Ancillary Task - Analysis of Horror Posters

In order to come up with a final poster, we must ensure that we take into account posters that fit into our chosen genre, I have chosen three posters which stand out to me and fit the typical codes and conventions of a horror poster.

Firstly, The Ring. Directed by Gore Verbinski in 2001, the ring tells the story of a journalist investigating a video tape which seems to cause the death of anyone who watches it within a week. At first glance of the poster, the title stands out the most being in the perfect position to draw the focus of the audience. "The Ring" is a rather vague title creating many enigmas as it could in fact have many different meanings giving off a horror vibe. This is enhanced by the apparent handwriting the title is written in, almost as if it is written by a child, and also making the audience wonder why it is written this way. This is further reinforced by the fact it is written in white giving off the innocence of the child.

The picture of the circular ring itself is clearly connoting what the film is about, and as is it is somewhat faded and distorted it represents the horror genre. The films tag line "Before you die you see" gives off enigmas to the audience, making them wonder what in fact they will see, thus drawing them into the film to answer them un-answered questions that the tag line is so subtly posing.

Through the colour coding that the poster is showing it is very clear that the film itself is a horror. Black being the main backdrop of the poster represents death and darkness, whilst the white gives off a contrast that makes the poster stand out and entice the audience. This is also supported by the distorted handwriting and fade image giving an omnibus feel to the poster, as at first glance, the audience is unsure of what the film is about as the poster is only offering subtle clues which are hard to follow.


Secondly, The Eye. In the film a woman receives and eye transplant that allows her to see in to the supernatural world. At first glance of the poster the main focus is in fact the image of an eye. One thing i like about this poster is that it is unlike many others from the genre horror, as the lighting itself is at an extremely high key but around the eye the shading is of an extremely low key. This lighting shift could perhaps give the audience the impression that the person who's eye this is may appear as normal through the high key lighting, but could in fact hold a very dark secret which links to the persons eye, and in turn showing the film is within the horror genre.

In terms of the text, the title of the film links to the image being shown, "The Eye" appears directly bellow the image and the fact the the word "Eye" is written in bold block capitals suggest that the film revolves around this and connotes that the film is based around an eye. Its also noticeable that the poster shows the name of an extremely well known actress, this marketing technique could some what convince people to see the film just to see the main actress "Jessica Alba", also the fact that it appears just in the middle of the text and the image suggests that her eye is the focus and with her name being written in a red font suggests anger, danger and blood linking it back to the chosen genre of the film and letting the audience subtly know what they are getting themselves into.

Lastly, Gothika tells the story of a woman who wakes up as a patient in an asylum with no memory of why she is there or what she has done. When fist viewing the poster it is clear to see if follows the typical codes and conventions of a horror movie poster with its low key lighting, however, it has its own stamp on it with the blue colour used, connoting evil and a cold feeling. The cold feeling is supported by the apparent rain which appears perhaps suggesting that a main theme in the film is the weather or maybe even the film itself takes place within a storm.

The point made previous about the storm can be linked directly to the font used on the title "Gothika", the colour appears to have a somewhat, electric blue feel to it, as if it were the same colour of lightning. Likewise to "The Ring" and its font the font used on the title appears to have been written by a child, with its oddly placed capitals and strange font itself giving off a haunting feel to the poster and suggesting that perhaps a child plays a huge role in the film. The picture itself is of what appears to be the protagonist Halle Berry, its clear to the audience that the person being shown is Halle Berry is due to the text stating the name of the main character, something that many posters seem to do as another marketing technique. However, this is not a standard picture of the actress it shows her face looking dazed and confused, directly at the person looking at the poster, enticing the audience to look at the poster and notice on her left arm are the words "Not alone". It appears that the writing on her arm matches that of the title perhaps suggesting that what we can only assume of a child wrote this on her and is perhaps haunting her, which is shown by her facial expression.  

Poster Influences

Below are posters that Anthony are hugely influenced by and we want to achieve something similar to this for our own poster. Because are movie is based on a lone wanderer character we want to have a poster that shows this character from behind looking at something in the distance. This will help make our film seems quite mysterious and hopefully people who see our poster will be attracted by it and come see the movie.

Third Day of Filming

As Usual, Anthony and I decided to film on the 20th of December as the weather conditions matched with our other shots. After reviewing the footage in the editing suite Anthony and I noticed a lot of mistakes that we decided to try and patch up today. For example, in one shot we noticed the tripod bag was in shot, and the more we viewed the shot the more it became apparent to the point where we had to get rid of it. As a pair, we loved the shot and felt it fit perfectly as it was, so tried to recreate it exactly as it was. We did the shot 3 times, changing small details each time in the hope that one of them will fit. After we finished some missing shots we then decided to move on to some new shots which Anthony and I discussed thoroughly.

An example of a shot Jack and I discussed used the editing technique of cloning. In order to pull this off, I was made to walk down a very narrow alleyway with the camera stationary in a mid shot. When my entire body has past the camera we were keen on leaven the camera running and sending me behind my initial walking spot so I would appear behind myself after my body had walked past. This in turn would create a haunting effect which is almost spiritual where I would appear in a spot watching myself from afar. After much deliberation Jack decided it would be best if he took the role of the person watch me, so we would not confuse the audience. I agreed so we continued to repeat the process but put Jack in the background. After checking up on the footage a number of times we were finally left with the effect we were pleased with and are eager to see what it turns out like in the editing room.

Day three of filming basically consisted of patching up the shots in the snow, as it seems the snow has stopped for quite a while. It gave us time to prepare for the transition of snow to sun, so we stopped filming in the middle of a pan, and once the pan has finished, I will appear with no snow surrounding. These noticeable shifts in weather are key to our story line and play an important role in the protagonist finding out where he is. Jack and I were extremely pleased with today's filming and feel we achieved everything we set out to do and are excited to film the remainder of our film in the near future.

Music Influences - Silent Hill

Jack and I are working closely together in searching for the perfect music for our film, we are highly influenced by many different types of new media technologies, one being video games as mentioned previously. One game which is very well known for it's use of music is Silent Hill 2 and the very memorable song I think we should bare in mind when choosing our music is entitled "Promise". Where the music is in many ways mysterious, dark and eerie, 3 very key words Jack and I often refer to when discussing what type of music we are looking for. By using the website Free Play Music we are able to type key words into the search bar and browse through the website using this, narrowing down all songs and finally deciding what one we will go with. Jack and I have planned to meet up on the 18th December, where we will decide there and then what songs to choose. As the other members of our group are unable to attend we are going to show them the song we have decided to choose and hope they enjoy it as much as we do.

Planning Diary 2

Week 5
Similar to week 4 we continued with the Limbo blogs, Jack created a questionaire to help us aim the film at a partcular intended audience. As a group we then proceeded to take responsibility and discuss certain ideas with eachother to help create a story we all agree with. We did this by using Harvey's iPhone to record a conversation with eachother and too also exploit another piece of new media technology to give a more interesting feel to the post. Harvey then blogged about what type of genre our film would be, and came to the conclusion that it will be a 'Horror', based around the influences we have had.

