Preliminary Evaluation

Preliminary Evaluation 

For our preliminary task, we decided to make it a little bit more entertaining with a comical twist, rather than the traditional opening doors, walking and having a short conversation. Although it does have these basic movements we have made them more exciting for the audience.

We wanted to practice the different filming techniques, this included; our first shot, continuity to show the female actress walking up, we think this shot was successful because it showed two sides of the actress (front and back) with a simple fade. The next shot was a tracking shot of the female actress’s legs and feet as she was walking away from the camera, we noticed in our editing stages that this was poorly filmed as the camera was slightly shaky, to avoid this next time we will use a tri pod and potentially put it on something that wheels. Our next shot reflects the rule of thirds, it shows a low wide angled shot of the actress feet walking past the camera. This is through the audience seeing the foreground of the actress’s feet and the background of the landscape.

The next shot was long and wide angled, this was top help set the scene of a typical school setting, and we used the 180 degree rule to help create realism. We think this was a successful shot because the camera was steady and gave the impression that the audience were there themselves watching the actress. The editing from the current shot to the following shot flowed very well, the following shot was a match on action shot showing the actress attempting to open the door, the camera then pans up to a close up of the actors face revealing her embarrassment as she was unsuccessful. However we don't think we are going to use a similar shot as this because it was potentially unrealistic and unprofessional. The next shot is a tracking shot which follows the actress from the outside of the door, to through the door and ending on her sitting down at the table. We think this shot started off well as it flowed nicely however towards the end of the shot as the actress is about to sit down the camera was a little bit shaky. Similarly to before we would resolve this by using a tri pod on wheels.

We then used a shot reverse shot, which included a short dialogue between two characters, the camera started by looking over the shoulder of one and then changed to the other side to see the other actress. We believe this was a successful shot as the camera was steady, it flowed smoothly and looked realistic. For future reference we wouldn't film this in a busy area as the sound sometimes muffles. Our last shot was high angled to show both female actresses laughing, this is possible something we could use in our film to show the dominance of the stalker/ killer figure looking down on the victims. 

Preliminary Task: Video

Preliminary Task: Video

This is our video based off our story board. The purpose was to use different techniques that could be used within our main project. It helped us see what would work and what types of shots and angles had the most effect.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZqScw2z7d-0

Film Title Font Research

Film Title Font Research:

After deciding on our title being ‘Everlasting Journey’, we had to decide on the type of font we wanted for our film title, for the opening of the film.

First of all we looked through: https://onlinetextgenerat

or.com/horror-scary-text-font-generator

The options were limited but these were the options:

As a group, we decided that the third option of font was the best, this was because it has a creepy effect, as it looks like there is blood coming off it, or as if the text had been written in blood. We could also change the colour of the font, as this will create more of an effect, such as actual blood dripping. This would then be a convention of the horror genre, as it would open with blood and gore.

The first text was too gothic, this was also too hard to read. This therefore wouldn’t create a great effect as the audience wouldn’t know the title properly. The second one had the same problem, also the text is too small and clumped together. The last font, wasn’t appropriate as it wasn’t bold enough to be seen and we may want to put other effects on it or around it. 

Soundtrack Research – Non-copyright music

Soundtrack Research – Non-copyright music:

We couldn’t link any MP3/MP4 music to the blog. However, researching on YouTube, we found, as a group a selection of song that could be appropriate for the opening. We decided to choose a base song, then we can always add on footstep sounds and train sounds over the top. Our only problems with choosing the music is the copyright issue, we just had to make sure that everything is copyright free.

This piece is ‘Scary Horror Music’ – (Haunted):

This first piece, has a slow tempo with an eerie, mystical sound. Which suddenly changes to a loud chord on the piano, this could shock the audience as it is very sudden, it also increases tension as the tempo increases slightly, making the audience think something is about to happen.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZOrxwqvfD2E

The second piece we looked into was Horror Aftermath:

This piece immediately caught my eye due to its title and it would make sense due to our story line. However, after listening to it and reviewing it, we came to the conclusion that is was too quiet and wouldn’t have much of an impact on the audience which, as a group we discussed that we would like.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WTknIOiei5c&list=PLDcPimbLEWH_w_l05-0Yt25qP2pjqv9Z4

One of the selection is ‘One way or another’ (‘Stalker Episode’) –

This is our favourite one as it directly relates to the opening of our film, and as soon as we heard it, we all agreed that this would fit well. It is slow as we wanted, as it shows a lack of action, as the action has already happened. It shows victory for the killer, yet defeat for the victims. The lyrics ‘one way or another, I’m gonna get you’ also is appropriate as one victim gets away, this infers that there will be a sequel as the killer hasn’t completely finished his business.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xOCDUQ2zuXE&list=PLXvGOOr38M9EKPzQ8xv0JoyEgvHr3eSdy&index=8

Overall, we decided that the ‘One way or another’ (‘Stalker Episode’) would be the best, due to the song being well known so it would make the audience feel involved, but also it is creepy as it has a slow twist put on it with a deep voice, this makes the song sound eerie and makes the audience feel as if they’re a part of the film. 

