Shooting Schedule

Due to struggling to find an exact time at the moment when I will be able to shoot due to my actors not being able to film I am going to have to use examples for when I will be filming. This therefore means I will not be able to use exact dates. Although, When I do end up actually filming I will make a new blog post to explain thing more thoroughly.

For the majority of my filming I am going to need to have cloudy days but also the odd day that is sunny with a bit of cloud. The cloudy days are purely so that it helps build up a bit more atmosphere to show that not everything seems all happy and cheery. The sunny days that also have a bit of cloud will be ideal for shooting the happy scene such as the very first scene when the two girls are walking down the road together. The rest of the shooting will need to be done of a night time in the dark as this is what will really help to create the spooky atmosphere that is needed.

Cloudy/Sunny with a bit of cloud scenes:
When shooting outside for the out door scenes, I personally think shooting from around 10:00am till about 13:00pm would be ideal as the weather wouldn't change a lot it would pretty much stay the same due to lighting. Also a lot can be filmed within this amount of time.

Night time scenes:
Night time scenes can simply be done whenever as long as it's dark and I have things such as outdoor lights and torches to help put a bit of light on the scene. As long as there is no rain and its not too windy out this will be perfect for the atmosphere. I could also try filming on a windy night to see which atmosphere works best out of the two. Also the scenes that need to be done indoors can be done too 


For example:


24/12/2014
Tonight would be a perfect night to film out doors as there is a very slight breeze and the lighting is perfect for the more intense scenes.

25/12/2014
Today would be a perfect day to shoot the sunny scenes due to the day being forecasted with nothing but complete sunshine.This would be a good day to do the equilibrium of the film. (Ufnrotunatley I forgot to print screen the weather forecast for that day but I did manage to get a picture of the weather itself.)


12/01/2015
Today would be a perfect day too shoot all the scenes that need to be on a cloudy day to help show the disequilibrium of the film.

Audience Feedback On Film Logo Ideas

Here I have collected some audience feedback on my film logo ideas.
https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/2Z9VCXJ

I had simply advertised my survey on facebook to see what my friends opinions were. I had advertised my survey in this particular way as I know that my target audience are known for using social media an awful lot.

photo anamatic

Risk Assessment

Risk Assessment

Company Name: PR Productions
Production Title: Best Friends
Date Of Risk Assessment: 24/12/2014
Director: Phoebe Roche
Risk Assessment Conducted By: Phoebe Roche

As you can see here I have created a risk assesment. The reason being for me creating this is purely because when it comes to filming my trailer there are a few possibilities that things could potenially go wrong and may end up causing an injury. Creating a risk assesment and forms to fill in allows my actors to understand that something could potentially happen but they are also signing to say they agree to the terms and conditions for working within my production.

Script/Stage directions for my trailer

When it comes to speech within my trailer not every scene will have speech in it.

Scene 1: 
*Sandi and Jamie will both be walking down the road just having a normal conversation and laughing* 
(This conversation can be about anything to make it more realistic as it wont be heard anyway) 

Scene 2: 
*Sandi is currently sat alone on the floor in her bedroom, she will be very sheepish and also trying to talk quietly as though she is hiding something*
Sandi: We just need to hide all of the evidence, yeah, everything needs to be removed out of the house and whatever happens, Jamie CAN NOT! find out. (Quietly, serious but also very sharp)Jamie: (Jamie is stood behind the door listening with a face of pure shock)

Scene 3: 
*Sandi and Jamie will simply be in the woods running around.  We will then see how the girls discover a box and that they struggle to open it, they then decide to get rid of it due to not being able to open it, this then leads to Jamie passing out*
Jamie: Hey, Sandi look! (Jamie says suspiciously as she picks up a box)
Sandi: Dont touch it! it doesn't look too great (She says sheepishly as she takes a step back)

Scene 4:

*Sandi simply starts to make her way into the bathroom late at night, she soon notices that the security light from the back garden has randomly come, This leads to Sandi to suddenly stop. She then decides to investigate.*
Sandi: (very slowly Sandi walks over to the bathroom window, opens the window and leans out, she speaks in a very shocked yet confused manor.) "J-Jamie, is that you?!"

