Supernatural Character
This character was inspired from films such as Twilight, Blade and Underworld. He is based on a sort of vampire appearance, with extremely pale skin (an idea taken from Twilight), and his apparent lack of emotion. We prefer to say he is a "supernatural" character though, as opposed to a traditional vampire, because in the film at no point does the issue of drinking blood, turning into a bat come up or melting in sunlight come up.
In terms of costume for him, we needed soemthing that was dark, and showed that he is superior to the human character. Eventually, we decided that a black suit would be best, because it gives the impression that he is a serious character, but at the same time, he is quite laid back, and has confidence in himself, which will be shown in the way that the buttons of his shirt won't be done all the way up to the top, and his posture and expressions.
For his face, the plan is to make it pale using make-up, which would have to go down his neck and all the way down to where his shirt is, to make it look realistic. Also, we thought about putting a fake scar, or darkening under his eyes for added effect.
Human Character
For our human character, the plan is just to make him appear as normal as we possibly can. This is because we want him to look quite plain and almost vunerable looking next to the supernatural character. His costume will just be just normal, everyday clothes, but with a bit of a dark, rock music theme to it, which will tie in with the music we have in the film.
Friday 29 January 2010
Synopsis
Our film is a supernatural themed film, and is based around a supernatural character, who is stalking a human character who has something he wants. In the opening for the film, the audience never actually sees what this thing is, but they are made aware of the fact that the supernatural character wants it.
The setting for our film is just a normal house, on a normal street, all because we wanted to show how supernatural things can happen to anyone, and anywhere. The house we chose (see recce) is a quite modern house, but has old fashioned style wooden designs on the front of the house, which we believe will look the part in our film.
It starts with shots of the supernatural character looking at this house from the other side of the street. He remains totally stationary, does not blink or show any signs of emotions. This is all just to add to his presence and show that he isn't just a normal person. It then swaps to a view from inside the house, where the human character is hidden. In very few words, the audience finds out that the human character is being chased by this other character, and its all because he has something the other one is after. He proceeds to go up the stairs of the house, saying that he'll show "you", being the audience, this object that is so coveted after.
However, when he is in the process of opening the place where the object is hidden, he has an urge to go look out of the window. He follows through with this urge, and discovers in doing so that the supernatural character is not longer out on the street. He says this out loud, and is answered by the supernatural character who has suddenly appeared in the room. He then lunges forward, as if he's attacking, and then it cuts to black...
The setting for our film is just a normal house, on a normal street, all because we wanted to show how supernatural things can happen to anyone, and anywhere. The house we chose (see recce) is a quite modern house, but has old fashioned style wooden designs on the front of the house, which we believe will look the part in our film.
It starts with shots of the supernatural character looking at this house from the other side of the street. He remains totally stationary, does not blink or show any signs of emotions. This is all just to add to his presence and show that he isn't just a normal person. It then swaps to a view from inside the house, where the human character is hidden. In very few words, the audience finds out that the human character is being chased by this other character, and its all because he has something the other one is after. He proceeds to go up the stairs of the house, saying that he'll show "you", being the audience, this object that is so coveted after.
However, when he is in the process of opening the place where the object is hidden, he has an urge to go look out of the window. He follows through with this urge, and discovers in doing so that the supernatural character is not longer out on the street. He says this out loud, and is answered by the supernatural character who has suddenly appeared in the room. He then lunges forward, as if he's attacking, and then it cuts to black...
Monday 25 January 2010
Supernatural Characters Costume
Here are a load of photos Andy took in his suit for his costume for his role as the supernatural character. We were planning giving him a sharp suit type of look, because it is to show his greatness compared to the mere human character. At the same time however, we want him to look casual, with shirt untucked, loose or no tie on, as to give him that free look, to show he's comfortable with who he is.
Our Plan To Do The Film
We decided to put together our film on tuesday the 2nd of february, because our school has a mentoring day that day, and we all have the day off, but the school is open if we chose to go in.
I have booked a camera and a tripod for that day from the library, and can collect it on the monday before, or on tuesday morning. The plan is to get pretty much the whole film done over the course of the day, so that we don't have to worry about getting all the people together again, the light being different, the costumes being the same, or anything else like it.
