Preliminary Filming 2 - Editing

In my second piece of preliminary filming, I have edited the shots I have filmed.


I have used iMovie to do this, as this is the program I will be using to edit my actual short film. Therefore I have gained the necessary skills needed to edit pieces of film, which will make the editing of my horror film much easier and also better.
I have included this screenshot to show the layout of the program and how it works, along with the multiple shots of my preliminary filming (2). In this particular screenshot I was practising cropping, to make my prelim flow as the person is walking through the corridors.
iMovie is a very easy program to get used to, if one has never used it before. It's buttons and functions are easy to find, and once you've had a quick practise with it you can easily start to properly edit your own videos. This is the reason why i'm using iMovie to edit.

   

This is the final piece of my preliminary filming. I started off with my character walking from the outside of the school, straight through two doors and turning right into a corridor. I then changed the shot into a lower angled shot, as he just turned the corner. I then included an over-the-shoulder following shot of my character, as I made sure that the camera was behind his shoulder the whole time as he walked. The disadvantage to this is that the camera will shake slightly as you cannot use a tripod. This shot is followed by a close up of his foot, as he carries on walking.
I have used a tripod the whole time other that the over-the-shoulder shot to keep the film as still as possible. One factor that also needs to be kept in mind is the lighting, as it gets particularly dark at one point.

Experimenting With Stair/High Angled Shots (Preliminary Filming 1)

Due to the fact I will be including stair shots with my protagonist walking up and down them (from the hallway to the balcony) and also from the back door to the basement, I have tried filming some stair shots in school. This was very useful because I have gained confidence while filming these so I shall be able to film these shots better in my actual location. As you can see, each shot is very still. This is because the tripod I used did this, which I will be using when I film.
Also, I tried out a high angled shot which appears at the end of the video. I will be using these shots to make my protagonist look weaker, therefore it was crucial for me to try out this shot. Again, I have used a tripod to make the shot still and I shall be using it every time if I can.

Storyboard Animatic

Here I have made my storyboard into a short animation. I have chosen to do this because it makes it a lot more interesting, and each shot appears in order, like it will in my short film. Every shot gets brought to life, which again makes it more interesting to view, which will make filming slightly easier too. Also, I have added background spooky music into it, in order to get a feel for what my short film will be like, as there will be quiet spooky ambience playing most of the way through over my horror film.

'Pete's Media Blog' - The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

This powerpoint is fantastic at summing up how to make a practical project. It lists 9 different factors that should be considered in order to do well, therefore I can use this to my advantage. What is great about it is that it goes from the very start to the finish (from doing basic research right up to looking back on your work and getting feedback).

So I will be following each point that is listed in order to improve my work.

Equipment/Prop List

As my cast and location are all finalised now, all I need is an equipment list before I get started. By creating this, I will not have the chance of forgetting to bring certain props, which would stop me from being able to film some scenes.
As there is no dialogue in my short film, props will play a large role in telling the story (the audience shouldn't have to lose track as to what is happening; they should be able to easily follow the story).

My equipment and props I shall be using include:

Video Camera - To film my short film

• Tripod - To keep the video camera still - keeping a still shot is incredibly important when filming as the playback will be much better, therefore a tripod will be used where possible

• Storyboard - I shall bring my storyboard as I will know the order to film my shots, so it makes it easier to film as I can just follow it.

• Mobile phone - My protagonist will have her mobile placed in the lounge, and when it starts to ring she will answer it and realise nobody is there, which will add to the spookiness of the film.

• Kitchen knife - When my protagonist starts to investigate the house, she will pick up a knife from the kitchen. Therefore this will show that she is very scared, to the point where she is willing to murder whoever is haunting her. The antagonist will have a knife that he carries to, so he can kill her at the end of the film.

First Filming - Testing The Video Cameras and Tripods

In order to get used to cameras we'll use for filming, we took them out around the school and took some shots and short clips testing different angles. This was extremely helpful because when it comes to filming we will find it a lot easier due to the testing we did.
This is a shot of me trying out a high angled shot. I experimented with this particular shot because it is one I will be using a fair amount in my short film, therefore doing this will benefit me as I will understand where and how to use high angled shots.

