Production: Sound

As mentioned before in the sound sourcing section of my planning, Amber and I were both undecided on whether we would use sound effects in our film based on our idea that the diagetic and ambient sound would set the tone of the short film. However, after watching our first draft of the opening scenes, we decided that sound would allow for us to portray the tone of each scene better than if we just used the sound made in the scene itself.

We have both found a copyright-free sound effects/music website named Freesound which allows us to download a range of professional and amateur sound effects. All the sound effects that we feel are neccessary will be downloaded from this website as there is a huge range of sounds to choose from. The effects that we feel are neccessary for our production include creepy background noises such as a child's laughter or a child crying, or other effects surrounding children's activities such as nursery rhymes and children's toys.

The sound used in the opening scene reflects the idea that silence builds the tension within the scene. Our opening scenes all contain a backing track that has an ominous tone to it, which is then cut short by the sound of a falling object. After this occurs, all fades to silence so that the audience will focus mainly on the actions of the protagonist and their expressions of worry in this scene.

Below is an example of non-diagetic soundtrack that we will use in the production of our short film:

Production: Editing Day 1

After the first day of filming was complete, we began the editing phase of our production process. The first day of editing was focused primarily on creating a sequence of shots that would be considered the opening sequence leading into the development of the fear. We began by importing all footage and photos taken on the first day of filming to the desktop computer, which were then imported into the Adobe Premiere Pro editing software.

Our editing style for our first draft consisted of fitting together a sequence of shots in the correct order, without cutting the shots down into the correct positions. This was so that we could focus solely on matching our storyboard concept as well as possible; we would then worry about fine-tuning the piece afterwards to avoid getting less footage into the sequence than intended.

Due to issues with computers and the power in the workroom, we had less time to import the footage and create the sequence. Whilst we completed this, we felt that we did not have the time to edit the length of each shot, therefore, we felt our time would be better spent sourcing sound for our short film (see http://aidansa2.blogspot.co.uk/2016/11/production-sound.html for the information on this task). We also spent time at the end of the lesson filtering through the ancillary pictures we took and both Amber and I selected our favourites and sent them to ourselves in order to continue on our ancillary product.

Production: Filming Day 1 (04/11/2016)

For our first day of filming, Amber and I decided to begin filming the earlier scenes in the short film as we had planned to do in our shot schedule. We also decided that it would be ideal for us to test out shots in different lights and locations throughout the house, as this could give us some new ideas for extra/new shots with inventive lighting. The first 10 scenes (excluding the opening establishing shot due to the outside lighting being to dark for the character to be seen when we filmed) we shot, equating to around 1 minute and 15 seconds of footage.

We also took the filming day to shoot some possible photos for both mine and Amber's ancillary posters. Many different shots were taken in order for both of us to have a large selection of poster pictures to choose from (see right of post for ancillary option).

In terms of issues with our first day, since the first shoot I have had my hair cut, so unless we can incorporate a hair cut of the main character into the plot, then we will need to re-shoot the shots where my hair cut is visible. Also, certain shots contain moments where the camera loses focus and so these will need to be re-shot as well.

Ancillary Product 1: Teaser Poster Research

             

Ancillary Product No.1: Layout Planning

As the research into horror posters shows, multiple defining features of the film itself are teased on the poster. The Insidious poster that I analysed included both the antagonist and the location. Whilst both were included, details on them were not disclosed to the audience in order to keep them in the dark on the storyline, leaving the audience wanting to find out what occurs in the film.
This idea of keeping the storyline open to interpretation before viewing is shown on the poster of The Blair Witch Project I also analysed. The main location of the film, which is the woods, is shown in this poster, however as the antagonist is rarely seen in the film, the 'final girl' is portrayed on the
poster instead. The antagonist is shown instead through the Blair Witch logo on the poster.
As our antagonist does not shown themselves until the very end of the short, I do not wish to show the antagonist on the poster. This is so I keep the element of mystery behind the character in order to build up the tension. As our location is mainly shot inside, the poster will have a shot of the protagonist inside the home, with the location and the typography of the poster encoding the horror genre.