Evaluation - Question 4

Evaluation - Question 3

Evaluation - Question 2

Evaluation - Question 1

Final Draft Trailer - Scarlett

Final Draft Magazine

Final Draft Poster

Audience Feedback - Scarlett First Draft

First Draft Trailer - Scarlett

This is the first completed draft of myself and my groups horror trailer, Scarlett. We intend on showing it to a small audience in the coming week or so in order to gain some feedback on how we could  improve our trailer for it to fit with the conventions more. 

Waiting to Shoot

October 2014

February 2015

October 2014

February 2015

October 2014

February 2015

Day 7 of Filming

Christal and I decided to reshoot the tilt/establishing shot of the house Maria lives in (Christal's house) after reviewing the first draft of the trailer. Despite deciding not to change the trailer after the reshoot, I thought it would be useful to document the problems we faced during this shoot and what we learnt from overcoming them.

Trialing the tape/camera in the Media Suite before shooting

Front view of the camera/tape situation on set

Side view of the camera/tape situation on set

As the majority of people in our class are filming, the tripods that we normally use to shoot were all taken. I found one that was built to the old camera, and suggested that we improvise and use this to make our shot steadier. Christal found a roll of tape in the Media Suite and we attached the camera to the tri-pod using this method. We discussed the possibility of this being potentially dangerous if the camera was not secure enough, but made sure to take precautions that would ensure nothing would come detached.  

This experience reinforced the importance of persistence, leading us to realise that despite the starting point of this, great outcomes are possible.

Experimenting With Blood #2

After reviewing the success of our last attempt at researching fake blood, Christal and I decided to do some further research into whether or not we could find a suitable type of fake blood to incorporate into our trailer.

Equipment used

Mixing the fake blood powder with water

Mixing the fake blood with paint filler

In comparison to our last attempt, we found this blood easier to work with as we were able to have greater control of its consistency. It also would have been safer to use this fake blood in comparison to the first one we tried, as it was ‘edible’ it would not harm the actor if it was accidentally consumed when filming. However, after mixing the powder with the water we found this fake blood remained in too much of a liquid state to be able to use for its intended effect. Furthermore, when we tried placing a drop of it on my skin, it showed up to be a deep shade of pink rather than the dark red we were looking for. As we were in the Media Suite, Christal looked around to see if there was anything we could add to the mixture in order to solve the consistency and colour issue. We found a tub of paint filler which we added in order to allow the mixture to have a denser quality, meaning it was less watery than before. However, doing so unfortunately changed the colour of the fake blood to a brown/burgundy colour which made the fake blood appear further from the appearance we wanted it to have.

'Scarlett' with hand prints before Dettol spray

'Scarett' with hand prints after Dettol spray

After failed to find success in the edible fake blood, Christal and I discussed other ways in which we could create the look of fake blood as we were determined to find a way of producing it effectively. We visited the DT Department at our school to ask if they had anything that we could use but were unsuccessful. However, when we asked the Art Department they were able to provide us with two shades of red acrylic paint which we diluted in cup with some water to create a more watery consistency. This was much more successful than the edible fake blood trial; we were able to create the shade of red that we wanted and also finally achieve the consistency we wanted the fake blood to have.

We decided to set this scene in the girls’ bathroom at our school due to it being convenient in terms of having the means to quickly remove the paint/fake blood, but also because it has a large, translucent window which allows natural light to shine through. Initially, I suggested we write ‘Scarlett’ on a mirror as many supernatural/thriller films use them such as The Unborn (2009), Mirrors (2008) and Axe (1977).  However, we found that the writing didn’t show up well due to the lighting and also the positioning of the camera. In response to this, we used the big windows next to it (as seen in the images above) to write the name with a number of hand prints surrounding it. At this point of our research, we considered the plot of Scarlett and how we could incorporate her story into this. We decided to use a large amount of faint hand prints layered over each other to represent the death of her family, with the one bold hand print being her own as she was the lone survivor and perhaps infer that she caused the death of the others.

When Christal went to remove the writing, we found that it the dripping effect of the Dettol spray we found in the Media Suite added to the mysterious tone that was created. Christal continued to spray the remainder of our work as the dripping blood effect it had adhered to the conventions of the horror genre. Despite the effect of this, we decided not to include it in our trailer as it would be difficult to replicate this on an actor. With hindsight, we also recognised the dangerousness of the paint staining our clothes/the actor’s clothes and also their skin.

Day 6 of Filming

Location Photography #6 - School

 

Day 4/5 of Filming

The majority of our trailer was filmed over the course of these two days. Christal filmed by herself during Day 3, and I filmed with her on Day 4. In order to shoot these scenes, we re-wrote part of our storyboard to better accommodate the resources and time we had available. 

(write briefly about Day 3, get some pictures too)

For one of the first scenes we shot, we used one of the locations that Christal researched near her house. As it was a considerably concealed area, we were able to film this portion of the trailer easily without any disruption. We placed two camera's on tri-pods at different angles to have greater choice in what shot we use in post-production editing.