Scene 5:

*Jamie will be stood over Sandi holding a knife.*
*Sandi soon wakes in shock, gasps, backs away and screams*
Sandi: Jamie what's gotten into you! 

Scene 6:

*Jamie's will have her head down to the floor and will slowly lift her head* 
Jamie: I wish I knew

Scene 7:

(The next shots will be several ones merged together)
*Sandi will be walking down the alley way in the dark when she notices the figure at the end with a knife* 
*Sandi will be looking in the mirror and Jamie will appear behind her*
*Jamie will be pulling a knife out of her jacket*
*Jamie will be knocking on the porch door in the dark*
Sandi: I don't know what's gotten into her, does she know what I've done? it's something to do with the day she found that box definitely, it's up to me to find that box and find out what's happened to her
*Sandi will be then walking back to the woods on the phone as she is having this conversation* 

Scene 8:

*Sandi will be grabbing the box that was left in the woods*
Jamie: you deserve to die for what you did
*Jamie and Sandi will both be at the top of the stairs*
Jamie: "your no friend, I'm friends with the devil now" 
*Sandi then will be pushed down the stairs by Jamie*
*Jamie will begin to walk towards the camera, lift her head and scream at the camera.*

Soundtrack For My Trailer.

When I had very first created my media synopsis I had added a very small soundtrack which helped create the mood and tension when watching. I had also added this soundtrack again into one of my key scenes as it was really effective and I personally think it worked well. 

The song is an old famous soundtrack 'Teddy Bears picnic' although this is not the original. I decided I didn't want to use the original as it is too upbeat and doesn't fit with my genre, a horror movie. This then had led to me searching for a slowed down version on youtube. I had looked at many videos before I had come across this one and there was no sound tracks that I liked. I also struggled to find a slowed down spooky version. I knew that there was a version like this as I have heard it in videos before but I couldnt remember as to where I had heard it. After searching many things on youtube, trying to shazam the song, googling things etc on youtube I had come across this very strange video (located at the top) and decided to have a look at it. The song used within the background is exactly what I wanted to use due to it having a spooky effect on it. It also helps create the right atmosphere. Now, due to copyright laws I thought it would be best to send a message directly to the creator of this video and ask for there permission to use the audio within it. This doesn't necessarily mean I will get a reply but hopefully I will.

My storyboard

This is my first draft of my storyboard. From my research and planning I have taken things such as shot types into consideration. I have also thought about the miss-en-scene which has been listed in the comments section. I have made sure I have made my storyboard very descriptive and also added images. This is so that it will be more interesting to look at and also easier to process when it comes to recording each scene. Due to me drawing small images too this is a help as it gives me a vague idea of how I want each shot to sort of turn out.

November Feedback.

Potential Film Logos

Applying Audience Theory

Make your own mind maps with Mindomo.

