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Caught in the Web

Synopsis

"Caught in the Web" is a psychological horror/thriller following the investigations of a series of teen suicides. What the detective soon learns, is that they are not suicides, but homicides. The killers use the internet as a weapon, trapping the girls in a "suicide support" website and gaining the trust under the alias "Julie". They rape and murder their victims, making it look like suicide using evidence on the website of depression, and forged suicide notes. The case becomes personal for the detective when his daughter becomes their next victim, but will he stop them in time? Or will he also get caught in the web?

Preliminary Task

Monday, February 2, 2009

Final post ever!!!


Oh My God this is my final post!

I've had so much fun making this film, and I feel it has confirmed my feelings of taking media studies further (uni).

I am so proud of "Caught in the Web" that I show it to anyone who will watch it, and I will keep it in my portfolio to show future employers.

I'm looking forward to the next topic: TV drama, as I LOVE them. At the moment I'm a bit behind because most of my spare time has gone into blogging and editing! But I'll catch up with all my favourites very soon - I'm only behind on Lipstick Jungle and Gossip Girl.

I hope this blog reflects how much time and effort I've put in over the months, and also the amount of enjoyment I've got out of the whole caboodle.

And I'm so grateful to have had Amelia and Holly in my group - they've made the whole process fun! (Even if the technician got a bit sick of us sitting in his office, singing...)

WOW.

Don't know what else to say really... *SOB*

By the power vested in me through blogger.com, I now declare this blog officially closed.

Hope you've enjoyed it!

BYEEE

xxxxx

Denotation of sequence

This is kind of like a director's commentary..

First you see someone logging onto a forum as "Julie". This is really a man. Then you see him click "post reply" and you can see "suicide support" in the top right-hand corner of the screen. He is replying to Emma, who's name you can see in the bottom left corner. You then see his message being typed, which is followed by a shot of him actually typing on the keyboard. At the moment there is no sound except music, and there are titles in between each shot. He submits his post.

The dissolve takes us to a different location, where Emma is reading the man's response, who she thinks is "Julie". She types her message to "Julie" saying how she wishes she could talk to her all the time (implying they talk a lot) and that things are getting worse and she doesn't know what to do (implying she is feeling emotionally exhausted and upset).

We then jump back to the "den" and the same shot that was in the opening few shots with no sound, is back, but this time it has a man's voice-over, telling the audience that "Julie" is in fact, a man. At this point, the man's face hasn't been revealed.

Emma then asks how she can ever repay Julie for all the help she's given, to which the man laughs, saying "Yeah that comes later darlin". This implies he is going to do horrible things to her, presumably sexual things. This is the first time the audience see the man's face, and it is reflected in the mirror. You can see a Jack Daniel's whiskey bottle and glass nect to the computer, and the room is dark.

Some conversation happens, and Emma says how she wants it "all to end", implying she is suicidal. The man says outloud "Bingo", implying this is the stage he has been working towards. His message to her contrasts because he is trying to encourage her, "Things will get better, I promise." She doesn't reply to this. He thinks she's killed herself already. This is the first time the second man is shown, which shocks the audience.

Emma then asks if "Julie" can come to her house to help her emotionally. While she is typing this message, there are cut-aways to the men's faces, showing they are waiting in suspense to see whether or not their victim is ready. Straight after she types her message, we cut to the men printing out her address. We didn't feel we needed to show him saying "yeah what's the address" and her giving it to him, so instead we showed that on the page he is printing out. You can also see on the left hand side of the screen, both their names, thus clearing up any confusion over who "Julie" was.

We use parallel editing here to cut back to Emma crying, using a sound-bridge of the printing noise (diegetic) to link the shots.

The main man stands up with the print-out in hand and says "Got it, let's go". This cues the other man to pack the briefcase full of weapons at torture tools. We see him pack a chain, gaffa tape, matches, plyers, condoms (the far end of the briefcase, in black wrappers) and even sharped knives.

The opening sequence ends with a close-up of the briefcase clasp being shut, and the film title appears afterwards.

This sequence contains some very subtle details that are almost unnoticeable the first time you watch it, however this is very typical of thrillers, and the details would be repeated/explained later in the film.

Saturday, January 31, 2009

Audience feedback

I've been showing all my friends and family our finished film, and the general response was "WOW" which made me happy!

My dad said the end montage was a bit too choppy, but no-one else made that comment.

I didn't give questionnaires to any of the people at my home screenings because it felt a bit weird, instead I just asked them what they thought. I think people were very impressed, and everyone asked "who are those men?!?". I think they want to know so they can avoid them...

I put a link from my Facebook account to the video on youtube, so my friends have been watching it that way. I keep getting comments from people saying "I watched your film! It's so cool!"

At the moment, we have had 146 views, and it's only been up for about a week, so hopefully it will go up!

Similarities between my film and others

Our film is similar to Jisatsu Saakuru” a.k.a “Suicide Club” (2002) in that it is a horror/thriller (/mystery) about a detective trying to find the cause of a string of suicides. In our film there is a detective who is investigating one of the suicides (which was actually a murder by the men) when the men decide to prey on his daughter, as a challenge. Our film is British though; where this one is Japanese, therefore there will inevitably be cultural differences. One reviewer on “www.imdb.com” gave it 10/10 and said it was “One of the best films of the 2000s”. This is how we want our film to be received, and I think with the right branding, it could happen.

Current horror/thriller films showing in Cineworld

Currently, in UGC Cineworld, there is “My Bloody Valentine” (available in 3D) showing, which is an idea for our film, that we could make it in 3D if it was successful. However, this might be difficult, because we’d have to re-shoot everything in a 3D format. But if we ever made a sequel, 3D is something we could try. There is also a film called “The Spirit” which is action/comedy/fantasy/thriller. Another film in a genre similar to ours is “Underworld: Rise of the Lycans” which is an action/fantasy/horror/thriller. There is also “The Broken” which is a horror/thriller (like our film), similarly to “The Unborn”. There is “Surveillance” which is crime/drama/thriller.

There didn't seem to be any showing at Vue when I looked, which is good, as it means if our film was screened there, it would capture all their audience who want to watch that genre.

Friday, January 30, 2009

Our finished opening sequence!

I just posted our finished film on the group blog too, yay! Youtube has made the screen shots and the company logo a bit blurry though...

Final Cast and Crew list


Name: Kingsley Ben-Adir
Age: 22
Height: 6ft
Role: "Julie"


Name: Rick Allen
Age: 53
Height: 6ft
Role: "Julie"'s accomplice

Name: Amelia Conway
Age: 16
Height: 5 foot 7
Role: Emma - first victim

Directed by: collaboration of Laura Allen, Amelia Conway and Holly Thicknes
Produced by: collaboration of Laura Allen, Amelia Conway and Holly Thicknes
Written by: collaboration of Laura Allen, Amelia Conway and Holly Thicknes
Edited by: collaboration of Laura Allen, Amelia Conway and Holly Thicknes
Casting by: collaboration of Laura Allen, Amelia Conway and Holly Thicknes

etc. basically, we all did everything...