Unit 4B - Pre Production Techniques
Storyboarding
- learn how to storyboard
- understand the rules of title sequences
- produce own storyboard of title sequence
Storyboarding article:
Language: Choose a quote from the article and explain why it is significant, what the quote means. How does this deepen your understanding?
"When I work on a film, I need to understand the story, the characters, the subtext - it may seem like a no-briner, but you'd be surprised by how few artists actually do that"
This quote is significant because it explains the small, individual things you must do before making the film. It highlights the fact that every little detail counts in order to make a good storyboard.
Evaluation: What are the strengths and limitations of the viewpoint in this article?
Giuseppe gives mainly strengths such as, it can cut down budget and that people are hired not for skills but for imagination and it slightly biased towards the positive aspects of a storyboard. The main weakness is that it is more expensive than a comic book.
Storyboard of a short film:
Horror Short Film "The Dollmaker" | Presented by ALTER
- Used to be really popular but went out of fashion
- David Fincher made 7 in 1995 and made titles popular again
- Titles should give a hint to the theme of the text
- Fonts should create an uncomfortable or edgy atmosphere
- They should give clues to story/narrative
- Normally include the title of the film, the actors and film crew
- Overtime, titles have become shorter because surveys show that audiences prefer a quick title and go straight into the film
Props:
Use 7-8 different props and use them with different angles and filters and mix them up.
Props that represent the 7 deadly sins to foreshadow what the films about-
Lust: wedding scene - use flower crown and dead flower with blood on a dead girl on her wedding night
Greed: £5 note with "blood" (fake blood) on it; dried and or dripping
Gluttony:
Envy: glasses with reflection of someone as if they are watching someone they are jealous of
Pride: medals
Sloth: sitting in chair not doing any thing with a stack of paper (to do list)
Wrath: the killer; all blood and anger presented is wrath by the killer
Use fake blood recording someone washing their hands as if they have just committed a crime
Someone sitting on a chair writing in a book about the crimes they committed. Alternate/shuffle scenes and mix them up with the other shots.
When creating my short film I used garage band to create the music to fit with the action. I matched the movement and atmosphere in the visual to the type of sounds and noises in my music.
I played around with green screen and special effect for a while to gain knowledge of it and understand how it works and test it in my movie, however I have not used in in my film yet.
I viewed and analysed 3 short stories for inspiration:
Short Horror Film Example 1 – Smiling Woman | Short Horror Film Example 2 – Fear Filter | Short Horror Film Example 3 – Eden | |
Narrative structure (Todorov, binary oppositions, linear, non-linear, 3 act structure?) | You could possibly say there is a 3 act structure as there is the ‘set up’ which is the build up of the smiling woman and her existence, the ‘confrontation’ could be when the woman is standing in front of the main girl and the ‘resolution’ could be the main girls death. However, there isn’t much structure such as Todorov’s theory as there is only two characters, one of whom is the monster and the other is alone, not knowing who or what this monster is. There is never a resolution and a restored order occurs every few seconds when the girl thinks she is safe, however the disruption keeps returning. It is all in a linear structure, all in one night, consistent. | Linear structure. Todorov’s theory would not match with this as it begins calm, but the disruption stays until the end, with no resolution. | Linear structure. Todorov’s theory would not match with this as it begins calm, but the disruption stays until the end, with no resolution. Dramatic irony is used |
Character types How many? Stereotypes, counter-stereotypes? | The girl asks the obvious who are you’ and ‘what do you want’ as if they’re going to tell her. | Young teenage girl using her phone and snapchat Surprisingly, when the girl sees the face in the background she DOESN’T go into the dark room to see what it was. | Lads on a night out, drunk, play fighting in the streets. It is an everyday group of boys in a 3 so you wouldn’t expect any horror. The one boy who is always the slightest bit curious in what is going on and watches the men leave the car as if something were to happen. |
