Research into Ouija Boards

Precautions that various sites believe should be taken while using an ouija board:

1- Never utilize the Ouija Board alone.

2- Never utilize an Ouija Board if you are not in the right frame of mind, e.g depressed, stressed, irate, upset, bored, furious, sad, trepidacious, afraid, shocked, overconfident, or drowsy as you could let a demon into your life.

3- Three things never to ask a Ouija board: Never ask about God, Never ask when you are going to die, Never ask where the gold is buried.

4- Don’t give the Ouija Board to someone else to give them problems! Never utilize an Ouija Board if you think it is a game.

5- Never let the spirits count down through the numbers or go through the alphabet as they can get out of the board this way.

6- If the planchette goes to the four corners of the board it implies that you have reached a wickedness soul or evil presence into your life!

7- You ought to never utilize an Ouija Board in the event that you are a doubter or an Atheist as you could get a wickedness soul or devil!

8- If the planchette tumbles from an Ouija board, a soul will get detached.

9- In the event that the planchette over and over makes a figure eight, it implies that a wickedness soul is in control of the board.

10- If you ought to get a wickedness soul, rapidly flip around the planchette and utilization it that way.

11-The board must be “closed” opportunely or evil spirits will remain behind to haunt the operator.

12- Never utilize the Ouija when you are ill or in a debilitated condition since this may make you vulnerably susceptible to possession.

13- The spirit of the Ouija board creates “wins” for the utilizer, causing him to become more and more dependent on the board. This is called “progressive entrapment”.

14- Evil spirits contacted through the Ouija board will endeavor to win your confidence with mendacious flattery and prevaricates.

15- Always be obeisant and never upset the spirits.

16- Never utilize the Ouija in a graveyard or place where a terrible death has occurred or you will bring forth malevolent entities.

17- The very first Ouija boards were made from the wood of coffins. A coffin nail in the center of the planchette window accommodated as the pointer.

18- Sometimes an evil spirit can sempiternally “inhabit” a board. When this transpires, no other spirits will be able to utilize it.

19- Ouija boards that are disposed of improperly, come back to haunt the owner.

20-  A Ouija Board will scream if you try to burn it. People who hear the scream have less than thirty-six hours to live.

21- There is only one proper way to dispose of it: break the board into seven pieces, sprinkle it with Holy Water then bury it.

22- Arrange the letters and numbers, into a circle so whatever is trapped within that circle can’t escape.

23- If you place a pristine silver coin on the board, no evil spirits will be able to come through.

24- NEVER leave the planchette on the board if you aren’t utilizing it.

Overall Group Idea

Overall Group Idea

Retention

Background:

5 teenagers (A, B, C, D and E) have a moving in party for A who has just moved into her house. They can't think of anything to do so A looks through the attic since the previous owners left things behind.

Opening 3 Minutes:

Scene opens with A entering the room. She finds an ouija board and they decide to play. A also brings down a box of old photos and artifacts left by the previous house owners.  C is very cautious and doesn't like the idea but they all agree to mess around with it for fun. They start playing going through all the usual precidures of a ouija board, following the rules. When they ask if a presence is here the board says yes but they still don't believe its real (they think D is messing around) B asks who previously lived in this house and the ouija board is unresponsive so they all believe it's a joke so C takes their hand of the board without saying goodbye. B warns him that he has to say goodbye first so begrudingly C puts his hand back. The box falls over and an old picture flies out. The lights flicker. C is officially freaked out so quickly puts his hand back so they can say goodbye. They all go to say goodbye but the board won't let them reach it and the piece flies off the board across the room. The lights flicker again revealing the little girl with stitches over her mouth. A picks up the planchette and looks through it and it shows the previous owner (spirit form). Lights out.

