Recording Our News Report!

Today we rocorded our radio news report which will be played in the background of the begining scene of our trailer. To record the report we used a software called 'guitar', this software allowed us to quickly record a podcast and then add effects to it to make it sound more realistic. We added a short jingle sound to ensure it resembled a real news report and also some background noise to enhance the audiences belief of the report coming live from the riots.

Using After Effects

Today I was introduced to a software called After Effects. This software allows ordinary people to make proffessional looking effects with ease. I really enjoyed using the software and made a few practise effects which I may later decide to use on our horror trailer. The video below is of my very first practise effect:

Risk Assessment!

To prevent any injuries happening to anyone involved in the production of our trailer I completed a risk assessment . In the risk assessment I identified and explained any possible risks and discussed how we would work to provent them, this can be seen below. Overall the risks for our production were very minor, this is good as we do not want any of our crew suffering from any injuries.

Target Audience For 'The Possession'

We have decided that the target audience for 'The Possession' will be those aged 15 and above. This is because 15 is legaly the minimum age which we are able to target. Below I have looked at how 'The Possession' follows the legal requirements of a certificate 15:

Theme: No theme is prohibited, provided the treatment is appropriate to 15 year olds.
The themes of our film are revenge, anger and the consequinces of theft, all these themes are expressed in a way suitable for 15year olds.

Language: There may be frequent use of strong language; the strongest terms are only rarely acceptable. Continued aggressive use of strong language and sexual abuse is unacceptable.
There is a limited use of strong language throughout our film, however the trailer contains no strong language at all.

Nudity: There are no constraints on nudity in a non-sexual or educational context.
There is no nudity featured in our trailer.

Sex: Sexual activity and nudity may be portrayed but without strong detail. The depiction of casual sex should be handled responsibly. There may be occasional strong verbal references to sexual behaviour.
There are no intimate or sexual scenes in our traier.

Violence: Violence may be strong but may not dwell on the infliction of pain, and of injuries. Scenes of sexual violence must be discreet and brief.
There is a brief scene of violence at the begining of our trailer however it is shown in a way suitable for 15year olds. There are no scenes of sexual violence. Throughtout the trailer there are also scenes that suggest violence towards characters may have taken place, however the violence itself is not shown.

Imitable techniques: Dangerous combat techniques such as ear claps, head-butts and blows to the neck are unlikely to be acceptable. There may be no emphasis on the use of easily accessible lethal weapons (in particular, knives).
In our trailer there is a shot of a character hanging from rope, it is brief and handeled in a sensative way so therefore it is suitable for the certificate 15.

Horror: Sustained or detailed infliction of pain or injury is unacceptable.
As our film is in the horror genre it features several suggestions of death, pain and suffering, however no scenes are detailed and the 'gore' is limited.

Drugs: Drug taking may be shown but clear instructive detail is unacceptable. The film as a whole must not promote or encourage drug use.
There are no scenes or references to drug taking in our horror trailer.

USP Of The Possession!

In this post I will be looking at the unique selling points (USP's) of 'The Possession':

1. It's is realistically set in modern London.
2. The idea is based on real life events - the London Riots.
3. The hopes and fears presented by the characters reflect todas society in the aim of generating real life fears and aprirations.

Contact Lenses

Above is a photograph of the contacts we plan to be using in our horror trailer. The contacts will be worn by Clarissa after she has been possessed, this will help emphasize the change in her and improve the quality of our effects. 

Planning Our Digital Strategy.

To help bring our film and characters to life we have began developing our digital strategy. Below is a photograph of our initial planning:

We came up with several good ideas however realisticly we only have the time & resources to go ahead with a few. The marketing ideas we will be going ahead with are:

• Twitter page
• Facebook page
• An Interview with Clarissa
• Posters

The Locket.

