OK: Reflection On Shoot

On the 10th January 2016, Myself, Finn and Leo went to Westerham Woods to shoot our horror film. We had planned to film the most important scenes first, including the shots with Finn dog and the shots in the woods before it got dark. It didn't matter too much if we filmed the shots inside the building as it began to get dark as we planned to use candles to light the inside of the building as well as making it looking more chilling. Throughout the day, I helped Finn with the camera work whilst I was needed for acting as the antagonist in the film. We all helped contribute to new ideas that we hadn't thought of, producing shots that helped our film to look more scary using the equipment provided including the jib and the tracking dolly. Together as a group, we all contributed to the production of our horror film. I helped Finn to set up the Jib and the tracking dolly, which proved to be a challenge at times as we filmed a few of the shots on the grass which didn't help to shoot a smooth shot.

Our storyboard helped us to plan the main shots for our film. If we hadn't storyboarded out film, we would've had to shoot our scenes from our treatment which sometimes lacked detail and creativity. Leo and I had never been to the location before so we couldn't plan all of our shots therefore we made room for extra shots that we would plan on arrival to the location. Using the storyboard/animatic also helped to identify which camera angles would be the best to film that particular scene. Throughout the day, as a team, we were particularly pleased with the shots using the jib. We successfully used it in our Wilderness Woods production so therefore knew that we would be able to capture even better footage using the jib, if we we to follow our own storyline. Another thing I was particularly pleased with was the footage we captured inside the building. We were able to make the inside look very chilling by scattering candles inside the walls and along the floor. This helped to perceive the antagonist to have a motive to killing the protagonist as well as continue to keep on track with our sub-genre by using props and locations that you would usually see in a slasher film. We experienced a number of challenges that we had to overcome throughout the day. It had rained the previous day so therefore, the environment was wet and muddy. This proved to be an issue to us as we had a half an hour walk from our meeting point to the actual location we had planned to film in. We had to work as a team to carry the equipment to the location as well as to look after Finn's dog who was also featured in our film. In order to overcome this challenge, we had planned before to wear suitable footwear for this environment, as well as being careful where we walked as the mud was very thick.

From this experience, I have learnt that you cannot plan everything beforehand. This is because we have no control over the weather or if the environment of the location we plan to film in changes. For future filming, I now understand that a storyboard is useful in ge the end film.

FP: Film Shoot Reflection

On 10/1/16, we went to our chosen location (Westerham woods) with the aim of shooting our entire slasher film opening. My principal role throughout the shoot was cameraman, although both Ollie and Leo participated in filming whilst they were not needed as actors. As a group, despite having each having separate roles of our own, we all shared part of every role. For example, if I was not operating the camera for a shot because, for instance, Leo was not acting in that shot so he took over the role of cameraman, then I would act as the director, deciding where to place the camera, which props to use, exactly what the actor in the shot (in this case Ollie) should be doing etc. Also, due to our extensive use of the jib and tracking, I was often required to operate this equipment. I provided the camera for the shoot, so part of my job was also changing lenses/settings etc. in order to ensure we were using the correct setup for each individual shot.


           There were numerous challenges that we were forced to overcome. For example the specific location we wanted to use is not directly accessible by road, which meant walking for approximately 30 minutes reach our destination. This was not made easier by the fact that it had rained heavily for most of the previous day, and the duration of the morning leading up to our shoot. Furthermore, we were carrying all of the equipment needed for our shoot, including the tracking and dolly, the jib, tripod, camera and lenses, props and a fold up chair. Also we were accompanied by a large, energetic and impatient dog. This leads me on to the next challenge we faced as a group: working with animals. As an individual I had previously failed to predict precisely how uncooperative animals can be when filming. We ended up filming around fifteen takes for a shot that I had predicted we would be able to capture in one take, involving the dog simply running away. However, despite dog related challenges we hopefully managed to record all of the clips we had planned to. Near to the end of the shoot, the camera started to run very low on battery, so we began to worry that we would not be able to finish the shoot. Because of this we were forced to hurry slightly in order to get the shots that we needed, and then when we had completed these shots there was enough battery left for us to film extra shots and establishing shots etc. Hopefully, the lack of time will not affect the quality of our final piece.
  
            Despite unfavourable conditions at times, I am pleased with how our shoot went, especially with the fact that we were able to complete it in one day and at one location, and in my opinion the footage that we gathered was of good standard and will lead to the production of a good quality film opening.

Costume and Prop plan

Costume

Ollie (antagonist) - Much of this costume is based on creating Silhouettes, therefore he will be wearing black clothing, to show his darkness as a character. Very little will be given away by this character, this is because of the fear of the unknown, his face will not be shown, covered by a mask, this mask will be plain once again giving very little away, hopefully this mask will add to the eeriness and scare the audience.

Leo (protagonist) - Casualness is key for this character, the story shows this boy walking his dog, this is an average activity meaning that he will not be dressed in anything abnormal. I think that this will add to the effect with scariness as it shows something happening to a character that could be anyone in the target audience, linking it back to them almost making the story relatable up to a point.

Props

Knife - This is a particularly powerful prop, which is very commonly used in the slasher genre which we based lots of our research on. In our questionnaire we found that knives are very important in this genre.

Candles - This is an important prop in our film opening, it makes it scary in many ways. It raises questions, and brings out hints of paranormal. The candles themselves represent death and that the protagonist is surrounded by them it suggests that he is trapped.

