Looking back at your preliminary task (the continuity editing task), what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?

Our first piece of filming was a conversation to allow us to experiment with the features of the video camera and the special effects you can add using premier elements



You can see that in the short scene we filmed a conversation between Matt and Chris to get an idea of how different shots can be used to give a different feeling to what is happening on screen. We experimented using over the shoulder shots so the audience could see the reactions and emotions of the characters. It then goes to a mid shot of the two characters so the audience can establish where the conversation is taking place. We emphasised the sound of Matt's phone and used a POV shot so the audience feel they are the character and get emerged in the story. We used continuity editing to show Matt walking threw the door and then a long shot showing where the character is walking to. This was the first time any of us had done anything like this and i believe the editing is very good.

Detainment



Detainment was our final piece and if you look at it to compare with our first film the conversation you can see that the techniques we used in the first film were re used in the final piece. Continuity editing was very apparent in both of the films when the characters use the doors to enter and exit buildings. The conversation was shot in the same way as well using over the shoulder shots. We have then used a close up of the handle when Matt tries to escape from the room this is also like when Matt answers his phone in the preliminary task. Things such as non diagetic sound were added into the final piece which we didnt have in the preliminary tash which i believe adds alot to the film such as tension.Finally there is a mid shot of Matt just before he attacks the board; this is a good shot because it shows his emotion.

How did you attract/address your audience?

Audience Feedback

Here is some feedback that we have had from our audience:

grreesbutt- over all i think there is a good use of camera shots and movement e.g. long shots medium shots tacking and canted angle shots. The things that could be improved could be that when the evil guy slits Matt's throat he should have done it with the sharp edge of the knife instead of the blunt side to give a better sense of verisimilitude (authenticity).

Chris olney- I really liked this film, i felt that the music went well with the scene and also the flickering lights was also really good. If there was one thing that you could improve on would be by using more fake blood as there was only a little bit but other than that, AWESOME!!

Tony- really liked the film, i liked the high angle which shows that the character is vulnerable also it seems like he is being watched by someone.

Tom- nice lads i like it.

Jamie- pretty good, i enjoyed the scene when the lights are flickering and the killer is slowly moving towards Shaun. I thought that the killing scene was good but maybe you should of used a fake knife so that you would be to use the right side of the knife, but still looks good.

Max- good film, not to sure about the end where the killer gently drops Shaun on the film also using the wrong side of the knife, but other than that i think you used good camera shots and movements throughout the film. The music also worked well i thought.

The final outcome of the film could of been improved if we had changed the murder scene as we had to use the wrongside of the knife byt we thought using a real knife was important and a fake knife would of not givin the look we wanted the scene to have. We were very pleased with how people viewed the camera shots we decided to use and how we edited all the shots together.

What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

To make this film we had to learn to use different filming equipment and media production software.

We have used:

school premises - We have used the school premises to produce our film. We used one of the old science blocks to make it.

School supplied camera and tape - We used the tape and camera to record our opening 2minutes of the film.

kitchen knife - We used a kitchen knife which the school provided for us for our last scene.

Tripod - We relied on the tripod to produce steady shots which improved the quality of the footage.

Adobe - We used Adobe Premiere 8 to edit and construct our opening two minutes.

School and Home computers - To edit and upload the film, also updating new features onto our blogs

Who would be the audience for your media product?

When completing the audience profiling we made a questionnaire to see what peoples thoughts are on movies and how they believe the best way to view then are. I read threw the results and found out what and who i should aim our movie at. We found that the audience for a horror movie has a vast age range of 15-60 but even though our film is an 18 it would still have a large audience available to it. In the first two minutes we hear taboo language and see a murder this would continue throughout the movie meaning it would have to be an 18. The results also show that the audience will be predominantly male as they enjoy Gorey horror films whereas the results for females showed that they enjoyed romantic comedy films.

