'What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?' (Activity 3)

 I think a film company such as Working Title would be best to distribute my film. C+H Productions is an independent British film company whose main genre of film is Horror and Thriller. This is similar to the bases of how Working Title works. Working Titles are distributed by Universal and I believe this is the institute we would use to distribute our films. This is due to the fact that Universal are a film company who are renowned for producing Horror an Thriller films so our company would co-inside with their productivity already. Another reason why I believe they would be a great company to distribute our films as we are also a British company like Working Title who they already partnered with and we not pose much threat to their productivity as Working Title do not produce Horror or Thriller film, and when they have these have not been of good success. As Universal as a huge American institute so there would not be too much issue with money, however they would obviously not want to lose money but that is a decision only the company could make of distributing our films or not.

'What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?' (Activity 6)

We used a HD Camcorder to create our film similar to this one. It was good to use and had great sound but we found that the image quality looked good on the camera's screen, however, when it was blown up on the computer screen it looked quite fuzzy and there were some shadowing issues, for example when the babysitter walks along the lamp lit street

We had to use a tripod for all of the shots to keep the shot steady and well produced.

We used GarageBand to make the music of the film. Once I had found out how to use it properly, the actual creation of the tracks was easy and comfortable to use.

Like i have written, i used iMovie to create our whole film. Once I had used iMovie for the first time and had been shown how to use the different effects possible, I found it quite simple to use.

We began the editing of our film on iMovie using one of these Apple Mac's from at school. However, due to lack of time and organisation in lessons we decided to do editing on home computers as well. We did use this for the GarageBand and found it easy to work with.

Analysis of 'The Dark'

I am happy with the outcome of our opening title sequence to “The Dark”. Through a combination of sound, lighting, camera work, editing and mise-en-scene, which have all worked well together, we have created a good thriller/horror atmosphere. To get a realistic yet scary and surreal setting can be hard to convey to the audience, but I believe we have managed to do this through the majority of the film. However, at times I believe we could have done more things to improve our filming, lighting, or sound, I do not think this has effected how the audience views our film, and if we did make these changes I do not imagine our film would become any better or be enhanced in a huge way. 


Most aspects of our film is just how I imagined, which I believe fits the genre well but could have been improved at sometimes. This is mainly because there are not enough unique shots, more the usual standard filming. If we did include some shots, for example a Dutch tilt or a low angled, these scenes would probably become more memorable. I am also not so pleased with the resolution of some of the shots. These are mainly the outside shots where this is moisture in the air and this effect how the camera has focused. Also the lighting affected the picture, in future we could prevent this problem by using flood lights or shooting when it wasn't quite as dark. However I am pleased with the angles we did use and the close up shots worked well.


In terms of editing, we were quite brave in the fact that we used a jump cut from when the babysitter is walking down the stairs to then sitting in the living room watching TV. This is quite risky in terms of showing the audience what has happened but this still not to distract them. Unfortunately we were not able to use many shot reverse shots as when coming to edit we realised the door in shot in one side of the filming but open in the other as we filmed through it. This was unfortunate as we were unable to film these scenes again in the exact same condition so unable to perform this skill. However when the mother walks out the door we do show our ability of performing this edit as the door closes.


In my opinion, the sound within our film is good. We we able to create verisimilitude when the babysitter walks down the roads, and also sounds like the television help create this too. However there is definitely room for improvement. I am extremely pleased with the sounds used when our logo appears, as this is in direct timing with the flashes and adds to the thriller/horror genre of our film. However I believe the sounds used in our montage of ensuring her safety, by locking the doors and windows, I believe is a bit too upbeat to fit in with the genre. We realized when watching the film from start to finish to gain the whole feel of the film. Another sound in our film I am exceptionally pleased with is the screaming at the end of the film. I performed this, and I believe is great for the genre and timing in the film. Ending our film on this note and cutting to the title of the film, creates an extremely questionable and cliff-hanger ending for the audience leaving them wanting more.

