What Targets will you set yourself for G324 next year?

Explain how you are going to make progress next year-
Next year I will hopefully be able to expand my knowledge of filming and how to make our filming look even better than we have done this year. I want to find out about different shots we could use besides the basic shots that we have used this year. I would love to find out the different ways that advertising could change everything about a film and how it pulls it's viewers in. We want to make sure that our trailer is filmed quickly so that we can work quickly with the editing so we could focus on more of the work on our blogs.

What would you have done differently and why?-The opening two minutes that we have worked on as a team this year turned out a whole lot better than I could have ever imagined. I was really impressed with the quality of the acting and editing and even the camera angles and lighting. We didn't always catch the deadlines that we were supposed to but we got everything done in the end and in the best of quality that we could. If I had to do something differently I would have made sure that we had enough planning for our project before we begin to actually film it as we only had two days of filming so we had to rush in to the filming without any real planning that we could go from. I would also change the fact that we didn't represent the stereotypes of our teenagers as strongly as we could have.

What are you aiming for to do in your next production to improve your film making?-
I liked the concept of the opening we did this year which was simple but effective. The cost was very low due to the props being, thankfully, very inexpensive. I made our Ouija board and the face paint, fake blood, candles and matched only cost a few pounds. I do agree that the monsters make-up should have been covering a lot more like down his face and his clothes should have also been out of shot but that's another thing we can work on.
I hope, for next year, that we can include some new shots that we haven't used before in our upcoming project to make things in our film a little more interesting. A shot that could be over a period of time could be an interesting shot to use because of the timing process. Using new and improved shots could also help us to achieve a better grade.
Using Adobe Premier Elements 10 was a good move for our opening two minutes as the editing was very smooth and it was just what we wanted for our final cut so we will definitely be using it for our next project. It did take quite a while to learn how to use the software but it was completely worth it for the brilliant outcome we received. Learning some new techniques would be great in preparation for our upcoming project so we could make our trailer look better than our opening two minutes.
We deliberately had a lack of diegetic sound as it creates a large amount of tension in the film as a lot of horror films tend to do. We also had limited dialogue to create heightened tension in the film which a lot of horror films also include. For our project next year i would love to include a personalised soundtrack for our film. I had the idea of having a recorded version of The Teddy Bears Picnic but a slower and creepier version would be suitable for a horror movie trailer or including a soundtrack that hasn't been used as much and can be manipulated to how we want it to be.

Promo Poster

I made a simple promotional poster for our movie. This poster would be displayed in cinemas, magazines, social media sites and at bus stops. The candle represents the candles that we used around the Ouija board in our movie. The background is black to make the candle in the foreground stand out.

Evaluation- How have we progressed?

  Looking back at our preliminary task, you can see how much we have improved our camera work.

  This shot is from our preliminary task, it was an attempt at a match-on-action. In the video, it feels awkward because of the pause between the medium shot of Zoe putting her hand on the handle, and the close-up of her opening it.

  In the final film, we also used a match-on-action of someone opening a door. This one looks much more natural as there is no pause, and the next shot is of the door opening from the other side. I also tried to use the rule of thirds in this shot; the white door frame takes up one third and the hand lands on a line of thirds, meaning the eye focuses on it. This makes the shot more visually appealing.

  The preliminary task featured a panning shot of Zoe walking into the room and sitting down. It is boring because it simply follows the character in a medium shot. The panning wasn't really necessary because the action could have all been displayed in a single frame.

  The final film also features a panning shot of characters walking into a room. It is more effective here because it makes us feel more close to the characters. We are discovering what is in the room along with them. The shot also provides a contrast between the bright hallway and dark room. The shot was also too big to fit in a single frame.

  The dialogue in the preliminary task was accompanied by something in between a medium and long shot. It looked bad because it didn't clearly focus on Zoe due to the strange size of shot.

  In the final film, most of the dialogue was in shots similar to this. This is a better shot because the high angle makes the characters look vulnerable, and it is a two-person shot which is more interesting to the viewer. The use of lighting is also much improved because it contributes to the atmosphere.

  Here, we used an over-the-shoulder shot to show that Zoe is the main character. The shot it’s self isn’t that bad, but in the context of the video it is unclear because the previous shot is an over-the-shoulder of Bill. This suggests he is the main character and confuses the audience.

  The final film also features an over-the-shoulder shot. This one is more effective because Matt’s character has already been portrayed as the main character, for example he was the first one to walk into the house and opened the door to the candle room. The shot also helps us sympathise with the character because we are also scared and are discovering the room along with him. The length of this shot also helps us feel attached to the character.

Evaluation- Director's Commentary

Evaluation- A Typical Audience Member

  This is Bob. Bob would be a typical audience member for our film.

Evaluation- Screenshots

Title: This is the title that appears at the end of our two-minutes. It is conventional to the genre by being white and bold, appearing on a black background. This, combined with it's appearing suddenly and fading away slowly, makes it look like a real horror movie title.

Setting: The setting for our film was a creepy, abandoned house. In reality the house we used was Bill's; it fit the requirements of being oldish and creepy looking. The setting is conventional to the genre because it fits the creepy, old, decrepit tone of the film, as well as being a stereotypical setting for horrors.

 

Costumes:The costumes used in the film were intended to stereotypically represent teenage personalities such as nerd, jock etc. The costumes were meant to make the stereotypical characters recognisable, and also to make the audience (i.e. teenagers) relate and sympathise with the characters.

Props: The props used in our film included tea lights, matches and a Ouija board. The tea lights and matches provided ambient lighting that set a dark and creepy tone. The Ouija board, being the main prop in the film, was very important. It helped reinforce the genre by being a conventional prop often used in the genre. I made the board myself from a piece of wood and wanted it to look as authentic as possible.

How characters were introduced: The characters are introduced quickly in our film. They walk past the camera in a medium shot without any dialogue. From their body language and the order they walk we can tell their personalities. We can tell that Matt's character, in the front, is the confident leader because of this posture and because he is leading the others. We can tell my character is less confident from the way he is looking around and looks uncomfortable.

Camerawork and editing: We tried to use a range of camera shots in our production. Some of the shots we used most were medium shots for reactions and speech and high angle shots to make the characters look small and vulnerable. Some of my favorite shots were the final two-person close up shot of Matt and Luke blowing out the candle. I also liked the long, dark-over-the-shoulder shot of Matt where he lights the match, I feel this shot builds a lot of tension.

Title font and style: The titles for our film are fairly plain and white. We didn't want the titles to draw too much away from the tension but also wanted them to stand out off the dark background. We chose the relatively tame font because we didn't want it to be cheesy but wanted it to be subtly sophisticated.

Story and how the opening sets it up: The story for our entire film would center around the ghost character hunting down a group of people who enter the abandoned house. The opening two minutes of the film sets this up by showing a different group (i.e. the one in the opening) being killed by the monster, in a sort of prequel type scene. This allows the audience to understand the supernatural elements and danger before beginning the main story.

Genre and how the opening suggests it: As mentioned in other parts of this post, there are many hints as to the genre of this film. These include the music, the titles, the dark scenes and the props.

Special effects: We used very minimal special effects in our film.The lighting with the candles and matches could be considered a special effect as it enhances the mood. Luke's makeup could also be considered a special effect, though both that and the candles would qualify more as practical effects. By keeping special effects low, we show we can create fear without resulting to the use of CGI. More Alfred Hitchcock than Michael Bay.

Evaluation- Presentation and feedback about our film

Presentation:


Feedback: