settings:

• Set on a cold, gloomy overcast day.
• Show how the natural elements of the scenery are decaying or dead, shown via the depiction of dead plants, dead leaves and maybe even dead animals.
• Consider possibly shoot in black and white to convey a bleak atmosphere, although this choice would not allow emphasis of the bright red of the blood.

Costume:

• The young boy should be dressed in a shirt, jeans and trainers, all of which are bright in colour. This adds a sense of naivety to him, in keeping with his age, inexperience and well-intentioned behaviour in the situation. Also, this creates a sense of versimilitude since it is not unlikely that a boy in this day and age would wear something like this.
• The killer should wear a long black coat, and possibly a pair of black leather gloves to add to his suspicious, menacing, evil persona, connotively linking him with the Grim Reaper type figure of superstitious folklore.

Visual motifs/aesthetics:

• The colours used should deep, bold and almost stingingly painful to the eyes of the audience, for example, the reds should be really, really red, and the blacks should be really, really black.

Iconography:

• Symbolically, the secluded road acts as a metaphor for a route towards death. This setting should be lit with bright white light, as this serves to symbolise the passing into death.

Poster:

• We are considering using a still image from our finished film, which we feel will perfectly encompass the tone of our film. This image consists of our protagonist and our antagonist caught together within the same frame. Our protagonist (a young, naive boy) is pictured picking up a bloody wallet in the foreground and staring at it in bewilderment. In the foreground is our antagonist, watching the young boy looking at the wallet with murderous intent clearly on his mind.

Questionnaire analysis and findings

Planning - Target Audience Feedback:



1) Do you watch a lot of short films?

A majority of the people said no. This gives us the indication that it is going to be very hard for us to make a film that will appeal to our target audience. We are also oing to need to make something which will hook them and arrest them and send them raving. We feel that this will be a challenge, but a worthy one.

2) Do you prefer the film to focus more on character or story?

A majority of the people responded story. Again, in order to make our film as good and as successful as it can be, we are going to need to create an idea which will not only be pleasing to the audience, but also pleasing to us as artists.

3) What types of genre do you particularly enjoy?
4) Do you prefer your films to be more realistic or more fantasy?

Amongst the most popular choices were drama, comedy and horror. Since comedy is very hard to get a handle on, and is very difficult to make convincing, it might be worth trying to create a short film which has elements of horror but is mostly a drama, possibly trying to deal with events which take place in a day to day, realistic setting (this is evident in that, in our findings, a majority of the subjects preferred to have their films much more realistic than fantastical, possibly implying that realistic stories are much easier to identify with and much more accessible/easy to digest).

5) What is a particular type of setting you like to see in films?

A majority of the subjects chose cities, possibly implying that, because of the rise in popularity of films such as Kidulthood, that people in our target audience like to see a film set in an urban environment because it is easier for them to connect/identify with, and is much more in keeping with their sensibilities, personalities and lifestyles.

6) What kind of narrative do you enjoy?

This is the most difficult section to properly analyse, as there were varying opinions here, opinions which were much more scattered than the previous sections. Among the most popular selections were love and relationships, true crimes and murders, drug and gang issues, and poverty and realism. Here, we can either create a short film which incorporates all of these selections or, as it would be rather difficult to do that (because we would end up giving up more time to one theme than another), we could choose the one theme which appeals to us most of all and make the best film we can based on that.

7) Would you consider watching a short film that we have made sometime in the future?

A majority of the people said yes, thus giving us the indication that our film will be seen by, at the very least, a small audience, and that we have some support. However, some subjects also chose “If I’m Bothered,” thus implying that it is, as has been mentioned, going to be a very hard task to make a film which will appeal to and please everybody.

Target audience profile

Planning - Target Audience:

Our target audience is 16 to 24 year olds.

