Schedule

This is our Filming schedule showing the date, location, scene, props, equipment and personnel. Originally we planned to film on two different days but when we came to film on the 20th at Sparham pools the light was too dark so we decided that as the 24th was a weekend we could film everything on that day. However Jess couldn't make it to Lyng to film so Chloe and I filmed all the scenes at the lakes and after met Jess at her house to film the rest.

This is our estimated schedule for editing and improving work.

Locations Redrafted

These are pictures of our first location at Sparham Pools, Lyng Hill. This is an ideal location for our running scene as the narrow pathways, trees that block out light, bushes and vast amount of water all convey typical thriller themes and iconography. For example, the small narrow pathways convey entrapment as it makes it harder to go anywhere when the paths are so small. The vast amount of water and space also conveys isolation as you feel like there isnt anyone around for miles and miles and not only that but as there is only one way around the lakes you are isolated to that exact route and to deviate from this could be dangerous which immediately adds suspense. Another way of looking at this is even though there is lots of space the pathway is a confined space which is typical iconography of a thriller. With the use of POV shots and cut shots I think these confined spaces would help to convey a narrative of being followed/watched, which is typical of a thriller. 

when looking for inspiration for our opening in the woods I looked at the following thriller/horror films:

Cabin In The Woods

This scene is very dark which creates suspense and shadows which are typical iconography. The trees and bushes also add to the theme of entrapment and isolation





The Blair Witch Project

Again this is filmed in the dark but the trees and floor full of leaves connotes woodlands, isolation, entrapment, fear and shadows which are associated with thrillers/horrors

                                Eden Lake

 These are two scenes from Eden Lake which is largely set in a woods. This thriller has a very prominent horror sub genre. Once again the trees and bushes helped to create a sense of isolation, entrapment and being followed/watched.

This is our second location in Dereham. The house has lots of places and space for us to get some good raw footage. The windows in the living room are a key part to our opening. We decided to use a house as our second location as a lot of thrillers that we had seen had been partly set in houses. These were memorable as they were easily related to as everyone could put them selfs into the situation of the characters sitting at home. 

Our Location

Example of films set in houses:

The Strangers

The basic simplicity of strange events happening in the characters own house automatically adds drama, suspense and fear to the scene as you dont expect bad things to happen at your home. The character is portrayed as a victim and you get the sense of a narrative of death and being watched along with a theme of entrapment. This is a good example for our group to use as we want to convey a victim and being watched with death as an uncertainty.

Script Redrafted

SCENE ONE: LAKES.

* Arrives at lakes and is running when she begins to here scary/freeky noises.*

Charlie: (questioning) "Hello?" 

*There is no answer so she continues to run. She sees a freaky scary character go behind a tree but she carries on running*

SCENE TWO: ARRIVING HOME 

*Charlie walks through the front door*

Charlie: (Shouts) "Mum Dad, I'm home." *walks into the kitchen to find her mum and dad* 

Sue: "Oh hi hun how was your run?" 

Charlie: "It was....strange." 

Andrew: "Were there many people about? see the usuals?"

Charlie: "No thats why it was so weird, normally there are a few people about, people walking the dogs or out with the kids but it was just me today"

Andrew: "well you can hardly blame them, after all it is November. People dont like to go out in the cold"

Charlie: "yeah but this time was different Dad. Something just doesnt feel right." 

Sue: "hunny I think you are just being paranoid. So what people decided not to go out today, no big deal"

Charlie: "..............But i did see someone. Or at least I think i did."

Sue: "what do you mean?"

Charlie: "well I was running and something just didnt feel right. I could hear noises and then I saw someone go behind a tree. One minuet they were there the next they had gone"

Andrew: (quickly) "What did they look like?!" 

Charlie: "I dont really know. I didnt see much"

*panicked/ suspicious silence* 

Sue: (optimistically) "I'm sure it was nothing"

SCENE THREE: 

*Everyone is sitting in the living room when they here scary noises*

Charlie: "what was that?"

*The family runs into the kitchen*

Andrew: "I cant see anyone!?" 

Charlie: "quick run!"

*the family runs back into the living room. It goes silent and they can here footsteps. The door slams open and the lights go out

Charlie: (scream)

Story Boards and Transitions 18/12/13 Lesson notes/ Planning / Evidence

In this lesson we decided to redo our storyboards and transitions as our story had changed so much from the original. It was easier to just re do the whole lot instead of making notes of the adjustments. (below is evidence of the group making changes)

Below is a table displaying the type of shots we want to use along with the duration of which we think they should last

Here are the original copies of the shot types and the duration of them. We also re drew the story board and even though it is longer than the original there is actually less action but more detail  of a broken down step-by-step guide which is why it appears to be longer. (The actual shots for numbers 16 and 22 are still being decided on)

2/11/13 Lesson notes/updates

In this lesson we continued to edit and changed parts of our footage around. When we came to the end of our lake scene it was around 1.20 seconds which was far too long. We then decided we needed to cut out more of the footage and also speed it up where possible. By the end we managed to get it down to 44 seconds which was a much better time and will allow us to include more footage in the house scene. We did have a few problems with the audio when we were speeding the clips up but then we realised if we rendered the clip again the audio would work.We now need to add sound effects to this scene and then we can start editing the house scenes. 

This is when we were speeding the clips up. to get the window to control the speed we used the short cut 'command + J'  then started taking second off the clips. 