What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

A media institute that i believe would be best suited to distribute the film we made would be 'Rogue Pictures', they have a long history in producing high quality horror films for a low budget and this is perfect for what we would need to create our film. In the past Rogue Pictures have released well known films such as all of the saw films, shaun of the dead, the strangers, the last house on the left and recently the unborn. All of them films would of been made on a low budget and then used 'Rogue Pictures' to advertise the film making it a well known film in the genre of horror, for that reason 'Rogue Pictures' has become a well known and respected company within the world of media. Rogue can also create conditions for making the movie, hiring the right personnel such as cast, directors and others and finally they can distribute the film out to their target audience. Rogue pictures would allow us to develop the film with enough financial backing that we would not need to get other larger companies to fund us and begin to take control of what happens and take more of the money made then we would originally would of given away.

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

In the film we made we have two main characters Shaun and the Killer. Shaun is a naughty school child who often finds himself in trouble but as he dies within the first two minutes he doesn't really have a impact on the film and is only used to set the scene for the rest of the movie. The killer doesn't represent a social group but has a much larger influence on the film as he is present throughout the entire feature. We looked at how we could make the killer as scary as possible and changed many of his features throughout the planning but we finally decided to base the killer on the killers from 'The Strangers'. We thought that this would be the best idea as we didn't want to reveal the identity of our killer and 'The Strangers' had the same idea so we added a hood and science lab coat to the killer to hide his facial features. To add to the mystery we make it very dark when he attacks to hide his facial features from his victims and the audience.

In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products? (i.e. of film openings)

The title of the film - After discussing a selection of film names we decided that 'Detainment' best suited the story line as well as let the audience know what sort of film they could expect. The word detainment suggests being locked in a room or very tight place and that feeling is something that every person is afraid of so we played on this fear giving us the advantage of having the audience scared before they began to watch. Our film is about someone locked in a school room and becomes very worried when they realise they cant escape so detainment does well at summing up the story line.

Setting/location - The scene we decided to use was a old school room in the back of a science block. We had to do the filming inside school as this would allow us to use all the equipment rather than trying to take it all home to use at the weekend. This setting gave us the perfect place to complete the shots we wanted and believe would give us the best finished movie. The location was very old room in an old block so had a very scary interior and exterior which increased the scare factor without us having to create the eerie scenery.

Costumes and props - We spent a long time working out costumes as we wanted to create a believable Mise en scene so the audience would find it believable. To do this we decided Shaun (Matt Davison)the main character wears very typical clothing of a teenager, we see him in some scruffy jeans and a t shirt to make him look like a poorer member of the school who could have possibly done things that have made people very angry with him. In contrast to this we have a teacher (me) in a lab coat to show that he is an authoritative figure who has power over Shaun but we also make him look like more of a comical character by making him wear big glasses. The killer also wears a lab coat which could mean he is a teacher at the school or used it so that no one asks him who he is when entering the school but this uncertainty surrounding the character makes him a scary character. He also wears his hood up to conceal his face from the victims and also the audience so we can hide his identity till the end of the film. The main prop we used a knife with a pipet attached filled with fake blood that we used to make the murder scene look much more realistic.

Camerawork and editing - We decided to use basic shots like over the shoulder shot when Shaun is having a conversation with his teacher, also used is a high angle looking down on Shaun which shows that he is inferior. long shots, mid shots and close ups have been used during the killing scene. We tried lots of different shots so that we could see which one would be the most suitable for our film. With editing, we made sure that there is continuity throughout the film. When it is getting closer to the killing scene, we decided to use short quick cuts between different angles to show that the tension is building and also to make the audience feel uneasy and wanting to see what happens.

Title font and style - The font that we used for the writing during the opening two minutes was bold and black to make it stand out against the background, this was different to the font and style we used for the title 'Detainment', we faded the movie into a black screen and then used red to make the two contrast. We also decided to use red as it has the connotations of blood and danger which gives the film the image that we wanted it to have.

