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Sunday, 4 May 2014

Risk assessment

Risk assessment
Within filming we need to take high safety precautions so no one gets injured slightly or majorly. We need to take precautions on props being used such as having a knife in the film, even if we're not using it, just having the knife around can cause injuries such as if someone slips and falls on to it and seriously injure them selves such as cuts and maybe even stabbing them.
Another precaution we need to make is when we make the fake blood, we need to make sure that we do not use ingredients that anyone is allergic to, this could cause reactions and people who we need for the film not being able to film any longer due to the allergic reaction.
Make up is also a precaution to make due to the fact people maybe again allergic to the ingredients in the make up and can cause awful reactions on their face.
We also need to make sure that we are careful whilst filming in the woods as there is a hazards of slipping or tripping due to the branches. Precautions that we can take are making sure that someone guides the individual filming so that they can look at what they are recording as well as staying safe and avoiding hazards. This will eliminate any risk of anyone falling and injuring themselves.

Evaluation question seven - Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?


Evaluation question six - What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?


Evaluation question five - How did you attract/address your audience?

Evaluation question five - How did you attract/address your audience?

Evaluation question four - Who would be the audience for your media product?

Evaluation question four - Who would be the audience for your media product?

Evaluation question three - What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?


Evaluation question two - How does your media product represent particular social groups?

Evaluation Question 2 - How does ‘The Entertainer’ represent social groups?

Evaluation question one - In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?


Friday, 2 May 2014

Production Logo

DMEMSHMI Production Logo


When designing this logo we wanted to present it n such a way that made it obvious that we were an independent film company. We did this by basing our design around a common directors tool the 'clapper board'.


We also decided to use this as it is often associated with filming and production. By using this image it allowed us to make the company instantly recognisable as a film company. Its simplistic design also showed clearly that our company is that of an independent one.

Evaluation Question 7 - Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?

Evaluation Question 7:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B5_KhMRUHi46VFAwNk9tWS1tcE0/edit?usp=sharing

Evaluation Question 6 - What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

Evaluation Question 5 - How did you attract/address your audience?

Evaluation Question 5:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B5_KhMRUHi46aXRzQlptWE5TdjQ/edit?usp=sharing

Evaluation Question 4 -Who would be the audience for your media product?

Evaluation Question 4:
https://docs.google.com/drawings/d/1kFHrX31Ari17pM0C6vWjjBC7c-YMYfTjb51NxL3M09g/edit?usp=sharing

Evaluation Question 3 -What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

Evaluation Question 2 -How does your media product represent particular social groups?

Evaluation Question 1 - In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

Evaluaion q2

Q2

evaluation Q1

question 1

Evaluation Question 7- Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?


Make your own mind maps with Mindomo.



These are screen shots which are from the preliminary task and the final film. We have used techniques which we learnt in the preliminary task and reflected and developed them into our final film, these images show shot reverse shot.

Evaluation Question 6 - What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

Evaluation Question 5 - How did you attract/address your audience?

Evaluation Question 4 - Who would be the audience for your media product?

Evaluation Question 3: What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

Evaluation Question 2 - How does your media product represent particular social groups?

Question 2 Part One


Question 2 Part Two

Evaluation Question 1 - In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

Thursday, 1 May 2014

Tricky Shots/ Edits/ Effects

Tricky Shots/ Edits/ Effects

The first shot that we found particularly hard to film was when the camera follows Greg walking through the woods. We found this tricky as we had to be careful of the hazard of falling on the uneven surface of the woods. Whilst doing this we also had to make sure we were watching the camera to make sure we were filming the correct footage. As one person found it difficult to do both at the same time we had one person filming Greg and another person guiding them through the woods so that they didn't cause injury to themselves.



The second shot that we found particularly hard to film was when we were filming the point of view shots of Greg in the woods. This was difficult for similar reasons to the one above as it was difficult making sure that we were filming the correct shot and making sure that we didn't slip on the uneven surface at the same time.