Preliminary Task: Production

Preliminary Task: Production

1.                   Planning our short story (05/12/16)

2.                   Writing our script (05/12/16)

3.                   Writing our shot list (05/12/16)

4.                   Creating a storyboard (05/12/16)

5.                   Using our storyboard to demonstrate what our film will be like in a video (08/12/16)

6.                   Filming our footage (08/12/16)

7.                   Uploading them from the camera and giving them appropriate names (08/12/16)

8.                   Editing the footage together to make our video.

Preliminary Task: Storyboard

Preliminary Task: Storyboard

This is our storyboard for our preliminary task. We ensured to use all types of shots in our video to help develop our skills for when we capture the footage for our film.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f7FNeCVcpR0

Naming our Film

Naming our Film:

For our name of film research, we came up with 5 possible titles (long and short) with different meanings. We used these 5 possible titles in a questionnaire to see what are audience thought was the most exciting and relatable to film. 

The results showed that 9 out of 15 people voted for 'Everlasting journey'. We believe this is because it is a unique, intriguing and mysterious title for a film. It doesn't give too much away and isn't short and snappy, somewhere in the middle. 

Film Treatment

Film Treatment

Our working title is ‘the everlasting journey’, which briefly summaries the ongoing chain of unlikely and torturous events that a group of young teenagers witness during a train trip. We have chosen a group of teenagers (2 boys and 2 girls) as our main characters because they are relatable to our target audience/ certificate rating also they are easy to victimise and present in a vulnerable manner. Our film opens with a flash forward to the end of the film, our reasons for this is to engage the audience immediately and add many enigma codes to make the viewers question what has caused this situation to occur. Within this scene we will entice the audience by showing those short cuts and close ups of the victim’s injuries, shots of the killer without identifying their face or who they are and a brief introduction to each character/ their storyline. After this scene there will be a short burst of clips taking the audience back to the start of the film, where they see the teenagers arriving as the station and interacting with one another in a positive way not knowing what’s going to happen and their destiny this train will take them on. This use of dramatic irony will encourage the audience to keep watching as they feel like they know what’s going to happen but they don't know why. 

Preliminary Task: Script

Preliminary Task: Script

‘Walking on sunshine’ plays (sarcastically) and appears to be coming from her headphones.

[Shot of girl walking up towards the building, pathway is a third of the way up the screen]

[Close up of her legs/feet as she is walking]

[A medium shot of her approach to the door and lifting her arm to open it]

[A match on action shot of her trying to open the door]

 [Close up shot as she turns her face towards the and reveals her embarrassed expression as the door doesn’t open]

‘Bad day’ begins to play

[eye rolls at the camera for the predictability of the diegetic sound- breaks the fourth wall]

[Medium shot of her moving along the door to find another door and opening it]

[Long shot tracking her from the inside of the building as she walks towards her friends. The shot continues as she sits down and she removes her earphones

[Over the shoulder shot from girl 2 to the girl 1 – Use the 30⁰ rule at this point]

GIRL 1: Awks lol

[Over the shoulder shot back from girl 1 to girl 2]

GIRL 2: That always happens to you!

GIRL 1&2: {laughing}

[High and diagonal angle captures their laughter as the shot fades out]

Additional Photos and Description of Our Chosen Setting

Additional Photos and Description of our Chosen Setting:

The photos below show more of our main setting which is Stoneleigh station. 

This image shows the waiting room which we will potentially use as one place to show a dead body or for one of the victims who are hiding. This is good because the room is quite small and will exaggerate the feeling of the victim being trapped and make the audience feel uncomfortable.

This image shows a longer shot of Stoneleigh station, it highlights two platforms separated by a stretch of grass with street lamps all the way up. At a night time this will be a much spookier setting as it darker and there is less people getting the train. 

Consideration of representation in our film and stereotyping

Consideration of representation in our film and stereotyping:

Grace Sullivan (Girl teenager 1) -
 

We have known Grace since she was around 6 years old, we grew up with her and know her attributes and qualities very well. She is very attractive, tall, and skinny and has long brown hair which can be styled easily for her to fit any role. We choose her as our main actress as she would appeal too many of our male viewers. She is also very active and has played netball at county level for Surrey as well as doing gymnastics and dance for many years. This will help her in her role if we ask her to do anything physically straining eg. chase scenes. She also has experience with acting as she studied it at GCSE and achieved an A grade and continues to study it at A level. Within her GCSE performance she played a variety of roles and one of them involved being a stereotypical teenager. This is some of the reasons why we have chosen her to be our main actress, we see her as a well skilled/ rounded actress who will suit the role we have chosen her for. From the photo to the side you can see more of a full body image of Grace before her prom.