Courtney's Film Idea Opening 3 Minutes

Courtney's Film Idea

Opening three minutes:

The sequence opens with an establishing shot of a large abandoned building with two girls A and B stood in front of it. It flashes back to a conversation between them and a few of their friends. A mid-shot shows 4 people stood facing one another. The two girls, A and B are being pressured into exploring the old house; this conversation is shown by using shot-reverse-shot. A extreme-close up is used on girl A's eye which then transitions into another close up of the same eye in the present day. Shot-reverse shot is then used to show a conversation between A and B about how girl A is being pathetic and scared. The girls start walking toward the door of the abandoned house and a mid-shot is used to show this. A close-up is then used on the stairs to show their feet travelling up the staircase. After this a bird's eye view is used when A and B reach the door and then a close-up when A pulls down the door handle to enter the house.
It is pitch black inside the house.
When B switches on the light, a close up is used. It then switches to a mid-shot of the room they are in, when the lights start to flicker on and off. A point of view shot of A is used, when A and B are wandering through the house. A panning shot is then used to show a shelf of jars containing strange substances. A pull-focus over the shoulder shot, shows B pick up a jar from the shelf as she examines it, it then focuses on the back of A's shoulder, where a claw is seen reaching for her. Then it quickly cuts to a mid-shot of the two girls, as A jumps forward in shock, knocking the jar from B's hand. A and B then have a short argument using shot-reverse-shot. A POV high angle shot is used looking down at the two girls. A close up of A's ear is used when she hears creaking and footsteps coming towards them.
The girls quickly walk towards the front door wanting to get out of the house as soon as possible. As A and B are walking towards the door, a canted angle is used to show their confusion. A worm's eye view is then used when B tries the door but finds out it is locked. A close-up of the door handle is used when they try to force it open. The door won't open no matter how hard they try. The two girls split up and start to run around the house looking for another exit, a lot of mid-shots and close-ups and quick cuts in the editing are used to show the fast pace and panic of the situation.
Neither of them can find any exit, so they meet back in the hallway. Suddenly the lights turn off. Objects start flying everywhere and shattering sounds are heard in the darkness. B gets out her phone and turns on the flashlight. Since the front door was the only door leading in and out of the building, they try breaking it down. The flashlight illuminates A's face which is shown by using a close-up; when suddenly A is dragged backwards. A scream is heard in the distance and the flashlight turns off. The title screen then appears on a black background.

Opening Three Minutes

Sam's Film Idea

Opening 3 minutes; 

Wide shot of 5 teenagers (A, B, C, D and E) shows them messing around outside, it's quite late and getting darker. They walk past an old abandoned building and A is already intrigued. He runs up to the entrance as a joke not thinking the door would be open. B pushes him into the door and it opens giving them access to the building. C, D and E hold back not wanting to go inside but A and
B push forward anyway. Despite the bad feeling and want to just go home, the others follow just to make sure their friends remain safe as they enter the building it fades to black and cuts to them wondering around the main reception. They venture further and find themselves more intrigued with the place, looking around for any sign of what this buliding could've once been.They eventually come across an old office, they search through the filing cabinets which are still full of old patient files which confirms to the characters that this is in fact an abandoned mental asylum. In the same room are shelves full of old vases the content unknown. A and B start messing around and A accidently pushes B into the shelf knocking it over and the majority of the vases smash releasing all the ashes in which they all inhale along with the air. They decide to leave since they've caused enough damage but B and C start acting weird and while they all go to leave, B and C disappear. The others reach the entrance but realise B and C are not with them. So they go back. Background music helps build suspence. They search deeper into the asylum and find B staring blankly at a wall. When A turns around all the lights go out and she has disappeared by the time it comes back on, taking one of them with her. Later on, they find A hanging from a ceiling fan (close up). They all try to leave quickly and in panic accidently split up (music intensifies) but all the doors slam trapping them in a seperate patient rooms. (All noise stops together the only sound being the actors breathing). Black out and screams are heard.

