1. After these 4 weeks, we have completed the planning and have done the first shoot for the first part of the film, completed, and most of the first shoot for the second part of the film. The sound has been recorded mostly, so now it's a case of manipulating it for the film.
2. There are some nice shots in the work produced, and as a director, i have worked very hard at arranging actors and times to shoot. I have found some good props too (like the for sale sign) however the way in which the man dies is quite unbelievable, and particuarly for an amateur actor, incredibly hard not to overact, so this will have to be done differently.
3.It's been hard organsing the whole cast and crew- there's a lot of busy people, and i can't ask friends i know who do drama to be in the film because they are the wrong demographic of people. Also all of us in the crew are incredibly busy people so it's been hard for me as a director to organise everyone and sort out times around everyone's full timetables. I think the stress of doing this is not really worth it, and i'm sure that the film i produce won't be as good, but it will be worth it for my general health!
Thursday, 7 July 2011
'Home Video' top-band work asessment
The previous year of IB have got their results back for IB film studies and so we now know what films they made last year received top-marks and so we watched the film that received top marks so we could see what sort of aspects we need to take into account when making our films so as to receive top marks.
At the start of their film the group have shown a home-video, so from the cinematography the video is hand-held as it is meant to be filmed from someone recording a home video and so for this to be realistic the camera needs to be hand-held as it is to appear natural. The camera then changes to a over the shoulder shot of the person who is watching the film, the way this is done is interesting as it introduces us to what is one of the main characters and also shows us that they are in some way connected to this video so the camera work is quite interesting here.
There are also interesting shots using mirrors and the composition of the shot is done very well, the shot is framed so we can see the room in which the girl is in, but we are in the room that she is walking in to and so the actor walks into the action rather than the camera following the actor all the time, the actor then walks past the camera and we are then filming her through the mirror which again adds other shots in to make it interesting to watch.
There are also some more shots of the actor walking into the action, with forgeround and background being used. The camera is set with some bushes beside it and so these take up the corner of the screen in the forgeround, the actor then walks into the scene in the background, walking into the foreground.
There are also many extreme close-ups used, extreme close-ups of the actor walking along the leaves in the snow that looks really nice as it is again another angle to view the film from.
In this film I liked all the shots using forgeground and background with the actor walking into the action rather than the the camera always following the actor.
Shannon
At the start of their film the group have shown a home-video, so from the cinematography the video is hand-held as it is meant to be filmed from someone recording a home video and so for this to be realistic the camera needs to be hand-held as it is to appear natural. The camera then changes to a over the shoulder shot of the person who is watching the film, the way this is done is interesting as it introduces us to what is one of the main characters and also shows us that they are in some way connected to this video so the camera work is quite interesting here.
There are also interesting shots using mirrors and the composition of the shot is done very well, the shot is framed so we can see the room in which the girl is in, but we are in the room that she is walking in to and so the actor walks into the action rather than the camera following the actor all the time, the actor then walks past the camera and we are then filming her through the mirror which again adds other shots in to make it interesting to watch.
There are also some more shots of the actor walking into the action, with forgeround and background being used. The camera is set with some bushes beside it and so these take up the corner of the screen in the forgeround, the actor then walks into the scene in the background, walking into the foreground.
There are also many extreme close-ups used, extreme close-ups of the actor walking along the leaves in the snow that looks really nice as it is again another angle to view the film from.
In this film I liked all the shots using forgeground and background with the actor walking into the action rather than the the camera always following the actor.
Shannon
Home Video- high level work-izzi
From a director's point of view I think this film (although it wasn't actually assessed for a director) would still have gotten high marks. The acting was extremely good and the character really looked how you would expect that character to look- blonde, teenager, pretty, pale skin, and the white dress she's wearing portraying innocence, made the plot more believable and emphasized the stereo types, instilling a nievity automatically. The story line was good, it wasn't the most interesting but I think it really sets up the makings for a thrilling horror film. As an audience you know that she will get haunted, but the video at the start really makes us wonder how and why.
Review of the last 4 weeks of shooting
1. What have you accomplished in this time?
During the 4 weeks to film we have completed all of our pre-production tasks, all the planning work that had to be done before going out to shoot, writing shot-lists and completing storyboards as well as writing the script, finding locations and actors and every other aspect of planning to shoot a short film.
