Researching & Planning: The Moving Image Work

VLOG ENTRY 3: Blood Stains Makeup & Second Shoot Completed

On this vlog video, this was the second time that we filmed and it was the locker scene. We needed to prepare Asmaa as she plays the role of Priscilla in our short film and we have gotten fake blood from our previous vlog. The one applying the fake blood was Anita, as she was in charge of make up and Asmaa was in charge of being the stylist (wardrobe) as she needed to wear a long, black gown with her hair out and placed in front of her face; as she blocks her identity. This happened in the media apartment toilet and lucky enough, no one was using the toilet so we were not disturbing anyone's privacy.

As for me, I was in charge of setting up the camera settings as well as getting the camera equipments from the technicians. Then, after we have tested how Asmaa looked like as we told her to pose as a ghost by sticking her arms in front- representing a horrific image of a ghost. After, we have agreed that she had enough blood on her hands, arms and a bit near her mouth- then headed towards the hallway where the locker was as well as the actors, Lily and Shannon as Diana and Shannon.

Behind The Scenes (BTS): Second Shoot - Locker Scene & Toilet Scene

Actor/Actress: Asmaa as known as Priscilla (Unknown Ghost)

Aftermath after creating a ghostly impression using fake blood and some bits of tissue paper covered in 'blood' in order to make it more realistic. 

This is also for the scene when Diana and Rachel (her best friend) was standing in a locker as Diana receives a message as she finds Priscilla sitting down the bench, her body expression pointing towards her as Rachel gets worried as she doesn't see anything.

BTS: Filming in Progress for the Locker & Toilet Scenes

In the process of shooting the Locker scenes using a variety of camera angles and techniques using our final storyboard.

In process of shooting the ghost 'Priscilla', during the bench scene where she's itching herself from self-harming herself all over her arms hence the 'blood' overflowing and overtaking both of her arms.

In the midst of filming the Locker scene using a shoulder shot to showcase the text message from 'Priscilla'.

The Toilet Scene [BTS]

This is a couple of behind the scenes (BTS) pictures as for now, it appears like it's a teaser picture on what's coming next. As you can see from the previous posts, we tend to use 'fake blood' many times as that's one of our main focus and props in this short film extract. 

We were trying a wide range of camera angles and techniques such as panning, shoulder shot, full body shot and many more. This is to showcase every body expression and facial expression from both Diana & Priscilla as this would let the target audiences know their past and recent relationships that Diana was the reason why Priscilla committed suicide as she was cutting herself in the wrist and various other places in her body due to Diana's abrupt behaviour.

Editing Suite Room: Browsing for Sound Effects

Anita & I have brainstormed different sound effects from the MAC computer that were already free copyright. We both mainly looked at the ambience sounds as well as non-diegetic sound like a background noise for the locker scene to make it sound and appear realistic.

We will also be including some of the diegetic sound from the scene (video) off Diana's voice when she was choking out the blood and when she's grasping for air.

VLOG ENTRY 2: Planning & Editing [Sound Effects]

Team Meeting 4: Cancelling Plans & UPDATE!

Our team members held another team meeting via Facebook message and we originally planned on shooting the second scene, which was the 'Locker Scene'. This is the very first beginning of our short film as it will be located in our College, Leyton Sixth Form College. We planned on shooting this tomorrow, which is Wednesday 22/10/14 at 2:30 pm. This is because that's the time the actor finish their lessons and this will give us more space and freedom to use the hallway, bench and the lockers instead of having too many students around as it will get crowded and the noise and people will be able to get distracted easily.

Unfortunately, our actors can't make it as they have other personal things planned so we've decided to continue editing our first shoot videos and become used to it and become more confidence at the same time so we know how to use the software to edit, which is called Final Cut Pro as I haven't used this type of editing software before since I'm only familiar with ADOBE Premier Pro software that I've been working on other various videos from the past.





UPDATE!!

We have held another team meeting afterwards as we desperately wanted to shoot the Locker and the Toilet scenes before we break up for the half term as we don't want to be fighting over for a DSLR camera when we come back with the other groups in our class. 

Therefore, we have asked the actors if they were available for the next day and fortunately, they were free. We, as a team, felt relived as now we can film the next day during our media lesson as well as our lunch contingency time since everyone had a lunch break after the lesson. Overall, our second shoot will take place on Thursday, 23rd Octorber 2014 at 12:20 pm because we will be shooting Asmaa first, since she's playing the Ghost also known as Priscilla in this short film extract and she's also one of our team members which she would be more reliable and free to use as one of our actors/actress to play the role.

BTS: Editing in Progress

The image and video above represents my editing process as I was using iMovie editing software in order to edit our vlog entry number 2, which was focusing and browsing on sound effects. I have never used iMovie editing software before, however, the layout appears similar to the editing tools for ADOBE Premiere editing software as I was used to editing the footage without having any troubles; since I've had past experiences and I'm able to work quicker and on time in order to update it on my blogger.

VLOG ENTRY 1: First Shoot & Shopping!

We have started shooting our short film video however, we did not start filming from the beginning as we have started filming the bedroom scene first because it can be time consuming to film the bedroom scene in the end due to complications with the actors schedule as they may be busy in the future. On this vlog entry, we have filmed our journey based on shopping for props and preparing for our costumes and props such as, buying the cranberry juice, a white blanket, fake blood and pyjamas.

Also, as part of our accommodation and payment- we have bought food and drinks for the actors for signing a contract to play the roles for our production team.

SHOOTING DAY ONE: The Bedroom Scene (Videos)

This is a short evidence video that would portray the shooting session was taken place as planned on Saturday 18/10/12 at 12:00pm. Our team members met up at 10:15am at Westfield Stratford as Asmaa bought all of the DSLR camera tools such as the SD card, an extra charger and a tripod. 

The video above showcases how we were shooting the bedroom scene as planned as the main focus on this scene is Diana. We did this particular scene first because it involves brining all of the DSLR camera equipments at my house, as we needed to use it over the weekend so we booked it first before the other groups planned on shooting on a weekend first. As you can tell from the first video, Asmaa had directed Lily 'Diana', to "cough again" as she's directing her what to do and so the actress is able to repeat the action again. This shows how our communication is going well as we're acting out our roles professionally amongst to our crew members as well as the actors/actresses so everyone's able to get along well and are happy to do what they're doing on set or during.

The second evidence video above represents a live action video when 'Diana' played by Lily is acting out the scene where she cough and spits out 'blood'. I was making sure the camera angle used fits in well with the storyboard designed and created as I was making sure we follow through the final storyboard images that we have drawn beforehand. 

SHOOTING DAY ONE: The Bedroom Scene Images

Actors/Actresses: Lily as known as Diana

Location: Geneva's bedroom (House)

Time: 12:30pm

Scene: The Bedroom Scene: The part when Diana comes home and gets ready for bed at around 4-5pm in the afternoon from school as she gets a text from the unknown sender that reads, 'Revenge taste sweet doesn't it?' as she drinks cranberry juice. She then looks petrified and grabs a bible book. Long story short, the lights in the room starts flickering as someone's trying to mess with her...

Prop/Costumes: Fake blood, white bed sheet, cranberry juice, a bible book, pyjamas, mobile phone, laptop, a lamp

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Aftermath of Diana coughing and spitting out 'Blood' as portrayed in her white duvet sheet cover.

     

             

Diana looking at her hand when she realises she's coughing out blood from the Cranberry Juice that she drank after she receives the 'message'.

Diana's mouth is then covered with 'Blood' as she continuously cough it out on her white duvet sheet cover as its a possible sign from the unknown sender trying to ruin her life..

Our Production Roles (Introducing our Group)

       

  

This is Anita. She'll be in charge of being the main editor for our short film extract as she likes to explore and learn more about editing tools and how to cut scenes in between takes and so on. Asmaa and I would still co-operate with the editing but Anita will take over the most as we can keep on track on our storyboard; making sure we're following the main scenes correctly using the exact camera angle and techniques. Also, she makes sure that all of her props and costumes are ready and organise well ready for the scenes that will be acting out next and she makes sure that we get in contact with the actors/actresses as well so they'll know what's being going on and updating them on what scenes we're shooting after next.

 

This is Geneva, which is me. My main role for our short film is being the Producer. My job is to make sure the scenes goes on smoothly as I supervise the scenes, actors as well as the staff crew members (the extra people who comes in and help with the production) to work well together in order for the shooting to run along well and on track and time. This is the most important role as I feel like all the responsibilities is pressuring me since I haven't got any experience being a producer for a short film before. 

Even though it's a challenge, I would still do my best and work together as a team with my team members and staff crew to produce and create a horrifying and thriller 5 minute film. Also, I'm in charge of knowing how to use a DSLR camera as none of my team have ever used one before or not knowing what ISO is, or shutter speed, aperture, white balance and so on. Since I'm taking Photography, I'm most familiar when it comes to DSLR cameras and knowing what each element and button a DSLR camera has. For example, when you're filming at daylight around 1pm- it's best to set the ISO lower as there's more exposure to the sun at this time around the day.

This is Asmaa, our final team member. She's in charge of being the Director for our short film extract as she and I work together as we discuss which of the cuts of the scenes that was acted out is the best and its her job to direct and communicate with the actors/actresses to advice them on how to act a particular scene being represented. Also, she's in charge of being the one holding and working with the DSLR camera when we shoot our short film because she has more confidence in knowing what camera angles and techniques to shoot next on the top of her head. Even though we do take turns when it comes to shooting a particular scene; Asmaa has some leadership skills that leads us to work well together and listen to what we want to say.

Risk Assessment 2

Call Sheet 1: Bedroom Scene

Research: Props (Fake Blood)

The screenshot images above represents one of our crucial props that we're going to use for the bed scene; where Diana goes to bed and spits out 'blood' from her cranberry juice drink after she receives a message from an unknown sender. 

We have used google.com in order to find out how much fake blood will cost and it was only £1, so it is not too much and it is cheap. Since it is halloween soon, this was a perfect time to look for fake blood as there will be a lot of shops that will sell horror/thriller props like in Pound land for a affordable price. This has helped us plan our schedule because we will then have all the costumes and props we need to start filming for our short film using the final version of our storyboard. 

Reccess (Bedroom)

This will be the second location out of 4 that we will be shooting for our short film extract as we will be shooting the bed scene when based on our final storyboard provided, when Diana is ready to go to bed- something unexpected happens... this part is when she spits out 'blood' from her cranberry juice as someone had been threatening her via text messages from an unknown sender. 

Initial (temporary) Schedule for our Short Film Extract

A2 media Timestable planning from Anne Blossemberry

This is our initial (temporary) schedule for our short film extract made by one of my team members, Anita. This will be an outlook on our planning dates and shooting/filming dates as well.

 When we finish shooting our film, we will make another updated version of our schedule concerning the real time and date for our official schedule.

Contacting our Actors via Email

Risk Assessment

Talent Release Form - Actress (Ghost/Priscilla)

Team Meeting 3: Updating our Pre-production in our Blogs

Team Meeting: Updating and finishing off our post-production

During this team meeting, we were discussing and finalizing our call sheet for our actresses that will be playing for our horror/thriller short film extract as we will start shooting on 18/10/14, on a Saturday. We were also updating our blog as we have finished our risk assessment, storyboard and schedule in order to meet up the deadline for the next subtask provided. 

Team Meeting (2): Exploring and Playing around the DSLR Camera

Team Meeting: Playing and exploring around the DSLR camera

This meeting was held in 16/10/14 at 11:40am. We have had a couple of team meetings beforehand but this was the first group picture of my team members. During this meeting, we have played around with the DSLR camera in order to practise before we actual film it on our first shooting schedule; as the first shooting will be held in 18/10/14. We have decided to shoot the most difficult scenes first because this will give us more time and less pressure when it comes to editing as it's less hustle this way. 

Also, this was the day we planned on start filming on Saturday, 18/10/12 because we planned on over filming so we can choose which scenes would suit the best from our final storyboard based on how we compose the scene and how the actresses express their feelings. 

During our group chat, we contacted the actresses as well as we're not planning on shooting in order as we want to get the most difficult scenes first, for example we're shooting the film in a bedroom scene first because we're going to create the scene like it's at night and we need props including, a fake blood, a white sheet blanket and cranberry juice. 

Team Meeting (1) : Planning our Initial Ideas for our Short Film Extract

This was our first team meeting as a group as we finalized our genre, title and plot as we keep on exchanging different ideas and trying to figure out which scenes would work the best for our horror/thriller themed short film overall.

As you can see, we have all agreed as a group of 3 that we would do a horror/thriller short film extract. We have wrote down the hypnosis of our short film as it would help us come up with more ideas in the future presence to add a little bit more excitement to the overall scenes. We have also agreed on other crucial and important elements such as our target audiences, the length ability for our short film. Such as our target audiences will be young students, male or female oriented, with the age group from 16 years old and above. This is because coming from someone who's 17 years of age, I talk to some of my friends from the same age, either boys and girls and they said how a horror/thriller short film would be more fascinating to shoot and produce rather than any other genres out there. Since they're young and wild, we have come to a point where it would work out well overall as our initial ideas was leading us as a team to produce an exciting and glory blood related horror/thriller short film based on our final hypnosis in the end.

Our Final Storyboard

UPDATE: We did not produce a script because we have used our initial and final storyboard to direct the actors/actresses as well as we did not used any dialogue for our short film since we have used effective and haunting soundtracks and sound effects for our horror/thriller short film. 

Also, we have changed the narrative part for the ending of this final draft of our storyboard because we have realised that it was complicated to cut a phrase on a tree trunk as we tempted to use scissors to do so. This had led us to just apply fake blood on the tree trunk right after Priscilla strangles Diana in her neck. We have added the part where when Diana and Priscilla meet, Priscilla would strangle Diana's neck as a action of revenge and this is the climax of the story. 

We will then see Diana struggling to control Priscilla as she gets weakened by Priscilla's strength and power and so.. this will leave a cliff hanger because the scene will get cut to a tree trunk as blood flows down. This will just leave the audiences wondering what might have happened to Diana. If she is dead, alive or..? This is what we are trying to convey as it is up to the readers to imagine all possible resolution to the problem. This will leave them with full excitement and engaging.