Media Animatic

Wednesday 23rd November

Unfortunately, the day in taking the photo's Jordan, playing the role of Connor became ill and couldn't make it. As a group, we took this into great consideration and chose someone else to fill in for him on that day.
We understood that this could've effected our animatic has he did not know our plot in great detail but we would've had an advantage of taking detail's of shots and what to improve on.

Overall the day was a great success, with the weather being a bonus. We took all the shots needed in the forest and at Kelly's house and took more photo's than needed to add in the animatic.
Although, we did find it quite difficult carrying all the equipment and visibility got difficult as it started to get dark earlier than expected. As a group that for the filming of the trailer we would be more prepared by taking rucksack's to carry the equipment with torches to be able to see.

Friday 25th November
On this day we then finished the shots we needed to take in school, with Emma being able to find time to attend. For these shots we needed a few extra's to play the roles of the bullies and young Mrs Kynch. We found volunteers in our year which was happy to do it. As a group we also decided to use the same  'extra's' people used in the actual filming as they suited the roles pefectly.

Overall the shots we took were extremely pleasing, and I am happy with all the ones we took. After finishing the shots we are now learning to edit the shots to make the animatic and add audio.

Media Animatic

As a group we then had to choose who would play the characters in the anamatic. We decided that all four of us would play a role as it would much easier to film and we would all understand the plot in great detail and do what's best for our trailer. However we did need one more female to be in our film, so we chose a close friend who is known to be a good actress and confident which fitted the role perfectly.

Roles:
Tom: Dafydd Halls
Connor: Jordan Dilley
Sophie: Kelly Griffiths
Holly: Emma Partonroe
Mary: Katie Samuel


As a group we then found a date to take the photo's of the anaimatic that would suit us all. As we have lessons at certain times, and other things such as sports and part time jobs we had to work around a schedule.
We eventually decided Wednesday 23rd of November after school which suited us all pefectly. The photos would take place at a forest behind Kelly's house which was a realistic setting for the film, and easy to travel to.
The props we needed for the photo's were;
-Tent
-Sleeping bag
-Coats
-Rope
-White Dress
-Old fashioned ring
-Diary
-Bags

When filming the trailer we agreed in using more props and going in greater detail in appereance wuch as the use of make up and contact lenses for Mary etc.

Media Animatic

As a group we then decided which shots to use in our animatic in great detail, altogether choosing 54 shots. Although realising that this may changed due to taking the photos, as we may change the type of shot or how many we  take.

The trailer sequence.
-- Photographed in the forest
-- Photographed in a house
-- Photographed in school

1. Woods 'halls production' Title. (fades out and fades into black)
2. Four friends walking into school happy
3.  Title: Four Friends
4. Medium long shot of Connor and Sophie
5. Medium long shot of Tom and Holly
6. Title: Discover MaRY
7. Close up shot of diary being opened
8. Extreme Close up shot of writing in diary being read by friends
9.  Flashback fades in of Mary being bullied (Long shot ) Sepia old fashioned effect
10. Sudden turn to long shot of Mrs Kynch(young)
11. Close up of Mrs Kynch ring in flashback
12. Track foward beind chair Mrs Kynch's head 'Do you know Mary?'
13. Silent long shot of them entering forest together
14. Close up of Mrs Kynch's old hand on diary 'I still do'
15. Point of view shot of Mary looking at the group, Sophie face is turned
16. Close up shot of Sophie's face 'Guys what was that?'
17. Sudden Black out
18. Birdseye view shot of Tom and Sophie collecting fire wood 'I'm really freaked out Tom'.
19. Low angle medium close up shot of Tom 'Don't worry i'm with you, you know that right?'
20 . Low angle medium close up of Tom head turned looking for Sophie
21. Birdseye view of Tom looking around for Sophie saying 'Soph?' Music comes in.. 'Mary'
22. Title: Now she wants to play
23. Long shot of Mary running inbetween trees speed up editing with laugh
24. Close up of Connors face out of breath 'Sophie!' X3
25.         'To be decided at the scene, best appropiate shot'
26          'To be decided at the scene, best appropiate shot'
27. Tracking bck of Jordan in medium shot hitting legs
28. Point of view shot Sophie: Looking down on Connor
29. Blackout
30. Zoom in and out of Connor's face in Close up in tent ( Mary echo)
31. Side shot of Tom running
32. Side shot of Connor running
33. Medium long shot of Holly running, Mary visible beind a tree
34. Close up shot of zip of the tent opening
35. Long shot of Connor's feet hanging from in the tent
36. Title: This fall
37. Close up sot of mobile phone 'No Signal'
38. Close up shot of noose hanging from tree
39. Tom low angle shot camer going around
40. Close up shot of diary in leaves bare foot on it
41. Long shot of Holly stood against tree
42. Close up shot of Tom's face being hung and struggling
43. Camera falls to a long shot on the ground of feet being visible
44. Close up of Holly screaming face
45. Close up of Holly sleeping eyes shut
46 Close up shot of  Holly eyes wide open
47. News report
48. Close up of Mary clambering into the tent
49. Daf in long shot shouting ' What do you what?!' echoes, as camera tracks out
50. Title: You should have listened
51. Long shot of all four, Point of view shot of Mary zooming in
52. Title: Film name
53. Zoom up into Marys face
54. Billing card

Plan

As a group we came up with meeting dates on a 2 week basis. During our free study period's we arranged an hour meeting to start our story boarding and put our idea's together. We all equally contribute in the meetings,  mostly with similar ideas that we agree on and work well together.