After having completed the planning work we could then go out and do our first shoot. After having decided on a date that we could all make it to we had to first prepare the location for shooting, as we had to use the dolly this involved having to shift gravel and set down some tracks to try and get the dolly to run smoothly. We First ran through what we wanted to shoot without the actor being there so we knew what to get him to do so we could film efficiently. This worked well and on our first shoot we managed to film the first small section to our film. When we took the footage back to class however we decided to change the story slightly so as to make the acting not so hard for our actor. So within the 4 weeks we have completed all our planning work and shot the first section to our film, and re-shot boarded some of this first scene however some of what we have shot is good and we can use it for our film and so we can now build on what we have already shot.
2. What are the strengths and weaknesses of the work produced?
In the work we have produced so far we have some good shots, the shots we particularly liked were those using objects in both the foreground and the background as, as well as the shots looking good we can also use these types of shots later on to introduce the threat subtly and it should have a scary effect. Our main weakness was the acting was too heavy for the actor and so when he had to look scared this did not work and it just looked comical and so we have had to change this about so as he does not have to do this part of the scene.
3. What problems have you encountered? How are you going to learn from these and deal with them?
The main problem we have encountered is managing to get the whole group together and actors to shoot. To deal with the problem of having to work round the actors schedules as well as our own we have shot/ are planning to shoot seperately the scenes that we can, so the scene with the man at the start we had him there by himself as there is no-one else there with him when he is in the scene. However, working around the groups schedule is difficult although we can work around this as we have done before and should complete the whole of our first shoot by the 7 weeks.
Shannon
During the 4 weeks to film we have completed all of our pre-production tasks, all the planning work that had to be done before going out to shoot, writing shot-lists and completing storyboards as well as writing the script, finding locations and actors and every other aspect of planning to shoot a short film.
After having completed the planning work we could then go out and do our first shoot. After having decided on a date that we could all make it to we had to first prepare the location for shooting, as we had to use the dolly this involved having to shift gravel and set down some tracks to try and get the dolly to run smoothly. We First ran through what we wanted to shoot without the actor being there so we knew what to get him to do so we could film efficiently. This worked well and on our first shoot we managed to film the first small section to our film. When we took the footage back to class however we decided to change the story slightly so as to make the acting not so hard for our actor. So within the 4 weeks we have completed all our planning work and shot the first section to our film, and re-shot boarded some of this first scene however some of what we have shot is good and we can use it for our film and so we can now build on what we have already shot.
2. What are the strengths and weaknesses of the work produced?
In the work we have produced so far we have some good shots, the shots we particularly liked were those using objects in both the foreground and the background as, as well as the shots looking good we can also use these types of shots later on to introduce the threat subtly and it should have a scary effect. Our main weakness was the acting was too heavy for the actor and so when he had to look scared this did not work and it just looked comical and so we have had to change this about so as he does not have to do this part of the scene.
3. What problems have you encountered? How are you going to learn from these and deal with them?
The main problem we have encountered is managing to get the whole group together and actors to shoot. To deal with the problem of having to work round the actors schedules as well as our own we have shot/ are planning to shoot seperately the scenes that we can, so the scene with the man at the start we had him there by himself as there is no-one else there with him when he is in the scene. However, working around the groups schedule is difficult although we can work around this as we have done before and should complete the whole of our first shoot by the 7 weeks.
Shannon
Sunday, 3 July 2011
Cinematographer - Pre-production Evaluation Questions
What do you consider your role to be in this production?
As my role in this production is cinematographer I consider my main roles to be looking at the scene we are filming and considering what different shots we could use to make the production look the most effective, shots from different angles, taking into account the different rules such as the 30degree rule and 180 rule. I also have to consider the lighting in the scene, how different lighting will add different effects to the film. Putting a strong light close behind a character will place the front of them in dark shadow making us unable to see their face and so this may be helpful in some parts of our production when we are not revealing the full identity of a character.
Where did your idea come from? Films reference (Camera/Lighting/Composition)
A lot of the ideas came from films like ‘the orphange’ . 
This picture above for example, the composition of this shot is very interesting as it is a long shot and as the shot is taken through a long corridor the walls closer to us look darkened as if we are the ones in danger from the approaching threat. This camera angle also reminds us the threat is a child, making him look small rather than using a low camera angle and making the threat look larger. This is useful for us as our threat is a little girl and so we will be using shots like this to remind viewers the threat is a small child meant to be seen as harmless.

Some ideas also came from another scene in the orphanage. In this scene where we can see a character in the foreground and also a character in the background. This camera work looks really good as the camera focuses on the person either nearest or furthest away from the camera with the other still being in the shot and so we do not forget this person is in the scene. This camera work is also useful for introducing the threat, having the threat in the background whilst the protagonist is in the foreground and then switching the focus so the threat is then in the foreground which would make us jump.
