Evaluation Activity Seven

 Two Shot

 Establishing Shot

 Extreme Close Up

Part of - Match on Action - Edit

Looking back from our preliminary task we have learnt a lot. We found out in this task how to edit a sequence and match the continuity and this was of great help in our finial piece. As the preliminary task was really short we were able to make sure everything matched the action. These precise skills made us think harder in our final film, as we knew what we had to look for and make sure it worked. This help greatly when we needed to consider the 180-degree rule when our character was watching TV, if we cut back to this scene and the camera was on the other side with the TV and character swapped this would confuse the audience and potentially detract from our sequence. Although we were unable to use the editing skills of shot reverse shot to their full potential, due to an error where the surroundings would not match, we knew how to perform this from all the work we used in our preliminary. 

Evaluation Activity Six

The technology I have used to make our film opening is the camera, tripod, iMovie, Garage Band, Picnik and Paint. Although using the same camera to perform our preliminary exercise I had never used a proper video camera before this time. When it came to producing our title sequence my partner and I had decided that she would act in our film and I would perform the task off screen, i.e. cameraman. This was great as I had to get to know how to use the camera or else our filming would be terrible. However this really wasn’t too tricking but I did extremely enjoy the experience of being in control and using the video camera. So from this I have learnt pretty much everything from focussing the camera to pressing the correct button to start and finish recording. However as I do quite a lot of photography in my spare time I was used to the tripod, but I did have to make sure my movement were smooth and steady as these were being captured on film.

We used iMovie in lots of the previous tasks, including the preliminary and storyboard, so we were used to the concept of how to edit but this time we were doing it on a much larger scale than before. As we did all our filming at once there was quite a lot of recording that we didn’t actually need due to actor or director errors. This made sieving through to find the correct pieces we wanted to use but this was not a problem, just a little time consuming. We had not used Garage Band before I actually create music to fit a piece of film. This was incredibly hard I found to compose a piece music to fit long scene without having loads of changes in the piece. This is why there are 3 sections of music that are repeated. I believe this does work well, sort of like a master shot, where the audience is able to become familiar with the sound so when it is repeated they are not too distracted and therefore it just enhances the scene. I used Paint to create our logo and then overlaid the blood marks using Picnik (photo editor).

Evaluation Activity Five

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CLDdPW5yfR4 (Link unable to be embeded)

I believe there are aspects of our film that are much similar to the opening scenes from the film ‘The Strangers’. This is because to begin with you are not quite sure what is happening but you will find our later in the film. However the title sequence to this film is also the ending, which is not something we did. To begin with they use establishing tracking shots of the area which is similar to ours and then later on everything becomes more sense as we are able to understand what the begin was about. When other have watched our film, they have always mentioned they thought the girl to begin with is sinister or up to something that they must be award of. I believe this is similar to the start of ‘The Strangers’ where the first thought of the boy scouts is, what are they up to? We should be award of this. And in both cases you find out that actually these are the good characters, but that second thought makes the audience more connected with the character, I believe, as they doubted them at first and then realized this was wrong so feel they have made some connection with this character.

Like the strangers our film is also a Horror and both appeal to the same type of audience. Most would consist of viewers seeking a thrill and not many who would be following a particular actor and actress or necessarily a director, but these workers would usually specialize in Horror when being part of these films. As we are an independent company and this is our first product we will only be appealing to the thrill seekers and Horror fans, but with a good distributer we should gain some more recognition and attract other whom may not of watched our film at first.

Evaluation Activity Four

The Target Audience for our film will be young adult males. This is because it should appeal to their interests. When surveyed males preferred Horror, Thriller and Action genres of films, where as most females preferred Romantic and Realistic films. To add to the fact our film is based towards a male audience is that we are using a female character as our lead role film. This, although fits in with our stereotypes of a babysitter, also could have sex appeal for a male audience.

Evaluation Activity Three

Similar to the C+H Production logo the Working Title logo is also very simple and clean, which could also be said for the Universal logo, however although clean and crisp this sort of logo would require much greater technology to be created. This also goes for the 20^th Century FOX logo, both institutes would need to have invested in professional software and the people who know how to use these sorts of programs to produce logos of this standard. Nevertheless C+H Productions is an independent British film company whose main genre of film is Horror and Thriller. This is similar to the bases of how Working Title works. Working Titles are distributed by Universal and I believe this is the institute we would use to distribute our films. This is due to the fact that Universal are a film company who are renowned for producing Horror an Thriller films so our company would co-inside with their productivity already. Another reason why I believe they would be a great company to distribute our films as we are also a British company like Working Title who they already partnered with and we not pose much threat to their productivity as Working Title do not produce Horror or Thriller film, and when they have these have not been of good success. As Universal as a huge American institute so there would not be too much issue with money, however they would obviously not want to lose money but that is a decision only the company could make of distributing our films or not.

