Targets: Upload the Costume and location research – google earth and pictures you’ve taken. (At least 2 posts)
During the lesson on Tuesday and this week - watch Online Tutorials and experiment with Adobe. Then create a post on how the Tutorial impacted your editing and how it has helped you. Create practise titles and upload and evaluate them. Also, create an animatic storyboard.
Focus on completing a post a day on the Planning Section of the To Do List - mood board, script and the Codes and Conventions in your Opening Two Minute Clip so that you meet the deadline.
Sunday, 19 January 2014
Saturday, 18 January 2014
Film Brainstorm
These are our ideas for our film. Most of them we have adhered to such as, terrifying screams, deserted woods, female victim, surprise attack, identity of murderer hidden, murderer, shots through trees and blood. However some we couldn't adhere to such as darkness. We could not have darkness in our opening because of the little filming time we would of had. So as a group, we made the decision to film in the light which would increase filming time and allow clearer shots.
Time Management Schedule
After deciding that the genre for our film would be horror we starting arranging times to film. As it was a horror we decided that we would need to film when the lighting was fairly dark so it would create a scary atmosphere. On our first day of filming we went out at about 4:15pm on Monday to film. Upon arrival at our designated destination we began filming. As this was our first day of filming we weren't entirely sure about what we were doing because we were only just getting used to the camera. This meant that it took a lot longer than we thought and we had to call it a day fairly shortly after we began filming. We had to stop filming because it got too dark to film and we could not see anything through the camera. A few days later we decided to go out again and film. We went at about 4:15 again and began filming, but again, we had to stop relatively shortly after as it got too dark. We realised that this was a big problem for us. As it got dark at around half 4 and we only get back from school at 4 we only really had a half an hour window to film, sometimes not even that. Due to other commitments we were only really able to film on weekdays which was not very practical as we would only have half an hour slots to film and we would only get this half an hour slot once or twice a week. This meant we were very limited on our filming time so when we did have the time to film we would end up rushing through the filming which then ended up in the scenes not looking very good. After watching the scenes we had filmed we realised it did not look very good and came to the decision that we should begin filming again. Obviously there would be no point filming in the same conditions as before so we decided to completely change our idea. We came to an agreement to film in the light so we would have an extremely significant amount of time longer to film. This then meant that we did not have to rush our filming and also the shot types we would be using will be much clearer. Also, because we are now going to be filming in the light it means that we will be able to stay out filming for longer so it will be easier to keep track of the shot types and hopefully everything will flow more. However, we are still faced with the problem of it getting dark fairly early and weekends are not an option for us. This means we are going to have to use our media lessons and our free lessons to film. We have decided that we are going to film on Wednesday 5th February at around 8.30am. We have chosen this time slot to film in as Abbie and I and our actors are available then as we all have two hours free in the morning. This is a good time to film as we will have no problems with the lighting as it will not be getting dark as we are filming in the morning. Despite the fact that there will be no lighting problems, there is still the problem of rain. It has been raining a lot recently and if it is raining on Wednesday, our filming day, then it means we will have to postpone our filming. This would be a real set- back for us because we are already behind on filming enough as it is so Wednesday really is our last chance to film. If it does rain then we have decided to go ahead and film in the rain unless it is raining really heavily then we will have to reschedule.
Own Film Treatment
The beginning of our film opens with four friends walking away from a train station after being on a day out together. We have decided to use this as our opening shot because it shows the audience that they are all very close friends as they have all gone out together. They then split off different ways, two friends walking through the woods and two walking in the opposite direction. We have decided to use this particular scene in our film because we wanted to show the audience that the friends do not go in the same direction and that they do not expect to see each other again for the day.
As we get into the middle of our film opening we see the two friends walking through the woods having a general chat. We have used this scene because we want to show the audience that the friends have no idea what is about to happen. We then begin to see that other people are in the woods with them but they don't want to be seen as we see them sneaking through the woods. During this scene the audience aren't actually shown the identity of the people following them. This leaves suspense as the characters walking through the woods and the audience have no idea who the mysterious people might be. As the friends then realise that someone else is in the woods, watching them, they begin to panic. However before they have the chance to panic too much we realise it is just their two friends playing a practical joke on them. The friends all laugh about it and then continue walking through the woods.
