Personal Blog

My personal blog contains my preliminary task product as well my evaluation questions and answers.

Link: http://mediahomeworkalice.blogspot.co.uk/

FINAL PRODUCT

This clip shows my final product. I managed to cut the film down to just under 3 minutes but still follows the same storyline and is easy to follow and understand.

'After Hours' DRAFT 1

This video shows the full opening to my film 'After Hours'. It follows the script and treatment, however, this clip was too long to submit as my final piece as it was almost 4 minutes.




 

To advertise my film further, I set up a Twitter page for the production company where information about the film can be posted. The use of social networking will help the film to get more acknowledgement and followers from all different places. The website allows me to post links and photos about the film as well as communicating with other people and companies involved in the film industry.

Link: https://twitter.com/ShockerStudios


Alice Hicks

Poster

This is the poster I made to advertise my film as the audience feedback I received from the questionnaire told me that this was one of the most effective advertising technique. I will distribute the posters in many public places such as bus stops, shops, etc. and also put them in magazines which this age group tend to read.
The main focus is the creepy child, Florence. It gives an insight to what the film is about without giving too much away, so that the audience can decide whether they want to watch it or not.
The film has been rated 15 as there will be some strong language and disturbing scenes that I feel are too mature for younger ages however these scenes are not inappropriate for ages 15 and above.
I have decided to make the release date July 2013 as the target audience age group would most likely be at school or college and therefore their summer holidays would be an ideal time for them to watch a new film.

Alice Hicks

STORYBOARD

The first scene of the story board shows the character Florence in a stereotypical horror setting an empty field. The scene is shot in black and white to emphasise the past therefore the sense of time will create a beginning and an end to the opening . The next shot shows the main character Lucy packing away her books,the use of the school setting is a stereotypical horror film setting as due to the size and the familiarity of the school being filled with children when left alone it may make the view feel uneasy and feel the sense of isolation the character portrays. The character Lucy makes a quick exit from the room as she catches a glimpse of something out of the window the audience don’t see the view as paired with the dramatic music that follows the suspense and tension is created.

We then used a Jump cut to show Lucy exiting the building the camera tracks her from the back to give the sense that the ghost Florence is watching her. Lucy then glances back and the audience see the first shot of the character Florence. This glance is shot by a zoomed in image of the character to add suspense to the shot lucy then leaves the school quickly. Another Jump cut is used to show the character Lucy on a bus home,we see her looking out the window whilst dramatic music is being played on the window we have the credentials we chose to put this scene in here to  distract the audcience from the last scene and build up tension and mystery from the previous scene.

 The camera once again tracks Florence from the back as she walks into her house.The camera tracks her every move from opening the door to walking into the house to carry on the illusion of the character being watched. The character lucy walks into the house and calls for her mother (using the abbreviation of “mum”) when there is no reply this causes an unsettling atmosphere for the audience due to the tense atmosphere created. We then see Lucy run upstairs to put down all her school things whilst in her room she once again catches a glimpse from the window of Florence. A close up shot of Florence is used to add tension to the scene.The character Lucy then swiftly exit the room and walks over to the green with her dog in the background the audience see children playing this adds some normality to the scene therefore the events become balanced making the next seen alot more dramatic and unexpected.

As Lucy crosses the road the audience see the Florence for the last time staring down at the character Lucy. The facial expression of shocked/confusion is used she then rushes up to the room however Florence is no longer there. The dramatic sound of a door slam is used  to create a tense moment. The fast paced music is used to set the viewers into a dramatic panic mode as Lucy struggles to get out of the room, the character bangs on the door and screams “help, help.” Finally the door opens and there is a moment of silence,howver the panic continues as the fast paced music begins to play again, Lucy runs out of the house with the camera tracking her to end the scene we used a similar forest like setting to create a sense of time between the beginning scene and the end. To end the scene flashes of Lucy running are used to end the scene with the audience in suspense and wanting more.

