Media Presentation

Media Presentation on Prezi

The Unbeknown

Ketchup all the way. Preliminary.

Video answering parts of question 1 and 4

 2nd and 3rd time of seeing chloe's character, adding tension



This is the point of view shot used for main character's eye shots

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 How we used cross disolve to make chloe appear.

Question 6.

Here is a picture of my sister, who is the my target audience for my film. She is 22 years old, currently studying optometry at university. She enjoys watching films with her house mates, both of which are girls. She therefore likes a occasional ROM-com to watch with her friends but prefers the horror films.

The kind of things she likes are horror/thriller films that have a concluding ending, indie/rock music (things that build up towards the end) The places that she shops are topshop, new look and river island, She shops there because they have a huge range of clothes for different occasions. Her favourite t.v programme is prison break and vampire diaries. This because she likes the dark, strange side of these programmes and also likes intense action. 

Question 5, With Video

Question 1

In what way does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

(I was going to make a video of me saying this, but unfortunantly i have got a old and a sore throat at the minute, so you wouldnt be able to understand what i'm saying."

Naming our film

If i had one regret about my whole media project it would be not allocationg enough time to name our film with a clever title. However, i do like the title of our film, as it does what we wanted it to do, which is not to give too much away to the audience about our plot. When Becky and I came up with "The Unbeknown" we thought it fitted in well to our media product. I think this because to the audience what's happening is unknown, as all the action that is taking place is happening in our main character's head, therefore its unknown. And the other being that we see is also unknown as the audeince are unaware of that the chracter is to the main character.

This is like many horror films, as they focus on one thing from the entire film, for example "The Shining" thats aimed at the powers that the boys has with the other man and "The Ring" is aimed at both the telephone ringing and the ring from the top of the whell where Samara lives. This therefore isnt giving too much away about what the film includes. 

Title of my film. Using text.

The way that we added the title "The Unbeknown" onto our film was by using the 'Titles' tool on Imovie selection. The font we used was a basic times new roman, we used this font as we wanted our title to look simple and effective, as in our preliminary we thought it looked tacky. The way our title comes onto the screen over a plain black back ground and with white font i think resembles "The Shining" titles and credits, this is because they're both simple yet affective. This is mainly due to the fact that they have a "donging" sound going on once the title appears. If i was able to apply this sound effect on to the film without it looking too over done, i would of, but i think keeping the title the way it is with the non-diagetic sounds underneath. 

     

The colours we chose for the title were a plain black background and white font is because we wanted to grab the audience's attention - making it clear that "The Unbeknown" is the title of our film opening. As there is nothing else happening in the back ground of our film it makes sure that the audience aren't going to get distracted by anything else shown on the screen.

Originally we wanted to put the title at the end of our film opening, but because our opening could have been seen as a short film we decided against it. Also we noticed that a lot of people were putting their titles at the end of their film openings, so we liked the idea of doing our differently. 

Setting and location

The location we did all the filming was at my house, there are many reasons for picking my house; it's close to school, meaning that there would be no trouble for getting to my house after school when we were doing our filming, the actors we used lived close, so their would be no problem for them getting to and from my house and finally as my house is tucked away behind towering trees, from a distance and in the dark my house does look a bit scary, even though we didn't want my house to be scary as we wanted the story and action to be the scary part. This is because we didn't want the location to be the "normal" scary house setting, because we wanted to show that schizophrenia, which our main character was suffering with can affect anyone.

Most of the action look place in the house, mainly the hall way and kitchen. However, when filming i discovered that the rooms i was filming in were far too dark for the camera to pick up anything. The way that i worked around this was by making sure that as many lights were on as possible, without loosing the night time effect. 

The inspiration we got for our location was from the film "The Ring" this is because the location in which "The Ring" takes place in is an every day home, this links to what we wanted the audience to link to about schizophrenia but also that they could relate it to their own homes.    

     

Props and Costumes

As i have already mentioned, "The Ring" was a huge inspiration to how we wanted our imaginary friend to look and resemble their character of Samara, as Samara looks really scary in the costume she's in. Her costume and make up consists of; a worn and torn white knighty, bruised skin with a pale dead completion and hair covering her face. The reason we wanted our imaginary friend to look like this is because the tension that the audience get from not being able to see her face and also because of the fact that her characteristics are like a little girl. 

The way we achieved this look on Chloe Smith, who played the role of the imaginary friend is by dressing her in a blood, mud stained top with rips all over it, including ripped tights, covering her legs in mud and her hands, putting pale face paint over her face and body with some bruises on her arms and face and dead looking eyes. With her hair we put Olive oil and flour in, this is because we wanted her hair to look greasy and dirty. We then pulled her hair across her face. The end result was very rewarding as many people have commented on the make up and costume we used on both of our characters.

The main prop I'm going to focus on is the pill box that our main character uses when she needs to take her pills but discovers that she has ran out. The label on the pill box says "Resperidone. Antipsychotic medication." Which i researched for schizophrenia medication. This prop was very useful in indicating to the audience what the character's illness is. This is very different to any other film opening, as usually they reveal the main character's illness at the end of the film to build up a climax. An example of a film that does this is "Mad House" when the main character who the audience thinks works in the mental hospital at the end turns out to be mentally ill and thought all of it up.

Story line and how it opens up the film

The way that we started the film opening is the same way as most films start, with the main character walking/ running towards the camera, this instantly makes the audience think about where that character is going and what they're doing. It also allows the audience to take in the character's surroundings and build an instant relationship with that character. A horror film i cant link this to is "The Fourth Kind" opening as it allows the audience to take in everything within the shot, including the mise en scene of that shot. 

     

Genre

The genre of our film opening is a horror/thriller. I think the opening makes the audience instantly aware of this due to the slow pace and music used through out the opening. The slow pace and music adds tension into the opening but also the surroundings add to the thriller side of the film, although we didn't want and intend them to a lot of the feed back i got was "Wow your location looks really scary, especially the house!" so in a way it was good as it added even more tension to the opening. Another way the audience would know that the genre is horror/thriller is by the lighting used as its dark and ery, mainly due to me doing that on purpose during the editing stage by lowering the contrast. 

The action taking place within the first few seconds also has the audience will make a connotation with the main character holding her head that something isn't right with her and then the figure of another girl slowly appearing behind her indicates that its all in her head adding tension as there is no indication of what is going to happen next because its all in her mind and her own thoughts. 

Question 6. Equipment Used

This my digital camera i used during the film making process. I used this camera to refer back to certain angles i used in the actual film. This was helpful as i could reflect back to why i used that particular angle and say why is was effective.

From this i have learnt that keeping a record of both normal and unusual angles is very useful because you could think about what would and wouldn't work well with the action that's happening in that shot.

Question 6. Equipment Used

 I know doesn't really count as media technology, but i used my phone a lot during the film making process. This is because i need to make sure that all members of my group and both actors were able to make it to my house to film. It was also very useful to keep everyone informed about ideas and changes i had made to the film.

From this i learnt that communication between group members and other people involved in the media is very important, because if one person said they couldn't make it and gave enough notice, other members of the group could think of things to do without them.

This happened once, both Becky and Rob were unable to make an arranged date to re-film important shots, so i had to do them on my own, i did everything i could on my own. And the end result was very pleasing. 

Question 6. Equipment Used

These are the computers i used to update and upload picture for my blog from home. Both very easy to use, however i did realise that updating my blog was very important as if i feel behind i would not be able to recall what i had in previous media lessons or free media time. Therefore i learnt from processing my media product that to stay on top of all the key areas which should be blogged about is key to not getting behind or stressed about previous work.

Question 6. Equipment Used

This is the computer Becky and I used to make our ident for our film. The programme we used on this computer was photoshop, which was very useful and added a great effect to our ident. 

The only problem i came across with these computers was that during any class time they were always taken up, so there would be some lessons when i was unable to do any photoshopping or blogging during lesson time, this wasted a lot of time as i hadn't thought of other things i could of been doing.

Question 6. Equipment Used

The tripod, which i learnt to be the most important part of the camera use, this is because a lot of the shots in the preliminary were hand held, which made the shot shaky and unprofessional. Therefore i made it clear that all shots other than point of view shots are to be done on the tripod.

However, one shot that i did use on the tripod was still shaky, this was due to the strong wind and the camera not fitting properly onto the tripod. Luckily it isn't that noticeable, but if i was to do it again, I was use the tripod, as i did but also hold the camera to make sure that its defiantly not going to shake. 

Question 6. Equipment Used

This is the camera we used while filming our film opening. I found this camera really easy to use, as there aren't many controls which need much instruction on how to use. 

However, i have learnt while making my film that its best to film in lighter ares, even if you want a dark scene as the camera will naturally make everything looks darker. I learnt this when i did the first set of filming and all of the shots were far too dark to be able to see any of the action taking place. I also learnt this when some of the shots i did the third time, it was a brighter day than the other days i had film, i worked round this by editing the contrast in the editing process.

Another thing i learnt from the camera is that its better to have more shots than you need rather than having only the shots you "think" you want, as these might not work out due to lighting or weather. 

Question 7.

Question 7.

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Question 6. Equipment Used

This is the mac computer i used to make my film, using Imovie to edit all my shots together. 

As i have a mac at home I found it all very easy to use. 

However, there were a few problems i came across with the computer. For example, it froze a lot when Imovie and took a long time to start up again, this was mainly due to the fact that a lot of its memory had been taken up and maybe my group and I were asking too much from it at once. 

Another problem i also faced was that the Macs are in such high demand, this is because there is only 4 macs for everyone, so i got taken off the Mac a few times when i was trying to edit the film in my free time. 

Question 3

What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

I think the type of institution that would distribute my media product is of an Internet release, as the plot is hard to follow and I think the audience would be a niche audience compared to the original idea about our target audience. Therefore if a large company were to release our film, i think they would loose money over releasing it as the audience wouldn't be big enough to make them any profit. 

