4C
Organization:
During my film production, I have been doing my best to keep organized so I am always on top of my work. I did this by keeping a production log, constantly adding my work to my blogger and keeping my folders in order and tidy. I have progressed well under the circumstances regarding the Coronavirus Pandemic, as this has put a hold in a lot of my work. Although, through this adversity, I have managed to change, update and improve my work.
Staying organized is sometimes a struggle, however I feel as though I have done considerably well with my production because of how organized I have stayed. I know where my work is and when I did it. It is also backed up to a memory stick in case any thing gets deleted, so that is another way I have managed to stay clam when doing my work.
Production log:
Having a production log has really encouraged me to do my work. I began updating it everyday, but then began updating it every week instead. I explained everything I was doing every week as well as what I planned to do next. This was extremely useful for me when wrapping my brain around what I was currently doing as writing it all down and summarizing it helped me understand where I was in that moment in time, what I intended to do next, and how I can improve my efficiency. It also helped it with my time management so I was never over whelming myself or slacking too much in one week. My only struggle was the weeks where I hadn't done so much, such as during exam weeks in November and January, holidays, everyday stresses, and of course lockdown. In some of these cases when I would be a little behind due to either not having props, people, motivation or time, when I couldn't fill in my production log it was quite disheartening as I felt like I hadn't done enough. Nevertheless, overtime I made up for any time I had lost by putting my sole focus into my blogger, filming and production log and managed to stay on top in the long run with everything complete in the right times the should be completed in. Looking back on my production log also gives me loads of confidence as it reminds me of all I have achieved so far in this project and encourages me to do more and improve my techniques.
|
DATE |
WHAT I DID |
WHAT I PLAN TO DO NEXT |
|
Just before lockdown (in school) |
Beginning our film production,
we did some research on it, as well as watching some short horror films and
analysing them. We did this and drew out story boards of them, describing the
camera angles and reasons for colours etc. Doing this helped me visualise
how to do my own story board. After analysing and researching
other short horror films, we began planning our own practice film. We made
title sequences using our own props. I made a whole title sequence, with my
own music which I made on garage ban on a school apple mac. However I lost
this movie due to a phone mishap, although I do still have all the shots and
filming clips (videos), just not the final movie with the music. (I will
upload some shots to my blogger). We also drew our own shot image describing
camera angles etc. *Information about my practice
film is on my blog* |
|
|
During lockdown |
During lockdown, I spent my time
focused on my original idea. I spent a day mind mapping ideas for a film and
finally came up with the theme of serial killers. I chose this because I
could use some gruesome shots using fake blood and makeup which I could use
easily. I did lots of research on serial killers for inspiration for my film
such as common ways killers lure people in and how they don’t or do get caught.
This would have helped my synopsis seem more realistic, so more frightening. Then I spent a day beginning my
synopsis, editing and adding to it, making sure all my research was embedded
into it. A lot of my ideas for this synopsis is intertextuality from other
horror movies, as well as majority actions, details and personality traits
which I took from real serial killer stories. This was my idea to make it
creepy as well as horrid. I also made a list of camera
shots to ensure I would use as many creative shots as I could. |
My plan after this was to make
my film using an apple mac from school for music, iMovie using my phone, or a
camera if I could borrow one from school. |
|
September onwards |
|
|
|
September 4th |
Being back at school, I had a
chance to talk to my teachers about my film idea however, due to COVID19,
availability for my setting, most props and people were off limits,
especially with the guidelines put in place around the time. Therefore, I
made the decision to recreate my film completely and go with a completely
different idea that I could film in my village or home, with very little
people and props I could find at home, or buy. Today I mind mapped ideas and
came up with the idea of addressing mental health in my horror. I want to use
this idea to raise awareness of mental health issues, how common they are in
teens, and how important and sever they can get. I started writing my
synopsis as a frame, so I know where to start next time. |
Carry on writing and editing my
synopsis, as well as plan what I need to buy and set up. |
|
September 7th |
Today I carried on with my
synopsis, improving and editing it. I came up with a basic idea that I will
only need one person, and one setting for, which will be much easier in terms
of Coronavirus. This is good as I have less health and safety measures to
address as there will be no COVID19 related risks involved. I story boarded
my main scene today to see how it would play out. |
Carry on story boarding and make
my shot list |
|
September 11th |
Instead of storyboarding, I
decided to stick with a shot list as I think I can get much more information
on there and it will be more organised for me to look back at and use for my
film production. I began my shot list, however got a bit stuck as I decided
to make a title sequence at the beginning of my film and wasn’t sure what to
write on my shot list for the title sequence. I also started to rethink my
idea and decided to change a small part in the beginning which would have been
ineffective as it had no horror, and little importance to the overall idea.
