Serial killer
I have always had a morbid fascination with serial killers. It started off with me being interested in their psychology and how they interact with others before going on a murdering spree. Before you become alarmed, I recognise how abhorrent it is to be a serial killer. I acknowledge the pain the victim’s families must go through and the ordeal must be life changing. My interest, however, more concentrated on the psychology of why people do good and bad things. The serial killer is just an extreme version of human behaviour and I wanted to include this character in my final major project.
What is a serial killer? It is a person that commits multiple offences of murder with no obvious motive. They normally derive some strange thrill or pleasure of committing these acts and they often involve sexual contact with the victim. Ian Brady and Myra Hindley, Fred and Rosemary West and Peter Sutcliffe (also known as the “Yorkshire 
Ripper”) are some of the most infamous killers we have had in the UK. I could not find a serial killer that targeted the rich, however, the best seller by Petros Markaris does reflect the growing anger people have towards wealthy people that try to cheat the system.The book called The Settlement where a serial killer stalks and kills rich Greeks that refused to pay their taxes had a similar idea to me.
My serial killer who shares more in common with Robin Hood than Peter Sutcliffe, also derives some strange thrill or pleasure of committing these acts. My serial killer is highly political and believes that there is a class war going on between the rich and the poor. After numerous reports indicating that the rich are getting richer, my serial killer character is becoming more angry about the current state of affairs. The top company bosses are still amassing large portions of the nation’s wealth in this time of austerity and there seems to be no political option to readdress the growing inequality. With no other means from any political party to reverse the flow of money to the rich, my character feels they have no other option but to murder as many of them as possible. This is the driving force for my character in this trailer.
Style of Trailer
The trailer is a video used to market a film or broadcast, which consists of snippets compiled together to tell part of the story without spoiling anything. I looked into several trailers to see what they consist of. I wanted to know what makes a trailer a trailer. The main attributes needed to make that trailer is storytelling, theme, how the bankability of stars and its appeal to its auidenece.
I have chosen the horror genre since it fits the style I want to use and it has elements of tension. I felt that lately horror movies lack tension, going straight into cheap jump scares leading up to nothing gives a bland enjoyment to the viewers demand to be scared. Tension is the build up that needs to reach a big impact. This is what has been lacking in movies lately since it is forgotten that having a longer scene filled with tension.
Film Trailer Annabelle: Creation, it is about a nun and five girls from an orphanage that closed down move in with a couple’s home. A possessed doll begins to target the girls that moved in. The elements in a horror trailer did they use – religious symbols, creepy children, screaming, jump scares to make the audience aware that it is a horror movie.
In the film Trailer Oculus, It is about a brother convicted of murder and his sister tries to prove that the crime was commited by a supernatural being. Throughout the trailer they use elements of a creepy child’s voice, blood, someone being dragged, bleeding from her mouth, mannequins moving inanimate objects taking
I watched my friend play a game called Until Dawn and they had such strong characters in there that when they died you actually felt sorry for them. I think that getting strong characters is hard as it requires having a good storyline that shows glimpses of their life as well as their flaws making the character more likeable and human. It is important to have a main character like this because they make the audience have a deeper connection to them.
An advert for a show called Stalker. When I watched the trailer for this show it clearly about a detective investigating a stalker case that resulted in a murder of a girl. What made me think that this show would be relevant to my trailer was giving the character a motive. I thought briefly about the killers in my trailers obsession with these people. Thinking of what exactly would motivate them to do stalk and possibly kill the person they are stalking.
I looked into the reason for stalking a person, what goes on in their head and the psychology of it all. From this, I saw various but according to this website, I found that “Stalkers often emphasise that they “love” their victims and occasionally say they stalk to keep others safe. For example, an abusive ex-husband might say he stalks his ex-wife to ensure she’s properly caring for their children. Psychologically, however, stalking is a crime of control.” The psychology of it as well as the reasons for them to commit these acts does not fit into the mental state I wanted for my character. However, there would still be elements of stalking, but more towards my protagonist figuring out their victim’s timetable. I could have a scene of my hooded character watching them at night.