I think if our film was to be released over the Internet, it would do better than it would if it was made into a Hollywood block buster. I think this because i think this idea of a young girl having psychological issues has been over done, so they would be bored of that kind of film. Also they would have to re-do all of the shots as they equipment we used wasn't at a high technical standard, and it would look better on a smaller computer screen rather than a huge cinema screen. 

However, i do think the idea and context of the film is a good idea, although i have said it's like other psychological films, it addresses a certain issue, which is schizophrenia. This is unlike other films as they just show their characters as being "naturally crazy".

Questions 2, 4 and 5.

Emmas media, evaluation

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Ident

Here is the original picture and a picture of the ident Becky and I made. We all came up with the idea of having an eye, as we wanted something to link in with our film and we used point of view shots a lot, which obviously links to eyes as its what you see. 

So we took a picture of an eye, then changed the contrast, temperature and tone of the overall picture using photoshop. I think the colours we used are really effective as they're bold and stand out. 

Originally we were going to call it "I-View" but Becky and I thought it was tacky and seemed like we were trying to be part of the apple company, so we changed to to "eye view", which i think links well with the picture and makes more sense. 

To make our company seem more professional i gave the idea of adding "pictures" on the end, to make it clear that our company is a film company. 

Overall i think that our ident looks really professional and adding the stardust sound over the top, makes it look and sound even more professional. 

Filming

When filming we came across some problems, such as the lighting was a huge problem for us as most of our shots were far too dark to be able to see. This meant that i had to re-film the outside and bathroom scenes and try to add more light into the shot without the light being over powering, because i still wanted to keep the dark scary atmosphere. I did this by turning on surrounding lights in the hall when Abbi would be on the floor crawling out of the toliet, and the way i got round the problem of the outdoor shots being either too dark or too light was while editing changing the contrast and brightness within the shot. This worked very well as we were able to make all of the shots look the same.
When we edited all of our film together, we discovered that some of the shots didnt move smoothly onto the next, therefore I had to re-do numerous shots to make sure that the action within the final film opening 1. made sense and 2. the film was smooth with its editing.
The shots i had to re-do were when Abbi was walking towards the house, as I was told that i needed to make the audience feel more involved with Abbi's character and have more emotions to her about the way she was feeling within the scenes. Another shot i needed to re-do was when Abbi and Chloe turn towards the knives, here i used match on action with Chloe's head turning from Abbi's point of veiw then to the knives point of view. This looked professional as i have edited them to move smoothly and make sense of the action within the shot.

Editing Of The Film

Once I had filmed all of our shots for our film opening, I uploaded all of the shots used onto one of the Macs. Here i was able to see what shots were effected and which ones weren't, while also enhancing the effective ones.
The problem I came across when editing the shots, was that the outside shots, some were darker than others, this couldn't be helped durring the filming process as it was getting darker as the night went on. I worked around this by editing the contrast and brightness of the shot. This then got rid of the mismatch between each outside shot.
The things i found easy on the editing of our film was how i could make each shot flow easily, while also breaking up one long shot and putting a shorter shot inbetween to break the action up. This was effective i felt as it would make the audeince feel more involved with the action within the scene while also making the overall shots look more professional.
Putting the credits and title onto the film was also easy, but i had to consider which font and placement of the credits looked more effective. I did this by researching different film openings with the same genre and target audeince. However, this was hard to find as most of the thiller/horror film openings dont include credits or a title, but the title does appear at the end of the opening. I didnt want to put the title at the end of the opening as i thought it was over done and it would be more effective for a audeince member to get a sence of what the film includes from the title, "The Unbeknown" before it even started.
Adding in music on the film opening was also something i found very difficult to get around because, i wanted to enhighten certain parts of the film opening to add more tension, however, this would of been far too time consuming so i looked on some legal music download sites, to find a piece of music that fitted really well with the action and context of the film.
I edited the music into the film and made the parts of the film where i wanted the action to be enhightned by music louder, these parts of the film were when we first see Chloe, who's playing the iminary friend, this is because i wanted the tension to build and make a bigger impact on the audeince as it would hopefully scare them.

Research on Schizophrenia

As the character in our film opening suffered from schizophrenia, I decided to research the effects and symptoms of the illness. I did this because it would help more with the way i want the character to act and to make it clearer to the audience the illness they're suffering from. 

The way of researching schizophrenia was by typing it in on google, looking at its effects and treatments of the illness. 

Research i found about the effects of Schizophrenia is that "Schizophrenia is a chronic mental health condition that causes a range of different psychological symptoms. These include:

• hallucinations - hearing or seeing things that do not exist, and
• delusions - believing in things that are untrue.

Hallucinations and delusions are often referred to as psychotic symptoms or symptoms of psychosis. Psychosis is when somebody is unable to distinguish between reality and their imagination.