Horror conventions Which obvious ones are used? Why? | It takes place at night, 1:00 to be exact. The darkness paid with the unflattering lighting create a further sense of fear a it automatically shouts danger. The main girl is by her self with no one around to protect her or witness the happenings of the incident. This also makes it easier for the smiling woman to attack the girl. The classic ‘looking back only to look forward again and the monster is in front of you’. Monster grabs girl and screen goes black | Girl alone in the dark. Makes it easier for her to be attacked, seeing her vulnerable makes the audience worry for her. The monster is watching her and doesn’t stop. This classic trope highlights that she is in danger | It is taken place at night in the dark. This is a very common danger warning The guy drops his keys, foreshadowing something bad. The guy leaves the car in the dark to look for his keys ALONE, whilst intoxicated. This screams warning as any thing could happen either in the dark, because he is drunk and/or because he is alone. He is 3 times less safe than he was. Scene with the boys talking about a girl, having a normal conversation in a midst of the unsafe situation the other boy is in makes his situation look worse. |
Camera and editing – which shots, movement, framing and editing styles are used and for what effect? | The camera is used from the main girls point of view when looking around the train station. This allows the audience to see from her perspective and be scared with her, as well as knowing the same as her (e.g. no dramatic irony)(camera pan shot). There is a very long shot as the main girl runs away from the monster and towards the camera. This is scary for the audience as it makes them think the next scary thing is going to happen once she reaches the camera. A hand held camera shot was used to imply somebody hiding, watching the main subject, resulting in further fear from our audience towards the main subjects safety. A medium close up and eye level shot gives the audience a neutral perspective, however in this case it is used to make the audience and subject equal, therefore making the fear equal. Shallow focus shot is used to scare the audience when putting the focus on the main girl, and placing the monster in the blurred background. It is clear that the main girl is unaware of the monster, making it look irrelevant although it is the main subject. Using a full shot makes the monster look smaller than it is by ‘blending’ it in with the rest of the background. This makes the have to look for the monster and get jumped when they see it. Camera pa shots were used from the main girls perspective so the audience could ‘look’ with her. This puts us in her position thus making the audience feel her fear. The use of the same static shot more than once showing the monster there, then gone jump scares the audience as they are expecting someone who is there, or vice versa. | Normal shots and camera movements are being used such as a full shot, over the shoulder shot and mid shot (mostly static shots). This is to show that nothing is out of the ordinary. Camera pan shot is used to follow the girls movements as she used her phone to find the monster. This takes the audience along with her so they can witness the same fast moving fear she is feeling. | A bible quote is shown on a black background in the beginning to foreshadow the danger to come. A hand held camera shot is used at the start as the boys walk towards it. The unsteadiness of the camera makes the audience feel uneasy. Deep focus shot of the keys the man just drops signifies its significance to the rest of the film. This also implies that this will be the source to a possible bad scenario. Ground level shot focused on keys as the man tries to look for them allows the audience to be ahead of the boy. This could be because he is drunk, and when intoxicated you become slower and less concentrated. Hand held camera behind the man as if walking with (behind him). The hand held camera is behind the man and goes over his shoulder to reveal the blood trail. This allows the audience to be on track with what the man is doing and finding out. The ending is ‘EDEN’ on a black background. Using a cyclical structure reminds the audience why this happened. |
Sound How are music, dialogue, sound effects used to create effects/meaning? | The sound of the text messages sending fill the silence in the first scene, it also highlights how silent it is, creating a lonely, unpredictable feeling. Deep thuds occur when the smiling woman appears, then a whooshing sound occurs when she is suddenly gone. This highlights to the audience what they should be afraid of. It is almost silent when the smiling woman is gone to create more of a scare when she returns, along with the music. Consistent high pitch music occurs when the smiling woman is standing there with sudden low pitch piano music when she smiles. The scene then ends with a violin screeching followed by silence in the next scene. This allows the audience to feel what the amin girl is feeling by matching the music to the girls actions. | In the beginning there is no non-diegetic music making the room silent to suggest the girl is by herself. The sudden tell when the filter changes is used as a jump scare after the silence. This shocks the audience. A subtle thud is used when the second face appears on the phone to highlight the moment the audience are scared. The screech and thud are used again