HG: 0067 - Final production and preliminary task

Final Production :

Preliminary Task:

Evaluation:
Evaluation

Research:
Audience Research
Technical Analysis
Analysing a Title Sequence
Analysing a Opening Sequence
Institutional Context
Research in to Horror and Thriller

Planning :
Treatment
Pitch
Storyboard
Initial Ideas

LLM: 0099 - final production and preliminary task

Final Production:

Preliminary Task:

Evaluation:

Question 1:


Question 2:


Question 3:


Questions 4 & 5:


Question 6:


Question 7:

 

 

 

Research and Planning - Blog posts

 

Research:

 

Technical analysis

Analysis of Title sequence

Deconstruction of opening sequence  

Audience Research

 

Planning:

 

Concept development

Call sheet and risk assessment - Wilderness woods

Wilderness woods short

Production log

Concept development #2

Treatment

Pitch

Animatic

Risk assessment and call sheet

Reflection on shoot 1

Editing - Progress and draft

Reflection on shoot 2

Reflection on lesson

Rough cut

H.G . 0067. Evauluation

Question 1 + 2





Question 3
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Question 4 +5




Question 6

LLM and HG: Rough Cut

 

 

Strengths:

• Style of shots in the kitchen scene
• The continuity editing throughout the sequence
• Parallel lines of action at the beginning, between the antagonist in the house and the male protagonist walking home
• The fade of the radio to the song and from when the song cuts in the kitchen scene

Ways to improve:

• The sequence is a bit to long to begin with, so we need to go through it and cut parts we feel we don't necessarily need
• In the shot of the antagonists point of view, we have cut a little too late where the effect has gone before we have moved onto the next shot
• More sound needs to be added, to build up tension and anchor some shots

H.G: Reflection on Shoot 2

When and where was the shoot?

• This shoot took place on the 14th of January 2016.
• It was filmed from 4pm until 6pm
• Like the last shoot it was filmed at Louis house which is located In Sevenoaks, Riverhead.

What Scenes were you focusing on

•  We were particularly focusing on the parallel line of action with the protagonist walking home and with the antagonist lurking in the protagonists house. We needed to make sure that the shots followed the 180 degree rule and also try and use individual shots to help explain the parallel line of action

What was your individual contribution to the shoot?

•  When the protagonist was walking home I took the role of camera man as Louis was the actor in this part of the parallel line of action
• This changed when Louis became the camera man and took the role of the antagonist ( the other side of the parallel line of action

What do you think worked particularly well?

•  In the previous shoot it was slightly to light, so this time we filmed a little later in the day and think when looking at this on the time line it looks a lot more effective.
• I also think the antagonist wearing all black looks more conventional of the horror genre then before wearing normal clothes as it didn't really fit in with the action

What were the challenges of this particular shoot?

• A challenge we faced in this shoot was timing when to shoot as if it got too dark then the footage would be to dark and graining and would be useless.
• Another challenge we over came was using the track and dolly; we had to try time it perfectly so the protagonist walked past it and then revealed the house in the same shoot. 

LLM and HG: Reflection on todays lesson

Some feedback on our groups footage so far, and what happens next:

• In todays lesson we discussed with our peers and teachers a way of improving the footage we have filmed so far.
• Firstly, the problem recognised is the change in time and light from the scene of the walk home, the scene filmed in the house. The reason behind this is because the school camera is not effective enough to film in the dark - to tackle this challenge is to adjust the brightness and contrast when editing our footage.
• Some positives from our footage is the two lines of action of the walk of the protagonist home, and a scene of the antagonist walking around the house that the protagonist is walking to.
• For what happens next, our group needs to go on another shoot and add more shots to build suspense up until the climax of the action at the end of the sequence.
• For example, we know we now need to include more POV shots from the point of view of the protagonist so that the audience can get an understanding of what he is looking at each time he continues around the house.
• Further, we need to include an establishing shot for our last scene to give the audience a greater understanding of what the film is about and what happens next.

LLM: Reflection on shoot 2

• Our second shoot was much more effective for our sequence than the first; we included more shots to give us a range to choose from when editing. Further, we used the track in this shoot which provided us with some footage of good quality.

When and where was the shoot?

• This shoot took place on the 14th of January 2016.
• It was filmed from 4pm until 6pm
• Again, it was filmed at my house which is located In Sevenoaks, Riverhead.