Essay- This Is England

This Is England This Is England is set back in 1983 and is about a young boy growing up in England but is going through a very rough time. On his way home back from school after a fight one day, the young boy comes across a group of people. They soon become really good friends but even more like family to him. Within this film British Youth Culture has been represented in many ways. We can see that a range of different ages have been used within this age and as an example we can see that due to one of the characters being extremely young it shows that British crime is something that is started young and once started it becomes a way of life. For example, things such as swearing and fighting. British people are also known to be as ‘chavs.’ A typical ‘chav’ is seen to be someone that fights, wears tracksuits, has a skinhead etc. We can see that this is therefore shown within this film, this can be seen as a typical British person. British people are also known to have an accent, there are always use a lot of slang. The settings that have been used within this film are typical place that chavs would hang out, alley ways, cars, isolated places that nobody would catch them. The characters that have been used are also actors that have never been recognised this helps the audience focus on the characters rather than be influenced by a famous actor’s stereotype. This is purely because if a famous actor was used the audience would look at both them and the film in completely different way. Tafjal & Turner: “Multiple Social Identities” As we can see in This Is England when we are looking at the friendship groups although some aspects are the same they all seem to have their own individual identities. We can see this simply through the way everyone is dressed. They all seem to have a certain interest in different clothes. Some individuals fit in with the usual stereotype of being British, which is dressing like a chav, but not everyone follows this trend. Sheldon Stryker: “Influenced from the people you hang around with” During this film we witness a lot of people that would be known as ‘Skinheads.’ We soon see due to the young lad within this film hanging around with a certain set of people he soon ends up living the same way of life as them. He also becomes a ‘skinhead’, dresses the same way, picks up their attitude just so he can therefore fit in with the crowd. Therefore it almost looks as though the identity of one person is being shared due to people following and wanting to be like the leader. Mikhali Bakhtin: “People Change” Again, at the start of the film we witness the young boy is getting bullied by a group of people within school and he has had enough. This therefore leads to a change as he simply learns how to start standing up for himself. This simply shows that identity can be changed quite easily within the way you act, dress etc. Identities tend to change due to things such as social groups, for example, the young boys identity changed as soon as he started hanging around with a different social group. Something having an impact on you can also cause an identity to change, like when the young boy was being bullied this caused him to change. Bakhtin’s quote is also very similar to Stryker, I personally think people changing and being influenced by other link together due to people changing under the influence of others. David Gauntlett: 1st Quote: “Having identity is a known requirement.” “Everyone wants to live their own life but this is at the same time an experimental life.” 2nd Quote: “Today you’re told to be yourself yet you’re influenced to try and fit in” (This leads to experimenting.) These quotes are simply saying that in life nobody ever seems to have a set identity, everyone seems to experiment and try new things until a certain style fits them best. For example, things will come in and out of fashion and if someone takes a liking to it they will experiment with it. Again everyone wants to be their own person yet they’re more bothered about following the crowd just to fit in. As we can see in the film the young boy seems to change everything about himself just to fit in with his new group of friends. His hair, personality, the way he dresses etc. This therefore means he has therefore changed his whole identity. Doing further research into this film I found out information about what happened at the box office. Here’s what I found out: Budget: £1,500,000 (estimated) Opening Weekend: $18,430 (USA, 27 July 2007) Gross: $327,919 (USA) (16 November 2007) I then went further to look at the critics review and over all from the reviews that I had read This Is England had made a huge impact due to it being said that it is ‘insightful and informative on the British way of life.’ This is telling us that this is how the public eye therefore sees the youth of Britain.

Key Scenes.

Here I have done one of my key scenes. I have edited this clip 3 times as I had 3 different thoughts of how I wanted it to turn out. The first time I simply tried it in just colour. The second time I had edited it all in black and white but left the clip with speech in it in colour to what sort of effect it had, Im not too sure how I felt towards this therefore I may have to end up doing a questionnaire on it. The last clip I have done the whole thing in black and white as I feel like it helped build the tension. I have also added the slow motion effect as it creates a lot of tension and creates a lot more atmosphere when watching it.





Due to me now have properly finishing my filming I have come back to this post to add my actually key scenes. These will be scenes that will be held within my trailer where as the previous videos I had put above here were edited a lot more and I had spent more time on due to them not being used in my trailer as that was when I had no proper filming at all. (This post was re-visited on 20/02/2015)




Due to me making changes to my script the key scene I was originally going to use has been completely removed altogether therefore I am using an alternative that links in with these two key scenes which is scene 5, this has been improved as the scene itself has been changed to what I originally said it was going to be in the script.

Questionnaire For Film Logos

Create your free online surveys with SurveyMonkey , the world's leading questionnaire tool.

Here are the responses I got from my questionnaire, I wasn't able to embed my responses therefore I have added print screens instead.

Logo Designs

In my personal opinion I really like the second logo I have created. As you may of already been able to tell I have tried to make my logo's as simple as possible as I do not want them to be anything too amazing due to a company logo being something that is suttle but still noticeable. Although I would like my logo to be suttle I still want something in place that will help it be noticeable and also recognisable and easy to remember when located on other products. I was thinking of having simple colours such as black and white and giving it a border that will make it stand out abit more rather than just having text. This is why I like the second logo. I personally do not like the other three as I think they are all very plain and scruffy and do not look as though they would be logos. Also they look as though they wouldnt stand out if they were on a DVD cover for example.

Script for 3 of my key scenes.