The three main reasons for this decision are as follows:

1) We are of this age range and thus, we can create a film which offers us a realistic and insightful look into current youth culture. We can offer this through our use of a narrative and mood that are very suspenseful, violent mysterious, through our construction of characters, specifically the representation of the protagonist, Dammy, linking with our own thoughts and feelings on the issues of youth violence which are occuring today, therefore represents the normality of inner-city reality and through our use of contemporary music, which is similar to the types of music to which  people of this age range listen, for example, hip-hop and  r'n'b.

2) Films such as Kidulthood and Adulthood which are, in essence, urban social realist dramas, have proved to be popular and profitable at the box office. What links these two films with our film is the concept of youth violence. In the same way that films such as these are comments on youth culture and crime, we intend our film to function as a comment on these modern issues as well, thus creating a film that our target audience would like and appreciate and respond well to. However, as well as trying to tell a conventional urban social realism drama, we will also attempt to combine the representation of urban reality with a sense of mystery and surrealism, in order to give our audience a film which differs from the crime dramas they are more familiar with, which will, in turn, heighten the viewing experience.

3) We want to offer our audience an insight into a lot of different types of classic films such as The Seventh Seal and Taxi Driver through exploiting techniques of intertextuality. In making reference to these films, if our film proves popular, not only will we have deepened the impact of our film through the connotations triggered by these allusions, we may have successfully persuaded our target audience to seek out these films to expand their knowledge of classic cinema.

Storyboard animatic

Planning - Storyboard:


Below is the storyboard animatic for our film:

Location/Characters

Planning - Locations and Characters:

Locations:
























We choose this location for our film because is perfectly captured the personality and lifestyle of the character that we were trying to convey, placing a lot of youthful and trendy/urban props such as a laptop, a PSP and a Harry Potter book, and also a copy of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice and a copy of the Bible with a cross leafed over it. This was all used to successfully put forward not only this character's naivety, but also his mindset and culture, specifically that he is a student and he is religious, the theme of religion adding subtly a deeper level for the overtones of death, murder and destruction seen throughout our film. In addition, it was a location that was most appropriate because it was convenient in terms of distance and the time.


 
Similarly, these two locations (located right next to our school) were utilised not only because of their short distance but also because it gave us the opportunity to get the best shot of our character coming out of his house.

















This location, which was exactly the way we pictured the scene in the script, had to be abandoned out of consideration for the local residents' thoughts and feelings. However, we feel that the location that we did use eventually was perfect for our needs and got the point across just as well as this location would have.

Characters :

This is an image of our main character, Dammy. We decided to present him wearing a light blue tracksuit, not only in order to connote that he is from an urban background and is very much a representation of urban youth today, but also to convey a sense of naivety about him, that the situation he has been thrown into is a situation which is outside his limited experience as a young man preoccupied with his studies.

We choose this actor to play the role of our villain due to his height and physicality. We asked him to convey through his speech, manner and body language the alarming and threatening presence we required our villain to exude. This image of our villain, although in a different costume from the one we eventually selected, conveys a sense of violence through the brandishing of a weapon, the blood stains on his jacket and his glazed, cold facial expression.

Props list

Planning - Props:
Wallet – the bloody wallet with the fingerprints:

A pair of keys – possibly stained with blood:

Coat – stained with blood:

Plants - dead and decomposing:

Bat with blood on:

Lillies - a bunch:

Willy Wonka DVD:

Comic books:

School books:

Production Diary

Production - Diary Schedule:
We shot our film Hell is Around the Corner over the course of a week, beginning on the 24th of October and concluding on the 30th, with an additional two days prior to this to film test footage and essential shots which could not be filmed at a later date, for example, where it required the utilisation of friends' houses.

DAY ONE:

We began filming the conversation that Dammy has with his friend, which is shown directly after the opening credits. We filmed this making full use of the tripod and the indoor microphone. We also shot this with a single lamp, to give an early morning effect, and to create a sense of verisimilitude which would give our film a realistic feel which our target audience could identify with.

