Friday, 4 December 2015

Group 2: Treatment

It is a cold winters day. The morning dew settles along the grass as a male character walks his dog in a woodland setting. He walks through the trees with a sense of purpose, head held high, at a brisk pace. He comes to a long, straight path. He catches a glimpse of movement in the distance, quite far along the path. Suddenly, the dog becomes more alert, he has seen it too.

                 The dog bolts, taking the lead with him. The force of the pull dislocates the boy's shoulder. He tries to run after the dog, but he is in too much pain and is forced to continue at a slower pace, clutching his arm at his side. There is another brief period in which the boy is walking through the trees, although this time he is obviously distressed and struggling. There is a look of worry on his face and he calls out hopelessly to the dog. "WILSON! WILSOOON!".
           Eventually he stumbles across a large abandoned building that has an eerie and ominous atmosphere. Upon closer inspection he notices something conspicuous hanging in the main doorway. It is the dog lead. His facial expression changes suddenly from fear to confusion. As he tries to process what could have happened, an unknown figure appears behind him and uses the handle of a large knife to knock him unconscious before he can turn around to see who it is.
                    
                He awakens inside the abandoned building, tied up. It is dark outside now. How can he be sure that it is even the same day? Bright moonlight pierces in through the windows and doorways.  His eyes shift to the main doorway after hearing footsteps on the leaves outside. The antagonist character he saw on the path earlier appears, standing silhouetted in the doorway, wielding the same knife he used to knock the boy unconscious. He is covered in the blood of an unknown victim and wearing some sort of homemade mask. Then he remembers the dog. He looks to see if the lead is still hanging. It is, but now he notices a splatter of blood on the clip that he hadn't seen previously. He lets out a moan of defeat. The antagonist disappears from the doorway and more footsteps are heard, moving around the outside of the building. The boy hears him reappear at the rear entrance but cannot turn around to face him. He begins to panic. The antagonist moves closer and circles round the boy to his front. Finally he looks the boy straight in the eye, with a psychotic smile on his face. It is still difficult to make out who this person is due to the shadows of the trees outside covering most of his face. The boy begins to speak. He only manages a shaky, 'Wha...', before the antagonist has raised his knife, maintaining the smile, and strikes. It cuts to a black screen.

Monday, 30 November 2015

Group - Preliminary Task



With this task, our aim was to film a sequence involving two main events: A character opening a door, and two lines of dialogue between two characters. Whilst doing this, we had to focus on the use of continuity (with filming and editing), different types of shots we could use and consideration of the 180 degree rule.

From this task we have gained several things as a group. For example we now realise the importance of taking the sound mix into consideration and how difficult it is to make sure you are only recording the sound you want. Also we now know that it can be beneficial to record more than one take for individual shots, even if you think you are happy with the one you already have, because when it comes to editing it is impractical to discover an issue and find yourself with no backup shot as a replacement.

Sunday, 29 November 2015

FP: Production Log - Wilderness Woods

My role in the group

- For this project my main role in the group was camera operator, a job that Ollie also helped with, as well as helping the others to direct certain shots.
- As a group we all took responsibility for various roles to ensure that we could get everything done on a restrictive time limit, and that any footage we did get was of good quality. Each group member taking multiple roles also helped to make it so that we created a video with ideas included from each of us, and a final piece that we were all happy with.


What did I learn?

- I had very little experience with the track and dolly, so it was very useful to have a chance to use this equipment more, and I think I can use this experience to our advantage for future projects. Also this trip was my first time using the jib, which ended up giving us our best shot and we will definitely be using it again based on this.
- This trip also showed me the importance of a location recce, and that although it may be time consuming, it is very useful for ensuring you have the best possible location for the footage you want, and therefore improving the quality of your final piece.
- I also learnt that whilst you may have a clear idea of some things that you want to include, you have to consider the ideas of others as well because they may be better or more appropriate.



