My partner and I, Selena, have now finished filming!!
We have begun putting our pieces together, and so far, we have most of our beginning clips input into Clipchamp. We haven't had the chance to put the rest of the clips in because we want to get the beginning finished first. Due to time management this week, we haven't been able to finish the credits completetly but we have our production logo and our shots that we plan to display the credit sequence in. The editing process for later in the week, due to time management once again, will be to at least get the credits done. Besides that, what we have is our beginning sequence input into Clipchamp, and it will be displayed below.
This is the sequence my partner and I have achieved so far in our editing process, and it will be further developed throughout the week hopefully.
In this blog, I will be talking about what we have filmed so far and some issues that we ran into while trying to film.
So my partner Selena and I have begun filming over by the tree tops park inside a trail. We got the beginning credit sequence, which we planned on doing, but due to issues with the park, they don't close until dark anymore, which is around 6:30-7:30, but they close at 6, so we won't be able to film in that area anymore. As an alternative, since we finished the only part of the woods we needed, we are going to go to the back of the church named St. Pauls Church and we will film in the back parking lot and what makes it good is that they have street lights that are disturbing and there are also trees and woods in that back area so we can still generate the feeling of just have gone out of the forest hike. So technically in conclusion, we are going to finish filming today, and then after we will edit.
Juan had trouble with the set design but now their group has it set now so they won't run into a road bump like that. They also had problems with their script because it was corny, so they scratched it and they are going to re-create it. Sam ran into the same problem and couldn't interview the parents because of time management which causes trouble because they need them to be a part of the film. Agustina had trouble with her mom because she also needed her to film for her. Camila ran into a problem with time management because she is animating her film opening which is very time consuming even spending lots of time on it. Manuela has trouble with scheduling with actors because multiple people have canceled on her, so she needs time to find different actors. My entire group had amazing ideas it was worth helping each other out individually and they especially helped me with audio because me and my partner were having trouble deciding on what kind of audio and where to put it like a soundtrack and non-diegetic audio and things of that aspect.
1. How does your product use or challenge conventions, and how does it represent social groups or issues?
Unfortunately, my partner and I, Selena, have not yet filmed, so the conventions we will be using cannot be displayed yet. Although, may tell you about the conventions we plan on using in this blog. As a part of one of my earlier blogs in the year, I will be discussing genre conventions associated with the horror genre.
As a part of the first part of the question, my film will use conventions through various techniques such as close-ups, slow zooms, and sudden pans. For the second part of this question, I will speak about how it represents social groups, and I will speak about techniques that provide horror audiences what they want by using similar techniques in related films in order to build the fear that they crave.
Due to availability issues, we will not be able to film this weekend, so we will plan smaller things, such as costume design, which is what I will be discussing in this blog.
Costume design is crucial to appealing to the audience. The costume design we chose for Claire is a Lululemon dri fit white top and leggings because they are athletic wear and are meant to be worn out on adventures like this. The park ranger costume design is up to what we find at tree tops, and what the people there are wearing.
Due to availability issues, we will not be able to film this weekend, so we will plan smaller things, such as props, which is what I will be discussing in this blog.
As a part of her personality, Claire is a phone user, and she utilizes her phone a lot. But in this instance, she is camping in the woods, so she is not able to communicate through her device. This is established by the numerous messages that will be sent when she regains service. It will also be evident that her style is adventurous, sweet, and nice through the wallpaper that the audience will see.
The background idea is of Selena, her younger self, and her friend from when she was in middle school.
Next, I would need to be able to create a transparency effect, so I used a background element in Canva that allowed me to create the background transparent.
Next, I would add a snowy dark background to introduce the nighttime setting that will be taken place.
Finally, I would make the background completely dark so nothing is shown as white and so it wouldn't make the opening video look weird.
The name for our production company will be AB11. The idea behind this production name is a derivative from A24 but instead we used the initials of our last names and the numbers we both wear in our respective sports and used it as the number. We chose A24 as inspiration because A24 is unanimously and undeniably the best horror production company to ever face the earth. They are also good at creating other movies not just horror.
Casting
For our casting, we plan to use Selena, my partner, as the Claire, who is the main character. For the park ranger we plan on asking a real park ranger on helping us out in order to achieve that realistic feeling. The figure will be me, and we will be using a tripod to record those shots or handheld whatever suits the moment the best when we get to filming.
In this blog I will be including my initial thoughts on what me and my partner Selena have for audio.
