Practical Log: Day 1 of filming 'Unknown'

Our first session of filming was very successful and we managed to record over half of our footage needed for the film to be edited and produced. When filming, we decided to film each scene in a chronological order so that we didn't miss out any vital footage need to maintain continuity.
A last minute shot that we decided to add to the film was a shot from under the bed when Cara grabs a ukulele. We felt that this shot was rather clever as it was a shot that was shrouded in darkness and helped build suspense.
A problem that we encountered during filming was that the lighting wasn't ideal. We wanted to set this film during the night but we had no choice but to film during the day. To try and solve this problem, we closed curtains, and blocked any light that leaked onto the shot. However sometimes this would lead to people accidently appearing within the frame. To resolve this, we adjusted the shot to help maintain the low key lighting and also making sure that no members of the crew were in shot.
After our first filming session, we realised that we needed more time to film so we are hopefully going to have out secind filming session in the next couple of weeks.

Below are some of the shots that we filmed during this session:

Questions for our video questionaire

Do you understand the story line?
What genre do you think the story line belongs to?
Would you enjoy watching this film?
What age rating certificate would you give the film?
Do you feel that you can relate to or understand the characters?
What kind of music would you expect to hear in the film?
What setting and costume would you expect to see in this film?
Do you think the film title is appropriate?

Pyramid productions

When creating our logo we decided that we wanted to call our company pyramid productions. We thyen made our logo look like a pyramid and did it in grey as be thought it was a classic colour that made our logo look sophisticated and professional. we also wanted the name of the company on it so we created this.

After making this, we decided that we wanted the writing to be see through so that the film could be seen through it, which lead us to this.

We think that the simplicity and classic colours of our logo will make it memorable to the audience. The name of the production company is in the logo so that it does not get mistaken with anyone else's logo, making us distinct from others. Being able to see through the writing is important as it maans that if we like we can place the logo over the film without it blocking out too much of what is happening on screen. The side of our pyramid is a slightly darker grey to the front at it makes the image stand out a little more and makes it appear to be in 3D even tough it is a flat 2D image.

Editing Skills: Continuity and Elliptical Editing

To help us get to grips with the our new editing programme (Premier Pro) we decided to film a short film sequence of someone walking from one point to another. When we filmed this we used a variety of camera angles and camera movement. These varied from extreme close ups to long shots and we also used panning.

However, we did this exercise to focus on editing skills and when we edited this film sequence, we edited one of the films which showed the entire journey and this helped us focus on maintaining continuity. This film was around two minutes long and this is clearly too long to walk for a short film so we re-edited the footage considering elliptical editing so that the journey takes less time. We did this by cutting out irrelevent footage that we didn't need to use to convey the journey.

Below shows the two film sequences, the first is the two minute journey considering continuity editing and the second is the film considering elliptical editing.

Film Poster Analysis

SCARY MOVIE 5 POSTER

From the poster of Scary Movie 5, we can immediately see that the film will contain themes of horror. This is because of the characters you can see on the poster itself and also the name of the film gives this away to the audience. The character that stands out the most in terms of genre identity is the monster like character that lies behind the other characters.

 This character is by far the scariest of all the other characters and the use of make-up and costume contributes to this. Other things that help the audience identify the idea of horror is the use of smoke-like effects in background of the poster. This smoke has connotations of mystery and eeriness. However, the Scary Movie franchise is most famous for its comedic approach to existing horror film references. Therefore the poster must also give of the idea that there will be comedic themes within the film. This is done well as a lot of the characters on the poster have large, over exaggerated facial expressions which can help create comedy. Also, there are very surreal elements to the poster that also create comedy and these include a smoking teddy bear, the monster's absurdly long arms and a very concerned looking priest (in which comedy is generated through the use of facial expression). All of these elements put together are a very good example of how to portray to an audience the idea that this film is a Comedy Horror film.

Within this poster there aren't many clues to what happens within the narrative however there is a lot of clues in terms of characters. On the poster there are a lot of different characters, in which have different roles and personalities. Also the use of colour in the poster is effective as iconic colours for the horror genre are used e.g. Reds, Blacks, Murky colours. However, among these surrounding, iconic colour codes there are characters who are wearing more colourful outfits. This breaks the sense of horror within the poster and this is effective as it is very 'in your face' and vibrant and therefore catches the attention of their audience. This combination of iconic horror colours and bright, vibrant colours help put across the genre of the film which is comedy horror.

The layout of the poster is very simple as the characters are all positioned in the middle of the poster, showing that they all have relevance to the films narrative. Also, this makes the characters a sense of vulnerability as they are enshrouded by a mysterious mist or smoke that surrounds the characters at the edges of the poster. this creates a sense of horror. There is also a light above all the characters shining towards the person who is looking at the poster. This implies that the characters on the poster are watching a movie and incidentally are also looking at out of the poster towards the audience. This appeals to their audience as it makes them feel as if they are part of the poster and that they are involved with the film and this makes the audience want to go see the film.

Also, on the top of the poster, it says "You've never seen activity like this." This hints to the audience that the film will in some way create a parody of the horror film 'Paranormal Activity' and this is implied through the use of the word 'activity' and also the genre of the film itself. Also the font of the words "Scary Movie" is shown in three dimensions which immediately catches the eye of the audience and connotes that this film is packed with comedy that's very 'in your face'.

Film Poster Analysis

 

Black Sheep

 

Black Sheep is a New Zealand Comedy Horror about mutated sheep becoming carnivorous and attacking humans and essentially turning them into "Were-sheep" that also start to attack people. An Animal rights Activist tries to help the owner of the Sheep farms brother stop the experiments being practised on the flock when they find out what's happening. As the farm owner also gets bitten things turn a bit a bit debauched and it's a fight for their lives not to become one of the Were-sheep abominations.

As the film is mainly focused on Henry Oldfield who as a teen was traumatised by his brother Angus murdering his favourite sheep, Henry left the farm he became the Black Sheep of the family for not carrying on the family business of Sheep farming. This brings to light the idea of the title as well as the very sinister happenings at the sheep farm involving rather bizarre genetic experiments in the cause of creating the perfect sheep but in the process also ends up turning ruminants into carnivorous meat eaters. This then shows the title to seem like a explanation for the Main Character and for the Evil (Black having connotations with evil) blood thirsty sheep.

The taboo lexis (swearing) on the poster is used very well. First as a play on words in the Tag Line substituting "Fuck" for "Flock". The second refusing the subtle route and plainly saying that the sheep are "Pissed Off" giving the harshness and anger of the word.

The main image of the poster is of the Sheep Flock surrounding the truck of the 3 main characters that are trying to help stop the outbreak of Were-sheep. This has effect due to the tagline "there are 40 million sheep in New Zealand... and they're pissed off" as it helps show the extend of the groups problem and also gives the audience and idea about the film if they haven't see it as the mass of sheep is quite eye catching.





Also the full moon in the background of the image connotes with the idea of werewolves and so backs up the idea of the Were-sheep as the full moon is commonly what makes the human turn to whichever cursed creature they are meant to now be after the original creatures bite or scratch is inflicted.



Most importantly of all one a film poster there is the release date, the one on the poster being for the New Zealand release "March 22" mentions the month and date for people who would wish to see the film when it comes out.

Radio Trailer Analysis

The Conjuring 

As in most radio trailers a loud, deep voiced male does the voiceover of the trailer. This insures that what is being said is clear and catches and holds the listeners attention. Given the genre of the film in question is a horror there are a few things used that help to back up the genre and the horror aspect of the film.
This inclues the sound played behind the voiceover. Bells toll and supernatural sounds can be heard to highten the tention of the of the trailer. These noises also help as they have connotations with horror and death which are both prominant features in The Conjuring given the family in question are being haunted by the restless dead. The haunted noises that also play represent the presence of the evil spirit that is plaguing the Perron family. 
As well as the voiceover and the sounds being played there are also sound extracts from the film itself, including dialogue, this gives the listen an idea of what may happen in the film as well as give tention as it is a horror that is being advertised.
What critics have said about the film is also included as to show how the film has been recieved in a good way and how the horror has effected them to influence people to see for themselves how good the film is and whether it is capable of scaring them.
The cimena release and certificate are also included so you know when and if you can go see the film yourself.