This will give me more time for either my title sequence or my film
beginning. My title sequence will be inspired by the ‘Dexter’ and ‘American
Horror Story’ title sequences. I will include gore, horror, blood, childhood
reminders and mental health related shots. I will do research for
inspiration. |
Research and ask about my shot
list and my title sequence and how they are going to work together. Research
mental health issues for my title sequence and film in general. |
|
September 16th |
Today I researched mental health
issues so I had a wise knowledge on them so my film will be more accurate. I
mind mapped and panned the types of shots I’d like/plan to use for my title
sequence. |
|
|
September 20th |
I updated my blogger and
organised it so I didn’t get so stressed. I also organised my “film
production” folder so all of my work was together and easy to get to. I am
doing my production log, risk assessment, shot list and synopsis on word and
plan to upload them all onto my blogger when I have completely finished so I
can organise them better. Although I am still going onto blogger to update it
about my film idea when I have a new idea or want to change it, and I will
upload pictures of my setting, props and costume choices for my film when I have
them. |
I want to update my synopsis as
I don’t feel so confident about the idea so far. I don’t think it is much or
a horror so I want to make it more jump scary and make it scary all the way
through out, rather than just at the end. As it is only the beginning of a
film I will have to make it scary straight away much like the movie Scream. |
|
Week of October 8th |
This week I have been updating
my synopsis so it is just as good as I wanted it to be. I spend a lot of time
going through this slowly and reading it to family member to see if they
think it is a good horror idea. I feel a bit more confident about my updated
idea. The concept is the same but I have the scenes slightly with a more
creepy and horror atmosphere. |
Next, I will begin filming on my
phone mainly (as camaras and apple macs are unavailable due to COVID 19) and
get a start on my film. Starting will help me a lot as I will be eager to
carry on and have somewhere to start once I begin. I will also begin filming
shots for my title sequence and hopefully get that done quite quick as I have
experience from my practice film making before lockdown. |
|
Over the two week October
holiday |
These past two weeks I have
bought all the props I need like fake blood and make up and planned when I am
going to use them. I have also been planning costume and making sure there is
significance to every choice I make (e.g. colour representations, type of
clothing whether its loose or restraining, and whether it’s smart, casual,
careless clothing). |
Next I will start to make my
movie, starting in a chronological order so it doesn’t get confusing. Once I
have then started I will know exactly what I need to do and when. I will also
take pictures of my costume choices and props and explain why I chose them
and their significance to my blog. |
|
November 5th |
Today I took pictures of my
costume ideas and posted them onto my blog with the reasons I chose those
specific items. |
Next I will focus on the music I
will use for my film. |
|
Week of November 9th |
I chose my music and uploaded my
ideas to my blogger. |
Next, I intend to update my
blogger with my intentions for lighting. |
|
Week of November 16th
|
This week I focused on the
lighting I will use for my film. I considered natural light, flash lights in
the dark, normal ceiling lights for a neutral atmosphere and coloured lights,
more specifically red for a dangerous, ‘death’ feeling on the film. |
Next week I intend to organise
pre-production work. E.g. my folders and my blogger. |
|
Week of November 30th
|
This week I focused on
reorganising my folders to keep on track of my work and make sure every thing
was in the right folders and blogs. |
Next week I intend to film my title
sequence |
|
Week of December 7th |
I gathered all my equipment and props
and filmed shots for my title sequence. This helped me get an idea of the
theme and backstory of my film, as well as remind myself of what I want to
include in my film. |
I will proceed making my title
sequence. |
|
Week of December 14th
|
This week I continued to shoot
my title sequence and played around with lighting and filters. |
Next, I will start putting
things together using iMovie. |
|
January-March (lockdown) |
During all of this time at home,
during lockdown, I got a chance to organise my film production and really
focus on my film. I proceeded making my title sequence and put some of it
together. I also began setting up shots for my film (although this was
difficult to do as the family member who was helping me was not living with
me during lockdown). |
Next I will continue filming and
try to complete my title sequence and add music to it. |
|
March 18th |
As in school, I decided to
update my blogger and my production log so I can stay on top of everything.
