Saturday, 8 May 2010
Location.
This shot shows our prime location - Mousehold Heath. This is where most of our footage was shot. We did most of our running scenes in this way to reflect the other texts we analysed. This worked well as all of the diagetic sounds fitted well to our piece, for example the birds singing, and the leaves rustling added more of an eerie effect to the scene.
When deciding where to film the first initial scenes we decided to use a teen friendly environment. In this case the Brick makers Pub. Filming in outdoor surroundings linked well with the theme of our piece.
This is the second photo we took of our first location. This is taken from the shot where 'Karly' walks into the pub. Whilst she is in the pub her drink is spiked. This is the path the stalker takes to spike her drink.
The third picture shows the location from an angle which the audience can appreciate. It shows the location through the Stalker's eyes, or in other words a point of view shot.
When deciding where to film the first initial scenes we decided to use a teen friendly environment. In this case the Brick makers Pub. Filming in outdoor surroundings linked well with the theme of our piece.
This is the second photo we took of our first location. This is taken from the shot where 'Karly' walks into the pub. Whilst she is in the pub her drink is spiked. This is the path the stalker takes to spike her drink.
The third picture shows the location from an angle which the audience can appreciate. It shows the location through the Stalker's eyes, or in other words a point of view shot.
Friday, 7 May 2010
Production Team & Problems Along The Way..
Working with the group was very easy as we are all very close friends outside of our project. Although this is useful it can also sometimes slow the filming process down. At times we did face problems as we got sidetracked but after having a meeting together and finalizing our ideas we worked to a schedule and were able to film our filming in a few short days. Other problems we faced along the way were technical difficulties for example with the camera batteries. We didn't fully charge the camera before taking it out an error we should have been more careful about. We overcame this by filming short and vital shots such as the running scenes so we could upload them first. We also filmed still frames or 'ghost shots' so that when the camera was charged we could come back the next day having rehearsed every scene therefore running the filming more smoothly and efficiently.I believe we did equal amounts of filming and contributed greatly whilst others were acting in the scene. Overall 'Obsession' was an awful amount of fun to make.
Prezi.
Whilst creating our blogs to document our work and research during this project we were also asked to create a 'Prezi' a brand new online presentation site. As none of the class had used it before it was an exciting new way for us to record our work and present it to our teachers and other members of the class.
A Prezi is very easy to create. After making your account, click on the orange tool which says 'Create New Prezi' then click the 'Open Me' option to start editing. you can insert shapes, pictures and videos by using the blue editing tools in the top left hand corner of the screen. To view your work at a full screen press the 'View Show' button at the top left hand corner.
I used this method to write about each of the aspects of our filiming process.
Here is a link to my prezi site:
http://prezi.com/my/
I also tried to upload some print screens of my Prezi but had some difficulty with this process.
A Prezi is very easy to create. After making your account, click on the orange tool which says 'Create New Prezi' then click the 'Open Me' option to start editing. you can insert shapes, pictures and videos by using the blue editing tools in the top left hand corner of the screen. To view your work at a full screen press the 'View Show' button at the top left hand corner.
I used this method to write about each of the aspects of our filiming process.
Here is a link to my prezi site:
http://prezi.com/my/
I also tried to upload some print screens of my Prezi but had some difficulty with this process.
Practical Production Ideas.
‘Obsession’
Characters
Main girl – Karly
Boyfriend – Sam
Friend – Danni
Stalker - Simon
Plot
- Party scene in the woods
- boyfriend makes a drink for Karly gets distracted
- stalker spikes drink
- takes it to Karly
- Karly confronts Simon there is a possible flashback in which we see the ways Simon has been stalking her.
- Simon follows her deeper into woods, music kicks in
- Sam is then talking to Karly’s friend realising what has happened
- chase sequence through woods
- Karly hides behind a tree Sam calls her
-Simon hears phone and heads towards tree
- Karly hits Simon in self defence he pulls her down
- fight sequence as Simon pulls out a knife
- Simon’s final line
“Let me show you how an obsession grows.”
Thursday, 6 May 2010
Marketing For Our Film.
This is a poster Whitney created to boost the publicity of our film and make it more appealing to the public eye. As you can see we used a shot from one of the very last scenes in the film. I believe this poster follows the conventions of a typical horror as Karly is dead, lying on the ground and the black and white editing effect makes her appear quite eerie.