The exact cause of schizophrenia is unknown. However, most experts believe that the condition is caused by a combination of genetic and environmental factors." (http://www.nhs.uk/conditions/schizophrenia/Pages/Introduction.aspx, 24.03.10) 

This research helped with how Abbi could act out her character without being offensive to people who do suffer from the illness who may be watching the film opening, the way that Abbi acts out her character, without being over the top or offensive would help with the way that the audience feel closer to her and sympathise with her due to her illness.

I found out from doing research on the treatment of schizophrenia that most cases of the illness is controlled by anti psychotic medicines, this was good to know as it was what i was able to look further into and put onto the pill box that Abbi's character throws on the floor once discovering that its empty. 

The main medicine i focused on was Resperidone, which is taken orally by a pill, it is a one of the treatments for schizophrenia. Knowing this i was able to write onto the pill box,  "Resperidone. Anti psychotic medication. Two tables to be taken every hour with food." The final pill box looked really effective as it resembled a real-life pill box, as it didn't have the illness plastered all over the label like our first pill box did. 

Photo's whilst doing filming

Here is a photo of when Abbi gets to the door and searches for his pills, but finds out that she's got none left. Here I used a point of view shot because i wanted the audeince to see what Abbi's character sees. This will again make the audience feel more involved with Abbi's character, and they'll understand more what's happening and why.

Photo's whilst doing filming

Here is a camera angle I used in the second lot of filming to break up the long walk to the house, while also making the audience feel more involved with the character. The idea of this shot is to also make the audience even more a wear of where Abbi's character is heading, while linking to the dizzy way she walks and acts as she approaches the house. 

Photo's whilst doing filming

This shot i didn't use while doing the second lot of filming, but if i was too film it again i think i would use this shot to make the audience feel more involved with the character. And obviously I'd have Abbi looking more dizzy as i told her to walk towards me normally so i was able to get a full shot of her.

Photo's whilst doing filming

Here is a photo of Abbi standing at the lamppost, which is where the audience and viewer first see Chloe as the imaginary friend, this is also when the audience see the location of where Abbi is heading. 

I think this is a good shot, as we use a eye line match shot for Abbi, as shes looking at the house then the camera goes to a point of view of the house. Obviously his cant be shown in the camera shot, but i think it's very effective in the film opening. 

Music

When choosing music i was originally going to make my own music to fit in with the film opening, but due to not having enough time i was unable to do this and had to result in finding music off a legal down load page. The free down load website i used was www.freeplaymusic.com. Here, after putting in several key words, such as; scary, tension and horror i found my piece of music which is now in my film opening. The title of the music is called Platform, and it was found under the key word of tension. The music is slow building with tension building sounds, done by quite builds up of string music then loud drums. 

I think this piece of music fits in well with my film opening, as it shows adds tension to the action within the scene. 

I'm considering adding my own music underneath, to add more tension to the action, this could improve the affect it will have on the viewer. 

Target Market Questionaire?

1. What do you think of the title "The Unbeknown" for our film?
2. Is it the kind of film you would watch at your leisure?
3. From the opening would you want to watch the rest of the film?
4. What do you think of our actors?
5. What do you think of the story line?
6. Is the story line easy to follow?
7. Do you think that the effects used work well?
8. What do you think of the music?
9. What things do you like/dislike about our film opening?
10. Overall does it look professional?

Peer Assessment

Rob, Becky and I showed our rough edit of our film opening to Neil, who gave us positive feedback and things to improve on. 

When holding a shot steady, where appropriate; He gave us a level 3, he thought this because of our good use of our equipment with the tripod and when we were doing point of view shots the camera shots were steady enough to understand what was happening. 

Framing a shot, including and eluding elements as appropriate; He again gave use a level 3.

Using a variety of shot distances as appropriate; He said that when opening into the opening we did a good shot of our character and her surroundings, letting the audience take everything in first, so he gave us a level 3.

Shooting material appropriate to the task set; He said that we did the best we could with the equipment provided, as it would of cost a lot more money to use expensive equipment on our short opening. Level 3 was given.

Selecting mise-en-scene including colour, figure, lighting, objects and setting; He thought that this was our best area, as he commented on the good use of the pill box, sick makeup and ghostly makeup. Which as a group we were very happy about because we wanted our make up and props to make the scene as there isn't any dialog in our opening. Level 3. 

Editing so that meaning is apparent to the viewer; He said that this area was hard to mark, this is because not all of our editing is finished and some scenes have been made in a different colour to the rest, so we knew before we showed him that this area was our weakest. He gave us a low level 2. 

Using a varied shot transitions and other effects selectively and appropriate for the task set; Again, because we haven't finished with our editing he couldn't mark us on the editing side of this area, however, he did like the range of different shots we used within our opening, so he gave us a high level 2.

Using sound with images and editing appropriately for the task set; We haven't added in our sound yet, which we informed Neil about, so he again said that he's take that into consideration. But we did have some natural sound over the top which he thought was very effective within the film opening, but because there wasn't a lot of sound within the film he only gave us a low level 2. 

Over all Neil's view of our film opening is that the use of mise-en-scene with the props was good. And he particularly liked the pill box, as it informed the audience as to what our character's illness was. And he also said that the sick on her face and in her hair looked really realistic. He also said at the end that our story line is really good, and that was mainly down to the use of good actors within our opening. 

Editing within a music video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UCkCTOqt8TU

How does the editing in Be The One by The Ting Tings construct the meaning of relationships between characters?
From watching the whole of The Ting Tings music video i think that the relationship between the two character in the video is that with use of their action they want to get away from whatever is bothering them but, using the context of the words in the video is seems like its an relationship that's making them want to get away, with the use of the words "This was not my idea. Don't you keep me wait... What you gonna offer now?" Makes me see the two characters as having an affair with each other, and wanting to escape with each other.

The use of editing techniques helped me to get this picture. I only analysed the first 60 seconds of the music video, as there was so much editing techniques used in them 60 seconds.
The girl wakes up in the hospital, this already has the audience wanting to know why she's in there and is she okay? Within the first few seconds, at 0.02-0.003 there is a eye-line match, which is the first part of the hospital environment that the audience see. The next shot that is used is of her pulling herself up, using a close up which then cuts, using a match on action shot of her then again pulling herself up (in the same action) but this time the shot is taken from a further away shot, showing her whole environment. Telling the story of where she is and using her facial expressions which shows her confused helps the audience to get a bigger picture of her not knowing why shes in there. Another eye-line match is used when she turns to the heart monitor machine and then there's a close up of the machine, which shows she is alive so the audience (if they had thought she had died) had that equation out of their heads. The action then cuts to another character, playing the music which is in the video. The editing used here is cross cutting, as this action with the man playing the keyboard is happening at the same as the girl is in hospital. This makes the audience link the two characters together, as they are of a different sex and they would assume they are an item. Within this shot scene where the audience see the man is a DJ, but not a very popular on as there isn't many people there, which with the context of the song "Don't leave me waiting" he could be wanting to get away. Also the time of this all happening makes people think that its night, as it a DJ thing, which most people would associate with night life.

All the way through the video there is parallel editing, making he audience see that these two characters are doing the same thing (walking) at the same time. This is done by editing with the cameraman taking different shot of the characters, and during the editing process merging the two together creating the audience's minds to link the two characters together, also creating a relationship between the two. My first thought in this part is that they're in a relationship and meeting each other because the road they're both walking down looks the same. However, the screen behind shows a day time view so then it makes me think of the two characters having a flash back to what happened earlier between the two of them. The screens also link into visual effects, done by filming the same sequence but at a different time, merging the two to what i previously said of a "flash back" effect. I think this because it's following the character behind and with use of the facial expressions to me it looks like they're both thinking. 

At 0.49 - 0.53, the editing uses cross cutting to one scene to the other, by using the night sky as a blank canvas to go back to the other character, causing a dizzy effect which would link to them both thinking about the same thing. 

Back Ground Of The Film

The Soloist, based on a true story of friendship and trust between two men in L.A. The film is about Nathaniel Ayers, also known as Nathanial Anothony Ayers who was a homeless musician living in L.A and who suffered from schizophrenia. The friendship within the film is based on Nathaniel Ayers and a L.A. columnist, Steve Lopez who was intrested in Nathaniel and wrote a series of columns about the musician who he met on the busy streets of L.A.
Nathaniel Ayers moved to L.A, California still suffering from his mental illness of schizophernia, which is the reason for him becoming homeless and living on the dirty, run down streets of Los Angeles. The only posesions Nathaniel had with him were a violin and cello, both of which were in very poor conditions, yet he played with a clear passion and love for music, showing that even though his life was difficult life circumstances and suffering from his illness.
The film orginated from the colums and book that Steve Lopez worte about the aspiring musician. The book was called ' The Soloist: A Lost Dream, an Unlikey Friendship, and the Redemptive Power of Music', which was a very popular book making Working Title film production wanting to take it on to make into a film.

Make Up

For Abbi's main character of Susie, we first of all wanted her to look normal, so we told Abbi to turn up in whatever she wanted to wear, but to make sure that her jacket had pockets in them (for the scene on the porch). 

After the bit when Susie runs to the toilet to be sick, we wanted to make sure that Abbi's makeup made it clear to the audience that she was unwell and that she had in fact been sick. To show this we put the white face paint that we had also put on Chloe, but we didn't want her to be as pale as Chloe yet, so we only put a small amount on her. We also thought that her eyes needed to be darker to show she was tired, we did this by applying a small amount of eyeliner round her eyes, this made Abbi look more ill as her eyes sank and her pale face made it clear, linking to her being sick in the previous scene that she wasn't well.

On Abbi's chin you can see something which resembled sick. We thought to make her being sick more realistic to the audience we needed to make something which on camera actually looked like sick. I came up with the idea of mix banana and oats together, I got this idea from a documentary i watched on the sixth sense, when the girl is sick over the tent and they used a similar mixture of food, this is because if it did get into Abbi's mouth it wouldn't cause her any harm. 

When applying the banana and oats (sick) onto Abbi's face, I had to make sure that I didn't put too much on, as this would make it look fake, i also needed to make sure that i got it in the right place, which I think would be where i put it, of the lower right side of her lip, where the sick would fall if someone hadn't wiped it off. I also put it in her hair, this is because when she was pretending to be sick over the toilet, her hair came over her face, and if she was really being sick, it would of also ended up in her hair as well as on her face. 

Make Up and Costume

Here is Chloe, our imaginary friend in all her gear. Although her costume isn't what we expected, as Becky and I wanted more of an innocent nighty looking costume, i still think the blood stained cut up t-shirt works. 

Her hair and make up went very well, for her hair we added in hair extensions which we put olive oil in, giving them a greasy worn look and also back combed them to make them look even more ratty. We did this to the rest of Chloe's actual hair, which make her look dirty and ill. We added in flour to her hair to give it a dusty effect. 

The T-shirt that Chloe is wearing, Rob did at home. He cut hole into the T-shirt and splattered tomato source and fake blood over the top, even though Becky and I didn't think that there should be blood over her top, it looked very effective on the camera and made it clearer to the audience that Chloe's character was the "baddie" in all of the scenes. 

Chloe's tights are mine, we didn't expect Chloe to be wearing any tights on the bottom, because I thought that the t-shirt/nighty would be longer, which again would add to the effect of Chloe looking creepily innocent, but i think having the cut up tights and mud all over her and the tights again made her look more like the baddie and more scary overall. 

Make up

As a group we knew that in order to make our film opening realistic and clear to the audience about the difference in character our make up had to show that the imaginary friend was dead, twisted and not right in the head. We did this by making sure Chloe's make up on her face and any other areas of skin that was on show was pale which the occasional mud mark and bruise. 

We made her look pale by using white face paint, the mud we used actual mud, this was because we didn't have enough time and money to get brown paint and the mud makes it look more real. With the bruises we had black face paint and a whole range of eye shadows. Because we wanted her eyes to look dead and dark, we put black face paint around her eyes. However, when the black face paint was around both of her eyes we thought she resembled a pander, so we started again and just made one eye have a black eye and the other to have thick dark black eyeliner, to add to the effect of the dead eyes. We also put a bruise on the side of her cheek, this looked really affective as it showed (linking to her costume) that she had been tormented and abused by the drugs Susie (played by Abbi) had been taking to make Chloe go away.

Thumbnails

When filming, we kept to our thumbnails, as we put every thumbnail into our film, showing that we liked the original idea which also helped up to know where we were and what else we needed to do. We did add a few more shots into the opening however, once which i think was a good idea to add in, was the panning at the end round Abbi's head, showing that her head is spinning but also showing that she's thinking. This shot also put emphasis on her face, due to the make up and hair we had put on her to make her look ill and not right. This would indicate to the audience that this girl isn't right, also using a prop, being the knife to show that she's got one intension at this point in the opening, and it's to kill. 

Filming

Monday 8th February. 

As a group we had all planned to meet up at my house at 5:00pm to start to film our opening. However, looking back now i think starting that late wasn't very clever, as a few of our scenes were to be filmed outside, and it was too dark by this time to film anything. But, we did have a lot of shots from inside, which we were able to do. Using our thumbnails we were able to get each scene done quickly without the hassle of having to explain everything. Another problem i think we faced on this day was that people weren't taking it seriously, as during make up we were all having a laugh and didn't take into consideration how much time we had and how dark outside and inside were.

Tuesday 9th February.

In our practical lesson in the class we got to see what our scenes that we had filmed had turned out like. Here we faced our first problem, most of our shots were too dark and we couldn't edit them to look lighter, this meant that when we went to film again on Thursday we had even more to do. However, this also helped us to see how we could change the lighting to be lighter, while keeping the creepy atmosphere, not all of the shots were too dark, just a few which needed to be emphasised more on Abbi's face in that scene. 

Thursday 11th February.

We started at 3.30 this time, this gave us time to make sure that we did Chloe's hair and make up the same, while keeping us with enough time to film all the outside scenes while it was still light. We'd finished the hair and make up by 4.15, and we went straight outside to start to film the opening. I think this day we were more practical with timing and co-operation with each other, as we made a rule of no messing around until everything was done. Also it was cold outside, so we wanted to get all the outside scenes done as quickly as possible.

Once on the inside scenes we thought more about the lighting, and this time the lighting in the hallway was much better, as we were able to see all of the action on the camera, while keeping that creepy atmosphere we were very keen on keeping. 

Actors

This is the other actress we will be using our film opening. The reason we chose Abbi was because we know she can act and she lives down the road so there would be no problems with her not being able to get my house to film.

The original idea of the main character, Susie, was to have her in dark clothing looking like a Gothic character. But then I said that it would be more effective if she looked like a "normal" girl, as this would show that anyone can suffer from schizophrenia, and would make the film more dramatic as its everyday people, which would also add to making it scarier, as they don't stand out from the crowd.

Actors

As we're close to people who do drama we decided to use a close reliable friend in our media film. We decided to use Chloe Smith to play the imaginary friend, we thought that Chloe fitted this character well as she looks innocent and playful, which is what we wanted the audeince to view her as, before they see how twisted she really is.

The plan for Chloe's hair and make up is to have her hair (which is now brown) messy and greasy, maybe over her face to add more tension to who she is. Her make up will be pale with a green tinge to it, this will give the effect that she's ill or possibly dead. The reason i want her to look like this is because i want to make it clear to the audeince that its the drugs that the main girl has been taking to make her imaginary friend go away have made the imaginary friend slowly die and become more disfigured.

The costume which we want Chloe to be wearing is something that looks along the lines of a hospital nighty, however, as these are very hard to get hold of and we dont have enough money to buy a new outfit for Chloe to wear, we're thinking of putting her in a large white T-Shirt, which we will cut up and make dirty to give it a more worn effect.

Questions before filming

8 Key Questions to answer before you start filming your coursework


1. The action that happens in our film opening is a girl is walking home late at night and starts to feel dizzy, while this is happening a diagetic sound of something wispering her name will be going on. She gets to the house and looks for her pills, Antipsychotic - which is the medication for people with schizophernia. She will enter the house and using an over the shoulder shot we will have an over the shoulder shot of the imaginary friend watching her. The girl is then sick and has flashes of her killing something with flashing images of the imaginary friend making her do it. This then leads to her going crazy in her kicthen, leading to the cliff hanger of her possibly killing her mother.

2. The theme of our film opening is horror, so we aim to scare our audience while raising awearness about schizophrenia and the symptoms behind it. In a way there is also a sence of obsession in our opening, as the imaginary girl is obsessed with the girl she's controll, as she doesnt leave her alone and also the girl is obsessed with not seeing her imaginary friend. Victemisation is also a key theme in our opening, as the girl is being victemised and pushed into doing the things that the imaginary friend wants her to do.

3. The way that our opening is stuctured is that its set in present time but we use flash forwards to her seeing herself killing something. There will be no dialogue here but there will be both diegetic and non-diegetic. The diegetic sound we'll use will be of her panting and stabbing something, while over lapping with the tension thrilling non-diegetic sound of music.

4. There are two characters in our film opening, the main character doesn't have a name but is played by Abbi Stilgoe. The girl suffers from schizophernia. The reason i wanted to use Abbi is because she (in the nicest way) doesn't stand out in the crowd as being ill, like her character therefore i wanted to show that anyone can suffer with schizophernia. 

The other character is Abbi's characters imaginary friend, played by Chloe Smith. Chloe's appearance on the other hand is very harsh and scary in our film. She's playing a girl of the same age as Abbi of around 17 years, but is dressed in a blood and mud stained while top which is ripped all over along with ripped legins. Chloe's make up is going to be pale and bruised, kind of like Samara off "The Ring" her hair is also going to cover her face as i think this will add tension onto Chloe's character.

5. The choice of location is my house. This is because it's easily accessable from school. But also because we dont want the location to tell the horror/thriller plot of our film opening, as we want the action to tell the story. Therefore we want the audience to relate to the character, doing this by them having the same kind of living life style as our main character. 

Planning Questions On Film

8 Planning Questions for your film

1. Is it practical?
Yes. Our practical idea will easily be done as we are not adding any highly technical effects. Also we are doing the costume and makeup for our actors our self, so we wont have to spend loads of money on making our characters look realistic. Our location is also very practical as its where everyone can easily get to, both actors and us filming. This will also lower any costs and hassle of everyone getting to the location on time. Also having the actors as close friends who live close to the location will make it easier, also saving valuable time.

2. Is it an idea that works to the strengths of the group?
Something which I found has straightened the group is that we all gave our own ideas about the film, which made us all understand what the other one was thinking, this then led to us feeling comfortable with each other about how we felt and we knew that the others wouldn't laugh about that idea. Also relying on each other to show up and be ready to give ideas and put them to action makes the group stronger, as it shows that we're all willing to work. The individual qualities which we all bring make our group stronger, Rob does this by being motivational every lesson - coming in wanting to get something done in every lesson and not to waste time. Becky strength i think is making our story simpler, she did this by when we were planning our opening Rob and I wanted to do really adventurous things, but Becky dragged us back down telling us to think about what is easily accessible. I think the strengths that i bring into the group is that I'm very artistic, as i drew pictures of the costumes and took photos of the locations, this makes the group stronger as it creates a picture for the rest of the group and anyone who wants to see what we're aiming to do.