This gave me a chance to revisit my process and know what I want to do next. |
Next time I intend to get some
feedback from my teachers and update my blog with their corrections and
suggestions. |
|
Week of March 22nd |
This week I have decided to
focus on my blogger and ensuring that everything is on there. I organised my
files and folders and added my production log, etc. I received feedback from
my teachers and am making amendments to fit their advice. This has given me
an oversight of how much I have done as well as given me a clear outline as
to what I am doing from now on. |
From now on, I am going to focus
on updating my bogger, ensuring all the content is included. Once I have confidently
completed everything, I will focus on my film production and putting it
together, which of course has been put on hold due to COVID, however I am
going to make some of it any way for the experience and skills. |
|
Week of April 15th |
After the Easter break, I
devoted this week to completing my blog so it can be send off. This includes
making sure everything that needs to be on my blogger for evidence is there,
as well as fact checking, spell checking and making sure it all makes sense.
I went through everything thoroughly so my work was the best it could be. |
|
Through out my entire film production I have been keeping up with my folders and organizing them each time I add something new. This helped me find everything I need much easier as well as helped reduce stress during filming and pre-production as everything was tidy, labelled and numbered. Folders and documents:
Blogger:
Using blogger has been incredibly helpful as it is a great way to physically separate my work and arrange everything using different pages and splitting the page to show a new topic of conversation. Everything time I do something new with my production I uploaded it straight to blogger and has everything in a linear structure, start to finish, so the timings and order was correct and understandable. I separated pages on my blogger for Unit's 4 A, B, C, D and 10B so I always knew where to find each topic such as finance, organization, pre-production techniques and my evaluation. It is easy to follow and simple to find everything.
There is a clear layout of my pages, as well as labelled paragraphs, points and topics in those pages.
|
‘Behind his
closed doors’ Waiting patiently for his online
date to knock on his door, 34 year old EDDIE BURROWS sits legs spread and
leant back his old, stained sofa, sunk into his documentary of ‘The Top 10
Worst Serial Killers Yet To Be Found’ with a glass of still water in his
still hand. In his town, Eddie is a trusted neighbour, friends with the
police department, council members and majority of the community. He lives
alone in a spacious flat in the middle of his town. He is the typical nice
guy who could get a woman with quick hello and a blue eyed wink. His blond
hair complements his naturally tanned skin tone and perfectly smooth skin;
skin of which stretches 6 feet head to toe and wraps immaculately around his
muscles, abs and sharp jaw line. 3 bangs jolts Eddies head from
the TV to the door, he puts his glass of water down and calmly gets up and
walks over. Eddie opens the door to the woman who smiles in relief at his
attractive façade. They introduce themselves as Eddie makes a gesture towards
the living room. Eddie’s arms are straight down by his sides, his back
straight and face forward like a robot, as they walk further into the flat.
The woman, GRACE BURNS, questions the documentary with her judgy persona and
feminine voice, to which he expressed his great fondness of serial killer
stories and admiration of their intelligence. Eddie’s straight forward,
emotionless stare at Grace was the highlight of the awkward silence he had
brought about, as Grace just stood shocked. Seconds later, Eddie ended the
silence with a short, earie breath masked with a smile, looked down to the
left, took a soft deep breath, still smiling, and looked right back up at
Grace, now grinning from ear to ear, “Your coat. I will take your coat”. He
hung up her ruby red coat which had blond hair by the collar from Grace’s
golden, curly locks. She was also considered to be a ‘diamond in the rough’,
who caught the eye of every man with her curves and natural beauty. This was
the first time she has met a date from online as she had never needed to
before, though, throughout the night she would gradually regret it. He hung
the coat next to the hung up dog lead. Eddie, already pouring her glass,
offers Grace some wine; he poured it all the way to the top and told her to
drink up. He then walked over to a room and closed the door, apologising to
Grace, “My roommate is home asleep but won’t disturb us, I promise”. Grace
smiles and nods as they sit at the pine, rusty table in the middle of the
room. Her eyes wonder around his flat noticing much that disturbed her. For
starters, Grace was disturbed by the number of dead animals used for
decoration; Mr Burrows made Norman Bates look like a amateur. There were
several spots on the walls that had clearly been painted over as if someone
had punched, scraped or dented it, though he didn’t try very hard to cover it
up and make it look presentable. The carpet was something from ‘How clean is
your house?’, Grace insisted to keep her shoes on, the sofa had red stains on
it which she figured was red wine as he was so generous with her glass she
didn’t put it past him to spill it often, and the furniture as a group all
appeared to be very long-standing and worn down as there were doors once
attached to a cabinet hanging off the hinges, mould around the door frames,
and one table and one chair that looked to be slightly chewed on the legs as
if a dog had got to them. Grace asks about one animal statue in particular, a
dog, “Where did you buy this one?”, to which he replied, “Buy? No, no, all
these beauties were hand crafted. Lets call it a hobby of mine.” Disturbed by
the reply she was hoping not to get, she then asks with a stutter, “Oh, so
this is, um, this is your dog?”, confused as to how somebody could do that to
their own dog. “No I’ve never had a dog in my life.”, Eddie answered as if
they were having a normal conversation about something other than dead,
stuffed animals. Grace just nodded in reply hoping he would change the topic,
when she steered her head towards the door where she spotted the dog lead
next to her coat. ‘Where is he getting these animals from?’, she thought,
scared. Grace, completely freaked by
this man, excused her self to the bathroom and panicked silently in there.
