when creating our title we wanted to create a unique logo and name as there are many existing production companies. we could use existing companies for our own ideas but making sure they were slightly different or not too similar to those already out there log wise and title.
some of our ideas were;
Hourglass productions
Owlglass Productions
Temptation Times
Loose End Production
we decided to go with 'Owlglass' for our production company name. we all agreed on the idea of using an owl in our name and logo as many popular production companies use animals in both, we thought it looked professional and meant our company could be seen as a serious contender in the future. for the logo we researched realistic owls and chose these as our main design base;
over these images we have experimented with the way we add text and how we want the logo to be shown at the beginning or end of our opening for our film. we chose to use the third image for our logo and title to show at the beginning of our clip. we choose this image as we wanted to incorporate the effect of flying onto the logo (e.g. the transitions) also we liked how the owl looked like a dominant predator - which has key links to our film as the male protagonist is also being seen as the dominant predator.
we created this for our logo, we chose a dark background to keep in the theme of thriller also by contrasting the dark background with the lighter writing and the owl with the outline of light makes the owl stand out. we added the smoke to come across the logo to create an enigma code of mystery as the audience won't know what to expect from our film. we used 'adobe Premiere Pro' to create and edit our title and add transitions for example like the smoke in the background as we felt this added mystery. the glow around the owl as well as making the owl stand out it makes the audience focus on the owl therefore making the owl the centre of the the production company. as a production company we tried to achieve a professional edgy look that wasn't just limited to the horror genre so we could expand our film company.
We are going to film in the evening around 4pm when it starts getting a bit dark to ensure we have a dark lighting. By having dark lighting we create tension as it’s typical of a horror genre. Usually dark lighting would make the audience feel uneasy as they will feel that the protagonist is vulnerable in the dark and this would engage them in the opening. we are going to look at different shot angles and decide on appropriate clothing for our characters to wear.
Filming
we could only arrange to meet during the school day due to busy after school schedules, so we went out about 12pm to our main location in the alley outside our school we choose this location as it's available to all of our group which helps our time management also it's a realistic place for teenagers as it's a recognisable place for other teenagers. it has a scary feel to it and as the trees cover most of the alley it's a perfect location for a stalker to approach and try and attempt to kidnap our teenage protagonist. when we set out to film we made our 'man' (Ed) wear a big baggy coat which kept him quite covered as we want to create tension by not allowing the audience to see his face, this also creates an enigma code.
this is part of the alley we wanted to hide our 'man' in during our film to show him watching our protagonist on her way home from school. at this particular part of our location we used a medium shot and had our protagonist walk past the the camera whilst our ' man' is only shown slightly however he is watching our teenager as she walks home. we did this as it creates an element of suspense and suggests the the audience his intentions may not be to innocent. we also made use of things we found in the alley such as the graffiti on the wall as it made the alley look more dangerous and is a common feature in horror and thriller.
this is a is a low angle medium shot, we felt this was effective as it add to the current enigma code of not seeing our 'mans' face creating suspense as he is following our protagonist through the alley on her way home however, we would like to refilm this as ideally we would like to have our setting in the dark to add to the creepy setting for our short film. also as the alley is covered by trees it makes the alley a natural setting for a horror/thriller. it also just shows the clothes we have chosen to dress our male protagonist in as we dressed him in ragged old clothes to make him look a bit suspicious.
Filming - for our first day of filming, which we only have an hour due to difficulty meeting due to balancing exams and finding time to revise. so when we do go out our main scene which is the alley by our school as it is close to school and easy for us to all meet unfortunately when we go to our scene it won't be dark when we first go and experiment with shots,however this won't be an issue as we can work around the level of light and just adapt whilst filming.we will need to use a number of shots, which are tracking shot of him walking down the alley, and a close up shot of the mans figure however not of his face this we hope will create tension. we will also use medium shots of the back of the man. for this we will need to create an image of an elder man - without actually showing his face. also we need to filming our protagonist talking on the phone to her mum we decided this would be our only conversation in our opening as we want to build tension so are going to use music to help create suspense in the little time we have.