In this image we were cutting down a long running scene of which the second half was unnecessary 

In this image just before the gap in the clips, the last bit of audio needed some work as for some reason when we sped up the image the sound didn't speed up with it. So we then imported the original clip without any editing etc, deleted the video kept the audio and started to cut it up in the right positions so we could add it back in and it would be in time. Also on this picture above the clips you can see a little green line, this is because of the clips we have sped up.  

In this image we were trying to get the highlighted clip to run smoothly into the clip above it but we were finding this difficult as just above me in the image are leaves on the tree. These are in different positions from one clip to the next because of the wind and therefore it create a jump in the image. We will try to correct this next time we are editing by exploring the software some more to see if there is something we can do to make the jump more subtle. 

28/11/13 Lesson Notes/Updates

We started to edit our video in this lesson. We decided to change things around in the beginning and start with a different shot to what was originally planned because otherwise there would have been too much footage of running and this wasn't good as the opening can only be two minuets long. We had to start being more critical and just pick the best footage in order to still be able to fit everything in that is needed to tell the story.
We didn't get very far with our editing as we started half way through the lesson due to finishing of the sound track. Below are two screen shots of our editing.

Sound Track

This is the beginning of our sound track. When we first started looking into the style of music we were going to use or create we were finding it hard to come to any conclusion. We then turned to other films and youtube for inspiration. We decided to distort a nursery rhyme and put our own twist on it. We then started researching different nursery rhymes and their meanings. We decided that 'Mary Mary quite contrary"was the one we wanted to use because of the various meanings behind it.
We then went into the sound booth and started recording. We created two different tracks, one with a 'epic diva' effect that made our voices echo and the other with a 'deeper vocals' effect that gave a dark deep gloomy effect to our voices. These are both going to be very useful and we indent to use them specifically when the killer is shown.

Evidence of Filming

Chloe decided to get some evidence of us filming which was very helpful. Here you can either see me filming/acting in the point of view shots or helping to get the correct angle. 

These were very successful filming days in which we captured all of the footage we thought we needed along with extra takes so we had a wider selection. However after reviewing our footage and storyboard we decided that we needed one new shot at Jess' house of her dad looking out towards the window from his chair. We decided as a group that we wouldn't all need to be there for this as it is only one shot that Jess can simply film her self with her mum and dad. 

*changed/added information

Costumes that were worn on the day of filming

To create a more natural family feeling to our opening the clothes that people put on in the morning were they outfits they stayed in for filming. We didn't want to think too much into the costumes of our characters, one because it was easier to just be natural and two we didn't want to over or under dress them. The only character costume we did think into was the killers.

THE KILLER

The dark clothing of the killer connotes a dark side, hate, coldness, heartlessness, stealth, deception and death. The red devil mask connotes fear, hate, harshness, and the balance of evil and good. 

All of this is likely to make the audience be weary of the character, they will likely be uncertain of what the character will do and will probably assume the character is bad because of the associations made to the costume. 

CHARLIE

HENRY

ANDREW

SUE

RYAN

The normal everyday clothing of these characters make them relatable to the audience as they could quite easily be wearing any of this them selfs. The clothes dont make you think of anything in particular, however they are contrasting to the killer as they connote the opposite to the killers clothing. 

an example of a thriller film where the characters are relatable because of their normal clothing is Cloverfield: 

Here the man is wearing a suit and the girls are wearing everyday kind of clothes. This makes it easier for the audience to put themselves in the characters shoes. 

Changes to Cast/Characters II

Family Name - Ashbeck

Charlie  - Daughter / Main Character

A 16 year old girl who is currently training for the next olympics, she's very althletic and is presented in a way that is like most typical teenage girls.

Ryan - Older Brother

Ryan is around 18 years old and is revealed later on in the storyline to have seen and known about the dark figure.

Sue - Mother

Sue is portrayed to be the typical 'kind and caring' mother figure and is shown to be rather optimistic and unconvinced by everything that is going on.

Andrew - Father

At first Andrew is shown to be a typical father figure but later on in the storyline you find out that he may not be telling the truth as he has shady past unknown to the rest of the family.

Henry- Younger Brother 

Henry has a small role of the younger brother, he doesnt say anything but is used to show emotion in a close up shot


Unknown - "The Bad Guy"

Shown to be wearing a mask to hide their true identity, obviously dangerous and up to no good. It is revealed later on in the storyline that this character is linked to Andrew in some way.

When coming up with the names for our characters I came up with the names for the brother, mother and father and also the last name of the family.



Casting:

Charlie - Grace Spenceley

Ryan - Henry Bradbrook

Sue - Justine Bradbrook

Andrew - Michael Bradbrook

Unknown - Jessica Bradbook

It was easier to cast Jessica's family as the filming location of the house will be at their house. However we had to come up with a contingency plan as when we decided to film on a wednesday afternoon we very quickly ran out of daylight therefore we decided we needed to reshoot that footage. Due to very busy schedules, the only possible day that we could do this was on the same Sunday that we were going to film at Jess' house. Unfortunately Jess could not make it to Lyng on this day. This meant that our main character would not be there obviously this is a problem as she is needed for the shoot. To overcome this we decided that it would be best if I took on the role of the main character and Chloe took on being the "badie". This does create a slight problem when filming at the points where we are both required to be in the scene, but it doesn't matter too much as we can leave the camera on the tripod and leave it filming. However if we do need extra assistance for shots that involve panning then my dad could possibly help out. 

*changed/updated information