Filming plan

Point of veiw Shot

This is a series of shorts that will be used throughout the filming process:


The point of veiw shot will be used mostly as the cameras are hand held and the story calls for all the characters to be holding a camera filming the action at all times. By using the one hundred and eighty degree rule we can ensure that no audience member will be confused by the shots that we take so we will have to be extremely careful as very few of the scenes that we shoot will have fixed cameras.

Mid Shot or Medium Shot

The first scene that we are going to shoot is the scene where Dani and John are it he science room about to be attacked by the ghost. We will have an establishing shot of them entering the class room, from there it will mostly point of view where the audience will see through the cameras of Dani and John. We want the lighting to be bright and calming but for half way through the scene the lights to blacken and the set to be bathed in darkness only being able to se outlines of people or the ghost.

Another scene we will shoot is of the entire cast first entering the empty school. We are going to use point of veiw shot for this scene being careful to abided by the ruls of continuity and the 180 degree rule.

Long Shot

The next scene to shoot is the scene in the drama room with Bret when he is attacked by the ghost. This scene will have a fixed camera and using a two shot we will get me and Bret performing the scene with some point of view shots edited in to add a sense of unpredictablitly and to see the scene through our eyes. We will have the cameras in our hands for the audience too see as we are filimng a documentry much like in The Blair Witch Project.

Two Shot

The art room is the next scene we will need to film in this place we are filimg a few scenes. The scene where me and Fay find the blood in the sink we are going to use a raised camera using a tripod that pans round to follow us moving and the shot that it will shoot will be a mid-shot. we will also shoot point of veiw shots that will show the veiw of the charcter and make the audience feel like they are apart of the action and unlitmately make them feel more scared.

Close Up

We plan to walk round the school fo rour opening shots as we want it to start fun and clam and then turn into a horror, this affect is usually used to create a fauls sense of security for the audience and then scare them suddenly, it is used mostly in paranomal acivity. We will use mainly point of veiw shots with hand held cameras and then switch back and forth to make the audience feel uneasy and scared.

Planned locations for filming

 

 

 

The Art Room

The art room is one of are places that we have chosen to film in, it has the ability to get dark very quickly which is something we will require for our mise-en-scene. It is an open space and will be relatively empty when we begin filming. It has alot of unfinished peices of art in it so it looks well used and in the dark even looks like its just been abandonded which fits in well with the style of horror film we want to make. It is also in the old part of the building and is therefore more liable to be haunted. The room has several doors that exit the room so it will work well when we are creating affects as some one can create an affect and quickly escape before the camera sees them.

 The Food Technology Room

The food technology room is one of the newer rooms so it stands to reason that it would be a safe place to come to escape the ghost. When this room is used in the point in the story the characters dont yet know that the ghost they are running from is the ghost of someone who worked on the site before the work house was knocked down and the school was built, so when they discover this they realise that there is nowhere to hide. The room can also become very dark and being a kitchen can be quite a dangerouse place at times. The room fits the mise en scene well being that it has the capability to get dark with out being toatlly pitch black and is a classroom which is important for a school.

 The entrance!

The entrance looks very safe and school like which is what we want. Most horror films lull their audience into a false sense of security before scaring them. This creates a contrast where by you rapidly change the atmosphere the audience are experiencing and the mood they are feeling making them feel very un easy. Unlike women in black the building is not very imposing at all but thats not what we want we want it to look inviting and safe.

 The Art Corridor

The art corridor is one of the oldest parts of the original school building and this is reflected in its architecture. In the dark this is amplified by any light wheter it be moon or ambient light shining through the windows creating shadows and beams of light in the corridor. The long corridor mixed with shadows could create a creepy atmosphere.

The science corridor

This is quite an important set as it is where the ghost is sighted and peters character is killed. The lighting during the night is almost pitch black so we plan to have the lighting dark but just light enough to see, this will make for a scary atmosphere much like the set in the film grave encounters. This is also on the site where the work house originally was. The science block has no windows so it adds to the sense of being trapped.






The Stage

This is where the final character dies so it is a very important set. The Stage has no windows or exit doors other than one so it will make the audience feel trapped. The lighting is dark and back stage all that can be seen is a silhouettes. This adds to the high tension and suspense and so it can make the audience feel very uncomfortable and tense.

Camera

This is the camera we are using in the filming process. It is HD and handheld it is a Xacti. We are using this as it is light weight and perfect for our use which is hand held, quick movements and easy to use so for a documentary point of veiw shot type its perfect.

Audiences and chosen demographic

Target Audience

Being a student film we we're keen to make sure that we could reach as many young people as possible, from the age of 15 to around the age of 21. I wanted to make sure that anything in the film was suitible for a target audience of people as young as 15. Before we thought about scripting i made sure of what was deemed appropriate to be veiwed by a 15 year old audience by checking the BBFC website and they defined a 15 as the following:

strong violence

strong language (eg 'f***').

portrayals of sexual activity

strong verbal references to sex

sexual nudity

brief scenes of sexual violence or verbal references to sexual violence

discriminatory language or behaviour

drug taking

To make sure that none of these lines where crossed i also checked how they defined an 18 and this is what they said:

very strong violence

frequent strong language (eg 'f***') and/or very strong language (eg ‘c***’)

strong portrayals of sexual activity

scenes of sexual violence

strong horror

strong blood and gore

real sex (in some circumstances)

discriminatory language and behaviour

Baring this information in mind we have decided to drop most frequent strong language. The
majority of the film is jumpy rather than gory or violent and it leans more towards a psycological thriller rather than a horror since the violence is minimul.


In order to reach our demographic and sevay our target audience we decided to set up a facebook page from which we could get feed back from our followers and post updates about the film and gage the audiences reaction based on likes and comments. We decided that our film needed to be backed by a film company in order to reach more people and gain some valuable credibility, so we founded Pfab our film company, the logo of which can be seen in the banner photo of the facebook page.

Photos for our magazine

This is the first photo the we took it is of the last one of the characters to die 'Eva'  she is being dragged back by the ghost and this will be one of the 5 covers in the collectors edition of our new magazine. This is going to show the audience the genre of the film and the style! The gritty dirty floor designed to demonstrate the helplessness of the situation.

This is a picture of us all showing very little emotion. As a magazine cover it is very ineffective as it isnt colourful or bold, this will need to be retaken.

This is the product of some clever editing, by editing out the elbow of fay we were able to get a severed had look. However the edit is messy and will need to be tidied.

This has no real purpose other than the fan site. This shows us all being happy and therefore is completely ineffective for a horror film magazine cover.

This is quite 'arty' with the lighting and the actor being off center however the arm looks messy and it gives away that some one or something is trying to kill us and i dont want that bein given away.

I really like the lighting in this the red really shows fear and danger and his expression clearly shows agony but it looks alittle untidy in the back ground and his arms arent level.

These first few photos are to give us a standard idea of what our magazine cover will look like, these are not the finished producted they are just the first of a few drafts. We want the covers to project fear, these pictures also show the ways in which our characters die. At the moment we are not sure if that is what we want as we dont want to give away the plot to soon. We are considering using just close ups of our faces as that would show fear but would leave everything else to the imagenation and could possibly spark some curiosity as well. Two of the photos show us standing together these photos give the audience an over all veiw of the cast, we may use these photos but i dont think that the photos look profesional enough, so they may be scraped. They dont show very much and they arent particularly intresting they show no emotion other than the one where we are just being silly in a 'fun' photo. We will use the 'fun' photo on ou fan facebook page as although the picture may appeal to those already fermillia to the franchise it would not to people who had never heard of us. The individual pictures look quite nice but i feel that they give far to much away and show to much to the audience. They show raw emotion which is what we want to grab the eye of the passer by but not is this format.

Fake blood (props)

This was the first time we had tried to create a prop for the film trailer and we wanted it to look realistic but reflect our intentions just as well. In most horror films props such as these are subtle and usually there just to create a sense of atmosphere but have no real meaning to the story. That is true for our trailer in two ways. We create a sense of fear and dred by the reaction of 'dani' to the bloody apron but  the story of that particular scene doesn't revolve around it much at all. However just because it doesn't matter to much to the story doesn't mean it doesn't hold any significants, for example in the women in black the house is full of different creepy old used furniture that doesn't affect the story line but is significant none the less, as with out it the house would look bare and unloved I'm which wouldn't have created such a good atmosphere. As for the creation of the prop, it can be seen in the picture that we used red paint and water splattered on to the apron to get the affect we wanted.

Magazine covers

These drawings are the preliminary ideas for our magazine, Total Movie. The idea was to have a series of magazines come out as a limited edition with special content and pictures relating to the film we are filming, including the cover. Each of the covers is the scene in which each of our characters die! The designs are the first of many we hope for them to change as the process goes on giving a good example of the evolution of our constant brainstorming of ideas. The first pictures will be subject to scrutiny and then we will take our final shots which we be used as the magazine front cover. The multiple edition magazine idea is good because it would not only be a fantastic way of advertising the film but it would also help merge two demographics, those who like the film and those who like the magazine would be encouraged to sample both the film and the magazine! The multiple edition helps to encourage people to buy the next edition. As for the designs we each looked at magazine covers and saw what was the main features and alot of it depended on genre. When I was researching the women in black magazine cover the characters face was the most eye grabbing feature, although it probably had alot to do with the character being Daniel Radcliffe. As his face was obvious and stood out that's what I thought my cover should be like too. I want people to see my cover and like what they see. I want their eye to be drawn and intrigued, so it is important to have an eye catching design, something with pleanty of colour and and bold simple shapes.

Choosing of film title

We used survey monkey, a website, to determine what the genral public would prefer the names of the film to be called. Out of five possible names the majority of the vote went to 'The Project' which got 36% of the vote shortly followed by 'The forgotten Project' that won 31% of the vote. My personal favourite didn't do very well at all, but it isn't about what I prefer as I can't ignore market research. It is important to know your demographic and their likes, dislikes and general tastes. Allowing a focus group to determine the name of our film could be vital to the success as the name is the first thing that attracts a person to a film. The film title 'the project' would appeal to the majority of our audience as the majority chose the title so therefore would more people would be attracted to come and watch the film.  I do the like the film name and I think it will help to attract audience and it will do well.