Week 6

Jack and I decided to go location hunting and after narrowing down a few we decided on a field located a few minutes away from the school. Considering we are all local to the area we always knew this was a good place to film a creepy film and transport is not a problem. I took my phone in order to take multiple pictures to show members of the group who were absent some of the ideas Jack and I came up with for a few shots, as well as to look back on for inspiration for both the story board and the film itself. I proceeded to upload the pictures to the blog along with some writing. Jack meanwhile was busy searching for the perfect music for our film, after narrowing a few down he showed me his favourites, all seemed to fit perfectly so we will need more opinions from other members of our group.

Week 7

After supporting Jack with the search for the perfect music I decided to do some research into the importance of music. Whether it is Diegetic or Non-Diegetic, music is the key to a successful horror film these days, creating tension and delivering incredible notes on those scares. I decided to post an example of this with a film created on youtube called Scary Mary, where creepy music is placed in rather than the more, chirpy music that is used in the film, proving that music is what can make a film scary, or not scary.

As a group we then decided to visit the location with a camera and test out a few shots that we have planned on using in the film. Within this I would be the actor and Michael and Harvey would tell me how I could complete certain movements and in a way be the directors for this short shot as Jack filmed and also gave his input. When we completed the filming itself, Jack and I decided to take the footage back to the editing room and put it together in a sequence that we were proud with. After watching over the footage analysing the pros and cons of it we decided it was perfect for the film and I began to organise and initial shooting schedule. Taking into account of the weather we noticed it was going to snow, after much discussion we decided to not let this effect us and instead adapt to it and continue filming within the snow.

Week 8

This week was rather successful as we finally decided who our protagonist would be, Jack suggested I take the role and the others agreed simply due to the experience I had in GCSE Drama. Within this week, Harvey uploaded his Audio podcasts so we were able to take note of what was said on them and incorporate them into our final idea. As a group we decided creating audio podcasts would be an outstanding idea so we could look back on what we have said previously, thus meaning we wont forget any good ideas we had. We nominated Harvey to record them as his iPhone 4 had the best sound quality and was able to pick up our dialogue without a problem. Also, as Michael, Jack and I were filming Harvey would film around us commentating on what we were doing and the process we are using in order to make the film its best, and using his HD camera on his iPhone 4 he was a perfect candidate for this role. The shooting diary's have proved a success as we often look back to see if there's anything else we could be doing to make the film better.

Jack and I also decided within this week it would be best to begin filming our final film. However, Harvey and Michael were unable to come with us due to school work, and told us they will meet us at the location later. We arrived to at the location and began to shoot around 1:30 of the film (fully edited). We achieved our goal and felt we could have gone on for longer, however, due to the camera running out of charge we had to return back to school and tell Harvey and Michael how the filming went as they joined us in the editing room. We are all extremely pleased with how it turned out and are looking forward to continuing with the filming.

Week 9
The group decided on what editing software we felt would be best to use, we settled with pinnacle as it was extremely accessible  for the entire group and all desired effects could be achieved on it. After this the group decided to film, in the snowy weather, Jack and I went out and began filming the first few minutes of the film, but were devastated as the camera ran out of charge, once the footage had been edited by us, we decided to return some day soon to finally finish. Upon arrival the next we were greeted with a problem, that the snow had melted. We attempted to film without the snow, but looking over the footage within the editing room Jack and I were not pleased with the outcome and so we called of filming till Thursday (as it was going to snow that day). Whilst not filming, we decided to take the initiative and research into title ideas, we came up with many suggestions but then decided to wait until the film was completed until we decided the name itself. Notwithstanding the fact that I decided to dive deeper into music research, drawing influence from scenes within the film Silent Hill which in some ways is similar to ours.

Choice of Editing Software

As a group we feel it extremely important to ensure that our short film is edited perfectly with the input of all of us. We've decided to use the editing software Pinnacle Studio Plus.

When editing our film our group must ensure that the film itself is always constructed with professionalism, as we are trying to steer away our film from looking like a typical student film. We must ensure that the film is at the highest quality we can get it with outstanding editing techniques to help create the effect of professionalism. With this editing software we are able to add all relevant effects to a film, such as slow motion where it is best fitting, credits to appear where we feel best, fades and much more.

We would love the editing to reflect how hard we worked on this film, and don't want it to be the let down. This is turn will allow the audience to enjoy the film with the editing placed perfectly. Which is why we are using Pinnacle Studio Plus. -Anthony Wilson

Why we Chose to use Pinnacle Studio

At first our group was against using Pinnacle Studio as we wanted to use an editing program that nobody else was using. Harvey suggested we use his £500 Adobe After Effects and as a group we thought this was a good idea. However after seeing the program in action we decided against it as it is more for putting in special effects then editing. Also it is really quite complex and our group only had limited experience with this program. After thinking about some other programs we decided to just use Pinnacle.

We chose Pinnacle because it is extremely user friendly but you can also add in some flashy special effects. It is also very similar to Windows Movie Maker which almost everyone has experience using. I have personally had a lot of experience with editing software and I find Pinnacle to be great for editing. It is so easy to cut clips and add in special effects which isn't the case in most editing software. - Jack Windsor

Title Ideas

Harvey, Anthony and I thought it would be a good idea to get together to discuss the title our film. I personally didn't like the title of our AS film and wanted to make sure we thought of something that sounded more professional this time round. We started by just thinking of words that would relate to our film such as "Limbo." However after a long discussion we realised that we didn't really like any of these suggestions as many of them would completely ruin our twist ending.

After even more discussion Harvey and I came up with two different titles that we both felt strongly about. Harvey really liked the idea of "The 11th Hour" however I strongly disliked this. I believe it sounded really boring and dull but Harvey insisted it was a good title. After doing some research we realised that this was already the title of a documentary starring Leonard DiCaprio so we all decided not to use it. I suggested we use the title "Where Time Stands Still" as I believe it sounded very professional and also was quite a mysterious title that would make people wonder what it was about it they saw the title or poster. Anthony believed this was a good title aswell but Harvey was strongly against it. He believed it sounded "like a lame Macaulay Culkin film." I took this on board but I still really like the title. At the moment we still don't have a title that everyone agrees on however I am still going to try and persuade my group into using my title.

"Fallout" Shot

As previously mentioned we drew lots of influence from a variety of media especially video games. One game that had a huge impact on our film is the game "Fallout 3" which is a game that revolves around a lone wanderer who travels through a post apocalyptic world. This had a huge influence on our storyline and we wanted to incorporate that sort of feeling in one of our shots. The game allows the player to switch between a Third Person perspective and a First Person perspective at any time and felt having a sequence which is similar to this would be really effective and stand out.

