First Cut - Feed Back

I'm content with the first cut of our film, I feel as if we need to add some more dialogue other than constantly calling for 'Max'. We're going to add a part to the film when I'm on the phone and add a second end to the phone call. We also need to make sure all sound levels are equal so there are no irrelevant background sounds. When we come to adding sound effects we're going to add some dramatic pieces of music to show the tension of the scene, and to show that I'm being watched.

Feedback - Miss Spencer

First Cut Feedback - Miss Spencer


Reasonably good variety of shots, angles and movement.
A clear sequence is built up through the use of dialogue, match on action and movement of the main character.

Overall this is a little weak, I feel there could be more elements to this, the actual action is limited, with a heavy reliance on opening cinematics. However does look like a film opening and not a trailer!

There are some conventions of horror/thriller, especially the location, the subject etc. But some more tension would help improve this.
In order to improve:

• Think about adding another element to the film (e.g. a person at the other end of the phone, another location etc)
• Add Titles and institutional logo
• Fix sound problems
• Possibly remove some of the 'Max' calls
• Add SFX to increase tension, but do not add music throughout as this is a convention of trailers not film openings.
• Get some more feedback from peers and parents etc and add that to your own post.
• embed the first cut onto your blog.

Task 3.1: Audience Research

Horror Definition : An overwhelming and painful experience, caused by something frightfully shocking, terrifying or generally revolting; a shuddering fear.

When making a horror movie, you need to look for the incentive of watching them, for example;
People watch different genres because they enjoy different content which is in each of them, for example people would watch a comedy for a laugh, but for horrors, people like a scare or a shock horrors are made to shock, and people enjoy the tension building up to different climaxes of a horror film.

The UK Film Council constructed research, and discovered that the typical horror film viewer is a male aged from 15-24. Males usually enjoy the thrill, but they said that Females tended to prefer lighter movies like comedies, and romantic-comedies. Although the ratio of the target audience for Horrors is still almost 1:1 as females also enjoy horrors, around 55% of men watch horrors and 45% of women.

Film trailers, or film openings are extremely important since they often reveal the plot of the film and which would tell the audience whether they want to watch the film or not.

After reviewing this information I would say my film is directed to the age range of 15-24 and the focus gender is males as our films main character are male.

The conclusion is Realism is key, actors must be convincing, production value must also be present, a way to achieve this is filming in relevant locations, places that give off a scare looking just looking them.

Filming Schedule

Filming Schedule

When 

Date - 28th October 2014

Time- 10:00 am

Who

Oliver Watson (me)

Harry Whitehead - 07*********

What

We will film all of the scenes in that one day.

How

We will use angles and shots such as: 

POVs

Backwards tracking shots

Mid shots

Long shots

Pan

Which

The equipment that we will need to use is:

A HD Sony Handycam

A tripod

School uniform

(As we are only filming the intro, we aren't going to need any props)

Role allocation

Role Allocation and Casting

Cast: 
Harry Whitehead - playing Harry
Barbara Whitehead - playing Harry's Mother


Director: Oliver Watson
The directors job is to be the person who directs the making of a film. Generally, a film director controls a film's artistic and dramatic aspects, and visualizes the script while having control over the technical crew and actors in the making of the film. Like I said in my pitch, the director that I look up to is David Cameron because he is a great director and has directed films such as 'Titanic' and 'Avatar'.


Producer: Harry Whitehead
The producers job is to be responsible for raising funding, hiring key personnel, and arranging for distributors. They are meant to prepare and then supervise the making of a film before presenting the product, without a producer there would be no film. An example of a film producer would be George Lucas who produced the Star Wars franchise and the Indiana Jones franchise.


Cameraman: Oliver Watson
The cameraman is the person behind the camera who films everything that the director tells him to, he has to have a good use of different camera angles and movement.

Production Schedule

Production Schedule – (A Boy Named Billy)

Date	Task	Complete Y/N
3/11/14	Creating/sourcing sound and music	Yes
10/11/14	Blogging and start editing	Yes
17/11/14	Editing and creating graphics and titles	Yes
24/11/14	Finish editing	Yes
01/12/14	Uploading all elements from foundation portfolio onto your blog	Yes
08/12/14	Blogging all stages of the filming/editing process	Yes
15/12/14	Film to be handed in to be marked over the Christmas Break.	Yes

Tasks that must be completed:

·         - Filming

·         - Creating/sourcing sound/music

·         - Editing

·         - Creating graphics/titles

·         - Uploading all elements from Foundation Portfolio onto your blog

·        Blogging all stages of the filming/editing process

Script

A young boy, dressed in school uniform, strolling through the field.

(Phone rings)

Harry: Hello?

Harry's mother in her house

(Nervously)

Barbara: Harry, where are you are you okay?

Harry: Yeah, I'm on the field I'm just taking the dog for a walk.

(Whilst cleaning surface)

Barbara: Alright then, hurry up because your dinner is ready.

Harry: Alright, I'll be home in twenty minutes. Alright bye.

Carries on walking in the field. 

Dog runs off.

(In tired emotion)

Harry: Max, Max come on.

(Worried)

Harry: Max... Max... Max!

(Nervously and quickly turns around)

Harry: Max?

Starts to run through the bushes

(Angry)

Harry: Max!

Starting to run quicker

(Angry)

Harry: Max... Max! 

Harry hears noise and is worried

(Worried and confused)

Harry: Max... Max is that you?

Hand from behind is quickly placed on Harry's shoulder.

Scene End.

Opening Titles and Logos

This is the opening titles to the TV show 'Dexter'. The font is dark red with the odd blood splatter at the end of the word 'Dexter' kind of acting as a full-stop. This particular title tells the audience the theme of the show as soon as they watch it. It also looks like the word has dripped onto the floor or is on a piece of paper as it drips like actual blood as if it was fresh blood and potentially someone was just killed.

This is a part of the intro to the film 'True Blood'. As the audience know what type of film it is, the use of the boy eating the blackberries makes it look like blood and makes the innocent young boy look evil which fits in with the genre of the movie.

Storyboard

'A boy named Billy'

Billy is a sixteen year old school boy who has been suffering from bullying since he was the age of eight. He hated going to school everyday and just couldn't wait to get home, he never told anyone, not even his parents. Billy was starting his GCSE's in the next upcoming months and was struggling coping with the stress, the stress of his exams, and the upset of him being bullied was too overwhelming and he lost his mind.

0 - Production company logo - 7 seconds

1 - Harry walking alone in a field 
Shot - tracking shot 
Movement - backwards
Sound - non
Dialogue - non
Duration - 10 sec


2 - Harry talking on the phone to his mother 
Shot - mid/long shot 
Movement - non 
Sound - non
Dialogue - "hello"
Duration - 2 sec 


3 - Barbara on the phone to Harry 
Shot - mid shot
Movement - slight pan to the right 
Sound - non
Dialogue - "Harry where are you? Are you okay?"
Duration - 4 sec 


4 - Harry on the phone again
Shot - close up
Movement - non 
Sound - non
Dialogue - "Yeah, I'm on the field, I'm just taking the dog for a walk" 
Duration - 3 sec


5 - Barbara on phone again 
Shot - mid shot
Movement - non 
Sound - non
Dialogue - "Okay then hurry up because your dinner is ready"
Duration - 4 sec


6 - Harry on phone 
Shot - mid/long shot 
Movement - non 
Sound - non
Dialogue - "Alright I'll be home in 20 minutes"
Duration - 4 sec 


7 - Harry realises his dog has gone and runs after it
Shot - long shot
Movement - non 
Sound - non
Dialogue - "Max! Max come on"
Duration - 6 sec 


8 - POV from killer in the bushes 
Shot - POV 
Movement - camera held movements 
Sound - non
Dialogue - "Max, Max!"
Duration - 7 sec


9 - Sound of a branch snapping behind Harry and he turns around
Shot - mid/long shot
Movement - non
Sound - non
Dialogue - "Max! Max?"
Duration - 8 sec


10 - Harry running through trees and bushes
Shot - long shot
Movement - non
Sound - slow build up of scary music
Dialogue - "Max!"
Duration - 8 sec


11 - Harry running through field
Shot - mid/long shot
Movement - non
Sound - music is getting louder and faster
Dialogue - "Max where are you?"
Duration - 3 sec


12 - POV shot from killer sneaking up behind Harry
Shot - POV
Movement - hand held camera movement
Sound - Loud scary music, then turns into screeching T.V sound and then the sound of a lightning strike
Dialogue - "Max is that you?"
Duration - 8 sec

Representation

Representation

Representation is what people are presented like in films and media in general. This can be the types of characters in the film for example what ethnicity they are, their sexuality, their class and status, if they have a disability or not, where they are from, their age and their gender. It can also be the location of where the film is set.

Horror

There is huge representation in horror films, for example men in horror films are usually addressed as either the villain or the hero, but most of the time a male will represent both of those roles. They will represent power and control over the female characters and mostly be the ones that save the day at the end.

Female characters in horror films are represented much differently than the males, they are usually never the hero or the villain and have a much weaker role in the film. In most horror films there is always the stereotypical blonde stupid girl, who will most likely get killed near the beginning. This character along with the other female characters will be scared characters who will scream a lot throughout the film. They will most likely be victims who show no power and are Scantily clad (Naked, provocative) characters.

Pitch

Media presentation by Harry Whitehead + Oli Watson