Ancillary task 1: Trailer sound research

br /> This is the trailer for paranormal activity, the sound in this clip is very important as it uses the common horror trailer conventions. These include a deep voice, trying to create a good impression by telling the audience that the film terrified America. The faster tempo of the soundtrack and the scream are all used to create tension and scare the listener. Also telling the listener the film name at the end means that the main thing they are going to remember will be the most important thing, the films information.

this has inspired me to try and make our trailer fairly scary, this will hook the audience in and will give them fairly good insight into what our film will consist of without giving too much of the story away.

Ancillary tasks

for the ancillary tasks, me and damien decided to produce a radio trailer, and a film poster. We will create the radio trailer using voice overs and sound effects and we will most likely use garage band for this. as for our poster we will almost certainly use photoshop after taking our own pictures. We will study the conventions of horror movie trailers and posters in the coming days to better understand how to produce an effective ensemble.

Short Film "Psyche" first draft

Untitled from connor barclay on Vimeo.

this is the first version of the short film psyche, which i fully edited. this version is lacking the final soundtrack and only consists of diagetic sound, in future versions there will be a narration by the main character to better explain the story that he is troubled and is running from himself as he causes his own problems, the later versions will also include non diagetic music to create tension and an eerie mood.

Revised treatment

Feedback analysis

We recieved a lot of helpful points from our feedback with regards to our sample scene, with the main point being that the film was hard to follow without prior knowledge of the story. we took this into account and as we were thinking of doing, we now intend to use a non diegetic narration over the top of our film to portray the story. As i wrote on the sample scene post, we also received positive feedback with regards to our story with many people liking the message of the film that the character is "running from himself". this positive attitude has given us much more freedom with regards to writing a narration script as we can really build upon the idea of the character being in a dark state of mind.

Locations for shoot

These are the two main locations we will be using for our shoots, we chose these locations as we want to film in the dark, and these locations have street lighting that will enable us to do this as we do not have sufficient funding for lighting systems that are purpose built for filming. We also chose this suburban area as it is not that busy during the hours we intend to film so there will be a very low chance that bystanders will ruin the shot. Finally the main reason we chose these locations is the fact that the character himself is from a suburban background, so as well as practical reasons it also made sense regarding the story to film here.

Pitch plan

this is a scan of our mindmap prior to creating our pitch

Treatment feedback

Our treatment for our film was well recieved, everyone liked the actual idea of our story and were looking forward to us actually making the initial versions of it, however some people warned us that a man being chased was slightly cliche, so we intend to put a spin on it whilst still utilising this key horror/thriller convention.

sample scene

This is the sample scene from our film, this scene really let us develop the idea of the isolation of the main character. we really liked the lighting in this scene as the dark surroundings help to compliment the dark state of mind the character is in, however without some narration it is difficult to get the point of the story which is something we are going to include in our final draft of our film.

A2 "pitch" and feedback

This was our pitch for our idea and the sample scene to our classmates, who in turn provided feedback to us on how we could develop our idea and what we should keep the same. These points are taken from their feedback:
bullet point: Improve the lighting situation, add dialogue, add non diagetic soundtrack. This exercise proved very useful as it helped us to decide on the fact that our story needed narration to fully get the point across which was something we were already thinking about. the fact that our classmates liked the story also meant that we felt more comfortable in pursuing the idea that our character was "running from himself".

10 shot storyboard

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This is the powerpoint we used in the pitch of our film to our classmates. We used it to show the ten shot storyboard we created to help plan the shooting of our film. this was a vital part of our planning as it helped us really develop our idea shot by shot, and let us present our idea to our class more clearly than if we had just presented in verbal form.

A2 media experiment by user4209116

This is a collection of experimental sounds we may use for our film. we will use music like you hear in this collection because it really helps to create the eerie mood we are looking for, it gives the sense of mystery but not impending danger which we are looking for in the early stages of our film. when it gets to the later stages however a more powerful soundtrack will be need to create a crescendo that gives the feeling of tension and danger.

Script

this is the script for the narration of our film, written by myself and damien overall im very happy with the script as it really conveys the mood we want the character to have, ie depressed and lonely up in his thoughts.

Paranormal activity poster analysis

Paranormal

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I analysed this poster to start to get a view of what our poster should look like for our film.
knowing that paranormal activity was such a successful film a large potion of that success must be put down to the ability of the poster to intrigue the viewer. after analysing this poster i have significantly developed what i believe our poster needs, including; dark colours, not to much to look at in the main image, a tag-line(what happens when you sleep?) in order to get the viewer thinking, and the production details in smaller print at the bottom of the poster. Also naturally the release date and name of the film must be present.