The next shot that we found difficult to carry out was the panning shot we used when Greg is walking along the landing into the kitchen. We found this shot tricky to carry out as we had limited space and we had limited equipment to make the quality of the shot look professional. We used the tripod  to carry out this shot and I think that this made the shot look unsmooth.



The last shot that the group found challenging to film was the shot reverse shot of the conversation in the kitchen. This is because we used props within this scene and we found it hard to make sure that the cups were in the same position when the camera changed to face the opposite person for their response. This also made the editing of this scene difficult as we had look through the footage to make sure we used the correct clips where  the cups are in the right position throughout the conversation or they would make the scene look unnatural.



Character Profile of Greg



Name: Greg Walker
Age: 19
Occupation: Children's Entertainer
Appearance: Through the day Greg is just a normal male, who tends to wear casual clothing such as jeans and shirts with long brown hair.
Character Traits (Personality): Greg is a opinionated but loving man who has experienced many tragedies in his past which explains his trust issues, by feeling calm and relaxed around his girlfriend Joanne, this shows Greg's sensitive side. However throughout the film it reveals Greg may be mentally unstable due to the hallucination and nightmares he has, which reflect as he in the end turns out to be the murderer.
Function in Narrative: In the narrative Greg is the main character in which the audience see from his perspective which makes him seem like he isn't a murderer, as there are other storylines which makes you suspect other people in different towns, this shows his smart twisted side. His main function is to confuse the audience with his nice personality which adds more shock when the final scene reveals it's him. The character of Greg is influenced by the main character in My Bloody Valentine, as it has a similar effect on that character.





Character Profile of Clown



Name: Unknown
Age: Unknown
Occupation: Unknown
Appearance: The main clown throughout the film has smudged dark eyed make up, which makes it look abnormal and scary. the hair is dark but large as though it's not looked after well, which adds to the mysterious atmosphere. The costume is a red, yellow and blue costume which is ripped and blood splattered all over which shows its a horror film and has connotations of danger.
Character Traits (Personality): The characteristics of the clown is to have a dull and unidentified personality or identity, as it adds mystery and tension, this clown is only featured in the nightmare in which is relevant as the movement are sudden and never see the clown walk. However the different suspects of clowns throughout the film have different characteristics, for example the children's entertainer. The clown in the nightmare however doesn't have a personality or identity.
Function in Narrative: The main purpose of this character in our film is to confuse and add the twist to the whole film, as this clown is only in nightmares it makes the audience wonder who is the actual killer clown in reality and the character just adds the tension and creepy atmosphere which is needed for the genre we have chosen.

Character Profile of Joanne




Name: Joanne Robbins
Age: 18
Occupation: Full time Student at University and Part time waitress.
Appearance: Short dark, curly hair. Fair skin. Tends to wear pattern clothing and red lipstick.
Character Traits (Personality): Caring, sweet young women that cares a lot about the people close to her and listens to problems when needed. Concerned and Observant from past experiences and has a curious side where she asks a lot of questions. Her personality reflects from her subjects being studied at University.
Function in Narrative: Joanne throughout the film is Greg's girlfriend soon to be wife, even though they are young. The film shows her weaknesses as her distant relative gets suspected for the murders due to past, whereas its actually her boyfriend which is unknown until the end scene. Even though Joanne doesn't appear in the film that often when she does, the scary, creepy atmosphere disappears as she is Greg's weakness and is always calm around her.

Location Photo's

Outdoor location
We used one outside location within the first two minutes of our horror film. This location was a woods where we filmed scenes of Greg being followed by the clown and him finding a dead body. This footage is featured as flashbacks during a title sequences that shows Greg having what he thinks is a nightmare. We decided that a woods would be an effective location to use as it is a typical setting within the horror genre. As we used the setting at the begging of the film this will have immediately conveyed to the audience that our film is a horror and this will have made then feel uneasy from the beginning as they are expecting something to happen straight away.
Below are photo's of the outside location :
 
 
Indoor locations
The first indoor location that we used within the first two minutes of our horror film was a bedroom. We used this bedroom as Greg's bedroom that he shares with his partner Joanne. The location is featured right at the start of the film during the title sequence where Greg is in bed. We considered conventional horror genre colours, such as red and black, when choosing this bedroom as they will help to make the audience feel uncomfortable and symbolises that something may happen in the bedroom further on in the film.



