Production logo

This is the logo we made for our production. We chose the font for the 'AS' text, as we thought it was one of the more creepier fonts and so it relates to the Horror genre of our film.

AS Brief

AS Brief

Preliminary task: A one-minute short film with opening titles, involving filming and editing a character walking around college and footage of another character following, whom then exchange a line of dialogue when they meet.

Main task: A new short, Horror film, which will last the maximum of two minutes. 

All video and audio material must be original, produced by me and my partner, with the exception of music or audio effects from a copyright free source. Both preliminary and main tasks may be done individually or as a group. Maximum of four members to a group. 

Audience Research Survey

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This is a questionnaire that we made for people to answer, so we'd know what different people's opinions are on Horror films and what they enjoy in Horror films and therefore we'd know who to target for our own video and what kind of things we should show in it. 

Rose Rough Cut

This is our rough cut version of our two minute film. To improve for the final version, I'd make the video longer as it still needs nearly a whole minute until it would be classed as finished. Also, I would re-do the scenes, as sometimes the actors were out of shot and at times and some shots were also shaky, nor could you hear the actors at times, especially because of the wind.

Rose Animatic

This is a video of each box on our storyboards, which show the shots we are planning on using for each part of the film.

Risk assessment

Risk assessment from courteneysiggens

The risk assessment was made so that if anything that is listed in the table actually happened, we would be prepared for it and also so that we know what to do to prevent these issues from occurring, as we can go back to this if we need to. 

Props list

Props list from courteneysiggens

This was the plan for what props we would use in our film. However, when actually filming, we didn't end up using half of the props from the list, as we realised that we didn't even need them and it was also hard to bring some of the props. Fortunately, we found out that we could still film what we planned to, but without the knife, fairy lights and plastic cups. Also, it was difficult to get hold of a tombstone/gravestone, so we adapted the scene so the character wasn't at the grave anymore and we wouldn't have to use the tombstone. 

Equipment list

Equipment list from courteneysiggens

This is a list for the equipment we need to use whilst filming. The Panasonic HC-v100 is the camera being used to record the actual footage, The Hama tripod is what is being used to attach the camera on to, which will help with the moving of the camera when changing the different types of angle shots, which will make the process easier and faster for us. Also, the footage won't be shaky, as it would have been without a tripod, as my hand isn't very steady.  The Apple Mac is the computer that will be used at the end of the filming to upload the footage and to edit the footage to make it into the film. 

Recce Shots

-The first recce shot was the set for our first scene, which showed the girl being bullied and we also came back and used it for shooting scene three, when the party flyers are given to the bullies. We used the college corridors to show that the girl got bullied at school everyday, so this abuse was a reoccurring thing, which made her lead to suicide.
- The second and third recce shots were used for scene three, where the victim's sister is grieving over her death. We thought this would be a good place to use as people are rarely there, so we could film without people interrupting and also it would show how the sister just wants to be alone to grieve.
- The final two forest recce shots were used for scenes four and five; the party and death scenes, as we wanted the party to be held outside in a secluded area, so the death scene would be more drastic and scary in a weary, dark forest.

Call sheets

Call sheets from courteneysiggens

The call sheets were made so things were scheduled and everyone involved would know when the shoot was starting so they wouldn't be late, it also tells people what costmes/clothes and props they need for that day. 

Rose Shooting Schedule

Rose shooting schedule from courteneysiggens

This is the shooting schedule to show the exact day of when we will be filming and also what location we are using and what cast is needed for that day. However, we didn't end up filming on the original dates that we planned to, as things were delayed and those days some of us were too busy to film.
Also, this would be different if I made it again, as the props section is wrong and also Paige would be taken out of the cast and Gillian would be added to it.

Storyboard

These are the storyboards we designed to plan out what would happen in each scene and the writing is to tell us which camera shots we will use for each shot. This was made to also help us whilst filming, so we didn't have to try and remember what we had to do, we could just check the storyboards.

Mindmap

This mind map was one of the first things we made to plan for our film. It shows ideas and parts we think is needed in a film, such as: props, characters, costumes and settings. This was before we had even decided ay ideas for what our own film would contain.

Script

Script from courteneysiggens

The script is so we could plan out what each character/actor has to say and do in each scene, which will help things run more smoothly as the actors won't have to try and think of things to say on the spot and so therefore, it is less time consuming and it also wouldn't look good on camera as you would probably be able to tell they were trying to think of what to say instead of concentrating on their character. The script also tells the actors their cues for when they are supposed to be on screen, so they won't arrive late. 

Treatment

Treatment from courteneysiggens

The treatment tells us everything all in one place, such as: what characters need to wear, the actors playing those characters, the props that may be used or needed during the film, the locations of where the scenes will be shot, the storyline and what is going to take place during each scene and also technical information like, the rating of the film and how long the film will be. 

Mood board

Mood board from courteneysiggens

This mood board is made up of pictures of items associated to our film. However, most pictures didn't end up relating to the film as we didn't end up using the Halloween theme for the party, so therefore the grim reaper costume wasn't needed either, nor was the scary pumpkins. The knife, rope and fairy lights were missed out of the prop list because we thought it would be difficult to get a hold of them and also that it might be dangerous if it was a real knife or if we actually did end up strangling the actor, so instead we filmed that scene from behind, so you couldn't see what was happening but so it looked real from behind. 

Sound Design Evaluation

Sound Design Evaluation

 

I found the Sound Design task to be the most difficult task we have had to do so far. I think The Dark Knight Rises clip was probably more challenging to find sounds for, than when our group had to take some footage of our own. This is because there were already original sounds for the film clip, so I had to try and make my own version sound as much like the original as I could. Although, this was hard because I’ve never really used Garageband before and I thought it was a little confusing to use. Beforehand, I had played with Garageband to find sounds for our own footage though, so I think this helped the second time around as I already had an idea of how to use it. Also, it was a lot more difficult than I thought it would be at the beginning, trying to find similar sounds to match the original Dark Knight Rises clip, especially since there are so many sounds to go through and listen to.  