Our main characters (2 boys and 2 girls) involve teenagers aged between 16 to 17, we as a group and the media mainly present a typical teenager as rebellious and arrogant, for example this is presented in the TV program 'Waterloo road'. In particular teenage girls are stereotypically presented in the media as either sassy, popular and often socialites for example like the character Regina George in the film 'Mean girls'. Grace will reinforce the stereotypical teenage girl as she will act with a similar manner as any other 'mean girl/ socialite'. She will act superior and show attitude when talking to the other characters within the film, she will most likely want to be the centre of attention but will rely on others when in danger. However the media and in many horror films girls are often presented as the 'damsel in distress' (weak and vulnerable) seeking help or to be saved. For example in the horror film 'Scream' they have used a dumb blonde female as the victim (Tatum Riley), this theory is also supported by the book 'Studying the media an introduction' by Tim O'Sullivan and Co, which states the dumb blonde stereotype might include - blondness, seductive body language and strong makeup" (Page 129).

Overall we believe Grace will be perfect for the role as she holds the skills to present herself as a typical teenage girl as well as make herself look vulnerable and innocent when involved in the more tense, horrifying and graphic scenes. 

Script and Shot List: Everlasting Journey

Script and Shot list

***Scene 1***

[Opening Shot: Train pulls into the station and the shot stays facing directly straight forwards as it pulls up. Train doors opening at Stoneleigh Station and revealing the body of a possessed looking teenage girl lying in blood on the floor. The camera should appear to flicker and during this time a close up should appear on the screen for a tiny period of time (to be decided during the filming process.) The whole shot should be filmed on a tripod and there should be no camera movement until the train doors have shut again. This shot should be prolonged on purpose for essentially the duration of a train stopping. Other footage can be edited in here of close ups of blood and the girls eyes who could have spooky contact lenses in. This shot should be silent. There could be the enhanced sound of trains moving though.]

{Teenage Girl 1 stretches her hand out towards the door pleading just as the doors begin closing}

[The shot that has been still throughout the first period of time should then pan down towards the floor and capture the blood stained shoes of the killer/stalker/murderer.]

{Murderer drops knife covered in blood onto the floor}

[Match on action shot captures the knife from ground level as it hits the floor. Enhanced diegetic sound of a knife being dropped]

[Close up and extreme close up of knife edited quickly together]

 [Murderer carries on filming from his perspective and carries the camera around the station]

[Close up shots of scars and appearance of other victims at the station all located at different points:

-Teenage Girl 2: tied up on station platform sign

[Over the shoulder shot of murderer talking to girl tied up and her facial expressions are captured as she appears to be screaming and frightened. Murderer has frayed, cut rope in his hand.]

-Teenage Boy 2: waiting room dead

 [blurry shots approaching dead person who has a petrol can next to them and water on the floor to appear like he has had petrol poured on him. Match on action shot from side angle of murderer to a match being striken. Low angle shot as the match is being dropped and then cuts to black before you see it hit the ground.]

{Teenage boy 1 begins running into the distance and camera stays still as he gets smaller as he walks away whilst lights automatically turn on as he runs underneath them. This would leave a main character alive to potentially create a sequel.]

 [Last shot is of murderer looking at his watch]

***Scene 2***

 [Teenage boy 1 looking at his watch in daytime at exactly the same spot. Train is going past in the background to demonstrate normality]

{actors laughing and joking on the train platform}

 OI OI

 ALRIGHT MATE

*SPUD*

 BUZZING

[close up shots of actors on train, happy. They don’t know they are being filmed. Camera is shaking with the movement of the train. Focus should shift in and out slightly to create and enigma code of something happening.]

 [Last shot is of teenage girl 1 as doors close behind her and she turns around smiling.]

To Do List - 1.0- (Until the end of 2016)

To Do List - 1.0

 We have many tasks that we wish to complete before the Christmas holidays begin so that we can film during this break. To assist with our time management, we have written a list of tasks for each member of our team to do and a deadline in which they need to have it uploaded by. These are as follows:

Eloise

1. Consideration of representation in our film and stereotyping (03/12/16)
2. Take photos of Stoneleigh station (03/12/16)
3. Film Treatment (09/12/16)
4. Name of film (09/12/16)

Katie 

(Needs to complete personal task of camera angle research)

1. Soundtrack research (09/12/16)
2. Font research (for titles) (09/12/16)

Gemma

1. Script (09/12/16)
2. Shot list (09/12/16)
3. Film Treatment (09/12/16)
4. Take photos of Stoneleigh station (03/12/16)

Influences on Production

Influences on Production

Character Influences - We gained the idea for our characters from the typical teenage friendship groups that you would see in a school environment. These characters can also be seen in films such as ‘10 Things I Hate About You’ and ‘Not Just Another Teenage Movie’ which had an influence on us to gage our characters. However, we are not going to overdo the stereotypes that are seen in these films, just maintain them at a relatable level. The benefit of this is that our characters are relatable, so our target market of 15+ teenagers would be more interested in seeing our film. It also meant that casting our actors would be easier as we were less concerned about their acting skills but more their personality traits.