Alice Hicks

Shooting Schedule

	(WEDNESDAY) 13/02/2013	(FRIDAY) 15/02/2013	(SATURDAY) 16/02/2013
SCENES	Scene 1 Scene 2	(Any re-takes of Scene 1 and 2) Scene 2 continued Scene 3	Scene 4 Scene 5 Scene 6
LOCATION	School Grounds Back field of school Coridoor and classroom School entrance	School Grounds Public train	Setting of house Pratts Bottom Green
EQUIPMENT	Camera Tripod	Camera	Camera
PEOPLE NEEDED	Director and camera-woman (Alice Hicks) Florence – Jessica Hicks Lucy – Leah James Extras – Class students	Director and camera-woman (Alice Hicks) Florence – Jessica Hicks  Lucy – Leah James	Director and camera-woman (Alice Hicks) Florence – Jessica Hicks Lucy – Leah James Extras – Stevie Hicks

Reece Location Shots

This will be the location for the opening scene. The surrounding trees and forest-type setting is appropriate for creating a mysterious and spooky effect.











This will be the corridor where the mysterious character watches Lucy after school

This is the classroom I have decided to use in one of the scenes as the modern computers emphasise the 21st Century setting.

This is shot from the window of the classroom looking down at the gate exit, to be used when Lucy is leaving the school. The high-angle positioning will make Lucy look even more like a victim as she will be looked down on and powerless.












This low-angle shot will show Florence through the window, the angle will emphasise her power and authority, intimidating Lucy
 and the audience.

This will be the setting for 'Lucy's House'. An average house showing her status as a normal, middle-class girl. The detached house also emphasises the fact that it will be hard for anyone to hear Lucy scream.

This will be Lucy's bedroom and the view she has from it. It allows us to see across the road to the green where Florence will appear.

The stairs that Lucy will run up are narrow and create a sense of closure and fear. The light at the top could symbolise running towards her death.

The creepy path that Lucy will run up at the end. The surrounding trees make it dark and mysterious, leading to 'nowhere' creating a sense of fear and suspense for the audience.
















Alice Hicks

Character Profile

Charcters from alice_hicks

Annalyis of "The Shining" title sequence :

  The opening of the shining shows images that will be used in the set, mountains and lakes are used to possibly suggest isolisation and this adds moral panic to the scene. The music used is creepy and  non-diegetic which fits in well with the tracking shot used as the camera is constantly zooming into images to create the effect of us moving closer to these mountains.
Throughout the opening of the scene a birds eye view is used on the car the camera tracks this car to give the effect of being watched which is a stereotypical convention of a horror film. However the opening scene is shot in borad daylight which doesn't conform to a sterotypical horror film as they are ususually shot in poor light or in the dark to conform to the genre conventions of a horror.
We then see fog used in the shot, fog is stereotypically used to disguise something or someone to create panic and tension. At the end shot there is an image of a house on the rock mountain this suggests to me that this is where the killing will take place and  this setting will be the main focus of the film.


Alice Hicks

Logistics:

Equiptment:
Camera
Microphone
Tripod
Sainsburys Trolley- To enable us to move the camera with ease at a low cost


Permissions:

I have written a letter to Pratts Bottom council to get permisson to use their land to film on.

Pratts Bottom Green

Orpington

Greater London

BR6

To whom it may concern,

I am a media student who would greatly appreciate the opportunity to use your local green to film my opening sequence to my film 'After Hours'. Whilst filming I will cause no disruption to the wildlife and nature that is based on your green, I also have no intentions of creating a disturbance that will interfere with the quiet neighbourhood atmosphere.

I would like to confirm that I have your permission to use the ground to film so that I can finish my media projects.

Yours sincerely,

Alice Hicks

(Media Student from Harris City Academy)

Harris City Academy Crystal Palace

Maberley Road

London

SE19 2JH

020 8771 2261

Dear Mr Barr

I am a Media student from year 12 and would love the opportunity to use your facilities to film, 
I am hoping to use the media room G201 as the opening to the short opening of my film sequence as
well as the grass section at the back of the school. I will be very respectful when filming as I will

be filming out of lesson time and will not be making a disturbance. Due to my age comes

maturity, therefore I will handle myself and my cast in a respectful manor when representing the
academy via the uniform.

I would like to confirm that I have your permission to use the grounds and also the school uniform so that I
can complete my final product to the best of my ability.

Yours sincerely,

Alice Hicks

(Media Student from Harris City Academy)

Personell:

Alice Hicks: Directer

Jessica Hicks: Florence

Leah James: Lucy

Stevie Hicks: Extra
Bonnie Hicks: Extra

Alice Hicks

Existing Product Research

We have looked into the horror genre and researched what other films are on the market today.  We discovered that there are different types of horror within the overall genre. More modern day horror films contain more gore as an effect to scare the audience. However, the more traditional idea of horror was to create tension and scare the audience through creating a creepy atmosphere.



A popular modern day horror film is SAW which uses the convention of murder and torture as a way of scaring the audience. Due to the increasing development of special effects, SAW manages to affect the audiences emotions to be terrified of the gruesome methods and the aspect of death. For my film, I will be on a small budget and therefore be unable to provide special effects like these, so I will aim to create tension using setting and tense music to create a Gothic atmosphere.

  Another modern horror film is Orphan, which uses traditional methods of suspense to scare the audience. The use of children is becoming more frequent in today's horror films as it makes the audience doubt the level of horror seeing as it is unexpectedly coming from a 'innocent' child. The aspect of a child being the villain is unexpected and destroys the portrayal of innocence giving the idea that anyone could be this dangerous if a small child can be.
In my film, I will be using the 'evil child' idea as it creates a greater tension and creepier atmosphere at the thought of an innocent child becoming evil.







Alice Hicks

INSPIRATION

I have decided to base my film on the 'Woman In Black'. This film uses children appearing randomly to create a tense atmosphere and shock the audience. Their deathly appearance is chilling and an unusual portrayal of children which gives a creepy effect.

This idea will fit in well wit the storyline of my film and will be a simple way to add tension and a Gothic twist.

Alice Hicks

Moodboard

For our moodboard we have used many pictures of children as this is a main feature in our film. The children that we have chosen have scary appearances this is something that we want to include in our film as it will cause the desired effect of moral panic as children are perceived to be innocent and vulnerable however it will be quite the opposite. We have also used images of well known films such as "The ring" and "The exorcist  we have used these films as there are features we would like to include such as the costumes and also some of the mannerisms. We have also included some images of setting, these settings are dark and creepy looking as that is what we associate with horror films. We will use the setting of creepy winding paths so are using inspiration from films such as "the house in conneticate" 

Alice Hicks

Target audience profile

Name: Pheobe Jones
Age:16 years old
Gender:Female
Education: student- Pheobe currently studies at
Intrests:
Pheobe enjoys hanging out with freinds,Shopping,social networking such as facebook and twitter, visiting the cinema and watching films at home.

favourite type of film:
Horror genre, in particular her favourite film is "The Ring"

Tastes in music:
varied, Pheobe enjoys many types of genre but her favourite are pop and indie some of her favourite artists are "The Drums" and "Ellie Goulding"

Income:
Pheobe has a job at a local bakery and earns £20 a week she also recieves pocket money of £20 a month

Lifestyle:
Pheobe lives at home with both parents in Beckenahm she has one sistser who also lives with her


Leah James

Properties List:

- Tables
- Chairs
- School books
- School bag
- Dog
- Dog lead
- Tennis ball


Costume List:

Florence
- Pinafore dress
- Shirt
- Cardigan
- Black tights
- Black shoes
- Satchel


Lucy
- Smart shirt
- Skirt
- Tights
- Flat pump shoes
- School bag


Teacher
- Smart shirt
- Black trousers
- Black shoes
- Bag

Alice Hicks