On the other hand, with our group’s own footage, I found it slightly easier. This is because it was just a random clip, so I could choose through a bigger range of sounds, as nearly anything would have worked. Particularly, if we were trying to make it sound silly, instead of serious. An advantage of this is that I think I could have gotten further with that task and applied more sounds to our own than I did with the Dark Knight task.

Overall, I think I mostly got frustrated a lot with this task, so I didn’t really enjoy it and it didn’t turn out too well. 

Horror Audience Research

Stalker?

This is our prelim task, where we had to make a one minute short film and we decided we wanted to make it a Thriller and so the storyline was for a character to "stalk" another character, but we also wanted it to be light hearted, so we made the ending funny where the character wasn't actually being a stalker, she just wanted to give some books back. However, because we had to make the video so short, we ended up having to cut out quite a bit of footage to make it the correct time.

The History of Action Genre

 The History of Action genre

Action is a film genre where heroes are put into a series of physical challenges, which include, fight scenes, violence and car chases. Often in action films, there will always be a villain and will include a life threatening situation, which will conclude in victory for the hero/heroin. They will most likely include big budget stunts and disasters and crisis’ (explosions, natural disasters, fires). Action has been a recurring component in films, but in the 1970s, began to develop by increasing the amount of stunts and special effects and has remained strong throughout cinematic history. This type of genre is also associated with other types of genres, such as: thriller, adventure, sci-fi, crime drama, horror and war.

The action genre is split into sub-genres. Some examples of these are:

Action comedy- This involves action and comedy/humour and became popular in the 1980s. The genre is often light hearted and very rarely will involve any death scenes.

Action horror- This genre includes a supernatural event and is often found to have the theme of zombies, vampires, ghosts and demons.

Sci-fi action- This is much like a science fiction film, but sci-fi action films emphasize on space fights, gun play and invented weapons.

Spy film- This is the type of genre that always has a hero who works for the government and throughout the film has to take action against another rival government. Often, spy films have British main characters as the films are set in the British Secret Service.

Action thriller- First developed in the 1970s and often features explosions and the use of guns. This genre can also have elements of mystery and crime.

Superhero film- Always action based and will usually have elements of fantasy or science fiction in them. Superhero films are often about people who possess super powers/abilities.

The 1980s was known as the ‘action era’ and was made popular mostly by actors such as:

·         Sylvester Stallone

·         Chuck Norris

·         Arnold Schwarzenegger

·         Bruce Willis

In the 1990s and 2000s, US actor Vin Diesel and Asian actors Jackie Chan and Jet Li became popular and appeared in many different types of action films.

Other actors include, Steven Seagal, Douglas Fairbanks, Steve McQueen and Charles Bronson.

Action films are regarded as a large studio genre in Hollywood, but in Hong Kong, action films are quite often, mostly modern variations of martial arts films. They have a much lower budget than the Hollywood made action films, so generally have martial arts fight scenes, acrobatics, gun play and dangerous stunts performed by stunt actors/doubles; instead of the American type action films where huge explosions are often seen. The 1970s to the 1990s was where Hong Kong action cinema was at its peak.

According to ‘Guinness World Records’, ‘James Bond’ is the series of films to make the biggest profit, although recently has been taken over by the Harry Potter and Star Wars films.

Sources-

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Action_film

http://www.filmsite.org/actionfilms.html

Opie Evaluation

Opie Task Evaluation- Courteney Siggens

The Opie task was the first time I had ever used Photoshop and I think the first time I had ever really attempted to use a Mac computer, so the experience was quite new to me. Although, being shown the steps of how to work it, I think it’s quite easy to learn how to use. 

Starting the Opie task, I thought it was quite confusing having to add the different layers and where I was supposed to place them to make everything look right. An advantage that I found was that the paint brush was useful for when I needed to zoom in and fill in smaller areas, instead of using the paint bucket all the time.

Another thing I found to be a disadvantage is that there a lot of tools down the side bar that I hadn’t used before. This made the process more complicated, as it was harder to find which tool I needed to use.  Another thing I enjoyed was being able to play about and change things about my hair, clothes and face.

Overall, I think the Opie task was quite enjoyable and fun to do. This makes me think Photoshop might be quite useful to use in the future. 

This was the first task we were given to complete and it was also the first time using Photoshop. I imagine that in the future, I might use Photoshop again on another piece of work, or in a film.

Film Clip Analysis-Taken

Taken

Zooms out into a wide shot- following and showing where the person’s going

Medium shot/medium close up- showing actions but it’s close enough to see the facial expressions too

Close up- show expressions and how the actor feels to build the tension

Establishing shot- shows where they are and what the actor would be seeing

Swaps from the close up and the event that’s happening (establishing shot)- so it makes you feel like you’re in the room and watching what’s happening, so you feel the emotions the actors do

Long shot- you can see there’s some men dressed in black in the house, so this makes you worried and tense.

 Shot of their feet- makes you feel tense and scared because you don’t know who the feet belong to

Low angle shot- shows the character running away and heading towards the floor so the audience knows she’s heading underneath the bed

 Starts from further away and slowly zooms into a close up- gets a better idea of the emotions portrayed on the characters faces

Camera starts on close up and in front of the character and then stays there even though the character is moving away- allows you to see the emotions and expressions on the characters face but you also see that they’re being dragged away

This is an analysis on the film Taken. I watched a scene from the film and these are the the camera shots and angles used in the film, it also explains why I think they have used these shots and what effect  they have.