To create this shot I filmed Anthony with a slightly shakey camera showing the third person persepective. Then I gave the camera to Anthony and he filmed what would be the first person (Point of View) perspective. We were extremely happy with the finish result and many of our peers said they liked the shot very much. We believe its makes our film really unique and makes it stand out. Below is the finished shot.

Second Day of Filming

Since we had double Media Studies during periods 4 & 5 Anthony, Harvey and I decided it would be wise it we tried to film what we could during the two hours. However we had a slight problem with the camera. Since everybody is trying to finish up their filming there are barely any cameras available for use and our group accidentally left the camera in the editing suite. When we arrived back it was gone so we had to use a weird camera that we weren't even sure worked. We quickly head to Anthony's house as he needed to get changed into his costume and we then headed to our location on foot.

Once arriving at our location we noticed that pretty much all the snow had melted. This was bad for us as we had previously been filmed in the snow and our new footage would look awful when added on to our old footage. We tried to film around this but it ended up looking awful. After filming for 20 minutes Michael arrived but quickly had to go because it was his Mother's birthday. While we were filming we all had our doubts about the camera as it was one that we never used before. We weren't entirely sure that the quality of the camera would be similar to the one we used previously. Since we were running low on battery Harvey, Anthony and I headed back to school. Anthony and I headed to the editing suite to take a look at our footage.

After we uploaded the footage Anthony and I both agreed that we would not use this footage as the quality was horrendous and it was uploaded to wide-screen format which looked terrible in contrast with our previous footage that was in full-screen. However these hours were not wasted as we figured out many great shots and plot points that we will be adding to our final film.

Weather Issues during our Second Day of Filming

Upon the disappointment of being unable to film over the weekend, we were all eager to get back on track and finish the filming issues. At first glance of the field we noticed a worst case scenario. The snow had melted. We immediately began discussing how we could over come this, coming up with suggestions and alternative endings to make sense of the disappearance of the snow. When we finally came up with an ending as shocking as the last we felt it necessary to begin filming although the lighting was quickly running low.

We used as much snow as we could in the first shot of the day a it slowly began to thin out into the green grass my character became more aware of the disappearance of it as I proceed my walking. Upon Jack and I editing this shot we were extremely pleased with it's outcome and felt that it worked extremely well with the ending - which makes everything clear - and yet not make the audience wonder if it was intentional or not. However, upon further viewing Jack and I had to admit that the shots didn't flow well enough, the change from snow to grass was far too sudden and seemed extremely unprofessional. Harvey mentioned that on Thursday we are expected to have snow once more.

I took notice of this and decided to check out what the 5 day forecast was for this week and can confirm that what Harvey heard was correct. Upon discussion on MSN with Harvey and Jack we decided that perhaps it's best to film on Thursday, to ensure our film is the best it can be. However, the filming that commenced today was not all worthless, we came up with some shots we are eager to repeat and look forward to doing them much better a second time round, Jack was also able to test out an editing technique we have all been dying to perform which we feel could turn out extremely well.

First Day of Filming

As a group we decided to take advantage of the snow and begin filming on the 1st December. However, after performing a risk assessment we decided that due to safety issues we will abandon this date and proceed when the terrain was much safer to walk through. Upon multiple discussions we decided on the date 9th December to begin filming, as thankfully the snow was still present, but not nearly as drastic and dangerous as it was before.

Jack and I began the walk to the location and planned on meeting Harvey and Mike there. Throughout the walk Jack and I were constantly brainstorming ideas to each other that come from our appropriate surroundings, we were drawing influence from pass films and short films we have seen and were constantly relating them to the location in a way that we could decide what would work best for our film. When we arrived to the exact location where we were planning on using for the first scene of our film - which we set up on an earlier date - Jack and I were thinking of the ways we could perform the initial wake up scene. We thought back to when we were having our full group discussion and decided to try many different techniques in multiple shots and afterwards, decide which fit best for our film whilst doing the editing process.

Although the main problem of the heavy snow had disappeared, we still had to have our whit's about us when walking through the ice, dangerous yes. But the ice gave an amazing effect for one of our shots which Jack and I felt would create many an enigma. By using a long shot of me walking into the ice and then matching the shots through sound we bought the camera to an extreme close up of my feet stepping on the ice, giving a feel of destruction and perhaps even dominance for my character, giving the impression that perhaps there is another side to him that the audience don't know yet.

Unfortunately, the battery on the camera began to fall drastically low, so we decided to call it a day and call Harvey and Mike to discuss the mishap. Upon meeting them we showed them Jack began editing the footage with input from all of us to ensure that we all agreed on the perfect shots to use. We criticized what we felt we could improved and planned to film again on the 10th December during our frees in the afternoon. As a group we feel its possible to complete this part of the film within the free hours. All this proved that our first day of shooting was an outstanding success.

Audio Podcast #3

This Audio Podcast varies slightly from the others; we were in mid discussion with the recording equipment turned off when Jack and Anthony came up with a sudden Idea for the opening and closing sequence that would contribute well to the film. Our group is constantly coming up with ideas so I deemed it necessary to start up the recording equipment and capture everything that Anthony and Jack had just come up with because when it came to actually filming it we could look back at this Podcast and see exactly what they had in mind when they came up with the initial Idea. Bellow is the Audio Podcast itself in which you will be able to whiteness as Harvey Anthony and Jack discuss the new found Idea and develop it further and further.

Audio Podcast #2

This Audio Podcast features an nine minute solid discussion amongst the group as we continue to ponder ideas that flow through our heads as well as decide on shots for our opening sequence.

Audio Podcast #1

I have uploaded an Audio Podcast of me and the rest of my group discussing everything that needed to be decided before we start filming. I find the ability to compare the Audio Podcast with the shooting diary's because it shows what ideas we have dropped what ideas we have kept on and ultimately the result of the original discussion. The Audio Podcast's came well before the shooting diary so everything that happened in the shooting diary's is discussed in the Podcasts.

Bellow is a short introduction to the Audio Podcast series. We are the first group to introduce an Audio Podcast as a method of blogging and after analysing the first three Podcasts I believe it is an extremely useful tool because we are not being visually recorded we feel our discussion occurred a lot more natural and therefore flowed a lot better.

Shooting Diary #6

We suffered an immense amount of pressure today as we thought against rain and time to get all our filming done, I recorded anything I could in the short time we had but please appreciate we were fighting to meet a deadline so we may seem a little on edge. This diary is very important because it shows how our group works under pressure. I have found that even when we are faced with a little pressure we don't give half the effort or rush things, we will still weigh out every option for a shot in order to get the best shot;

Shooting Diary #4

Today two members of the group, Jack and Anthony went out and filmed several sequences ultimately resulting in a finished opening sequences. Jack Windsor and Anthony Wilson edited the footage we had and we are actually extremely impressed with the result. In this shooting diary I concentrate more on the whole concept of coming up with ideas and how we work as a team to inject those ideas into our final film. One thing noted today was an accidental stroke of genius. The sequence starts with our actor Anthony waking up in the middle of the forest, as he wakes up in shock Anthony unintentionally kicked the camera tripod resulting in the camera shaking. Jack was able to use his editing skills to make the shaky cam effect as ant rises up to look extremely professional and it has turned out to be possibly one of the best shots in the entire film. Below is the diary I recorded as we were editing.

