The Test Shoot

 The Test Shoot

Here is the test shoot that our production group has put shot and edited:

Planning and Shooting the Test Shoot

Preparing for the Test Shoot 

Today our production has panned to do a test shoot, this is to help guide us to fix any issues that may appear when filming or  we may need more or less ideas for scenes. It will also help us to know any key struggles we may need to adress for when filming the actual sequence, such as any effects or practical difficulties we may encounter.

We arranged with each other which props we would need to bring in to substitute for the ideal planned props. We have decided to use a finished loo roll and paper to use as the funnel, that was the big substitute we had to make. We brought in gloves, tweezers, restraints,water bottle, vinyl disk and the DSLR camera for the props. For filming we had different roles to play when making the sequence, Lila was doing the camera work, Meadow and I both acted in the sequence whilst also helping out with the set, camera and keeping continuity intact with where everything was in the room.

The shoot itself went really well and we achieved everything we wanted to do within the time limit, we helped each other by making various suggesting of how to do things and with the camera placement to make each shot stand out. It was really hard to keep track of where the props where and when so continuity may have become an issue the final edit of the test shoot. It was a major roadblock when we realized how difficult it would be to make the 'poison' look like its going into an actor's mouth via the funnel since if we were to actually poor it down their throat they would choke. The order in which we shot the scenes could have been ordered better since when we started filming we already knew what we needed to shoot but not exactly when or how.                    

Research - 'Skin Blistering' practical effect

 Research - 'Looking Poisoned' practical effect

Today i researched into finding out how to create a blistering effect on the skin using makeup, i have done this to further enhance the visual aspect of the opening scene by hopefully replicating the special effects work onto the real actresses effect to give the appearance that her skin on her face is blistering/rash due to the Daphne Mezereon poisonous berries fatal symptoms that it induces. I researched this special effect by using a YouTube Tutorial from the content creator 'Megan Gleeson', below is my progress in attempting to use this tutorial to aid my progress in creating a bruise/swelling effect.

Also I am by no means a makeup artist but will do the best i can to follow this tutorial, i will also be applying this bruising makeup to the area around my mouth because that is the area of skin which will become irritated due to the berries.

Firstly, I started off by using primer around my mouth in order to keep my skin safe and will be necessary to use on set just in case the actor has sensitive skin. I then grabbed a medium brush and began to apply the purple eyeshadow to the edge of my lips and the area around my mouth, fading it out further as it spread further away from my lips.

I then blended the purple eyeshadow with my finger and then applied a crimson eyeshadow with a smaller brush and in dots around my lips and travelling up towards my right cheek, i then blended this out with my finger and re-applied some more purple to create more texture to the color of the blistering look.

Next, I added some concealer to the right upper lip and lower left area of my chin to add some light parts to make the purple really stand out as a dark twisted color. Once this was completed a blended everything out with a beauty blender which really made sure all the shades of color had been  combined together at the perfect level. 

Here is the finished Product -------->

Mood Board of The Opening Sequence Idea

Mood Board of The Opening Sequence Idea 

The genre of the concept for the opening sequence is Thriller, to present this effectively i have designed a mood board to show exactly the key elements that make up the idea. i have split the board up to a few key sections: Top left - Plants, bottom left - poison, top right - mystery man and bottom right - money.

Firstly, the plant themed section of the board is supposed to represent the setting in which the sequence takes place in, its set inside a greenhouse that is surrounded by lush wildlife and plants, the setting combined with the unspeakable act of the man murdering his sister creates a horrific juxtaposition between the life of the plants/wildlife alongside the pre-meditated murder of a woman.

Secondly, the poison themed section of the mood board shows the method in which the man murders the woman with, poisonous berries that can be found naturally but yet are so harmful and it shows that if anything ends up in the wrong hands it can be used in terrifying ways. The poison element itself is what turn this sequence into a thriller due to it providing lots of tension and tense feelings, it also makes the viewer ask questions and want to know more about the backstory of the man? and why he would use poisonous berries specifically to killer her? 