Music Choices for 'The Dark'

Once completing editing and doing the final touches to our movie, we needed to decide which shots we want to have music over. Other than shots with dialogue in (babysitter arriving at house) We then created two tracks. One to use when the babysitter arrives at the house/ walking around the neighbourhood at the beginning, and one to use during the inside scenes to attempt to make it more scary. I then created both tracks amd layered them together to put onto my film on iMovie Maker, however we both realised that the soundtrack wasnt eerie enough. To overcome this, I cut the two tracks up separately and combined parts from both to make two new, more appropriate tracks to fit our story and it's genre. As well as adding highpitched noises behind to create an even greater spooky effect.

The Dark - Finished Opening Sequence

Cast

Caledonia Quigley
Actor: Babysitter
Director

Max Hill
Actor: Stranger
Director

Phillipa Hill
Actor: Mother

Target Audience

The Target Audience for our film will be young adult males. We made a questionnaire to get a better idea of this audience and when surveyed; males preferred Horror, Thriller and Action genres of films, where as most females preferred Romantic and Realistic films. To add to the fact our film is based towards a male audience is that we are using a female character as our protagonist. This, although fits in with our stereotypes of a babysitter, also could have sex appeal for a male audience.

Treatment: Filming Coursework - The Dark

For our coursework we had to film a 2 minute opening sequence of a movie. With my partner Max, we chose to make a horror/ thriller film called 'The Dark' which is loosely based on the short American novel that begins with a house being broken into whilst a girl is babysitting.

Our first scenes show her going to the house to babysit but it set in and eerie manner. After she has checked the baby and is then watching TV, these loud noises start to occur, she ignores them at first but then as they become louder she begins to panic. After ensuring her safety by locking a few of the doors, she climbs the stairs again to check the baby. However this time the baby is missing.

We have decided to make a brief plan as to what would happen later on in our film if we were to continue and produce the whole thing. After she does not see the baby where it was before she starts to panic but chooses to ignore it. Later when checking the third time the baby is replaced and all is fine. However strange unexplainable things happen throughout this girl’s life, similar to this, which end in twisted ending that will explain all.

Location and Risk Assessment

Bedroom

Living Room

Living Room

Living Room and other Interiors

Hazards:

·         Electrical hazards

·         Tripping hazards

Who might be harmed and how?:

·         Either of the actors – could trip and fall on cable. 

·         Director/camera man - could trip and fall on cable

Evaluate the risks:

·         Move electrical hazard to a higher surface or out of the room completely

·         Hide as much cable as possible or tape it to the floor so there is no possibility of tripping

Staircase

Staircase

Hazards:

·         Tripping or falling hazard

Who might be harmed and how?:

·         Actors – could trip and fall down

Front Door

Hall

House

Driveway leading to house

Road

Path lit by Street lamps

Hazards:

·         Uneven path

·         Moving Traffic

·    When shooting at night time - not being able to see completely 

·         Icy/slippy conditions as we shot in winter

Who might be harmed and how?:

·         The actors – may trip and fall

·         Director/camera man – may trip and fall also

Evaluate the risks and decide on precaution:

·         Closely watch footing when moving around on path

·         Keep a close eye on traffic and cars, change location if this becomes a big problem

·         Stay closer to street lamps for lighting, or bring your own floodlights

·         If there are icy or slippy conditions, change date of filming until these conditions disappear.

Road lit by Streetlamp

Our chosen location was a normal house on an average street in a quiet, unsuspecting town. We chose to film at Max's house as the film begins with the girl arriving at the house to babysit. We wanted to create an homely atmosphere as possible to make the story realistic and believable so the interior of the home wasn't changed much.

Production Logo

We designed a logo for our film company; C&H Productions. As we are producing a Horror/Thriller film we decided to cover it in blood splatters to highlight our chosen genre. The C stands for Caledonia, and the H for my partner's last name, Hill. These letters worked best from our initials, as the plus sign is able to slot into the C and become the cross bar of the H.

Animatic: The Dark

This is Max and I's animatic of the story board we drew. It is just a brief outline of what will happen in our opening sequence. The pictures are drawn in pencil and then outlined in a dark pen. We then captured each picture on a camera, uploaded them onto the Apple Mac's and turned all the pictures into an animatic using iMovie.