Insidious

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This is my analysis of the poster for the horror movie "insidious" i chose to analyse this poster because this movie was very successful and as with "paranormal activity" a lot of it was to do with the advertising. after looking through this poster some things that jumped out at me were; the use of the eyes as a focal point, as the eyes are said to be "the window to the soul", the use of one main subject in the foreground to really draw the audiences eyes, dark colours which are conventional in horror movie posters and also to some extent a quote
("its not the house thats haunted") however i prefer the idea of a tag-line like the one used in the "paranormal activity" poster ("what happens when you sleep?").

Re-post storyboard as blog post, creative and artistic

10 shot photo storyboard

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This ten shot photo storyboard was used to help us plan the narrative of our film. this was a very useful piece of work as it let us get more organised with regards to planning our shoots and developing our story. Also we realised that we wanted to use dark surroundings as it better reflected the dark state of mind the character is in.

Six shot analysis of about a girl

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This is my six shot analysis of "about a girl". i found this exercise very useful as it helped me to understand the importance of mise en scene across the film. analysing these shots helped me to develop my thinking of the significance of everything in the shot, when it comes to making our film i will bear in mind the significance of everything in the shot, which improve the overall narrative and purpose of our film.

Treatment for short film

who were you working with? 

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This is the treatment for our film, this helped us jump straight into the planning of our film as each section focused on a different aspect of our project. This helped us to first of all think up our idea, then develop it keeping costs and time scales in mind, all in all a very useful first piece of work for our project.

Studying elements of mise-en-scene

This was a class exercise in which we had to do further analysis of a film using media language. We had to identify and discuss the elements of mise-en-scene to recognise the importance of setting, costume , lighting and composition when framing a shot. What did you learn?

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Short Film inspiration

In this task we were asked to analyse how every aspect of the short film "The insane" including camera lighting setting mise en scene props sound and characters were used to create the conventions of the horror genre, which we will be exploring in our short film.

After writing this essay, i believe i know have a far greater understanding of how to build up the conventions of a horror film, i would like to focus on the dark lighting, but would also like to explore a story that plays tricks on the mind to some extent. i also received an A for this essay.

“The Insane” essay.

“The insane” is a short horror/ suspense film made in 2006, directed by David J Ellison and Mark Cripps, it is set in an urban environment and around a train station late at night/ early in the morning. The film is centred around one character; John Vincent, who believes that a cult of people in the city has lost their sanity, and that they are responsible for the murder of his wife, and now want him dead, the film is about his struggle to get “revenge” at the “Insane” even though we later find out he is infact the one who is insane and the one who murdered his wife.

“The insane” is set around a train station in an urban environment, we immediately know that there is an urban setting as the etablishing shot is a pan of a city skyline, the fact that it is set in an urban environment signifies that the problem is widespread, as cities are of course, heavily populated areas, and also signifies schizophrenia and paranoia in Vincent as he believes that there are many people targeting him. There is a short fight between Vincent and a largely built man in bloody white clothes very early on in the film which takes place in an alleyway, this signifies that Vincent is afraid of fighting out in the open and again signifies his paranoia as he is staying hidden in the alleyway. When the film moves into the nearby train station there are no trains, apart from one that passes by, this is to signify that he now has no way of “getting away” with murdering the people, and the train that passes is to signify the fact that he missed his chance to do so. When being chased by the character with the chainsaw, Vincent pass through many tight corridors and hallways, this signifies that he feels the “cult” is closing in, and gives a sense of claustrophobia, which again signifies that he believes there is no way out for him, this also signifies his mental health problems as we also see he is a schizophreniac across the course of the film, the majority of the points regarding the setting are to signify John Vincent's personality and to signify how he is feeling across the short film.

“The insane” is entirely centred around John Vincent, the man who believes an insane 'cult' has murdered his pregnant wife, and his effort to wipe out the members of the cult one at a time, across the film he displays many different sometimes contrasting emotions, and lack of emotion itself. The other characters in the film are used to signify how Vincent feels. During the first scene Vincent fights a man in white, who swings a knife wildly at him, this is of course a figment of his imagination but it signifies that vincent has schizophrenia and paranoia, because he has invented this situation where a man who we later find out did nothing wrong is attacking him, and this is a symptom of paranoia, feeling like people are being aggressive towards you when they really arent.