Due to not wanting to give too much away in my key scenes I have made sure that there is not a lot of speech therefore my scripts will be just full of stage directions.

Scene 2:

*Sandi is currently sat alone on the floor in her bedroom, she will be very sheepish and also trying to talk quietly as though she is hiding something*
Sandi: We just need to hide all of the evidence, yeah, everything needs to be removed out of the house and whatever happens, Jamie CAN NOT! find out. (Quietly, serious but also very sharp)
Jamie: (Jamie is stood behind the door listening with a face of pure shock)

Scene 4:

*Sandi simply starts to make her way into the bathroom late at night, she soon notices that the security light from the back garden has randomly come, This leads to Sandi to suddenly stop. She then decides to investigate.*
Sandi: (very slowly Sandi walks over to the bathroom window, opens the window and leans out, she speaks in a very shocked yet confused manor.) "J-Jamie, is that you?!"

Scene 8:

Jamie: (She will be located at the top of the stairs grabbing onto Sandi, she speaks in an extremely aggressive manor) "You deserve to die for what you did"
Sandi: (Extremely worried as she is hanging off the edge of the top of the stairs, speaks in a pleading manor) "Please Jamie I beg you"
Jamie: (An aggressive manor) "You're no friend, im friends with the devil now" (Jamie then continues to throw Sandi down the stairs.

Narrative theory research.

                          Paranormal Activity 3

The film I have chosen is Paranormal Activity 3.

Brief Summary:  Paranormal Activity 3 is a follow on from both ‘Paranormal Activity and Paranormal Activity 2.’ This film revolves around both sisters Katie and Kristi which you saw as adults in Paranormal Activities and Paranormal Activity 2 but this time we see them from when they were children due to us going back and watching video footage of them when they were younger. The movie tries to show how the demon has been affecting them since childhood and it clears up the curse that the Grandmother has placed on the family. The film continues to go on showing how Katie's sister has an imaginary friend called Toby who in reality is the demon that’s causing all the issues.

How does Todrov’s theory apply to the main narrative of the film?

Todrov had a theory that there are 5 different steps when it comes to a story.

·        Equilibrium

·        Moment Of Disequilibrium

·        Disequilibrium

·        Restored Order

·        New equilibrium

At the beginning of the film everything seems pretty normal. This is because all that’s happening is that old films of when Katie and Kristi were younger are being looked at by Kristi and Daniel. This would be classed as the equilibrium of the film as everything seems to be going perfectly fine and there is a nice balance, everything seems to be going smoothly. Kristi and Daniel and just living a normal every day to day life.

Next as an audience we simply start to look back at life when Katie and Kristi were children. The next thing we witness is that Dennis and Julie (Julie being the mother and Dennis being her boyfriend) make an attempt at making a sex tape and suddenly get interrupted due to an unexpected earthquake. When looking through the camera footage Dennis  soon realises that dust seems to be falling from the ceiling and lands onto an invisible figure within the room that’s standing in front of the camera. This leads to Dennis being in shock and placing cameras around the house to capture footage. This can be seen as the moment of disequilibrium within the film as this is where something bad has occurred but this is only the very start of it.

Next, strange things begin to happen around the house such as Kristi begins to wake up a extremely odd times and talks to someone that can’t be seen. She claims its someone called Toby. Dennis also finds very strange drawings of symbols in a cupboard in the girls room. The symbols that had all been drawn are in a book about ‘demonology.’ Other strange things begin to happen too, Kristi strangely and unexpectedly falls extremely ill so Dennis asks his friend Randy to look after Katie while they take Kristi to the doctors. Randy ends up getting attacked and witness’ a black figures movement, things seem to be messed with and objects get violently thrown across the room, and so on, Things like this happen numerous times. This can be classed as the disequilibrium of the film due to the characters starting to realise that things are going wrong and a lot of mysterious things are happening to the family within the house.

Then due to Dennis and Julie seeing footage and experiencing things they then realise what’s going on so they then decide to go to the grandmothers house (also known as Lois.) This is so that the family can get away from everything that is happening within their home. This can be seen as the restored order as Julie and Dennis are trying to put things right by moving away from the problem and trying to start a fresh life. Although this doesn’t go to plan.

Once the family have moved in with Lois things only get worse. Julie and Dennis all of a sudden seem to get haunted by whatever it is that’s following both them and their family. Again weird things happen within Lois’ home such as strange people appearing, things being flung across the room etc. Julie and Dennis end up being killed supposedly due to Toby, although Lois, Katie and Kristi were all part of the plan. As soon as Julie and Dennis have been killed a new and almost ‘happy family’ has been reformed. Lois, Katie, Kristi and Toby. This can be said to be the new equilibrium as things are not the same but everything has gone back to a normal steady balance. The problem has been defeated and the peace has soon returned even though things have changed an awful lot.

Levi-Strauss: How many example of binary opposites are there?

·        Young VS Old

·        Black VS White

·        Girl VS Boy

·        Good VS Evil

·        Scared VS Fearless

·        Open VS Secretive

·        Strong VS Weak

·        Human VS Demon

Propp: Character types and how many are there?

Propp has a theory that within a story there are 7 main characters, there are:

·        The Princess

·        The Hero

·        The Villain

·        The False Hero

·        The Dispatcher

·        The Donor

·        The Helper

In Paranormal Activity 3 we are able to witness several different character types.

First of all we have the ‘demon’ of the film named Toby which would be classed as the ‘Villain’ due to him being the one in the film to cause trouble to the people and environment around him. We can tell that ‘Toby’ is the villain of the film due to the mayhem that has been caused. For example, things being thrown across the room, terrorising the family, attacking people etc.

The princess of the film would be both Dennis Julie and Katie due to them being the helpless ones as they are frightened and unaware of what’s going on. Therefore they’d be classed as weak. The princess is the one who stereotypically needs saving and these three genuinely do as Toby is thriving off of their fear.

You could also probably say that Kristi is also a princess of the film as its almost as though she wants to get away from Toby but the whole time she’s actually on his side the whole time. Therefore we could say that Kristi is the donor of the film as she tries to help Toby along his way to complete certain things. Normally Propp would say that the donor of the film is someone that helps the hero but her we can see the roles have been changed and the donor has become someone who ends up helping the villain.

The helper of the film could be both Julie and Dennis due to them being the helper to each other. They can also be classed as the heroes as they are trying to be strong and brave about everything that is happening and they also try to protect the family by acting like the problem isn’t there until things get worse. If anything Julie becomes more of a helper to Dennis later on into the film as she starts to believe what’s going on due to her witnessing paranormal events. Therefore she sticks by ‘The heroes’ side, Dennis, so she can help him on his mission to find out what’s actually going on.

In Paranormal Activity 3 we could say that there are two false heroes. This is because when Dennis, Julie and the two girls move out to live with the grandmother, Lois we witness her being a very welcoming and trustworthy women. Katie, the sister of Kristi is also seen to be really innocent, weak and helpless as she is pretty much oblivious as to why all of this is going on. We then soon find out that Lois and Katie are just as evil as Toby and Kristi and was all a part of their scheme from the start. We know this due to the way that they turn on Julie and Dennis and end up killing them. Therefore they were all on Toby’s side all along.

Id personally say that the dispatcher of the film is people like Dennis’ friend, Randy and the baby sitter for Katie and Kristi. This is because they’re the ones that know something is going on within the house due to them witnessing things. They then let Dennis know that there is ‘evil’ within their home or react in a weird way because they’re too scared to tell him what’s actually going on. This then leads to ‘The hero’ Dennis, investigating what’s going on and trying to solve the problem.

Barthes Theory

Barthes has a theory that within every story you have 4 different codes.

·        Action Codes

·        Key Enigma Codes

·        Semantic and Symbolic Codes

·        Culture references

Action Code: One action code within the film is when Julie is standing in the kitchen and staring into space. Us as an audience wonder what she’s doing and what’s going to happen next. Is she staring at something? Is somebody there?. We soon realise that the table, chairs and everything else has been lifted up and thrown back to the floor. Again us as an audience didn’t expect this.

Key Enigma Codes: An enigma code of this film is all the things that are getting thrown about within the house. As an audience this leaves us questioning why this is happening, who is doing it etc.