Story and how the opening scene sets it up - The story we decided on is a horror that takes place in a normal secondary school. In the opening two minutes we see a boy going into a detention then after the teacher leaving we see the killer enter the shot from behind him and slit his throat. This allows us to develop the story to show what the killer does next and if the body is discovered or we could go back in time and show the events that lead to the what we see in the first two minutes.

Genre and how the opening scene suggests it - As a group we decided that the best option for us would be to do a horror movie, this was because we felt we could get this genre across to the audience within the first two minutes rather than a comedy where it could be very unclear that we decided to do it as making people laugh is very hard. In the opening scene we used non diagetic sound and fast pace editing to make it clear it was a horror film.

How the characters are introduced - We introduce the first character Shaun by only seeing his feet and then by watching him through someone Else's eyes, this creates mystery around the character as we feel uneasy around him and unsure of his safety. We get introduced to the teacher for a few seconds by having him tell off Shaun for not completing work, this character is only present for one scene. The only other character we see is the killer but we never see his face, he is introduced when the lights are flickering giving the audience a fear of the character.

Special effects - The main special effect we use was a knife to cut Shaun's throat we attached a pepit to the back of it filled with blood so when you squeeze it and give the effect that his neck was actually being cut. We amplified the sound of the board shutter going up as we felt the audience maybe unsure of what was happening so making it louder emphasises what is happening.

Detainment Final Video

Evaluation

OCR Media Studies Year 12 G322 Evaluation

EVALUATION ACTIVITY 1
In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products? (i.e. of film openings)

You should go through the final version of the project and select nine distinct frames which you screengrab and drop into a photoshop. You will be using these to write about how typical or not of opening sequences your particular design is, so choose them carefully.

Once you have the nine frames neatly in Photoshop, screengrab the whole thing and post to your blog, then write an analysis of how you have used such conventions.

The aspects we would like you to consider across your nine frames are:

The title of the film
Setting/location
Costumes and props
Camerawork and editing
Title font and style
Story and how the opening sets it up
Genre and how the opening suggests it
How characters are introduced
Special effects

EVALUATION ACTIVITY 2
How does your media product represent particular social groups?

Pick a key character from your opening. Take a screengrab of a reasonable sized image of them. Think of one or more characters from other films with some similarity to them (but maybe some differences too!), find an image on the web of that/those characters and grab it as well. Drop the two into photoshop, as a split screen. Export this splitscreen image as a jpeg then drop onto your blog and write about the similarities and differences in terms of appearance, costume, role in film etc.

So for example if you have a lone cop type character, look for other lone cops to compare him with...

EVALUATION ACTIVITY 3
What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

For this question, you are going to do a 'director's commentary' style voiceover explaining some of the key features of your opening

You will need to script the voiceover which deals with institutional issues to include:

discussion of your production company name and logo and the role of such companies
What does a production company do?
The idea of a distributor and who that might be and why.
Where the money might have come from for a film such as yours
Why the various people are named in the titles- which jobs appear in titles and in what order and how have you reflected this?
What your film is similar to 'institutionally' (name some films which would be released in a similar way)
You need to refer to actual company names and processes so you will need to go back to the early posts on film companies and maybe do a bit more research

When you have scripted, record the voiceover using Final Cut on a new audio timeline, then export to quicktime and embed on blog.

EVALUATION ACTIVITY 4
Who would be the audience for your media product?

You should have a drawing/photo of your target audience member and an explanation of what kinds of taste they might have- where they would shop, what music they would listen to, what their favourite Tv programme would be, etc.

Make sure you have taken a photo of it, post it on the blog and write a few notes on why they would watch your film.

EVALUATION ACTIVITY 5
How did you attract/address your audience?

You will use YOUTUBE's annotation tools to add NOTES, SPEECHBUBBLES, and LINKS to your video:

http://www.google.com/support/youtube/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=92710

These annotations will highlight the ways in which your Film Opening links to other similiar films in order to attract the particular Audience you have previously identified.

Your annotations will refer to genre conventions, use of music, similiarities with other movies and what you have identified as the Unique Selling Point of your imaginary film.

EVALUATION ACTIVITY 6
What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

In pairs, take a picture of each other holding the kit you have used. This might just be the camera and tripod, and your PC but there may be other things you want in the shot.

Drop the image onto your blog and annotate it, adding all the programs and other technology you have used as screengrabs and what you learnt about it/from using it. Your written text need only be minimal. You could include reference to all the online and computer programs you have used such as youtube, flickr, blogger, adobe premier, etc.


EVALUATION ACTIVITY 7
Looking back at your preliminary task (the continuity editing task), what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to full product?

Concentrate on editing and camerawork.

Grab some frames from both tasks and put them on the blog and show what you know about shot types, edit terms and techniques.

Make sure you mention the 180 degree rule, match on action and shot/reverse shot

Editing Part 2

Editing the film has taken its toll on the group and keeping to the deadline is very hard. We have spent the last few days going over the film discussing where and when shots can be cut or shortened. The has been constantly going down and as the day of the deadline came we had managed to get it down to 2 minutes and 3 seconds.

I am very happy with how the film has turned out and believe we have managed to create a interesting production that has the ability to entice the audience from the start of the film.

Editing Part One

I have now started the process of editing down the footage into the opening two minutes of the film. We are using Adobe Premier Elements to do this as it is available to us at school so can use it during lesson and after school. The problem is the school computers are old and slow so everything takes longer then it should do which gets very annoying when you are working with a deadline.

We knew we had to do a film of around two minutes and after our first filming session we thought that this would be further then we first thought but after the second session we ended producing around five or six minutes of usable footage, this has its pros and cons with the fact we have now finished filming and wont have to go out again but trying to edit it to just a two minute opening is very hard as we feel that we worked hard on every shot so don't want to cut any of them out.

We will have to discuss the possible shots we believe to be unnecessary and that we can get rid off but this may take a while for everyone to agree on the final outcome.

Finished Filming

We spent a few hours after school when we knew the room we required would be open, this has allowed us to finish filming and finally get on with editing the final piece. The filming was in desperate need to be finished so now it is it is a huge weight off my shoulders.
Filming the final piece of the film was the most difficult to shoot as it required shots that we only had one chance to complete due to the fact re creating the scene to get a good sense of mise en scene would have been impossible for us to do. Another problem was we needed to film things for a long period of time so we could speed them up in the final edit of the film, the problem with this is the fact that we were very cramped in a corner of the room and the slightest sound was being picked up by the camera. The only way to deal with that problem was to sit there in silence for extended periods of time in silence and just get through it.
We did also suffer a problem with teachers walking in and out of the room so we had to redo alot of the takes to make sure this didnt happen but this has meant we got the chance to do all shots more than once and get it as perfect as possible which will hopefully mean we end up with a better final piece.

15

I previously thought that the film would be a 12 with minimal actual horror taking place but after realising the final scene will actually be a murder i thought id look if this changed the rating of the film. The script is very clean so we face no problems there but with this murder you see a knife cut someones throat with a large knife and then see blood come pouring from the cut so i think that this may be to graphic for under 15's but wont know till the scene is shot and edited whether the film will finish as a 12 or 15.

Filming Nightmare

Getting the rest of the film shot is taking an age to do, with half term and illness we haven't found a day that we can really get it all done, we have filmed the odd shot when possible but nothing major. We have all decided that tomorrow is the day we all can do so all costumes and props have been left where they are needed so we can get it started first thing in the morning and work solidly for as long as we need to get the entire film finished and loaded onto the computer so we can start editing hopefully tomorrow as well but if not then friday we will start.

Audience Profiling

Audience profiling is very important and will let us know who we should aim our film at and how we should go about doing it. We got this infomation from www.pearlanddean.com. The website contains information about about films audiences and who is watching the film.

The Strangers






The Ring

Questionnaire Findings

After receiving all our research from our questionnaire we have found out that male audiences tend to enjoy horrors, comedy and action films whereas females prefer horror, comedy, romantic comedy's and chick flick films. Most of the audience said that the opening scene of the film is very important to them because they will be able to get feel of whether the film is going to be good and whether they should carry on watching it. A selection of peoples favourite films were Halloween 1 and 2, American pies, Anchorman, Dark knight and Mean girls. It varied between whether people wanted to go to the cinema or watch it on a rental DVD. This was because some preferred being at home and being able to pause and watch the film in there own time. People who preferred to go the cinema wanted that experience with the surround sound system, big screen and great graphics.

Questionnaire

Age? ............

Gender? ...............

Favourite genre? ....................

Favourite film? .........................

Is the opening scene of the film the most important part of the film? (yes or no) ................

Why? ..................................................................................................................................................

Cinema or Rental DVDs? .....................................

What do you like most about your favourite genre? why? ....................................................

Props (final murder weapon)

After we found out that a knife was the best idea we got to work on deciding the best way to make the knife murder look as real and scary as possible. We first thought that a drama knife would be a good idea as we could stab the victim (Matt Davison) without harming him as the knife would go into the handle but then we thought this may not give the film the real and gritty feel that we wanted it to have. We then decided that the only way to make it look real would be to use the blunt side of a real knife but to take it a step further we introduced blood to poor out of the knife whilst the cut was being done. To do this we found a 10mm syringe with a tube that fitted around it then taped this to the back of the knife we were going to use, as the knife is being moved along the victims neck someone out of shot will slowly push the syringe giving the effect of blood pouring from his neck.

Murder Weapon

I posted a poll on the blog to get the views of our class and what they thought would make the most convincing weapon. I put a selection of ideas as possible murder weapons as i wasnt sure what would make the murder seem real. The people voting decided that the best weapon would be a knife, we also decided this would be best as it gives us a very visible weapon to show on camera and one that will also allow us to make the murder very detailed with blood to add to the effects.

The beginning of Filming

After planning all the scripts, props and costumes we finally got to start filming our final piece. We got to spend about an hour or so filming the beginning of are opening scene, we only focused on the first minute of are film as we wanted to make sure we had taken the shot from enough different angles so we could piece together a jumpy and quick shot scene to introduce the horror aspect of the film straight away. We ended up shootong the same person doing his first walk in about 5 different styles to make sure we had got it completly covered the problem was this did take up alot of time. When we got it back to the computer to be edited we deleted alot of work but ended up with about a minute of filming we were very happy with so we will carry on doing in this style to get the best quality film as we could hope for.

Sound and Music

As a group we have been trying to find some music to play on top on the film as we believe having non diagetic sound will create a tension that diagetic sound possibly couldn't. We know that our film begins with someone walking along so we want a calm and smooth type of music to make it feel very gentle and make the audience forget about that the genre of the film being horror, as we get further in to the film the pace of the music will begin to speed up creating a tension that the audience will be able to feel. The music will have to become very jumpy to go with the quick cuts we will edit into the final piece. We know how important it is to get the music right to get the feeling of horror into the audience as getting it wrong will mean whatever we have shot will become more comicle then eerie.

Detainment Poster

This is one of the ideas we have had for a photo of 'Detainment'. We think that having a poster is a very good idea to show what type of film is being made as well as what the audience can expect to see. This poster is good at portraying the horror aspect of the film, the close up of the eye shows the fear that the person is going through. The eye is slightly off centre to put the person looking at it off ease.

The credits at the top of the poster show the people that will be starring in the film whilst at the bottom we have the different production companies and the names of directors and editors to make it look as professional as possible.

The poster would be one of the main features of a marketing campaign if the film was released, this would be the first thing people saw of the film when they were out and about so it needs to be very eye catching. The poster has to draw them in and provide enough info mation e.g a website so that people could go home and be willing to search for it on their computer.

Shaun walking to his detention

Shaun - I got a detention now so I'll be out later.

Friend on phone - Alright mate. see ya

Shaun enters the room

Shaun - Hi Sir

Mr Oswick - Sit down Shaun

Silence

Mr Oswick - I've just got to go to the staff room to pick something up

Shaun - Alright

Door closes as Oswick walks out, Shaun sits waiting, but then decides to get up and try and leave.

Shaun - The damn doors locked

Shaun pulls harder and harder try to open it, the lights flicker and go out but then come back on. He turns around as there is a sound from behind him, there's a message on the board.

Shaun - oh s***

He tries harder to get out. Amplified sound of foot steps coming up behind him. loud screaming of agony.

First Costume Ideas

Shaun McGee (Matt davision) will be wearing normal clothes so show that the film is modern and up to date. He will be wearing a hoodie/jacket, jeans and trainers.

The killer will be wearing dark old clothes to show that he maybe can't afford the latest fashionable clothes. He will wear a big black jacket with a hood to cover his face. He'll be wearing old ragged jeans and old trainers. So he will be completely the opposite to the victim Shaun McGee.

Mr Oswick will be wearing smarter clothes compared to Shaun and the killer. He will be wearing shirt and tie maybe a blazer, trousers and smart shoes.

Character Info

Killer – The killer is being played by Chris Marskell. The killer is another student who Shaun Mcgee doesn’t get on with. They have had fights in the past and loath one another. The killer lives a good life and is liked by all throughout the school.


Shaun Mcgee – Shaun is being played by Matt Davison. Shaun is 16 years old and lives local to the school in a rough area. Living in rough area and not having a great upbringing and is usually singled out by others because of this. He is regularly finding himself in trouble at school either fighting or being caught smoking.




Mr Oswick (Teacher) – Mr Oswick is hopefully being played by Mr Oswick if not we will find someone to fill in. Sir is a usually fun respected teacher, dresses trendy and has a good relationship with his students but doesn’t let any student get away with not doing homework.

Detainment Plot

Shaun McGee is a 17 yr old boy who has been held back for detention after school with Mr Oswick. Shaun walks through the door ands sits down disinterested and annoyed. There is and awkward silence before Mr Oswick breaks the silence when saying he’s got to go to the staff room to collect something. He walks out the door. Shaun looks up as the clock and thinks I better get home before my mum finds out. So he walks up to the door and tries to get out only finding that it is locked. He doesn’t worry. He goes to turn back and the lights flicker and then go out. He starts to panic but then the lights come back on and he turns around only to see that there is a message left for him in blood on the board. He turns to the door yanking on the handle, the lights flicker again. The killer slowly walks up behind him before slitting his throat. Shaun hits the floor with a thud. Then in bold the name of the film comes up “DETAINMENT".

Shot List

1. Tracking shot of Shaun walking towards the class room

2. Medium shot of him walking to his chair and of him sitting down

3. A close up of Shaun looking at the clock

4. Medium shot of the teacher telling Shaun that he has to leave

5. Tracking shot of him walking towards the door trying to get out

6. Close up of the handle with him frantically trying to get out

7. Low angle of him looking up towards the lights as they start to flicker before suddenly going out

8. Hand held camera of him then looking around panicking

9. Camera then arcs round as the lights then turn back on

10. Zoom towards the board where a message is written

11. Close up of his face to show the emotion

12. Hand held camera again of him trying to get out

13. Medium shot of Shaun with the killer coming up behind him

14. Zoom of the knife going towards his throat

15. Establishing shot of detainment

Production Company

We thought having a production company like Rogue Pictures would benefit us as we know that they specialise in horror films. Having it pop up before the bieginning of our film will add a scary factor as people associate them with films such as; the last house on the left, Seed of chucky and White Noise.

They specialise in low budget films usually spending between $1,000,000 and $45,ooo,ooo

Filming Ideas

We have decided that we are going to film our film in school, the reason why we are doing this because it is a prime location and it will be a lot easier to film inside school rather than filming outside in a different location. the name we have decided to use for our film is "Detainment". we are going to have 3 actors, the teacher, student and the killer. We are going to have to make sure that we work hard on creating a good sound because that will make the tension high and the audience anxious.

Final Location Ideas

Storyboard!

This is the story board we created to show the opening two minutes of our film. It shows the basic idea of what we would like are final movie production to look like. These pictures arnt perfect but allow us to get the best idea of what we wanted to film as possible.

The first picture shows how we will begin our film, a close up of someones feet that will create an air of mystery around what is happening and hopefully have the desired effect of unsetteling the audience.



This second picture is a long shot that reveals who the mystery person was and shows that he is a student who goes to the school. By taking it from behind a bush it gives the audience the feeling that he is being watched by someone or something.

This third picture is a medium shot that shows the character going into an area that either he shouldnt be going in to or somewhere that is going to have dangerous substances inside. We have now established this charecter as a main charecter due to him being the only character we see for the first three slides.

This is a high angle/over the shoulder shot which gives a good view of what the character is doing and how bored his body language is. It also shows that he his all on his own with no friends around him.

This is when we become aware that he is in a detention and having the teacher go through work that he should of done at a previous date. At this point it would still be unclear to the audience that is a horror and would allow them to settle .

This is a low angle/over the shoulder shot that reinforces to the audience that he is bored and looking at the clock to see if he will be able to leave his knowing that he had a detention.

This is a long shot of of the teacher leaving the room and trusting him to behave and get on with the work. It may also suggest that he could get up to mischief whilst the teacher is not in the room.

This is a long shot of the door slamming shut with an echoing boom leaving him alone in a big classroom.

This is a medium shot showing the character seeing this as an oppertunity to leave the detention and go home.

This is a close up of the character struggeling with the door and realising thazt it has been locked from the outside giving him no chance of leaving the room.

This is where the horror aspect of it starts with the flickering of lights on and off, with the room becoming much darker it unsettles the audience and makes them re evaluate the security they felt with this opening sequence.

This is a point of view shot just after the lights have come back on. We couldnt write on the board at that moment but their will be writing covering the bored telling the character of his death.

This is where we see a close up of the character really struggeling with the door trying to get to the freedom of outside.

This is a highangle shot finally showing the killer that had been hidden in the room since the beggining, this is the main point of the opening sequence and what the rest has been building up to. The scene will finish with the main characters blood on the window after the killer has stabed him.

Ideas and Infomation

After thinking and discussing what genre of film to produce we chose to do horror. horror is a popular genre with many people, young to old. Reason being that horror movies inject fear and mess with the viewers emotions. This allows the viewers to almost enter a fantasy world and imagine what it would be like to be in these gory situations.


Mise En Scene and props
Many horror films are low budget films which is one reason for why our group decided to do horror. The choosing the right setting is one of the most important things to do in a horror film. The surroundings set the tone of the film and let the viewer know that it's a horror film. Popular choices for settings used in horror films are; woods, empty warehouse, school at night time, prison or an old house. Our group have decided to film in a school when it's quiet. This will make the viewer uneasy as the school should normally be busy and buzzing with students.


Not many horror films use many props unless there are bug horror films such as Saw. In Saw they use many props including death traps, pit full of needles and a playground roundabout which people are strapped to and killed. Typical horror film might only use props like;include are a knife, gun or some other kind of weapon and maybe a costume or mask for the killer/villain along with other normal everyday props. As we don't have a Hollywood budget we will be using props such as the ones listed above.


Plot
People are mostly frightened when they are watching horror movies because of the films thrilling plots, which are main things in this movie genre. A strong character is often used to make a thrilling plot. A lot of horror movies also haunt people by using plots which are related to supernatural. Also, a murderer or someone who is looking to get revenge is often a main character who kills other characters one by one, making people feel excited all the time they are watching. These are three typical horror elements found in many horror movies.


Our group haven't yet decided what the final storyline is going to be but we have got rough idea. One plot we have come up with is either a student or teacher is at school most properly after school. Someone else not sure who yet will be wandering around school trying to find the other person and once found them will end up killing them. We have not yet decided if they friends or if the killer chases after the victim etc.


