Ancillary Product No. 1: Final Piece

Above is the final poster for my first ancillary task. This poster follows the more traditonal information poster I first researched, however, I also researched teaser posters in order to see if there are any ideas I could incorporate into the poster. From the information poster I realised that the credits are an essential part of the poster as they are featured on all posters and are required in order to reference all companies involved. I found a credit font on the internet and used this to create the 4-line credit at the bottom of the page. Keeping on the topic of fonts, the title of my film 'Welcome Home' is created in the 'Creature of Darkness' font, which I feel represents the horror genre well. I also feel that the font helps the title look like a 'Welcome Home' banner. I wanted this look to the title as it subverts the idea of moving house being a celebratory event. The tagline featured at the top of the poster reflects the storyline of the short film and allows audiences to make predictions and to anticipate what could occur in the film.

The picture used for the poster shows the protagonist (me) walking into the light with his back to the camera. The reason why I chose this as my poster shot is because this could be classed as a representation of the horror genre. The protagonist remains focused on the light infront, which signifies safety in a conventional horror film. The darkness behind him represents the danger and shows how the protagonist is not aware of his danger. I chose not to show the antagonist in this poster as the short film rarely shows the antagonist, keeping an element of mystery within this character. It would also get audiences to build an image of what the antagonist could be, again building anticipation and excitement around the short film.

Production: Filming Day 2 & 3

Day 2 of filming was intended to be used for shots 11 through 20 on our storyboard. Sadly, due to the issues of my scheduled haircut, many of the shots from the first filming day had to be re-done, and so this day was dedicated to completing this re-shoot. This effectedc the eventual storyboard plan as we had to plan a new day to cover the next scenes.

Day 3 then became what was meant to be filmed on day 2, with shots 11 through 20 being shot on this day. As with all the other filming days, it was essential for me to film as many scenes that I am not in as possible in order to gain exprience and take some pressure off of Amber doing all filming. We believe that we completed the tasks set for us will multiple versions of each shot taken in order for Amber and I to have a selection of shots to choose from.

The final task of the day was to figure out what items we would use for the next day of filming (Day 4), which was dedicated to filming the final 10 shots of the film. This included the scenes involving moving objects. For this, we decided to use a child's pram and doll as the haunting feature as it was A) synonymous with young child's play and B) a practical item to be able to move using the thin, invisible fishing line that Amber had obtained. Reason B was also the same reason for using a door for the paranormal events.

Production: 1/12/2016

Today's production lesson involved the first audience feedback on the first 1 minute and 35 seconds of our short film, where constructive critisism was given in order for Amber and I to improve our work. When presenting our work, issues with sound meant that we could not show the beginning of our short film with the sound implemented before-hand. Amber and I both believed this would hamper the portrayal of our horror as the sounds used do connote the horror genre as well as lighting in the opening of our short.

The feedback given on our short is that our lighting does connote the horror genre well and that we have used a wide variety of camera shots/movements as asked for in the brief. For improvements. many believed that more could've been done with mise en scene and camera shots such as close-ups to portray a horror atmosphere, as it is considered to slow paced and comfortable for a horror short film. Amber and I have both taken this feedback and planned out new shots, such as close-ups on the protagonist to show feelings of fear or claustraphobia in our short; however, we are yet to update our mise en scene to fit the horror genre as suggested.