What Scenes were you focusing on?

• There were two scenes we focused on in this shoot.
• First, it was the parallel lines of action for the opening sequence, this time of the antagonist.
• Secondly, it was the end sequence, involving both the protagonist and the antagonist.

What was your individual contribution to the shoot?

• When filming the parallel lines of action, of the antagonist, I took the role of being the camera man.
• For the final sequence filming, I am involved in the screening and so therefore I am the actor.

What do you think worked particularly well?

• I believe that in this particular shoot, filming the second part of the opening sequence seems very effective and when we put it into our edit I think it will look great with the two lines of different action.
• Along with this, I believe the lighting worked really well in our shoot for the final sequence, with the lights going on and off, with a different shot each time.

What were the challenges of this particular shoot?

• The challenges of this particular shoot was getting the track to work well; we wanted to get a track shot where it follows the camera and the focuses onto the protagonists house; however the camera was to near and didn't get the whole of the house in the shot, this is were we will have to re-shoot and try again.

Goup: Editing- Progress and Draft

• For the past 10 days, our group began editing the footage we gathered over the Christmas Holidays on Premier elements 9.0.
• As yet, we have got 2 minutes of footage that we have edited for our sequence; the footage has shown us what to use and what not use. It has illustrated that we need to re-shoot some of our footage, and also what we need to add.

• Our group have edited during the lessons, whilst one of us is editing the other is reviewing and putting forward ideas to improve the final piece.
• Non-Diegetic sound is indicated through the character when he picks up the phone and says 'hello' in a worried tone; further, the non-diegetic sound of the phone ringing, the toaster and the loud bang upstairs are all red herrings to create tension.

When reviewing our footage, to keep the continuity thorough, we had to use the cut tool. for     example when the character opens the cupboard door and then turns to put theplate on the side. 

 





LLM: Reflection of shoot 1

When and where was the shoot?

• The first shoot took place on the 23rd of December 2015.
• It was filmed around 3pm to 530pm.
• filmed at my house is Sevenoaks, Riverhead.

What Scenes were you focusing on?

• The main theme we were focusing on was the opening scene.
• We aimed to film the protagonist walking home, whilst being silently followed.
• We also aimed to film a short sequence were the antagonist makes an appearance to gather an idea of how effective our ideas are for his characteristics.

What was your individual contribution to the shoot?

• I was the actor for the shoot.
• I also participated in some filing of the antagonist shoots.
• I also helped out with providing ideas for what camera angles we should use for each shoot.

To what extent did the storyboard affect your use of camera and framing?

• At the beginning of the shoot, we followed our storyboard.
• As time went on, we began to think up better use of camera techniques to use.
• We found this useful as it gave our group a range of shots which we could choose from when editing our shots.

What do you think work particularly well?

• In this shoot, the walk home I was particularly pleased with, even though we have decided that we are going to re-film, to included different angles and include the tracking shot for a more effective shoot.

What were the challenges of this particular shoot?

• What I found challenging was using the school cameras whilst filming in the dark.
• The figure filmed was not picked out correctly and it didn't create the scary atmosphere that we wanted.

HG: Reflection of shoot 1

When and where was the shoot
The shoot took place in Riverhead, which is where Louis' house is situated. The shoot took place in the Christmas holidays on the 21st December.

What Scenes were you focusing on?
We were mainly focusing on the walk home which is the first part of our opening sequence. This involves Louis ( The protagonist) walking back from work when he starts to feel he is being watched and followed by the antagonist which is me.

What was your individual contribution to the shoot?
My individual contribution to the shoot was being the main person filming the footage. I was experimenting with various different angles whilst Louis was the actor. Louis also gave me shots the he thought would look affective and together decided what would be most suitable.

To what extent did the storyboard affect your use of camera and framing?
Our storyboard did affect are use of camera and framing to a certain extent, the frames we did use were very helpful but we started to use are imagination more then using the storyboard which did lead us with having a lot more footage then we actually needed from our first shot.

What do you think work particularly well?
I think the continuity of the walk home worked really well, we were able to experiment with a rane of camera angles and shots.

