Planning: Writing a screenplay for Caretaker.

Screen play for caretaker.

1. INT; black background, in white writing we reveal “Fisheye Films presents” - white writing slowly develops into the effect of dripping blood and writing turns red; blood. Fade in fade out. Courier New Font. 

2. INT; end of school day; aprx 3pm

             bell sounds signifying the end of the lessons. 

3. EXT; Shot focuses on a litter picker picking up a scrunched up piece of paper - why wind is blowing the litter about. 

4; EXT; Caretaker picks up paper and the info on the paper hints around students death. With an extreme close up on some headlines in the paper. 

5; INT; Caretaker. title shows on screen with black background with white writing and a sudden violin, high pitch sound when the title flashes onto the screen. The font will be Courier New Font, then changes to red when sound happens.

6; INT; A close up of a finger that has been cut off one of the victims hands in a plastic bag, with splatters of blood on the and and around it.

7; INT; Shows the caretakers walking. Camera shot will just show his feet and legs, nothing else. Dark room walking slowly with big foot steps and his shoe lace will be undone so he bends down to tie it back up, you can see his hands and a strange looking bag.

8: INT; Black background with 'Aimee Hull' in text, white font and the font style will be Courier New Font. The text will then change to red.

9.INT; Following on from stage 7 a mans hands, which are dirty and have blood on are transferring an unknown bag to somewhere. The camera shot will follow the bag and hands. The audience will not know what will be in the bag.

10. INT; Black background with 'Sam Marlow' in text, white font and the font style will be Courier New Font. The text will then change to red.

11.INT; There will be a small fire which will have pupils faces scribbled on and crossed out which will be burning in the fire. The camera will show a close up on the pictures burning.

12.  INT; Black background with 'Ellie Spence' in text, white font and the font style will be Courier New Font. The text will then change to red.

13. INT; The sound of a tv buzzing will change into a black background with 'A Fisheye Films Production' in text, white font and the font style will be Courier New Font. The text will then change to red.

14; INT; FInal shot will be a hooded man, which is the caretaker.He turns around, expecting a face but you cannot see anything except his eyes. Hood up, cannot see anything. 

Planning - Writing A Treatment For Our Chosen Opening

The Treatment For The Opening Of Caretaker.

A Fisheye Films production will appear on the screen.

The opening of our film Caretaker. will begin with a bell signifying the end of the school day and shots of the lower bodies of the children and their feet as they move through the school building.


 The lighting will be minimal, and the sound will consist of child related shouting, screams, and sinister laughs.

 During this opening the face of the caretaker is not made visible, and the shots used will generally avoid seeing his face. He will look like a dark shadow. Something like this...

 The audience will merely see a dark, black figure leaving a mysterious element lingering in the atmosphere.



 The camera shots will focus mainly on various objects belonging to the caretaker, things such as a litter picker grasping onto a detached finger of one of his victims.

 Another image will consist of the camera focusing on newspaper clippings based upon his past victims- the clippings will look old and battered.

 Another image will be a quick shot of a flame on a bunsen burner, burning one of the photographs/ newspaper clippings of past victims and/or pictures of students whom he plans to murder/torture in the future. 

Titles shall appear white on black, then developing into red with blood dripping from the text.

Research - The Importance of Sound in Horror Film Openings

Most of the audiences of horror films do not really take notice of the music in the background and do not really realise that this is one of the main features of a horror film. It sets up the atmosphere within the audience and no horror film would be the same without the music included, if there was no music, the film would not have the audiences gripped and their fear factor would not be as high as normal. The music and sound effect are a massive part of horror films, creating a frightening experience for the audience.

Classical horror music - Music is being used in today horror films and even used at the birth of this genre. Orchestral music is very common in many horror films is because it builds an atmosphere within the audience and the composer can change the music depending on the scene in the film. Another reason my be because it sets a certain mood with the audience watching it and to portray emotions from the character to the audience.

Modern horror music - Orchestral music is not the only type of music to feature in horror films, synth-based music and industrial music is also used. The film Blair Witch 2 used alternative rock and heavy metal music throughout the film, which works well because of the dark scenes which suit the visual part of the film. In some cased where directors choose not to add this type of music and add American 80's rock and pop music. An example of this would be the horror film American Psycho but also adding a little classical music such as violins. A example scene would be when Patrick Bateman kills one of his victims to music in the background of Hip to be Square by Huay Lewis and the News. The visuals are the main fear factor here but the music decreases the fear of this scene but also makes it surreal in a way.