She rushes for her phone and searches her pockets, but to her utter
disappointment she realises it is in her coat pocket. Whilst sitting on the
side of the bath, biting her finer nails in distress, she notices how clean
it smells in the bathroom compared to the rest of the flat, which is
nauseatingly painful to breath in. Grace begins to look around the bathroom,
in the cupboards and even out the window, she wasn’t sure what for, but she
looked any way. For a split second she considered the 30 foot drop out the
window, but her thought was interrupted by Eddie’s livid knock on the door.
She turns the tap on to buy herself time, then notices some red in the grout
between the tiles of the wall above the sink, and again in the corner where
the floor meets the bath. She tells her self “It’s wine, it’s wine”, then
takes a deep breath and leaves the bath room. She exits the bathroom and fakes
a smile at Eddie, who suddenly looks angry. “You took a while.”, he stated
suspiciously and impatiently as she picks up her wine. “Lady things. Don’t
mind me.”, Grace nervously giggled and awkwardly looks around the room with
her glass to her face, avoiding eye contact at all costs. She then freezes in
shock and confusion when she notices that all of a sudden her coat, as well
as the dog lead, are no longer hanging where it was before. She questions
where the coat went to which Eddie replies “Don’t worry my darling, it was
dirty. I put it in the washing machine for a quick spin”, he answered, staring
right at Grace, not breaking eye contact, standing straight as usual with his
arms straight down, no movement at all. Before Grace could ask about her
phone and keys that were in the coat pocket, Eddie grabs her left hand
aggressively and complements her nails, listing every individual thing he
could think of to point out. He stares at the ground and very slowly moves
her hand up to his cheek and rubs it on his face. Grace pulls away calmly as
she is already scared enough, however Eddie squeezes tighter to stop her from
pulling away, and tighter and tighter the more she resists. She drops her
glass of wine on the floor and it smashes into several big pieces. This
struggle continues to get worse as Eddie uses his strength to push Grace up
against the wall with his hands now destined for her neck. Grace kicks the
table over as her upper body strength is too week to push Eddie away. Up
against the wall, she kicks where ever she can hoping she hits Eddie, when
she kicks his knee, jolting him slightly, which loosens his grip on her
throat allowing her to push his hands to the left, duck slightly and run. Too
quick, Eddie turns fast and grabs her right leg, causing a loud thud as she
hit the filthy ground, fighting for her life she reaches for any thing in
sight as Eddie wrestles with her. Again, with his hand round her neck, she
lies facing the ground feeling for anything to help her, when she cuts her
finger on a piece of the smashed glass she dropped earlier. She grabs the
piece of glass and aims for her neck as that is where Eddie’s hands are,
hopefully to distract him slightly so she can gain a bit more power. She cuts
some skin on his knuckles on his left hand, followed by skin on his fingers,
however she was not strong enough to forcefully injure Eddie so he did not
move a bit. He continues to strangle her, as she continues to wave her hand
about with the shard of glass in it, just praying that it will cut him.