What were the challenges of this particular shoot?
Shooting in a busy road means that we had to film around cars coming up the road and people walking along it. This hindered us as if we were filming would have to reshoot that bit as something would have be noticeable in the footage

LLM and HG : Risk assesment and Call sheet

This is our and call sheet for out first shoot:

This is our risk assessment for our first shoot :

 

LLM and HG: Animatic

1. Shot one shows a tracking shot of a male walking home.
2. Shows a long shot of male protagonist walking home.
3. A POV shot of male receiving unknown text.
4. Mid shot of the male protagonist showing his reaction.
5. An over the shoulder shot of the protagonist approaching the house.
6. The protagonist opens the door to the house but doesn't notice an unknown antagonist standing in the corridor, shown through a long shot.
7. ECU of antagonist holding a knife.
8. POV and canted angle shot of protagonist looking down a the missing knife from the set.
9. Long shot and POV of antagonist sitting in the back garden.
10. Low angle shot of antagonist in the house and walking up the stairs.
11. An establishing shot at the end of the sequence of the house shown in daylight on another day.

LLM and HG: Audience research

The purpose of our questionnaire was to gain a greater understanding of what is specific enough to suit the slasher sub-genre of horror.

Methodology
- We created our questionnaire on survey monkey.
- We used simple terminology but gave space for our sample to give explanations to their choices, enabling us to receive more detail from some of their answers.
- Our first four questions are multiple choice; we have done this to ensure we have the correct ideas for our slasher sub-genre
- The fifth and sixth questions we opened up and asked the audience to provide their ideas to help us out.
- The final questionnaire was again multiple choice to help us decided what objects to use to create a menacing atmosphere

Questionnaire  

We asked the participants to fill out the following questions:
- How appropriate are the following locations for the sub-genre slasher?

- What gender do you think the protagonist should be to show vulnerability?

- Indicate your preferred characteristics for a villain

- What time of day is most effective to set a slasher horror?

- Do you think the antagonist should be seen? Why?

- What sounds create atmosphere in a slasher?

- What objects would be effective in creating a menacing atmosphere?

Results  

Question 1:
- 4 out of 8 people said they would film a slasher movie in a house

- 1 of 8 said the woods

- 3 of 8 said a shopping centre

- None of the participants said to film at a school

- Our group expected this result as we have decided to film our horror movie at the location of a house because we believe it best suits the slasher sub-genre.

Question 2:
-The majority of people who answered this question said they would use a female instead of a male to represent vulnerability.

- Although we do agree with this as a group, we have decided to go for the alternative and use a male character. We have done this as we believe we will create greater tension and build-up of enigma, through a male character.
 

Question 3:
- In question three, we decided to provide some of the features of our current villain, to question whether he has the right attributes to play the part.

- The responses were as expected, the feature were not conventional enough to fit the slasher genre.

- With these responses, we adjusted our idea, by still using the same villain because we believe the physicality is correct, but have decided to use a mask to cover the face of the antagonist, and made sure that the character doesn't talk, to hide his natural humorous side.

Question 4:
- As expected, in this question the bulk of answered questions went to the answer of filming the narrative at night.

- 2 of 8 said to film in the morning

- No participants said to film in the afternoon

- 6 of 8 said to film at night

 Question 5:

- In this question, we opened it up a bit, looking to gain more ideas from the audience to see what comments they have.

- The responses varied, 2 of the 8 people backed up our idea of the antagonist using a mask, or only  seen covered by a shadow.

- 5 favoured that the character shouldn't be seen to keep the tension high and to create enigma codes, which we dounf the ideas very interesting to bear in mind.

- The other answer was for the character to be introduced by a narrator, which does sound appealing, but we have decided to disregard the idea.

 

 Question 6:
- In this question, all the audiences ideas we have taken into account and will refer back to when editing our movie.

 Question 7:

- We analysing the responses, we were quite surprised with the answers in this question and how there was a mixed response.

- Originally we believed that the cat and the ringing of the phone would be most menacing, but because of the mixed response we now question what objects to use.

- We thought also that the mirror would be an interesting object to use to try and show the antagonist in a different way.

 

Evaluation
Overall, we gathered many ideas from our audience research questionnaire. For questions 1, 2 and 4 we expected the responses we collected which reassured us that our idea was conventional. Question 3, when we analysed our questionnaire we found that it was key to adjust our idea on the look of the antagonist as it was seen as very unconventional and did not support the slasher sub-genre. As discussed question 5 we asked for ideas to take into account; the provided ideas have influenced us to change our main ideas and to try and hide the antagonist as much as possible. In conclusion, the two questions that were most useful to us were questions 3 and 5 which will help us when filming.