We still may have to do bits over again at a later date, or add more in, but at least this way we have less of that to worry about.
I have booked a camera and a tripod for that day from the library, and can collect it on the monday before, or on tuesday morning. The plan is to get pretty much the whole film done over the course of the day, so that we don't have to worry about getting all the people together again, the light being different, the costumes being the same, or anything else like it.
We still may have to do bits over again at a later date, or add more in, but at least this way we have less of that to worry about.
Friday 22 January 2010
Questions About Practical Continued
1. The action: identify the event your idea is based around; what actually happens (discovery of a body, an illicit meeting, a witness seeing a crime being committed, a criminal act taking place, a telephone call, a chase, a short journey etc)?-
Our film is based around the situation of a human character hiding in a house from a supernatural type character, who is after something that the human has.
2. The theme(s): what should it make the audience think about or feel, what ‘issues’ will it raise (revenge, sexuality, voyeurism, stalking, obsession, greed etc)?-
It will mostly make them think about stalking, and greed for something that may not belong to them.
3. The narrative: how is it structured - classic narrative pattern or break with convention, real time or different time zones, flashbacks/forwards, dreams etc. Will there be dialogue? What about diegetic/ non-diegetic sound?-
Our narrative all follows one space in time, and its all in 2 places, inside and outside a house.
4. The character(s): who are they, identify their roles, what are their characteristics, including gender, appearance etc?-
The is a male human character, who is hiding because he has a special item that the other character wants. This other character is a supernatural character, who is basiclly a vampire in essence, and he is trying to avoid killing the human character, for reasons that would be explored later in the film if it was continued.
5. The setting and choice of location: where is it set?-
It's set at a house (see location posts) that is quite an old fashioned style design, but with hints of modernisation about it. The wooden bits give it an old fashioned theme that suit our film well.
6. The mise-en-scene: identify colours, lighting, dress codes, the overall visual look-
Going for a dark, gothic look that will be reflected in the lighting of the film. The supernatural character is going to be dressed in a suit, and will have a pale face, done with make up.
7. The camera work: the style you are aiming for-
Our style will be an unusual one, because we are going to do most of our camera shots as a sort of "3rd character" perspective. This view isn't a physical character in the film, but the human character regularly talks to him as a friend, but doesn't want/ get responses.
8. The editing: edited as a continuous sequence, use of cross cutting, use of montage, or combination?-
It's going to be edited as a continous story, not flashbacks or memorys or anything.
Our film is based around the situation of a human character hiding in a house from a supernatural type character, who is after something that the human has.
2. The theme(s): what should it make the audience think about or feel, what ‘issues’ will it raise (revenge, sexuality, voyeurism, stalking, obsession, greed etc)?-
It will mostly make them think about stalking, and greed for something that may not belong to them.
3. The narrative: how is it structured - classic narrative pattern or break with convention, real time or different time zones, flashbacks/forwards, dreams etc. Will there be dialogue? What about diegetic/ non-diegetic sound?-
Our narrative all follows one space in time, and its all in 2 places, inside and outside a house.
4. The character(s): who are they, identify their roles, what are their characteristics, including gender, appearance etc?-
The is a male human character, who is hiding because he has a special item that the other character wants. This other character is a supernatural character, who is basiclly a vampire in essence, and he is trying to avoid killing the human character, for reasons that would be explored later in the film if it was continued.
5. The setting and choice of location: where is it set?-
It's set at a house (see location posts) that is quite an old fashioned style design, but with hints of modernisation about it. The wooden bits give it an old fashioned theme that suit our film well.
6. The mise-en-scene: identify colours, lighting, dress codes, the overall visual look-
Going for a dark, gothic look that will be reflected in the lighting of the film. The supernatural character is going to be dressed in a suit, and will have a pale face, done with make up.
7. The camera work: the style you are aiming for-
Our style will be an unusual one, because we are going to do most of our camera shots as a sort of "3rd character" perspective. This view isn't a physical character in the film, but the human character regularly talks to him as a friend, but doesn't want/ get responses.
8. The editing: edited as a continuous sequence, use of cross cutting, use of montage, or combination?-
It's going to be edited as a continous story, not flashbacks or memorys or anything.
Questions About Practical
1. Is it practical?
Our film is practical, because all we need are 2 actors, and a house. The only thing we are concerned about is getting the correct lighting for the film, and getting costumes that fit the mise en scene. Everything else we have covered.
2. Is it an idea that works to the strengths of the group?
This may be our downfall, because neither of us have much experience in this genre of films, but we feel that we will manage fine.
3. Will it show off the skills you have learnt so far on the course?
It should show in the way we have considered our actors, our mise en scene and the variety of camera angles we planned on our storyboard.
4. Is it something you can reasonably shoot and edit in the time available?
We have an entire planned day where we will devote our day solely to the purpose of filming. This way we avoid the issues of not having enough time, and also we can do it all in one go, so that costumes and make up does not need constantly re-doing.
5. Can you get access/ permission to shoot in the chosen location at the chosen times?
We have already secured permission and a time slot to do our filming in our chosen location.
6. Can you organise lighting to use in that location?
This is a slight concern, but I believe that because of the location of our film area, the fact that its quite a dark area will play to the strengths of our mise en scene.
7. Have you included dialogue? If so, will it work to shoot conversation in that location?
We do have dialogue, but not an actual conversation. Throughout the 2 minutes of our film, we only have 4 lines of dialogue, and 3 of them are from one character.
8. Do you have guaranteed high quality reliable actors to play the characters?
No, because we were limited on choice, but I believe who we chose will suit the parts just fine.
Our film is practical, because all we need are 2 actors, and a house. The only thing we are concerned about is getting the correct lighting for the film, and getting costumes that fit the mise en scene. Everything else we have covered.
2. Is it an idea that works to the strengths of the group?
This may be our downfall, because neither of us have much experience in this genre of films, but we feel that we will manage fine.
3. Will it show off the skills you have learnt so far on the course?
It should show in the way we have considered our actors, our mise en scene and the variety of camera angles we planned on our storyboard.
4. Is it something you can reasonably shoot and edit in the time available?
We have an entire planned day where we will devote our day solely to the purpose of filming. This way we avoid the issues of not having enough time, and also we can do it all in one go, so that costumes and make up does not need constantly re-doing.
5. Can you get access/ permission to shoot in the chosen location at the chosen times?
We have already secured permission and a time slot to do our filming in our chosen location.
6. Can you organise lighting to use in that location?
This is a slight concern, but I believe that because of the location of our film area, the fact that its quite a dark area will play to the strengths of our mise en scene.
7. Have you included dialogue? If so, will it work to shoot conversation in that location?
We do have dialogue, but not an actual conversation. Throughout the 2 minutes of our film, we only have 4 lines of dialogue, and 3 of them are from one character.
8. Do you have guaranteed high quality reliable actors to play the characters?
No, because we were limited on choice, but I believe who we chose will suit the parts just fine.
Audience Profiling Sheet
Age- 15- 30 can be higher if they interested.
Background- Aimed more at an emo crowd, or gothic.
Occupation- Middle class, due to area used in film, middle class area.
Gender- Mostly male, but might appeal to females as well.
Likes- Supernatural films, vampire gothic themes, rock music.
Dislikes- Romance related themes, happy endings, rap music.
Ambitions- Adventurous type.
Musical Preferences- Rock music, indie and related kinds.
Looks Up To/ Idolizes- Rock bands, twilight books.
Media Habits- Interested in programs like Dr Who, Blood Ties, Charmed, True Blood, and Merlin. Doesn’t have to be a regular cinema goer to be interested, appeals to wider audience. Likes genres like thriller, supernatural and action.
Background- Aimed more at an emo crowd, or gothic.
Occupation- Middle class, due to area used in film, middle class area.
Gender- Mostly male, but might appeal to females as well.
Likes- Supernatural films, vampire gothic themes, rock music.
Dislikes- Romance related themes, happy endings, rap music.
Ambitions- Adventurous type.
Musical Preferences- Rock music, indie and related kinds.
Looks Up To/ Idolizes- Rock bands, twilight books.
Media Habits- Interested in programs like Dr Who, Blood Ties, Charmed, True Blood, and Merlin. Doesn’t have to be a regular cinema goer to be interested, appeals to wider audience. Likes genres like thriller, supernatural and action.