Gina Allen Horror Film Idea 1. First 3 Minutes

Gina Allen Horror Film Idea 1: 

First 3 minutes: 

The scene opens with Girl A talking a therapist in an office, shot reverse shot is used to show the  conversation and certain reactions. A 180 degree line is held to ensure that there is continuity throughout. The girl discusses how she hates how her life is, and she feels like "her world is ending" A fade to black happens to indicate that time has past, when the fade ends it comes into an establishing shot of a group of teenagers (B,C,D and E) these are making fun of Girl A and decide to play a prank on her, they dress up as if they are dead and scare the girl as she is walking around her school. A low angle pan is used to show B,C,D and E taunting her. The camera uses tilts and tracking shots to show the girl running and falling to the floor. The camera shots are used for effect as it suggests the confusion and chaos in the scene. The girl falls to the floor and starts hysterically crying suggesting that she's having a breakdown. A crane is used to lower the camera steadily onto the girls level, a series of close ups and mid shots are used to show the pure emotion on Girl A's face, this shows the fear and the terror. A straight cut shows the group of teenagers laughing about how much Girl A believed them when suddenly the lights start to flicker. A long shot shows how they are all put on edge by the lights however they don't think that it's anything scary.  All at once multiple objects start to fall off of the shelves and the lights continue to flicker, the camera shot used to show the falling objects is a close up for them moving and a long shot for when they fall to the floor. B runs to the door to try and escape however it turns out to be locked, a mid shot is used to show her running to the door as it also establishes where she is. I chose an extreme close up to be used here as it shows the horror in her eyes. This is the last shot to be seen before the lights go down an there is only darkness. Diegetic sounds of heavy breathing and desperate attempts to open the door are heard. No noise is heard for a second before screams erupt from the group.The title of the film them appears. Throughout this sequence music is used that fits the scene, the music gets louder at the climatic points in the story except at the end where only diegetic sounds can be heard.

Courtney Hutton Film Idea

 

Courtney Hutton Film Idea

Summary

Synopsis

Two girls peer-pressured into exploring an old abandoned building, find out that the rumours are true. With one of the girls missing, her best friend does everything she can to find out her whereabouts. But when her friend turns up on her door-step three months later, she knows that something isn't right.

Beginning:

 

The scene opens with an establishing shot showing two girls (A) and (B) stood outside an old house. They had been dared to go explore the house by their friends but they were reluctant. It flashes back to when the girls were being pressured into going and then the film goes back to the present day. One of the girls(A)is scared and the other(B)tells her to not be such a 'scaredy cat' as it can't be that bad. It then shows them walking up to the house and entering it.

 

 Middle:

 

It is pitch blank inside the old abandoned building. One of the girls(B)tries the light switch; the lights turn on but start to flicker. Wandering through the house, they find a lot of old antiques and jars containing strange things. Girl (B) picks up one of the jars and examines it (A) feels something touch her back and jumps knocking the jar out of (B)'s hand. They have a short argument using shot-reverse-shot about how she's being silly. (B) feels a presence too and she realises that they shouldn't be in here, they both head for the door.

 

 Ending:

 

When they reach the door, they find out that it's locked. They start rushing about to find an exit, but all of the windows are boarded up and they can't find another door leading outside. The lights shut off and things start flying everywhere. (B) turns on the flashlight on her phone. They both try breaking down the door. The flashlight illuminates (A)'s face when suddenly, she is dragged away. The flashlight turns off and a scream is heard in the distance. The title screen then appears.

 

Film Idea

Sam's Film Idea 

Sypnosis:

5 college students exploring an abandoned insane asylum accidentally shatter vases holding the remains (ashes) of former mental patients; inhaling the dusty ash filling the air, they’re soon possessed by the souls once held within them. One is a convicted serial killer from 1980.

Beginning:

A load of college students are messing around and stumble across an abandoned builidng which was previously a mental institute. (You got A,B,C and D). They decide to go in and look around before coming across an old book case with an array of vases. Accidently, after joking around, they drop the vase and it smashes, scattering the ashes everywhere causing B and C to inhale them.