Shooting Diary #3

This diary features me commentating as Jack. Anthony and Mike work together to come up with the same opening scene we had planned to do but from different angles. One thing that I like to focus on in this shooting diary is the method of scene rejection. Scene rejection is self explanatory; When a scene doesn't quite fit into the sequence it is removed and deleted.

Shooting Diary #2

The video bellow is just something I filmed whilst we were about to shoot for our first take. This video is a good example on how we discuss things with our group whilst filming.

Shooting Diary #1

Bellow is a video of mike talking us through the early stages of planning our opening sequence. We decided to use the same technique as last year because it is a lot easier for us all to contribute our own ideas onto a big white board rather than a small piece of paper. One thing I found is that the fact that the entire group is standing up all getting involved with a pen in their hand actually leads to further and more in depth discussion rather than just arguing. Any ideas that emerge from our group meetings we like to encourage and take on board rather than immediately dismiss them. Bellow is the first shooting diary in which we start by planning when and where we will shoot for our opening sequence.

Picking our Actors

As previously mentioned we wanted our main protagonist to represent the 'everyman.' Our group all brainstormed who we thought would make a good protagonist. I believed Anthony Wilson would be great for the part as last year he was our best actor by far. I asked Anthony and he agreed to play the main protagonist. I believe this was a great choice as Anthony took Drama at GCSE which shows he has previous acting experience. This will make our character a lot more believable and will also make our film seem more professional.


One change we made to our film was to change how the Grim Reaper looked. We decided against the cliche Skeleton look and decided to make him look human. We also decided that his character will be mentally unstable and essentially be the one who turns the film into a 'Horror.' Anthony suggested I (Jack Windsor) should play this part and I agreed. However I believe we can find a better actor for the role but If we cannot then I will play it.

Update 13/12/10

After further discussion we decided to completely get rid of the Grim Reaper character in favour for another character who is also played by Anthony Wilson. Whilst It may sound ridiculous to have both of our main characters played by the same actor it is a crucially part of our new storyline as this other character serves as the main twist to our film.

The Importance of Music In Our Chosen Genre

The video above is a classic example of how sound can make anything scary, whether it's diegetic or non-diegetic, creepy music and the occasional loud scream or bang can make a horror film work. In the film "Paranormal Activity" the director limits the utilization of sound to the noises of the ghosts footsteps creaking as it walks across the hallway in search of the victim, the footsteps are incredibly well done, keeping an extremely slow pace creating tension for the audience making the final scare that bit more frightening and memorable. When it comes to dialogue, it is often more scary if the antagonist doesn't speak, I feel it gives the character a much more deranged approach, constantly making the audience wonder what on earth is going through their head, and example would me Michael Myers from "Halloween".

Considering the genre of our film is a horror, we draw influences from other films in this genre in order to make sure we know what they do right, and bring that into our short film. We take searching for the perfect music very seriously and are in the process of narrowing down a few which we feel would fit nicely into the film. One example of something we are looking for is a song that would go well with the conclusion of our film, a song which strikes fear into the audience and creates so much tension as the music grows louder in volume and faster in pace that the audience can relate to the emotions the protagonist is going through at the specific moment in time.

Initial Shooting Schedule

Thankfully, the entire group is able to attend the filming on this date and all are then able to have an input, due to the fact our entire day consists of only Media lessons.
Something that plays a huge part in our film is the weather, and something that isn't typical of a short film is for it to be shot in a snowy environment. Fortunately, winter seems to have kicked in early this year and after looking at the five day forecast we are in luck that snow is coming on December 1st.

Practice Shooting

Yesterday our group went to our location to do a practice shooting session and to show the rest of our group the location (as they were both absent from the previous lesson). The main purpose of the practice session was to test potential shots and to see if our location would work as well as we thought it would. Since Anthony Wilson was playing the main protagonist I decided that I (Jack) would film Anthony in some potential scenes. - Jack

As the main protagonist, I (Anthony) was immediately placed in the action, testing out different reactions within the initial wake up scene. Jack was extremely helpful in letting me know what worked and what didn't work within myself waking up in this strange place. Notwithstanding this we felt it would be good test out around 5 or 6 different shots within the space of around 10 seconds to decide which ones would fit well continuity wise. From low angles to POV's we needed to ensure it flowed, and that we would be able to perform it as good as, if not better, in the correct weather conditions on the day of shooting. Unfortunately, the cameras battery fell low so we proceeded back to the editing room where Jack began to edit the footage under my eye, giving out suggestions until we were pleased that this is in fact our perfect location. -Anthony

Overall I believe this was very successful as we all decided that our story/location was absolutely perfect and we thought of a lot of great camera shots and angles. While walking away from our location I thought of a great poster idea for our film and Harvey Young took the picture using his iPhone. After viewing the picture we all decided that it would be perfect for our poster. - Jack

Final Location

As a group we finally decided on the primary location of our film. We wanted to have a very creepy environment that would frightened our audience so we decided to brainstorm ideas one afternoon. After tons of discussion Anthony and I thought it would be a good idea to film in some woods behind the school. We planned on using this location last year for 'Deceit' however after discussing it further the group decided on not using it as it didn't really suit our storyline. However we feel this location is absolutely perfect for our production this time round as it is extremely eerie and we believe it will really help to scare our audience which is a task we are trying to accomplish because our film is a Horror. It is also very reminiscent of a location from one of our influences 'The Village' where the director (M.Night Shymalan) turned normal woods into a very frightening and haunted place.

Fortunately these woods are very close to all of our homes and each one of us can get there very easily. We will probably walk to this location but Michael can drive so we can get to other locations via his car if we need to. As stated before the woods are behind Shenfield High School but can also be accessible behind McDonalds. There are many areas within these woods that we plan on using for scenes which I have marked on the picture below.

Diary of Shooting Combined with Location Hunting

November 25th - Jack and I decided it would be a good idea to look at one of the potential locations of our film. Although local to the school we feel it is fairly remote and will in-turn create that creepy, isolated feel we are going for with our film.

After visting the location Jack and I were extremely impressed with the potential of shots we could use. I took multiple pictures using the camera on my phone in order to show the members of our group who were not present, and to also refer back to in giving ideas for potential shots.

Upon walking towards the location we were shocked at how creepy the thin pathway was that we were walking down, with a somewhat dark entrance into the woods. We thought that there is a lot we could do in this pathway and anything could jump out from anywhere. This is something we could use in our film, whilst it still being surrounded by trees meaning it fits well into the location and in turn wont confuse the audience.