What I was pleased with

Our use of the jib and track and dolly turned out to be among our favourite shots collected during the day, and I am really pleased with how they turned out in the final edit.
- Leo's acting
- The scenes that were available at wilderness woods provided a perfect environment for a horror opening and I thing we made good use of this opportunity.
- We carried out quite an effective recce, which helped to provide useful and appropriate scenes for our project.



Challenges we overcame

- Due to the large group in attendance, some scenes we wanted to use for our film were in use by other group members, but fortunately we were able to get around this by either going to another location to get shots for another part of the film whilst we waited, or Seeing if there was anything we could do to help other members to speed up the process.
- Unfortunately it began to rain quite heavily at one point, meaning we were unable to shoot outside due to potentially damaging equipment. However, we found an area that was under cover, where we could still use the jib to get the shot we wanted.
- Also, the rain turned out to produce a nice effect for the final edit.


What didn't work so well?

- Due to the rain, obviously, the ground quickly became muddy and unstable, meaning we couldn't move around as easily with the camera, making some of the footage more shaky than we would've hoped.
- Also, due to being on a strict time limit we were forced to slightly rush our tracking shots, and they ended up being quite shaky and jittery. We will have to aim to fix this issue when it comes to using tracking shots in future projects


How has this experience influenced our production?

- As previously mentioned, due to the success of the jib and parts of the tracking shots, we will definitely be using this equipment in future projects
- Perhaps in future we will spend less time on location recce's if we are on a time limit, in order to ensure we have enough time to get good quality footage.
- We agreed that the woodland setting worked really well for this genre, so it is a definite possibility that we will consider using this sort of setting for our final production.

Friday, 27 November 2015

LH: Production Log - Wilderness Woods

My role

- In the group I took part in a couple of roles, one was an acting role where I was being chased by an antagonist with very little given away in these shots, we used the fear of unknown by not showing the face of the antagonist. I also took part in the directing of the production which we did between the three of us, to get the best ideas possible by discussing between us.


What did I learn?


- From this filming experience I learnt many things including many filming techniques, like the usage of pull focus which we used relatively effectively. Also, we used different camera equipment that I had not used before like the Jib to get slowly moving shots to go up and down, also the tracking shots we used I was new to.


What was I most pleased with?


- From this filming expedition I was pleased with many things our group did, like the varied use of camera techniques and equipment used, I think the shots that we got were very good, which lead to a good beginning of a storyline with a hint of mystery.





What challenges did we overcome?

- There was the issue of adverse weather conditions which we had to overcome. Halfway through our filming there was the problem of rain, which lead to us having to remain sheltered with the camera, although we still managed to gain many shots, including the jib shot.


What didn't work so well?

- In our group the biggest problem for us was the usage of sound, we could not seem to get any effective sound for our production either diegetic or non-diegetic, we tried to get some sound effects online, but we couldn't find any suitable for our production. Next time to improve this I think we should record more sound effects at the location and add them in later in Premiere.


How has this influenced our production?

- This experience has influenced our production in different ways, from this we have learnt many techniques we can use in our next productions, for example the jib and tracking which are very useful for us, due to how effective it looks, also the editing we did also has helped us to improve for our upcoming tasks.

Thursday, 26 November 2015

OK: Production Log - Wilderness Woods

My role

- My role in the production of our 'Wilderness Woods film' was to co-direct the film and to also help create a suitable story for us to follow the criteria that was capturing footage of somebody following someone else in the woods

- I helped to analyse the areas that we discovered after our recee by going back to the locations that we had looked at, and to identify what footage could be shot their and how it could fit in with the story





- I helped with the tracking shots as the weather was making it difficult to reduce the amount of unfocused footage we captured

- I also helped with some of the handy cam shots we captured, as Finn was helping Leo to show him where he should walk through the paths

What did I learn?

- From this experience, I was able to learn how to use the Jib, understanding how to capture high quality footage starting from a low angle and ending at a high angle or visa versa

- I learnt that the weather can help make footage look a lot more professional and help with the scenery, as we filmed the first clip in our film in the rain

- The weather can also cause problems in capturing the footage as we attempted to use the tracker however, the ground became muddy which caused our footage to be shaky and out of focus on a number of occasions

What was I most pleased with?

