Capturing the film onto the hard drive proved to be fairly simple. There were no major problems other than occasionally pausing without reason or having problems with audio. However, within about half an hour all of it was uploaded onto premiere pro and each clip worked perfeclty fine. Most of the clips are in big chunks with no real order so I may decide to cut each scene out to make editing less complicated. However, as ive had a chance to get some clips in order on the timeline already, ive felt the process of cutting it out of the 1st preivew screen just as easy so feel this will waste time.
So far I am just reminding myself of the features on premiere pro such as learning how to just drag the audio into the timeline or mute or cut vision out of one of the levels of the timeline. Im making sure that everything that I want to put into my final piece is available ont his software such as the glithing affect.
I haven't faced any problems so far in editing. I am slightly worried about adding the music into my piece. I have already chosen all the sound affects and songs I want to add but am just worrying about the dialogue which will be added over the top or the transition between one song an another. I will look on the editng software to see what audio transitions there are or research back into other trailers to see how it was done it them.
Overall, I am pleased with how it looks now that it has been uploaded to a bigger screen. None of the shots seem to dark which it the main issue that kept coming up in filming. Although I was hoping to have more takes of the more important shots, so far, when looking back over the foutage, there arent any shots that look as if though they will cause any problems.
Tuesday, 15 February 2011
Monday, 7 February 2011
Filming: Day 2
My second filming day was on the 5th of February, starting at 2 o’clock and stopping at around 6 o’ clock.
On the first filming day, I followed the script exactly and found that some shots didn’t work or was to dark to do. Because of this, I decided that on my next filming day, I wouldn’t use any script and just shoot things I thought would work.
I started off with me just walking with the camera recording, going in and out the tunnels. As the light from the torches wasn’t enough to do the establishing shot, I did this all in the day. I was disappointed by this as I didn’t think that it would give the creepy feel I wanted however, the weather was very cloudy and fairly dark on the second day which helped. When walking around, if I thought something would look good in my trailer, I would shoot it. As I shot so much, I think that this will be good when editing as I will have a lot of choices there for me. So although, I don’t think I will be able to follow my script very well, I have a lot I can work with.
Being so free with my filming actually allowed me to shoot some great shots. For instance, as it was windy, there was a large metal door that kept banging shut on its own. Not only did it look good, it also gave me a great sound affect.
I thought this day was very successful, not only because I was freer without the script, but I had a lot more time. Not being restricted allowed me to think things through much more thoroughly and discuss with my helper and actor what shots I could do and how I could do them. I was also able to take many of the same shot to make sure that I had choices when it came to editing.
Having someone there that wasn’t an actor helped with lighting, organising and helping me with the camera when I needed to be in the shot.
The biggest problem I faced when I was there was that I only had one actor available. I originally wanted to retake some shots where the whole group was there but these might have to be replaced. Although having one actor was difficult, it did help with time issues, organising and noise. I found it so much easier to work with just the one actor and as a result, I thought it helped getting shots I wouldn’t normally have come up with.
The only major problem I had was that I wanted more shots with the ghost and the only character I had was the main investigator. As I had the same sort of hair, I tried doing these shots myself. The cameras screen was able to twist round so I could get a general idea of what it would look like before it was recorded. These shots took the longest as I had to go over and over them but I think that it was quite a success. I don’t think that the character will look noticeably different when I edit it together but it may mean that some previous shots may have to be cut out.
I decided to record the voices separately. I did this for many reasons. Firstly, it will allow me to be freer when editing it. I won’t have to put some unwanted shots in just because of the dialogue. Secondly, the recordings on the camera when the people are further away was poor, so having it separate meant that I could put the camera closer so hopefully, the quality will be better. I am unsure to how well I did these recordings though, however, if these seem to be a problem they are easy to redo.
Lighting was hardly an issue on this filming day. I decided to go up earlier when it was light so I could get all the establishing shots I needed. Some of the shots in the tunnels that were originally to dark were helped with the light coming from the end of the tunnel. I only had 2 torches to work with in this one but this wasn’t a problem at all.
Overall, I thought that this filming day was very successful. I don’t think that there was any major problems but if there are some shots from my script that didn’t quite work, I know that I have plenty of other shots I can change this for.
On the first filming day, I followed the script exactly and found that some shots didn’t work or was to dark to do. Because of this, I decided that on my next filming day, I wouldn’t use any script and just shoot things I thought would work.
