Monday, 7 March 2011

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.

Thursday, 3 March 2011

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

Tuesday, 7 December 2010

Production logo

Yesterday I designed our company logo for our film production coursework. The C stands for Caledonia, my working partner, and the H for Hill, my surname. I thought these letters worked best from our initials, as the plus sign is able to nicely slot into the C and become the cross bar of the H. As we are producing a Horror/Thriller film i decided to overlay blood splatters to empathise our chosen genre. Here it is.

Thursday, 25 November 2010

Animatic

For our coursework we have to produce the title sequence and opening two minutes to a film that we have written, filmed, edited and produced. I drew this storyboard and added the captions in this animatic I produced using iMovie, with the help again of my working partner Caledonia. We photographed the drawing and uploaded them to use in this short clip. I hope it makes sense the drawings are not too hard to understand.

Ideas & Treatment - Outline to the Story of My Filming Coursework - The Dark

IDEAS

            - Adventure
                        - Good Story Line                                         - Could be achievable
                        - Interesting Location                                    - Hard to achieve
                        - Costume (Relation to Location)                  - Hard to achieve, expense
           
- Action
                        - Large Budget (Stunts & Chases)                        - Not achievable
                        - Fast Pace                                                            - Achievable, editing
                        - Good vs Bad                                                      - Achievable, easy storyline
           
- Crime/Gangster
                        - Costumes                                                       - Hard to achieve, expense
                        - Stunts & Fights                                              - Not achievable, expense & danger
                        - Mystery                                                         - Achievable, storyline
- Dark/Sinister (Film Noir)                              - Achievable, shooting & editing
           
- Comedy
                        - Light Hearted Plot                                  - Achievable, storyline
                        - Funny                                                     - Extremely hard to achieve, script           
           
- Horror
                        - Fright/Scare/Fear                                              - Achievable, storyline
                        - Mystery                                                            - Achievable, storyline
                        - Low Budget                                                     - Very achievable
- (Special effect may be expensive)                    - Not achievable, not necessary
           
- Drama
                        - Realistic Characters                                    - Hard to achieve, good actors
                        - Good Storyline                                           - Could be achievable, time

- Sci-Fi
            - Special Effects                                            - Not achievable, expense
            - Futuristic/Fantasy Location                        - Not achievable, expense



Due to achievability, availability and time consumption the genre we are going to go down the route of will be Horror. This is because of the low budget and easy ability to create a storyline that will scare or fright the audience as well as provoking questions that will leave the audience wanting more.

TREATMENT

I am working with Caledonia Quigley to produce our title sequence and opening scenes to the coursework filming project. our film is titled "The Dark" which we have vaguely based on the book entitled with the same name.


Our film is set around a babysitter who has strange thing happen to her and the audience is not quite sure why. our first scenes show her going to the house to babysit but it set in and eerie manner. After she has checked the baby and is then watching TV, these loud noises start to occur, she ignores them at first but then as they become louder she begins to panic. After ensuring her safety by locking the door she climbs the stairs again to check the baby. However this time the baby is not in the cot.

We have decided to make a brief plan as to what would happen later on in our film if we were to continue and produce the whole thing. After she does not see the baby where it was before she starts to panic but chooses to ignore it. Later when checking the third time the baby is replaced and all is fine. However strange unexplainable things happen throughout this girl’s life, similar to this, which end in twisted ending that will explain all.

We are hoping to film this soon, in one of our houses, as it is mainly set indoors. However this will all needed to be filmed at night, due the ‘dark’ theme and the fact it is a babysitting based film, which is usually performed in the evening/night. The darkness will also have a great effect on the genre, Thriller/Horror, as these are dark and eerie based themes.