Practice Shot Examples

Today we explored and filmed a variety of practise shots which we believe would appear in our opening sequence. The main three we looked at were the handheld shot (HS), over the shoulder shot (OTSS) and close up (CS) as we were certain that these three would feature. We thought that the handheld shot would work successfully when filming the home videos. These videos will feature both Liam and Alfie in their natural surrounding (home) which makes them appear as realistic. I further feel as if this shot will work well due to the fact it will further make them appear as home videos as most videos which are filmed at home don't tend to use a tripod. One other shot we are hoping to feature is the over the shoulder shot. I feel as if this shot could be used during the disappearance of Alfie during a game of hide and seek. As it focuses the viewer’s attention on Alfie running away and Liam counting. We had hoped to film this shot from different angles and edit them together creating continuity. A final shot which we explored was the close up. Our initial plan was to film shots of objects which present Alfie for example photos/ toys and place our titles over the top of these shots; including ‘directed by’ and ‘starring.’ I feel as if this activity was beneficial to us as we are now aware of the shots we are going to use for our opening sequence and the props and equipment we need to do so. 

Exploration of Camera Techniques

I studied the film Woman In Black from 2012 directed by James Watkins and starring Daniel Radcliff. The genre of this film is horror and appears as edgy and enigmatic throughout, this is due to the camerwork and shots used. This screen shot (middle) shows a medium long shot of three girls with The Woman In Black faint in the background. The facial expressions of the girls still appear as visible as we can see they are impassive. By The Woman In Blacks face being undetectable this reflects her character of being mysterious/unknown, therefore this relates well to the genre that the director is trying to create of horror. I find this shot effective as it shows a previous clip from a different angle, this reveals to the audience the questions they have been asking themselves throughout the film for example ‘Who are they looking at? Why are they doing that?’ By this clip being shown near the end of the film captures the audience’s attention throughout as they are questioning the actions of the characters. At this point in the film they learn The Woman In Black is the driving force behind the children’s death as she encourages them through the use of super natural powers. By The Woman In Black being visible but still not entirely clear focuses the audience’s attention on the three girls who are the ones which are under her possession. I think we will be able to use a similar clip in our production as the children in our film sequence are being possessed by the capturer through the use of whispering. However it is vague to the audience what it is that is being said. When we film our opening sequence I feel that if we were to replicate a shot like this is, it would be very effective as we would like to create a response similar to this in our audience. We are hoping that the with the lack of information shared with the viewer it will intrigue and encourage the viewer to continue watching to find out what’s happening and the story behind what is shown.

Another screen shot I looked at (left) was this over the shoulder shot of The Woman In Black shown in the opening sequence of the film. At first sight it’s not entirely clear. Viewers don’t tend to notice it when watching it first time round as it is a quick paced shot. I think this shot is effective as the Woman face isn’t visible to the camera, this creates suspense and uncertainty as the audience aren’t able to identify the woman and captures their attention as they become eager to find information about who this woman is and what she is hoping to achieve. I feel we could use a shot similar to this one in our opening sequence as we don’t want to reveal the identity of our capturer in the scene. I think it would be suitable and successful if we were to use a shot similar to this but for a different effect when we our opening sequence, as during our sequence Liam looks blankly at the camera. This will hopefully make the viewer question as to why he is looking so emotionless and It also adds to the effect of showing that Liam is distraught through the abduction of his brother and further shows his innocence.

The final shot I focused on (right) was this close up shot of a toy. This shot is effective as it enhances the children’s death and the toys are left alone, the condition of the toys emphasises how they haven’t been played with for a long time. There are no other characters visible in the shot which emphasises the toys being abandoned as children are always commonly playing with toys. I think we’d able to replicate a similar shot into our production as Alfie has gone missing we could show different shots toys around his bedroom, we could also possibly use this opportunity to play titles over these shots as they are similar shots and the viewer won’t be distracted by the footage to read them.

Link To Film: http://megashare.info/watch-the-woman-in-black-online-TkRReE1BPT0

Production Companies

When making the decision as to whether our film should be commercial or independent we considered a number of reasons. Big commercial production companies such as DreamWorks, Universal and Pixar are able to use high end equipment and editing software, they are able to create CGI (computer generated imagery) with editing software and create realistic dangerous stunts through the use of special props and setting. These films are often shown in the cinema and gain great popularity and positive reviews. Due to the fact we are limited to editing software and filming equipment we made the decision to produce our opening sequence under an independent production company. The company we chose to use was Film 4, a British film production company owned by Channel 4. This means that our film would not be shown in the cinema but would appear on the television. As we are limited to available equipment we are using a ‘Canon Legria Camcorder Plus’ camera and editing our footage in 'Adobe Premiere' we will use this equipment to the best of our knowledge in order to attain the best results possible. 