Prop List -
- for our stalker we need a big dark baggy coat. - basic dark clothing to make the stalker look mysterious and threatening. - aging props such as possibly a walking stick and a flat cap maybe some glasses and possibly makeup to create aging on the antagonists face. Examples of shots we will use - medium shot - of the back of the man walking toward the park through the alley long shot - of the man watching our protagonist in the distance close up shot - but still not showing the face tracking shot - following the girl through the alley un detected by the girl as she begins to feel unsettled
This is Ciara, she is our main character she is a young girl this will mean that she can be made to look vulnerable in certain situations. This will benefit our film as these are the normal codes and conventions that are used in other horror films. Ciara is an attractive teenage girl this will mean that the male gaze theory will occur and so more teenage boys will watch our film also young girls will like the film as they may relate themselves to her or maybe look up to her as a role model. We so lucky to have an up and coming actor in our film, Ciara studies at Glyn School in Epsom she is studying drama a level and so therefore has experience of being in an acting environment. She is especially good at acting in horror extracts as she is very dramatic and so therefore knows what to do in those situations. Ciara's expertise is in physical drama rather than the vocal part. She was the most physically able of all the actors who came to play the part, and as the main actor has to be physically good, she is perfect for the part. I have worked with her on previous occasions, in low budget films such as 'The Piano' and ‘what’s occurring?', and on both occasions she most certainly delivered excellent entertainment. I have known Ciara for a very long time and we have a very strong working relationship. Ciara doesn't understand the technicalities of filmmaking very well, so therefore she leaves that up to us and just does as she is asked to do which is good. Ciara will do great things to make this production good. The questions we asked the main character Why would you be good for the role? I would be good for this role as I have done previous things in acting so I have a bit of experience, drama is also my passion I love acting I think that is it amazing what you can create in yourself. I also really enjoy watching dramas on television. What acting experience do you have that will assist you with this role? I have studied drama for gcse and now currently doing a level drama at school I also attend stagecoach outside of school which I really enjoy and in the future really want to go to university to study musical theatre. I also have acted in two previous films which I have learnt a lot from, I am always up for learning more and trying out new things. Have you considered how you could show the character successfully through your body language and voice? I will try and make myselflook particularly vulnerable. When I am kidnapped I will act scared and worried.
How does you character relate to the usual characters commonly featured in this genre? I have acted in 2 previous horror films and so have done similar things to this before, my specific character is commonly used in horror films as I am just a normal teenage girl and so lots of people can relate to me.
This is Ed, he is one of the main characters, he plays the old weird man who follows Cath and abducts her. We thought that Ed would be very good at this role as he looks older and he is very tall therefore with the right costume we can make him look very intimidating. Our film fits the stereotypical codes and conventions of a horror/action film as he is the attacker and our girl character is the victim. Ed doesn't have much experience in drama however he is very charismatic and well spoken. His confidence allows him to be a great actor for our film. Ed also studies at Glyn Sixth form and knows Ciara who plays our other main character very well. As a group we thought this would be beneficial as it would make it easier for them to work together and get along. The questions we asked the main character
Why would you be good for the role? I think i would be good for the role because i'm willing to give it a try. I would say that i'm quite confident person therefore I wouldn't have any problem with acting. What acting experience do you have that will assist you with this role?
Even though I have not had much experience in acting it has been one of my interests for a long time. I like to challenge myself and I believe that playing this role would do so.
Have you considered how you could show the character successfully through your body language and voice?
I'm rather tall therefore I think I could make myself look intimidating and creepy especially with the use of costume and props. Also, my voice is quite deep therefore I can make my character sound old and scary, especially at the end when i have to say "I've got her now".
The 180 rule- When
you film a scene using separate shots, it’s important that people understand
where everything in the scene is. You can use the 180 degree rule, together
with looking space and eyeliner match, to help them. Imagine you’re looking at
a scene from the side. You can see the whole scene. If you look at one character,
they are on the left hand side of the scene facing right. The other character
is on the right side of the scene facing left. You could just show your scene
in long shot, but that would mean we couldn’t see facial expressions, or
details of what characters are doing, very well. It would also be quite boring
because the camera position doesn’t change.