When we finally arrived to the potential location we were pleased at how open it seemed, notwithstanding all the tall creepy trees where almost anything could hide and jump out from, giving us plenty of ideas. The branches also seemed to be at different heights, giving an uneven feel to the location and thus giving the audience the impression that something isn't quite normal.

Jack and I also noticed the high amount of changes in terrain, from completely flat surfaces to hills and multiple humps in the ground, there is a lot we could do with this. All this supported with the light coming through the trees and leaves giving the ominous feel to the shots we use, perhaps giving an impression that something is trying to escape this place but instead is trapped and surrounded by the barriers of trees.

I stumbled across a tree covered in barbed wire, I feel it worthwhile to use this as an enigma for our audience. It also reinforces the idea that the character is trapped, as you would be if you were trying to escape a place surrounded by barbed wire. Also, the fact that it's there could make the audience wonder if someone has been to this place before, and if so who tormented the people here with the wire.

Jack and I also stumbled across a piece of metal laying on the ground, we felt it a perfect object for the main character to wake up on. Our initial idea was to use a beaten up mattress but we feel this metal works well in indicating this is a harsh place providing no comfort or luxury, only suffering. Jack proceeded to willingly carry the metal up the hill and placed it in front of a tree, after viewing it from a different angle we noticed where it has been place looked somewhat like a tombstone, which in many ways supports the ending of our film. We look to use this exact shot and hope the audience notices this.

On the walk back we noticed a rather eerie looking stream at the bottom of a hill, the stream had a broken branch of a tree over it. Jack and I decided that we could somehow squeeze this shot into the film, with the broken branch it symbolises some sort of destruction in this overall peaceful area with the water trickling down. We could also create a shot using the reflection of the water and something subtlety walking past, without drawing too much attention to it we create a large talking point and something memorable for our viewers.

Overall, we were extremely pleased with this location and will think very seriously about making this the ideal location of our A2 Media Studies Film.

By Anthony Wilson

Discussing New Ideas

Jack and I decided to get together and record a discussion about what its like taking everything on board for a new film:

What sparked our idea

Initially we found it difficult to come up with our story. as a group we found that even after brain storming sessions we clearly had nothing at all, so we tried several workshop techniques in order to come up with a few ideas. One of those workshops was to do everything one step at a time, so we would go around in a circle just stating one location setting that could be considered interesting and noting it down. We then proceeded to make notes of random characters that could be our protagonist and then listed a few random props we could include. Although this workshop proved to be productive we were unable to actually come up with an Idea as the due date of the coursework stated to come closer and closer we realised we were now desperate for an idea so as a group we decided to all take the weekend to think of possible controlling ideas and once we had decided on that we would then go on to think about how we would work around and present the chosen controlling idea.

It was then we all reported back with several different ideas ranging from a zombie outbreak, post apocalyptic mission to a conscious state in which the protagonist is haunted by death. The final idea we decided to take up was the last one, the idea of a man trapped within his own consciousness possibly in limbo or some kind of conscious state in which he finds he has in fact passed away. It is difficult to describe the film because it would involve ruining the story which would truly rob the films final effect on the audience.

The film is constantly developing by the style in which we film, we may go out and film very short sequences then retreat back to the editing suite to perfect that sequence. During this process of filming and editing we are constantly coming up with ideas that we can add the the film so the final piece really is shaping up to be something special that we are all going to be proud of.

Planning Diary 1

Week 1
In the first week of blogging we straight away decided we were going to create a short film, and this affected our blog as within the first we had already completely two blogs based around the subject of short films one entitled "What is a Short Film?" which after reading through again had confirmed that this was the route we wanted to take, and we then began to incorperate these ideas into our blog by posting more information based on short films. Whilst Harvey took information on our AS blog in order to help make our A2 blog a much better standard.

Week 2
The second week consisted of more ideas based around short films, diving in deeper into research of short films, until we finally used our first example of a possible influence in "Pixar Short Films" of which we would discuss what they did well in order to make their films such an outstanding success. We then proceeded to gain some brief information on previous short films we have seen, for example "About a Girl" and attempted to put across more information about typical codes and conventions as they are used first hand in a short film. Through these blogs we came up with our first "Initial Ideas" post, something we can look back on and take influence from.

Week 3
This week we began to take down some research based around short film festivals, to give an idea where abouts our film would be shown and who would go to see it with our post on intended audiences. These two posts work hand in hand and are very helpful at giving more impressions of our audience. Another 3 posts were put on blogger this week surrounding influences, based on both short films and full length films. These posts help us in decided what genre we are looking to take for our film which led us into writ ting another post around initial ideas, with the influence of our previous post we decided to explore the genre of horror, a mood board is used to emphasize the post and confirm that we are currently basing our film around the genre of horror. Jack Windsor then began to analyse the AS film saying what we could do in order to create a better film this year and proceeded to write a post surrounding media technology, consisting with the idea that we would include HD cameras. This could be linked to Harvey Young's post surrounding the idea of visual art and sound.

Week 4
This week Michael and I took the ghost idea very serious and began to think up some more information on it, including locations and costumes. Jack then posted a blog based on the genre of the film, what type of music we would incorperate into it and then expanded on a possible idea for the location of the film that as a group we decided would work. After coming up with what would be in the film this lead me to write a blog on pieces of iconorgraphy we would incorperate into the film based on the controlling idea of ghosts.

After recieving critisisms on the ghost idea Jack came up with the idea of Limbo, something that our recent posts have been based around. After coming up with some ideas with Jack i proceeded to create a mood board of what we could bring in to the film and use such images to influence us. We then had a few issues based around the controlling idea, whether we would surround it around Limbo or Purgatory, two very simular themes which we blogged about the meanings of. Michael then created a Risk Assessement sheet to ensure we knew what we were getting ourselves into with the film.

How we classify our film

It was tough for us to determine exactly what genre our film slides into but after research into various other genres and hybrids I can confirm that our film is now classified as a horror. I looked into the controlling ideas and fundamentals concepts of our film and was able to compare them with other films to clarify exactly what kind of short film it is.
One of the films I compared it to was Donnie Darko which is a psychological thriller. One of the aspects that I thought linked Donnie Darko to our own film is the use of sound as well as the use of imagery. It is difficult to explain but basically the way the film uses the Rabbit “frank” is in an ominous manner, they don’t always make it obvious that he is on screen he is often subtly in the background.

The fact that you don’t quite see him at first makes it even more chilling when you finally realise he is there. That method linked up with the correct use of sound provides an amazing effect on the audience of both fear and tension much like the shocking sequences in Shutter Island.

Questionaire

Even though we pretty much know who are target audience are, we wanted to conduct this questionaire to find out how are audience could view our film. Because short films only have a small audience we thought it was crucial to find out in what ways our audience were prepared to watch our film.

By Jack Windsor

Risk assessment

Throughout this project we will encounter many safety hazards. We do not want to harm ourselves, others or our equipment. Therefore we will take makes to ensure the safety of each of those aspects.

By Michael Holttum

Costumes

For our main protagonists we decided that he should represent the every man. This will allow our audience to relate with the main character as he is not a macho man or something over the top, but simply just a everyday regular normal guy caught in a weird situation. Anthony Wilson and I discussed what the every man should look like and decided on a shirt and tie. One of influences "Shaun of the Dead" put the main protagonist who was just an average guy into a strange situation. We drew ideas from this film and liked that the main protagonist was wearing a shirt and tie showing that he was prepared to do his job but was put into an out of the ordinary situation.

While discussing the storyline of our film we came up with the idea that our main character can stumble across the Grim Reaper. The Grim Reaper is essentially Death personified and he can kill people by just touching them. His job is to bring newly deceased people to the afterlife. The Grim Reaper is essentially a skeleton who wears a black hooded cloak and carries a huge scythe. We believe this character will fit perfectly into our film as he will scare our audience and advance our storyline further. We all decided it will probably make more sense if we purchase a Grim Reaper outfit instead of making one as this will be a long process which could end up failing. We put aside a budget of £20 to find a suitable costume that hopefully will not seem hilarious to the audience.

Anthony Wilson and I stumbled across this site http://www.allfancydress.com/Fancy-Dress-Costume/12624/Grim-Reaper-Costume.aspx while looking for Grim Reaper costumes. None of them really drew our attention except for one which we thought could be quite effective. It is different from the traditional Grim Reaper where he is depicted as a skeleton as this costume is just a black cloaked figure. We feel this will be extremely effective when in used conjuctionwith the right lighting. Below is the costume that we are planning on using.

The choice between Purgatory and Limbo

Purgatory is the process of purification or temporary punishment in which the souls of those who have died are made ready to go to heaven.

Limbo is seen as the temporary place for those who died with a friendship of god, but may not enter heaven until redemption is given by Jesus Christ.

Although in context these two ideas are very similar, we need to come up with our controlling idea for our film. We need to ensure that we know exactly what we are getting ourselves into, as both ideas can certainly be portrayed in different ways, and if we aren't really sure what our controlling idea is, then the audience will struggle to understand the film.

After much consideration and many discussions the group and I have decided to go the way of limbo. The idea that our protagonist is damned in this place and is unable to leave until redemption is given, we feel there's a lot we can do with this idea and we would toy with it giving our own stamp on it with man twists and shocks to appeal to our intended audience. One thing that we feel really made limbo seem that little bit more interesting is the belief that it is possible that you don't know how long you will be dammed in this place and at any point you can be sent to an eternity in hell, something we will be taking note of when deciding the finale of our short film.

Anthony Wilson

Our Pitch

Below is a video that we made before production. We all explain to a certain extent the entire plan for our film. We describe the key foundation of the controlling idea and play with several other ideas in order to intrigue the possible investing entertainment company. Below is part 1 and 2 of the Pitch

A Pre Filming Discussion

Below is a video of me and jack just discussing various ideas we have for our film. This is an important video because it represents our initial ideas that me and Jack had for a film and we find it very constructive to look back at this and compare what we wanted to do to our final product.

Final story board - rough

This is a early stage and rough idea of our story board. It will not include individual shots.


Beginning - Anthony wakes up

- Anthony wondering around looking confused

- Anthony purchasing the drugs

- Harvey telling Ant what to do

- Anthony sees his own dead body

End - Loop of Anthony waking up again

I will uplaod storyboard later

More Short Film Ideas

After recieving criticism for our 'Ghost stories' idea, we tried to think of some more possible ideas. I (Jack Windsor) thought it would be a good idea if we set the story in Limbo. Essentially Limbo is where a good person goes after they die but have not been allowed to go to Heaven for a certain reason. We decided to base the story around this idea but still wanted to add a twist to the end like previously discussed.

We got our inspiration for the possible plot from films like 'The Sixth Sense' and from numerous video games. I told this idea to my group and they all quite liked it. Anthony Wilson came up with many great ideas for the plot after I told him about the basic premise and after further discussion Anthony and I came with a great twist ending. Although I personally like this idea I need to make sure that other members of my group also want to use this idea instead of ones that we previously discussed.

Below is a moodboard Anthony created:


By Anthony Wilson and Jack Windsor

Iconography That Influences Ideas For Our Film

Despite the fact that the clip above is real footage from a documentary surrounding The Real Amityville Horror, of which I viewed on television recently, I managed to find the clip I found quite startling and I feel as a group we can use this as inspiration to influence our short film, and create a piece of iconography surrounding ghost children, something that is seen by audiences as incredibly scary mainly due to the view of children being sweet and innocent. The idea links strongly to our controlling idea. This is an extremely bold move which we believe we can pull off with subtle scares, For example, a ghost peering out from a doorway directly into the camera, almost as if it is staring directly at the audience is something that we can used to full effect and have the audience frozen in fear.

Another piece of iconography we are looking to use is that of a flash light,the clip above shows how one of our influences, director M.Night Shymalan uses the prop in the film Signs. As a group we feel the way in which this is used is something we would love to achieve with our film. The use of the high angle shot showing actor Mel Gibson alone in the dark, eerie setting slowly scanning the environment with the flash light looking for anything odd creates tension for the audience and also gives off plenty of enigmas making the audience wonder what is out there. Also, the use of the first person perspective used with a hand held camera is something we are looking to use, as he shines the flash light on the point of the scare, making it visible to the audience supported by the high pitch of music causes the audience to react in a fearful manner.

By Anthony Wilson

Possible Location

We draw a lot of inspiration from films such as 'Paranormal Activity 1 & 2' and 'The Amityville Horror' and all of these are horror films set in a house. We feel like using a house has been used some much and decided against it in favour of filming somewhere original. Harvey Young suggested we use a warehouse or a shed and as a group we all took this into consideration. The strengths of using a warehouse/shed is that it is quite original and has really not been done before. However we would need to look for a rather large warehouse/shed otherwise it would be very cramped if we used a small one. We all discussed the possible of filming in the woods but decided against it because:

1. It felt very unoriginal and may make our film seem amateurish
2. Because we are filming in the Winter we haven't got enough time to film in the woods as it will get dark quickly and we won't really be able to bring our own lighting.

As a group we still haven't fully decided on a location however the warehouse idea is looking like the best option right now until we think of something better. Harvey Young suggested we use his Garden/Shed to film and currently we are looking into this. The advantages of this are that because a member of our group owns this piece of land we will be able to film there whenever we want and as long as we need too. Also if needed we could bring our own source of lightning as we are literally right next to Harvey's house. However we still need to take this location into consideration and is may not flow with our story.

Jack Windsor

Music

Music is a very important factor for us if we decide to go down the Horror route. This is because in almost all Horror films the music drastically enhances the tension and the overall feel of the scene/movie. Its also a huge contributor to making the movie scary. For example if you watch a Horror scene without the music it's not scary, however if you just listen to the music and don't watch the scene its still very scary.

