Teacher's Feedback on Draft

When looking back at my first draft for my film opening and comparing it to the mark scheme and the past film openings, I personally think that it is at a Level 2/Low level 3.

My teacher’s feedback for my draft was as follows:

Research and Planning: Level 4
Practical Draft: Low Level 3 (Just)

-        Add all titles – logo etc.

-        Shots work well. Exterior is kept to a minimum – child dialogue is quite good. Shot prior to boy entering house is way too long.

-        Interiors are good. Some aspects of the dark can work – especially when a fright (the masked figure) appears out of it.

-        Sound needs work – sense of doom needs to build – tension needs to increase throughout.

These changes I am already working on and I plan to try to include more transitions in order to make that aspect more creative. I also need to focus on an institution logo and how I can incorporate that into my opening.

Shooting - Overview

5^th February 2011: Shooting went fairly well (better in some areas) because inside the bungalow it was too dark and so made the footage very grainy when I came to editing it. The outside of the bungalow as a whole was good, but I found when editing that the cast seemed to not have a pause between their lines and so their dialogue overlapped each shot.

Before we started filming, Nathan and Eve wanted half an hour just to run through the script to make sure that they could 'get into character'.

12^th February 2011: I decided to re-film some of the footage (mainly inside and Grandma’s dialogue) because of the lighting. I managed to gain quite a few extra torches in order to brighten up the set; in order for the camera to pick up as much light as possible and still gain a intense mood.

To make the fake blood, I mixed golden syrup with a lot of red food colouring over a warm hob.

In order to have the camera facing directly down towards the board, I taped the tripod horizontally onto a stool.

Film Opening Draft

This is my draft for my film opening. However, I have not included the institution logo or sound effects (such as the door creaking shut) because some of the footage I was not happy about because the lighting wasn’t bright enough. Also, the section where grandma talks to the children was not included because the wind overpowered the words and shook the camera. I therefore am going to re-shoot most of the footage as soon as possible so that a second draft can be produced – and can be improved accordingly. The inside of the bungalow scene will be much longer because I am going to include shots of the interior of the bungalow – showing tools to make the mood more tense.

Mise en Scene - Costumes

Cinematography Research – Shadows

One of the techniques that I particularly want to achieve in my film opening is the use of the characters’ shadows in order to let the audience’s imagination tell them what is happening instead of actually having a visual of the situation. This effect will also be enhanced by the sound effects used and so I will need to think carefully about the music/sound aspect of the scene as well.

As research, I looked at the beginning of the film Van Helsing (2004) and when the vampire kills Dr. Frankenstein, their shadow is shown instead of themselves:

This adds drama to the scene and so I hope to use this technique when the witch kills the male persona ‘Dan’.

Feedback - Script/Call Sheet

Mr Ford and myself have discussed the script and some of the aspects I have thought over in order for the audience to understand as much of the opening as they can. This is my improved script and I am going to use it when filming on Saturday:

This is also a call sheet that I have produced (using the Star Wars Call Sheet as a guide). It just includes all of the necessary requirements that I will need on set and I can use it as a checklist when gathering what I need:

Developed Ideas/Script Development

After looking at the Supernatural Episode, I have written a draft of the script. I have changed my initial idea because I have decided to have the two main personas do a voice-over at the very beginning (so that you don’t see them until the bungalow is shown). This will hopefully create the feeling that they are lost because the audience will be expecting something negative to happen.