Camera Work & Sound


The camera work and sound plays a huge part in making a successful horror film. Camera work can add to the tension and also make the viewer feel like they are part of the scene. In most horror films a popular camera angle is close up or POV (Point Of View). A close are often used to show tension and emotion on an actors faced. It can also be used to highlight something important in the scene such as a clue to the murderer or the murderers weapon. POV is often used to make the viewer feel like there are inside the character. This shot would often be used when the villain is being killed. By doing this it allows the viewer to seem more involved with the scene adds gives them an opportunity to see a murder through the killers eyes.


In horror films sound is a key part to add tension and put the audience on edge. How much suspense is added to a scene by sound is to do with how fast/slow and how loud/quiet it is.
For a scene where the murderer is looking for the victim, the soundtrack might be slow and quite as they are tip toeing about. Once the murderer has found the victim and maybe chasing after them the music would change and now be quite loud and have a fast tempo getting the audience heart racing and adding tension. Sound effects are also used frequently in horror films, for example the victim is being stabbed they might amplify the sound effect to make the scene seem more gory. A classic example of a sound effect in horror films is the creaking of the door, adding this in adds suspense and makes it seem eerie.


Our group have not yet decided on camera work or sound. These will most likely be done once the plot and settings have been finalised.

Preliminary Task

This was the first piece of filming that my group completed. The object of this production was to get use to filming people then learning to use the editing tools, as you can see at the end of the film we experimented with the effects you can use to enhance the production. I think that we did a very good job editing it smoothly especially when we had the person walking through a door.

Starting a new blog

I had to start a second blog that was just my own posts. My first blog was being completed as a group and that meant that all posts where being completed by the same email address even though every person was completing the work, to combat this problem we all created are own blog so that we could all help eachother but still do each post seperatly so that we can get a better grade than we would of done. The downside of this is this blog now doesnt really have an order as i had to copy my previous blogs to this one. Posts about my first video come after things that i did after completing the video but a dont think it should make the bigest difference to my marks x

The Cast

Shaun McGee - Matt Davison


Killer - Chris Marskell


The Teacher - Ben Horley


Director - Dan Zammit Lewis


Producer - Ben Horley


Music created by Jamie Gamache

Ratings

The same criteria is used to classify '12' and '12a'. These catogories are awarded where the material is suitable, in general, only for those aged 12 and over. When the film is classified it shows that it may upset and distress children under 12 or there parents may believe it is unsutiable for them.

The '12a' category is specific to cinema films and gives the parent or gaurdians the ability to decide if they believe their child is mature enough to watch the film and understand its contents.

Location Ideas

We have decided that we are going to film our film in school, the reason why we are doing this because it is a prime location and it will be a lot easier to film inside school rather than filming outside in a different location. the name we have decided to use for our film is "Detainment". we are going to have 3 actors, the teacher, student and the killer. We are going to have to make sure that we work hard on creating a good sound because that will make the tension high and the audience anxious.

Location Ideas

This is a possible location for our film, we liked this because it had a booming echo. These locations are very good due to the fact that we could use them without any interferance from other members of the school walking through the corridors or rooms. They also offer a scary effect which is perfect for us as we are creating a horror film.

The Strangers

This is a film i watched that was the same genre as the film we want to produce, i watched the trailer as well as the movie to get some ideas on what different aspects you have to think about when trying to create a decent horror film. Watching this film helped me realise that we had to think of music, lighting, quick cuts and editing and how diagetic sound can be used to create an atmosphere that will scare the audience.

This film is about a couple in a remote holiday destination that get stalked then killed by a family of murderers in masks, they way they build up tension is by not really showing the murderers and rely on the tension being created by the audience waiting in anticipation of what could be around the corner and letting their own imagination create an image of horror in their own head. We think that this is a very good idea and may wish to use this technique in our own film.

This film has givin me alot of ideas that will help me to create a believable and scary horror film, ill have to watch it again and note down specific shots being used that will help and ill also watch similar films in the same genre that i believe can help.