Evaluation

Two Minute Film Openning- Obscure

Editing part 3

Split clip- Highlight clip press E which will send the clip to the project, run cursor over where you would like to split the clip and the press Shift-Apple-S all at the same time. Our now split clip has been flipped around as it gives the character a weird distorted look, her limbs also look out of proportion. Replaying our edited clip always gives us new things to change, such as the hospital scene with my character when we played the scene with the volume we noticed some background noise that need to be taken out. To do this we simply just dub the sound( Mute the clip).


As we moved on to putting our opening titles into the clip we found it very difficult to use the previous fonts we had chosen for our production companies. When we print screened the font and inserted it into fireworks there was a lot of white background we could not get rid of. So we had to change our font ideas as we wanted them to be on the playing scene and this would not be possible with the fonts white background.
 

We choose red for our font colour as it holds connotations of both blood and horror, which represents our film. To the scene where we see Sarah acting crazy in the hospital we wanted to create a security camera look.

Previously we added a raster effect to the scene but we didn't think it was obvious enough for the audience, so we added changing times at the bottom of the clip we did this by adding titles in and changing the period they were on the screen for. It also helped achieve the idea that the character Sarah is insane as when she stares at the camera the time at the bottom of the screen changes rapidly.


At the end of the victims torture scene the camera cuts dead we later thought about adding a scream to leave the scene at a cliffhanger. At the time of recording we did not record any male screams so we went on to the imovie sounds too listen to the sound effects they had to offer. Unfortunately they did not have a male scream so we went on a free non copyright website www.soundfxnow.com the screams on this website were very comical and did not suit our genre of film. We were finally led to www.youtube.com where we typed in the search engine Free male screams. When we finally found a suitable scream we used a youtube converter to get the sound effect on to imovie. In one of the clips we had no other choice but to use subtitles as the characters voices were not clear enough. As we are trying to create the image that our film is all homemade we would not be able to go back on ours selves and re-shoot. It also mimics Paranormal Activity which was one of our chosen film based genre.

Change of cast

Our victim (Max) was unable to make our second day of filming, so we had to find a new available actor to take his place. The new victim will be Drew Russon.

Problems

When editing we noticed that the camera appeared to be shaking this was down too automatic stabilisation on the camera.

Day 2 of recording

Today we recorded our opening scene at Frans house. Firstly we decorated the house by using plastic sheets and taped them on the living room door way with blue industrial tape, we did the same but on the ceiling of the stairs so it hung down on the stairway. We made the fake blood recipe and recored using the camera, whilst doing this we did a little lighting experiment which made the certain colours turn green this happened because we had put it into nightmode.

Before we started filming we sat down and discussed what we would like to film first and if anyone had any ideas to incorporate into our 2 minute opening. We came up with shots of a dead body on the stairs which kind of shows that the two girls do not keep their strange hobby a secret. Also we wanted to do a scene in the bath where there would be blood all over the walls and a dead body in the bath. 

We began filming about 3 o'clock and finished at 6.

Tapping the plastic sheets to the door ways and on the cieling of the stairs. 

This is the end product of what our doorways looked like when they had the bloody hand prints and the slits in them. Although you can see the blue tape here in the shots we did not use the camera high enough so these tapes could be seen.


After we had re-planned and organised shots we began shooting the previous scripted opening, we had trouble shooting this scene as we began filming in the day and while we got perfect lighting inside the house opening the front door and allowing natural light into the scene it create automatic exposure, we would try to fix this during editing. 

As we wanted this 'hidden camera' affect running throughout our film we had to stand up on high surfaces with the camera on the tripod holding the tripod up in the air to give the impression the camera's were hidden around the house, however we struggled to do these shots as shaking accured and we had to re-take the shots until the shaking was minimised and we got the best possible shots we could. 