For our production to be successful we need to make sure we use music that really does it job well and doesn't feel tacked on and sound cheesy. Someone in our group suggested we try to compose our own composition using a piano, however after discussion we found that this could be a long and risky task that probably isn't worth trying. This is because it would take many hours to create a piece of music that may just end up sounding ridiculous.

Most likely we will end up going with copyright free music from sites like www.freeplaymusic.com which we have use previously for last years media task. It is a decent website which is very user friendly and has hundreds of songs avaliable for free download. The website is sorted into different categories such as "Moody/Dark" or "Joyful" so it is easy to find music that will relate to our film. Last year we didn't really spend too much time looking for music and just used the first song that grabbed our attention. However this year we will need to comb through the website and try many different possiblities to make sure we use music that is most suited to our film.

Once we have found the right piece of music for our film there are also many techniques we can use to do things such as enhance the tension. For example if we were to have a murder scene in our film we could set the music to slowly increase in volume over time leading up to the kill. We could also mute the volume right before the kill and as soon as the killer strikes bring the music back in at a louder volume. There are many different possiblities for our group to try and we will need to experiment with a lot them to make our film as scary as possible.

Jack Windsor

Doodle Bug - Textual Analysis

Immediately the audience can see the title screen as it fades in stating the words "doodle bug", eyes appear to replace the two o's as they quickly shift around in a somewhat paranoid fashion, instantly making the audience wonder if these eyes belong to the main protagonist in the film, and whether the movement of the eyes relate to the man's feeling within the film. The darkness around the title begins to disappear as the camera slowly zooms out to show a man sitting in a room with extremely low key lighting crouched down looking extremely on edge. The close up on the man's face is apparent and in some ways suggests the idea of the enclosed setting that this man is in, giving a claustrophobic feel to the film. The sound track begins to grown in volume in an extremely dark and eerie fashion, giving away the genre of the film and suggesting that it is in fact a horror. Continuity editing is then used to show the man diving from the first long take onto the floor as he hears some diegetic scurrying across the floor, hit hits his shoe on the floor with a loud bang suggestion he is trying to attack something. This entire sequence gives the audience the assumption that he is trying to catch a bug of some sorts, relating the images on screen directly back to the title. The camera then proceeds to slowly pan around the room as he looks somewhat exacted as his facial expression suggest, until he reveals there is nothing underneath the shoe and he begins to looks worried.

The man then jumps up as the camera shows the man in a close up as it slowly pans around the worried man revealing a clock in the background. An extreme close up is then used on the clock as the diegtic sounds of it ticking appear much louder than the non-diegetic music within the film. Perhaps suggesting that the man is running out of time as the tension slowly begins to increase. The sound of a phone ringing breaks up the tension and relates directly back to the horror genre as it causes a scare for the viewer, a close up is then used to reveal the phone as he picks it up and places it back onto the table. As he faintly begins to hear a voice on the other end he begins to look afraid, so he proceeds to place the phone into a glass of water, almost as if he is trying to drown out the sound. The low key lighting is constant as the man begins to slouch over in a somewhat animalistic way, making his movement very primitive and violent. The camera then cuts back over the another clock ticking, once more relating back to the previous clock and suggesting time is running out.

The mise en scene of the man's clothing is extremely dirty, linking to his environment that appears to be just as unclean. His clothing doesn't seem to properly fit him suggesting he doesn't care about how he looks as he wastes away within this dark room. An extreme close up is used onto the phone once more, showing it within the water, as the camera suddenly cross cuts back to the man as he jumps over a dingy chair onto the floor, he proceeds to slam his shoe on the floor in a very violent fashion, linking him back to the point made previous   about his primitive movement. The man then proceeds to turn and face the camera as a long take is used showing him hugging his shoe in a way, suggesting he is becoming more and more emotional and is alone and has been for some time. An extreme close up is used of something which is shown rather unclear as it runs into frame and out of frame extremely quickly, the camera then cuts back tot he man with a shot from behind a chair, suggesting its from the thing that was running's point of view. The man runs over to it and violently slams his shoe against the floor as the unknown thing scurries through his legs covered by a towel, creating the tension more as well as enigmas, making the audience wonder what is under it. The position of the camera doesn't change as the man looks under his legs at thing thing running, this shot alone sums the character up as an extremely odd person, showing him upside down.

A high angle shot is shown onto the main protagonist as his lifts up the cloth suggesting the man is in danger. He then reveals a small man, the camera then cuts to a low angle shot of the main protagonist as he shows his power onto the smaller man and begins to attempt stomping on it, with the use of match on action. As the smaller man dives on the floor the main protagonist copies him, he then sees the small man crush something on the floor through an over the shoulder, a close up is used on the man's face as he pulls his arm back and crushes the smaller man from the over the shoulder perspective. As the camera shows the man smiling at his success a man's face appears into frame smiling until he finally proceeds to crush the main protagonist with a shoe, revealed by an extreme close up of the shoe itself, the non diegtic music begins to settle in an eerie fashion as the credits role.



The short film doodle bug has a controlling idea of a never ending cycle, the fact that the ending loops and that this man is trapped within this dark place as the kill is constantly looped is something that as a group we are influenced by, and look to achieve something alone these lines.

Potential costumes and props

For our film we were considering using a little girl in a red coat. This is because we think the colour red signifies danger, and in a horror film this makes things even scarier for the audience. It’s also a huge contrast for the audience as a little girl in a red coat seems very cute and innocent, and as it’s a horror the audience will know that something will happen to her.

Colour coding is very important in any film production for example, in a horror film there would stereotypically be low key lighting and dark colours, and this sets the mood for the audience helping understand our message.

Also for our film we are considering using a man in a black woolly hat. The mise en scene, colour coding this hat gives the character a mysterious and scary persona, it also gives the impression he has something to hide.

By Michael Holttum

Initial ideas for Settings and Locations

Throughout the blogging process our film idea has been constantly changing, causing the setting and location to change. An idea I myself find very interesting would be that of a film surrounding the theme of ghosts, and in order to make this a success the surrounding location has to be somewhat scary and haunting. One thing we most definitely are looking to achieve is that even in everyday life scary occurences can happen, we feel this will result in a much better reaction and hopefully make it stay on the audiences mind even after the film.

Considering we draw such inspiration from films that include the theme of ghosts, its clear to see that most films surrounding this theme are set in a house for example, The Amityville Horror and The Haunting. I myself feel that using a setting that everyone can relate to in turn makes the film that little bit more unsettling. By using a house, a place that is often seen as a place of security and safety we feel we will be breaking the stereotype of this, giving the audience the impression that they aren't even safe in their own home.