Thirdly, the mystery themed section of the mood board emphasises that the identity of the man is kept hidden from the viewer and only provides clues to what he is like from his very specific way he goes about killing the woman. It emphasises that the man himself is the main subject that the story will follow and his identity rather being simply a one dimensional antagonist
often seen in thriller films. It also represents how he discovered something he didn't necessarily know about himself, how she actually enjoyed killing his own sister which explains why he shows no sad emotions when committing the act,

Finally the money themed section of the mood board shows why he is killing the woman (his sister), its to get money which he thinks she doesn't deserve from an older relatives will. It represents a deeper connotation that money is often the root of why many unspeakable actions take place in our society, people get desperate and will do whatever it takes to get what they want or weather it might be just to survive; just like this man who actually needs the money to help his young child. This doesn't take away from his awful murder but provides reasoning for him and makes him more of a human then any old killer.

Research - Different Poison Berries

Research - Different Poison Berries

Today i will be diving further into our groups chosen idea; i will research the key different poisonous berries and the effects they produce on people in order to help with knowing which type the characters should use and how to produce effects which are similar to the actual symptoms of eating the berries.

The Deadly nightshade

This berry can be found in Europe, the West of Asia and North Africa. It grows from the fleshy rootstock, often a something called a subshrub which is approximately 1.5 metres in height which has 18 cm oval shaped leaves. The flowers themselves have a shape similar to a bell with slight purple and green tints. The berries that are produced from this plant are originally green but once ripe they are black and shiny, they have a diameter of 1cm. It takes between 2-5 of these berries to kill an adult, the poisoning effect they have on humans in known as belladonna poisoning which produce deadly symptoms which disturb the parasympathetic nervous system which controls functions such as heart rate, sweating and breathing; then eventually leading to death.

The White Baneberry

This berry is a perennial herb which is located in the east of North America. The plant can grow up to 50cm tall and 90cm wide, it produces white flower in the spring and then a berry which has the diameter of 1cm which is white and round with a small black dot in the middle thus providing the nickname of 'dolls-eyes'. The berries contain toxins known as cardiogenic toxins which immediately sedate the tissue of the cardiac muscles. If too many berries are consumed then symptoms such as dizziness, hallucinations, extreme stomach cramps and even diarrhea
 which would eventually lead to death.

The Daphne Mezereon

This berry can be found natively in the vast majority of europe as well as Russia and towards the west of asia. It comes from a shrub that can grow up to approximately 1.5 m tall, it produces flowers at the start of spring and then leaves are produced later on. The berris themselves have very small diameter about 7-12mm. they are extremely toxic and produce effects such as a choking sensation which is then accompanied by headaches, diarrhea and severe pain in the abdominal area. Finally they also irritate the skin by causing swelling and blisters.

The Elderberry

The elderberry contains a 'cyanide inducing glycoside' within the seeds, leaves, stems and roots which come from the plant in which the elderberry comes from. The poison produces cyanide to rapidly build in the body which could cause diarrhea, a coma or vomiting before death. However the berry has a pleasing taste which could lure could make children more vulnerable to his berry.

Please Note - the information shown above has been researched by using these two websites,  Caloriebee(https://caloriebee.com/nutrition/10-Poisonous-Berries-That-Can-Kill-You) and Mashed(https://www.mashed.com/98132/dangerous-fruits-world/)

This research has thoroughly helped to make our opening scene more accurate with realistic details, specifically the Daphne Mezereon berry is the most ideal candidate to feature in the opening scene since it produces symptoms such skin blistering which can be done through makeup which can appear horrific along with the choking effey which we could replicate with a pump.

Breakdown of Our Developed Idea

Breakdown of Our Developed Idea

As a group we used the feedback given and revamped the narrative of the opening scene,
below is the revamped opening scene:

1. The scene will open with the man starting to play vinyl on a record player (an isolated
   classical cello solo. CARMEN, Act I: V. Habanera, Bizet? style).

2. The man then walks over to the plants in his greenhouse , pours hot water from a kettle

   
   into a tea cup.

3. He puts on nitrile, medical gloves. He then proceeds to pull out a small zip-lock bag containing many holly berries (20+ are the amount that are required to cause fatality). 

4. He uses tweezers to place each one into a mortar and uses a pestle to crush them.
   
   

5. In an addition shot it can be seen that the man drops water using a pipette into the crushed berry mixture.

6. A different shot then reveals the woman tied up to a chair with zip ties and padded handcuffs with a funnel duct taped to her mouth (this can be done through a pan). She is struggling.

7. The man pours the mixture into the woman’s mouth. She chokes on it.

8. The scene finishes with her frothing at the mouth, and her body/hands going limp after struggling.

Feedback and Developing of Our Chosen Idea

Feedback and Developing of Our Chosen Idea

After our production group Pitched our chosen ideas using the presentation we made; we received some feedback from our media teacher and the Head of Production from our school who raised the following points:

• 
  The cup for the poison wouldn't make sense in a murder scene, it isn't menacing enough and doesn't provoke fear in the audience.
• Who is the woman? How does she relate to the man?
• Who is the man? why is he killing the woman in such a specific way?
  
• How does the woman die?

Then we discussed how we could improve the idea using their feedback, so we brainstormed together and came up with the following solutions to the questions and new details to the plot:

• There is no longer a cup - we are now using a funnel (like the one used in scientific experiments) to make sure the woman ingests in the poison into her body and it implies a darker tone.
• 
  The woman is a closely related the man, specifically she is his sister who cut him out of her life and has inheritance money from a dying relative. She lives by herself.
• The man has a child and needs more inheritance money from his sister so he can provide for his child, he has researched into killing her so specifically so it will be almost undetectable. 
• This murder but during this he discovers he enjoys it, almost like a horrific epiphany.
• The woman will die due to a poisonous effect the berries produce - I will research different berries and find out which berry will produce an effect that would be visually interesting.

 

Group Presentation of Chosen Ideas

 Group Presentation of Chosen Ideas

Today we presented our chosen idea concepts to our media teacher. Over the past few days our production group has been sharing our ideas, the two we especially liked was one of Lila's ideas about a murder of an older woman using poisonous berries and one of mine ideas with the asylum escapee attacking two girls, this time hover as a group we decided to go back the boarding school setting as it added more opportunities for unique and visually intriguing cinematography as well as the ability to convey a darker undertone.

Eventually, as a group we decided on having the poison berry idea as our first choice and in case that idea had the small possibility of not going ahead we will use the insane asylum escapee in a boarding school idea.

Below is our in depth presentation which covers both ideas in great detail.

Camera Workshop 2

 Camera Workshop 2

Today our media class participated in a second camera shop where were shown some key tips and tricks to making a dynamic scene as well as some important rules that need to be followed at all times in every situation.

The most important rule we learned today was the 180 degree rule, this is where when in each shot you have 180 degrees in which you can film from. This is followed in order to makes sure the viewer knows where each character is positioned in the scene since they only have the viewpoint of the camera shot, not the full 360 degrees the actors perform in the 'real world'. In film we use different camera shots to build a world for the viewer so we have to work with them in a sense. To help further build the world for the viewer we can use the rule of thirds to further increase the dynamism and intrigue of the shot, the rule of thirds is where you split up the camera frame into nine equal squares so you can position things within the frame where they will be most useful; for example you could place someone's face in the upper left sector of the screen and have the background towards the right this would be due to the person's face being the subject and is seen first by the viewer since humans by default read things from left to right.

When filming your scene you must start by capturing it in a wide shot first so if you run out of time when working out more specific shots you can always revert back to the wide shot if necessary to fill in any gaps. The specific order of shots is wide, mid and then finally close up. In addition, when filming you must keep an eye out on the set, costume and any notable details to make sure no continuity errors occur in the film itself because it may confuse the viewer and make the film see more amateurish.

To help the actors when filming marks are often used, these can usually be seen on the floor so the actor knows where to stand so they can perform their scene the exact same way each time so it is easier for editors to eventually cut and combine all the footage together. To help everyone there are a set of call outs, these are to confirm everyone and everything is ready to film, the call outs are; stand by (director), standing by (each sector of the production team), roll camera (camera person), camera rolling (camera person - once the camera is recording), action (director - this begins the scene) and cut (director - this ends the scene). The reason for why the camera would still be rolling before the director says action and right up till they say till they say cut is to see if any extra things happen with the actors which may want to be included into the final edit of the film.

Finally, we were made aware that you shouldn't watch the film footage on set because it can consume a vast amount of valuable time that may not be particularly long in this first place and may most definitely be expensive due to all the production sectors and actors. You must most certainly not shown any of the actors footage of them because they may react and be over cautious and aware of how they appear on camera and thus could give off a strange performance that may not translate well to the audience at all.

Camera Workshop 1

 Camera Workshop 1

Today our media class participated in a introductory camera workshop where were shown how to set up a tripod and camera and how to create a clean looking shot, and how we would achieve this in different lighting scenarios.