Storyline Influences – We developed our storyline from a ghost story that a member of our group was once told by their scout leader. It involved an underground train being crushed by the ground above it. As soon as we had this idea of a train station we began researching into horror films with similar settings. For example, ‘Creep’ was set in a London Underground, like we wished for ours to be, and they had a horror, gory storyline to co-corporate with their setting. This made us aware that this sort of idea was possible so we all brought together our own individual ideas and wrote out a rough plan together of what we could do and it appeared to work.

Sound Influences – Our main sound, which will be heard throughout our opening to our horror film, will be non-diegetic music with violins and other creepy instruments. We were influenced by the majority of the horror market to incorporate this style of music as it created an eerie atmosphere. One particular film that uses this music is ‘A Nightmare on Elm Street’. The lack of diegetic on screen sound to be heard will confuse the audience, especially if they can see the origin of a silent sound.

Camera shots – We have been inspired by many horror films to use abstract camera shots that include the actors holding the camera themselves, slanted camera angles, unsteady camera shots and more. One of our main inspirations was Alfred Hitchcock’s ‘The Hitchcock Zoom’ (or ‘The Vertigo Effect’ as it is otherwise known). This shot involves the camera zooming into a subject while simultaneously dollying (tracking) backwards (i.e. in the exact opposite direction). We love the confused psychpological effect that we have seen it take in films such as Jaws and have aspired to use shots alike in our own creation.

Editing Techniques – We have been inspired by multiple horror films to edit our film in a way in which it scares the audience and compliments our style of footage. For example, we are going to use slow motion editing effects on our footage so that the audience know that something dramatic is going to happen. We are also going to use splicing (a series of fast shots together) so that it builds tension and shocks the audience due to the sudden change of style of editing. Films that have inspired us to do this as they use a similar technique are 'Paranormal Activity' during some parts.

Mise-en-scene – We have been inspired by films like 'Dawn of the Dead' to use high levels of gore to frighten our audience and make them feel like they cant watch. Although you won't see the cause of the injury during the opening scene, there will be a high level of focus on the blood and gore itself after the event. Furthermore, the setting of a train platform may make people think about death due to stories heard in the media about suicide etc, the connotations of this setting will help to build our atmosphere. Films that have inspired this setting are ones i have mentioned previously in this post, such as 'creep'. 

Enigma Codes – We create enigma codes in our opening by beginning with the result of the action and leaving it unknown what the cause is. This creates an enigma code as the audience want to know what has caused the injuries. Films that do this include 'Final Destination'.

Horror and Thriller Directors

Horror and Thriller Directors

John Carpenter: Who else could inspire us more than the legendary director of the film 'Halloween'. This old time horror classic demonstrates all the typical conventions of a horror film, from the creepy music to the unknown killer and we will replicate many of his techniques within our horror opening. Specifically, we like his technique of using long shots and lengthy pauses to scare the audience rather than the predictable use of gore and fast editing.

Researching Rules of Filming

Researching Rules of Filming:

The 180 rule:

This rule if a guideline from cinematography that states that two characters should maintain the same life or right relationship to each other. The camera shot shouldn’t cross the two subjects otherwise it is crossing the line and the shot becomes a reverse angle.

Shot reverse shot:

This is a film technique where one character is looking at another, this tends to be off screen, or the characters could be sitting face to face. Since the characters are shown facing opposite directions, the view probably assumes that they’re looking at each other.

The 30 degree rule:

This rule is a basic film editing guideline that states the camera should move at least 30 degrees between shots of the same subject. This is changing the shot distance from medium shot to close up to extreme close up shot. It is a change of perspectives which makes the shots different enough to avoid a sudden jump cut.

Match on action:

This refers to the film editing techniques, this is when the editor of the film cuts from one shot to another view which matches the first shot action. An example is someone walking up to a door and reaching for the handle and opening it. The camera would then zoom and show the action of the person’s hand.

Rule of thirds: 

This rule is a concept in video and film productions, where the frame is divided into 9 sections which are imaginary. These sections creates reference points which act as guides for framing the image.

Continuity:

This rule is in the editing process in the creation of a film, it combines related shots into a sequence. This is to direct the viewers’ attention to a pre-existing consistency of story across both time and physical location.