Oldbury High

Synopsis
• Young girls chatting walking down corridor – one girl (Jessica) splits off from group to complete work and falls asleep.
• Jessica startles awake and is tied to a chair in the library, looks around dazed and confused. After attempting to escape a masked character enters room yielding a weapon and murders her for unknown reasons.
• Two years later on the anniversary of Jessica’s death a group of girls discuss the death and how the murderer was never caught. Strange events begin to occur of which only these girls notice. They’re made to stay behind after being accused of being the ones behind it all. All in detention, teacher hears a noise an goes to investigate.
• An hour later the friends question his disappearance. One girl leaves to go to the toilet and finds teachers tie stained with blood. She’s then murdered by same masked character.• Other students still wonder where teacher & student have gone. They go to investigate then start to panic when they realise it’s the anniversary of Jessica's death. Power cut & silence is broken by a crazed laughter.
• They hide & murderer turns library desks over in order to find them. Grabs one girl and friend pushed bookshelf on top of him as he releases girl. All doors of school are locked so no exit. Grabs fire extinguisher and hides, hears slow loud footsteps and murders him with her weapon.
• Police arrive – they find out dead man was just the janitor finding the source of black out – realising that he was not their man. We see camera then on a back door of the school as the real masked murderer runs free.• Leaving reasons to believe there will be a sequel to this.

Character Profiles
Jessica Jones· 17 years old· Female· Blonde hair, blue eyes· Student· Enjoys socialising & usual teen hobbies· Attends Oldbury High’s Sixth Form – studying maths, biology and chemistry. Intending on having a fortunate future and becoming a veterinary nurseJessica's friends· Between the ages of 16-17· Female· Students at Oldbury High· Typical British female teenagers, chatty and friendlyThe ‘masked’ murderer· Mid 40’s· Male· Retired Caretaker of Oldbury High· Was fired from job after forming a ‘close relationship’ with an under aged student· Never gave his keys back to the school· Often re-visited school as his keys opened his old abandoned office located next to the library in the school· Grew an obsession with Jessica as she has similar features to his past obsession, luckily for him she often located in the library to study where he could see her· After enjoying the sensation of taking someone’s life, he decided to murder the other group of sixth formers as they were becoming suspicious.

The Script
Our script didn’t consist of much dialogue, as in horror films we don’t think the most important and relevant aspect is the dialogue.From our research of the five horror film openings we all had to analyse, almost all of the films’ first two minutes didn’t consist of any dialogue whatsoever.The only things that we did actually script for our opening is the girls chatting at the beginning with small talk, trying to convince Jessica to go with them instead of studying - which realistically teenagers would do. Then from Jessica entering the library onwards the only sounds we hear is the diegetic muffled screams as our opening draws to a close

Detailed Opening
Young girls chatting walking down the corridorstereotyping how teenagers are most vulnerable to murderers, especially young femalesGeeky girl separates herself from group to studyIsolating herself and becoming an easy target, completely oblivious to her fateFalls asleepJessica lets down her guard by sitting in the dark corner of the library out of sightwhere the librarian wouldn’t see herWakes up distortedsome interesting camera shots could be used to express that she is confused to where she isRealises she’s tied up and attempts to escapeHelpless and exaggerated to express that she has no way in hell of getting outTypical horror movie scene – being tied up in a bright lit roomMasked character enters room yielding a weapon screams from Jessica and blackoutOnce again, the typical ‘slasher’ character with a weapon making him looks threateningMuffled off screen screams are spine chilling but we the audience know straight away the fate of the character.The mask is involved to create the ‘clown fear’ that children get from a young age, and even as adults it is seen as scary because it’s turning something innocent into the complete opposite, as seen in films such as Friday 13th and Saw.

How will we conform to the codes and conventions of a horror?
Costume: We will dress the villain in a mask and dark clothing which hides identity and the black connotes bad and mystery for this character.Props: The villain will be holding a knife which is iconic to the horror genre and the audience will recognise that this is a horror film. The knife isn’t as threatening to the audience as other weapons and we chose this weapon because the age classification is only a 15.

Lighting: We will use low key lighting to create shadow and create a dark creepy atmosphere, making the audience on edge and tense.

Camera shots, angles and movement: We will have a lot of medium close ups to show facial expressions and body language of the characters. We will use mostly straight cuts because these create links between shots and characters. Extreme long shots will also be used to show setting.Camera shots, angles and movement: We will have a lot of medium close ups to show facial expressions and body language of the characters. We will use mostly straight cuts because these create links between shots and characters. Extreme long shots will also be used to show setting.

Sound: We will use slow and eery non-diegetic music at the beginning to build suspense and introduce the film. This music is typical of a horror film because it creates an eery atmosphere. We will also use this music when the villain is present to let the audience know something bad will happen in his presence. We will also exaggerate the diegetic sound of screams and heavy breathing to make the audience frightened and uncomfortable.

Setting: We have decided to have the victim in a library in an isolated corner so that she is on her own and gives the sense of loneliness. The library will be dark and deserted so that the audience know the victim has nobody to help her if anything bad happens.