The Conjuring (1 minute in) 

Treatment

There is a small montage of a house with things such as a not from the mum reminding her to do things like feed the cat, telling the audience that she is away. General view of what the house is like. Lots of panning shots and fades to create an eerie atmosphere, almost like the driving scene in "The Shining". After the credits have finished, there is a shot of a girl in bed. A knocking sound is suddenly heard but the girl remains sound asleep. There is then a close up of the girls eyes on her side. The knocking continues until suddenly her eyes shoot open wide. She then sits up, which is shown by a match on action as the shot changes to the bed and upwards. The knocking stops and she lays back down. The knocking starts again and she gets out of bed. The camera follows her in a pan as she walks to the window to look outside. She can't see anything, shown by a point of view shot out of the window. The knocking continues to she grabs her ukulele as a weapon, which we will show with a shot from under the bed where the ukulele is stored. The under the bed shot will remain until she is at the bedroom door, when the camera will change to a close up on her hand as the opens it. As she goes down the stairs and says the dialogue, there will be a large mix of shots in order to create suspense. When she reaches the kitchen, there will be a point of view shot where we can see a figure through the frosted glass of the outside door. As she walks towards the door, the camera remains point of view in a hand held shot. There will be another close up on the door handle as she goes to open this one and the door will open suddenly to reveal a mid shot of the pizza boy. Their following conversation will be done with shot reverse over the shoulder shots. When she goes and sits in the living room after their conversation, it will be a very wide shot in order to see the pizza boy walking past the window. When she goes and gets the pizza menu there will be a close up of the pizza menu and the phone that she is calling from. There will be a close up of her mouth on the phone as she says "Can i order a pizza for delivery please?" and then the screen will go straight to black. The ending credits will then role.

Independent analysis of an opening title

In the opening titles for "Saw" there are a variety of things that we could include in our own film. The writing states things such as the cast and crew. This will be important as it gives credit to the people who deserve it. The people who have made the film want it to be clear that it is theirs and including their names on the opening title is a good way to do this. Another thing i noticed about the writing is the chilling font that it is written in. The letters appear to be drawn, or more scratched, onto the screen. The scratching indicated people trying to escape, keeping in with the genre of the film and the idea of the death traps used throughout the film. By using a scary font, the film has already begun to scare the audience with a small and simple detail, making the font very important as it can give a certain message to the audience before the film has even begun.

Another thing that the opening titles included were key items and locations for both the horror convention and the specific film. Things like the clock and the stopwatch and padlock represent the death traps that Saw uses throughout the film, whereas the scary brick walls and stair cases present a more general view of the horror genre. The images on the screen are very flickery and jump about the screen. This emphasises the horror genre as it confuses the audience, giving them a feeling of insecurity and vulnerability. These are all things that we can include in our film as we want the beginning to appear scary and full of suspense, up until the pizza boy is revealed and the comedy begins.

Risk Assessment

Here is the risk assessment for our film, Unknown:

Cast and Crew List

Millie England
Costume Design
Make Up
Camera Work
Editor

Rachel Picton
Director
Camera Work
Editor

Jamie Smith 
Actor
Camera Work
Editor

India Birchall 
Actress
Location Coordinator
Propps Designer
Editor

Location Photographs

Our film is set in one house, however there are many rooms used throughut the house that are used in the film.

The first room used in our film is the bedroom where the girl wakes up. This room is a typical teenagers room. It has a television, bookshelves and other things often associated with being a teenager.
















The girl from the film then walks down some stairs to go to the kitchen. The hall where the stairs are has a honmely feel due to the mirror and cat toys scattered around, enhancing the verisimilitude.















The kitchen used in the film is fairly modern, which encourages the idea of a teenager in her home. The kitchen is where the suspence hapens to the lights will be dimmed to create an eerie theme when the teenager is walking towards the door.

When she opens the door, there willl be over the shoulder shots of her and the pizza boy, showing both sides of their converstaion.

When Cara goes and sits in the living room, the pizza boy can be seen from the window due to the layout of the house and street.

All Photographs: