Monday, 24 February 2014

Editing

Editing




 Alongside editing with the group we have also decided to do individual editing to make sure we all participate equally.  On top of the already existing editing I started with getting rid of any background sound on the clips.  I did this by going onto audio enhancement, sound board, then reduce background noise to 100%.


 I then wanted to add in some diegetic sound to increase the realism of the piece.  For the forest section I went through the already existing sounds on final cut to find a foot step sound.  After testing out all the footstep sounds next to the clip I decided on Footsteps bare running.  I then adjusted the volume of the running on the sound board to make sure they were not too loud and would drown out any other sounds.


 I also found Footsteps Mud run which was very appropriate for parts of the clips so I layered it under the heavy breathing of the victim.  The combination of sounds makes the clip seem very realistic and fits well in conjunction with the running clips.
 To make this ending clip as effective as possible I wanted to find a non-diegetic sound which would make the audience jump.  After testing a lot of the sounds I decided on a thunder noise as it sounded very ominous and dramatic, in parallel to the scene and genre.


 I also wanted to increase the brightness of some of the clips to make sure the audience can see the possession scene properly.  To do this I went onto the colour board then exposure.  I only increased the brightness by a little bit to make sure it was still shadowy and dark.
To make the possession seem more supernatural and creepy I decided to make the clip run backwards to make the movements more unnatural and disjointed.  This looked very effective so I used the blade tool to break up the different camera angles then rearranged them so the possession was even more disjointed.




Sunday, 23 February 2014

Typography Practice

The name of our film is more than likely to be 'The Ritual' as this is what the majority of people voted for within the survey, and also what we feel would be the most appropriate (linking well to the supernatural horror genre.)
After lots of research from already existing film titles within our genre we were able to pick out the common conventions of typography within the horror genre. The main ones are:
  • Capital letters 
  • Using a traditional 'gothic' font (sharp, pointed letters)
  • Colour schemes such as red, white, black, and grey
  • Including 'The' in the title
  • Manipulating the title slightly (only particular letters)
Here are some possibilities:







Editing Task: Reoccurring Clip

The point of this was to practice having a clip reoccurring throughout the scene. I purposely left out sound throughout the rest of the scene so more attention could be paid to the reoccurring clip and its sound (for practice purposes only.) This was I can asses whether or not it is effective and whether we can use it in the final sequence.

Firstly I uploaded all the clips needed to iMovie. I then selected the clip that I wanted to reoccur throughout, and split it into several parts.

I split the other clips within the sequence to allow the reoccurring clip to be placed there.

 I was then able to place the parts of the clip within the other clips in the sequence as shown below.

The parts where the girl was to look possessed with unrealistic body movements I sped up (X2.) This would make the movements look un-natural and it would therefore be disturbing to the audience, linking to the supernatural horror genre.

  I put a few of the other clips in slow motion as a way of distorting reality, again making the audience feel distressed and linking to the supernatural horror genre.

I added a heavy breathing sound that I downloaded to the reoccurring parts. This makes the girl sound distressed and anxious, allowing the audience to realise she is clearly frightened which helps to provoke sympathy as she is only a child. The breathing sound I downloaded was quite deep, so I took the pitch up one to make it sound lighter and more child-like to be more realistic.

I trimmed the sound so that it was only heard during the reoccurring clips and not throughout the whole sequence.

This is the final clip:



What worked well:

  • The reoccurring clip was effective, giving a distortion of reality and making it quite distressing


What could be improved:

  • The reoccurring clips could be longer so that the audience get a clearer idea of what is happening within them.
  • The breathing could still sound more realistic and could be layered to be more effective for example over a 'heartbeat' sound.

Monday, 10 February 2014

Carrie deconstruction


At the start of the scene there is a deep ominous noise that runs which is contrapuntal to the scene. Carrie looks very innocent and young as she does not have a lot of make up on and her clothes are not very revealing. When the mother and daughter start to fight the deep sound indreases in volume and more sharp sounds are added to build tension and drama.

The strange whispering makes refrence to the fact that there is something supernatural in the house. This also foreshadows up coming events. There is also frequent refrence to religion as the mother talks about praying and there is a shot of Jesus on the cross, this convention of supernatural horror works well in this sequence. 

The tone of voice which Carrie uses shows her despertness which makes the audience feel uneasy. The sudden diegetic sound of the door cracking surprises Carrie and her mother and the non-diegetic sounds stops for a while to mark the significance of this. When the deep creaky noises and strange breathing start up again they are much more noticeable as there is not much else going on in the scene. 

The darkness of the scene is realistic of the closet but also works very well as it has an air of mystery about it. Though you never see a supernatural figure it is still quite chilling 

Wednesday, 5 February 2014

Fake Blood

Cuts Practical

Look #1

The following YouTube clip is one of two ways in which I achieved my looks. I used the exact same method as shown.

  • Firstly, I moulded a small piece of wax in the shape of a sausage.

  • After blending the ended on my skin, I then used a little foundation to blend with my skin tone, before using the back of a pin, I made an incision in the middle of the area (where I wanted my cut to be).


  •     After this, I put a dark red colour inside the incision before addimg fake blood.


Evaluation

Pros

  • I feel that this is an improvement from my previous make up/bruises practicals in terms of it having a realistic look.

Cons

  • I would have preferred if I had branched away from the exact method as shown in the clip in order to add more originality.
  • I don't think this would fit in well with our genre as it isnt as likely to see such bloody wounds in supernatural horrors
  • If I were to use moulded wax again, I would try and get the colour as close to the victims actual skin colour as possible or add additional colour to fit the skin colour.

Look #2

With this cut, I used liquid latex  and tissue paper instead of using the moulded wax. 


  1. Firstly, I made around 2-3 layers of the liquid latex and tissue paper in order to add some 'skin' texture.
  2. Whilst the latex was drying, I cut 4-5 very small pieces of black thread and set them aside.
  3. Next, I carefully cut through the 'skin' area and covered the whole area with a small amount of foundation which was as close to my skin tone as possible. 
  4. Once this was done, similarly to look #1, I covered my actual skin (inside the cut) in a dark red colour before layering the same are with fake blood.
  5. Then I added the black thread using a minimal amount of glue to mimic stitches.
  6. To finish off, I added a lighter red colour to the surrounding area to make it look sore/swollen.

Evaluation

Pros

  • I like the realism of the area surrounding the wound as I think it actually looks swollen.
  • I think that this conforms better to the genre as even though it looks gory, it isn't too much as it doesn't look as though it would fit in a slasher film.

Cons

  • I could have made the stitches look more real if I had placed them neater (even though this could alternatively be seen as conforming to the sinister genre).
  • I could have used a smaller area as the wound.

The Possession Deconstruction

The Possession Deconstruction

 The opening begins with the production company logos of Lionsgate and Ghost House.  These are typical for a horror film as ghost house is a company which specifies is horror film production.  The use of a large company and smaller company is typical in all films and the use of dark colours in the logos are genre appropriate.






The title of the film is displayed on a black background with a simple white font which resembles old style type machine lettering.  Underneath the title there is a Spanish subtitle meaning "the origin of evil".  This relates to the traditional Catholic church which is conventional for extremist exorcisms and so is made more realistic.  The typewriter style lettering looks quite official so again makes it look more realistic.  
 After the titles there is a crane, establishing shot of a normal, everyday house.  This makes the film seem realistic as though it could happen to anyone which makes it more scary for the audience.  Non-diegetic, soft piano music accompanies the shot which has a slightly creepy feel to it as it is contrapuntal to the horror genre.
 A panning shot shows a wall full of framed photographs which look quite old fashioned, something commonly used in horror.  Diegetic sound is layered with the piano music of a woman whispering in a foreign language, it sounds like chanting a spell or prayer which denotes the religious aspects.

A close up shot of an old woman looking very upset and scared raises the tension as the audience wonder what could have caused her this much distress.  This is followed by a close up of an old wooden box which appears to be the source of the strange whispering.

A long shot of the woman leaning to touch the box
increases the tension and suspence as the audience
wonder what the box is and why human sounds
are coming out of it.  But as she gets close to the box, a diegetic sound of knocking wood makes the audience jump and ends the piano music, causing silence.  Silence is used in horror films commonly to increase the tension considerably.

A close up shot of the woman turning on a music tape accompanies the start of diegetic jazz style music, which is contrapuntal to the scene.  The music is used by the woman to drown out the sound of the box, implying she is scared by it.  A close up shot of her pulling out a clump of hair connotes her stress and anxiety at the situation, causing the box to be of worry to the audience.  The woman then picks up a
hammer and a close up shot of her strained hand
around it also connotes her stress and fear of the box.  Straight cuts between the woman approaching and the zooming in frame of the box increases the suspense as the audience wonder how the box will react to the impending destruction.