Thursday 21 January 2010
Actors in Our Film (Updated)
This is Andrew Hall, who will be one of the actors in our film. I personally think he would be better for the supernatural character in our film, because he has dark hair, and that would link back to his character role, and I don't think he would be very good for speech, so seeing as the supernatural character only has one line, it'll suit him better. Our plan was to get his face ghosted up with make up to make him look more gothic. Also we will make sure he is in dark clothes, to further enhance his character.
This is Pete Syer, who will be one of the actors in our film. I think he would be better in the role of the normal guy, who is in the house, because he would be better at the speech parts, and also he would pull off the "afraid" look better than Andy. In terms of costume, he would just be dressed as a normal person, as to make him seem more inferior to the supernatural character.
This is Rob Wildsmith. We agreed that he wasn't really suitable for either part, compared to Pete and Andy. We felt that if it came to it, he would be better for the normal guy in the film, because he hair and skin colour didn't fit the idea we had in mind for the supernatural character.
This is Paul Daulby, who featured in our preliminary work. We felt that he would be quite good as the human character in our film, but eventually decided against him because we felt that Jack would be better.
Recce
We went out and took photos of the house and location that we have pretty much decided our film will be shot at. Here they are...
A shot of the house we will use. Can move the car and so forth, because it doesn't need to be in the film, and I think it would mess up the mise en scene of the film. A car would make the situation seem too normal, and look amateurish.
A shot of the street the house is on from the front drive way. Obviously the bins would be moved out of the way, and we need to consider where the supernatural character would stand. Too close and it would look not right, and too far away and the camera would not pick him up properly, and it would look like he's not even in the film.
A shot looking up the stairs. We need to consider the camera angles for when the good guy goes up the stairs, although currently we are going for a match-on-action effect, and only showing him starting to go up the stairs, and then reaching the top.
A shot of the living room window. Need to think about the angles of where we place our characters in relation to each other, and the angle they are to the window.
Lokking out the window and into the street. Wouldn't normally have a bin lorry in the way though. This shot reflects the part of the film where the good guy is looking out the window at the supernatural character.
Shot of the top of the stairs. This is where the good guy will head when he goes up the stairs, and into a room on the right hand side. The darkness may be an issue, because the camera may not work in that light.
Shot out of the upstairs window. This shot reflects where the good guy is looking out the window to check where the supernatural character has gone towards the end of the film.
Shot of the doorway in the room upstairs we will be using. This is where the final shots of the film would take place, where the supernatural character is in the room. We need to be careful when filming to avoid the camera appearing in the mirror at the side of the room.
Shot of the window from the doorway. Shows how big the space we have to work with is.
Shot of the mise en scene of the room, can change and move things though. May leave it mostly as it is, because it makes the room more realistic, and not like an empty box.
A shot of the house we will use. Can move the car and so forth, because it doesn't need to be in the film, and I think it would mess up the mise en scene of the film. A car would make the situation seem too normal, and look amateurish.
A shot of the street the house is on from the front drive way. Obviously the bins would be moved out of the way, and we need to consider where the supernatural character would stand. Too close and it would look not right, and too far away and the camera would not pick him up properly, and it would look like he's not even in the film.
A shot looking up the stairs. We need to consider the camera angles for when the good guy goes up the stairs, although currently we are going for a match-on-action effect, and only showing him starting to go up the stairs, and then reaching the top.
A shot of the living room window. Need to think about the angles of where we place our characters in relation to each other, and the angle they are to the window.
Lokking out the window and into the street. Wouldn't normally have a bin lorry in the way though. This shot reflects the part of the film where the good guy is looking out the window at the supernatural character.
Shot of the top of the stairs. This is where the good guy will head when he goes up the stairs, and into a room on the right hand side. The darkness may be an issue, because the camera may not work in that light.
Shot out of the upstairs window. This shot reflects where the good guy is looking out the window to check where the supernatural character has gone towards the end of the film.
Shot of the doorway in the room upstairs we will be using. This is where the final shots of the film would take place, where the supernatural character is in the room. We need to be careful when filming to avoid the camera appearing in the mirror at the side of the room.