together to jump the audience. A long high pitches sound when she falls over to signify fast action and a crash. This highlights her fear and the severity of the scene. . The heavy breathing is loud to place focus on the fact that the monster is real and so dangerous. The young girls scream is the loudest noise heard in the entire film. It is very earie and disturbing which automatically gives the audience chills. | Automatically starts with a deep thud to show it is a horror and something terrible may happen. When they play rap music in the car, this fools the audience into thinking they will be okay as the atmosphere is casual and every day, although we know this is not true as it is a horror. It is used to merge reality and horror. Constant deep earie music carries the fear throughout the film The man calling DJs name is the only diegetic sound you can hear so places focus onto the boys’ situation and creates fear for the boy searching as the audience know where DJ is, or at least that he was injured (dramatic irony) |
Mise-en-scene How do these add horror effects or contribute to the narrative? Lighting, settings, colour, costume, props etc | With costume, the yellow dress is used to match the smiling woman’s ‘smile’ as yellow symbolises happiness. This is additionally disturbing as her actions juxtapose her outfit. It Is night time with very unflattering white/yellow lights. These unnatural lights helps us focus on the main goings on. There are also lamp posts in the distance creating an orangey tone to the scene which is quite calming, until the smiling woman appears in the midst of it, then it overtakes calm. The main girl is holding a book and used her phone often to imply that she is just a normal, everyday, young woman. This makes the uneasy events more frightening. It is set in a train station with no people around. Train stations can imply fear already by the thought of the tracks and the speed of trains. The smiling woman’s dress is half on one shoulder and off on the other. This suggests a struggle, an unkept feeling and/or a disturbing sense as she is clearly distracted by the main girl to sort her self out. It is also clear that she is not a normal woman as any female would be agitated by a dress sleeve fallen down. | Silhouettes and shadows are used to maintain mystery for the audience. So the suspense lasts longer, so the fear lasts longer. Props and costume ae everyday ones so highlight the fact that this girl is a normal teenager, so whatever happens to her is more sad Young girl sitting in the dark with no lighting implies something bad is going to happen as darkness=danger. | Dark night with lamp posts as the only source of light. This shows that it is only light in certain places so id they go too far they ma be in danger. Darkness=death Everyday outfits reminds the audience that this is reality, and mixing reality and horror tells the audience that this can happen to them. The keys signify the end of the man’s life and foreshadows the terrible events to come. The woman’s white top implies purity, however, the blood stains juxtapose this. Thus mixing light and dark, colliding the two to cause a sense of confusion and disgust for both the audience and |
Overall you should be looking to write analysis of the short film, focusing on how characters and narratives are introduced and how horror generic information is relayed in a short space of time, as well as looking at technical areas such as mise-en-scene, camera work, editing and sound. Short films are an art form and one that is used for a variety of effects; try to consider each short film as a work of art and approach it as that.
MY FILM PRODUCTION:
|
‘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 odour. He then sit on the
sofa, turns on the TV and waits patiently for this evening’s online date to
knock on the door. |
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 symbolises 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. '
COSTUME
I want my characters’ clothes to reflect her personality, feelings, mental health and emotions. I think people’s appearance is a mirror picture of who that person is and what they feel like. Therefore, my main characters clothing will be a true representation of herself.
I used colour charts and statists to choose the colours of her clothing:
As well as the colours, I want to get the correct clothing, so for example, I’m not going to choose an outfit with a summer dress with patterns on it, rather, comfy clothes like a loose jumper (which is also relatable to insecurity as most teenagers will wear loose fitted clothing as they are uncomfortable with their bodies), joggers or leggings and plain trainers. The cosy is also a ‘lazy’ outfit to imply that she has no motivation to try hard with her appearance any more. The clothes will be plain, with no patterns or any specifics like love hearts, faces, pictures on it. Plain is quite simple and boring, which again reflects how unmotivated she feels and how bored she feels in her life, continuously struggling with depression.