Barely conscious, she builds up all the strength she has left for a swing of
her arm, left to right aiming for the heavily weighted man on top of her,
however when she attacks, she is so lightheaded she loses her bearings and a
slices her eye instead. In the most amount of pain she has even been in Grace
attempts to scream and move as much as she can, until she gradually slows
down and becomes more and more still. Eventually, she is just a lifeless body
on the ground of whom Eddie gets to decide what to do with. He sits next to
the body for a few minutes with a still face, not fazed at all, before he lies
down beside her and just stares at the her face, hypnotised as if watching
TV. He falls asleep like this an lays for hours with his dead date. Once he wakes up in the morning,
he looks excited when he remembers Grace is still there. “You stayed!”, he
happily shouted in relief. He tucked her hair behind her ear on the side
where she slit her eye and carried her over to a chair next to the window,
where he faced her outwards so she had a pleasant view. He then tidied
everything that got knocked over the night before. He put the table and chair
upright, through the pieces of glass in the bin except for the shard that
Grace used to hurt herself, which he places in an old shoe box that had
pieces of hair, blond, brown and red, 3 sets of keys, 2 phones, 1 phone case
with the letter ‘V’ sequenced, 5 stockings, a jar of teeth, a dog lead
labelled ‘If found, return to Ms. Rachel Smith’ and a pair of women’s
underwear. To Eddie, these were his souvenirs. Trophies. He returned to the
window where Grace was and sat on the chair next to her with his arm around
her like a loving couple. He waved at people who walked by and those people
smiled and waved back. Half an hour later he picks Grace up and comments on
how attractive they would be as a couple, walking with her over to his
‘roommates’ bedroom, he opens the door, lifts the blanket on the king sized
bed and announces Graces arrival. “Don’t be so rude, welcome our new guest!”,
he demands, placing Grace beside Rachel and Veronica. “Now, now. If we all
get along perhaps you can join your friends in the crawl space, huh?!”, like
a dad putting his children to bed, Eddie sings the three girls a lullaby
whilst spraying the bedroom with air freshener to mask the odor. He then sit
on the sofa, turns on the TV and waits patiently for this evening’s online
date to knock on the door. |
NEW SYNOPSIS
|
I will begin my film with a title
sequence inspired by American horror story and Dexter. There will be a mix of
normal everyday activities such as brushing teeth, as well as a mix of not so
normal activities such as stabbing a finger with a knife and some bloody shots (these will be
explained through my shoTlist). Katherine parker is a 16-year-old girl. She comes home from school
looking distant and is in a house by herself. She drops her bag and takes her
shoes off in downhearted spirit. She takes a seat on the stairs and stares
into nothingness. The camera will be focused on this moment for a while to
mirror how long this one moment feels for Katherine. This symbolizes her
depression. There will be no background music at this point for an awkward
silence between the audience and Katherine. The aim is for the audience to
feel uncomfortable with Katherine’s life, and understand that this is how
Katherine feels herself, about her own life. Katherine will walk upstairs followed by the camera and will go into
the bathroom. She will sit on the edge of the bath looking at her phone, sad,
watching videos of her friends do stuff together. This addresses a teenage
issue of girls feeling jealous of their friends, for their appearances,
personalities and just the fact that they are out with friends, when she is
home alone. As Katherine reminds herself of her anxiety and depression, she
gives up and walks to the sink. Here, the camera will switch from the mirror
reflection of Katherine, to a close up shot of her. As Katherine washes her
face, she looks up at the mirror and sees her face covered in bruises and
blood, at this point racy, non-diegetic music will start playing to match the
action of fear. Katherine, obviously shocked and frightened quickly started
swilling and washing her face with the tap water in a scared panic.
Throughout this the camera will be flashing from Katherine to a black screen
continuously as flashing lights is a sign of distress and the room will turn
red to imply danger and death. As she looks up for the final time the lights
will turn white again (but subtly), the music will stop, as well as the
flashing and her face will be as it was before the bruises and blood.
Confused Katherine will look scared and dazed. This is a symbol of
Katherine’s schizophrenia; the audience can see the struggles first hand and
experience it with Katherine, and understand how difficult and scary it is. Leaving the bathroom, Katherine slowly walks to her bedroom when she
hears a noise down stairs. Almost like a door handle being pulled. Petrified,
she slowly walks down the stairs and looks in every room. Sees the bathroom
light on, and is almost too resistant to open the door. But she does. She
composes herself and counts down from three, and quickly opens the door to reveal… Nothing. She relaxes, along with the music and the audience. Calmly
and relived, she closes the bathroom door and turns the light off. As she
turns to head back upstairs she suddenly feels the need to check the front
door is locked, even though she did this earlier. Unexpectedly, she tried the
door handle and it opens. She stairs in shock and look around her in fear of
an attacker. She opens the door and looks outside, panning from left to
right. Nothing to the left, but when she looks to the right, she sees a black
silhouette of a person standing under a lamp post. Completely frightened, she
slams the door and locks it with a racing heart. As she walks back the camera
is on her face, the looks back then forward, where she and the camera sees
the outline of a person outside the door. She turns around and sees something
even more horrifying, which the audience do not get to see, and the camera
(as the monster) attacks Katherine. The music is silenced by her screaming
and the screen goes black. Followed by this, the camera does several still
shots, the first is a high angle shot over Katherine as she is on the floor
screaming but there is nothing there! The other shots are high angle shots
but each one gets further and further away from Katherine to symbolise her
loneliness. As well as a still long shot of the door, which will relieve no
body there. This is also to symbolise Katherine’s anxiety, schizophrenia and
overthinking-ness. I feel as though this will be slightly confusing to the
audience at first which is ideal, as mental health issues are confusing. It
is a topic with no right or wrong answer or feeling. It isn’t to be glorified
or wanted, but to be talked about as it is scary and confusing. ' |
Comments
Post a Comment