 
 
The second indoor location we used was a landing and a staircase. This setting helped us to carry our key shots within the film such as match on action when Greg moves from the bedroom to the kitchen. 
 
 
The last indoor location that we used within filming was a kitchen. This location was used just after Greg wakes up from the nightmare. He enters the kitchen and carries out a conversation with his wife. This location allowed us to show that we understood the 180 degree rule and gave us the opportunity to use match on action shots to show a conversation. We thought that the conversation would be best to be held within the kitchen as it helped to make the scene look more natural as we were able to use props such as cups, newspapers and a phone.
 

Treatments

Treatment for 2 minute film

Title: The Entertainer
Duration: 2 minutes
Audience: The audience we targeted was at a teenage audience due to the characters we decided to use and the initial storyline etc. Our audience can vary to people who enjoy horror/gore featured films but is dominantly aimed at the target audience of teenagers.
Distributor: For our film we chose to use the distributor of 'Dimension Extreme' as it is an independent company and wouldn't influence change compared to if we chose a mainstream distributor.
Summary of Story:  In the first 2 minutes of the film the main character, Greg, is having a nightmare which features himself in a woods with a unexpected dead body and a clown following him, as he wakes us from the nightmare he walks downstairs to have a conversation to his girlfriend about the nightmare and gets a phone call from his boss in which he is asked to come into work. His job is as a children's entertainer and as Greg comes of the phone the audience feels his frustration from his job, which creates sympathy. after the phone call he goes upstairs to find a clown outfit which he uses at work but its covered in blood, which causes confusion for both the audience and the main character Greg.
Suggested Elements: Throughout the opening scene of our film we thought by adding certain twists to it in the first scenes would engage the audience and make it stand out, for example the clown is a women which shows different representation towards gender as it is subverting stereotypes as women are tend to be portrayed as vulnerable. Also the blood on the clowns outfit gives it a twist to the storyline in the first scenes as his dream included a clown and he is a children's entertainer which shows an iconic link.

Treatment for final film

Title: The Entertainer
Duration: 90 mins (1 hour 30 mins)
Audience: The audience we targeted was at a teenage audience due to the characters we decided to use and the initial storyline etc. Our audience can vary to people who enjoy horror/gore featured films but is dominantly aimed at the target audience of teenagers. Further into the film we will include more gore which could interest different audience types however we don't specifically aim it at a certain gender. According to the classification on the BBFC website anyone under the ages of 15 couldn't watch this film as it includes strong language and harmful props such as a knife which would be used throughout the final film.
Distributor: Dimension Extreme is the distributor we chose for the full film as we thought as an independent distributor this would provide the storyline to the niche audience, which would typically be teenagers which fitted with what we aimed to succeed with our film.
Summary of Story: Our storyline is based around this one character who recently has been having troubles in their life and as a result they have been forced to turn to a job that they cant particularly see themselves enjoying. Its their first day as a children's entertainer and as the day progresses we find that there is a reason that this particular job has been open for a while. By day our character is just a children's entertainer down on their luck. But by night, unaware of their actions, we find that they change and crave a murderous nature. They gradually begin to pick off the members of this small remote town, which they have found himself stuck in, until they comes across a face that they recognise, their sisters. The towns people begin to realise that their has been a lot of people gone missing recently and they go in search of them, this only makes this murderous children's entertainers job much easier and much more desirable. After a series of gruesome murders, our character wakes the next morning completely unaware of what he has done. The only thing that brings questions to their mind are the traces of splattered blood across their costume the next morning. They then return to work for the second time and yet again becomes possessed by this murderous clown spirit. Unable to stop these murderous cravings, they begin to pursue their sister until the time comes when they meet and pace of the storyline greatly increases. Scenes within the film bring up questions that are unanswered until the final scene, and the conclusion is not one to be expected. This film is seen from the perspective of several of the towns people, including the person who is possessed by the clown spirit. The clown tends to target children and is often seen luring kids from the playground during the dark winter afternoons. Although we see through the clown possessed characters perspective the production is set up so that the other towns people are unaware of who this murdering clown is and therefore adds a lot of tension to certain scenes. The way it is set up also makes the audience question whether it is actually this down on their luck character that is within the clown costume.
Suggested Elements: Throughout the film we have included twists which will keep the audience interested and engaged in the storyline, and it will play with their mind. We wanted to include alot of gore and obscene unusual killings which will make it twisted and more creepy, and as most of the film is from the perspective of the killer but unknowingly, it comes as a shock when it comes clear in the final scene. By using children this makes it stand out as, even though most horrors use children, we are using children in a different way as they are the victims but never get hurt, whereas horror films tend to use the children as the villian for example 'Orphan'.