As a group a huge decision we have to come up with is whether we are going to use more than one location in our film. Something we are not looking to do is over complicate our short film mainly due to the fact that we do not have as much time to make everything clear, so by using just one location, i.e the house, we can insure that the audience is enticed into this one evil place, so the horror doesn't stop throughout, Paranormal Activity was able to put this across extremely well, keeping the audience on edge with fear. If we do in fact decide to use multiple locations and settings we will have to make the extremely relevant and in a way must link to the house, for example, the houses garden which could be extremely scary with the use of a flash light, only lighting up a small part of the screen, however, even with the flash light the lighting could be rather hard in a garden, especially as the film would take place at night time. If we do finally decide to go with the location of a house, we need to ensure that the film doesn't at all look amateur, and not like a low budget student film that isn't even remotely scary. We will need to use the lighting of the house to our advantage to ensure that the film is extremely creepy by the use of dim lit rooms, with the occasional scare which will be rather subtle, e.g the occasional bang or sighting of a ghost, supported by that slow and somewhat eerie music playing throughout until the films finale which will be both memorable and scary.

By Anthony Wilson

London short film festival

In January 2011 between the 7th and the 16th London will be holding its' 8th annual short film festival

There is a competition where anyone, a student or a middle aged man could submit their short film. The short films are then short listed and short listed again until the best one is found, how this is done is by letting the public and recognisable figures in the industry view them and criticise and enjoy them

The last short film festival in London (2010) was won by Tom Geens, he directed “You’re the stranger here”

2010 Facts & Figures

• Over 6000 tickets sold
• 42 events across 10 days and 10 venues
• 75% of events sold to capacity
• 8 major media partners and 16 creative programme partners
• Over 200 films screened

“The best short film festival in the world” – Guardian Guide

By Michael Holttum

The Impact of Visual Art Combined with Sound

I myself find it increasingly important to ensure that visual representation and symbolic and iconic visual images that mix with significant should be a constantly on the mind during the production of our film. Even though we are not producing a music video I feel that the video posted bellow explains how the relationship between image and sound has a vital effect on the final result.



A more appropriate example that suit our production better would be the combination of electric music and artistic camera shots that came together to make Frank Millers "Sin City" The film is shot in black and white however one item on screen will be in colour. That item varies from blood from a fresh wound to a characters shoes, however it ensure each and every shot comes across as artistic and has a powerful effect on the audience.



Im not saying myself or my group intend to mirror "Sin City" when it comes to the whole lightning and colour technique, but if we indeed wanted to this is how we would go about it:



By Harvey R.Young

Inspirations: M.Night Shymalan

Director M.Night Shymalan is famous for having twist endings in almost all of his films. Most of the time these are extremely successful and really shock the audience. For example one of his movies "The Village" had a huge twist ending which completely changed the plot. Our group was very inspired by some of his earlier work (The Sixth Sense, The Village, Signs) and especially their twists. As stated in other posts we really wanted to achieve a similar ending which leaves the audience puzzled and shocked. However M.Night receives a lot of criticism for this and is normally labeled a "one trick pony." Despite this he is still an influence on our group.

The film "Signs" was a huge influence on our production in terms of structure. We admired how at the beginning of the film very odd things are happening such as crop circles appearing in the main characters' farm but the characters and audience do not know who is making these. However throughout the film crop circles start appearing more all over the world and people finally realised that alien invaders are creating these. The ending is filled with tension as the main protagonists are trying to survive in a basement while the aliens are trying to break in to kill them. The film then ends with a signature M. Night Shymalan twist. We really liked this structure as things keep getting worse and worse for the main characters and the story gets really deep during the second half of the film. For our film we will probably follow a similar structure to this film as we feel it works extremely well.

Jack Windsor

Inspirations/influences

We have had several influences and inspirations from several different films. Films such as, Paranormal Activity, The Strangers, the Knowing and the Crazies give us great infleunce as we admire the eerie feeling they give the audience, aswell as the mystery, shock and "make you jump out of your seat" kind of nature. This is something we want to give off in our short film, focusing on the shock factor. We want to be different while at the same time follow cultures and trends.


By Michael Holttum

Ideas for the Film

Throughout the blogging process we are constantly changing the idea of our film, one thing we have discussed is creating a ghost story, something that we feel is fairly unique in short films. I myself have a very keen interest in the Horror genre, some of my favorite films come from this genre like 'The Shining' and 'Paranormal Activity' I feel I love these films mainly due to the thrill earned from being scared and the sudden rush that is felt after each scare. I also love the shock endings that usually occur at the end of the films, something that we would love to incorperate into our short film, to give a lasting effect to the audience.

Creating a film around the theme of Ghosts is extremely tough, and something we most definitely need to sit down, discuss and write every idea we come up with. The main thing we need to do, of course, is to make it scary, and sometimes the scariest parts of a film are the parts you can't see, and make the audience imagine what is occurring. A good example of this would be "The Haunting" or "The Amitiville Horror". Making the Ghost invisible is something we would definitely do if we were to create this type of film, the generic white sheets and chains are something we as a group are definitely going to steer clear from and instead use the power of sound and imagination to scare to scare our audience. As I mentioned before the original "The Haunting" is an outstanding example of a scary movie that uses light and shadow and angles to make a spooky atmosphere. Some shots of the house inside and out are frightening with this effect. The house does appear to be looking at you at certain angles, keeping the audience on edge with fear. The film's scares could be subtle but equally are effective.

By Anthony Wilson

Embracing New Technology

Jack Windsor and I have been doing a lot of research over the summer regarding film and film editing. The main reason we deemed this necessary is because with the thriller we didn’t need any kind of special effects however we had planned before the summer to do a post-apocalyptic action film. A lot of people advised us not to but me and Jack stumbled across a few YouTube videos showing just how realistic you could make a gun shot.
This was a major breakthrough for both me and Jack and the rest of the group because it meant we could now do whatever we like without having to worry about people just seeing another cliché sixth form short film. The program we will use to create the realistic action sequences will make our film look so much more professional as well as an exciting action film.
In the video below I and Jack both describe the impact that the software program we are going to use will have on the final film. We spent over £600 on the software so we aim to use it as much as possible in the final film.

The program we are going to use use is Adobe After Effects which is a special effects program that is used after we are done editing the film in Pinnacle. This program allows us to add in effects such as blood squirts, muzzle flashes, glass breaks and thousands of other effects. We were inspired to use this program after watching a video created by "freddiew2" on youtube showing how to create a professional muzzle flash. Harvey and I were very inspired by this video as the muzzle flashes created looked extremely realistic and he had a step by step tutorial showing how to replicate it. Below is the video:



As a group we all thought about using an HD Ready camera. We knew that whatever camera we used wouldn’t affect our marks, however by using an HD camera it would make our film seem more professional to our audience and hopefully wouldn’t seem like a mediocre school project. One of our influences towards this decision was last year’s film ‘The Quintessential Guide: To Dispose of a Body’ which was filmed entirely using an HD Camera. Our group were all very impressed with the quality of their footage and it made the film seem extremely professional.

However at this moment in time unfortunately none of our group owns an HD camera. Obviously without the HD camera we cannot film in HD. We are all trying to figure out a way of either buying or renting an HD camera as we want to make our film as good as it can possibly be.

By Jack Windsor and Harvey Young