We filmed eight takes of this scene, and this was done for a number of reasons. The first was that, during the editing process, we would have a plethora of footage to choose from, and we would not have to settle for a take which did not satisfy us – we would be spoilt for choice for takes, essentially. The second reason was that, as Dammy improvised the dialogue in the opening scene to give it a naturalistic feel, there would be facets of his performance which could not be replicated take after take. Recognising the advantages and disadvantages of this, we were aware certain elements would be lost, but had a faith that we could select the best dialogue from one take and edit this together with another.

Following this, we filmed the opening shot of our film – a pair of bloody black hands. We used a bottle of vampire blood (acquired by Dammy from a joke shop), and we shot this on the doorstep of Dammy’s flat. As this was a key image to our film in order to set the feel and mood, we felt that both of us needed to witness it being filmed, in order to ensure that it was perfect, and that it was not hastily shot and therefore Steven was used during this scene. We filmed three takes of the opening shot, all with different poses, for example, the first take was shot with Steven’s hands positioned flat out and the second was shot with his hands in a claw position. As good daylight was running out by this time, we decided to conclude filming for the day, and we would resume filming Monday. Before we did, however, we applied the vampire blood to Dammy’s coat, as this would be the coat that Steven (the killer) would wear, so that it would be ready in advance for filming.

DAY TWO:

Prior to the filming of any of Monday’s scenes, we acquired an outdoor microphone, as the indoor microphone we had used on the previous day's shooting would not be efficient or practical to use, and would effectively impair or completely lose our sound, which was not a risk we were willing to take.

To achieve a fluid, documentary-style feel, we filmed the over the shoulder tracking shot of Dammy, who then bumps into Steven. We filmed this at least five times,  primarily in order to allow us a wider variety of takes whilst editing, but also because, due to laughter, we were aware that some of the takes were going to be unusable.

Following this, we shot the bloody wallet falling out of Steven’s pocket. This, again, was shot at least three times, in order for us to perfect it to ensure it looked naturalistic and also because this proved rather difficult to film, with the wallet slipping out of the pocket at wrong moments, or the camera not capturing the action at the right moment.

Finally, we shot a single, continuous take of Dammy picking up the wallet, calling after Steven, opening it, and seeing the bloody inside, this extended shot only needing two attempts. This single take, which was shot in a fluid, free style, with continous movement and including an extreme close-up of Dammy’s face, really helped to establish the danger that the character Dammy was in, or was about to find himself in. In order to add a disturbing layer to our film that would disorientate the viewer, this sequence was shot using a range of odd, bizarre, strange angles and unusual camera movements.

Finally, as light was once again was wearing thin, we hastily shot a brief insert of the bloody wallet, and made two medium shot takes of Dammy walking towards camera, with Steven on his trail.

DAYS THREE and FOUR:

On Tuesday and Wednesday, we shot the initial confrontation scene between Dammy and Steven. We made use of the tripod and of the outdoor microphone during the filming of this scene. Filming progressed relatively straightforwardly, save for some incidents of laughing and flubbed lines, which we felt was natural and only to be expected and concluded that it would not hinder the final cut of our film in any major way.

We decided, for the most part, to shoot the conversation adhering to forms and conventions of real media texts, making extensive use of over the shoulder shots and the 180 degree rule, for example. However, in order to put across the disconcerting, disorientating feel that we wanted for our film, we did include some handheld, canted point of view shots, such as the extreme close-ups of both Dammy and Steven and the handheld pan down to the patch of blood on the killer’s jacket.

As filming was nearing completion, we made a decision that, instead of using our originally intended location for the last scene, to use Dammy’s flat-block instead, not only out of respect for the residents living near our original location, but also because this would give us unlimited time to shoot scenes, making the process more relaxed and less stressful.