Tuesday, 18 March 2014

Analysis of the first 15 minutes of a similar film

Analysis of the first 15 minutes of a similar film
In the planning stage before we decided on our storyline we researched similar horror films that gave us ideas. One of these films was Stephen king's IT which I have chose to base my fifteen minute analysis on as it is the film that I think is the most similar to our storyline.
 
 
 
 
Sound
At the start of the film they use conventional horror music which is high pitched an eerie, they do this so that the audience knows straight away the genre of the film. This then follow by calmer music which helps to create suspense. Then there is the sound effect of a little girl singing which is stereotypical to the horror genre as they usually feature vulnerable characters. As this child's singing follow the title sequence this suggest that children are heavily involved within the film. This is then followed by a child's laugh and then another person laughing, this gives of a warning that something is about to happen. Conventional horror music is when used again to create an uncomfortable atmosphere whilst something happens to the child. After this gentler  music is heard and this is used to give the audience time to empathize with the situation. Non- diegetic sound is then used of a mans voice and you can hear his thoughts and feelings which helps the audience understand what is happening.
 
Mise-en-scene
The costumes use in the film are important as they distinguish characters. The Killer clown wears a clown costume and clown make up so that we can easily recognize his character. There are often flashes of the clown and the colours used in the costume are bright and noticeable so we feel nervous whenever we see them as we associate them with the killer.

 
The location of the opening scenes is in a neighbourhood and someone's garden. This is effective as it will scare the audience more as terrible incidents are happening in a setting that they are familiar with. This makes the film more realistic as the audience relate this back to themselves and image it happening to their neighbourhood.


The lighting used is dull as the scene has been filmed in a rainy dismal weather. This is stereotypical to the horror genre as they usually feature dark lighting as it creates a sense of mystery as the audience may not see everything that happens.

One prop that is used is the tricycle that the girl is riding and the doll that she is holding. this symbolizes the child's innocence and ignorance to what is about to happen as she is just playing and doesn't realize that the clown is dangerous.

 
Cinematography
A high angled shot is used at the beginning showing the sky and lightening striking, this is effective it is a warning and it represents killers in horror movies as they can strike at any time.


Establishing shots are used in the opening to set the scene. One establishing shot introduces a character who is a little girl. High angle shots are often used to show the girl and this emphasizes that she is vulnerable and weak which suggest something may happen to her. Close up shots are also used to show the girl and her reactions to seeing the clown, this helps us understand her feeling and the situation better.

 

A close up is also used to show the clowns face and this suggest that both characters have caught each others attention. Another high angled shot is used to show the girls tricycle after the incident and it is tipped over, this suggest that something serious has happened to the girl even though you don't see it.
 
Editing
Editing is used effectively when the girl see's the clown for the first time. There is washing blowing on a line blocking the view and you hear a the clown's laugh but you don't see it. This makes the audience think that the girl may be imagining as the clown disappears and re-appears. This will also make the audience question the reality of the situation.
 

