Gant Chart

Here I have created a gant chart to show how many weeks I have left and what I have and haven't completed. The grey sections indicate the time that has past and should coincide with the work I have completed. So far I have completed everything as planned and I intend to keep to these deadlines I have set for myself in order to complete everything on time for the deadline. I feel I have given my self appropriate time to complete the tasks as well as leaving a week after I finish my evaluation to adjust and imporve any work before the final deadline. As you can see I am already a week into my teaser trailer, poster and magazine drafts and later on today I am going to film and take photos for these tasks. I have given myself 6 weeks to get my teaser trailer, poster and magazine drafts finished but I am likely to finish before then. I gave myself leww time for my final versions as I will only be making changes.

(please click to enlarge)

Reflection on Planning Process

I feel that my planning process has been particularly effective. It has allowed me to organise my ideas and set out what I think will work best for my teaser trailer, poster and magazine cover. I came up with detailed plans for my teaser trailer and I felt the parts that were most useful was the film treatment, script and storyboard. This was because it made me think about my film past just the trailer, and also made me think about how I was going to film, what  I wanted my actors to says and do, and how i was going to edit my trailer. For my magazine and poster plans I drafted what sort of images I wanted which gave me an idea of what I wanted to shoot and also allowed me to plan what I would need. I also came up with layout plans which I think really helped me to think about my image composition for when I take photographs because I need to leave enough space for the masthead, cover line and sell lines. The organisation of my location allowed me to choose perfect places to film that fit with the script. By looking at my location in advance, I could think about what I wanted to do and how to get around obstacles, meaning I'm now organised to film. The organisation of costumes I did in advance, but I feel I should have thought about this more. However I do think they're suitable and want to see how they look in my draft filming first. The organisation of props was very important as I need to see how to make the fake blood and get it to look right for my images. I was just going to use ketchup, but I found this wasn't red enough and too gloopy so I added red food colouring. If I hadn't planned this before it would have been a problem on the day of filming. The organisation of my actors allowed me to choose suitable people for the parts, but what was most helpful was the test shots. This allowed me to see if the actors looked right on the screen, but also if my planned shots worked correctley.

How I Have Met Audience Expectations of the Horror Genre

As you will see from my research in to the horror genre and further research in to hand-held camera films, I think I will meet audience expectations well in my film and teaser trailer. In my film treatment I have used a story line that fits well with the genre: a group of friends in a deserted town, no one to help them and things gradually get worse until they are all dead. This will appeal to my audience as it's what they expect from a horror film and the types of characters are classically used in horror. I have also made them teenagers meaning the age group I am aiming my film at can relate to them, again adding to the fear as they will be able to imagine themselves in the characters positions. I have also used monsters/ zombies that are used in a lot of horror films and also on the list of protagonists in horror films that I found in my research. I took the idea of the monsters never being seen like in The Blair Witch Project and Paranormal Activity that I looked at in my further research. I think this is what people found really fearful about these films, which will therefore appeal to my target audience both in the film if it was actually made and definitley in my teaser trailer as it won't give too much away. The idea of using night vision in my teaser trailer meets audience expectations on Hand-held camera films and also creates a sense of realism. Night vision also allows the audience to see what the charcters may not be able to see, making the audience really realise the fear of characters. I have also tried to create suspense in my teaser trailer script without giving too much away. I took ideas from the REC trailer to have continuous filming split up between titles in order to build tension up to the climax at the end of the trailer, which I feel will really shock and excite the audience hopefully making them feel fear when watching the trailer.

My chosen location in my opinion also appeals to the horror genre dramatically. It is run and and echoey, which I feel will look really god on camera and also looks like a location that would actually be used for horror films. The location also fits very well with my film treatment and script. My chosen costumes appeal the horro realism as these are typical clothes teenagers wear. I can imagine this is what people of this age group would be wearing on a trip like in my film, therefore making the film seem more realistic and therefore creating fear. My use of fake blood is also obviously appealing to the horror genre. Props to create gore are nearly always used in horror films, so I feel I am really following conventions there.

My image plan for my film poster is also appealing to the genre because it is mysterious and doesn;'t give muhc away, therefore allowing the audience to image things. this builds fear and is a technique used in a lot of horror film posters so I feel this was a good idea for an image on my film poster. My idea for the image on my magazine is also appealing to the genre. The image will be dramatic and gruesome, with blood on her hands as she gets dragged away. This is the sort of shot often used for horror films, and I feel it will work really well on my magazine cover.

Organisation of Sounds

Here are the sounds I have chosen for my teaser trailer and below each one I have explained how I will fit them in to my script.

These two sound effects will be played together over my titles to support the fuzzing effect. I feel they are appropriate as they are not too intrusive or annoying like some static sound but will still get the point across that I am trying to achieve. 

I found these police radio sounds when looking for the interference sound effects. I didn't mention these in my script but I felt they would really work well and appeal to the found footage genre. They also suggest that that something bad has happened which means that they will fit in really well with the themes.

This scream will be the first scream after we see the silhouette and the shot cuts to black. It wasn't exactly what I wanted but I like how it is very striking and echoes, so I think it should give a good effect.

These two screams will be overlapped after the first scream. They are supposed to be the other girl and the boy screaming as the creature attacks them all. I felt these screams were most realistic out of all the ones I researched so I'm happy with them.

This scream will also be overlapped with the others and be the last one that continues to the end. I felt it was also realistic and horrifying so I think it will fit well in to my teaser trailer. I am going to cut out the door squeaking at the beginning as I don't need this part.

Organisation of Equipment/Software

To film my draft version of my teaser trailer I am going to use a Flip HD which is a small and easy video camera. it connects directley to the computer without and cables and it small and easy to use. I decided to use this for my draft filming as I am most likely to re-film my teaser trailer with a better camera, but I thought this was easy to carry around and use for my first session of filming.

To take my photographs for my poster and magazine cover I am going to use my Canon 60D SLR camera in order to achieve high quality, professional images

To edit my teaser trailer I am going to use Final Cut Express on Mac. I like using this programme as it has a lot of features and you can run filters to change the look of your videos, which will be perfect for creating the night vision effect.

To make my magazine cover and film poster I am going to Paint Shop Pro X as I am very familiar with this software and you can create some really interesting designs.

I will use my Mac to edit and create my teaser trailer draft as this is what Final Cut Express runs on

I will also use my asus laptop at home to create my poster and magazine cover

Organisation of Props

The only prop I am going to need is fake blood which I will use in my photo shoot, particularly for the magazine cover photos, but not for my teaser trailer as I want to keep the horror subtle but frightening. I feel that the use of blood appeals to the horror genre because of the obvious reason of gore. It is used a lot in horror films and in my opinion is a staple prop. In my photos for my magazine cover, I want to cover her hands in it as I explained in my plan and get her to drag her fingers along to floor to give the lines of blood as if she is trying not to get dragged away, which I think will really support the horror genre. I will also see what it looks like in my photos for the poster too as it might make the photos look more effective and add to the effect of fear. After experimenting with ketchup, water and red and black food colouring I achieved what I wanted. Below is a video of how I made the fake blood that I'm going to use. 

Organisation of Costumes

This is what I have chosen for the costumes of my actors. I wanted clothing that looked realistic, something that would be worn by teenagers on a trip together. I wanted them to be dressed in reasonably warm clothing, as they would be camping and I think this fits in better with the horror genre.

I chose this outfit for my female actress that plays Joan. I put her in jeans and a thick jumper because I thought this looked like comfortable, warm, camping clothes a teenager would wear. I didn't want her to be dressed in a coat and hat, although I did consider this, because I wanted more of her to be seen. I also thought she would have most likely lost this clothing whilst running, realistically. 

This is the first outfit I put on my male actor playing Jason. I thought it was a typical outfit a teenage boy would wear and it was warm and comfortable, so suitable for the trip they are supposed to be on in the film. However, I thought the cardigan didn't look right and it needed to be more casual so I just used the hoody, as you can see below. 

Organisation of Actors

I asked my friends to be actors for filming. Before I decided to use them, I asked them to do a few test shots to see if they were what I was looking for. I also did this to see if what I wanted to do worked, especially the dark hallway part at the end. Here are some parts clips of parts I asked them to act out:

I kept in contact with my actors to organise a dates, costumes and so one using email, texts, phone calls, facebook, twitter and bbm. This is the call sheet I created so I could easily access their details:

I organised some dates in the summer holidays to meet my chosen actors at my location to do some test shots and my filimg. Here is a calendar diary that I sent to them to make sure the chosen dates were fine:

I am going to make sure I have everything prepared beforehand and I have also sent them both a copy of the script for them to look over before filimg.