Shot of the window from the doorway. Shows how big the space we have to work with is.
Shot of the mise en scene of the room, can change and move things though. May leave it mostly as it is, because it makes the room more realistic, and not like an empty box.
Wednesday 20 January 2010
Saturday 16 January 2010
Feedback From Film Pitch
On friday, me and Catherine presented our film pitch to the class, and everyone filled in a feedback sheet about what they thought of the idea, any potential problems they thought we might have, and suggestions they had to improve our idea.
Here is each sections feedback-
Genre- Generally, people put down that they believed our film fits the genres of supernatural, thriller and action. This is good, because these are what we were aiming to get across in our pitch. No one said horror, which is also good because we didn't want to get into that area with our film, because we believe it would restrict our target audience too much.
Target audience- People just wrote down on this bit what we said in our pitch, that our target audience is 14 years+. One person wrote down that we should try and make our film appeal to a younger audience, so it has more appeal. We also need to further consider where our target audience ends, in terms of maximum age.
Texts The Film Reminded People Of- This Is England, Heroes, Superman, Spiderman, Twilight, Grudge
Things People Like About It- We received positive feedback, mainly about a well planned out storyline. We were recommended to think about the ending of the film, as if we were doing the whole thing, which we have already covered, just didn't feel the need to cover in our pitch.
Advice- Most of the advice we were given focused on making sure we could portray our character as superntural as clearly as we could. Suggestions for this where things such as focusing on what costume we used, and the make up we used. Another suggestion was to use older actors, but we don't think we can, because we don't know anyone who will do it. By using teenage actors, it maye even bring our target audience down in age, as previously mentioned. Finally, we were told to think about camera angles, editing and special effects.
Here is each sections feedback-
Genre- Generally, people put down that they believed our film fits the genres of supernatural, thriller and action. This is good, because these are what we were aiming to get across in our pitch. No one said horror, which is also good because we didn't want to get into that area with our film, because we believe it would restrict our target audience too much.
Target audience- People just wrote down on this bit what we said in our pitch, that our target audience is 14 years+. One person wrote down that we should try and make our film appeal to a younger audience, so it has more appeal. We also need to further consider where our target audience ends, in terms of maximum age.
Texts The Film Reminded People Of- This Is England, Heroes, Superman, Spiderman, Twilight, Grudge
Things People Like About It- We received positive feedback, mainly about a well planned out storyline. We were recommended to think about the ending of the film, as if we were doing the whole thing, which we have already covered, just didn't feel the need to cover in our pitch.
Advice- Most of the advice we were given focused on making sure we could portray our character as superntural as clearly as we could. Suggestions for this where things such as focusing on what costume we used, and the make up we used. Another suggestion was to use older actors, but we don't think we can, because we don't know anyone who will do it. By using teenage actors, it maye even bring our target audience down in age, as previously mentioned. Finally, we were told to think about camera angles, editing and special effects.
Thursday 14 January 2010
Friday 8 January 2010
Thursday 7 January 2010
Films That Inspired My Coursework
Underworld- Vampire theme, gave me ideas for the sort of supernatural things a supernatural person can do.
Twilight- Gave me ideas on character development, e.g. how would a human react around a supernatural person?
This Is England- On camera angles, gave me the idea for the "non-existent-but-there" 3rd character, from whom many camera angles are taken from (see film plan for further details).
Blade- More inspiration for the vampire theme of our film. Also made me think about the Mise en scene for the film.
Twilight- Gave me ideas on character development, e.g. how would a human react around a supernatural person?
This Is England- On camera angles, gave me the idea for the "non-existent-but-there" 3rd character, from whom many camera angles are taken from (see film plan for further details).
Blade- More inspiration for the vampire theme of our film. Also made me think about the Mise en scene for the film.
Monday 4 January 2010
Film Opening Analysis 2/2
Blade
- Red titles, relate to theme of blood and vampires.
- Hospital set, date shown on screen as 1967.
- Woman with neck injury, and has gone into labour.
- Neck injury= vampire attack?
- Rapid editing shows the urgency of the situation, trying to save the woman and her baby.
- White background/ costumes, shows its a hospital setting. Could be linked the to death and heaven.
- Baby could be character later in the film?