Other posters and Dvd covers we took inspiration from are 'Saw' and 'The Grudge'. Another famous convention of thriller films is facial features. By creating disturbing images with take for example dead bodies the audience are clear of the genre and the mystery draws them in.
Research & Inspiration.
During the research process of our task we were asked to watch three films of a similar genre to get some ideas and inspiration for our own story lines. The three films we chose to watch and analyze were: Shrooms, The Hole, and perhaps the most famous The Blair Witch Project. All three are of the same genre as our piece and aimed at a similar target audience, a teen range from the age of fifteen.
Shrooms - 2006
Shrooms follows the story of many teenagers partying and experiementing with drugs in the woods. This is very similar to our piece as Karly's Character is drugged and the effects are shown in our film. We also needed similar shot types take for example the hand held shots when the teenagers are running through the woods. We liked the idea of filming from the stalkers point of view. We also filmed some scenes from a birds eye view.
The Blair Witch Project - 1999
The Blair Witch Project follows a group of teenagers who film a documentary in the woodland. However the footage is lost and then regained a year later. This particular film follows the conventions we wished to use in our piece. Handheld camera moments. This worked very effectively in our piece as many moments of tension in our film are created by running holding the camera this revealed the characters true emotions.
The Hole - 2001
The Hole influenced our filming because the opening is very similar to our own as it is set in a woods. We took our inspiration from the beggining scene of the film. Similarly to the other two films we analysed The Hole is set in a woodland area and underground bunker.
Shrooms - 2006Shrooms follows the story of many teenagers partying and experiementing with drugs in the woods. This is very similar to our piece as Karly's Character is drugged and the effects are shown in our film. We also needed similar shot types take for example the hand held shots when the teenagers are running through the woods. We liked the idea of filming from the stalkers point of view. We also filmed some scenes from a birds eye view.
The Blair Witch Project - 1999
The Blair Witch Project follows a group of teenagers who film a documentary in the woodland. However the footage is lost and then regained a year later. This particular film follows the conventions we wished to use in our piece. Handheld camera moments. This worked very effectively in our piece as many moments of tension in our film are created by running holding the camera this revealed the characters true emotions.
The Hole - 2001
The Hole influenced our filming because the opening is very similar to our own as it is set in a woods. We took our inspiration from the beggining scene of the film. Similarly to the other two films we analysed The Hole is set in a woodland area and underground bunker.
Wednesday, 5 May 2010
Script Ideas.
We cut alot of the dialogue so our timings would fit with our scene, this is why it is so short. Here is the final and cut version of our script.
Scene 1: Outside the pub.
Karly and Danni are sitting smoking and drinking in the beer garden. Simon is sitting on a table behind, watching them.
Karly receives a phonecall from boyfriend Sam about a party in the woods.
Karly: [Outside Pub, On the phone] Hiya, where are you?
Scene 2: The drink spiking
Once both girls have gone to get another drink in the pub,without dialogue Simon walks over to the table and spikes Karly's Drink with pills. He then walks towards the woods and waits.
Karly returns and swigs the drink, feeling suddenly very ill and stumbling she starts to run in search of her boyfriend.
Scene 3: In the woods.
Danni: [Running down hill, on the phone] Sam!
Sam: [Chasing after them] Karly, Danni!
Stalker: [Grabbing her by the hair] Three years I have waited for you, Why don't you love me!?
[Simon slits Karlys throat, still holding the knife walks towards Danni]
Danni: [Screams]
Scene 1: Outside the pub.
Karly and Danni are sitting smoking and drinking in the beer garden. Simon is sitting on a table behind, watching them.
Karly receives a phonecall from boyfriend Sam about a party in the woods.
Karly: [Outside Pub, On the phone] Hiya, where are you?
Scene 2: The drink spiking
Once both girls have gone to get another drink in the pub,without dialogue Simon walks over to the table and spikes Karly's Drink with pills. He then walks towards the woods and waits.
Karly returns and swigs the drink, feeling suddenly very ill and stumbling she starts to run in search of her boyfriend.
Scene 3: In the woods.
Danni: [Running down hill, on the phone] Sam!
Sam: [Chasing after them] Karly, Danni!
Stalker: [Grabbing her by the hair] Three years I have waited for you, Why don't you love me!?
[Simon slits Karlys throat, still holding the knife walks towards Danni]
Danni: [Screams]
Costume & Makeup.