3. Will it show off the skills you have learnt so far on the course?
I think this practical exercise will show of the the skills i have learnt so far on the course, because we're using a variety of different camera shots while filming and using effective editing skills when editing. Therefore, it will show how much i have learnt but also expanding new ideas and adapting them to make a effective film opening. As we do want to show what we had learnt we are putting in match on action, 180 degree rule and a whole range of shots.

4. Is it something you can reasonably shoot and edit in the time available?
Yes. We have already started planning the maxi um time we can spend on filming while leaving enough time for editing. Also as the location is only a 5 minute walk from school, it wont waste time on getting there, giving us more time to film. The opening however, as we want her to be walking home in the dark we will have to do in the evening, this could be difficult if not everyone can get there due to the lack of transport.

5. Can you get access/ permission to shoot in the chosen location at the chosen times?
Yes, as it's going to be filmed in my house, and with permission from my parents (who are fine about us filming in the house as long as we don't make too much mess). This is very useful as we don't have to schedule a time to film as my house is always open, it will just be a case of when everyone is free at the same time. As the location, as i said, is close by the access of the location will be very easy, again not letting us waste time on getting there.

6. Can you organise lighting to use in that location?
This is the only thing that we might not be able to use effectively, as we only have the basic lighting in my house, however, as most of it is filmed in the kitchen, where there are many different lights scattered around the room, which will either make the room brighter or more dull, depending on what lighting we're wanting to achieve.

7. Have you included dialogue? If so, will it work to shoot conversation in that location?
As we are doing a horror opening, and we want it to look as professional as possible, we thought that we should use the least amount of dialogue as possible, the only when her mother enters the kicthen and says "whats wrong darling?" This only dialogue in the opening will work in the location as we aim to make our location look as scary as possible with low lighting adding tension, so this line (which ends our film) will add more tension, ending the opening on a cliff hanger.

8. Do you have guaranteed high quality reliable actors to play the characters?
As both Becky and I do drama and know all of the actors in the drama classes and are close friend with the actors we have chosen, we know the qualities of these people, therefore we know that they're reliable and also are very good at acting. As they live close by there should be no problem with transport to the location and from the location.

Audience Feed Back

Audeince Feed Back

Story Board

Location

This i think would be a good point of view shot to do for the "normal" girl, and we could have her imaginary friend at the bottom of the garden to build up tension for the audience, as she's getting closer and closer.

Location

This is just a photo of my window, i don't think it would be an effective camera angle to use, as it doesn't show much, even though we can easily see in, it just doesn't give enough tension away. 

Location

This is taken from the outside looking in. Which will be used when doing an over the shoulder shot of the imaginary friend when she's watching the "normal girl". It will all be in the dark, so we wont need to worry about the reflection on the window.

(Can see my doggie too :) )

Location

In front of the sink is where the "normal" girl will be standing, looking out of the window. So this is once possible camera we could use, showing that there is no one looking into the window.

Location

This is the view that the imaginary friend will see once she enters the house, from the back door. We're not sure whether we're going to have a shot of what the imaginary friend can see, as it will be confusing for our audience and its about what the "normal" girl sees and not what her imaginary friend sees.

Location

In a short scene the main focus is all on the knives. We thought that it would be effective to have, at once point, the point of view of the knives, so we have the girl's hand coming closer to the knife and pulling it out, exaggerating the sound that comes out of pulling the knives out. 

Location

Once the imaginary friend enters the house, she'll be standing in the back door's doorway, too add tension we're having just her feet showing then a point of view of our main character seeing her, with every blink coming closer. 

Location

Towards the end of our opening, we're having the girls mum entering the room from either the door she entered from or the other door, we then end the opening with her mum asking "What's wrong?" This shot will be taken so it starts with the knife, which is by the girl's side is in focus and as her mother enters her mum comes into focus. Ending on a cliff hanger so the rest of the film can continue. 

Location

This will be the first shot of the kitchen that the audience will see, using a point of view of our main character. It also will show the imaginary girl looking through the window, showing that its all in head. 

Location

This shot we will use when we see the girls hand come out from the doorway of the toilet. In this particular scene we aim to make our audience jump and to build up tension, as she'll be slowly dragging herself out of the bath room. 

Audience Profiling

Media a a A

Location

Down stairs toilet. Which is only showed for a shot time. Using point of view shot and high angled camera, showing her being sick. 

Location

Leading to the down stairs toilet, which is only showed once in our film opening. Point of view used again on this shot. 

Location

Hall way, leading to the kitchen. 

This part of the house is used a lot, as its the first part of the house the audience will see as she looks around, still keeping to the disorientated look. 

We later also use this when she walks, after being into the down stairs toilet, into the kitchen to wash her face. Using again, point of view shot. 

Location

(Picture wouldn't turn round)

There's a short bit when the girl is at the porch, trying to find her pills when she realises that she's ran out, disorientated point of view used to show the audience that she needs to pills as she's getting dizzy and hearing things. 

Location

As the girl is walking to the house, she turns as she thinks there's someone behind her, which in reality its all in her head.