Zawn Villines. (April 5, 2013). Why Stalkers Stalk—and What to Do If You’re a Victim. Available: http://www.goodtherapy.org/blog/stalking-behavior-victims-seeking-help-040513. Last accessed 2016
No Heroes no Villians
It is all about perspective. The killer sees their work as good and the people trying to stop them also sees their work as good. Just to show how different people’s views are by showing it from both perspectives. I got this idea after watching The Monster Calls. Within the movie, there is a scene that has three stories and in the first part of each story told, there was always a villain and a hero. However, later on, when all sides were explained neither of them was the hero of the story, there were just characters from different perspectives. This is similar to a theory I found after discussing this idea with my sister.
Coming across a number of Batman fan theories it has come to me realising how similar the relationship between batman and joker is similar to my story. Both parties believe that they’re doing good and more times than not the antagonist (Joker)
http://www.dorkly.com/post/73240/batman-fan-theories
As you can see in the article it explains how the Joker could be seen as neither a villain or a hero. Creating villains like two face – Harvey Dent was a good lawyer the Joker had both Harvey and his girlfriend Rachel Dawes in gasoline save one and the other save. The dictionary defines a hero as a person admired for their achievements, qualities and courage. So there are people that have an unconventional hero.
Conceptual Research
After looking at a range of YouTubers that create their own animations, kids shows that I watched as a child and animated movie’s, I decided to write about what I liked about their style. I have done some contextual research on concept artists that I like. I think I will be able to do this style within the time that I have if I put the extra effort in. This obviously would not be animated frame by frame so I would have to use the bone tool. I am aware that in Flash, the bone tool is not always reliable. However, I have experience in this software so I can find a way around is by moving certain selected body parts if they are all created on a separate layer and move them for each frame.
Secondary Research
Music Video
Looking at a particular music video The Beast – Angus and Julia Stone I found various animation techniques that I really liked. The creativity and fascinating story behind this animated music video showed the viewer connect and understand the deep meaning of it. I love that during this animation, you can recognise various techniques used. It appears to be drawn frame-by-fame, particle effects used as well as a layered section of the animation that makes it look like a stop motion cut out, on top of the background. Looking at this really made me think about how it could be done. Using the software available in the media department, I could use Adobe After Effects CC to give it that layered feel (layer on top another layer).
TV Show Opening – The Simpsons
The TV show of my childhood was The Simpsons. Watching The Simpsons intros again there is a notable development on what used to be a simple hand-drawn 2D style to a well polished, involving symmetry, shadows and brighter colours to make it. I like the style of the Simpsons because of progression of it, smooth and symmetrical.
Youtuber – TheOdd1sOut
There is a YouTuber called TheOdd1sOut I did some more secondary research on their style. I like how simple everything is, that they barely animated the lip movement making it easier to animate. Bare in mind it is a comic style since this person specialises in creating comics on their blog so the way its animated style is very choppy. What I don’t like about that is the lack of mouth movement. They animate the hand movements which is simple enough but no mouth movements just gave it a rushed lazy feel to the viewer.
Alan Becker
After watching the video and taking down notes, I found that there were a few elements featured in the video that I like to possibly use in my work. There was a combination of a live action and animation, where they use an animation on top of a video. There have been quite a few movies that combined the two for example Looney Tunes: Back in Action and Who Framed Roger Rabbit.
Super Planet Dolan
Whilst scrolling through my YouTube page I watched this video. I liked how one part was humorous and the second character was listing out facts. This Q&A makes the audience learn as well as being entertained both of what I would like to include in my game. Figuring out ways for it to be educational and entertaining I could do the same by making the political view light and not hard hitting as well as simple and easy to understand for all ages. Not only that but smoother animations are posted/published on The Super Planet Dolan channel.
