Another of my roles was to focus on lighting in our scenes. I think this will be a particularly difficult task as horror films are stereotypically set in the dark, which will make it difficult for the camera to focus on the action. Therefore, as a group we decided to film mostly at dusk, and then use editing tools to make scenes darker as this would make the quality of images higher.
http://www.lavideofilmmaker.com/filmmaking/film-lighting-tips.html offered useful advice as they recommended lighting your film shot by shot. This means that when you relocate the camera to shoot a different angle, the lights must be moved as well to ensure the subject is always lit correctly. This is partly why films take so long to shoot.
This website also advised that when filming a shot and reverse shot, instead of moving the camera and lights for the reverse shot, simply switch the actors around and move the camera to the other side of the eye-line, in order to maintain the correct eye-line relationship. This allows you to use the same lighting set-up for two or more pairs of shots.
I particularly liked the lighting techniques used in this video, and hope to achieve similar shots to the highest quality achievable. I feel that the angles and skills used in this video really suit the genre of our trailer and will therefore try to use them in our film. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AUGPa_t8700 )
As filming is my main responsibility, I wanted to ensure that I understood what it involved, before beginning our project.
Cinematographic techniques are things such as the choice of shot, and camera movement, all of which greatly influence the structure and meaning of a film. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cinematic_techniques
I already know that a range of camera shots is vital for creating an exciting, tense trailer, but thought that this chart would help me as I could use it as a refernce which would ensure I swapped between shot types.
I found this video particularly useful as it showed me a range of camera shots, angles and movement techinques vital for film production. It also helped me to pinpoint which angles would be effective for our project, such as high angles to show vulnerability and tracking, as if your following someones movements.
Before creating our project, or focusing on our separate roles, as a group we decided to chose the music which would be the soundtrack of our trailer.
We felt this was an important decision to make as a group as the music creates the tension in the scene, and helps to speed up the pace of the whole trailer.
After conducting research into other trailers we found that the music is always of a complimentary genre to the type of film, for example a sad song for a sad film. Therefore we decided that we wanted something dark and heavy so opted for rock or heavy metal music. This would allow us to create a dark, eerie atmosphere.
As a group we all agreed on 'Hysteria' by Muse.
We felt this was very suitable as it starts with a slower tone before building up to the cresendo, where the action would take place in our trailer.
We also wanted to check that the public agreed with our song choice:
Amy Buck, 15, said 'I think it sounds like it would belong in a horror trailer, it's not my kind of music but it would definitly be something that could scare me in a movie!'
Ryan Moffit, 18 also agreed stating that 'It definitly makes me think of a chase scene or a killing spree, something creepy like that. I love any song by Muse so I think this would also attract me to see the film.'
Jade and Chloe have been best friends since they were little girls, and used to do everything together. However, everything changes after Jade commits suicide as a result of non stop bullying. Chloe can't help but feel guilty for the death of her best friend, and reveals there was more to their friendship than it may seem, as begins to seek revenge turning the lives of the school bullies upside down. As the bullies begin to 'disappear' a creepy atmosphere erupts in the school Jade once attended, but what or who is causing this? Is it just paranoia or is there more to the story than it may seem?
Once the questionnaires were completed I decided that the best way to organise my data was using pie charts:
By doing this, we are now able to see what the public would like in a horror film. For example, our results show that the majority of people asked would consider 'infliction' to be a suitable name for our film, and therefore we have decided to use this in our production.
My name is Chloe Edwards, I am currently studying A2 Media Studies, English Literature and History at Heworth Grange. I will use my blog to display all of the media work that I will do in the next year. Also included on my blog is my AS media work.