Group discussion

Final Group Plot Synopsis

Plot Synopsis

Beginning

A group of four friends find a girls diary in the library who appears to have been bullied, they read it and recognise a name written which is Holly’s neighbour, Mrs Kynch so go to see her as the diary ends in 1927 when she was 16. They ask the woman about a girl named Mary (owner of the diary) she goes silent and tells them to leave. They then see a news report about teenage hangings in the woods mentioned in the diary nearby them so Connor (the arrogant one) says that they should all go and camp in the woods as a dare with head cams to see whether there is anything strange going on there.

Middle

They walk quite a while to get to the woods (with their head cams on) Sophie (the scared one) stays nervously behind everyone scared and claims she saw a flash of white between the trees but the others just say it was her imagination. They then set up camp and as it’s getting dark Sophie and Tom go to get some fire wood. As they’re collecting sticks and talking Sophie suddenly goes silent, Tom looks around shouting her name, but she’s no where to be seen. Tom runs back to camp and tells the other two that Sophie has gone missing but Connor doesn’t believe him and thinks they’re just playing a prank. The three go looking away from camp until Connor turns around and walks into Sophie who has been hung he falls back freaked out crawling back as fast as possible. The three stare at her dead body scared to ‘death’. Holly goes to ring her parents but realise they have no signal this far from home and decide it would be more dangerous to try and find their way back so they go back to the tents and try to sleep.

End

The next morning they wake up and Connor is gone, they open the tent zip and outside they see his body hanging from a rope in the tree. They realise that they left their head cameras on so replay the footage and see a girl come into the tent and take Connor. Holly gets the diary out and figures out that the girl on the video is Mary the diary’s owner. She flicks through the pages and sees new writing after it had ended when they last looked which states Sophie and Connors death at the precise time they died and after that they see Toms name and his death from the future but in 17 minutes and soon after Holly’s predicted death. Both freak out as they realise the diary is predicting the future so they try and find their way out but keep coming back to the same place. They start hearing chimes in the wind and a quiet voice singing. As they are running Holly trips and the book falls out her hand just as Tom is suddenly about to be hung he shouts ‘you need to write her death in the diary’. Holly manages to grab the dairy but not in enough time to save Tom. She then quickly writes “Mary’s death” looks up and Mary has gone and there is a silence in the woods as she sits there crying until Mrs Kynch finds her and takes her home explaining that Mary didn’t directly kill her friends she just was trying to make friends but was mistaken for seeking revenge. 

Media Synopsis

It starts with four main characters who are friends, two boys and two girls all of the same age of 18. They start to hear many stories in their college of a girl who killed herself in woods a few miles away from their home, and start to be intrigued by the story. Although it is said after researching that the suicide of the girl was because of her being brutally tortured and bullied by other teenagers of their age, and an old witch tale of the story is heard that the woods is one of the most popular hanging spots and people do not leave without being hung. The teenagers continue further research of her death on the internet where they find the date shown she died on 11^th March 1920 and an image shown of her just before her death, which they print out and also the exact location on the woods.

One of the male characters ‘Zack’ then suggests the idea of them all camping there and proving to everyone the nonsense of the witch tales and that they are not cowards. The others disagree at first as they are wary of what may happen, although one of the girls ‘Holly’ agrees too as she is fond of Zack. The other two Livy and Zeb have then no choice as they are persuaded into the idea and would only appear as cowards to their other friends.

 The friends then pack their bags and set off all together in their car to the woodland area where they are currently happy with laughter and show no fear. The four friends also decide to film most of the trip on their personal cam corder to prove to people of their ‘fun’ camp out and to look back on for memories in the future. They then all pull up outside the huge woodland in a lay-by and begin to walk into the trees for their long hours walk, although Livy starts to show fear and stays extremely close to the others as it begins to get dark.