My character will also be wearing no makeup with her hair in a bun, as a survey I made showed that 8/10 girls dressed “lazy” when they were in a bad mood. Majority of the girls I questioned said that they dress nice to feel nice, e.g. wearing makeup, and wear joggers and cosy clothes when they are tired or feel a low mood. So I thought I would reflect this into the character’s persona. As she is suffering with depression she isn’t likely to be very happy and high-spirited, especially not in this moment in the film, so I will reflect what I have found within multiple teenage girls’ clothing choices and add them to my character. This way it will be more realistic too!
MUSIC
For my music, i found a website (https://filmstro.com/music/mood/scared) which is free and is not copyrighted. I found music for the scenes I want and made sure they would match-the-action, so the scenes run smoothly and make sense. I do not have music for every scene as I intend to have a few selected scenes silent of with diagetic sounds rather than non-diagetic music. The music and scenes i chose are down below. I feel confident about my choices and feel as though the action and music will compliment each other and effect the audience in the way it's set out to, as well as have them see it in my preffered reading.
1) SCENE WHEN SHE IS ABOUT TO GET ATTACKED, START IT AS SHE IS GOING BACK INSIDE AND LOCKING THE DOOR AND END IT AFTER SHE TURNS AROUND AND THE SCREEN GOES BLACK, THEN START THE SOUND OF SCREAMING
'Avalanche' by Seb Jaeger
2) WHEN SHE HEARS THE BANG DOWN STAIRS AND STARTS TO WALK DOWN. THE MUSIC WILL SLOWLY GET QUIETER AS SHE GOES TO OPEN HER DOOR TO LOOK OUTSIDE
'Skynet' by Seb Jaeger
3) WHEN SHE HAS BLOOD AND BRUISES ON HER FACE AND IS TRYING TO WASH IT OFF, THIS TRACK WILL BE PLAYING VERY LOUDLY AND SPED UP SLIGHTY, POSSIBLY WITH A BACKGROUND OF SCREACHY VIOLINS TO MATCH THE ACTION OF THE FLASHING MOTION PICTURE AND THE INTENSE SCENE.
'Xonibore' by Ben Hayden
4) THIS IS A VERY BACKGROUND, SUBTLE TRACK THAT WOULD JUST ADD TO THE NON-DIAGETIC BACKGROUND OF A STEADY SCENE, A WAY TO MATCH THE ACTION RATHER THAN LEVING IT SILENT. THIS WAY, THE AUDIENCE WILL ALWAYS BEEN REMINDED THAT THEY ARE WATCHING A HORROR. THIS WILL PLAY WHEN SHE IS ON HER PHONE IN THE BATHROOM, AND WHEN SHE IS
'Blizzard' by Mike Eastwood
Lighting
Lighting will be pretty much the same through out, as it will be filmed in the evening it will be yellow LED lights throughout the film. Therw ill, however, be an exception when Katherine is washing her face in the bathroom where the lights will turn red to represent danger. The red lights will be LED lights which I purchased from Amazon. the lights can change to several colours but I feel red will be the most effective as it is a common and very traditional horror colour. There will also be the use of the lighting from a lamp post outside from a long distance which of course is no hassle to film.