In order to further make our film appear as independent we created a new production company logo. We decided to call our production company ‘Take Two Productions’. We created our logo using Photoshop and when adding it to Adobe Premiere at a later date we will animate it with the use of sound effects and transitions. The name Take Two Productions is associated with television/film; hopefully this will become memorable for viewers. This could potentially enhance the viewer count also due to the fact people could inform their families/friends about the name. 

Progeny: Titles

When choosing the titles for our opening sequence we explored a variety of fonts in which fitted in with our genre of horror/thriller. We looked at both serif and san serif fonts in a variety of ways such as bold or italic. We mainly focused on the colours of red grey and black as they are considered to be dull gloomy colours. We eventually decided to present our film title ‘Progeny’ in the colour red. A common colour connotation the colour red has is danger therefore this why we chose this. We presented it against a plain black background so it appears as bold and stands out clearly. Nearer the time we will animate the title adding transitions and sound effects in Premiere. The font we used was called ‘You Murderer’ and we downloaded it from the internet. We feel this title follows the film conventions of a horror genre. 

For our other titles we decided upon the font ‘Pencil Pete’ which we also downloaded from the internet. We felt this font appears as written writing which interlinks with the camerawork of our opening sequence as drawings are featured numerous times. We made the decision for the font to be in white therefore it would clearly stand out when placed above the camerawork. These titles will include the people who contributed an input to the production for example ‘featuring, produced, directed etc.’ The titles in which were used in the opening sequence of psychological thriller ‘Se7en’ inspired us to select the titles we did as they appear as simple, however stand out bold and are easy to read.

Progeny: Sound

We chose this music below to be our non-diegetic soundtrack for our opening sequence; this is because it creates eeriness. Our aim is to create tension amongst the audience and make them feel uneasy when watching so. It gives them an opportunity to question what will occur later on in the film. It also gives the audience a sense of foreshadowing that something bad will soon occur. I feel this music will successfully create this atmosphere in which we hope to create. The use of this type of music is a typical convention of horror/thriller films. 

The music in which we are going planning to use we believe is similar to the soundtrack in the opening sequence of Sinister. We felt Sinister was an effecting horror as it creates the theme of horror well through the use of sound, camera shots and editing. I find this film successfully emphasises the genre of horror well in the opening sequence of the film. The footage shows a family of four being hanged from a tree; their faces are covered by sacks which hides their identity. This immediately creates mystery as it makes the viewer question 'who is it?' and 'who done it?’ and ‘for what reason?’ By the identity of the family being hidden encourages the viewer to continue to watch the rest of the film as they want to discover the answers to their questions? We are trying to create a sense of mystery in our opening scene as well; we want the viewers to question our opening sequence as they watch it. Questioning the footage shown commonly means they show an interest in what they are watching as they are intrigued to find out what happens next. The use of sound in Sinister creates a sense of foreshadowing as it plays adjacent to the clips shown. We hope this chosen music successfully creates a mysterious atmosphere in our opening sequence similar to Sinister. If we replicate this technique well I feel our opening sequence will be successful and meet the horror/thriller conventions.

Progeny: Locations

 The locations in which we have chosen to set our opening sequence in are a home and a field. For these locations we are opting on using a house which promotes a family life and The Green. We made the decision for a family home to appear in our opening sequence as it will show the characters (Liam and Alfie) in a realistic way and in their natural environment which accord to their characters. We made the decision to use The Green as our second location as we consider it to be an isolated, enclosed surrounding; we hope that by it being layout this way it is will add tension to our opening sequence as many films with a horror genre are located in an isolated, quiet surrounding. We also chose these locations to film in as they are in our hometown which works at our advantage as they are easily accessible. The Green is classed as a public place so we are never restricted to where we wish to film. Due to fact it is always available for public use we are easily able to re film any scenes if needs be. 

Progeny: Costumes

We considered a number of clothing options when choosing the costume for our practical production. We made the final decision to place both the teenage and infant boy in clothes in which typical males their age, culture and ethnicity would wear. Above is a selection of clothes in which the characters will wear in different scenes. The clothes for the teenage boy, Liam (on the left) are clothes in which a typical teenage boy from England would tend to wear as they are from popular clothing lines for that age range including River Island and Topman. By making the decision to dress the teenage boy in common clothing expresses that he is a regular teenager boy who leads a regular life, e.g. goes to school, and lives with parents. The clothes for the infant boy, Alfie (right) are also considered to be clothes which are typically worn by children of that age. Some of these clothes appear similar to Liam’s; we hope the audience will detect this feature as it indicates how he idolises him as he is copying his choice of clothing this further emphasises the close relationship which we are trying to create.