The introduction music will most likely be something instrumental and melodic maybe to build that suspense because the instrumental music won't be sunshine and rainbows, but it will be to create suspense. Later when the first shot is established with the mysterious figure it will be instrumental a music once again and it will be to establish suspense and have the audience question what's going to happen. The music will not be fast paced like other horror films it will be slow keeping the audience engaged in the opening sequence. We may perhaps need to use foley for walking out of the forest maybe but if we decide to use foley it will be discussed in a later blog.
In this blog I will be talking about me and my partner Selena's ideas for props and lighting.
For the props in our opening, we will be using props such as flashlights, phones, water, hiking equipment, and more. The flashlight in this instance will be showing how late at night it is and any dark setting in any horror film always leads to bad things which builds suspense. The phone particularly is going to be the most important prob of the opening because on her phone she will regain service and she will receive numerous text messages saying that there is a mysterious figure killing people late at night, establishing the suspense too. The water and hiking equipment will most likely only be used to show that she was on a trail or hiking late at night in the woods and she is just now returning to her car although it setting feels unsettling.
For lighting me and my partner Selena plan on using backlit for most of the opening. The rest of the film the characters will be fully lit, and you'll be able to visibly see our characters to establish what's going on.
In this blog I will be discussing the costume and set decisions.
For our set we are planning on using a dark forest area that is open and public late at night, but we plan to use some forest and some of the parking lot. The set will take place in Davie and there will possible location changes but most likely not. The set choice was decided as this because it creates a questionable area and makes the viewer try to understand why she is there in the first place. That is for the beginning of the opening but further it will be identified that she was on a trail when discussing with the park ranger. The parking lot is for backlit scenes that will provide a figure that is unidentifiable to create suspense and a tense feeling.
The costume we will be using for our main character, Claire, will be a beanie and covering clothes to establish that she was on a trail or maybe camping. She will have a camping bag with possibly a tent and lots of food and water. The park ranger will have a vest on and a nametag on to establish he works there.
This is basically the costume and set that will be established and the purposes for them.
In this blog, me and my partner will be introducing our main character Claire to our film opening. Claire in our film opening, is the protagonist of the full film without knowing other circumstances further in the movie. She will be the heart and soul to our film opening and Mrs. Claire is bound to make it happen one way or another.
Me and my partner Selena decided on Claire because its basic but unique. You don't hear the name very often but to the ear it sounds like you hear it every day.
Our main goal to develop our character is to introduce her as a very nice and sweet girl whose outgoing based on the adventure, she's taken during the film opening. She'll be presented as a girl who is very gentle and will hear people out and talk to them nicely. It feels right to have an outgoing and nice because it makes her approachable by anyone and anything. Me and my partner are going to achieve this with the park ranger and even shouting out to the shadow. We are still debating on a script and dialogue.
Me and my partner Selena's storyboard consists of mutliple scenes, camera shots, editing, and angles. Our storyboard aims to produce an insight to our idea on our film opening. The main goal of our storyboard isn't to go straight off of it but build from it and develop it so it looks really like a full-fledged film opening that was professionally made to intimidate the audience. It was exciting writing this because me and my partner are slowly seeing our ideas come to life little by little. The project is very exciting and I can't wait to see the outcome of our profucing.
Our project idea consists of a woman by herself walking out of a trail from what seems to be a forest or mountain at nighttime. The woman receives countless message saying a mysterious thing is haunting people and murdering them because loss of service in the forest. The lady becomes disturbed and looks up to see a figure standing under a streetlamp. The figure is indistinguishable. It stands under the light menacingly. The lady is then startled by a park ranger informing her disturbingly that it's not safe to be alone in these areas all alone. The statement sends a shock to the woman, and the woman quickly turns back to see that the figure is now gone, and on top of that the park ranger is now gone. The eeriness and silence disturb the viewers and her.
Our major inspiration is found footage horrors although the opening won't be filmed in a found footage kind of setting or way. Typically found footage horrors will take place in rural areas and abandoned places. And what also contributes to this are short horror films that are amazing watches. Ballerina is one of these that we have taken inspiration from. Found footage tapes like REC and The Blair witch project (1999) are also huge inspirations. In the Blair witches film the viewers don't even get the satisfaction of really seeing the antagonist.
Active audience theory is the theory in which audiences don't passively view a film but try to interpret things happening. After much discussion with my partner Selena, we decided that active audience theory would be best to incorporate into our film opening project. We will incorporate this with our plot by introducing a mysterious figure making the audience question what it could be. The scene will consist of a silhouette of a figure in a streetlight, and the identity of the figure will not appear which will question the viewer and the actor in this case. The end of the scene will still consist of the figure being masked technically but it leaves the audience assuming what it could be throughout the whole film. As a result, the suspense is built straight from the beginning and continues throughout the whole movie and the eeriness of its presence. Questions that may surface while watching the scene are like, will it come closer? will it lunge at us? will it reveal itself? In the case of our film the viewers don't get the sweet treat of being able to know what supernatural entity the antagonist throughout the film is.
The reflection meeting with these numerous group members went really well. All of the members I was talking to ensured that my idea was a good idea and that I should stick with it. They gave me a couple ideas for lighting such as not using so much pitch-dark lighting, the film should include the faces of all the characters and at some moments I will be able to make a scene that will see the backs of the characters. My group mats recommended that the area I will possibly shoot in is a very good idea but if I have an opportunity to shoot at night me and my partner should take it.
In the group meeting I also felt I helped contribute a good amount to their ideas and sparked possible outcomes they can do. I assisted with certain shots, angles, credit sequence, and title sequence. I also appreciate them helping me try and spark an idea.
There were still some downsides to me and my partners ideas like time and filming time. Their feedback helped me realize that me and my partner have to plan this beforehand, so we know what days we and shoot and at what time. They helped with our planning process, and I also appreciate all of their feedback they gave me on our idea.
Me and my partner Selena have come up with numerous ideas to try and execute this opening. We have researched numerous openings ranging from the cannibal holocaust all the way until movies like the Ritual. We found the things we want to use, and we will now keep doing research further to establish our filming.
Me and my partner have decided we will most likely do our opening in a forest called Tree Tops. Tree tops have numerous locations where there are scary, spooky, and eerie areas that will create tension. The forest is silent and there are some buildings that appear to be abandoned that will greatly contribute to mis-en-scene and other aspects of the film opening. The Tree Tops park is very spacious and there are plenty of areas that we can film that can create a deserted feeling. It can create a sense of something not being right, unsettledness, and more.
Other aspects that we can incorporate are things like V/H/S filming. V/H/S can easily be incorporated into an area like this because the V/H/S recording method usually already creates a scary found footage tape. In most found footage V/H/S opening sequences it starts off intense and sets the tone and setting and that can be incorporated perfectly in the area we are trying to do this in. Movies like V/H/S and Rec establish this.
The Ritual is a horror that takes place in a forest, and a group of friends agree to go on a trip in northern Sweeden in a dark and deep forest. The group traverse throughout the forest and one by one each of them die and they are finding ritualistic things along the way and then they encounter a being who cannot leave the forest but while in the forest he is extremely strong. The movies credit sequence at the beginning of the movie includes the groups start of the trip in an open area and you can hear dialogue in the background. The credits are displayed at the edge of the screen after every shot, and it is utilized well because with the dialogue they develop setting and plot while the credits are being rolled.
This catches my eye because in my opening sequence of credits I can incorporate things like this to develop plot and setting whilst still enrolling the credits. It is smart because things like dialogue can help have the audience focused on what's going on but also seeing who produced and made the film and things of that resource. I intend to start my opening similar to this opening, like in the forest.
Smile
Smile is a horror film taken place in New Jersey and there is a lady who gets a curse put upon her because she watched a girl kill herself while smiling. The lady must escape multiple instances with an entity that haunts her but at the same time tries to kill her. The lady subsequently escapes all confrontation besides the last one in which she dies and passes it on to a friend. The entity aims to target the weak points of the lady so she can give in to her mind quicker, and the entity can take over her body and pass on the curse to someone else. The credit sequence includes a lady killing herself with the main character witnessing the lady give into her own mind. The curse ends up getting passed on and the main character is in the corner, afraid and crying and the credits begin to play while panning all over the room in red font color. Once again, the credits are played throughout a serious event in the movie and develop big time plot because now, we know what the curse is and who our main character will be for the movie.
This credit sequence does separate itself from others because it occurs right after a main event in the plot occurs. It doesn't occur at the beginning but at the end of the opening scene. It utilizes panning throughout the entire credit sequence moving all around the room and outside the room which in conclusion establishes setting. I aim to use things like the panning but also doing the credit sequence perhaps at the end of the opening scene.
Midsommar
Midsommar is an amazing movie that is very disturbing. The movie includes a lady who goes through a horrible tragedy when her parents and sister die in a scary suicide carbon monoxide incident. The lady who experiences this tragedy decides to join their friends on an adventure to an unknown Swedish village in an unknown area to meet a friend's culture and family. Slowly the rituals and scary occurrences show themselves and the people slowly realize that they shouldn't be there and need to escape immediately. The lady sadly grows into the culture and now is trapped in something dark. The credit sequences subsequently are played at the end of the opening scene after the incident of the family dying is shown. The credits are displayed in a very sinister way with the credits being rolled with a very disturbing soundtrack being played with the lady's screams in the back.
This credit scene is amazing because it immediately gives you chills and the scene is played in a snowy environment where you can barely see them but still visible. The disturbing screams paired with the uncanny music makes the credit sequence in this movie so scary and just gives chills. I would love to utilize the synchronous aspect of soundtrack and non-diegetic screams from the lady that can provide that gut wrenching feeling.
So far, this project has already been a ride because I've had to explore all options possible for this film opening. I feel it's already been a journey trying to find the right genre and idea to create and adapt into this film opening. After hours of research, me and my partner Selena have decided to do the horror genre because we believe we have the resources to provide a well put together horror film opening. A horror film we would typically make would be something disturbing with disturbing settings such as a forest or maybe dark areas.
Hereditary
The opening for Hereditary starts off with a shot of a treehouse with an eerie soundtrack playing in the background. The shot then zooms out into a pan of a figure set of a house in which a figure of a kid is sleeping and it zooms into the set, and the set suddenly but smoothly turns into real time. This film opening opens up to be because it really sets the tone and setting of the movie and it provides that eerie feeling to the viewers straight from the start and it foreshadows later events in the movie which is impressive but do able. I wish to not adapt but use techniques and ideas that are similar to of this opening and it will provide that unsettling feeling to the viewers.
What appeals to me the most is that Hereditary begins with a treehouse and eerie music so that undeniable feeling of something not being right is already present once the movie is started. When you watch the beginning, it already leaves you questioning why they started with the treehouse as the opening shot. If that can be exerted within the first 30 seconds to minute of my film opening it will be a recipe of success. The shots and techniques will most likely be hard to execute but if me and my partner Selena can get an idea of similar shots and techniques to utilize it will come out somewhat similar which is what we are trying to aim for. The exact opening sequence as Hereditary doesn't and shouldn't be the same as what ours will display but we can try to incorporate it into ours.
This exact video is around 4 minutes long, but the analysis is around the first 2 minutes
Friday the 13th
Friday the 13th opens up by setting the scene for where the campers are at, where you later learn further in the opening. The long shot of the cabin then turns into a back shot long shot of multiple campers. After the switch it turns into a POV shot of a man walking in on multiple campers sleeping but based on the noise the character is making, we can assume this is the antagonist. The POV shot provided lasts for most of the opening shot but based on what he's doing to the campers (inspecting them) we can assume he is towering over them because the height he is looking at over these campers sleeping is scarily gigantic. After the POV shot the ending of the opening shot is of the campers singing together around a fireplace. Throughout the entire opening scene, non-diegetic audio is utilized which creates a sense of realism.
What I like most about this opening is the non-diegetic audio which gives me personally an unsettling feeling. Also, the fact that the antagonist, Jason Vorhees, is towering over the rest of the campers is very intimidating and it leaves you questioning if this person that were seeing the POV from is even human due to the enormous size of him. Although that is the case, I most likely intent to use a supernatural being in my opening.
This exact video is around 6 minutes long, but the analysis is around the first 2 minutes
Annihilation
The opening sequence for Annihilation consists of multiple close ups, and medium shots with background characters. It includes dialogue describing occurrences that must have happened in the past which insinuates that we are in the present. The dialogue also includes an eerie soundtrack playing softly in the background. The end of the opening sequence includes a shot of a meteor hitting a lighthouse which we don't know anything about yet but if you watch the movie, you learn what happened. With watching the movie, it technically goes more into the past then when she was talking about.
I greatly appreciate the techniques and dialogue used in this opening because it establishes a main point and tone. Based on dialogue you can infer that the lady has lost her memory, but what she can remember is very important to the crew. I would love to utilize dialogue that can establish a plot that can be developed. Although this movie is a thriller/horror, the openings sequence makes it seem more intimidating what there is to come further if you watch the movie. I would also love to use the mis-en-scene they used because the hazmat suits and contamination chamber they are in automatically makes the lady seem like a threat and makes it intimidate.