DAY FIVE:

Friday saw the shooting of the final scene. Initially, we decided to shoot the tracking shot of Dammy entering his friend’s flatblock. It was by a stroke of massive luck that we encountered some children on the estate who agreed to be in our film. It was decided that these children could function as a symbol of Dammy’s impending doom, and we decided to communicate this through showing them laughing and pointing at him. We shot this take twice, and we were extremely impressed with the second take and decided that it would be definitely be included in our film.

Considering that we wanted the last scene of the film to be shot in near darkness, we waited around an hour, having begun filming at 1pm. then continuing again at 3pm. We spent the next two hours hastily trying to get the scenes shot, whilst always trying to maintain professionalism and communicate our message effectively. Though we did manage to get the last scene shot, there were aspects of it that did not appeal to us, for example, we originally envisioned the film ending with Dammy being struck with a hammer, which we had not been able to source. Time and light were also running out, so we settled for the less than adequate alternative of reshooting parts of the last scene at a later date.


DAY SIX (ADDITIONAL DAY OF SHOOTING 1):

During this day, we arranged for the use of a dog which was owned by a friend of ours. If we could successfully capture the dog’s barking in a frenzied, crazed fashion, we felt that we could heighten the scary, chilling atmosphere which we were trying to create. We shot the scene with the dog three times, with the final take being the one we ended up using. This was because the other two takes were rendered unusable either because the filming was botched or because the dog did not react sufficiently. We shot this with the camera being handheld, in order to maintain the fluid, documentary-style feel which we had established in our film up until this point.

DAY SEVEN (ADDITIONAL DAY OF SHOOTING 2):

During this day, we reshot parts of the last scene. Unlike before, we had sufficient light and time in order to get the shots we needed filmed properly. Also, unlike before, we had access to a baseball bat, which we felt was exactly what was needed in order to put forward to the audience the killer’s menacing threat and violent attitude, and to ensure the message that Dammy’s life was coming to a grisly end was hammered home to the audience. Despite a minor problem arising from the fact that the actor that played the killer had in the meantime had a haircut, we decided to overcome this using low angles and to film it in such a way that the audience would not be aware of any discontinuity.

What was newly shot was a reshoot of the line “For a second there, I thought you were going to hurt me,” which was done not only because the angle of the original take was undesirable, but also the sound was poor. Replacing this with a new, low angle point of view shot of the killer bringing down the baseball bat towards Dammy's and, in effect, the audience’s face, allowed us to make the ending shocking and brutal and, at the same time, personal.

Editing diary

Production - Editing Diary:



DAYS 1 and 2:

We put the film in running order, with the very first cut running 7 minutes with the uninterrupted takes. After cutting the footage down and editing it much more tightly and in a controlled fashion, we had the film down to 5 minutes and 55 seconds.

Shortly after we completed filming, we captured our footage onto Final Cut and began to watch the footage material that we had in order to construct our film in a coherent way. Since we had shot the film out of sequence, and since we had shot several takes of all of the scenes for the purposes of security and insurance, we watched all of the footage we shot in order to get a feel of what we had and what we could use.

DAYS 3 and 4:

We put the film in running order, with the very first cut running 7 minutes with the uninterrupted takes. After cutting the footage down and editing it much more tightly and in a controlled fashion, we had the film down to 5 minutes and 55 seconds.

DAY 5:

In the middle of editing, we sought out music tracks using the website Newgrounds, which features non-copyrighted music. The music which we sought out was mainly hip-hop, r’n’b tracks and orchestral and ambient scores.


DAY 6:

Once we found the tracks that we felt were necessary, fitting and would enhance our film, we added them to the film, and the non-diegetic music used helped to give the film an extra dimension and atmosphere which it did not have without it.

DAYS 7 and 8:

During the end of editing, we recorded our interior monologues. Our first day of recording the monologues had to be discarded due to poor sound quality, but the takes recorded on our second day were much more up to the standards we were not prepared to compromise; when we added them to Final Cut, our film was nearing completion.