Shot list
Shot number | Direction/camera/edit/sound | Characters | Location | Time |
1 | Begins with the main character putting their bag on the floor and taking their shoes off. The camera angle will be shot from her bag so will be filming as she puts it down and points the camera at her. This will be to show that she just got home, so every event after has a bit of context as it is how she feels and what she does after a normal day out. The camera angle will move whist she is taking her shoes off and have a camera shot focused on her taking them off; this will be a knee level shot. The shoe drop will be quite loud and sudden so the audience are continuously aware and paying attention. Sudden noises also signify panic which the main character feels all the time. The putting down of the bag will also be loud and sudden. The camera will then have a medium/long shot of her sitting on the stairs doing nothing, and then an even longer high angle shot facing down on her to signify how lonely she feels. The sound will be silent to reflect how the main character mentally feels. This also make the audience feel uncomfortable and empty, similar to the main character. There will then be an over the shoulder shot facing down on her hands which are fidgeting to show her anxiety. | One main girl played by myself | At home in the hall way | Afternoon/evening time when people get home from work or school. |
2 | The main character will run up stairs into the bathroom and shut and lock the door. The camera will be behind her as a static shot as she run up the stairs. It will then switch to be in front of her as a medium static shot until she gets upstairs. There will be a glance on the front door which has a blurred out window, there will be a figure of a person outside at the door and there will be a thud as the audience sees it. The girl does not though, so there is a slight sense of dramatic irony. Then the camera will be a high level angle from the ceiling (basically) and will pan down vertically while she walks to the bathroom. This high angle shot makes the main character look small and lesser than, which is realistically how she feels. There will be a close up on her closing the bathroom door and it will be a loud slam, the same goes for locking the door. The music during this seen will be silent, however, once she locks the door, subtle eerie music will start playing to signify the beginning of the horror scenes. | The main character who I will play my self | In my home. The hallway, stairs, landing and bathroom. | In the evening |
3 | The main character will be sitting on the side of the bath watching videos of her friends on social media having fun. There will be an over the should shot of her looking at her phone and watching it, followed by | Myself as the main girl | In my home, in the bathroom | In the evening |
4 | The girl will turn on the tap as if she is about to wash her face. There will be a close up of her turning on the tap suddenly and it will again be a sudden noise. She will look up at a small mirror where she sees blood and bruises on her face. There will be a loud non-diegetic thud as she looks up in the mirror to compliment the surprise scare. The shot will flash from the scene to black extremely quick a couple times to signify panic and what she is feeling. This will also elongate the horror moment and cause an even bigger scare and flashing lights and screen remind people of danger. She will swill her face, the camera will be switching from a close up of her and the water and the reflection in the mirror. The close up of her and the water will have blood in it as if she is washing the blood off her face; however, the camera shot of the mirror’s reflection will have her washing her face, but with no blood, as if it was all in her mind to begin with. This clearly indicates a sign of schizophrenia. During this scene there will be screeching music while she is panicking, so the music reflects the atmosphere of the activity in the scene. While this is happening, the camera will be flashing/glitching to a black screen randomly for quick moments to increase the fear and horror of the scene. | Myself as the main girl | Still in the bathroom | In the evening |
5 | The scene will change straight after this to a static mid length shot outside the bathroom watching the main character walk out of it, looking dazed and confused. As she walks to her room the camera will follow her. there is then a sudden noise coming from downstairs (a door slamming) so the girl stops and looks frightened. The camera change from following her to a static low angle shot from the middle of the stairs to show her being scared by this noise and looking down stairs. This gives the audience a feeling of worry as they are close to where the noise came from. | Myself as the main character | In my house, on the landing | In the evening |
6 | When walking downstairs the camera will be from the girl’s point of view so the audience can feel her anxiety and see everything first hand, the same as the main character. I plan to keep the audience in suspense until the end of the film clip, with no dramatic irony until the last scene. There will be quiet subtle violin nondiegetic music to keep the audience in suspense. | My self as the main character | In my house on the landing, stairs and hallway | In the evening |