The two friends who played the practical joke then run on ahead for another attempt to scare their friends. As they continue walking up ahead the audience are then shown shots from in the bushes which show someone is watching them. This leaves the audience feeling perhaps scared but also maybe they think that this time it is now the other two trying to scare them. This also leaves the audience with a sense of the unknowing. As the shot switches back to the two innocent friends walking through the woods we hear terrifying screams coming from the two friends. Automatically the friends assume its just them playing another practical joke on them and continue walking to find them. However when they reach their friends they find them lying dead on the floor covered in blood. The friends now realise that this isn't a joke and begin panicking. They decided to run back through the woods to try and find help. We then see the bodies being dragged into the bushes. However we don't see who they are being dragged by. This leaves the audience feeling on edge as they have absolutely no clue who has taken the bodies.On returning they find that the bodies of their friends have disappeared. This is where the opening of our film ends. We believe this is a good ending for our opening because it leaves it on a huge cliffhanger and the audience will be left with lots of unanswered questions, such as 'who did it?', 'will there be more murders', will the bodies be found', and they will assume that these questions will be answered in the rest of the film.
As we get into the middle of our film opening we see the two friends walking through the woods having a general chat. We have used this scene because we want to show the audience that the friends have no idea what is about to happen. We then begin to see that other people are in the woods with them but they don't want to be seen as we see them sneaking through the woods. During this scene the audience aren't actually shown the identity of the people following them. This leaves suspense as the characters walking through the woods and the audience have no idea who the mysterious people might be. As the friends then realise that someone else is in the woods, watching them, they begin to panic. However before they have the chance to panic too much we realise it is just their two friends playing a practical joke on them. The friends all laugh about it and then continue walking through the woods.
The two friends who played the practical joke then run on ahead for another attempt to scare their friends. As they continue walking up ahead the audience are then shown shots from in the bushes which show someone is watching them. This leaves the audience feeling perhaps scared but also maybe they think that this time it is now the other two trying to scare them. This also leaves the audience with a sense of the unknowing. As the shot switches back to the two innocent friends walking through the woods we hear terrifying screams coming from the two friends. Automatically the friends assume its just them playing another practical joke on them and continue walking to find them. However when they reach their friends they find them lying dead on the floor covered in blood. The friends now realise that this isn't a joke and begin panicking. They decided to run back through the woods to try and find help. We then see the bodies being dragged into the bushes. However we don't see who they are being dragged by. This leaves the audience feeling on edge as they have absolutely no clue who has taken the bodies.On returning they find that the bodies of their friends have disappeared. This is where the opening of our film ends. We believe this is a good ending for our opening because it leaves it on a huge cliffhanger and the audience will be left with lots of unanswered questions, such as 'who did it?', 'will there be more murders', will the bodies be found', and they will assume that these questions will be answered in the rest of the film.
Friday, 17 January 2014
Initial Plot Ideas
Our film is based on a murder in the woods. We are going to start our film by stating that a disappearance happened in these woods 13 years ago and the victims were never found. The victims are a family who went into the woods and never came out again. We will then show a young couple walking into the woods. They will speak about what happened here 13 years ago. They will both be scared however the boy will try and act like he is not scared to impress his girlfriend. As they get deeper into the woods they begin to panic as they think they hear something in the bushes. The boyfriend tries to reassure his girlfriend that there is nothing wrong however he feels something is wrong. As they are walking they hear a twig break behind them. This is when they finally decide they should get out of the woods. Just as they turn around they hear laughter from all around them. This laughter is from the family who went missing in these woods. When the couple hear the laughter the boy shouts run and they begin running back through the woods. We will then show the murderer running after the couple.
Questionnaire findings
Question One asked what the participants favourite genre film is. The options were Comedy, Romance, Action and Horror. Three of the participants opted for for Comedy, Two for Romance, Four for Action and 5 for Horror. These results have led us to the decision of definitely choosing Horror as the genre for our two minute opening to a film. The majority of the participants who took part in our questionnaire prefer Horror to Comedy, Romance and Action. This means that if we make our film genre a horror we will have a wider audience because lots of people enjoy watching horrors.
Question Two asked if the participants enjoy watching horror films. 11 out of the 14 people taking part said they do enjoy watching horror films. This therefore shows that choosing the genre of horror was the right decision because many people enjoy watching horror films so will have a big audience.
Question Three asked if participants watch horror films with friends or alone. The options were friends, alone and N/A. 12 out of the 14 people opted for friends, 2 opted for N/A and nobody opted for alone. This result shows that none of our participants would watch horror films alone.
Question Four asked where the participants would associate a horror film setting. The options were an abandoned house, woods, in their own home and a hospital. 3 people voted for an abandoned house, 8 people voted for woods, 2 people voted for in their own home and 1 person voted for a hospital. This shows that the majority of our participants associate a horror film with woods. Our original idea was to set our film in a woods and our results now back up this idea. As most people chose woods it suggests that if we filmed in a woods it would be most likely that we would have a bigger audience.
