Post Production: First Take

When looking through our footage of the first take, we have noticed a few flaws amongst our work.

A bag could be seen in the distance which does not fit in with the location being secluded. Therefore this clip would not be as effective.

Holeigh's feet can be seen here. This meant that to make the clip work it had to be cut short in editing and ended up looking rushed.

In numerous clips the tripod can be seen in the background when we are at this angle. This results in the clips not being realistic and effective. Also even when cut short in editing it does not work as well as we would of hoped.

Another fault was that the camera we used was on auto-exposure. Therefore the lighting changed frequently throughout and picked up on aspects that did not need to be. For example, the two clips above are consecutive yet have completely different lightening.

Despite these technical difficulties we managed to construct a rough edit.

We decided some parts did not look how we initially wanted them too. For example there is a clip showing each of the friends emotions through extreme close ups, what has gone on is not clear to the audience and it does not look very effective. From this we came up with the idea of adding in clips of a newspaper article of Josh's death and pictures of Josh looking happy being crossed out. This would create a sense of tension and make it clearer to the audience to what the film is about. Also we feel the 'person' watching the friends needs to play more of a role in the opening. Therefore we are going to add in some footage of the friends through the trees and running away through woodlands with the camera. This will make the whole thing seem more creepy. With all this took into account, the faults mentioned above and the rough edit only being roughly one minute long, we are going to re-film.

Production: Filming

Today we got the footage for our opening. We worked well as a group and the chosen actors/actresses were very cooperative. Soon we will begin looking over our footage and making choices upon editing in post-production.

Sorting out the mise en scene was vital in our opening.

The tripod was set up for some shots.

We agreed to do some shots without the tripod.

The hand held effect would be more effective in our opening.

We were very pleased with our actors/actresses.

Planning: Shot List

Below is a list of all the types of camera shots that will be used in our opening and a summary of what will happen in them. This helps us to clearly show what should be happening in each clip without going into too much detail.

ELS = Extreme long shot 

LS = Long shot

MS = Mid shot

CU = Close up

ECU = Extreme close up

OSS = Over the shoulder shot

Shot 1: ELS - Establishing the secluded field as the location.
Shot 2: ELS - The 3 friends begin walking towards Josh's memorial.
Shot 3: LS -  The 3 friends reach Josh's memorial.
Shot 4: LS - A friend places the picture frame down.
Shot 5: CU - The objects at Josh's memorial are shown in more detail.
Shot 6: CU - A match is lit.
Shot 7: LS - The candle is lit and placed down.
Shot 8: ECU - Eye.
Shot 9: ECU - Nose.
Shot 10: ECU - Mouth.
Shot 11: LS - Friends walk over to where Josh's voice is coming from.
Shot 12: CU - iPhone is picked up.
Shot 13: OSS - Video of Josh at a party is watched.
Shot 14: MS - Friends look startled when they hear a sudden noise.
Shot 15: LS - Friends rush back over to Josh's memorial.
Shot 16: CU - The damaged objects are shown in detail.
Shot 17: MS - Their facial expressions are shown to portray feelings.
Shot 18: ELS - The friends are being 'watched' through the trees.

Planning: Storyboard for Opening

Below is our finished storyboard for our opening of iWatch. We will be using this in the filming process to help with camera shots, angles and movement as well as what is actually happening within each clip.


Edit: Before the start of the sequence show in the storyboard we plan on adding in clips of the woods to create suspense. Also in the middle of clips 8,9 and 10 we will add in some extra clips that make our opening more effective in the horror genre.

Planning: Mise-en-Scene for Opening

Costume

Friend 1 (Lisa): Casual wear with a slight tomboy feel. Rough guidelines would be a jumper, jeans and trainers.

Friend 2 (Ellie): Casual wear however a more feminine approach would be good to portray her personality contrasting to the other female character. The outfit could include a top, jacket, jeans and dolly shoes.

Friend 3 (Tom): Casual wear with a bit of an edge. For example a plain t-shirt, jacket and trainers.

Josh (Deet): For this task Josh is only needed in a photograph with the other friends. This will be taken at sixth form therefore he should be attired in appropriate business wear.

Props

Flowers: To show that Josh has passed away and to make it clear to the audience it is a memorial.

Photograph (Josh): To show the audience who the victim was.

Photograph (Group of friends): Showing how close the group was and to signal that the friends could be the next victims.

Photo frames: For finishing touches and to make it seem more realistic.

Candle & Matches: As a sign of respect for Josh and to make the scene more realistic.
iPhone: To modernise our film.
Video: A video of Josh at a party, on the iPhone to fit in with the plot.

Planning: Casting for Opening

We need to decide upon the casting members for our opening of iWatch. Below are some possible actors and actresses.

Friend 1: Female

Ellie Spence: Did well in GCSE drama and is currently studying as level drama meaning she will have no issues with acting in our opening. Also she studies as level media studies meaning she is more aware of how the filming process works. She has confirmed she will be available on our filming date. 






Keely Raynor: Did well in GCSE drama and is more than happy to play the role in our opening.

Friend 2: Female

Lisa Eady: Studied GCSE drama and has took it further to as level. Also she played the main part in our preliminary task and proved she can do well as an actress and can take our directions and act upon them to improve. She has confirmed she will be available when we film.

Mariella Ralph: Is an option for our opening as she would look the part as the girly friend. She did well in drama earlier on in school however she did not take it any further. Therefore she has basic acting abilities. 

Friend 3: Male

George Hopkins: Took GCSE drama and is currently studying drama and media studies at as level. Therefore he will have a full understanding of filming and acting.

Tom Bates: Did well in GCSE drama and would fit in well with the part for our opening. He has confirmed he can make it to film.

Josh (Victim): Male

Deet Bains: Is currently studying media studies therefore he understands the concept of filming for our opening. Also this part require little acting experience.

Akhil Varghese Shibu: Is a sixth former that does art as an a level showing he has a creative side which is something that will be useful in acting in our opening.

Final Decisions

After deliberating the positives and negatives of each possibility, we came to the final decisions. We have chosen Ellie as Friend 1, Lisa as Friend 2, Tom as Friend 3 and Deet as Josh.

Planning: Action Plan

We are creating an action plan to make sure we are prepared to do our filming. Our filming date is Sunday the 10th of February. 

Now we have decided upon this date we can make sure we are ready to film by then. We must get our storyboard, casting and mise-en-scene done by Sunday the 3rd of February. We then need to book out a tripod and we will be using two of our own cameras. Also an extra camera will be used to take shots of the filming process. In terms of props I will be in charge of getting flowers and the photographs, Holeigh will be in charge of getting the photo frames and providing the iPhone and Tayla will be in charge of getting the candle and matches.

Edit: Due to weather conditions we felt that our opening would not be as effective with snow. The location may not look secluded due to footprints left in the snow and our planned costume would not be suitable for the cold. Therefore we decided to postpone our filming date to Saturday the 16th of February.