This is another picture of us experimenting with cameras. We tried filming with and without the tripods, and all of us came to the conclusion that using a tripod was much better. This is simply because tripods make each shot perfectly still. I found out that no matter how still your hands are, when you play the piece of film back it will always be slightly shaky. Therefore in my short film I will always be using a tripod, where and whenever I can.

Narrative For My Film

If I had to summarise my short film for someone who didn't know what it was about, I was describe it like this:

I have planned a stereotypical horror short film. The reason for it being stereotypical is because it follows many conventions from other horror films, for example, it is being filmed in a large house, without any speech. The cast is very small (only 2 people - the protagonist and antagonist), as this will add to the scariness of the film (my protagonist will not get any help).
Sound is another convention that I will be very careful with, as most of the time, if not all the time, it will be quiet in the background. Only the sound effects will be loud and attempt to make the audience jump.

Different camera angles will be used, for example many high camera angles will be used for my protagonist to show the weakness of her, and many point-of-view shots of the antagonist to make it more realistic.

Audience Feedback

In order to get proper feedback from my audience, I realised the best way to do this was to film a member of my audience and ask them a series of questions. In this filming, I asked Ryan Soanes three questions about horror, and most importantly it's his own view. Therefore I can use his opinions in my short film in order to create a horror film that will appeal to people who enjoy this particular genre.
I feel more motivated after hearing what Ryan has to say as his views are very similar to the ones I had already, therefore I am well on track for correct ideas for my horror short film.

I have found out that:

• Death, gore and screams are just some of the words that come into people's minds when they think about horror. These factors will therefore be considered in the shooting and editing of my short film.
• In order to make a horror movie successful, the more realistic it is the better it will be. This is because we start to think that it may have a chance of happening in real life, if it appears very feel and eerie in the film. Paranormal Activity is a great example where this happens; we see the whole film through a video camera or a webcam's point of view.
• When it comes down to sound, there should not be any lyrics in any songs. In fact, there should not be many/any songs altogether - but there should be spooky ambience most of the time.

Example Of Audience (Female Profile)

This is Laura - and she is 16 years old. She is a huge horror fan; owning DVDs of this particular genre and watching them by herself or with friends. As well as watching films, she also enjoys being with her friends, and will go to see rock bands that she likes when they visit her local area. Laura enjoys experimenting, and will quite often try out a new band or go to the cinema to see a film that she thinks she may enjoy.

This film, Paranormal Activity, is one of her favourites. This is because she likes the way that the whole film is filmed using a video camera, therefore it seems much more real for the audience watching it. This sense of realism affects her as it would with most of us, as it is hard to forget about something that seems as if it could happen to you. She has Paranormal Activity 1, 2 and 3 all on DVD, and she has pre-ordered the 4th for when it comes out.

Example Of Audience (Male Profile)

This is Jordan Davey - he is 17 years old. As well as enjoying the company of friends, he very much enjoys watching TV, and is a huge fan of horror. The music he listens to also often has very dark meanings in the lyrics, which helps to show this idea that he is a horror fan. Therefore he knows quite a lot about this particular genre, and so can relate to the characters in these types of films.






This film, Insidious, is one of his favourite films. This is because he likes the creepy way that children are used in it, so every time he watches it he always gets chills. He also likes the way how Insidious keeps a certain darkness in the film, so it keeps you on the edge of your seat because anything could jump out at you at any point; which it does.
Therefore in my horror short film I will remember to keep a dark effect, and attempt to make the audience jump by doing this.

                                                                                                     


                                                 
                                                           

Audience Theory

Hypodermic Needle Theory

It dates from the 1920’s, and was the first method to attempt to explain how mass audiences react to mass media. It is a theory that audiences passively receive media text without challenging it, as if everyone thinks the same and has no opinion. This makes the hypodermic needle theory a very crude model, as you can think of it as text being injected into the brain.

Two-Step Flow

The hypodermic needle theory was starting to get old and prove to be wrong, and so a new theory was set up, called the two-step flow. It is thought that information does not feed into the audience directly; it is first filtered through ‘opinion leaders’. Opinion leaders can therefore have influence over everyone else, and therefore it is known as a two-step flow.

Uses and Gratifications

During the 1960’s, it became apparent that audiences make their own choices about what they do when consuming texts. Therefore audiences are made up of individuals who actively consume texts for different reasons in different ways. In 1948, Lasswell suggested that media texts had the following functions:

• Surveillance
• Correlation
• Entertainment
• Cultural Transmission 

Blulmer and Katz expanded this theory in 1974, with:

• Diversion
• Personal Relationships
• Personal Identity
• Surveillance

Reception Theory

In the 1980s and 1990s, more work was done to explain how individuals receive and interpret text, and how individual circumstances affect their reading, such as age and gender. The work is based on Stuart Hall’s encoding/decoding model of the relationship between text and audience. So the text is encoded by the producer and then decoded by the reader, and there may be different readings of the same code. Preferred reading is where the producer can position the audience and create a certain amount of agreement on what the code means. This is done by using recognised codes and conventions that the reader prefers. 

Representation Of Characters

Protagonist

This is an example of the kind of person my protagonist will look and dress like -






I have chosen to use a female to act as my protagonist. She will be an innocent blonde, as this will make her look not as powerful, therefore when she dies we will feel sorry for her. Females stereotypically will get more scared than boys will, therefore my short film will be more effective with a female. She will be wearing ordinary/casual clothing, to show that it is just a regular day, so we don't suspect anything going wrong for her. My protagonist will be in her mid-teens because the target audience will easily be able to relate to her as many of the viewers will be female. Also, the younger she is, the more scary it will be for her to walk around a large house alone, with a killer, therefore we feel much more sorry for her as an audience. Many point-of-view shots and high angled shots will be used with her as this will make her look much more vulnerable, and we will see what is happening from her height; making it more realistic.

Antagonist

This is an example of the kind of person my antagonist will look and dress like -





I will be using a male to act as my antagonist, as males are stereotypically stronger, and there are more male killers than female ones. Similar to the picture, I shall be using a white face mask, as it creates an unknown feel. However, instead of just leaving it plain white I will be adding black pen to it. As the antagonist will be dressed up we will not know his age, however we shall presume he is in his very late teens/early twenties. I will be dressing him up in a ripped suit, to add to his spooky, unknown feel. I shall be using many low angle and point-of-view shots with my antagonist, to add realism to my film and to make him look stronger.

Horror Directors - James Wan

James Wan is a reasonably new face to horror. He is an Australian producer, screenwriter and film director. He specialises in horror films - most widely know for coming up with the idea and directing Saw. 
At the age of 11 he knew that he wanted to be a film maker, and he went on to receive his Bachelor of Arts degree from the royal Melbourne Institute of Technology in Melbourne. He then began to make short films and music videos. In a recent interview, Wan said that 'I think even as a kid, I appreciated and loved the medium of cinema because it allowed me to utilize every aspect of art to tell a story'. 
He has always been attracted to horror, especially from a young age. This is mainly because his parents were huge horror fans, especially his mum, and so she didn't mind him seeing horror films at a very young age. This therefore led him to direct many horror films. 
Saw became so successful that it has many sequels including Saw II, Saw III, Saw IV, Saw V, Saw VI and Saw 3D.
Other films that he has directed include Dead Silence, Death Sentence and Insidious.

Genre - Horror

Definition of 'Genre' - A category of things distinguished by some common characteristic or quality.

Horror is my chosen genre for two main reasons: It is simple and very effective. If the filming is pulled off correctly and the editing likewise, it will draw the viewer in because they will be constantly on-edge and will therefore want to know what will happen. As a lot of teenagers are interested in horror due to it's eerie surroundings, I am included in the target audience. This is help produce ideas for my film as I understand what people like and what scares them. 

I believe that sounds are the main ingredient to what makes a good horror film. This is because there is barely any, if not at all, speech, therefore it is down to the sound we hear to enhance what we see, making the film much more mysterious and frightening. The quieter the ambience in the background of the film is, the easier we are to jump when we see the antagonist, as a loud sound effect can be added at that point.

Risk Assessment

Risk asessments are important to produce, as it keeps you safe when on location. The actors and director need to be aware of all the possible risks that could be present, therefore they will take more care than they normally would. Because my film is taking place at a house in aylesbeare, I wrote down all the dangers that could be found at this particular place.