DAY 9:

One outstanding task was to correct the colours, especially during the last scene, which had footage reshot during lighter weather conditions and so had to be corrected in order to ensure continuity was sustained. Aditionally, we added a special effect to the very last shot of our film, which was an effect entitled Earthquake, available on Final Cut, which gave a very disorientating and violent end to our film, confirming for the audience the message that Dammy had been killed. Finally, we ensured not only that the film broadcast safe, but also that the audio levels and gaps were lowered and closed respectively.

DAY 10:

The final cut of our film, with corrected colours, sound levels and special effects ran 5 minutes, 10 seconds, and, we are proud to say, was very much the film we intended to make.

Logo

Planning - Company logo:


Pictured above is the initial draft of what will become our production company logo. The use of solid black and bloody hands helps to firmly establish a sense of brand identity between our logo and our film, with the use of bloody hands being a direct visual allusion to the opening shot of our film. This direct reference, in conjunction with the iconography and copy of the poster and the article, helps to firmly establish a sense of cohesion and brand identity for our product by reinforcing the idea that the logo, film, poster and magazine article are all one collective entity in terms of brand identity.

Ancillary Task Drafts

Planning - Print-based Texts:
POSTER:



Pictured above is our ancillary task draft of the poster for our film. We intend for our poster to adhere to the conventions of mainstream posters, which will help to make our poster seem all the more authentic and credible. We will do this by using:

• colours, such as red and black
• a font style, which we intend will appear to be very raw and edgy, but at the same time unique and eye-catching
• an image very similar to one seen in our film of Dammy staring down at the wallet, with the killer looming behind him, very predatory-like
• a tagline/slogan: Always look back... which will help to create a sense of surrealism, threat, mystery and intrigue, themes which are prevalent in our film and key to our overall brand identity.
• credit lists
• presention of a release date

MAGAZINE ARTICLE:



Pictured above is our ancillary task draft of the magazine for our film. We intend for our magazine article to adhere to the conventions of mainstream posters, through the use of:

• language featured in the article to be light-hearted yet direct and pertinent
• main images, such as the opening image of the bloody red hands and Dammy staring in shock at the bloody wallet. These are not arbitrary or meaningless, but are very relevant to the content of the film and are there to illustrate the points presented within the article and to attract the readers towards seeing the film
• key quotes from the article, including director's quotes which illustrate a key/significant point within the article about the film and offer our audience a insight into our conceptual influences and own thoughts and feelings behind this film
• ratings, which help to illustrate in shorthand how the film has been received by the magazine/reviewer using a standard rating system which has been used for decades and is a firmly established reviewer discipline
• captions to sum up the image presented and/or, through the use of humour, either to condemn or condone the film, thereby persuading the reader to avoid it or relish seeing it

Film review (ORIGINAL DRAFT)

Planning - Film Review Original Draft:
Below is the original draft of our film review. We wrote this review based on our interpretations of the way in which film reviews had been written in film magazines such as Empire. It was our intention to make this review as authentic and convincing as possible, trying to maintain a high standard of vocabulary and always attempting to adhere to journalistic devices and disciplines.

*

Horror films. There’s millions of ‘em! Some (The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Halloween) are truly brilliant. Others (Prom Night, the Saw Franchise) are downright dreadful! In a day and age when good horror films are excruciatingly hard to come by, it’s refreshing to see that new talent can blow away all of the Hollywood competition, and create a film which is disturbing, shocking, and, most importantly of all, scary.

This ‘new talent,’ comes in the shape of Ahmed Honeini (‘Time Out of Mind,’) and Dammy Laoye (‘Beyond Reflection,’) and their new movie ‘Hell is Around the Corner,’ due for theatrical release next week. With ‘Hell is Round the Corner,’ Honeini and Laoye have, with their wonderful script, their excellent cinematography and score, and their brilliant performances by both Laoye (who gives an Oscar-worthy performance as a naive, inexperienced and doomed youth) and Steven Williams (who, second only to Javier Bardem in ‘No Country for Old Men,’ gives one of the most frighteningly fantastic performances that this reviewer has ever had the opportunity to see), have mastered reality horror, a genre of horror which many have tried their hand at in the past, and in turn, have failed to deliver the goods in terms of scares.