7 | The camera angle/shot will change to be over the shoulder as the main girl goes up to the front door and opens it. She will do this quite slowly to show she is scared and keep the audience in suspense. Once the door is open and she is looking outside, there will be a point of view, camera pan shot which will move from centre to the left, stay there for a second or two (long enough o have a look), then to the left (again, long enough for a look), as if it is the main girl looking. However, when the pan shot is moving to the left, there will be a dark figure of a person standing underneath the street light opposite the house, so the shot will pass this and then go back as a double look almost and the figure will not be there. This will create lots of fear for the character and the audience as this scary random figure appeared and disappeared, as if it was not real. This is also to signify the main girls mental health and represent schizophrenia. Whilst outside looking around there will be back ground diegetic noise of cars in the distance and music from those cars as a sense of reality so the audience are reminded that this is real life, however when the dark figure is spotted the sound will be overtaken by non-diegetic screeching violins to signify horror and shock. Violins are also high pitch instruments which is known to remind people of the sound of animals and distress, so then the audience will be on high alert for threats such as predators. | Myself as the main character | In my house, in the hall way, and outside my house across the road | In the evening
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8 | This next shot will follow on from the previous one, however the camera position will change to a long distance Dutch angle, ground level shot to reflect the sense of disorientation the main girl is feeling after seeing something frightening. This shot will show the girl shutting the door in disbelief and tapping the pressure points on her head to show she is anxious and trying to calm down. The audience will feel sorry for her because she is struggling with this mental health issue. She will talk to her self while the music is still loud, earie and high pitch, so the sense of horror isn’t lost and the audience and still on edge, then the camera angle will change 5 ish seconds later to an eye level shot in front of the girl as she turn around, where she will gasp as the she faces ‘the figure’ (so the camera will essentially be the figure looking at the girl). The audience will then feel like they are the horror and be uncomfortable as the main girl is looking distressed looking directly towards the audience. The camera will then move as if it was the figure, very fast towards the girl as if it was attacking her, at this moment the music will be a thudding sound and will then go silent, as the girl begins to scream. The girl will be screaming from this moment till the end, as she feels she is getting attacked and it extremely anxious and panicked. The camera will focus on the girl who is crouching down on the floor screaming but no body is there. This shows her schizophrenia. To highlight this mental issue even more, I am going to use several shots focusing on her on the floor struggling. I will have a high angle long shot from 2 corners on the room, and attempt to do a dolly zoom/vertigo shot; all of this with the same volume of her screaming. This all together shows that all the horror that the audience was witnessing was all in the girls mind as she suffers with this terrible illness. This message, comparing mental illness to a horror, will really widen some people’s perspectives on the seriousness that is poor mental health. Not only does it take over people, especially young people’s, lives, but it is not spoken about enough so people struggle to find help. My target audience is young people, who, to some extent, may be able to relate to this film. It may encourage people to admit they are struggling too and open up. If the film did manage to catch the attention of adults, they can start the conversation too to make it easier.
| Myself as the main character | In my house, in the hall way | In the evening |
What are the hazards/things to consider? | What could happen?
| Actions to minimize risk | Risk rating/likelihood |
Fire | Filming with candles or electrical could cause a fire and hurt somebody, ruin equipment or worse. | Ensure no wires are tangled, no heat is left unattended and candles are blew out when not needed. | 3 |
Electrical | Wires could be crossed over or too many plugs could be plugged in. this could cause a power outage or fire possibly. Also wires may be on the floor which is a tripping hazard. | Tape down any loose wires to prevent any tripping. Turn off plugs when they’re not needed and ensure there aren’t too many devices plugged in at once. | 6 |
Filming environment | Some of the filming will be done outside so there is a risk of bad lighting, getting the right time in the day, making sure no body is in it in the background in case they feel uncomfortable, ensuring were not on someone’s property and of course the crews safety. | Make sure there is always two of us filming when outside for safety. Be alert of the time of day and where I am filming to avoid any troubles with the public. Make sure to be respectful to any people walking by. Make sure to have the proper lighting with my if I am filming in the dark, e.g a torch. | 9 |
Working environment | Filming in my house could make family members feel uncomfortable | No one will filmed who did not consent to it |
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Data loss | I could lose shots that I film or work that I write on my computer. This is crucial for my movie as I need all evidence | Everything I film or type up is backed up on either my computer, my blog and or a back up memory stick | 2 |
Production log
|
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. |
|
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