Editing part 2

As we now have the static on imovie we can start editing properly. So we put the static at the beginning of the time line and then inserted all the clips we had cut in the previous editing lesson. Also adding to the static effect we added  walkie talkie sound effect as that created a static sound.  We added a raster effect to our hospital scenes to make it look like a security camera. Still photos were later added, which were from a non copyright website, in between the clips with a fade to white transition and a Camera shutter sound effect. This created a photo being taken effect. Some of the photos were on the screen for two long so we had to shorten the duration of the clip as we only have two minutes and we still have some filming left to do. The walkie talkie sound clip was loud compared to the hospital clips either side of it so we turned up the audio volume. Hard light effect was added to the still photo of the leg as it defined the photo and made the leg stand out more, also we change the saturation and brightness of the as it was overly exposed. Me and Fran came across a big problem when we accidentally deleted a clip and when we brought it back out the trash and into imovie it seemed to gain a crackly background noise, so we turned the clips volume down completely but this meant that we would have to do a voice recording of my scene as there is no longer any sound. Moving further into the editing process we added the raster effect to the scene where my character freaks out, we also sped up the clip to make it more effective. Finally we edited all that we could with the clips that we had so far and decided to make a start on the opening titles. Putting the title onto fireworks and then prints crening the scene where we would like the titles to go and the copying that also into fireworks. We merged the two pictures together.

Editing

We started our editing on Thursday but we could only change the speed and colour of the clips as we were waiting for our static clip from youtube to dowload on the macs. The download took up all three periods, so we had to do what we could without the static. Monday afternoon we carried on editing but found more difficulties when we couldnt import the static clip into imovie. By the end of the lesson we managed to get the static into imovie and will continue this Thursday.

Day 1 of recording

Today we planned on recording in the Medical Room at the Northwood Campus but there was an exam in the hall, this meant we were unable to record in our planned location. The Foxley Campus also have a Medical Room that was available for us to record in.

As we only had one costume we had to record all of our lines in one shot, which will later be cut and edited to make it look liked the two characters are having a conversation. We then recored short clips that we want to add in-between the conversation such as: laughing, close up shots of eyes and the characters acting strangely. For my laughing scene we had some difficulties as i couldn't laugh seriously, so we had to leave the camera running for a good 15mins whilst Fran tried to make me laugh.


We tried our best to use different shots so we didn't have the same static shot. Some of the shots were extremely difficult because we wanted to create a shot that looked a security camera. This meant that Fran had to hold the camera really high at an awkward angle and sometimes the shots were shaky. But Overall we had a really good 1st day of filming.

Script for opening interview scene

As stated in previous posts our script will be very minimal because it suits the mysterious theme. Kate and Sarah will seem to be having a conversation together when in actually fact they are being interviewed by a therapist. 



Kate : (Laughing)
Sarah: They deserved it
Kate: Plus it was fun.
Sarah: They weren't people, we made them better. (Smiles)
Kate: They needed to perish.
Sarah: (Laughing)
Sarah: (Laughing)


We will create a static effect on the macs to put before the interview to create video tape look. This is what we will aim to achieve.

Final opening titles designs

Film Title

Production companies 

Shooting script changes

In my previous post i explained that we would be filming in the dark but after looking at our cameras we discovered that we wouldn't be able to take high quality shots at night so we changed the shooting script to shoot in the day time near dusk. As well as changing the time of shooting from night to day we also decided that it would be best to shoot from a point where the camera was already hidden when the victim and Sarah arrived, this was because when practicing our shots the opening of looking through the window looked messy and low quality.

During Half-Term

Our destination for our 2 minute opening will be at Frans house. We will need to film at night, so to avoid any problems we booked out a camera in half term and did a lighting test. We will be filming outside Frans front door, Living room, Hallway and Kitchen. Out side the front door we would like a dim light so we are able to see the characters faces but a dark surrounding background, we are using the porch light which is on the wall outside. In the living room we want it completely dark with only a green sort of light on Fran's face. The dining room had perfect lighting already fitted.

Casting and Location

Casting 
Kate: Natalie Jennings
Sarah: Francesca Harris
Victim: Max Winnall


These are our three main characters, but we also want too add a few extras that wont have speaking parts but will act as dead people and will be scattered around the the house. They will be previous victims that Kate and Sarah have killed. Leaving them around the house will also give the impression that Kate and Sarah are very open in their killing spree.


Possible extras
Jennifer Love

Jodie Nicholls

Location
Firstly we will film in the Medical Room at the North East Academy, Northwood Campus. We have chosen this location as its easily accessible to our group as this our home Campus. Also we are trying to create the impression that the two main characters are in a mental institute, the nurses room has neutral walls and a bed this will suite our idea as a mental institute as it has to be very basic so the patients cant hurt themselves. Our second setting will be in Frans house for no particular reason but again its easily accessible to all.


The Medical Room

Props

Costumes 
Our film opens with the two main characters being interviewed in a mental health institute. They will need to be wearing the correct  costume as the audience may not realise where the scene is taking place. The best costume would be a hospital patient gown as that would be really effective. Although the hospital gown is a great idea it has been very hard to get hold of one with no fee, so we will be using a blue pyjama shirt.