The film begins with a pair of bloody black hands pointed directly at camera, a shot which not only sucks the audience in and intrigues and mystifies them, but is also a shot that, in years to come, will be considered iconographic for its bizarrely brutal edge. Following this comes the formal introduction to our main character, Dammy, who is seen rising up out of one last sleep to answer a phone-call which will, ultimately, lead to his demise. Honeini’s cinematography and extremely low-level lighting, Laoye’s happy-go-lucky performance, and the use of locations (a single bedroom, very warm and homely, as opposed long, seemingly unending streets with maniacally scary, giggling children and gates which look like they have been dragged up from the very depths of hell - both strokes of absolute genius on the part of the filmmakers) and interior monologues (which offer us a rewarding insight into Dammy’s thought process and a distressing look into his terrified and perversely paranoid state of mind as the film unfolds) creates a very realistic and grounded atmosphere.

It is here where the beauty of the film lies – the film is, at times, so utterly realistic, that it feels as if we are watching a documentary of today’s youth, albeit a disconcerting one. It is only when the weirdness of the film’s subject matter takes over (through the use of bloodied wallets and coats and murderers with cold, hard stares that’d make even the meanest of souls crap in their pants!) that we begin to realise the level of ingenuity, creativity, time and effort that has gone into making this film. Every shot, every edit, every facet of both of the leading performances feels so impeccably placed, so considered, that when the leading character’s fate finally occurs, we not only cannot believe it, it almost feels as if it is happening to us.

The film’s references to such classic films as The Godfather and The Seventh Seal and the clear musical references to such hits as The Jackson’s Blame It On the Boogie and Dizzee Rascal’s Fix Up, Look Sharp’ give Hell is Round the Corner not only a very classy and literate feel, but also a raw energy which makes it a film most definitely worth seeing, and a film which not only demonstrates the talent that both up and coming filmmakers have within them, but also a sign of the good things to come.

Film review (FINAL DRAFT)

Film Review - Published Draft:
Below is the final draft of our film review. We altered this review from the original draft in order to make the review appear to be more humble and balanced and less biased. We also included quotes from us as the directors of the film in order to offer a deeper, behind-the-scenes insight into the making of the film, which we feel added a richer layer to the final film review and gave our audience an insight into our intentions and motivations behind making the film. As always, we attempted to make the review as convincing and authentic as possible, maintaining impeccable standards of vocabulary in keeping with the conventional journalistic devices and disciplines of quality film magazines like Empire.

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Horror thrillers, they're available in bucket loads. Some, like The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Halloween are classics, fantastically frightening and still hold their own after so many years, never failing to deliver in the scare department. Others, such as the recent Prom Night remake and the Hostel series are nothing short of dreadful, made for an audience that considers blood, guts, gore and babes to be the essential ingredients for a horror film.

In a day and age where good thriller films are excruciatingly hard to come by, it’s refreshing to see that new talent can match the best of Hollywood competition and create a film which is surreal, shocking and certainly scary. This new talent comes in the shape of Ahmed Honeini (Time Out of Mind) and Dammy Laoye (Beyond Reflection) whose new film Hell is Round the Corner is due for general release this week. With their excellent symbosis of script, cinematography, score editing and, of course, the brilliant performances by both Laoye (who, in his acting debut, gives an award-worthy performance as a naive, doomed youth) and Steven Williams (who gives a chilling performance as an unnamed, Grim Reaper type character, who delivers a blow-to-the-head to the naive way in which Laoye’s character lives his life), Honeini and Laoye are definitely ones to watch as up and coming directors who have gone on record as saying their intention was to “create a film that combined surrealism with the everyday, the bizarre and the fantastic with the mundane and boring. With the opening shot, we tried to establish an orgy of blood, a heightened sense of reality that the audience has never been subject to before.”

The film begins with a pair of bloody black hands pointed directly at camera, a shot which has classic connotations of death and danger, and also sucks the audience in and mystifies them. We are then given our formal introduction to our main character, Dammy, who is seen rising out of one last slumber to answer a phone-call which will, ultimately, lead to his demise. Honeini’s flowing cinematography and almost-exclusive use of natural lighting, Laoye’s happy-go-lucky yet profoundly paranoid performance and the use of locations (a single bedroom, all very warm and comfy and cosy which contrasts with the long, seemingly unending streets which twist and turn into one another and lead Dammy to be confronted by a bunch of manically scary, giggling children and a rabid, snarling, dog which scared the living hell out of this reviewer!) and the script’s use of interior monologue (which offers us an insight into Dammy’s thought process and a distressing look into his terrified and perversely paranoid state of mind as the film unfolds) creates a very realistic and grounded atmosphere.   

It is here where the film’s key strengths lie. At times, the film is very realistic, almost as if we are watching documentary footage of a regular youth going about his day. It is only when the bizarreness of the film’s subject matter kicks in (through the use of blooded wallets, coats and a murderer with a cold, hard stare that would make the meanest of souls crap in their pants!) that we begin to realise that, on an aesthetic level, Honeini and Laoye have used every shot and cut, every facet of their leading performances to create a film which successfully shifts from the real to the bizarre so that, when the leading character’s fate finally occurs, we are shocked into believing the unbelieveable.

The film, at times, seems very consciously film literate, with references to such classics as The Seventh Seal and The Godfather which, as the directors themselves have said, were used so that “we could create a film which has a very classic, clever feel to it, using influential examples of death in cinema (both figuratively and literally) to make our own depiction of life and death colliding on a random day in West London all the more compelling, credible and watchable.”  Not only that, but the film’s soundtrack shifts from songs which firmly affirm the film’s urban roots to piercing strings reminiscent of the theme from Hitchcock’s Psycho give the film a mesmerising combination of contemporary raw energy and classical gravity. It’s definitely a film worth watching, a sign of good things to come from new British talent.

Brand identity

Evaluation - Brand identity:
What we believe our distinctive brand identity comprises is a sense of the mundane and the ordinary realities of inner-city life crossing paths with the surreal, bizarre and dangerous. We tried to convey this message through the use not only of our short film, but also through our magazine article and our poster.

We did this in a number of different ways, such as the strong use of the colours black and red, to connote a sense of menace and dread and the strong, gothic-like presentation of the title, which is also presented with overtones of black and red and is very much in keeping with the tone of our film.

The title Hell is Round the Corner, moreover, effectively suggests the idea of a doomed journey, in which the Dammy character is going to run literally and metaphorically into the face of Death, the Grim Reaper figure, which the killer’s character arguably embodies.

The main images deployed across both print tasks both highlight the main character’s naivety, the sense of impending violence, the claustrophobic atmosphere and the predatory position of the killer as he stalks his victim.

The tone of the review in our magazine article, which makes mention of “a bunch of manically scary, giggling children and a rabid, snarling dog,” is, arguably, in stark contrast with the documentary style look and feel that we were also looking to achieve. When combined, all of these elements, in our view, successfully communicate to our target audience a sense of brand identity which, considering their backgrounds, lifestyles and tastes, as youthful, urban dwellers with an interest in horror and thriller films, will successfully appeal to them and persuade them to seek out and watch this film.