Videos that are similar to what I want to do
This video is a short clip of an American Dad video. It has a somewhat parody vibe of a James Bond movie. I like this because of this kind of abstract style that every James Bond movie has as an intro. This style is what I want to do for my trailer so it looks different to what most trailers are like. Each scene in my trailer contains elements of what the story I wrote is about, however, the audience would remain curious leave them wanting more.
Movies and Games I have looked at
I like that in the movie The Monster Calls, it always had the time 12:07 which is a significant part of the film. Each time it turns 12:07 his imagination runs wild and the monster appears. This significant time made me think of a sudden change in my animation maybe there is an image, time, person that switches from 3D to 2D. I’ll have to do some research to see if I could possibly use Adobe After Effects.
I downloaded a 2d platform game and I liked that there were a few fun elements as the game progresses.Instead of running animations the game uses detached feet from the body going in circles in order to show that the character the player has is moving
This simple animation will save time animating motions and leg movement
However, this can also give the style of game a more cartoonish feel to it if I decided to use this sort of style. Also, in-app purchases are included. In this game, they also use coins for every time you win as a reward do you can purchase extras.
What Gory Scenes could be added
A few gory scenes I’ve come up with getting into the mind of a person seeking out for revenge. I would have to think about animating blood. A person visualising their way of killing someone that has done them wrong. Stopped by legal issues getting in the way of what they believe will make them even.
Inspiration From a Music Video
In this Moment – Big Bad Wolf has a fast paced cut jumping scene to scene within the same background of being in a dim lit room with chains. I used this as a key example of what my trailer has to be (even though it is a music video) it has a lot of jump cuts and fast pace that my audience wants.
Primary Research
Interview
Writing up the debate of the three different opinions on how the people I interviewed view each of the following themes.
- The justice system – police – murder
- Minimum wage and national living wage increase
- the differences in working class, middle class and upper middle-class income
Feedback from my peers on the music for my trailer
Project IMI: This one sounded very techno and fast pace. It will be good if the trailer you’re making involves the action scenes of the full story.Second Music: The sound in this one made it seem very mysterious. It will be good if your trailer instead includes the mystery and how the police investigation is going.
I managed to gather data from my questionnaire regarding what my target audience wanted to see. I used the theme of movies to accumulate my information. As my audience, I wanted to know what would make them want to watch a particular type of movie.
Email I sent to my peers
Hello, everyone.
I was wondering if I could have your thoughts on the trailer music. I know that this will only be for my red band trailer, so it has to be fast paced and short for the audience to enjoy. Please let me know what you think as soon as you can with a detailed description of what you enjoyed and what needs to be improved.
Anarchy
Anarchy is simply defined as a society run without a government, without leaders, without authority. They do not believe in political parties and feel that the idea of the government creates more harm than good. Although they may be against socialists or conservatives, they do not offer an alternative plan. However, societies like the Aborigines Australians had a system called ‘gerontocracy’ which means their system was run by old men. It was patriarchal and heredity but had no form of government. Unfortunately, it would be difficult to implement this system in the modern day era.
French philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau believed that in a democracy people are only free and liberated when they vote, afterwards, they are government slaves. Once elected in office the politicians normally are influenced by big business and special interest groups. Those that see the injustice and feel that protesting will have no effect are sometimes labelled anarchist. Pierre-Joesph Proudhon was the first person to refer to himself as an anarchist, a person who does not have a master. Anarchist order is based on common sense and how communities relate to one another. The common perception on anarchist, however, is chaos and disorder.
Movies and games related to Anarchy
I have a selection of movies and video games that I looked at which have an element or theme of anarchy. A popular theme in films and games the main protagonist doesn’t disclose who they are so they tend to hide their face. The design of my character has always been to be hidden in the shadows, to be indistinguishable of race, gender and age. So Movies like Halloween, Scream, Jason from Friday the 13th are a few notable examples. Looking at films that show financial corruption because my protagonist needs a reason to go after the financial companies such as; Wall Street, Point break, Wolf of Wall Street, Margin Call and Now You See Me. And I also looked at films that relate to government corruption like; The Firm, Star Chamber, The Pelican Brief, City Hall, Conspiracy Theory, Murder 1600, Mercury Rising, Snake Eyes, Erin Brockovich, JFK and The Purge.