Karly & Dannii
Whilst filming we aimed at a young teen audience therefore the main characters costume reflects the latest in We aimed to create Whitney's character to look like a typical teenage casual look. At times we smudged Whitney's makeup when she had been 'crying' to show fear. This also showed the mess she was in once she had been drugged - a technique used by many modern day thriller films.
My character's costume was pretty similar in the sense that my costume was naturalistic - an item of clothing any teenager would wear, the audience can relate to this. Also wearing a hoodie gives some sense of temperature. This also kept me warm as an actor whilst filming, and added contrast
Simon
Kevin’s character simon who played the stalker dressed in alot of black with gloves to add emphasis to his hands. We did close ups for a lot of shots on kevins hands to follow his every move. Keeping his hood up his face was not revealed until the very end of the filming, this created mystery for the audience. Whitney’s character Karly was dressed in quite casual clothing to show at first normality. She also wore a green scarf throughout filming which becomes a key prop. The stalker gets hold of her scarf towards the end of the piece. this also reflects the time period in which it was written as I wrote it in modern day settings.
Music & Soundtrack.
The type of music we need to use has to be upbeat and is not very conventional for a traditional horror/thriller. The scene in which we are using the accompaniment for is the chase sequence where Karly is being chased deeper into the woods by her stalker Simon and her drink has been spiked. After much debating the song we finally chose 'Spitfire' By Prodigy.
The attached file is the song we decided to use. We have edited it slightly to fit with our film and as a group we decided it works well with our piece. It is also present the soundtrack for 'House Of Wax' a popular horror starring stars such as Chad Michael Murray and Paris Hilton. Whilst researching the music for our piece we learnt about copyright, meaning a certain piece of word cannot be copied and used for other purpose. As a group we wrote a letter to the manager of the band in order to ask for permission to use the track.
Saturday, 1 May 2010
Evaluation Of Main Task.
In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media product?
I believe our piece does develop and challenge the conventions of a typical thriller as we took much of our inspiration from other films of the same genre. During the research period of our project, we watched and analysed several films of the same genre. The film we took most inspiration from was ‘Shrooms’ released in November 2007. The basic plot line follows the typical conventions of a teen horror. A group of friends get lost in a woods, and brutally murdered one by one, etc. During the film there are many shots that related well to our setting for example in the opening scene there is a nice establishing shot of the woodland surroundings. We attempted to create similar shot type when filming our piece. It also challenged the conventions of today’s youth, for example a typical teenager.
It created a stereotype for young people. In our plot, Whitney plays a young girl at a party and her drink gets spiked. It is easily recognisable to an audience that the girl is being stalked. This is something an audience can relate to in real life as sadly more of today's crime is linking to teenage stabbings. I believe our film also tackles issues such as peer pressure in the fact that many of our characters are drinking and smoking. A subtle reminder of today's generation and how easy it is to be complacent. Shrooms also takes some of it’s inspiration from other classic slasher movies. Our film represents the typical group of naive teenagers.
How did you attract/address your audience?
The target audience for our film would probably have to be a similar age to myself. We tried to follow as many conventions of typical slasher horror as we could. We tried to attract our audience by using many different shots but also by adding moments of tension in our scenes too. We attempted to use juxtaposition between the first and last scene as the first created a relaxed atmosphere whereas the last scene was created to shock the audience. During the planning process of our piece we considered playing the ending of our piece at the very beginning but after discussing it as a group we soon decided against it.
What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?
During the process of our filming I have learnt to check all equipment before taking it off site. For example during the first few days of our filming the camera ran out of battery causing us to waste time but also to loose some vital footage. After re filming our piece we were then able to edit successfully. We also found it useful to turn off the camera in between takes to save on valuable battery power. Editing is not one of my stronger media skills so I was pleased that during the editing process I learnt how to cut clips using the ‘razor’ tool and also drag them to where I wanted to in the film time line. Another skill I learnt was how to creatively use effects and transitions, tools we found very useful at the very end of our footage when adding the credits. I have also learnt to use my time carefully although eventually we finished with success, we could of allowed ourselves more time to edit before the final deadline. Although our media was successful we did have some problems to conquer. When adding music to our piece we had some difficulty with soundtrack and copy wright issues. We decided to use ‘Spit fire’ by The Prodigy in order to do this we needed to ask permission from the founder of the band. We did this through our media teacher.
Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression form it to the full product?
Overall I feel that I have progressed in my media skills during this project. Looking back on my preliminary task, it was nice to be able to practise before filming the real film however I am very glad I changed groups as I feel I work better with a smaller group rather than just with my close social friends. I am pleased with our final outcome and although we could have improved in some areas of our organisation, I believe we have achieved what we set out to do and have created a successful horror film opening which follows the genres of a classic slasher movie. Although we were supposed to create a two minute opening, we aimed to create a trailer for our film to give the audience a preview of the finished effect and make them want to watch it. Another angle we looked at as directors was putting the end at the start of the film, another director which does this is Nick Hamm in the movie, 'The Hole.' We spent a lot of time researching this film as we liked the location and some of the establishing shots used. Take for example in the opening scene, when Liz is running out of the woods after her terrible ordeal over the last few days. The film then cuts between scenes of police interview as well as showing flashbacks from earlier scenes.
I believe our piece does develop and challenge the conventions of a typical thriller as we took much of our inspiration from other films of the same genre. During the research period of our project, we watched and analysed several films of the same genre. The film we took most inspiration from was ‘Shrooms’ released in November 2007. The basic plot line follows the typical conventions of a teen horror. A group of friends get lost in a woods, and brutally murdered one by one, etc. During the film there are many shots that related well to our setting for example in the opening scene there is a nice establishing shot of the woodland surroundings. We attempted to create similar shot type when filming our piece. It also challenged the conventions of today’s youth, for example a typical teenager.
It created a stereotype for young people. In our plot, Whitney plays a young girl at a party and her drink gets spiked. It is easily recognisable to an audience that the girl is being stalked. This is something an audience can relate to in real life as sadly more of today's crime is linking to teenage stabbings. I believe our film also tackles issues such as peer pressure in the fact that many of our characters are drinking and smoking. A subtle reminder of today's generation and how easy it is to be complacent. Shrooms also takes some of it’s inspiration from other classic slasher movies. Our film represents the typical group of naive teenagers.
How did you attract/address your audience?
The target audience for our film would probably have to be a similar age to myself. We tried to follow as many conventions of typical slasher horror as we could. We tried to attract our audience by using many different shots but also by adding moments of tension in our scenes too. We attempted to use juxtaposition between the first and last scene as the first created a relaxed atmosphere whereas the last scene was created to shock the audience. During the planning process of our piece we considered playing the ending of our piece at the very beginning but after discussing it as a group we soon decided against it.
What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?
During the process of our filming I have learnt to check all equipment before taking it off site. For example during the first few days of our filming the camera ran out of battery causing us to waste time but also to loose some vital footage. After re filming our piece we were then able to edit successfully. We also found it useful to turn off the camera in between takes to save on valuable battery power. Editing is not one of my stronger media skills so I was pleased that during the editing process I learnt how to cut clips using the ‘razor’ tool and also drag them to where I wanted to in the film time line. Another skill I learnt was how to creatively use effects and transitions, tools we found very useful at the very end of our footage when adding the credits. I have also learnt to use my time carefully although eventually we finished with success, we could of allowed ourselves more time to edit before the final deadline. Although our media was successful we did have some problems to conquer. When adding music to our piece we had some difficulty with soundtrack and copy wright issues. We decided to use ‘Spit fire’ by The Prodigy in order to do this we needed to ask permission from the founder of the band. We did this through our media teacher.
Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression form it to the full product?
Overall I feel that I have progressed in my media skills during this project. Looking back on my preliminary task, it was nice to be able to practise before filming the real film however I am very glad I changed groups as I feel I work better with a smaller group rather than just with my close social friends. I am pleased with our final outcome and although we could have improved in some areas of our organisation, I believe we have achieved what we set out to do and have created a successful horror film opening which follows the genres of a classic slasher movie. Although we were supposed to create a two minute opening, we aimed to create a trailer for our film to give the audience a preview of the finished effect and make them want to watch it. Another angle we looked at as directors was putting the end at the start of the film, another director which does this is Nick Hamm in the movie, 'The Hole.' We spent a lot of time researching this film as we liked the location and some of the establishing shots used. Take for example in the opening scene, when Liz is running out of the woods after her terrible ordeal over the last few days. The film then cuts between scenes of police interview as well as showing flashbacks from earlier scenes.
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