Re-Filming (DOC)

LS29 are filming again tonight (19/03/12) and we aim to get a lot done and to use the feedback we received from our last rough cut to improve our 4th rough cut majorly. We have a new idea which we are going to try out tonight; to see this idea please refer to a previous blog post. The idea shouldn't take a long time to film but we will film it several times to make sure that we get the shot to be as good as it possibly can be. The feedback that Sam and I received from our 3rd rough cut was that there are some good ideas in there and the media product could be good but it needs a lot of work doing to ensure so, one of the aspects being framing.

Sam and I when filming for our 3rd rough cut, didn't take the framing as seriously as we should have done and we didn't think about it as much as we should have done. For example, there's a shot of the main character on his phone and it's a close up of his hand; however, in the background there's a poster with a close up of the hand and this ruins the shot and it looks terrible. It's such a simple mistake but it effects the final product drastically.

This is an example of poor framing in Red Run.

After filming tonight, I'll post some preview clips of the rough cut, asking for opinions and feedback so that Sam and I can work to improve it once again in the short time that we have. Please click here to see the new idea that LS29 have and aim to film and post tonight.

Characters

We are planning on having 2 main characters although this could increase after filming more and structuring our idea's fully. These 2 characters are going to be a boy and a girl both teenage. The boy / Dillon shares some the characteristics of a possible characteristics of a American "Jocky" the common scream kings in the Slasher Genre, He is of average height, brown hair and as a character in this film plays the part of someone whom is relatively sexually active and "impure". The other role/character in the film is the girlfriend of this boy, we haven't decided yet whether or not we'll have her as a scream queen or final girl, most likely scream queen as she is portrayed in this film as a sexually active young teenage girl and will most likely will have blonde hair although we still have not decided on who to use as the actor for this role.

Location & Mise-En-Scene

The main or only location in our film at the moment is outside and inside of Dillons house. This location is perfect of what we're trying to accomplish as it suits most Slasher film characteristics as the house is in a  

urban location it isn't detached, but it's of a average size and a average household that you wouldn't think twice about, therefore it will hopefully relate to most of our audience.

The Mise-en-scene were using is also already perfect, as the boy's room or Dillons bedroom already shows all the characteristics of a normal average teenage boy, such as a messy room, posters of girls, artists like "Bob Marley" and sport role models, and the rest of the house just gives off signifiers that it is just a normal middle class household where you wouldn't expect supernatural occurrences to take place.

Pitch & Ideas

Our short film "Red Run" is about a thrilling story about a night that will stay with you for the rest of your life, The resurrection of a past evil will send a young couple fighting for their lives in a emotional whirl wind where only one will survive.

The concept for our film has been taken from the films Childs Play, Friday the 13th & Halloween. The killer in our film is a doll like in Childs Play and the idea from it coming to life is also from Childs Play but the idea of how it is resurrected is from Friday the 13th as the doll is resurrected/brought to life by electrocution.

The Doll used in Childs play

The Doll we are using in our production "Red Run"

At the start of our film we have come up with the idea of someone walking towards the house in a POV shot, using a GoPro Headcam, this idea is based around the start of the film Halloween, but instead of having the person in POV as the killer, we are planning to place a false scare into this somehow.

The basic idea of the storyline is that, the girlfriend is going to bring the doll into the house of her boyfriends when she goes round there, she could of found it outside on her way there or something like that. She then gives it to the boyfriend as a joke or present if we plan on making the boy a slasher film enthusiast, the two then go upstairs to have sexual intercourse implying there both impure and that they deserve it in the slasher genre world, we are then going to have a time lapse on the window showing it going from night to morning, the girl then wakes up and says she must go home as she didn't intend to stay over and her mum will be angry, she then leaves the house, but as the boy is running and telling her to wait up, just after she leaves the house and closes the door, he trips up at the top of the stairs, falling down them. This is where the doll comes into play, somehow between the time of it coming into the house and this it is going to be electrocuted, this could happen as the boys running after her girlfriend before he falls down the stairs, as he's running out of the bedroom he could knock over a glass of something maybe alcohol which will emphasise their impurities. When the boy falls down the stairs the doll then goes to get a knife, when this is all happening the girlfriend has realised she has forgotten something and has to go back, will she get to the house on time?

"LS29 Production's" Ident

Untitled from Sam Daffern on Vimeo.

This is LS29's first ident. We are happy with this and feel as though it looks professional and will certainly look good when it's used at the beginning of our film opening. However, it's not the final product and to improve it, Sam and I need to add some sound to it which shouldn't be hard, we can just use a simple sound that we will create ourselves in a program called Garage Band. Another thing that we can improve with this ident as we gathered from our feedback on it is that it isn't long enough and should fade in, fade out and show the LS29 Productions text for longer. Please take a look at our ident and help us by providing some feedback. 
This was also created using Adobe After Effects CS5.

"Flow Productions" Ident

Untitled from Sam Daffern on Vimeo.

Here is my ident, this was created using both Cinema 4D, a 3D animation programme & Sony Vegas, a professional editing programme. I thought of this idea of the ball of liquid kind of thing after watching something similar to it on youtube, i then went on and made this, it was originally intended for a mountain biking edit i was working on before this media coursework came into play, but i thought that this animation could be used to make my solo Media ident. After thinking of this idea for my ident i came to the name "Flow" as my Coursework productions name, as the ball of liquid, has obvious flow, is peaceful \ calming and just remind's me and has the properties of something flowing.

Here's a wonky screenshot of the C4D file of my ident taken with my camera, just gives a idea on how it was made and the kind of programme cinema 4d is.

This is a screenshot of Sony Vegas and the project file i used to add the added effects onto the animation, as well as music and the end title.

To make this ident though, i also had to render the same animation 3 times in cinema 4d but at 3 different angles to give the look it has now. this was a strenuous task as the render time for each of them is around 10-12 hours.

Roughcut 3, Feedback

The feedback we got for this after it was screened for the class is that:

• The camera work is still shaky, this is hard to prevent but it makes such a great difference when its a still frame. - We could possibly solve this problem by maybe using a different tripod, my dad has one that he uses in his office so i could ask him if we could borrow that for when we next film.
• The start, the feedback we got for this is that we should have kept the ident sounds and not have a opening song over the top, and the obvious copyright issue on the "Arctic Monkeys" song used. Our cutting speed on the computer/phone scene was also criticised being too fast and having one too many shots - To fix this issue i think we are going to change the starting scene entirely and also to bypass the copyright issues me and Dillon are going to create a soundtrack using my Bass Guitar and his Guitar and if not that try make something on garage band.
• We were also given constructive criticism on the killing scene, we were told that this was a lot better compared to the previous rough cut as the shots are a lot faster and less noticeable, but i think we're now binning the idea that this scene was a flashback of some sort or a previous event in the past. This scene was also way too short in my eyes and there is still a lot of improvement needed on the soundtrack.
• The colour correction made in magic bullet looks, we were told that in some clips this cc used was too blurry- we are going to change this by looking at more or removing the blur around the edges although this blur effect is very effective as it focuses on the centre film well.

Creating a Soundtrack (DOC)

With the deadline looming, Sam and I need to create a soundtrack. In our 3rd rough cut we used the song 'Red light indicates doors are secured' By the Arctic Monkeys. We feel like this song fitted in well with the teenage image that we're trying to portray as the main character is supposed to give the impression to the audience that he's a male scream queen as he has two posters included in the mise en scene in the bedroom, one being Bob Marley which symbolises drug use and one of naked women which symbolises him being sexual active.

Anyway, because Sam and I know that we can't use the Arctic Monkeys song because of copyright reasons, we included it in our 3rd rough cut simply to see whether people enjoyed it and think that it worked well. The feedback we received was positive and most of the audience agree that if it wasn't breaching copyright laws, it would have been a great song to use.

With this feedback, Sam and I have decided to record our own version of the song which should hopefully work just as well and won't breach any copyright terms. Sam plays the bass guitar and I play the electric guitar, so between us we think that we'll be able to create a good soundtrack. Our other alternative is to make the soundtrack using Garage Band but we believe that we can learn and record the Arctic Monkeys song in the same amount of time as it would take for us to create a soundtrack in Garage Band. Once we have recorded the soundtrack we will upload it for feedback and comments.

Podcast 5

Podcast 4

Podcast 3

Podcast 2

Podcast 1

Idents Podcast

Next Scheduled Filming Of Red Run

Sam and I have organised to film this Saturday (17/03/12) and Monday (19/03/12). We will then edit that night and possibly Tuesday if we don't get finished so that we can hand in our 4th rough cut on the Wednesday and gain feedback. With the feedback we receive, we will film again on Wednesday (21/03/12) taking the feedback into consideration and creating a final cut to hand in on Friday (23/03/12) so that it can be marked and given back with more feedback.

Sam and I don't want to be handing in a rough cut which we know isn't as good as we know our potential can achieve and this is why we're going to hand in a 4th rough cut, simply to gain feedback before our final cut so that it can be as good as it possibly could be.

A New Idea

After gaining feedback on our 3rd rough cut, Sam and I have concluded that to improve our media product we need to do several things; add another character, preferably a scream queen stereotype (blonde hair and sexually active) because this fits in with the slasher genre, take more time to cut into the action of the killer doll as we introduce the main character too quickly as we need to build tension and suspense and also show the killer doll being brought to life through electrocution which we did for our first 2 rough cuts but decided to leave out for the 3rd. Also, it would be a good idea to create a false scare are the beginning of the slasher film opening because this also links in well with the slasher genre. A false scare is a good way of getting the audience's attention and introducing the characters to them.

To create the false scare, LS29 will film the girlfriend character (scream queen) from a point of view shot as she walks up to the house of her boyfriend; this has been used in slasher films before such as Black Christmas and Halloween although they weren't false scares, they were the real killer. Also, we will add some intertextuality with the media products from other students in my media class and providing the audience with anchorage that the doll, which will be a joke present from the girlfriend to the boyfriend as the main character and killer doll from one of our fellow student's slasher film opening. The girl will be walking up to the house whilst the boy is in the kitchen making a cup of tea with his back facing the doors that the girl will be sneaking into and creeping up on him, scaring him and creating a false scare.

By creating this false scare, Sam and I will be hopefully improving our media products in several ways; for example, we will be increasing the length of it to the preferred length of time for the slasher opening as it's too short as it is now. Also, we will be able to introduce the characters more slowly and build tension and suspense and when we do introduce them during the false scare, we will be introducing them in a more effective way and we will hopefully have gained the audiences attention and interest more. Once LS29 have filmed this, we will post it as a blog and ask for feedback. We plan to film this on Saturday (17/03/12)

Target Audience- (DOC)

The target audience for LS29's film opening is younger people rather than old, roughly 16-25. We have gone for this target audience because the storyline of the film opening is similar to that of Child's Play; a series of films based on a killer doll, that's brought to life also through electrocution but through other methods too such as voodoo. Some differences with LS29's film opening and the Child's Play series is that the doll is the spirit of a person; a serial killer called Charles Lee Ray where as Sam and I's film opening hasn't got that included, it could be the case but there simply isn't enough time to expose that.

Our film opening, we believe, also fits in with the Child's Play film's target audience (16-25) and this is because the younger the person, stereotypically the more imaginative they are when it comes to films, either imaginative or simply easier to please. This means that the younger the person, the more they are supposedly going to enjoy the idea of a doll being alive and not only alive, but a killer too. Sam and I believe that the older the person, the less likely they are to embrace the killer doll concept and they may see it as being childish, especially with the story line being similar to that of Child's Play. It's not so much that Sam and I think that the older age group won't enjoy our film opening, it's simply that we believe they may not enjoy the storyline; however, we may be wrong and they could possibly enjoy the film opening as long as they find the killer doll's role in the film believable and effective.

The young audience that Sam and I are targeting could be easily accessed through social networks such as Facebook and Twitter. The older age group may be harder to promote our film to because there is a lot less older people on Facebook and Twitter. Our film opening, like the Child's Play series may be seen as inappropriate by some people due to the killer in the slasher genre being a Child's toy, in this case a doll. If this was to happen, it would most likely be older people thinking like this and this is another reason why they're less likely to targeted as an audience. The young people however may feel even more encouraged to watch the film if older people are contesting it like they did with the Child's Play films.

'Red Run' Rough Cut 3

Untitled from Sam Daffern on Vimeo.

Our rough cut 3, we still need to work on the start and the concept of something bringing the doll into the house. we listened to the previous rough cut's feedbacks and went on to having a lot more shot variations on each scene. we also improved the killing with much short takes making it more realistic.

We also tried using sound tracks and improved sound effects such as the arctic monkeys song at the start which is meant to be implying digetic sound coming from his computer and the sound's at the killing scene. we also included the indents on this rough cut to have a feel of what the final cut will be like, and i also added a colour correction using magic bullet looks to improve the picture quality and make it look cleaner.

"Red Run" Rough Cut 2, Feedback

The audience/Class's feedback was that the takes were too long which made the clips look less believable or real compared to the fast paced cuts you see nowadays.

The killing was also too long on both the doll and the body being stabbed, so we plan to make these cuts fast and sharp and also probably change the fake blood as the mixture we used for this was too orange.

Another bit of criticism was lack of soon or a sound track, so were are going to try make on ourselves either on garage band or simply with guitars and bass.

'Red Run' Rough Cut 2

Untitled from Sam Daffern on Vimeo.

This is our second rough cut, editing was rushed, this was simply to test out how to do the killing scene as well as blood and sound effects. We are also going to change this so that at the start the doll can be introduced by a dog bringing it inside the house or something like that. and also improve on the ending.

Improving our Rough Cut- (DOC)

To improve our rough cut, Sam and I need to pay more attention to little details when filming. One of these details is the amount of time that the shots are one for; for example, on our first rough cut, there are point of view shots of the action figure walking towards the teenage boy who has just been tripped and fell down the stairs. For this shot, Sam and I need to make it shorter or break it up into seperate parts so that it's more believable and doesn't lose its effectiveness. Also, we were thinking about adding an effect to make the shot more blurred by using layering and and adding to layers over to make it look as if the character is dizzy after falling down the stairs, we were also thinking about adding a video effect or transition to make it look as if the character is blinking; it's little effects like this that should make the overall product more convincing and mroe enjoyable to watch. Another aspect of our rough cut that needs improving is the mise en scene. Sam and I are going to change what's lying on the floor at the beginning of the rough cut as the electrocution occurs, we will add things that are more scary and more suitable to the slasher genre. We're not sure what yet but we could link it in with another film to add intertextuality to our film opening. Another idea is to add a slaher film such as Halloween or Friday 13th poster to the wall of the room to provide some intertextuality.
Also, taking the feedback that we received from our first rough cut into account, we need to change the lighting of the shots and make it darker to make it scarier and mroe intense as everything is scarier in the dark and once again, this will suit the slasher genre more.

Practise Footage 1

Here's our first practise footage, this was had to be recorded on a ipod so sorry about quality. The idea was this was to find out and practise how to move the doll and therefore improve on it and gain feedback to improve on this for the final cut. We will be filming this again tonight, this time with a hd camera and we are going to also try buy a doll as in the latest feedback with our rough cut 1, we were told that we should change the doll from the red actionj figure.

Untitled from Sam Daffern on Vimeo.

Filming- (DOC)

Last night, Sam and I did some more filming towards our rough cut video. We re-filmed the movement of the action figure (doll) and of the action figure entering the room and walking around on the other side of the door. We filmed this by turning off all of the lights in the room in which we were filming, placing the camera on the floor, looking underneath the door into a room where the light is turned on. I then control the doll, moving it's legs to make it look as if it's moving and walking around on the other side of the door. Watching this back, Sam and I think it looks good but Sam forgot the battery for his camera so we had to use an iPod camera which obviously didn't work as well and the quality wasn't as good. However, we are still happy with how the filming went as we think it looks realistic as if the action figure really is walking around on the other side of the door. We will definitely re-film these shots using a better camera though.

When filming, we also filmed the action figures hand pushing open the door and then walking in; this was harder to do because we had to be very careful how we filmed the shots as we had to avoid filming my hands which were controlling the action figure. We did this well but it was made harder by the fact we were using an iPod camera because it wouldn't go on a tripod and the shots are most likely going to be very shaky which isn't good at all; this is even more reason to re-film these shots and Sam and I will do so tonight and tomorrow, using better cameras!

At this stage, we are still behind on filming and should have already produced a rough cut video including all our practise footage and a basic idea on what happens in our film opening. We haven't filmed all of our idea yet and haven't filmed the whole of the opening. We will have this completed though within the next two days.

Practise Footage Info- (DOC)

Practise footage should be up soon, we have filmed the scene of the boy in his room and how he comes to life, but it is hard to see and of course this will only be the rough footage, so we will improve on this. We also filmed the stairs scene we have described in one of our podcasts, but the tape we recorded on was corrupted and had lines across the video. This footage though looked really nice and we will defiantly use it for the actual finished project as it really gives the effect of someone falling down the stairs and looks realistic as the mattress is out of shot, and fast paced cutting should make it even more realistic and be more effective for the audience watching.

LS29 Productions footage info // LS29 Blog

Practise footage should be up soon, we have filmed the scene of the boy in his room and how he comes to life, but it is hard to see and of course this will only be the rough footage, so we will improve on this. We also filmed the stairs scene we have described in one of our podcasts, but the tape we recorded on was corrupted and had lines across the video. This footage though looked really nice and we will defiantly use it for the actual finished project as it really gives the effect of someone falling down the stairs and looks realistic as the mattress is out of shot, and fast paced cutting should make it even more realistic and be more effective for the audience watching.

LS29 Productions Blog: http://ls29film.blogspot.com/

Filming in the Snow

Today, Me and Dillon re-filmed the shots of the house which we are using to set the typical slasher scene; an isolated, big house, usually in the dark. However, this time we went to re-film the house because it's snowing and we think that this adds extra effect to the shot. We will post videos of both the shots, one with the snow and one without and get feedback from people on which one looks better. The first time we filmed the house with the snow, it was light and we did this simply because it might not still be snowing when it gets dark but if it is we will film it again and then we will have even more footage to compare and get feedback from other people.

Tomorrow, Sam and I will film again when the is more snow on the floor because we think it will look better, we may even film it in the morning and again at night, we could then play around with the idea of fading one into each other. Also, when filming tomorrow, Sam and I will do more filming inside and re-film the shots which use the stairs and show the teenage boy falling down them, onto mattresses obviously which won't be seen by the camera. We need to film these shots again because the first time we filmed them, the tape broke and put lines across the videos so unfortunately we can't use them but hopefully this time we can get more footage and film it better this time.

Sam and I are slightly behind on filming and haven't yet produced a practise footage video which we need to do. Even though we have the footage, we haven't yet filmed practise shots of everything that we're doing in our film opening. We know what we want to do but haven't yet got around to it; we will film some more next week and produce a practise footage video which we can show to people to gain some feedback, comments and advise.

Prelim

Final Cut Practice/Test

Halloween Opening Analysis

First ident "A compass international pictures release" followed by "Moustapha akkad presents" fades to a lit pumpkin with the camera moving very slowly towards it from a extreme longshot as more titles are shown. There is also a audio bridge across all of thios, a unsettling piano tune made to add suspense and is slowly getting louder. Each title shown also fades out to a red clour symbolising blood and that this is a horror film.
Inside the pumpkin there is a programmed light that is made to flash on and off to add effect and keep the viewers eyes fixed on the film.
This then fades out and fades into "Directed by John Carpernter".
the musicpitch and sound then changes as it goes to the title "Haddonfield, Illnois." this then tells us the location and that its quite serious as a serif font is used. Title then changes again to "Halloween night, 1963" Thia tells the audience when this is taking place and also relates to the title of the film. Children are also singing in the background as this is taking place changing the mood of whats happening.
Title fades out and music abruptly stops.

POV shot of "Killer" walking towards house

2:18 in, opening scene starts, extreme longshot of a house and a steady cam is being used so it can reinact the view of someone walking without jolty movements. This is moving towards a house, the house is terraced and looks like a urban setting. Over this there is also no music. This gives a a creepy atmosphere. First 2 characters are then seen at 2:31, as the cam is moving towards the house you briefly see a young couple kissing through the front door window. This tells us that these people are going to be victims as they are unpure and possibly sexually active. The steadycam then moves round the side of the house to a window, here you can see the couple from before kissing on the sofa and then go upstairs shortly after to possibly have sex. From this now you definatly know that one or both of them will die in this opening scene.
The steadycam goes back round the the front of the houseand looks up at a upstairs window, as the light then goes off in that room a sharp piano note is played ringing, and the steadycam/potential killer then moves quickly to the back of the house.This then moves through thr backdoor turning on the kitchen light and takng a knife out of a draw. By this we know that this is a POV shot and we also saw the killers arm as he reached out for the knife. By showing a knife this also show's that this film is going to be a slasher.

Moment when the killer picks up a mask and puts it on.

The killer then walks through the house to the stairs just when the male is coming back down the stairs and leaving the house. The killer then walks up the stairs finding a mask on the floor and putting it on. This emphasises the POV shot as it shows that the camera is the killers eyes. as the mask makes a shadow template onto the camera.
The killer then walks into the girls room up behind her, when the girl turns around her reaction is of as she knew him "screaming michael" Killer then repeatedly stabs her not showing much graphic shots so it still gives a realistic look. Killer then walks down out of the front door where a car is just pulling in. 2 adults then come out of the car walking towards him, also knowing who he is they say "Michael?"

The end of the opening where we find out the killer was only a little boy.

Camera then changes from the POV shot as the man takes off the killers mask zooming out showing a small child wearing a halloween costume holding the knife.

Representations Of Friday The 13th

In Friday the 13th, there are a lot of these representations you find in most slashers and it may have started some also, with the original friday the 13th, Alice Hardy is shown as the strongest woman on the film, the woman who survives, but that is because she has brown hair which apparently automatically makes you more intelligent  and braver than all the blonde girls who usually die first. This film can also be seen as different that other slashers as the antagonist is female, Mrs Voorhees, although she is portrayed as a a more male character. Mrs Voorhee's the killer in this film also only kills the young teens, male and female, who are sexually active or just having fun. and because of this Mrs Voorhee's see's them responsible for Jasons death as they weren't watching the children at the time, but instead having sex. This is the motive behind the killings.

In Friday the 13th, all the young women were shown as nothing more than sex objects, and shown half clothed and hyper-sexualized, I think this takes away the audiences ability to sympathise for them. And this is also the case in nearly all slasher films, as they usually show a direct cause and effect link between sex and death, and there horrific deaths symbolising a punishment for any kind of immoral intercourse.