Middle:

After this happens, they continue to wonder around but B and C start acting weird and wander off. The three students left (A,C and D) find an abandoned room which looks like an old office. After going through the masses of filing cabinets they find all the records of previous patients, confirming that this was an asylum. They find themselves fixated on the record giving them details of a serial killer from the 80's who stayed there from the day he was caught till the day he died. They start to feel weary of their surroundings and decide it's best to leave. But first they have to find B and C who are still nowhere to be found. They search deeper into the asylum and find B staring blankly at a wall. When A turns around all the lights go out and she has disappeared by the time it comes back on, taking one of them with her. Later on, they find A hanging from a ceiling fan.

End: 
They all try to leave quickly and in panic accidently split up, but all the doors slam trapping them in a seperate patient rooms. Black and screams are heard.

Gina Allen Horror Film Idea 1

Gina Allen Horror Film Idea 1

 

Beginning: 

Girl A is in therapist's office, describing her problems and how she feels that 'her world is ending.'  People in her school decide to play a prank on her by dressing as ghosts and scaring her. The girl quickly believe's and starts to have a break down. The people who scared the girl are laughing about it in a room when the lights begin to flicker and objects start to fall from shelves. They are confused on whats happening and quickly leave the building leaving the girl having a breakdown all alone.

Middle:

The girl hears others screaming and realises that it was them all along, she slowly recovers from her breakdown and goes into the toliets. The lights begin to flicker again and put the girl on edge, as she's looking around she turns back to the mirror and her face isnt looking back at her, its somebody else. The people who tried to run away have been locked inside and heavy footsteps are heard coming after them. The lights go down and all that they is see is the darkness. When the lights come back on member's are missing/dead.

End:
The girl turns out to be possesed and goes to find the group. She finds them at the end of the corridoor, things shake and crash to floor, lights flicker and blood runs on the floor. Lights go down, sceams are heard. The end credits appear.

Preliminary Task

Film Continuity

Film Continuity

Film continuity is a set of rules used to make sure that a film looks realistic and consistent and to ensure that all the shots go together smoothly. These rules incorporate framing, camera position, shot size and editing. It is where the shots and camera angles are picked out, edited and arranged as if they had transpired continuously; when in reality, they were not shot in that sequence. This helps to make sure the film looks consistent and would allow unimportant parts to be cut out; which would help to keep the audiences attention.

It is used to make sure that the editing is hidden as much as possible and does not look unnatural.

Match-on-action:

Match-on-action (match cut) is where you keep an action or piece of dialogue going from one cut to the next. This is a very good way to control editing and make sure that it flows smoothly onto the next shot. If edited properly, this can make it hard for the audience to notice the edit between the two shots or notice any continuity issues. One example of this, is a girl walking up to a bookcase and taking a book. There are three shots used in this sequence and when played together, it would be hard to notice the cut between the shots. Match cut gives the effect of time being continuous when watching the edited film.

Example of match cut.

180 degree rule:

The 180-degree line of action is a rule in which you should keep to one side of a hemisphere when filming. This is very important when using an establishing shot as it shows where the characters are situated. If the 180-degree line is crossed with the following shot, it would look like they are in a completely different place altogether and may disorientate the audience. Keeping the camera to one side of the 180-degree line ensures the scene has a consistent background, and that the spatial relationship between each of the characters will be consistent to each shot. The rule also applies when filming a person or vehicle going in a certain direction. If the 180-degree line is crossed and you film the following shot on the other side of the line, it would look like the person is going in a totally opposite direction than before.

Video about 180-degree rule.

Shot-reverse-shot:

Shot-reverse-shot is when the shot cuts between two people in a scene. It often shows someone (usually an over the shoulder shot) looking at another character who is shown looking back at the first character. The audience assumes that the two characters are looking at each other since they are facing in opposite directions. It is usually used in conversations and helps it to feel more realistic as they are cutting between each person speaking, which makes the scene more immersive.                                                           Example of shot-reverse-shot.