Evaluation Activity Two

The female character from my film ‘The Dark’ is much similar to the character of Anita from the film 101 Dalmatians. Both these females represent independent, working female that share characteristic of often putting the well fair of others before their own.  Our character, although only a late teenager, puts her self out into the working world by babysitting as well as going to school and keeping a good grades and enjoying both. This is extremely similar to Anita as she also loves her job, most of the time, and does not depend on others to influence or aid her. However both characters also share this selfless characteristic of putting the well fair of other before their own. In 101 Dalmatians Anita does this by sacerficing her job to save the lives of her puppies. Although she does love her job she is prepared to put her slef on the line to help the ones she loves. This is greatly similar to the female character in our film, when after hearing the noises she goes to check if the baby is okay, and although not in this case it still proves her selflessness by risking her safety to ensure anothers.

Evaluation Activity One

Evaluation Activity 1

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Discussion and Analysis of "The Dark"

I am pleased with most of the aspects of our film. The filming is just how I imagined, which I believe fits the genre well but could have been improved at sometimes. This is mainly because there are not enough unique shots, more the usual standard filming. If we did include some shots, for example a Dutch tilt or a low angled, these scenes would probably become more memorable. I am also not so pleased with the resolution of some of the shots. These are mainly the outside shots where this is moisture in the air and this effect how the camera has focused. However I am pleased with the angles we did use and the close up shots worked well.

I am also extremely please with the editing and continuity that we have achieved. I try to include as many edits as I could to demonstrate my ability of being able to do this well, but not confuse or distract the audience from the story. We were also quite brave in the fact that we used a jump cut from when the babysitter is walking down the stairs to then sitting in the living room watching TV. This is quite risky in terms of showing the audience what has happened but this still not to distract them. Unfortunately we were not able to use many shot reverse shots as when coming to edit we realised the door in shot in one side of the filming but open in the other as we filmed through it. This was unfortunate as we were unable to film these scenes again in the exact same condition so unable to perform this skill. However when the mother walks out the door we do show our ability of performing this edit as the door closes.

The sound in our film works well through most of the film, in my opinion, however there is definitely room for improvement during some points through our film. I am extremely pleased with the sounds used when our logo appears, as this is in direct timing with the flashes and adds to the thriller/horror genre of our film. However I believe the sounds used in our montage of ensuring her safety, by locking the doors and windows, I believe is a bit too upbeat to fit in with the genre. This is only realised when watching the film from start to finish to gain the whole feel of the film. Another sound in our film I am exceptionally pleased with is the screaming at the end of the film. My working partner Caledonia performed this, and I believe is great for the genre and timing in the film. Ending our film on this note and cutting to the title of the film, creates an extremely questionable and cliff-hanger ending for the audience leaving them wanting more.

To conclude I am pleased the overall of our opening title sequence to “The Dark”. This is gained by a total combination of sound, lighting, camera work, editing and mise-en-scene, which have all worked well together. To create a thriller/horror atmosphere you need these entire thing to help gain a realistic yet scary and surreal setting that in conveyed to the audience, and I believe we have managed to do this through the majority of the film. Although at times I believe we could have done more things to improve our filming, lighting, or sound, I do not think this has effected how the audience views our film, and if we did make these changes I do not imagine our film would become dramatically enhanced.

Cast

Max Hill

Camera Man

Director

Actor: Stranger

Phillipa Hill

Actress: Mother

Caledonia Quigley

Lead Actress: Babysitter

(Director)

The Dark - Opening Title Sequence

Location

Due to connivence we choose to film at my house, this was what we needed however as our film is set in a house where a child is being babysat. Near the house is a street lamp lit road with other houses on as well, which was what we had planned to use for the scene where the character is walking to the house in the dark. There are a few shot - reverse - shots used in the hall wall of the house and outside the front door, so i have included these images as well. The scenes filmed inside the house we shot in the Living Room, Hall, Stairs, and one Bedroom. We did not change much in terms of props in these rooms as we wanted to create the most homely effect as possible to make our story believable! 

House

Drive and House

Street Lamp Lit Street

Hazards: Road (Moving Traffic)

Another Road Used

Hazards: Road

Front Door

Hazards: Tripping (Shoes and Door Step)

Hall

Living Room

Living Room

Stair Case 

Hazards: Tripping, Falling

Bedroom