For this scene, Christal used a hand held camera shot in order to capture the moment of disequilibrium as precisely as possible. We chose to use a close up for this shot of just the action of the fork and the hand as not only does it mimic the same scene in The Possession, but also it allows the audience to focus immediately on the action. We also recorded this scene from a distance to see if having them both in the shot would make any difference. 

For the purpose of this scene, we placed the tripods and cameras on the the table to get close-up's of both actresses as this scene is building up to the moment of disequilibrium. By placing two cameras in this scene, we are able to save time as we can capture the conversation between the character and also see the reaction shot of each of them. Furthermore, we decide to have the camera angle of Helen facing her straight on as it makes her the central focus, where as we had Libby's camera angle slightly to one side to demonstrate the differences between the characters.

Day 3 of Filming

This was one of the only days of filming we did not have the actors present as we shot the opening of Scarlett's file. In order for our trailer to have continuity, we used the same yellow folder that Jude's character is seen to be holding in the previous shoot. We also created the contents of he folder by making a fake document on Word and placing a number of other documents we found around the Media suite inside the file. This was a very quick and easy scene to shoot; we were able to edit it straight into our trailer once we had finished filming. 

Scarlett Credit Block

Location Photography #5 - School

1st Draft Movie Magazine

Self, Peer and Teacher Feedback of My First Poster Draft:

• Make the masthead stand out more
• Reposition barcode
• Add more cover lines
• Manipulate the image
• Add a tag line underneath the 'Scarlett'

1st Draft Poster

After looking into existing movie posters of the horror genre, I gained a thorough understanding of the codes and conventions which I needed to follow in order for my poster to look realistic. I found that many had heavily edited images which had been cropped, placed on a dull background and been darkened to adhere with the mystery and isolation which entices the audience. I chose three colours (red, black and white) to use for my poster as I thought they represented the horror genre best. My initial manipulation of the image has allowed it to become darker and appear fitting with the colour scheme. Furthermore, I decided to include a prop in the poster as this is also something many posters do. Whilst a 'ring' isn't a typical paradigm for a horror movie, its significance in the trailer is immense and may lead the audience to question it's subliminal significance. 

Self, Peer and Teacher Feedback of My First Poster Draft:

• Re-position image of Scarlett (Helen) - see how it looks central and enlarged slightly
• Change font size on ring - the credit writing is too big , the two top lines are too small
• Re-position the font on the ring - the two top lines need to be more central and aligned
• Add more text on ring - the credit writing looks unfinished
• Change positioning of 'Scarlett' - move it down
• Add contrast to Scarlett's (Helen's) face - to make it stand out more as it looks too dark in comparison to the colout of her hands
• Edit the image - crop hair on right hand side to make it look slicker and more professional
• Add social media images - twitter, facebook, instagram - things that attract different audeince demographics

Taking Pictures for Magazine Cover

1st Possible Image

Blurred Image

Image that I used

For my magazine cover, I decided to use a medium closeup of the girl who portrays Scarlett in our horror trailer. In order to do this, I researched appropriate locations to do the photoshoot as I wanted a dark location in which I could manipulate the lighting to make Scarlett's face the focus of the shot. As the Art department in my school have a dark room which is used for photography, we asked to use this location after school to shoot the photos for our magazine cover. Once we obtained the room, we had to find a time which myself, Christal and Helen would all be available to take pictures. We also obtained flash lights which we thought would work to create the light on Helen's face, however, when I went to take these pictures I found they had a yellow glow. I then had to improvise and use my phones flashlight to create the white light I was looking for. I took a large amount of pictures which I have filtered through to find the one I wanted to use. Some of the shots were out of focus, others I didn't want to use for the front cover of a magazine as I believe they don't fit the conventions of Empire magazine which I am attempting to mimic. Overaall, I think the shoot was successful as both me and Christal took our magazine images on this day.

Shooting Problems

The production of our trailer came to a halt again for a number of weeks due to a number of issues.

As one of the actors in our trailer is a teacher at our school, we had to get permission for her to be allowed to film outside of the school premises. In order to do so, we had to draft a letter to a senior member of staff stating why we require Libby to be in certain locations (such as Christal's house), what the intention of our film was (for our A2 Media coursework), when this would be taking place and if there would be other adults present during the time of filming. This was a lengthy process as drafting the letter took a large amount of time, and also receiving permission was something we had to wait to be confirmed as it had to be approved by a number of other channels. However, we managed to receive formal permission for us to be able to film outside of school based on us conforming to the guidelines that we ensured would be met. During this time, we also looked into finding an understudy if we were unsuccessful in obtaining permission to film elsewhere with Libby. Christal spoke to her neighbour about the possibility of being a part of the trailer and she agreed. Now that we have resolved this issue, we will continue to finish filming our trailer in the coming weeks.

Case 39 Poster Analysis