Below is a photograph of our most important prop - the locket!
We purchased it from Claire's accessories,and we chose this particular locket as it was relitivly cheap and thus suitable for our low budget. Also, the appearence of the locket fitted in with what we imagined it would look like - old, victorian, dirty & mysterious.

Marketing 'The Possession' Through Social Networks.

Facebook Page:

Today I created a facebook page to help market our horror film 'The Possession'.
I will regularly update this page with images, clips and information about the film to develope an interest. Also, in the future I will be posting our finished horror trailer and poster in attempt to raise awarness and get feedback.

http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Possession/291404230892283?ref=ts

Twitter

One of my group members also created a twitter account for our film: @thepossession - this will again help market our film, and also as twitter allows direct contact with other people we can attempt promote our film to real directors and production companies.

Adorno: High Art Vs Low Art

According to Adorno there is a difference between high art and low art. High art is intellectual and stimulates the brain, whereas low art is common and does not stimulate the brain. Below are examples of these:

• High Art: Shakespeare, Novels, Plays, Operas, Classical Music.
• Low art: FIlms, Reality TV, Cartoons, Quiz Shows, TV Dramas, Soaps.

Adorno says that popular media creates false needs which causes people to buy things without thinking. This is seen as commodity fetishism - people are obsessed with objects and buying things. Adorno claims that even though all films are the same people are persuaded to go see them through marketing (e.g. TV adverts, posters, word of mouth). 

In conclusion, Adorno says that popular media is bad for us!

I disagree with Aderno's theory for several reasons. Firtstly, there are several examples of 'low art' films which do stimulate the brain and focus on important issues (Freedom Writer).

Shooting Schedual

Before starting to film we decided it was important for us to organize ourselves and prepare a shooting schedual to ensure we didnt waste time. Using Celtex, the same programme we used to create our screen play we was able to drag each scene into a calander one by one - creating our schedual. This was a process made very simple by the celtex software. Sticking to our schedual was very important - we organized the filming into our everyday scheduals and made sure our whole group were able to attend each filming session. Sticking to the schedual would allow us to prepare for each filming session properly and ensure we had the correct props. Below are images of the process and finished shooting schedual.

Test Scenes In The Void!

Today we carried out some practice filming in the void for the riot scene in the anitique shop.

This practice attempt was very usefull and helped us plan for when we would film the real thing.
After recording the shots I took them home, edited them into the right order and put the scene together, below is a screen shot of this process:

Using windows Movie Maker to edit the scene was very easy, even though it was my first time using the softwear I was able to quickly crop the shots and arrange the into the correct order.
I also added an effect called 'saphire' to the video which changed its colour - this effect made a big difference to the quality of the video in a good way, it makes it appear more modern and also as its darker the mood comes across as much more suspicious/mysterious.

Overall I was only slightly impressed with the finished result however I still think its good for an improvised practice attempt. Below you can watch a video of the scene:

Filming the practice scene taught me & my group a lot and we now realised how much effort is required to film a good shot. I will now list characteristics of the scene which I feel need improving:

• Lighting: even though there is a limited amount of lighting in the void our shots came out too bright, they would have been more effective if they were slightly darker as the scene takes place at night time. Also, the darker lighting would have helped reflect the deprressing mood of the scene - a woman has been killed, property is being destroyed, goods are being stolen and angry people are rebeling against the law.
• Props: as the filming session was improvised we had to make good use out of the limited props available, we done this well however we needed more 'antique' props to help the audience believe the scene was taking place inside an antiue shop.
• Costumes: the costumes of the characters in the shots corresponded with the stereotypes we were trying to display in our film - almost all of them were wearing hoodies - in todays society hoodies are iconicly linked to youth and people who wear them are often negatively stereo-typed as 'yobs'.
• Characters: the characters in the scene were all believable however on camera they may have appeared more realistic if we had used makeup effects - this especially applies to the character of the old woman Edna.

Red Eye Tears - Practice!

Today we tested a red tear solution on a member of our group - Laressa. The solution worked perfectly as Laressa immidietly began crying red tears without any discomfort. You can watch a video of the test below:

As the red eye solution worked well we will definetly be using it in our trailer - the red tears will represent blood to emphasize the fact that Clarissa has been possessed.

In doing the test we learned that the solution takes effect immidietly, this will be taken into consideration during filming as we will have to work fast to get the shot. A picture of the red tears can be seen below: 

Practising Scenes WIth Filming Equipment!

In todays lesson I took part in a group filming activity, in my group was Kurby, Laressa & Phoebe. We was given a Nikon camera and sound boom before being told to go off and record a short video.
We decided to record Phoebe and Laressa rapping as it would make equally good use of the sound and camera equipment. Below you can watch our video:


Sadly we ran into problems with our camera which meant the picture was slightly distorted, this damaged the quality of the video. Also during editing we discovered that our sound equipment hadn't recorded when we needed it too, and so unfortunelty we could only use the sound recorder by the camera.  Although these problems were very inconvinient we learned the importance of double checking our equipment - this will hopefull prevent us experiencing simular problems while filming our horror trailers.

Killers in Horror Films

In this post I will be looking at different killers in horror films, below is a presentation I made using Prezi:

After looking at the 3 horror killers I noticed that they all appeared physiclly different. None of the killers look 'normal'. I also realised that most horror killers also wear costumes and masks to hide their identity - this helps them appear more scarey. This made me see that horror as a genre exagerates our fears as in real life most killers are normal and human like.
As I am making a horror film I must think strongly about the appearance of my killer, and decide whether or not I want to challange the convention of horror killers looking physically different.

The Possession Storybaord!

Before filming our trailer I sketched out a story board of the shots we'll be using. The story board can be seen in the slideshow above!
The storyboard was a very important part of our planning, it helped us imagine our trailer and think of ways to improve it.

Practicing Makeup Effects

Today I practiced using makeup to create effects that will be used in my horror trailer.
I used eye shadow and lipgloss to create the effects and overall my attempt was very successfull.
Below are 2 photographs, the first is of a bruise, and the second is of a cut. Creating these effects was fairly easy, using the advise of the proffessional makeup artist I used materials that were cheap and easy to source.
Practising these effects has helped me plan and prepare for filming my trailer mainly because I now have experience and will be able to transfer the effects onto the actors easily, making our trailer more realistic and dramatic.

Prop List

In this post I have made a list of props me & my group will need to film our horror trailer!

• Fake blood
• Rope
• A rocking chair
• A locket
• Makeup
• Face paint
• Mobile phone
• Radio
• Glasses
• Red eye tears
• Contact lenses
• Black bags

Below I have made a mood baord with images of some of the props:

Make Up Session

Today we had an extremely rare opertunity to meet with Oscar winning makeup artist Christine Blundel, she presented us with examples of her work before sitting down with me & my group to discuss areas in our trailer where we may require makeup. Christine also gave us a short tutorial on how to make small effects such as cuts and scratches to the body using makeup on a low budget. This was very useful to me and my group as we now have a clear understanding of what props and makeup we will need to create effects on our actors and also on where to buy them at a cheap price. Below are photos I took of some make-up dummies:

 

To maximise the effectivness of the makeup it is importnat for me & my group to understand the personalities of each of our characters, we have given each of them a past and looked at their lifestyles, this has helped us decide on how they should look and even die. By understanding who our characters truely we will also able to build a wardrobe for them - people often express themselves through the clothes they wear.
Doing this has been reletively easy for us as our film is London based and we can all identify aspects of ourselves in our characters, this is something that will hopefull attract people to the film.
We have always known that the deaths in our horror trailer will be very bloody and grousem, which means we will be using makeup to create bruises, scratches, cuts, and scars on our actors/actresses. To do this we will need to buy make-up, fake blood, and scar wax for reasonabley cheap prices as we have a low budget. Below is an interesting video I found of a makeup effect tutorial: