Poster Idea 2

This poster has Grimm's face half showing on the left hand side of the screen.

The title again will be large, however at the top. Credits will again be below the title and yet undecided.

The web pages and links to social media will also be present.

There will be an effect to smear Grimm's face across the page to add to the mystery and create an enigma code.

Poster Idea

The picture above is the first sketch of a film poster idea.

After research on short film posters and posters for horror films, I could sketch some ideas.

Firstly, the face is distorted to show Grimm's mysterious and uneasy feel. It is also a close up to not reveal too much, therefore creates Barthes' enigma code. The picture also takes the majority of the poster because it will attract the audience.

The title is also bold to stand out and hopefully stick in the viewer's brain.

The credits are undecided yet, but will ly below.

Then there is the links to take you to the external sources of web pages and social media to be informed about REAPER in addition to finding where to watch it.

Horror/Thriller Poster Research

UPDATE: Casting Grimm

After an unexpected unavailability of Jonathan Oslar, the replacement for Grimm, we now need an immediate actor for Grimm.

The only conclusion and easy way to do this without being time-consuming was to cast myself.

I am 6 foot, giving an intimidating presence in height.

I will always be available.

In terms of filming, I will film all shots which Grimm is not in shot. Then when Grimm is needed in shot, Jade will film all those shots.

UPDATE: New Location Recce

The picture of the house you can see is now the new location for REAPER.

Family members who are now the actors offered their house as a location after I pitched the the film to them.

This was a massive asset due to improving the location for our film.

The main reasons for the location swap;

• massive house.
• middle of nowhere.
• lots of mysterious objects around.
• lots of rooms.
• lots of space to hide/run/chase etc.
• makes it easier for our actors.

The pictures above show all the rooms we are going to use to film at the moment.

They should hopefully give an idea of the size of the house, which hopefully will create that isolated feel.

UPDATE: Casting Grimm

After the change of narrative, we then had to cast three new characters.

When we auditioned the volunteers, we casted the current actor who was playing Grimm.

We felt Rupert suited this role better.

We now look to re cast Grimm.

We appointed  Jonathan Oslar due to his appearance being broad creating an intimidating look.

Rupert Grace - Auditions

Andy Norgate

Andy Norgate was the first candidate for the role of Rupert Grace, the dad. 

He was perfect age to be the dad of the two children and also confident.

He does not have any experience which unfortunately showed.

His availability isn't great and is difficult to for him to get to the new filming location in Farnham.

He will not be casted.

Ray Lewis

Ray Lewis was very good and extremely comfortable in his audition. 

However, he was just a tad to old than we wanted to be for Seb and Zola's dad.

He was enthusiastic, however, not available when needed as well as being restricted to get to the filming location.

He will not be casted.

Rupert Hollin

Rupert is currently casted to play the role of Grimm.

However, he shined in the audition to play Rupert Grace.

His experience in university short films was exactly what we needed.

His acting was calm and came across very natural.

The new filming location is also his house and the car which will be used is his own. Therefore, not only was he perfect for the role, his availability was spot on.

This applicant was faultless, therefore we casted Rupert as Rupert Grace.

This then called for a re casted actor to play Grimm.

This will be corrected in further posts.

Jane Grace - Auditions

Jin Lewis

Jin was confident.

However, her lack of experienced showed.

Jin was a tad too old to play the mum of Zola and Seb.

Her availability wasn't great and was hard to get to the filming location.

Jin will not be casted as Jane Grace.

Jayne Hollin

Jayne was perfect age to play Zola and Seb's mum.

She is also Rupert's partner in real life, therefore, their chemistry on stage would be natural too.

She was very confident and relaxed.

This would be great as would make the acting look as natural as possible. 

It is also Jayne's house which is our new filming location. Therefore, her availability was perfect.

Her caringness shown in her audition also will be fit to Jane Grace's characteristics.

Jayne has been casted.

Seb Grace - Auditions

Seb Lewis

Seb Lewis is 9 years of age.

He is just under five foot. These both suit the character of Seb Grace. 

Seb also has a good range of experience across all on stage performance including; drama, singing, dancing and acting.

With this in mind he would be perfect, he also showed his enthusiasm and confidence in his audition.

Seb is my brother which makes it easier to film him, due to living with each other and knowing one another's schedule.

Seb will play Seb Grace.

Ted Mason

Ted is 9 years of age too.

He is the same height as Seb.

Ted does not have any experience however, showed confidence in his audition.

Ted is not available as much as Seb.