Question 5 asked if the participants preferred the victim to be male or female. 12 out of the 14 participants said they wold prefer to see a female victim. This means that our decision to give the role of the victim to a female was the right decision as the audience would prefer to see the victim being a female. This decision to use a female to play the role of the victim will increase our target audience because we are taking into consideration what they like and what they want to see. However, despite the audience wanting to see a female victim we are also using a male victim. This is perhaps something the audience isn't used to and what they are expecting. As we are subverting the usual stereotype of women being the victim it means the audience will probably be inclined to continue watching because it isn't the usual horror film which conforms to usual stereotypes and representations so it will perhaps be something the audience haven't watched before.
Question 6 asked the participants how often they watch horror films. The options were once a month, 2-3 times a month, more than 3, other and never. 3 participants chose once a month, 1 participant chose 2-3 times a month, 3 people chose more than 3, 6 people chose other and 1 person chose never. This shows that at least 7 people watch horror films at least once a month. This can be a good result as we know that the participants do actually watch horror films. However, 6 out of the 14 participants chose the option other. This isn't as helpful in our research because it could either mean that the participants watch less than 1 horror film a month or it could mean that they watch more than 3 a month but we don't know exactly how many. This is not helpful to our research because it means we don't have a clear answer as to how many times our participants watch horror films every month.
Question 7 asked the participants what lighting they expect to see in a horror film. The options were dark, light and other. 10 out of the 14 participants chose dark. Despite this, we have decided to film in the light. We made this decision because after previous filming attempts we realised we only had a short amount of time to film before it got too dark to film. This made it extremely hard to keep on track with filming because we could only film for half an hour periods each day and due to other commitments we were not able to film every day which meant we were very limited on filming time. So, in order to have significant filming times we made the decision to film in the light which meant we would have longer periods to film. Even though it is clear that the majority of the audience would prefer a dark setting we do still believe the audience may enjoy our film because it is different as it isn't conforming to the usual conventions of a horror film.
Question 8 asked the participants what props they would most likely want to see in a horror film. The options were a knife, a noose, a gun, rags with blood and other. 5 out of the 14 participants said they would want to see a knife, 1 said a noose, 3 said gun, 5 said blood with rags and nobody went for the option 'other'. This shows that the audience would most want to see a knife. Despite an equal number of people choosing the options knife and noose we have decided to use a knife as our main prop in our film. We have decided to use a knife because in our film murders take place and it would make sense if we just used a knife as it will come in more useful than a bloody rag.
Question 9 asked the participants what they would want the female victim to do when face to face with the murderer. The options were run from the murderer, hide from the murderer , fight the murderer or let the murderer kill them. 4 people went for the option run from the murderer, 9 people went for hide from the murderer, 1 person went for let the murderer kill them and nobody went for the option fight the murderer. This shows that the majority of people want to see the female victim hide from the murderer. Despite this our film does not involve the female victim being able to make this decision as she is murdered without having the time to make a decision to hide or not. This means the audience will perhaps not expect the murders to take place because it is not something that usually happens. This therefore means our films contains the element of surprise as the audience may not expect any murders to happen.
Question Two asked if the participants enjoy watching horror films. 11 out of the 14 people taking part said they do enjoy watching horror films. This therefore shows that choosing the genre of horror was the right decision because many people enjoy watching horror films so will have a big audience.
Question Three asked if participants watch horror films with friends or alone. The options were friends, alone and N/A. 12 out of the 14 people opted for friends, 2 opted for N/A and nobody opted for alone. This result shows that none of our participants would watch horror films alone.
Question Four asked where the participants would associate a horror film setting. The options were an abandoned house, woods, in their own home and a hospital. 3 people voted for an abandoned house, 8 people voted for woods, 2 people voted for in their own home and 1 person voted for a hospital. This shows that the majority of our participants associate a horror film with woods. Our original idea was to set our film in a woods and our results now back up this idea. As most people chose woods it suggests that if we filmed in a woods it would be most likely that we would have a bigger audience.
Question 5 asked if the participants preferred the victim to be male or female. 12 out of the 14 participants said they wold prefer to see a female victim. This means that our decision to give the role of the victim to a female was the right decision as the audience would prefer to see the victim being a female. This decision to use a female to play the role of the victim will increase our target audience because we are taking into consideration what they like and what they want to see. However, despite the audience wanting to see a female victim we are also using a male victim. This is perhaps something the audience isn't used to and what they are expecting. As we are subverting the usual stereotype of women being the victim it means the audience will probably be inclined to continue watching because it isn't the usual horror film which conforms to usual stereotypes and representations so it will perhaps be something the audience haven't watched before.