 Iconography
 The character of the clown is iconic to horror films as many feature killer clowns. A lot of horror films have familiar figures, like clowns, that are made out to seem dangerous and scary. This is effective as it makes horror films seem realistic and this will scare the audience more.
Vulnerable characters are often associated with horror films and they are usually targeted by the killer. In the opening of this film the vulnerable character is the little girl and she is targeted first by the clown. The fact that the child was shown first and they were shown in vulnerable way suggested that something was going to happen early in the film. Lastly inspectors are stereotypical to the horror genre as they are trying to solve the crimes. However their efforts don't usually work as interfering with the crime sometimes makes them the target.
 
 
 

Props list

Fake blood
We are using fake blood in our Horror film to make it look more realistic and to frame characters. We are using the fake blood in a shot of a body laying on the ground to show that they have been violently murdered. We are also using it at the beginning of our film on our main characters clothes to show that Greg wasn't dreaming and he did find a dead body in the woods.




There are many online website where you can buy fake blood:
http://www.rc-annie.com/blood.php
http://www.fabricspray.co.uk/shop/fake-blood-spray/fake-blood-spray
http://www.fancydress.com/costumes/Blood,-Cuts-and-Gore/2~302~69
http://www.lights4fun.co.uk/i/q/19102/fake-blood-tube-imitation-vampire-blood-gel-28g
http://www.sillyjokes.co.uk/fancy-dress/accessories/make-up-face-paint/blood-and-fx

Recipes for making fake blood

Corn Syrup Fake Blood
This is a common recipe for making fake blood.
Ingredients you will need are: 1 cup corn syrup, 1 tablespoon water 2 tablespoons of red food colouring and A few drops of green food colouring.
Combine these ingredients in a blender and blend for a few seconds You can then adjust the amount of green food colouring in the mix to make the blood more brownish-red and this will make it look more realistic.

There are many other recipes for making fake blood, another is by using fruit punch.
Ingredients:1/2 cup Tropical fruit punch,1 cup corn syrup 2 tablespoons of red food colouring, 1 tablespoon of chocolate syrup, 2 tablespoons of corn-starch and 1 tablespoon of powdered cocoa.
Combine these ingredients in a blender and mix for around ten seconds. You may need to experiment and reduce the amount of chocolate syrup and powdered cocoa that you use.

An example of how to make it:



Torch
In our film we plan to use a torch as a prop which Greg will be holding in the woods.This lighting will be effective we will be able to easily highlight key characters and action.

This prop has been used in horror films before:




Make-up
The killer in our film is a clown so we are going to have him wear make-up which will look messy and smudged to represent his personality. We are also using make-up as it will conceal the killers identity, this will add mystery and tension to our story as anyone could be the clown.

Our main inspiration for the make up is The Joker from Batman.

 

Other make-up ideas we looked at:



Clown outfit

We looked at various clown outfits for inspiration of how we wanted our clown to look. Below are some examples:

 




 
 
Although we looked at outfits like this we choose to use a more stereotypical clown outfit which we found on Ebay:

However we did want our clown to look messy and scruffy so we decided to use black face paint and we ripped the outfit to create this effect and make it more realistic. Also we used fake blood on the costume to symbolize that the clown is the killer in our horror movie.

Phone
On one scene of the opening to our horror film we used a phone as a prop. This was when Greg was talking to his Boss about working that day. We used this prop as we thought it was appropriate as we didn't think that Greg's boss was that important to be in the horror movie in person however they are needed for the storyline.

Household objects
We made sure that we used household objects as props when we were filming indoors as they made the scene look more believable and natural. For example when we filmed in the kitchen we had Joanne make Greg a cup of tea as they were speaking, this made the scene look realistic.


Thursday, 6 February 2014

possible distributer

A possible distributor for our film
In doing some research i have found a certain distributor in which is a low budget distributor, it would be ideal to the production and limitations towards our film. I chose Brain Damage Films as a possibility because their aim is to produce low budget horror films.

Brain Damage Films;
Brain Damage Films is an independent, global through franchising; Horror film label and production company dedicated to releasing and producing Horror films with the Horror consumer in mind. Darrin G. Ramage, a long time fan and supporter of the genre, founded Brain Damage Films in 2001 to continue the powerful distribution and production of independent Horror films to the theatrical, video, broadcast, internet and mobile industries in North America and around the world