As the woman goes to strike the box, there is diegetic sound of the same whispering but increased in volume to represent the box's anger at the woman.  Straight cuts up until now have been slow with long shots but now they begin to speed up in parallel to
the speeding up tension.  As the whispers get more angry there is a  non-diegetic, high pitched screeching, often used in horror films to make the scene more scary and tension filled.  There are close-up shots of the woman's face as it begins to deform and start to shake.  This is a typical start to an possession as she begins to lose control over her body. Diegetic sound of her skin deforming also adds a auditory aid to the visual shot.
  A mid-shot framing the woman falling over backwards shows her body contorting into strange positions, often as possessed people do in horror films.  Quick straight cuts jump between her being thrown across the room as she is possessed.  Building up deep bass and high pitched non-diegetic sounds build the tension as she gets closer to her death.  Diegetic sounds of her gasping and screaming and the sounds of her bones snapping and furniture being hit increases the terror factors in the scene as it becomes more realistic and gruesome.          
 Straight cuts switch between the main action and the woman's son on the doorstep, obviously confused at the noises from inside.  Long shots and close ups show his concerned facial expressions and efforts to get inside.  These provide a contrast to the normal world and the supernatural inside the house.            

A mixture of long, mid and close-up shots show the woman being possesed.  They are meant to scare and shock the audience as there are strange body contortions, screaming facial expressions and blood.  A build up of orchestral non-diegetic music increases the tension until the crescendo just as she dies.          
   Only diegetic sound remains of the tape playing and the son entering the house, which creates a sharp contrast to what has happened and a normal day. A long shot is used as you hear off screen diegetic sounds of the man shouting as he finds his dead mother.  The use of the scene happening off screen is very effective because it puts the audience in someone else's position so they can sympathies with the man.                                                    

Garage location mise-en scene

Garage Location Mise-en Scene

Carrying on from my last blog post on location, we used my garage for our latest day of filming.  It fitted our supernatural horror really well as it was very dirty and dingy.  The bare walls and dark colours made the scene look very effective and scary.  
 To fit with the religious, exorcism theme we used burnt down candles to mimic candles used in churches and exorcism scenes from other films.
 The costumes for the scene was a priest's outfit and the young girl victim.  For the priest we used a plain black suit and priests front and dog collar.  This looked very effective and realistic which made the scene look very realistic for an exorcism.
 We chose a position in the garage which would look the best on film of the background.  The wooden and metal brown wall looked the best as it was dirty and broken in places to make it look run down and unused.  We organised the candles into a semi circle around our victim to mimic a ritual like situation which looked very effective for the genre.











We then tested the lighting by switching off the over head lights.  Through the
camera the candle lighting lit up the victim very effectively as the low lighting
was very specific for the genre.









In evaluation I feel that the mise-en scene was very effective for the supernatural horror genre and fitted our exorcism theme very well.  The candles worked well as low-lighting and gave a religious feel to the scene.  The costumes looked very realistic which is good for the scene as horror is usually more effective at being scary by using realism.

Tuesday, 4 February 2014

Evaluation Day 3

Filming Evaluation Day 3-29th Jan

We had to make several changes to our initial plan when discussing our filming plans for the exorcism scene.

Firstly, Alice's brother stepped in as a replacement for our priest as Paul was unable to film on this day. As a result of this, we also had to slightly change our costume for our priest character as we no longer had all the full priest outfit, therefore we opted for a plain dark suit alongside a white collar and rosary beads (which would still allow our audience to immediately identify our character as a priest).

Furthermore, we initially planned to film in an inside/room location (a spare room in Alice's house), however this had to be changed therefore we decided to film in Francesca's garage as we would still be able to create a sinister atmosphere and still have an element of isolation. This change in location also meant that we no longer had a chair or bed for our victim to lie in therefore we decided to have our victim on the floor as through high angled shots, we could still emphasise the vulnerability of her character.

On the day, we decided that it would best to meet straight after school. Francesca, Alice and I met at Francesca's house at around 3.30, whilst Rebecca went to pick up her sister and meet us. During this time, we were also waiting for Alice's brother. 

We began filming around 5:30, however, the daylighting wasn't an issue as we were shooting in inside anyway. After our victim and priest had been dressed and had their make up and props, we set up our set. Prior to this filming day, we had ensured to burn out some of the candles so that they looked worn out and were different sizes to emphasise the sinister-looking set which we wanted.

We laid out the candles in several ways for different shots. Whilst we were filming, we also decided to add any other additional shots which we felt would add to our supernatural and sinister setting. For example, we had the priest walk around the victim whilst she was circled with the candles. Also, we were able to draw a cross into the ground which we felt gave a twisted mix between our victims innocence with the religious incorporation of the supernatural genre. Whilst these were not part of our storyboard, we felt that these extra shots would improve our opening.

Evaluation

Positives:

  • We were able to deal with problems (e.g.actors not being able to attend, location change).
  • We were able to shoot a variety of different camera angles and lighting shots.

Negatives

  • Battery running out-ensuring the camera was fully charged/battery wasn't wasted.
  • Not being well familiar with our camera.
  • We could have been more efficient-whilst our actors were getting ready, others could have been setting up or do lighting checks.
  • We could have used more props to make our priest as easily identifiable to our audience as possible.
  • We could have used more candles to highlight our sinister setting even more.