Audience Feedback (Rough Cut)

Evaluation - Audience Feedback on Rough Cut:

In terms of the rough cut of our film, we were required to gain audience feedback in order to guide us through additions and changes which were necessary for our final cut, and which would ultimately enhance the viewing experience for our target audience. This was, we feel, a very insightful part of our research in planning because we were given specific examples of scenes and aspects of our film which did not appeal to our audience. For example, one audience member said "There are too
many long shots, and it becomes boring because of it!" whilst another audience member said "There isn't enough dialogue."

The only way in which we could go about addressing this issue was was by adding scenes which would prove to be far more visually engaging than what we already had. One such scene was the dog barking scene, which we intended to shock and jolt our audience, and to send them into an even deeper level of fear than the previous scene with Dammy's encounter with the Killer had already done. We also decided to alter the ending to make the Killer even more menacing and Dammy's outcome all the more tragic, frightening and shocking. We decided that we would do this through the use of the bat, along with the underlying soundtrack, to create a high element of dread and impending doom.

After filming these scenes and assembling them together to form a second rough cut, we showed our audience the film once again, and the addition of these scenes had the exact effect we were after. A large proportion of our feedback was positive, with comments such as "Really good use of voice-over!" which helped to highlight our character's naivety, and "Loving the soundtracks! Wicked!!" which we felt was a really strong point of the overall film, since it helped to accentuate the sense threat and panic that is always in our film.

Original Images (Poster and Magazine)

Evaluation: Print-based Texts Use of Images:

This is the original image used in our poster. This was the perfect image to use in our advertising materials because it clearly represented several aspects of our film in one concise image.

Firstly, it signified the oblivious nature of our main character (who is shown staring down at the wallet whilst the unnamed killer stalks in the background) and the sense of mystery and ambiguity that we were trying to create about the situation that he finds himself in.

Secondly, it symbolises the constant, underlying threat that the Killer poses to our main character, that he forever in the background, watching and waiting for a chance to strike.

Thirdly and finally, the use of this image in the poster, along with the actual finished film and the magazine article, create a cohesive brand identity which helps to connote a sense of violence, suspense, and surreal ambiguity, all of which are intended to persuade our target audience to view the film.

This image was edited in Photoshop; we increased the lighting on Dammy, to connote the idea that he is our main character, that the film is following him, and that he is generally oblivious to his deadly situation. Likewise, we decreased the lighting on the killer, to once again connote the sense that he is constantly looming in the background, watching and waiting for a chance to strike, and also to highlight the general uncertainty and doubt that we wanted, through Dammy, to create.



This is the original image used in our magazine article. Aside from the obvious editing of the date and time which was achieved using the Stamp tool on Photoshop. This image was completely unedited. Our intentions using this image were clear. We wanted to, on the one hand, strengthen our brand identity by giving the readers of the magazine a look at the main character, in that he is of an urban background and also, through the use of props seen in the image of the wallet and the expression on the character’s face which is shocked and confused, give thepotential audience clues as to what might unfold within the film.

Completed Magazine Article

Evaluation - Published Print-based Text (2) - Magazine Article:


Here is our completed magazine article, which is intended to accompany our finished film poster:

Completed Film Poster

Evaluation - Published Print-based Text (1) - Film Poster:

Here is our completed poster for our film:



This is our finished film poster. We feel that this poster effectively communicated our intentions for our short film, that being to create a film that is very surreal, suspenseful and mysterious and also contributes heavily to a cohesive brand identity across all three of our products.

We sought inspiration from classic thriller films and film posters such as ‘Halloween,’ and ‘Friday the 13th,’ where the killer is constantly depicted as looming in the background and is a constant underlying threatening presence in the main character’s lives. The use of the font, which is very gothic and jagged, and the accompanying use of the colours red and black once again connote a heavily violent atmosphere, which we wanted to create with our filmed piece.

Not least, the use of cast and crew credits, production company and official website have all been used to create a poster which seems very expert and convincing, and to give our production that step-up from an amateur to a professional artefact.

PowerPoint slides for Media Evaluation