As the film continues it will show the pair in action, for this they will wear average clothes such as jeans and tshirts. This will show the audience that people are not all as they seem.


Fake blood
In our film some of the characters will be covered in blood, but as we have no money for the film we wont be able to buy fake blood we will have to make it with everyday ingredients. The fake blood recipe will also have to be non toxic and stain free. This will allow us to be more experimentive with the blood.

Shot Planning

Shot one

Lighting will be dark nothing to be seen, all to be heard is breathing. The sound of the door makes Sarah pick the camera up and position it to look through the window and see Kate and the victim.

Shot two
Sarah moves away from the curtain and hides the camera in the hallway. Close up shot of Sarah’s face.

Shot three
The camera see’s Sarah open the door to Kate and the victim who are standing on the doorstep.  High shot.

Shot four
Sarah makes way for the victim as Kate quickly grabs a weapon and hits the victim on the head. High shot.

Shot five
Victim falls into Sarah who then stumbles over and Kate shuts the door. High shot.

Shot six
Sarah falls into the camera after catching the victim. Camera cuts out.

Production and Development

We researched the website www.imdb.com and found an up to date horror film called "Playback(II)" which is very similar to our genre choice. It includes fast paced cutting scenes and a homemade movie feel to it which is what we would like add to our 2 minute film opening. As this film is going to be released this current year it will be more useful for market research as they may explore new ways of promoting the film.

The Trailer

Playback (II) has been released in the USA and the certification rating was R (Bloody violence, sexual content/nudity and some teen partying). At the beginning of the trailer it says "UNDER 17 REQUIRES ACCOMPANYING PARENT OR ADULT GUARDIAN" so over here in the UK I think the film would be certified as a 15. This is also the audience that we would like to target, as they are the most popular target audience which will bring us more viewers. Also some of our scenes may appear to graphic for younger viewers.

This is the only information we can find out on the film playback. My group will have to find a new film to research as this film has not been released in the UK yet.

Opening Titles Ideas

After watching previous students clips me and Fran have decided that we would like to have our opening titles at the end of the 2 minute opening as we feel it would be more effective. We researched fonts on the website www.dafont.com and this is what we found.

Film Title

Production Companies

Here are our two different styles for our two different production companies.

Storyboards

A storyboard is the best form of planning as our script will be basic and minimal. We researched different storyboard artists and came across Martin Scorsese who directed Taxi Driver. His video helped us realise how drawn pictures can be turned into real life camera shots. Our storyboard will need to be descriptive and to the point as i mentioned our script will mainly be improvised.

Our storyboard

This is our storyboard so far, we have not yet planned the interview that 

our two characters will take place in. The storyboard shows the opening scene of our film. 

Research into target audience and production development and advertising

We used the Internet and came across a blog by Joshua Reeves, he looked at the horror film genre and discovered that 48% of horror film lovers are 18-24, however there isn't a prominent difference between sex. If this age group was ignored when producing and advertising a horror film the film would lose a massive amount of revenue, finding your target audience and advertising the film to suit your target audience is where the most money would come from. Although other ages could see the film this would not recover the loss of revenue from ignoring the target audience. Knowing your target audience allows you to push the themes of your film, if you are producing a horror film and know your target audience is between the ages of 18-24 you know that you can add adult themes to your film and push the boundaries of horror, using gory killings and frightening effects. 

Questionnaire on the film genre horror

We created a questionnaire asking our fellow media students what they thought of the genre horror. We did this to see if we had correctly chosen the right target audience. We asked specific questions such as why are you interested in the horror genre or not. Also we asked what is their favourite theme of horror.

We then recorded them vocing their answers.

Unit 1: Foundation Portfolio- Two minute film opening

We have been given the task of creating our own two minute film opening. So far me and my partner Fran have discussed the genre horror. We plan to base our idea around the films Paranormal Activity, Saw and Human Centipede. We have considered the idea of our characters filming it as a disturbing home movie, (Paranormal Activity) which would consist of a handheld camera been carried around showing our characters movement. In Saw we are shown scenes which include torture, we are also going to incorporate this into our opening. Minimal conversation is also another key idea we have discussed as it can make a scene seem more dramatic and intense. A rough script will be made for our opening scene but we will mainly focus on storyboarding as our genre is more of a visual film rather than a dialogue.