Question 6 asked the participants how often they watch horror films. The options were once a month, 2-3 times a month, more than 3, other and never. 3 participants chose once a month, 1 participant chose 2-3 times a month, 3 people chose more than 3, 6 people chose other and 1 person chose never. This shows that at least 7 people watch horror films at least once a month. This can be a good result as we know that the participants do actually watch horror films. However, 6 out of the 14 participants chose the option other. This isn't as helpful in our research because it could either mean that the participants watch less than 1 horror film a month or it could mean that they watch more than 3 a month but we don't know exactly how many. This is not helpful to our research because it means we don't have a clear answer as to how many times our participants watch horror films every month.
Question 7 asked the participants what lighting they expect to see in a horror film. The options were dark, light and other. 10 out of the 14 participants chose dark. Despite this, we have decided to film in the light. We made this decision because after previous filming attempts we realised we only had a short amount of time to film before it got too dark to film. This made it extremely hard to keep on track with filming because we could only film for half an hour periods each day and due to other commitments we were not able to film every day which meant we were very limited on filming time. So, in order to have significant filming times we made the decision to film in the light which meant we would have longer periods to film. Even though it is clear that the majority of the audience would prefer a dark setting we do still believe the audience may enjoy our film because it is different as it isn't conforming to the usual conventions of a horror film.
Question 8 asked the participants what props they would most likely want to see in a horror film. The options were a knife, a noose, a gun, rags with blood and other. 5 out of the 14 participants said they would want to see a knife, 1 said a noose, 3 said gun, 5 said blood with rags and nobody went for the option 'other'. This shows that the audience would most want to see a knife. Despite an equal number of people choosing the options knife and noose we have decided to use a knife as our main prop in our film. We have decided to use a knife because in our film murders take place and it would make sense if we just used a knife as it will come in more useful than a bloody rag.
Question 9 asked the participants what they would want the female victim to do when face to face with the murderer. The options were run from the murderer, hide from the murderer , fight the murderer or let the murderer kill them. 4 people went for the option run from the murderer, 9 people went for hide from the murderer, 1 person went for let the murderer kill them and nobody went for the option fight the murderer. This shows that the majority of people want to see the female victim hide from the murderer. Despite this our film does not involve the female victim being able to make this decision as she is murdered without having the time to make a decision to hide or not. This means the audience will perhaps not expect the murders to take place because it is not something that usually happens. This therefore means our films contains the element of surprise as the audience may not expect any murders to happen.
Tuesday, 14 January 2014
Targets
After completing the blog check list it has come to my attention that I haven't included nearly as much detail as I should of done. This therefore means that it is hard to use the blogs to my advantage. When trying to decide on all the different aspects of our film such as plot, certificate, props and character costumes it took a lot longer than necessary. This was because we had such a lack of detail in our posts which therefore meant we had to go and find more information about what we needed. This was extremely time consuming. If we had completed our blog posts in a sufficient amount of detail in the first place then we wouldn't need to go back and do more research. Doing this extra research due to the lack of detail meant we were wasting crucial hours of filming. As our film is a horror film we needed to film when it was dark. However, it was not possible to film when it got too dark because you could not see the characters faces. This meant the only window we had to film was around 4.00-4.30pm as this is when it begins to get dark. As we only have a half an hour time slot in which we must film it means we have to be extremely promt when filming in order to get a sufficient amount done. This therefore means that we cannot waste time doing extra research as doing this will mean it will get too dark to film.
Blog Check List
Done?
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Comment?
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RESEARCH
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Genre Research and mind-maps (3 posts)
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YES
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Uploaded YouTube videos of openings – analysed (10
openings)
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NO
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I need to do one more
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Opening titles analysed in detail – font researched
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YES
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Uploaded YouTube videos of similar genre openings analysed
in detail (3 posts)
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YES
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Costume and location research – google earth and pictures
you’ve taken. (At least 2 posts)
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YES
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Actors and props photos and interviews
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NO
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Soundtrack research (non-copyright music)
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YES
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Audience Research and Profiling (typical audience member
and similar films)
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YES
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Institution research (Paramount etc)
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YES
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Certificate research
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YES
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PLANNING
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Own film idea brainstorm
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YES
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Own film treatment
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Relevant Online Tutorials (on filming and editing) and
Comments (At least 2 posts)
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YES
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Documenting of influences on production
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YES
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Shot lists
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NO
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Haven’t started yet
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Consideration of representation in your film and
stereotyping – use theory from G325.
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YES
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Questionnaire (and feedback) Get some feedback on your
initial ideas!
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YES
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Diary of
filming/editing etc with photos and screen grabs (At least 3 posts)
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Mood board
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YES
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Script
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NO
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Practice titles created and uploaded
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YES
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Storyboard – animatic.
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NO | |
Time Management Schedule – what you did& when,
problems you encountered& solved
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YES
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Codes and Conventions featured in your Opening Two Minutes
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NO
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We have not finished filming yet
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Ensure that all posts have a title, detailed comments and
relevant pictures which are commented on.
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YES
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