- I was most pleased with the first shot.  The jib helped to create a very professional opening as we see Leo starting on his journey in the rain whilst walking past the tyre swing

- The cutting rates towards the end made it clear who was the antagonist and the protagonist and also introduced a number of enigma codes, as the audience questions what the antagonist did to the protagonist at the end


What challenges did we over come?

- I believe we used the weather well. Although some of our shots are not as still as they can be, I think that we were able to put up with the muddy conditions that affected our footage, and used the rain to our advantage

What didn't work as well?

- I feel as if we spent too long on the recee which meant we weren't able to capture enough footage for our final film. This meant that we had to use the footage that we had filmed, and use editing to make the final film much longer

How has this influenced our production?

I believe that this experience has enabled us as a group to understand that we can produce a high quality film. Finn's camera enabled the footage to be high quality, Leo's acting allows the story to feel more professional as he co-operated with us as a group and adjusted to the conditions of the weather. Overall, as a group I believe that we will be able to create a good story for our final horror film and with all of the components we are able to offer to the final production, we will create a high quality, understandable horror film

Group 2: Wilderness Woods Short


After completing the filming of our short film using the location of Wilderness Woods, we went back to school and used the school editing software (Adobe Premiere Elements 9.0) to make our footage more presentable and professional.

- Using the timeline in Premiere, we were able to trim our footage to a suitable length
- We re-ordered the footage so that the audience would be able to identify the antagonist and the protagonist
- We included some gaps between the footage, to increase the tension of the story
- This helped to connote fear, as the antagonist was shown to be following the protagonist through the woods
- Towards the end of the clip, we increased the cutting rates of the footage, showing the antagonist come into contact with the protagonist which help to represent vulnerability
- At the end, we included a black screen which helped to cut the tension that had been built up as we increased the cutting rates to show that the antagonist was getting closer to the protagonist

FP: Analysis of title sequence - A Nightmare on Elm Street (Craven, 1984)


http://www.artofthetitle.com/title/a-nightmare-on-elm-street/

Order of Titles

"Production studios (New Line Cinema)"
"A Robert Shaye production"
"A Wes Craven Film"
"A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET"
"Starring Ronnie Saxon"
"Ronee Blakely"
"Amanda Wiss"
"Nick Corri"
"Introducing Johnny Depp"
"With Charles Fleischer"
          "Joseph Whipp"
          "Lin Shaye"
          "Robert Englund as Fred Kruger"
"Casting by Annette Benson"
"Director of photography Jacques Haitkin"
"Production designer Fred Fonseca"
"Mechanical special effects designed by Jim Doyle, Theatrical engines"
"Associate producer John Burrows"
"Film editor Rick Shaine"
"Music by Charles Bernstein"
"Co-producer Sara Richer"
"Executive producers Stanley Dudelson and Joseph Wolf"
"Produced by Robert Shaye"
"Written and directed by Wes Craven"






- The titles for this film seem to appear in a fairly random order. First of all the production studios,   Director and Producer are listed, before the Film title is revealed. The titles then follow as the principle actors of the film, the casting director, director of photography, production designer, special effects designer, associate producer, film editor, music producer, co- producer, executive producers, producer, and finally the writer/director once more. One thing that is unusual about this title sequence is that the film title is shown around the middle, as opposed to right at the end of the title sequence. People of higher importance tend to have more time and space dedicated to their name.


Typography

 - This title sequence uses a fairly stock white font. This has few connotations in a horror/slasher situation, other than the possible connotation of paranormal/ghostly activity.
- The titles also seem to be placed quite randomly around the screen, with no particular people/groups of people taking certain places.



Relationship between text and visuals

- In this particular title sequence the titles do not appear to interact with the scene much. They are simply layered over the top in random places. However after the title of the film is revealed, the following titles are shown over the top of a scene that is part of the actual film. This somehow suggests that they are less important because there are other things to pay attention to whilst they are being shown.


Our own production