Location and Actors.

Location


We have changed our minds on where we are going to film our project. We are no longer using the pathway shown on our film pitch as it doesn't lead to a house very well and it will be poorly lit. Furthermore, it is a fairly popular public area and we don't want loads of people getting in the way.

Our new location is going to be a park surrounded by trees that is right next to Liam's house. This is much more convenient and we can use the house as well for the clips where the characters are inside. As the park is next to the house, it will make the film flow more as there shouldn't be any continuity errors moving from one location to another.

The park
This is not the most popular park for the public and is usually fairly quiet. We will probably want to film when it is quite dark so if we need extra lighting it shouldn't be a problem due to Liam's house being very close. There really aren't many problems at all with this location which is why it's a much better choice than our original one.

The house
As it is Liam's house it will obviously not be a problem getting permission to film there. As previously mentioned, it is next to the park we are filming at, which is helpful if we need any lighting/equipment being brought out.

There have been a few difficulties uploading the photos, but they will hopefully be up shortly.


Actors


The main character in our film will be played by our friend Sophie Lowe. She is doing AS Drama at the college and we get on well with her, which makes her perfect for the part. Her character will be wearing just normal teenage clothing, so we do not need any test shots for costume/make up.

Here is a picture of Sophie:

We have an idea for who will play the 'boyfriend' character but it is not yet confirmed so we will blog again when we know for definite.

J&L.

Deadline Change

Due to the snow days we have been having recently, the deadline for our planning has been moved to Thursday 13th January.

J&L.

Marking of Previous Students' Work

1st Video
I would give this project 20 marks. The camera is not very steady at all and the shots don't flow together well. It seems that they have spent more time on the make-up than actually planning out the shots as the composition and continuity aren't great. The beginning is fuzzy and the voice-over isn't very effective. The mise-en-scene is good though, and they have used a number of shot types, although they have occasionally tried to cover them up with editing.

2nd Video
I believe this video should get around 35 marks out of 60. I don't feel it deserves a level 4 as the shots don't really flow into each other very well, making it difficult to follow the story. Also, the lighting isn't great in most of the shots. On the other hand, the camera is very steady during panning and tilting, and there are a variety of different shot types. They also have used props and costumes effectively to indicate the character is a 'tramp'.

3rd Video
I would probably give this video a level 4, but a low one, probably 45-50. I like the opening as it looks professional and has a nice effect on it. The camera work is pretty good, but occasionally the continuity is poor, e.g when the girl runs away. The mise-en-scene is good, as it is well lit and the setting is appropriate. They also have clearly put time into the costumes and make up. The composition of the camera is good as well as they have given the characters head room and lead room when running away. I think they could have included a few transitions to make the shots flow more efficiently.

4th Video
I would give this project a level 3, around 40 marks. I think the sound and editing is excellent as it really creates the right atmosphere. Furthermore, the make-up is very good and they have clearly put a lot of thought into it. The main reason I wouldn't give this a level 4 is that the lighting was poor and in some shots I couldn't tell what was happening. Also, there wasn't a great range of shot types.

Josh&Liam.

Pitch feedback

We have recently done our pitches, putting forth our ideas for our horror film. Once we had spoken to the group, we were asked to leave the room, so our teacher could gather feedback about our ideas and our overall presentation. After looking at the feedback, there are afew issues with our idea that we are looking to correct.

For example, one particular group stated that it will be hard for us to film at night in the woods, and this is something we had not yet thought about, which could affect how we have to have our film.
Another point made that afew of the groups agreed with was that they coulden't exactly see what made our film a pyschological thriller. This is a very pressing matter for us as our target genre is pyschological.
Most people seemed to like all of the detail which we did include in our pitch, but they thought our film had the potential to be quite short. This is also something we need to address.
The rest of the feedback was generally about our pitch, and how we delivered it. We dont consider this to be such a serious matter, aslong as we have the feedback about our actual film.
This was all the feedback we gathered from our class.

We feel that this information we got really helped us when looking back at our film, and deciding on what we should change in the future, to enchance our horror film.




Josh&Liam.