CONSTRUCTION: GREENSCREEN AND VOICE RECORDINGS

We were interested in the idea of using a news broadcast as a way to give the audience an insight into the story. This news read would only suggest what is happening to motivate the audience to keep watching. We experimented with the use of a green screen to create a digital newsroom from which a news anchor reports. 

For the green screen to work properly, there were several precautions we had to take to ensure the best quality. The subject/actor was positioned at a distance away from the wall, as well as the camera. This was done so that the camera focal point could be set on the subject and the brick pattern on the green screen would be less visible. As well as this, the subject has positioned a distance in front of the green screen to prevent spill. Spill is where the green colour from a green screen "spills" onto the subject. This can result in the subject having a green glow, as well as areas being removed by the editing software. Also to ensure that the editing software (Adobe Premiere Pro) would effectively remove the green screen, two sets of lights were shone onto the background to keep the colour bright and vivid. This would mean it would be easier for the editing software to distinguish the green colour that needs to be removed. 

In this photo, the lights are being set up to ensure that they are lighting the background and not the subject/actor (Tom). Also in this photo, you can see the distance between the subject and the green screen. 

Audio quality is an important part of a good film if the audio does not match the footage, or the quality is poor it can turn away audiences and break your sense of immersion. In the photo, the microphones are being set up. This is to record what the actor says in good quality. This was done because the camera we were using was far away from the actor, meaning the audience would not be able to hear him. If we were to increase the volume of the camera's mic, it would result in unwanted sounds become more prevalent (e.g. footsteps or white noise). After the filming was done, we did another voice recording where the actor spoke directly into the microphone. This was so that we could have a high-quality recording that could be used as a voice-over in different parts of the trailer. 

Here in Premiere Pro, we used the ultra key effect to remove the background (green screen). This will allow us to place anything we want behind the actor, which will be a newsroom. As well as this we used the crop tool to remove the microphone's boom arm that was protruding into the shot. On top of this, we also had to sync the voice recording captured by the microphone with the video. This was done by having the actor(s) clap, and we would use this clap to pinpoint the position the audio need to be. 

CONSTRUCTION: MARKETING PLAN

 

CONSTRUCTION: SECOND FILMING SHOOT

Once we had established where we planned to film next, we were eager to begin. The filming location was a secluded area of our school's grounds that featured thick woodlands and abandoned belvedere. We felt this would be an excellent area for our project and play well into our theme of a supernatural thriller. A few days before filming with the actors, Tom Alex and I scoped out the area and I took some establishing shots of the area. These were great for adding tension as the area was shrouded in fog at the time. Unfortunately on the day, we filmed with Ben there was no fog. This was not an issue though as our project is a trailer, continuity is not required between shots. Although we did talk about how the drastic change in appears the filming location had between filming shoots could be implemented into the supernatural elements of our film. 

These two photos show a great difference in the filming location between the two filming dates.

This was one of the establishing shots that I recorded during our brief exploration of the filming location. The thick veil of fog brings out a sense that this area is isolated and I think that idea will help keep the audience on the edge of their seat. 

This is an over-the-shoulder shot that I took of Ben moving around the building. This technique was used to make the audience feel as if they are entering this uncharted territory with the character and produce a sense of dread of what is around the corner. Then Ben steps further away from the camera showing his swift and efficient movement as he traverses the area, emphasising the specialist military themes of our project.

This clip is an edit of the previous video. I like how the over-the-shoulder technique brought into the scene and made you feel as if you there with the protagonist. To get a stronger grasp of how the footage would look, I put the clip into Premiere Pro and tested out how I wanted the footage to look like. It was also a chance to see if the stabilization effect in Premiere Pro would be effective. As well as this I experimented with the idea of cropping the footage to create cinematic bars to tightly fix the audience's attention on the point of focus. 

Once we had gathered all the footage we needed around the building, we looked around our schools ground to see if anything else would be of use to us. In the photo, we found a stretching brick wall and felt it would be an effective tool to use with a dolly shot as the straight lines of the bricks would help convey a sense of movement and tell the audience that character is moving across a location.

In this clip, we have Ben traversing through the low ground and past a brick wall. The bricks moving past on the right create a sense of movement emphasise a greater meaning behind this character's journey to a location. As well as this, the gun is pointed towards the audience presents the character in a position of power. This will be used to contrast with scenes where the character struggles against the antagonist. 

After this set of filming, we had created a large library of video clips that will be used in numerous way to produce our ideal trailer. 

RESEARCH: CINEMATIC STORYTELLING

The book "Cinematic Storytelling" outlines the different uses of smash cuts with examples from renowned film Psycho and American Beauty. In American Beauty, a smash cut jumps from a wide aerial shot to an imposing close-up, jolting the audience. Psycho uses a moving shot than then slam to a stop with a static shot, making the audience feel as if they have ground to a halt. 

There are numerous ways in which we could use this technique, one idea we discussed would be the following the protagonists travel in a car to the warehouse (the camera follows the car as it thunders done the road). A still shot of the warehouse suddenly appears. 

Another technique the book highlights, climate. Climate can be used to convey a specific meaning to the audience without having to make it too obvious. The example used is Shyamalan's "The Sixth Sense", coldness is used to symbolize the unnatural (ghosts). Clouds of air (mist) are used to tell the audience that character has indeed died but remains in the land of the living. 

We could use this technique of using the scene's climate to connote meaning. A drop of blood or strong gust of wind could be used to connote a death to the audience without directly showing it to them. This could envoke a stronger emotional investment from the audience as they do not see who has died or if anyone has died, this will motivate them to watch the film. 

CONSTRUCTION: LOCATION FILMING

On the 27th of October Tom and I met up with our actors to carry out our first filming shoot. As we were yet to fully establish our plot, the shoot was mostly focused on establishing and any footage we would want to use for transitions or to convey the characters are moving around the setting. Once we had all arrived we began outlining what we wanted to achieve that day, and what we planned to do with the actors. Tom was in charge of directing so I looked to him for instructions on the layout of the film and where he wanted to film and what to happen there. I was in charge of filming, it was my job to ensure that the film's story can be conveyed to the audience through camera. Using different techniques and conventions. 

Here Joe and Ben are being filmed entering and leaving different rooms, this will allow us to have scenes flow together. Though we are producing a trailer, a coherent setting will help us engage with our audience.  

Here I was practising shifting the camera exposure from the torches blinding light, to then reveal the two protagonists.  

Tom explaining the framing he wanted to see when recording Amy on the cherrypicker, to create a boxed-in feeling for the audience. 

Preparation for the brief photo shoot that we were planning to use to create a poster.  

The day after the filming I looked at all the files to see all the progress we had made. There was a lot of videos that I was happy with. Although some of them did not turn out the way I wanted. A key example was the plan to shift the exposure from the flashlight to the characters. The camera struggled to process the lighting and focused the exposure to the light source. This meant that the characters were out of focus and too dark. 

PLANNING: THRILLER CODES AND CONVENTIONS

 

PLANNING: RISK ASSESSMENT

 

PLANNING: STORYBOARD

 

PLANNING: CALL SHEET

 

PLANNING: CASTING

 

PLANNING: PROPS

PLANNING: SCP

 

PLANNING: SOCIAL ISSUES AND GROUPS

One of the main issues that our Trailer/Project faces is the great issue of members of the military struggling with integrating with normal society. Due to their lives being filled with constant conflict, a normal relaxed day can seem unnerving for these people. As well as this, there are those who do not wish to return from service, as they do not want to interact with the issue at home or feel that they don't want to return to normal. Our trailer will touch upon this. One of the Operative in our film will reveal that he has a family but also reveal his regret in not wanting to return to them. 

On top of this, our trailer will touch upon man insatiable fear of the unknown. How as a society we feel the need to know everything about everything. As well as, all creature discovered and held within our grasp. 

PLANNING: MY TARGET AUDIENCE

For the successful release of a piece of media, a distributor must understand who is going to enjoy the film and how they are going to get them to watch the film. To first visualise the audience that would be interested in watching our project, we created questionnaires and sent them out. These questionnaires asked participants questions on what they looked for in a film and other information. This information would go on to help us build an audience profile. 

Audience Questionaire

Favourite Genre(s):

How do you want a horror film to scare you:

Which Trailer is prefered:

Trailer One:

Trailer 2:

Gender:

Age:

PLANNING: INITAIL DEVELOPMENT

 Mind Map

Further Brainstorming

We looked further into current examples of Modern such as A Quiet Place and the short films produced by Evan Muir online. We looked at the codes and conventions used, we wanted to move away from the horror "tropes" that had oversaturated the market. Exessive violence and gore, as well as jump scares, were all features of modern horror that we wanted to avoid in order to make our project stand out.  

PLANNING: LOCATION RECCE

For our location, we wanted to find a setting that would work effectively with a genre of horror/thriller. Luckily Thomas Hutchinson, the Founder of Ignite Films, had a contact in the surveying industry. This contact would have access to a list of buildings not in use that we could use. As well as this, we looked at the infamous Hollywood Lodge in Epsom. We planned to look at as many locations we could during the half-term. We had a friend who lived nearby to the lodge and asked them if they could get us some photos. For the surveying contact, they generously sent us a file containing images of the locations. 

Location 1

Location 2

Hollywood Lodge

PLANNING: BACKGROUND RESEARCH

Our main inspiration to create a trailer for a Horror/Thriller film came from a YouTube channel under the name of Evan Royalty. Even Muir, the channel's own, creates short films with the production company Retro Digital. His short films are inspired/based on the SCP Foundation. A public and online forum, in which members create 'anomalies' for this made-up Foundation to have in their possession. These anomalies range from comic horrors to a harmless teddy bear. The main purpose of the SCP there is no limit on what an 'anomaly' can be. Evan has created two short films and is currently in the production of his third. For our project, we plan to recreate a similar product as Evan's films. 

Evan Muir

SCP: Overlord is Evan's latest short film that is currently in production. What we all agreed that we liked in this trailer was the tense atmosphere that is created from the hard soundscape and dark colour grading. As well as this, it features the military theme that we are also wanting to create and gives us guidance on how to using this theme effectively in a trailer. 

SCP: Dollhouse is our main inspiration for our production, as it is Evan's first short film made with a production company. Before this Evan would use the help of friends and animation software to make his short films. Here he was able to use the budget and man-power of a production company to make his film. It has the military and horror theme that is to be expected of the SCP universe. Here the main threat is not shown to the audience it is only teased.  

RESEARCH: WHO IS THE TARGET AUDIENCE?

TASK 1

Each film must go through a process where the distributors find out about who the film will engage with and how to engage that audience. These are the selling points of the film, they are compared to age, gender, lifestyle and activities of an audience.

TASK 2   

    

Kezia Williams from eOne, explains that it is important for a distributor to understand their target audience so a film can be marketed correctly. The distributor must understand what motivates the audience, what their interests are, and the driving factors for them going to the cinema is. 

A distributor will often start by looking at data collected from 'comparable films', which are films that have been released and are akin to the film being marketed. Using the information gathered from the 'comparable film' a previous audience is identified. 

    

Distributors will also analyse demographic data for films, to find information on the intricacies of the target audience. For this data, the gender gap for the film can be distinguished, as well as the involvement of multiple audience types. On top of this, distributors will analyse which would be the best cinema chains to display the film. 

TASK  3

    

Using what I have learnt from listen to Kezia Williams and Chris Besseling, I have complete task 3 on FDA website. In which, you fill in a table and present what you believe to the target audience from five different films. 

TASK 4

Using what I had Learnt from Kezia and Chris, I completed task 4. Where you outline the various ways you would market the specific film.