The walk then continues until they reach the appropriate site now being the pitch black of night with their torches and they hear the mysterious noises of the wood. Until they start to set up the tents they realise that Livy has gone missing, and is not with them, although Holly suggests that she may ‘have gone to the toilet’.  After an hour of going by Zeb commands that the group now go off and look for her but Holly and Zack are almost certain she is playing a prank on them, so they decide to film the walk attaching the cams to their heads , waiting for Livy to jump out on them. Until did they know that their walk lead them to Livy hanging feet off the floor from a tree cold dead. Holly immediately screams and all three run horrified back to the camp, with no signal on their phones or contact with anyone the group have no choice but to wait until the next morning for help. Still filming the whole event it is clear to see the now scared impression on all of their face, also not realising that behind them while the camera is filming is a girl standing behind them. Her head slightly titled long hair covering her face, a white dress, white skin, white eyes, and the rope still around her neck which still stayed there from 1920. What the teenagers do not realise yet, is that the girl is seeking revenge on teenagers that caused her own death by trying to kill them by hanging them herself.

After waking up in the morning Holly and Zak wake up to find rope burns around all of their necks, and Zeb to be not in the tent to which they then find him outside being hung to death from the tree outside there camp whilst being burnt from the camp fire.

Being now totally freaked out to two left then run as fast as they can back to the car covered in bruises and dirt to realise that they have been running for miles and there is now no way out, passing numerous hanging ropes on their way waiting for them to be filled. Shortly Holly then realises that they are still filming everything after the camera being still attached to her, as they then watch back last nights events, witnessing the wheezing heavy breathing hanging girl enter their tent over the top of them watching everything she did. It is then they realise the situation they have got themselves into that they are next on the revenge list and there is no way out without being hung.

The story then ends after more torturing events by the girl and the two teenagers left and up committing their own suicide as the cannot cope any longer. 

Film trailer activity

A Nightmare on Elm St

Genre : Horror

Narrative: The Story is about a man 'Freddy Cruger' who is brutally dies by being burnt by people. He then comes back to seek his revenge on teenagers who are the children of the murderers who first see them in their dreams.

Unique Selling Point: A specific hand that he has which has blades as fingers leaving unique marks. Also his scary burnt image that gives the film its genre of horror.

Target audience: 15years+ Male and Female

Music: During the beginning of the trailer of the chase of Freddy there is non diegetic background music which  consists of a strong dramatic fast beat relating the the fast pace of Freddy's heart and making it tense for the audience. Throughout the trailer there is also the diegetic sound of breathing, showing the victims vulnerability throughout  and the fear. Also the diegetic sound of the footsteps continues throughout the trailer indicating that Freddy is coming close or always near, again making it tense for the audience. Diegetic loud symbol sounds also occur every time of an event in the trailer, following by the unique sound of Freddy's blades screeching indicating his danger.

Camera: There consists of many long shots at the beginning in the chase of Freddy indicating to the audience the setting and storyline including a birdseye view. There is also many points of view shots from the villain indicating his next victim and who is watching, the low angles of him also indicate his power of the teenagers.

Pace: The pace is extremely fast at the beginning of the chase but then slows with the dreams of the teenagers allowing the audience to be familiar with the storyline and slowly build up the tension.The pace then builds up again being fast and snappy as the events start to happen of his revenge.

Dialogue: The dialogue of Freddy saying: ''What do you think I did? I didn't do anything!'' shows to the audience that he was murdered for nothing being now vulnerable and that he is a victim of the parents

The diegetic dialogue of the girl saying ''I'm having these dreams, and there was a burnt man'' indicates the death of Freddy and that she is seeing him in her dreams, connecting the audience with the storyline.

There is also many diegetic dialogue saying 'Help!' and screams showing the fear of the teenagers.

Voiceover: There is a quiet voiceover throughout saying 'elm street' repetitively throughout the trailer, relating to the title of the film and setting giving a scary affect. The most fearful voiceover is said in a little ghostly girls voice saying 'You will never sleep again' this indicates the danger of the victims and also relates it to the audience as they put them in the position of a victim in the film.

Special effects: Special effects used are snow in the house which is used for the girls dream. Also the special effect of the villain Freddy of his metal blade hand and burnt face which is the main image used to scare the victims and audience. There is also a special effect of a girl rising off the bed indicating the power of the villain in the film and what he is capable of doing.

Credits and intertitles: 'From producer Michael Bay' showing the audience the maker of the film, and then the title 'A Nightmare on Elm St'. Then the main credit shown is the message near the end which is directed at the audience ' Don't fall asleep'. This allows the audience to be scared but then allow them to be dared to watch the film after the trailer, allowing to remember the message when finished.

Trailers

The Blair Witch Project

This trailer is one that I am concentrating on in making my own trailer. It is based on students taking real footage and made into a documentary like film. This would be appropriate  to take ideas from on our own trailer as it is realistic, has a low budget and would be an easier option to do.

The Ring

.

The Ring is another film I am looking at based on the main horror character 'the ring girl'. I think the image of the girl will be easy to create and gives the film it's genre of 'horror'. The girl in the film was murdered down a well and then comes back to kill people, this is another storyline I could consider in a film.

Start of A2 course.

For the start of the A2 Media course we have been concentrating on the different genre's of film. We have also been carrying out our own film making by using different shots, angles, and movement to create a timeline. We did this with exterior and interior shots of different objects, people and gender while working in groups.