For those reasons Seb will be casted.

UPDATE: New Narrative

REAPER:

Characters:

• Zola 'Mils' Grace - female protagonist.
• Grimm - antagonist (masked man).
• Seb Grace - younger brother.
• Rupert Grace - Dad.
• Jane Grace - Mum.

Clearer Narrative:

• Zola returns home from a friend's house to babysit her younger brother Seb, whilst their mum & dad (Rupert & Jane) are heading away for the night.
• Once the Rupert and Jane are far gone, the mysterious man, 'Grimm', then stalks the house and takes advantage of Zola and Seb's weakness.
• Grimm keeps appearing and stalking Zola, once Seb is put to bed. 
• After a series of events, Zola comes across Grimm when she takes out the trash, which he jumps out and chases her, but somehow disappeared. 

Ending:

• The way we brainstormed to create a clearer ending to REAPER, is that Zola will be outside after being chased by Grimm, leaving the door open, which Grimm sneaks in without her seeing.
• However, Zola recognises this and sprints in panic back into the house hoping Seb is safe.
• It then calms down, and Zola leaves Seb and shuts the door, which is when Grimm jumps out behind the door, and 'kills' Seb.
• Not shown, but is assumed that he also kills her too.

Reasoning:

The reason for this ending, is that due to analysing several short film horrors, they all have a mysterious but assumed ending due to the budget of a glory death but also limited time available to.

Therefore, this type of ending is present in the short films;

• The Moonlight Man
• The Moonlight Man 2
• 2AM: The Smiling Man
•  Alexia
• The Smiling Man

The list of short films horrors that have this ending goes on forever.

Brainstorming Narrative Change

After brainstorming from feedback we gained, we came up with three different routes to go down.

As you can see, there is a title or theme name for each idea. There is also a brief summary of what each would entail of, as well as how the film would end.

The reason we worked the ending and narrative of each is due to understanding whether it would be an improvement to the feedback to whether it is a clear narrative and a clear ending.

We also stated the negatives and problems of each. As you can see, the top two ideas have more problems including the same problem of a clear narrative and that it's unbelievable that the girl is in her 20's yet she looks like a teenager. 

Therefore, after evaluating the ideas, we stuck with idea 3, at the bottom of the page. This is because that it is the best solution to the feedback.

The only negatives is casting more characters, However, this is not a problem due to my family being very willing and also suitable for each roles. The location is likely to change due to being easier and also better to film the characters when they all so happen to be at the same location. 

The characters we have selected will be shown in further post where the people who were auditioned are evaluated.

The location has now change to my nan's house in Farnham.

This is because all five actors will be there for 3 days straight giving enough time to film and re-film etc.

UPDATE: Narrative

Surprise - Short Film Anamatic Feedback

Surprise - Short Film Storyboard Animatic

Screenplay

List of Props

List of Props:

Cup of tea - This gives the audience a sense of realism as making tea is an action people do in every day life. This can then add more horror to the scene as the audience feel as though the scary events could possibly happen to them and they can picture themselves in the protagonists shoes.





Laptop - Zola is using this laptop to write on her blog.Connotation of youth as young adults and teenagers use a lot of technology in their everyday life.

Sofa - Where Zola is sitting on her laptop and receiving and replying to the mysterious text messages. Most shots show her on this sofa when she is scared as it presents her vulnerability when she is scared to the audience as she is too afraid to move. This stereo typically targets teenage girls as they are seen in society as being the most weak and vulnerable.

Earphones - These can connote youthful immaturity as it portrays how teenagers can be oblivious and unaware of their surroundings and the dangers around them when they use earphones with loud music. This targets young children, teenagers and adults who witness unaware from young people.

Phone - The phone that Zola receives and replies to the anonymous texts on. This is a prop that targets the younger generation and how they are always on their phone and texting a lot.

Kitchen utensils - These include utensils such as knives. I plan to show a knife in the background of my short film whilst Zola is either in the kitchen making tea or looking around the room when she hears a noise. By having this prop visible to the audience, this can cause them to associate this with the idea of foreshadowing a negative event which may be happening soon. This event involves using this knife as a weapon which is a very popular use of iconography in horror films.

Character Costumes

Grimm's Costume

• Black top.
• Black jumper/hoodie.
• Black tracksuit bottoms.
• Black socks.
• Black shoes.
• Mask.

Zola 'Mils' Grace's Costume

• White top.
• Leggings.
• White socks.
• Coat.
• White shoes. 

Storyboard

Risk Assessment