Another film that I watched was Assault On Wall Street. After the death of his wife, he takes an extreme route of getting back at those that did him wrong. His wife that suffered from cancer was still ill, receiving treatments costs money and the insurance company refused to pay any more. Bills and payments piling up lead them to be further in financial struggle. From the money they had saved put into stocks and shares was stolen. The banks were stealing from those that invested into stocks and shares, deliberately selling them useless stocks that were worthless in order to save themselves. Life savings were lost, loss of his job and the stress to make the payments led to his wife to kill herself. He became so angry and disenfranchised from the financial institutions and the legal system, he felt that killing them was the only justice he could serve.
Assassins Creed
An action adventure game. You play as an Assassin in the Brotherhood. Essentially the Templars, a religious group that rule over the citizens, want world peace. Templars are looking to control free will using the Apple of Eden which the assassins are trying to obtain to hide it and protect it. In the fourth game, you find that the modern day Animus has portrayed themselves as a company in games. The games company is called Abstergo Entertainment.
Saints Row the third
This is an open world action-adventure game which presents the governments going to war on gang activities. As the leader of one of the gang’s, called The Saints, you show a complete rejection of the government powers. It appears that the gangs have more control over the streets and show no respect to government forces. They continuously break the law and using the city as their playground. Playing as the leader, it is your role to protect your gang and protect them from other criminals, the police and the army.
Blown Away
Story – An Irish bomber seeks revenge on a member of the Bomb squad in Boston. Anarchy Concept – The bombing attacks in Boston especially against a branch of the police force to cause terror. It shows how one man was able to disrupt a city. Deliberately targeting government figures “I’ve come here to create a new world called chaos and a new government called anarchy” The ideas I got from this movie was from the serial killer/bomber who deliberately targets authority figures but in mine, my character would be aiming for business figures.
unknown. (1994). Blown Away (1994). Available: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0109303/?ref_=nv_sr_1. Last accessed 2017.
Demolition Man
The story is about an innocent police officer John Spartan and a crime lord Simon Phoenix are frozen in jail for 30 years. They reemerge in a peaceful utopia to continue their battle. However, there are forces within the ruling elite who seek to profit from their battle for selfish gains.
The bad guy seeks to disrupt and exploit a non-violent justice system to create anarchy. He is also “used” by the ruling elite to eliminate the true anarchist and revolutionary character who lives underneath the city. The ideas I took from the movie are the two characters that create anarchy however one is doing it for selfish means whereas the other was doing it for the people. How it relates to mine is that I focus more on the character that focuses on creating anarchy to help the people.
unknown. (1993). Demolition Man (1993). Available: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0106697/?ref_=nv_sr_1. Last accessed 2017.
V for Vendetta
How a man used for experiments comes back to seek revenge on the people and the system that imprisoned him. The girl in the movie was more symbolic that conformed to the government’s will but desired freedom more than her life after encountering the main character V.
I decided to change the concept of my trailer about a serial killer murdering rich people to become more political in its tone. The whole poor against the rich seems to me like it is an attack on those that are successful but does not consider the abuses of government. I wanted to highlight the cause of class inequality and show the effect of ordinary people fighting back. That is why my animated character does not have a face, sex or racial feature.
The beginning you see that the protagonist in the mask was a serial killer. Murdering those that were part of the establishment. After watching this movie it made me really think about my characters motive and how much better off I would be if I changed it from murder and theft to just be the cause of Anarchy. The quote that “the people shouldn’t fear the government the government should fear the people”
unknown. (2005). V for Vendetta (2005). Available: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0434409/?ref_=nv_sr_1. Last accessed 2017.
Final Major Project 