Semantic and Symbolic Codes: I personally didn’t come across and symbolic codes but an example of a semantic code was the drawings on the wall within the girls cupboard. The things that had been drawn were all demonology related and us as an audience have a vague idea about the drawings therefore we know they almost insinuate something to do with danger.

Culture References: Again I didn’t not come across any culture references.

How is time manipulated?

Due to there being sequels to this film we can see that the films are all actually going in chronological order, Although we do witness video tapes from when Katie and Kristi were younger are being watched. Therefore it’s almost as though they are flashbacks/ going back in time to witness old memories.

Key Scenes & Shot Types

Key Scenes


Key points to show in trailer:

Scene 1: The first key scene will simply be of the two girls simply walking down the road just having a normal conversation and laughing. This will first of all be a long shot which will end up going to a mid-shot and then a close up. This will simply be because the two girls will be walking towards the camera. This will give the audience a quick glimpse at what there friendship is like. Also due to this starting off as a long shot we get to see how the girls are dressed which will give us an idea of there personalities.

Scene 2: Another scene will be of Sandi sitting in a room on the phone. We will then witness an over the shoulder shot of Jamie over hearing her on the phone but Jamie seems to be in a lot of shock from what shes over heard. This leaves the audience wanting to know whats happened.

Scene 3: The next shot will simply be of the two girls in the woods running around, this will consist of a long shot. We will then see how the girls discover a box via close ups and that they struggle to open it, they then decide to get rid of it due to not being able to open it, this then leads to Jamie passing out which will again be a long shot and will possibly be in slow motion. This will help the audience question what's happened to Jamie and will intrigued them to want to watch more.

Scene 4:

Next we will have an over the shoulder shot of Sandi looking out the window into the garden and sees a strange figure she simply says 'Jamie?.' This can also be done in a point of view shot. This will also help to create tension and build an atmosphere and get the audience to want to find out who this figure is.

Scene 5:

Next shot will be a longshot of this strange figured holding a knife over Sandi. Sandi soon wakes in shock, gasps, backs away and screams 'Jamie what's gotten into you!' This will lead to the audience asking the same question. 

Scene 6:

We will then have a close up of Jamie's face as she lifts her head and says 'I wish I knew' 

Scene 7:

The next shots will be several ones merged together, Sandi will be walking down the alley way in the dark when she notices the figure at the end with a knife, we will then have point of view  shot of Sandi looking in the mirror and Jamie appearing behind her, we will then have a close up of Jamie pulling the knife out of her jacket, we will then have a mid shot of Jamie knocking on the porch door in the dark to help set the mood and tension, all over this there will be a voice over of Sandi, she will  Be simply saying "I don't know what's gotten into her, does she know what I've done? it's something to do with the day she found that box definitely, it's up to me to find that box and find out what's happened to her" this will then cut to a midshot of Sandi walking back to the woods on the phone as she is having this conversation narration, this will then end up to a close up. This will intrigued the whole audience as they will want to know what's going on with Jamie and what the link with the box is.

Scene 8:

The next shot will be a close up slow motion shot of Sandi grabbing the box with a voice over of Jamie saying 'you deserve to die for what you did' (these two clips will merge together using a fade) we will then witness them both at the top of the stairs in a two shot and Jamie saying "your no friend, I'm friends with the devil now" then she will push Sandi down the stairs, Sandi will be holding a knife, this will lead to a high angle shot of Sandi lying injured on the floor. Shots like this is where the tension is built and excite the audience.

The last shot will be in slow motion and start as a long shot. Jamie will begin to walk towards the camera, lift her head and scream at the camera. This will make the audience jump as it's very unexpected.


Levi-Strauss’ Binary Opposites
Good/Evil    Worried/Curious   Strong/Weak   Happiness/Sadness

Roland Barthes 
Open threads & Enigma code: What has happened to Jamie and what has the box got to do with whats happened to her.
Action Code: When Jamie pulls out a knife to Sandi.

Propp’s Character Roles
Princess: Sandi
Hero: Sandi
Villain: Jamie
False Hero: Jamie??
Dispatcher: 
Donor:
The Helper:

As we can see there are a few theories that link in with my trailer but only a few elements from each of these theories fit into place, not all of them.