Filming Diary

On Friday 28th January, it was our first time filming part of our film. My group and I didn't have much success, as we were planning on filming most of the outside scenes of the killer walking towards the house however, we realised that there is not a flash light on the video camera, so we were unable to see anything in the dark. From this we have had to re-think how we are going to solve this, we have come up with filming the outside scenes during the day time as it is the only way that it will work with being able to see the killer. We realise that the film will not look as affective as it would have being filmed in the dark, but it is the only way that we are able to film the killer. My group and I, are hoping that this won't affect our film too much and will still look affective and realistic.


We will next be filming on the (4th february), which everyone will be able to make. My group and I are hoping to film the outside scenes to see how effective it looks filming during the day/evening time.

Filming Schedule

Day (Date)	Scene/shot	Characters	Props needed	Location
1 (Friday 28th January)	2, 3	Emma and Ben	Bed, bedroom objects, telephone, characters costumes	Emma's bedroom upstairs in the house
2 (Friday 11th February)	20, 21, 22, 23	Emma and Ben	Characters costume, bed, front door bell	Emma's bedroom, hall way, stairs, downstairs
3 (Friday 18th February)	6, 7, 8	Emma, Ben and Bel	Characters costumes, living room objects	Front door and living room
3 (Friday 18th February)	1, 5, 9, 10, 12, 13, 14	Killer, Emma	Telephone, mobile phone, characters costumes, house objects	Alley way, outside Kates house, in doors downstairs
4 (Friday 25th February)	15, 16, 17, 18, 19	Killer, Emma and Ben	Death threat, house objects, character costumes	Letter Box, Downstairs

By making a film schedule my group and I found this an easier way of keeping track as to when we are filming, whereby everyone can follow it and there won't be any confusion as everyone is able to follow it and to remember props, costumes etc. There may be changes to the schedule at some point, due to team members being ill or unable to attend, or a possibility that we can't use the setting location (house) or having to also add dates to the schedule to film scenes that are needed to be filmed again if the footage is not so good.

Questionnaire results

Question one - 'What do you expect from a horror film?'
We had many different answers however the general idea was to be scared and unsettled.
These are some of the answers from the question-'supernatural incidents' , 'Sense of suprise', 'Gore and death'


Question two-'In your opinion how important is the sound in a horror film?'
All answers had strong opinions of the sound being very important to the film.
'Very important as it creates the appropiate atmosphere and mood for the film', 'Very, it helps build a creepy atmosphere', 'Music is very important as is builds suspense and puts you on edge'
This questions was extremely helpful to us as we will make sure sound is a huge part of our opening two minutes.


Question three-'What type of charachters do you expect from a horror film?'
Most of the questionaires were given out to teens so the answers may reflect that however we gave a couple out to adults to help balance the results consequentley ensuring the answers were more reliable.
'Young, normally teenagers and attractive'. 'Girls that are vunerable and helpless', 'Innocent looking girls', 'Dark, mysterious middle aged man'.


Question 4 - ' What props do you find most effective in a horror film?'
' Knives, sharp objects', 'A closet or basement', 'Body parts', 'Blood'
As we will be using a knife as our muder weapon the question helped to clarify that this was a good idea.


Question 5- 'Do you prefer a fast-paced opening or slow, suspense building opening?'
Interestingly all the boys said a fast paced opening so they don't get bored however the girls said a slow suspense opening to create tension. This question was useful as we wanted to get an idea of what the viewers expect from the opening two minutes.


Question 6 - 'Do you notice the font of the opening credits?'
' Yes the font always helps to contribute to the horror theme', 'Sometimes, depends how they are shown', 'Not usually'.
These answers helped us to decide that our opening credits will be effective with the names in red to relate to the horror theme.


Question 7- 'What setting do you want to see when you are watching a horror film? (Circle where appropiate)
There were 5 possible answers- Abandoned house, School, Party, Woods, Hospital.
Most people circled abandoned house and woods. We were pleased with the result as we will be filming in alley ways but also in a house.




Overall our questionaire was extremley helpful, as it helped clarify what props to use, but also to know the expectations of viewers when they are watching a horror film.

Finalised name for our film

My group and I have decided on the finalised name for the film and have chosen to go with 'Paranoid'! We feel that the name Paranoid represents the whole film, as our film is all about being paranoid. The title of the film gives the audience an idea as to what the film may be about, and also fits into the horror film cliche.

Opening credits/intertitles

• My group and I have chosen our opening credits.
• We have chosen a black background and red writing for the credits.
• The red writing will slowy transform onto the black back ground which will appear after the establishing shot of the house.
• The credits will include, the names of the directors and producers, actors and music of the film and the credits will only be on screen for less than 6 seconds.
• We have chosen to use a black background with red writing, as we feel that this will look effective as the red writing will stand out big and bold to capture the audiences eye and so the audience notice who the directors, producers and actors are etc.
• We have also chosen the colours black and red so we keep to the same colour theme throughout the film.
• Red and black are good contrasting colours, red gives off a death and edgie vibe and black fits in well with the dark mysterious mood.
• There will be non - diegetic music added to the credits to make it look and sound effective and realistic.

Here I have attached the opening credits of Sority Row, which is similar to how my own title and credits are going to look, however, I will have red writing not white as I think red and black contrast better together for representing a horror film. My writing for the title and credits will be a bit bigger and more bold to stand out, which will make the title eye catching to the audience.

Setting Location

• The setting location of the film is going to be set in Ashtead, as this is where Kate lives and my group and I feel that this is the best location for the film to be set. 
• The reasons as to why we have chosen to set the film in this location,is because it is write in the middle of a street where by alley ways and woodland areas are located nearby, which is good as we will be shooting in the dark so the location will give a frightening, tense, eerie vibe. 
• The house itself where the scenes will be filmed inside, is set out perfectly as to how we need it, however, we will need to move a few things around that we may feel are not needed to be shown in the film. 
• The bedroom where the first scene will be set is ideal as the layout of the bedroom is ideal for filming in, it's an average size bedroom and easy to get a full view of the shots. 

Costume ideas

Here I have added pictures of the costume ideas that we are thinking of using for each of the characters; 


KILLER

Black gloves, to show that the killer is hiding their trace marks and to keep the killer dressed up in as much black as possible to not show any flesh .

Black coat/jacket, represents the killer look and again to cover up as much flesh to not give away who the killer may be.

Black boots to keep in with the whole black costume vibe.                          

Balaclava, to hide as much of the face as possible to not give away as to who the killer could be.

Emma - Victim 

Cardigan, however the costume will look scruffier on the character to give a lazy and vulnerable vibe to the character.

Pyjama bottoms, which will show the character is dressed in sleeping gear and is comfortable in what the character is wearing.

Bel - Emma's sister 

Strappy top, to show that the character is into fashion

Black Leggins to go with the strappy top 

UGG boots, which go with the rest of the costume and to show that the character likes to wear comfy shoes 

Ben - Emma's boyfriend 

Tracksuit bottoms, to represent that the character likes to wear comfortable clothing and will show a scruffy vibe also to the characters costume

Black Jumper, represents similar to the tracksuit bottoms that the character likes to wear comfortable clothing.

Props Mood Board

Here is a mood board of the different props that are going to be using throughout the film. We are mainly using the same props throughout the film to keep continuity and to make the film look realistic, for example the phones will be used more than once, the knife will be shown more than once and other furniture etc in the house, however, the bedroom furniture will only be shown once and the death threat will also only be shown once. 

Killer Mood Board

               

• Here I have put some pictures together to make a mood board which represent the 'KILLER'! 

• The main colours I have chosen are red and black, to show red represents death and blood, and black represents haunted and not visible.

•  I have chosen a picture of a blalaclava to show that killers tend to wear as much black as possible and to disguise their face and body from anybody seeing who they are. 

• I have also chosen a picture of a knife, as it it a stereotypical weapon that a killer will usually carry on them and always keeps the audience tense and aware, throughout a film when they know someone has a knife on them. 

• Lastly I have included an image of blood as every horror film includes blood, usually the killer is the dominator of the blood. 

Music and Soundtrack

Here I have found free non - copyright music, that we would be able to play in our opening two minutes of our film.


http://audio.lgfl.org.uk/tracks.asp?l1=Style+%2F+Genre&l2=Film+Styles&l3=Horror&l1c=2&l2c=15&l3c=13090&offset=30


Here are the tracks that I have found usefull and will consider using a few of these tracks to suit our atmosphere and mood that we want to create;


Mystery Killer
Lethal
Forbidden Land
Dark Deeds
Car full of spiders
Fear Factor
Arachnophobia
Crime against the person

Questionnaire

My group and I have decided to do some more research into the film industry. We have chosen questions, that will help my group and I as to who we will be targeting our target audience too, and what the audience expect from a 2 minute opening of a horror film. With this research I will put my findings into bar graphs to show the results. This questionnaire will be given out to 15-25 year olds. We asked questions with a open answer so readers were able to decide for themseleves rather than ask multiple choice questions where they could only answer percifically.

These are the questions that we included in the questionnaire; 



1. What do you expect from a horror film?


2. In your opinion, how important is the sound to a horror film?



3. What type of characters do you expect from a horror film?



4. What props do you find most effective in a horror film?



5. Do you prefer a fast-paced opening or a slow, suspense building opening?

6. Do you notice the font of the opening credits?


7. What setting do you most likely see when you are watching a horror film? ( circle where appropriate)

ABANDONED HOUSE
SCHOOL
PARTY
WOODS
HOSPITAL

Props for the scenes

My group and I are starting to plan further into the research and planning, I have created a rough draft as to what we need to prepare and bring onto each scene. By including these props it will make our film look believable and realistic.

• We have decided to use a, knife that the killer will have on him and will get out of his pocket, when he is walking from the alley way to the house. We have chosen to use a knife as it is a stereotypical prop that is used in most horror films. It is the prop that is used when the killer is wanting to kill someone or is used as the victims weapon as a defense. The knife will also give out tension to the audience, making them aware that the killer is dangerous and harmful!

  

   

• The props that will be used in the house/bedroom will already be found in the bedroom and outside, this is because the setting is set in the house. For example, the types of props that will be used in the house and bedroom is the bed, where Ben and Emma will be sleeping and its the first shot of the characters. One of the main props that will be used is the house phone, this is used all throughout the film. 

        

• One other prop that will be used is the death threat, I have taken the role of making the death threat, I will make this by getting a picture of Emma(me) and putting a cross over Emma's face and writing your next in red paint over the picture.