- More red titles, names of well known actors to make you watch it.
- Shots of sped up city life shown, represents and shows the passing of time between the hospital scene and the next scene of a woman and man in a car.
- Shows the day rapidly being covered up with darkness. Could foreshadow vampires going in strength and numbers/ evil winning over good?
- Very faint background music and noise in the hospital scene. Shows the woman is dying, and can't focus on her surroundings.
- Hear a heart monitor stop beeping and just go flat to show woman has died.
- Opening shot, running down corridor, like heading towards light at the end of the tunnel. Hints at death.
- In the "now" bit, woman with red hair, signals blood, could be a vampire?
- She is driving a car, not the guy. Shows she is dominant over him. He could be a victim in waiting?
- Red titles, relate to theme of blood and vampires.
- Hospital set, date shown on screen as 1967.
- Woman with neck injury, and has gone into labour.
- Neck injury= vampire attack?
- Rapid editing shows the urgency of the situation, trying to save the woman and her baby.
- White background/ costumes, shows its a hospital setting. Could be linked the to death and heaven.
- Baby could be character later in the film?
- More red titles, names of well known actors to make you watch it.
- Shots of sped up city life shown, represents and shows the passing of time between the hospital scene and the next scene of a woman and man in a car.
- Shows the day rapidly being covered up with darkness. Could foreshadow vampires going in strength and numbers/ evil winning over good?
- Very faint background music and noise in the hospital scene. Shows the woman is dying, and can't focus on her surroundings.
- Hear a heart monitor stop beeping and just go flat to show woman has died.
- Opening shot, running down corridor, like heading towards light at the end of the tunnel. Hints at death.
- In the "now" bit, woman with red hair, signals blood, could be a vampire?
- She is driving a car, not the guy. Shows she is dominant over him. He could be a victim in waiting?
Saturday 2 January 2010
Film Opening Analysis 1/2
Underworld
- Titles, black background with white writing, good vs evil.
- Introduces storyline, vampires vs lycans (werewolves).
- Voiceover by female (assumed to be vampire) tells story.
- She and male companion looking down from high ledges, shows dominance, links to line "most succesful campaign- perhaps too successful".
- Opening shot upside down like a sleeping bat, relates to vampire theme.
- Enigmas - who is Lucian?
- why is there a war?
- who gave the orders to fight?
- why is it going to well?
- Vampire costumes, black leather, long cape like coats, links back to other vampire capes in other films, e.g. Dracula.
- Werewolves (as humans) costumes, less expensive looking compared to enemies, shows they not doing as well as vampires.
- Werewolves (as humans) walking close together, like they travelling in a pack.
- Vampires more spread out, shows more indepedance and confidence.
- Dark setting, lots of rain and wind. Could be linked to funeral-like setting? Hints to death.
- No music (diegetic/ non diegetic) except for when supernatural things happen. Done to perhaps show power of the vampires.
- Supernatural occurings, small nod being seen from very far away, and jumping off a high building and landing perfectly without injury.
- (Previous bulletpoint) done to show capabilities of vampires.
- Titles, black background with white writing, good vs evil.
- Introduces storyline, vampires vs lycans (werewolves).
- Voiceover by female (assumed to be vampire) tells story.
- She and male companion looking down from high ledges, shows dominance, links to line "most succesful campaign- perhaps too successful".
- Opening shot upside down like a sleeping bat, relates to vampire theme.
- Enigmas - who is Lucian?
- why is there a war?
- who gave the orders to fight?
- why is it going to well?
- Vampire costumes, black leather, long cape like coats, links back to other vampire capes in other films, e.g. Dracula.
- Werewolves (as humans) costumes, less expensive looking compared to enemies, shows they not doing as well as vampires.
- Werewolves (as humans) walking close together, like they travelling in a pack.
- Vampires more spread out, shows more indepedance and confidence.
- Dark setting, lots of rain and wind. Could be linked to funeral-like setting? Hints to death.
- No music (diegetic/ non diegetic) except for when supernatural things happen. Done to perhaps show power of the vampires.
- Supernatural occurings, small nod being seen from very far away, and jumping off a high building and landing perfectly without injury.
- (Previous bulletpoint) done to show capabilities of vampires.
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