I started off with me just walking with the camera recording, going in and out the tunnels. As the light from the torches wasn’t enough to do the establishing shot, I did this all in the day. I was disappointed by this as I didn’t think that it would give the creepy feel I wanted however, the weather was very cloudy and fairly dark on the second day which helped. When walking around, if I thought something would look good in my trailer, I would shoot it. As I shot so much, I think that this will be good when editing as I will have a lot of choices there for me. So although, I don’t think I will be able to follow my script very well, I have a lot I can work with.
Being so free with my filming actually allowed me to shoot some great shots. For instance, as it was windy, there was a large metal door that kept banging shut on its own. Not only did it look good, it also gave me a great sound affect.
I thought this day was very successful, not only because I was freer without the script, but I had a lot more time. Not being restricted allowed me to think things through much more thoroughly and discuss with my helper and actor what shots I could do and how I could do them. I was also able to take many of the same shot to make sure that I had choices when it came to editing.
Having someone there that wasn’t an actor helped with lighting, organising and helping me with the camera when I needed to be in the shot.
The biggest problem I faced when I was there was that I only had one actor available. I originally wanted to retake some shots where the whole group was there but these might have to be replaced. Although having one actor was difficult, it did help with time issues, organising and noise. I found it so much easier to work with just the one actor and as a result, I thought it helped getting shots I wouldn’t normally have come up with.
The only major problem I had was that I wanted more shots with the ghost and the only character I had was the main investigator. As I had the same sort of hair, I tried doing these shots myself. The cameras screen was able to twist round so I could get a general idea of what it would look like before it was recorded. These shots took the longest as I had to go over and over them but I think that it was quite a success. I don’t think that the character will look noticeably different when I edit it together but it may mean that some previous shots may have to be cut out.
I decided to record the voices separately. I did this for many reasons. Firstly, it will allow me to be freer when editing it. I won’t have to put some unwanted shots in just because of the dialogue. Secondly, the recordings on the camera when the people are further away was poor, so having it separate meant that I could put the camera closer so hopefully, the quality will be better. I am unsure to how well I did these recordings though, however, if these seem to be a problem they are easy to redo.
Lighting was hardly an issue on this filming day. I decided to go up earlier when it was light so I could get all the establishing shots I needed. Some of the shots in the tunnels that were originally to dark were helped with the light coming from the end of the tunnel. I only had 2 torches to work with in this one but this wasn’t a problem at all.
Overall, I thought that this filming day was very successful. I don’t think that there was any major problems but if there are some shots from my script that didn’t quite work, I know that I have plenty of other shots I can change this for.
Tuesday, 25 January 2011
Planning Story and scripts
Plan 1 - Brainstorming ideas and locations
Plan 2 - Planning the story and characters
Plan 3 - Story in more depth
Dialogue script
Main script
Screen Script draft - 8-15
Plan 2 - Planning the story and characters
Plan 3 - Story in more depth
Dialogue script
Main script
Screen Script draft - 8-15
Monday, 17 January 2011
Filming: Day 1
I filmed on the 11th of January, starting at around 6 o clock. Along with my actors I had two other people to help with carrying the equipment and script. As I was filming later than I originally planned because of trouble with travel, I had much less time to film and the lighting wasn’t good enough for some of the outside shots. For instance, shot one (the establishing shot) could not be filmed as the location, even with the use of torches, wasn’t visible on camera. This is the same for a few other shots. Because of this, I will be filming again in the day to get these final shots.
When in the tunnels, I had a few problems. Occasionally, something would get in the way such as misunderstanding some areas when writing the script. For example, in shot 24 when the ghost in dragging someone through the hole, I realised that this hole in the wall was too long to be able to reach through so I filmed one shot with her grabbing him with only the arms visible on her side and then another shot with him pretending to be dragged into the hole. This seemed to look believable but may face trouble when editing this shot.
When inside the tunnels, I had little trouble with lighting. I had the two people who weren’t acting helping me out with the lighting. Although some of the torches have more of a spotlight than over all lighting, this sometimes was an advantage when filming the ghost as it gave a more selective lighting. For instance, in shot 41, I only wanted to the torch to light her up. This ended up looking a lot scarier in my opinion.
Having so many people on the set was a bit of a hassle. Not only was it a bit distracting but in some shots someone might not have realised it was recording and talked over it or someone would start laughing through the filming. It was also difficult constantly making sure no one was visible on the shot they weren’t meant to be in. However, having the two extra people proved a great help in lighting and helping out organising what shot is next. There was little issues with people passing while filming which I was not expecting in such an isolated spot. Although, they didn’t stay for long, the filming had to be delayed as they kept making noises in the background.