When filming a close-up of a shot that has been used before, the camera should be moved into a different position, instead of zooming in to get closer. If you do this, it would look as if the camera has jolted forward; making it look unrealistic. Another point to consider is to not cut from an extreme long shot to an extreme close-up as it would be very confusing for the audience (unless that is your aim), instead you should use a wide-shot, mid-shot or a long shot between them to make it transition more smoothly.

Film Continuity

Film Continuity

Film continuity is when a film runs smoothly from start to finish with consistency throughout. It is important as the editing in a film is unnatural because the camera angles change positions and this is not natural to the human eye, therefore you have to make it as natural as possible so that the

audience doesn’t notice and lose interest in the film.  Continuity can be in two area's, firstly in the post production stages of a film when there is acting, props and costume and secondly in the making of the film. In the post production stage it means the maintenance of detail, this can be keeping the costumes the same or keeping the props in the same places for each shot so that objects don't mysteriously disappear. The most important continuity in film is technical continuity.

There are three types of technical continuity in film:

180 Degree Rule 

This is when the camera cannot cross an imaginary 180 degree line as it would confuse the audience as to which side the actors are stood at. For this you can have any shot such as a two shot or an over the shoulder shot. However, the camera must remain on one side of the line to keep the continuity. The initial line is drawn perpendicular to the camera's viewpoint in the first establishing shot. Following this rule will ensure film continuity.

This is a diagram of where you can an cant use camera's on the 180 degree rule

Shot Reverse Shot

Shot reverse shot is when the camera moves back and forth between people usually to show who is talking or show people's expressions. This often ties in with the 180 degree Rule to keep the continuity and give a sense of location. The first shot is taken of person 1 then changes to person 2 from person 1's point of view typically through a straight cut and finally back to person 1. This is allowing the audience to see both characters' perspective.

This is an example of Shot Reverse Shot

An example of shot reverse shot in film is:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o1Ey0a6LJRA

Match On Action

Match on action is when the audience doesn't notice the edit by the actor or object moving. Two shots are joined together by the action and this creates the continuity in the scene, although the action must be directly on the cut and continuing through to the other shot for it to work. This is the hardest type of film continuity however, if used right it could be one of the most effective.

An example of Match on Action in film is:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eou7A-e2e4I

Film Continuity

Film Continuity

Film continuity is a way of editing that provides a continuous and clear movement of events/images in a film. It refers to the final edit of a completed film where the events or scenes/sequences  are arranged as if they had occurred continuously, when, in fact, they were shot out of sequence. This is to make the completed film run smoothly and allow irrelevant parts to be cut out, so the film can keep the audience attention. 
Examples of this are the 180 degree rule, shot reverse shot and match on action.

180 Degree Rule:

In a dialogue scene between two characters, a straight line can be imagined running between the two characters. If the camera remains on one side of this line, the spatial relationship between the two characters will be consistent from shot to shot, even if one of the characters is not on screen. Shifting to the other side of the characters on a cut will reverse the order of the characters from left to right and may disorient the audience. For example, if a character is walking towards the left and is to be picked up by another camera, the character must exit the first shot on frame left and enter the next shot frame right.

Shot Reverse Shot:

Shot reverse shot is a film technique in which one character is shown looking at another character (often off-screen), and then the other character is shown looking back at the first character. Since the characters are shown facing in opposite directions, the viewer assumes that they are looking at each other.




Match On Action:
Match on action is where one shot cuts to another shot portraying the action of the subject in the first shot. This draws the viewer's attention away from slight cutting or continuity issues. A common example is a man walking up to a door and reaching for the handle. Just as his hand touches the handle, the scene cuts to a shot of the door opening from the other side. Although the two shots may have actually been shot hours apart from each other, cutting on action gives the impression of continuous time when watching the edited film.