Dog lead - This is used in our as an element of foreshadowing, the protagonist comes across it in the abandoned building hanging up, promoting ideas of death. It also raises questions like, How did it get there? Before it is all revealed at the end.

Group: Risk assessment and Call Sheet

Group: Animatic

Group: Audience Questionnaire and Feedback

Purpose of conducting a questionnaire

From the questionnaire, we aimed to discover:

• What our target audience expected from a slasher movie and how we can meet those expectations
• How we can interpret our props and the location we plan to use in our production to make our film look more professional
• How our characters should be portrayed in our production and to understand what the best characteristics are to have in a slasher film

Methodology

• We opened our questionnaire with a simple multiple choice question to give our sample an idea that they'll be answering questions from the slasher genre
• We used simple terminology but gave space for our sample to give explanations to their choices, enabling us to receive more detail from their answers
• Our second and third questions were related to their opinions towards slasher films and what are their favourite features of the slasher genre were
• For our third question, we offered multiple choices for our audience to choose from and also enabled them to note down any other characters they thought were scary from the slasher genre. This would help us to look at the different spectrums of the slasher genre and to identify the different characteristics of each slasher killer
• The fourth question required a scaled response and focused on mise-en-scene, specifically to props
• The fifth question required more of an opinion-based answer so that we could understand the ideology behind the use of masks and how their use could create tension and inflict fear among the audience
• Question eight was our most important question, giving us an idea on how to end our horror film (it is known that all films should have a good beginning and ending for the audience to highly rate the film). Giving the audience the option to choose 'yes' or 'no' to whether or not the antagonist should reveal his mask, gave us ideas on how we may choose to end our film and to link the whole production together so that it makes sense

Questionnaire

Shown to the right is an example of one of our completed questionnaires. We asked the participants to answer the following questions:

1. How often do you watch films from the slasher genre?
2. What is your all-time favourite slasher film?
3. What is the scariest slasher film killer?
4. What are the scariest slasher weapons?
5. Do you consider masks to be effective in a slasher movie and why?
6. What are the scariest slasher film locations?
7. What time of day is the best time to set a slasher film?
8. Do you think the antagonist should reveal his identity if wearing a mask at the end of the film?
9. How important do you consider the use of iconic weapons to be in horror films?

Results

• We had a total of 15 questionnaires sent out and had a successful 15 responses. This is useful to us in understanding how we can improve our horror film and if our audience like the genre

Question 1: 

- One person said that they watch a slasher film more than once a week

                    

- One person said that they watch a slasher film around once a month

                    

- Seven people said that they watch slasher films at least once a year

                    

- The other six respondents said that they almost never watch slasher films

This shows us that slasher films may not be the first sub-genre our audience would choose from throughout the horror genre

Question 2: 

- Our results varied for this question. Five people out of fifteen did not answer this question showing that they do not have an all-time favourite slasher film

                    

- Two people said that their favourite slasher movie was Scream

                    

- Two people said that their favourite slasher movie was Friday the 13th

                    

- Two people said that their favourite slasher movie was Halloween

Question 3: 

- Five people said that Freddy Krueger was the scariest slasher film killer

                    

- One person said that Michael Myers was the scariest slasher film killer

                   

 - Two people said that Ghostface was the scariest slasher film killer

                   

 - Six people said that Leatherface was the scariest slasher film killer

                    

- One person did not answer this question

Question 4: 

- We had varied results however most of our respondents thought that the knife was one      of the scariest but most common slasher weapon to be used in slasher films
- It can be concluded from this that our audience are looking for much more gory    weapons to be used by the killer however the knife is very accessible and can be effective if presented in the right way

- We can make these conclusions as the chainsaw was chosen to be the scariest slasher weapon

Question 5: 

- This question was the most useful to us in deciding whether or not we should use masks. Most of our responses thought that masks were a good idea to be used as this hides the identity of the killer and introduces the 'fear of the unknown'

- The most useful response we had was that masks 'dehumanise the killer', which looks at slasher killers in a much more gruelling way

Question 6:

- Our results were very similar for this question. Most people said that abandoned houses, creepy woodland areas and abandoned schools were the scariest places as this creates fear and isolation as the protagonist is alone with the antagonist

- This is useful to us as we are planning on using a woodland area with an abandoned building hidden inside the trees

Question 7:

- 80% of people who answered our questionnaire said that shooting a slasher film just after 9pm (as it begins to get dark) is the best time as this gives the antagonist space to hide in the darkness and creates an enigma to why is the protagonist wondering in the dark on there own

Question 8:

-  93% agreed that the antagonist shouldn't remove his mask and reveal his identity because they said it continued to preserve the sense of secrecy
- The other 7% said that the antagonist should reveal his identity as it makes the film much more sinister and rounds off the film, giving it a meaningful ending which links the plot together

Question 9:

- Our final question was important in understanding if an iconic weapon was important to our film. 80% agreed that the use of an iconic weapon was important as it perceived the antagonist to have more of a motive to kill the protagonist
- The other 20% said iconic weapons weren't very important however the use of camera techniques and the location were more important as this gives us more opportunities to make the antagonist more scary and chilling

Evaluation

From our research, the two questions that were most useful to us in deciding how to adjust our production to meet the audiences expectations were questions 8 and 9. We were able to decide that we shouldn't reveal the identity of the antagonist as this creates more of a motive for the antagonist and makes him much more chilling. From question 9, we were able to understand that the use of an iconic weapon is important as the antagonist seems to have more of a motive to murder the protagonist and makes the murder much more personal.

Group - Pitch