Another notable thing about Vincent at the end of this scene is the lack of emotion he displays when he has killed the man, again this signifies his mental health problems as it signifies that he believes he is doing the right thing, when clearly he is not, and that he is not affected by commiting a brutal murder. When in the train station there is a person on the opposite platform who Vincent believes is laughing at him, once again this signifies paranoia as he believes that the laughter is directed at him.

When Vincent starts to see flashes of people he has killed he begins to show fear, this signifies that part of him knows he is wrong, but he cannot regain his full senses, no matter how much his subconscious tries to break through his mental problems. When the man with the chainsaw appears, vincent flees him, until he is eventually forced to fight, this signifies that he is afraid of the situation that he invented, and is metaphorically running from the truth, that he has murdered innocent people. The fact that every character apart from Vincent himself has their face at least partially covered, hiding their identities signifies that vincent does not truly know who he is fighting against, we find out at the end of the film that the hidden identities of his enemies, are to signify an internal struggle, between himself and his mental health issues, as it becomes clear he was in fact the one who was insane.

The props in this short film mainly have the purpose of signifying Vincent's insecurities and mental issues, the first prop we must take note of is the knife, who John believes the first man is trying to attack him with. the use of an actual weapon signifies that his mind honestly believes he needs to defend himself, using a crowbar, this again, signifies he is paranoid and thinks he needs to defend himself when he is in no danger. Vincent also carries a flashlight, as well as a crowbar, this signifies that he cannot clearly see things and further signifies that mentally he cannot make sense of things and see things properly, this is supported by the way he invents situations where people attack him, which all leads back to his fear and overall confusion with the situation. When john muders the woman in the train station, we see that she has one eye covered, this is also to signify that he cannot see everything clearly, and has a distorted view on reality. Another important prop is the mirror john stares into, this is important because it signifies him not just looking at himself, but into himself and it signifies him trying to see who he really is and what he has done, this is significant because this is the first time he questions where he was at the time of his wife's death, and this is because of the time he spends looking into the mirror. The final prop in the film is also the most important, the newspaper being held by the man on the train at the very end of the film signifies that john vincent, is in fact insane, the paper tells us that he suffers from “violent delusions” this signifies that everything we have seen in the film regarding the 'cult' has been an invention of his mind, and provides the audience answers, as to why he was being targeted and what the 'cult' wanted. The entire situation was just a result of vincents paranoia and schizophrenia.

The camera work in “the insane” helps to set the tone, of fear and tension, and signifies the pshycological problems of John Vincent. The establishing shot is a wide pan of a city skyline at night, as I previously stated this signifies that the problem is widespread across the city, and also signifies that vincent is alone in his 'fight' against the insane. The first scene is a point of view shot from vincent himself, the camera moves fairly erratically and sways quite a bit, this signifies that he does not have full control over his body. In addition there are fades to black in this shot, this also signifies him blacking out, and that again, he does not have full control over his body, this also later explains why he cannot remember killing his wife. Throughout the film the camera is tilted up at John, this signifies a sense of power and dominance, also a sense of righteousness, which he clearly posseses as he believes he is the only one doing anything about the 'cult'. When he falls to his knees the camera starts to get closer and uses sharp cuts to create a sense of panic, the camera gets closer to him to signify the fact that the 'cult' is closing in on him. When he is looking into the mirror, the camera zooms in from an over the shoulder shot, to a close up on the reflection of his eyes, this creates more emphasis on the eyes, and signifies that he is judging himself and trying to ask himself questions as to why he cannot remember where he was when his wife died.

The lighting in “the insane” is consistantley dim through the majority of the film, the use of dim lighting is to signify the fact the story is a horror, as this is a common convention in horrors and sets a dark mood and tone for the fim. Regarding John however, the dark lighting also signifies that mentally, he is in a dark place, as he obviously has phsycological issues, also to signify that he is trying to find his way in his “hour of need” the flashlight he carries again signifies that he is trying to light up his path and make things clearer. After he murders the woman in white, there is a medium shot in which we see red lights in the background, this signifies blood which of course is a common convention in horror movies, this also signifies danger, the initial judgement is that john is in danger, but we later find out that it is he who is causing harm to innocent people. When john is fleeing the man with a chainsaw he passes through many tight corridors and hallways, the lighting differs here as he runs from light to dim, this signifies that his mind is still trying to retain its sanity but is drifting in and out.