Shot reverse shot-
4. Shot Reverse Shot is a continuity editing technique used in conversations or
simply characters looking at each other or objects. A shot showing what the
character is supposedly looking at (either a point of view or over the shoulder
shot) is followed by a reverse angle shot of the character themselves looking
at it, or of the other character looking back at them, for example. Shot
reverse shot often ties in with the 180° rule to retain continuity by not
distorting the audience’s sense of location of the characters in the shots. Shot
reverse shot in 28 Days Later
The 30 degree rule-
The 30 degree rule is rule used in filmmaking with the purpose of creating
continuity between different shots within a larger sequence of shots. It should
also be noted that the 30 degree rule isn’t a scientific standard. Many
filmmakers use an “anything more than a 10 degree change in angle” while others
say no less than 25 degrees. However, a 25 to 30 degree minimum change in angle
seems to be the agreed upon norm. When moving your camera between shots the
camera should be moved a minimum of 25 to 30 degrees (with a maximum limit of
180 degrees) to avoid jarring transitions also known as jump cuts. This helps
you seamlessly piece together a larger sequence of shots in a harmonious manner.
Between shots you can change your camera’s depth, perspective and angle. All of
these changes should be motivated by your story and flow with the pacing of
your film or documentary. You’ll need to think both about the artistry of each
shot and what the camera is trying to communicate but you’ll also need to think
about the technical fundamentals of each change in position.
Match on action- Match
on action occurs when an action that begins in one shot is continued or
completed in the next. In an exterior shot Julia Roberts opens the front door
to a house. In the next shot the camera, now indoors, photographs her entering
the foyer and closing the door.
Rule of thirds- The
basic principle behind the rule of thirds is to imagine breaking an image down
into thirds (both horizontally and vertically) so that you have 9 parts. As
follows.
The rule of thirds 1 As you’re taking an image you
would have done this in your mind through your viewfinder or in the LCD display
that you use to frame your shot. With this grid in mind the ‘rule of thirds’
now identifies four important parts of the image that you should consider
placing points of interest in as you frame your image. Not only this – but it
also gives you four ‘lines’ that are also useful positions for elements in your
photo.
The rule of thirds 2 The theory is that if you place
points of interest in the intersections or along the lines that your photo
becomes more balanced and will enable a viewer of the image to interact with it
more naturally. Studies have shown that when viewing images that people’s eyes
usually go to one of the intersection points most naturally rather than the centre
of the shot – using the rule of thirds works with this natural way of viewing
an image rather than working against it. Continuity- Cutting to continuity
involves taking out all the inessential moments in a conventional action.
Editing takes out the dead, boring moments in a film. Imagine having to watch
all 31 miles of celluloid shot for Lawrence of Arabia! When James Bond travels
from London to The Bahamas, do you really want to watch the whole trip: snoring
for eight hours on the plane, brushing his teeth in the airport bathroom,
renting an Aston Martin at Avis, and so on? Cutting to continuity just includes
Bond's leaving M's office, boarding a plane, leaving the Jamaica airport, and
driving his car down an ocean-side road. All this activity takes just a few
seconds.
This shows our different ideas for our film we decided to go with our second idea which was inspired via an article we found online, we also took different elements from each category as we trialled and tested different ideas for our film.
For our location we decided we need an open rural area that
is a likely place for teenagers to either walk through or hang around in,
therefore we concluded a park would be an ideal space for our protagonist to be
walking through on her way our or home. We liked the idea of Gibraltar rec,
which is a local park near to our school it was easy for our group to meet and
was a typical place teenagers would go to regularly in the summer – this was
our first issue with using the park as we would be filming mid Jan beginning of
February so not as many teenagers would be in the park as its cold and wet
mostly. We then decided the alley next to our school was a key location as it
was also easy to get to and was an in closed space which could emphasise feeling
trapped and like our teenage protagonist is being stalked. Also the alley is
full of bushes and trees making the light concealed more and giving our stalker
places to hide from the teenager whilst she’s suspects that someone is
following her.
We went to the alley to take pictures and plan how we were
going to film and hid our stalker away from people, we took pictures of the
alley -
These are just some of the pictures we took, we took them during our free periods at school. Due to this being in the middle of the day, the lighting is very bright, however, to ensure that we lighting is dark and dim which is the typical lighting of a horror genre we will film at about 4/5pm when it starts getting dark. By having dark lighting we create tension as it’s typical of a horror genre. Usually dark lighting would make the audience feel uneasy as they will feel that the protagonist is vulnerable in the dark and this would engage them in the opening. After going to our main location, we found many benefits of making it the location we are going to use in our film as it is perfect for the effect were looking to give.