Other than lighting, sound was another big issue that I am still trying to figure out how to overcome. On the night, I was planning to have the dialogue over the top of the shots and the recordings done on that same night, however, time and volume got in the way of this. I am now going to record these separately and, while editing, put them into the shots. Most of the dialogue was fine but it was in the areas where the camera was far away from the actors when it started being a problem.
As we started much later than I planned, this made me rush through a lot of the shots meaning that I only had one shot of each. I would have liked to have more of an option for each shot so it would be easier editing it however, most of the shots looked well done expect a few that were unnecessarily cut short which I will reshoot on my next filming session.
Overall, the first filming day wasn’t as successful as I would have hoped; however, I have a lot more time to film to get all the shots I need and to record all the dialogue that wasn’t very audible on the camera. I will make sure next time that I plan time better in order for the lighting to be right and will organise more clearly which order I will do it in to make it a quicker and easier process.
When in the tunnels, I had a few problems. Occasionally, something would get in the way such as misunderstanding some areas when writing the script. For example, in shot 24 when the ghost in dragging someone through the hole, I realised that this hole in the wall was too long to be able to reach through so I filmed one shot with her grabbing him with only the arms visible on her side and then another shot with him pretending to be dragged into the hole. This seemed to look believable but may face trouble when editing this shot.
When inside the tunnels, I had little trouble with lighting. I had the two people who weren’t acting helping me out with the lighting. Although some of the torches have more of a spotlight than over all lighting, this sometimes was an advantage when filming the ghost as it gave a more selective lighting. For instance, in shot 41, I only wanted to the torch to light her up. This ended up looking a lot scarier in my opinion.
Having so many people on the set was a bit of a hassle. Not only was it a bit distracting but in some shots someone might not have realised it was recording and talked over it or someone would start laughing through the filming. It was also difficult constantly making sure no one was visible on the shot they weren’t meant to be in. However, having the two extra people proved a great help in lighting and helping out organising what shot is next. There was little issues with people passing while filming which I was not expecting in such an isolated spot. Although, they didn’t stay for long, the filming had to be delayed as they kept making noises in the background.
Other than lighting, sound was another big issue that I am still trying to figure out how to overcome. On the night, I was planning to have the dialogue over the top of the shots and the recordings done on that same night, however, time and volume got in the way of this. I am now going to record these separately and, while editing, put them into the shots. Most of the dialogue was fine but it was in the areas where the camera was far away from the actors when it started being a problem.
As we started much later than I planned, this made me rush through a lot of the shots meaning that I only had one shot of each. I would have liked to have more of an option for each shot so it would be easier editing it however, most of the shots looked well done expect a few that were unnecessarily cut short which I will reshoot on my next filming session.
Overall, the first filming day wasn’t as successful as I would have hoped; however, I have a lot more time to film to get all the shots I need and to record all the dialogue that wasn’t very audible on the camera. I will make sure next time that I plan time better in order for the lighting to be right and will organise more clearly which order I will do it in to make it a quicker and easier process.
Monday, 15 November 2010
Audience Analysis
Understanding
People will go to see horror movies expecting be come out freaked out and scared. Not only would they be expecting this but they would most likely want this. They go to see horrors for the fun of being frightened by what they see so after watching a trailer, if they don’t think that they are going to get this from that film, they probably won’t watch it.
The audience for this genre know the general content of a horror film. They know that gore will be used on most occasions, the possibility of supernatural storylines, the way that the film will seek to make the audience jump and be shocked by the images that are put in front of them.
Another thing that the audience would expect to see is the types of characters in horror films. They are most than likely going to be stereotypical horror characters in every horror film you see. For instance, the scared weak characters (more than often played by a female), the strong male character who takes charge (sometimes but not often played by a woman) and the evil characters in the film. The evil characters could be ghosts, zombies or anything supernatural or even human.
The audience would know, roughly, to what degree of gore and horror there will be by the certificate given. They would probably be more interested in films with a higher age certificate if the aim is to be more scared during the film.
Interest
Like I said above, people who watch horror films go to them to be scared so hopefully people would watch my trailer thinking that this is what they would be getting out of it. The more creepy and mysterious it is, the more likely they will respond.
As my target audience are for those who have a general interest in the supernatural, this would be another factor for why they would view this film. They would probably already have a fairly good knowledge of ghosts and other things paranormal so would enjoy seeing this portrayed in a film.
I would think that those factors I have mentioned in the audience profile would contribute to why they would see this film as well especially age. I believe that because the age group of the people in the film is 15-25, my target audience which is also 15-25 would feel like they can connect to this more. The same goes to education levels. The people in the film are students so students in my target audience would, again, feel like they have something connected to the people in the film and feel like it is more aimed towards them.
My film is being done using a handheld camera. This is a growing method in film making, mainly in the horror genre and is being more and more popular with it audiences. I think that, as this has been reflected in my trailer, people would go to see this film. Whether this is because they find them scary or just want to compare them.
Environment
There are many different ways to advertise the trailer these days. These are virally, such as sending the video through email or on websites (YouTube), during TV breaks or at the cinema before a film or in the foyer. I would advertise my trailer using all of these methods as, this way, there would be more access to them so would be more likely to grow my audience.
For viral advertisements, I would use YouTube to show my trailer. This is a free to upload this video so wouldn’t cost me anything to do this and is a widely used website so I know that people would see it here. People also use this website, solely to look through film trailer to see what they want to watch.
I would use the TV break to advertise my film. I would put this trailer late at night, either on a film channel or in between programmes such as ghost hunters or most haunted as I know that my target audience would be watching these channels. Due to the content and certificate of my film I would have to put it on a late night showing.
Lastly, I would put in on in the cinema trailer parts at the beginning of a movie. I would choose to put it at the beginning of a film that has the same genre or actors as my own as those watching it would probably be my target audience.
People will go to see horror movies expecting be come out freaked out and scared. Not only would they be expecting this but they would most likely want this. They go to see horrors for the fun of being frightened by what they see so after watching a trailer, if they don’t think that they are going to get this from that film, they probably won’t watch it.
The audience for this genre know the general content of a horror film. They know that gore will be used on most occasions, the possibility of supernatural storylines, the way that the film will seek to make the audience jump and be shocked by the images that are put in front of them.
Another thing that the audience would expect to see is the types of characters in horror films. They are most than likely going to be stereotypical horror characters in every horror film you see. For instance, the scared weak characters (more than often played by a female), the strong male character who takes charge (sometimes but not often played by a woman) and the evil characters in the film. The evil characters could be ghosts, zombies or anything supernatural or even human.
The audience would know, roughly, to what degree of gore and horror there will be by the certificate given. They would probably be more interested in films with a higher age certificate if the aim is to be more scared during the film.
Interest
Like I said above, people who watch horror films go to them to be scared so hopefully people would watch my trailer thinking that this is what they would be getting out of it. The more creepy and mysterious it is, the more likely they will respond.
As my target audience are for those who have a general interest in the supernatural, this would be another factor for why they would view this film. They would probably already have a fairly good knowledge of ghosts and other things paranormal so would enjoy seeing this portrayed in a film.
I would think that those factors I have mentioned in the audience profile would contribute to why they would see this film as well especially age. I believe that because the age group of the people in the film is 15-25, my target audience which is also 15-25 would feel like they can connect to this more. The same goes to education levels. The people in the film are students so students in my target audience would, again, feel like they have something connected to the people in the film and feel like it is more aimed towards them.
My film is being done using a handheld camera. This is a growing method in film making, mainly in the horror genre and is being more and more popular with it audiences. I think that, as this has been reflected in my trailer, people would go to see this film. Whether this is because they find them scary or just want to compare them.
Environment
There are many different ways to advertise the trailer these days. These are virally, such as sending the video through email or on websites (YouTube), during TV breaks or at the cinema before a film or in the foyer. I would advertise my trailer using all of these methods as, this way, there would be more access to them so would be more likely to grow my audience.
For viral advertisements, I would use YouTube to show my trailer. This is a free to upload this video so wouldn’t cost me anything to do this and is a widely used website so I know that people would see it here. People also use this website, solely to look through film trailer to see what they want to watch.
I would use the TV break to advertise my film. I would put this trailer late at night, either on a film channel or in between programmes such as ghost hunters or most haunted as I know that my target audience would be watching these channels. Due to the content and certificate of my film I would have to put it on a late night showing.
Lastly, I would put in on in the cinema trailer parts at the beginning of a movie. I would choose to put it at the beginning of a film that has the same genre or actors as my own as those watching it would probably be my target audience.
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