Initially we were shown the box the camera came in and the bag with the tripod, once we opened these up we could clearly see the camera, battery and tripod. Specifically the name of the camera we used was the Black magic 4K mini URSA, this camera is delicate and must be handled with care, to make sure it is handed from person to person with no issues the person receiving the camera must say 'mine' once the weight of the camera is passed to them, the person giving the camera over must say 'yours' once the weight of the camera has been
transferred from them.

When using the tripod you need to make the top base for the camera is flat before your place the camera upon it; to do this you need to untwist a screw beneath the base and retighten it when the 'spirit level' is in the perfect, that is when the white dote is in the centre of the yellow circle on the side of tripod. For the tripod in general you must not force things to move if they don't want to otherwise the tripod can break and also to try and figure out why something may be stuck because there is often a simple solution, this happened to me when packing up the tripod as stand would slide back into its compact position but in the end the leg structure of the tripod just needed to be held in the correct place in order slide into its tucked in position.

When using the camera you need to decide what you want in the shot to be in focus, once you have figured this out you must zoom into your chosen subject with the zoom dial at the front of the camera lens and then focus it with the focus dial which is slightly further back from the zoom dial, once the focus is adjusted you can zoom out according to your preference. When capturing a shot of a person your should focus on their eyes because it is the most detailed part of the human body and it is where people specifically tend to look at when viewing a person.

One very specific setting we were shown which was very interesting to me is the white balance, it is the setting which adjusted the 'tint' of the shot which is affected by the hue of the lighting in a given space, for example sunlight has a slightly blue hue because of the blue sky so can be adjusted to normal by adding a slightly warm tint. These settings are shown on the camera touch screen and can be adjusted by touching the icon which represents the type of lighting you are in.

Once we came to the end of the workshop we were told to 'strike the kit' which essentially means to pack up the kit, and in a very neat way to make everyone's lives easier once your unpack the kit later to use it again.

My Production group

My Production Group

Today was the day we found out who we will be working with in a production group to create the opening sequence. I discovered that i will be in a production group with Meadow and Lila, we were all very pleased to be working together and get started sharing our ideas.

We shared emails. free period slots and set up a snapchat and whatsapp group so we could contact each other and share ideas wherever we are.  Now we are in position to really take off from to start to share ideas and improve on them as we progress.

Responding to Feedback of Concept Idea 2

 

Feedback for Concept Idea 2

I presented my 2nd opening sequence idea to my media class, i chose this specific idea because i thought it was the strongest due to being the most gripping whilst still being easier to execute. Presenting this idea has provided my with lots of valuable feedback to help develop
the idea and move it forward. 

Firstly, the issue of filling 2-3 minutes  arose because it would be difficult to grip the viewers attention right from the start as opposed to a slightly slower start as i initially intended. This faster paced killing would also be following more horror conventions and thus make more sense a horror opening to the audience.

Secondly, the costuming of the killer needed to be more memorable and striking as opposed to
simple black clothing. 

Thirdly, the location of a boarding school would be very difficult to film in at night time due to other students needing to sleep and use the house.

Finally, in order to provoke high levels of tension and fear in the audience the victim would need to be alone to cancel the idea that someone could save her.

In response to these critiques I plan on changing my idea number 2 as followed:

1. Starting the sequence with a shot of the slamming his meat cleaver into a teenager and killing them in order to grip viewers from the get go and let them know this film is a true horror film.

2. The killer will be laughing maniacally throughout the scene to show he is unhinged and lacks empathy,  he will have be wearing a white mental asylum uniform (he previously escaped from one), that throughout the scene will become bloodier once he kills both of his victims.

3. The location has changed to a desolate park at evening/ sunset to start of night, this will
make the film provoke a higher levels of fear into the audience as the setting is far creeper.

4. Their will be no other people around to help the young girls, so the audience know they have no escape.

There is also a change in narrative, There will be 2 young girls walking in park together at night, then suddenly the killer from nowhere smashes the meat cleaver it one of them which makes the other girl scream and fall to the ground in shock and try to run away but unable to do so successfully due to her intense reaction to her friends death, the killer starts laughing and draws out the girls death and they have a mini scramble with each other and it looks as if the girl will get away but at the last second the killer pulls the girl to the floor and slashes her to death with the clever. This opening sequence will then go onto follow the main narrative as originally planned and all these changes will make this sequence into a true slasher horror opening.