The sound in the short film is constantly used to create tension and suspense, as these are characteristics of a good horror film. The fisrt sound in the film is a non diagetic string track, which creates a very ominous feel and signifies danger, we do not know who is in danger immediatley, and after we assume it is john who is in danger, we find out he is the one causing harm to others. Vincent's narration is very important as it lets the viewer understand the background to the story, such as why he is killing people and at times how he feels, for example late in the film he says he is “tired”, this signifies that he is still human to the audience even though the world around him appears to be surreal. It is also his narration that creates the impression of the fight against the secret 'cult' this is significant because until the end we assume it is true. At the end of the film, when the man on the train is reading the newspaper, Vincent begins repeating his first narration lines again, this time with an echo, this reminds the audience that he is the man the newspaper is talking about, and again signifies the fact that he is insane, as he is repeating himself and hearing voices in his head.

Overall the different factors that make up this film work very well together as they help to create an image of an entire world, then reveal it was all false, the sound helps create a background to the story and sets the mood and tone, the lighting helps to signify Johns emotions and creates a familiar setting through the use of dim light which is a common horror convention, as does the use of weapons as props. Also the use of erratic point of view camera shots help to signify the true nature of this short film, that despite all we assume to be true through the use of signs and codes throughout the film about there being a cult out to kill him, the main character John Vincent is, in fact insane.

Photos of actors

these are three of the actors that will be in our film.

Above: Martyn Smith

Above: Damien Johnson

Above: James Orr

Short Film Inspiration

Our first research task was to watch the short film "Smashed" and analyse the setting, mise en scene, sound, characters, camerawork lighting and props, in order to get an insight into how a professional sort film goes about doing these things. I found this very useful as it helped me look into the meaning of almost every thing the film was constructed of and its significance. I recieved an A grade for this essay.

Smashed essay

“Smashed” is a short, thirteen minute film from 2009, directed by peter snelling, the film is set in an urban environment, which has a busy nightlife, and is centred around four main characters, two females and two males, the story shows one night in the lives of these people, and how alcohol affects them and gets them into different situations. The film was funded by Avon and Somerset police, which implies the film has a moral theme.

The film is set in an urban environment, near a council estate which we see in an establishing shot that shows the tops of blocks of flats and dark grey skies, the director may have chosen this setting because it is relatable to many people living in England, particularly in the working class demograph and therefore any interpreted meaning in the film will make more of an impact, he also may have chosen this setting as it could signify the working class demograph itself, and how alcohol affects today’s society. the use of dark cloudy skies may also signify that something bad is going to happen, as this is a common convention in television and films when a negative event or atmosphere is approaching. A subtle but important early sign that this film is about drinking is the fact that there is a sign on the door of the shop the man goes into, reading “buy real ale here”, this could signify that the community has alcohol easily available as it is advertised in the shop window. After buying beer from this shop the two men walk down a small street, the street has a white van in the background which again is iconic in british working class life, also a bin in the foreground is overflowing, this could signify that it is early in the morning as the binmen have not been yet.the fact that during the daytime many of the shops are closed could signify two things, either it is early in the morning, or it is a fairly run down area, which could also signify the need to drink could be about the characters tackling boredom as much as anything else.

The film revolves around four characters who are linked by there alcohol use, the first character we see is called estelle, the character is holding a crinkled brown paper bag, the fact that the bag is crinkled signifies that it is quite old and she has had it for a while, this further impies she is a nervous person, as she has not built up the courage to open the bag. After the close up of the bag we see estelle looking at herself in the mirror, this is significant as it could signify her judging herself, which again shows she is quite a nervous person, she then has a drink which signifies that this is how she deals with her problems. The second character we see is a man named corey, looking through old letters and photographs of his ex-girlfriend and reflecting, this signifies that he thinks about things and regrets them, which is later confirmed when he tries to get back together with his ex girlfriend, he also says he wants meaning in his life, and he seems to believe that a one night stand will give him that, which it does when we find out later that he will become a father because of a one night stand. After this we are introduced to Sam, straight from the start we see she is a fairly aggressive person by the way she is talking to someone on the phone who does not want to come out, the way she says she “likes getting slaughtered” signifies that she enjoys drinking for the sake of it, when the two female characters are first on screen together, one thing is instantly obvious, that Sam is a very tall charcter, this may have been to signify her personality traits, overpowering and fairly aggressive. The final character we are shown is called george, he is seen entering a shop, on the door of which reads;

“buy real ale here” which signifies he is going to buy alcohol we can assume it is early as there is a young boy laughing at him who appears to have be doing a paper round, which of course signifies that it is early in the day. And the combination of these signs signifies that george drinks at anytime in the day, as he appears to be drinking in the morning, like estelle, and keeps drinking as time progresses through the film.