What Films do you believe show good cinematography 9Tension/Fear/Shock?)
I think films such as the ones I have mentioned above show really good examples of cinematography. Also the film ‘The sixth sense’ has really good cinematography as it build us tension very well, concealing what is supposed to scare us until the last moment and this building us tension greatly and increasing the shock the audience receives. The ring also has good cinematography in that the when the threat, the girl Samara is shown the shots she is in are filmed to have the utmost chilling, shock effect on the audience.
How will your opening engage the audience? (Tension/Fear/Shock) (Camera/Lighting/Composition)
Our opening will engage the audience as it has many different shots including lots of close-ups which should make the audience feel more involved in the film as they are closer to the actors. There are also corridor shots which will create shadow and increase tension as it is the unknown. As our threat is a little girl we also have shots from her point of view and as this will be a low angle everything will seem larger and more menacing. As the house we are shooting at is quite big and the outside of the house has many sharp shapes looking at these from a low angle should make everything look scarier.
5. What conventions of the sub-genre have you conformed to?
The conventions of the sub-genre of ghost films we have conformed to is the most typical one of the genre, being the ‘haunted house’, as mentioned previous the house we are filing in is quite big and can be made to look slightly like a haunted house, it also has many long corridors and so this is also quite conventional of horror movies, long, dark corridors we cannot clearly see what is happening. As the treat is a little girl we have challenged the fact that children are seen as innocent, also as it is a little girl, in horror movies it is conventional for the females to be the ones needing saved and not the ones that are the threat and so this goes against the usual conventions of a ghost film.
Shannon Scott
What do you consider your role to be in this production?
As my role in this production is cinematographer I consider my main roles to be looking at the scene we are filming and considering what different shots we could use to make the production look the most effective, shots from different angles, taking into account the different rules such as the 30degree rule and 180 rule. I also have to consider the lighting in the scene, how different lighting will add different effects to the film. Putting a strong light close behind a character will place the front of them in dark shadow making us unable to see their face and so this may be helpful in some parts of our production when we are not revealing the full identity of a character.
Where did your idea come from? Films reference (Camera/Lighting/Composition)
A lot of the ideas came from films like ‘the orphange’ . 
This picture above for example, the composition of this shot is very interesting as it is a long shot and as the shot is taken through a long corridor the walls closer to us look darkened as if we are the ones in danger from the approaching threat. This camera angle also reminds us the threat is a child, making him look small rather than using a low camera angle and making the threat look larger. This is useful for us as our threat is a little girl and so we will be using shots like this to remind viewers the threat is a small child meant to be seen as harmless.

Some ideas also came from another scene in the orphanage. In this scene where we can see a character in the foreground and also a character in the background. This camera work looks really good as the camera focuses on the person either nearest or furthest away from the camera with the other still being in the shot and so we do not forget this person is in the scene. This camera work is also useful for introducing the threat, having the threat in the background whilst the protagonist is in the foreground and then switching the focus so the threat is then in the foreground which would make us jump.
What Films do you believe show good cinematography 9Tension/Fear/Shock?)
I think films such as the ones I have mentioned above show really good examples of cinematography. Also the film ‘The sixth sense’ has really good cinematography as it build us tension very well, concealing what is supposed to scare us until the last moment and this building us tension greatly and increasing the shock the audience receives. The ring also has good cinematography in that the when the threat, the girl Samara is shown the shots she is in are filmed to have the utmost chilling, shock effect on the audience.
How will your opening engage the audience? (Tension/Fear/Shock) (Camera/Lighting/Composition)
Our opening will engage the audience as it has many different shots including lots of close-ups which should make the audience feel more involved in the film as they are closer to the actors. There are also corridor shots which will create shadow and increase tension as it is the unknown. As our threat is a little girl we also have shots from her point of view and as this will be a low angle everything will seem larger and more menacing. As the house we are shooting at is quite big and the outside of the house has many sharp shapes looking at these from a low angle should make everything look scarier.
5. What conventions of the sub-genre have you conformed to?
The conventions of the sub-genre of ghost films we have conformed to is the most typical one of the genre, being the ‘haunted house’, as mentioned previous the house we are filing in is quite big and can be made to look slightly like a haunted house, it also has many long corridors and so this is also quite conventional of horror movies, long, dark corridors we cannot clearly see what is happening. As the treat is a little girl we have challenged the fact that children are seen as innocent, also as it is a little girl, in horror movies it is conventional for the females to be the ones needing saved and not the ones that are the threat and so this goes against the usual conventions of a ghost film.
Shannon Scott
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