Musical cues in horror films - Most people recognise the audio sequences in horror films which is a build up music as a victim/character for example, heading towards a closed door which looks suspicious to the audience. Then when the victim/character opens the door, a burst of musical orchestral and reveals what is behind it. This could be a chance for a fake scare, (nothing behind the door). This build up the tension between the film and the audience. A long deep tone would be played to portray to the audience that something is coming or it could be short, sharp and rapid music to portray stress or panic among the character or victim. As soon as the audience hears this type of music, they will expect that something is going to happen, for example Jaws when the shark is approaching a victim.

The auditory symbol - This is when, in a horror film the same piece of music is played whenever the monster/killer in near. This creates a very tight bond between the film and the audience because the audience e instantly recognise the music and instantly knows that someone or something is near, even without visuals of the killer/monster. This allows the film producers and directors, to introduce this character to the audience without showing them to the audience. This is part of a build up sequence that usually ends up in a chase scene or a killing towards someone. One example of this would be Friday the 13th series. A spooky sound is played when the mad killer Jason Voorhees is near and going to attack someone.

Sound effects - Horror films normally use music, sound effects and speech. The sound effects and music are linked to the visuals of the horror film and what is going on at the time and in the scene. Music can create certain moods with the audience. Sound effects are usually made for closer events in the film and direct action such as a gun shooting, which most of these sounds are very exaggerated and over the top to create impact. Silence can also work like a sound effect. This is used to create very high tension within the audience. Speech is normally used separate without any music or sound effects. The speech is there to reflect on the voices of the actors and there voices will not be changed in anyway. If there was a monster in a film they would normally change the pitch to a lower tone and make it louder. Effects can be added to make it sound like an aliens voice or a strange creature. An example of this would be Twin Peaks where the speech is backwards to create a scary voice.

Here is an example of how important music is in horror movies. This clip was from the film Jaws which has classic music that everyone will recognise and relate to this film. You can clearly see why directors and producers add music to horror films. The films would be strange without it.

Planning; Two possible openings for Caretaker.

Here is our two possible openings to our teen horror film called Caretaker. We will decide what opening we like best and take it further. 

Opening number one

The opening should be based around images and scenes of conventions relating to the subject of a school and a caretaker, such as a image of the secluded location, a litter picker picking up something abnormal and the dark shadow of the caretaker himself without revealing his face. The music should arise tension but not to be to extreme but should suggest something bad is about to happen. The door of his office should be shown but presented in a dark gloomy way as if something terrible is lurking behind the door. 

Opening number two

It should start off with the bell ringing to show that it is the end of school. The caretaker is presented to the audience as a dark shadow making the pupils feel weary of him. You see the caretaker acting in abnormal ways and the pupils feeling more and more scared of him. One of the students could mysteriously disappear. The music could be intense but not to overpowering.

Research: Art Of The Titles

In todays lesson we was shown a website called Art Of The Titles. This is a website which lets you watch the opening titles to a whole variety of film, any genre. As our genre for our teen movie is horror, we looked at lots of different opening titles from this website. Some of the titles sequences i watched were, The Ward and Dawn Of The Dead. You can visit this website by clicking here . We also looked at three different films openings to get inspiration from. These were Night In The Woods, Thr3e and Wind Chill. We looked at these as a class. We looked at the different techniques used for each one, including the titles, visual and audio.

Research: Survey for options on Caretaker. openings

Here are all the responses that we had back from people that filled out our online survey. We used Survey Monkey to take out our online survey. We will read all of them, then take ideas from the ones we like and add them to the first 2 minutes of our teen horror film Caretaker.





1. Our first feedback was from Ava Markie. I think that this is a good idea becuase i flows with our idea for our opening with added extras. Also Ava studies AS Media Studies so she knows the importance of getting the opening to our film right.

2. Our second feedback was from Tania Garratt. I think that the music idea is good as it will build suspence in the audience and they will be questioning what is going to happen but i think there was not enough detail to decide on this feedback. Although our group does like the idea of the certain belongings being shown and a establishing shot of the school.

3. Our third feedback was from

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