The first prop in the film is the egg that is the focus of the first shot, this has some significance to the rest of the film because traditionally eggs are a sign of fertility, this signifies that the film will have something to do with this theme, and is the first clue as to what is in the crinkled paper bag that estelle holds throughout the film. The fact that this bag is crinkled signifies that she has had it for some time and not opened it, this signifies that it is fairly important as she has a reason to be nervous about opening it. Another significant prop is when Sam and Estelle are in the chip shop, she takes a cab card, with the intention of using it to get home, this is significant because it signifies the difference ina sense of responsibility before and after drinking, as after drinking she disregards the need for a licensed cab and ends up in danger. We know she is in danger because of the props in the back seat of the car, bottles of bleach and cable ties, which signify the man driving the car could cause her harm for obvious

reasons.

The establishing shot shows the tops of flats, signifying an urban environment, which further signifies that the film could be a statement about the working class demograph. Just before the scene with Sam and estelle in the chip shop there is a pan which acts as the transition into this scene, from a scene with corey and george, this pan signifies that the four characters are all in the same locality and are likely to meet. After Sam says lets get slaughtered, the camera shows the four characters when drunk, falling around and acting silly, the camera continues this theme and the movement becomes quite erratic this is to signify the fact that the characters are drunk and reinforce their actions. When the characters are in the club, and estelle and corey meet again the camera is used in close ups to show the emotion on the characters faces, and signify that this is an important event in the course of the film. Smashed uses one main technique to show the progression of time throughout the film, this is “continuity editing” this is the use of different shots show the day going on, and is used in this instance to signify how the characters drink all day.

Lighting is used in “Smashed” to signify the emotions of the characters, the most notable use of lighting is the frequent use of high contrast shots, the first being when estelle is looking in the mirror in the beginning of the film, the fact that one side of her face is dark and the other is light signifies that she is caught between two minds on how she wants the pregancy test to go. Another high contrast shot is used when george and corey are in the pub in the daytime, which may be to signify coreys choice of calling estelle or leaving it. The most significant use of lighting in the film is when corey and estelle meet in the club, the quickly strobing lights are to signify their mixed up emotions, and confusion regarding their personal situations.

Sound is used to create different moods throughout the film, the first track we hear is the non diagetic sound of an acoustic guitar being played at a slow tempo, this has a calming effect on the audience and signifies that it is the morning. Also when george steps on the egg, we see a boy laughing, however hear no sound from it, this signifies that george has his mind on other things and may not care because he is hungover. Throughout the course of the day many of the characters emphasise the point that they want to get “slaughtered” and drunk, this diagetic speech shows the theme of the film is drinking to the audience. When the film gets later into the night we hear an almost constant background diagetic track of dance music, this is to signify that it is nightime and the characters are out clubbing, after this track ends we hear another acoustic guitar playing, this is to signify that the night is over and the film has come “full circle”.

All of these seperate elements fuse to form the experience of a day in the lives of these four characters, the different aspects signify many different things including time, emotion and target audience. The film makes a moral statement about how drinking can have many different consequences from getting into danger to becoming a parent, and the director, peter snelling clearley had an eye on raising alcohol awareness with his film

Team Meeting 2

These are some of the notes from our development of our idea, there are also pictures of actors that will be in our film. In my opinion our idea is developing very well from our initial thoughts.

Photo of Connor and Damien

This is a photograph of myself (right) and my partner for the project, Damien (left).

initial team meeting

I will be working on this project with my friend Damien as we both enjoy working with each other and can come up with good ideas together. we will be sharing the workload evenly between us to make it fair throughout the project.

 Damien (left) and me (right)

Below is our very first mindmap for our short film, as you can see we took several different genres into account, we will decide categorically what genre we will pursue at our next meeting, altough i would like to do either a comedy or a horror/thriller.

Studying short films

For our project's research and planning stage, we will be studying short films, in order to do this we will use websites such as youtube, BBC Shorts and 4od giving us a wide range of platforms from which we can launch our ideas. I find the short film industry interesting i like the way a story and emotional connection can be created so quickly, where in feature length films it sometimes cannot be achieved at all.

Welcome to my blog.

Welcome to my A2 Media studies blog. During this project I have been tasked with creating a short film, and several ancillary texts that complement it. During this project i will be working with Damien Johnson. I am very much looking forward to this task as i have a keen interest in editing and would like to expand that into the actual shooting of a film.