Skills developement: Filming

We have been practicing different shots using the camera with out no tripod, as a group we have filmed a range of  shots of which is currently being edited for practice in preparation for our actual teaser trailer. During the practice session we discovered new ideas and have since discussed how we plan on filming some of are shots.

So far we have learned how important the rule of thirds is to filming and what effects it can create if you use it properly.

Experimenting with makeup effects (Nhung Pham)

As part of our project we learned how to use some special effects makeup to enhance the characters cuts and wounds. For this experiment we used some Ben Nye - Fresh Scab, a bruising wheel and face paint. I found that the fresh scab substance is very useful and reliable as it create a realistic wound and it is not messy or runny. The appliance for the fresh scab is remarkably simple, we first apply a black paint with a brush in the shape of the wound you want it to be then we use the fresh scab substance on top of it, molding it into the shape you desire. To make it more as though it is an old scab we can use the bruising wheel before or after the appliance of the fresh scab around the wound.

This is the how the wound looks like after applying the special effects makeup, as you can see it looks natural and realistic. Therefore we will be using these products in order to create a horrifying look for our antagonist as it is easy to apply and it would not take up a lot of our time when it comes to making our trailer.

Props (Nhung Pham)

At some stage in our trailer there will be victims who are kidnapped and tied up and kept as hostage by the antagonist. As a group we tried out different ways to how the victims will be tied and how they are going to be placed. We used a rope as a prop for our idea and thought of how we could tie them to make them look like they’re in danger and in pain. We took a few people from our class and from our group to be victims to work out how we was going to make this happen and practiced using them. 

We decided to place the victims as hostage on the floor as it makes them look vulnerable and powerless therefore empowering the antagonist in this scene. They will be put in a dark room in a spot light using a KAILITE digital LED video light overhead.  

As our trailer is set in a college because the students are doing a horror project we have an idea to use cable ties to replace the ropes as they are stronger and more likely to be obtained in a college. Cable ties are usually used by police and security guards to restrain criminals and are difficult to escape from.

  

Here is a video clip demonstrated by a policeman on how to use a cable tie and how useful it is:  

 

Treatment

Wrong Project

Tempa Productions

  Genres: Horror

 Sub Genre: Slasher

 Length: 40 seconds

 Format: Teaser Trailer

 Synopsis: we have concept for a original horror trailer. It follows a group of teenagers who are given a project to work on  by their media teacher. The project involves them filming a horror trailer of their own, but through out the filming process members of the project begin to disappear  until only one person remains. Each crew member is kidnapped in a unique way which is revealed through the trailer. 

Intended Audience: The teaser trailer is aimed at a teenage audience. It will appeal to them as they would be able to relate to the young actors playing the roles. Slasher horrors usually appeal to teenagers more then others , for example the scream series of films has a large teenage audience because it contains an element of realism.

What do we intend to do? We intend on creating a teaser trailer that will appeal to a teenage audience, the teaser trailer will be short and to the point and create atmosphere of suspense and fear.


How will we do it ? In order to create suspense and fear, we have agreed on making all shots very short and precise, this alongside snappy transitions and cuts accompanied by fast tempo background music will leave the audience excited to see what happens next. To keep suspense levels high we have decided not to reveal the features of the villain until the end of the teaser trailer and all acts of killing with the trailer are implied , so the audience never actually gets to see the violence occur.


Why is it worth doing? It will be worth doing because it is a unique concept which the target audience can relate to, also the shots used are very unique and wont be seen elsewhere.We have also done research into special effects and make up to ensure when the villain is actually revealed he looks as scary as possible to scare the audience.

The BBFC (Nhung Pham)

On the 9th of November 2011 Mrs Heidi Renton who is a BBFC inspector came in to have a 1hr 30min lecture about the BBFC (British Board of Film Classification). The BBFC is not a QUANGO, they are independent and have classified cinema films, since 1912 and video/DVDs, video games since 1984.

I found the talk very useful as she explained in details about what shouldn't and should be in a trailer or movie. She also spoke about the history of the BBFC, age classification and what the difference in between them which people may find confusing such as 'U' and 'PG'. During this lecture she showed different examples of clips from films and questioned what age would it be classified as and why. 

An example of clip she showed was from 'The Simpsons Movie' where there was nudity (of a ten year old boy), children smoking, sex references and violence but because it was in a form of cartoon, known quantity and a comic it was ultimately passed at 'PG'. Therefore this movie may not have some scenes that is suitable for children but as it is classified as 'PG' they should be accompanied by an adult.

Compared to cinema films in the 1912 the BBFC censored many scenes which cannot be shown. T.P O'connor's 'Forty-Three Grounds for Deletion' contained 'Men and woman in bed together', 'Drunken scenes', 'Premeditated seduction of girls' and 'References to controversial politics' as you can tell by the wording of the rules it was set a very long time ago. However time have changed since then, the overriding principles now are that works should reach the widest audience and that adults should be free to chose their own entertainment. Therefore if an adult decide they want to watch or don't want to watch a film they should not be limited in their choices. Decisions are based on published and regularly updated guidelines.

The most recent report on trailers are seen on the BBFC website http://www.bbfc.co.uk/classification/guidelines/legal-considerations/

 

music sample 2

                                               another very eerie song to take examples from

sample music 1

to create an atmosphere at the start of the movie, we should create something similar to the xylophone at the start of this track 

Special Effects Equiptments (Nhung Pham)

Wounds, bruises, scars and prosthetic are required for realistic effects. I was browsing through a site called www.screenface.co.uk which sells special effect makeup and equipments which is essential for our antagonist and victims.

This is a bruising wheel color palette which also comes in different forms of color for different effects such as death and monster however we are aiming for a bruising effect for both the victim and antagonist.

This product is to create fresh scab. It is an authentic brownish blood tint for older drier blood clotting effects which is useful for our antagonist as we want him to look tortured and frightening. 

Soft putty is an easily modeled soft wax for alteration of characteristic facial forms which will be used to create scars and wounds on the antagonist. It is easily applied on by placing it on the skin and shaping it there using our fingers to smooth out the surface of the wax which we then put translucent powder over it. We are then able to apply makeup as required.

Because this is a teaser trailer we don't want all the characters to be over the top with too much graphic details because the trailer will be shown on TV to everyone therefore we don't want to put off the audience with too much blood or gory effects. 

Killer ideas 2 (Nhung Pham)

This image was found through Google of a young woman with one eye missing. This gives a scary effect as a part of the face is missing therefore may show that the character has a background or past story.
By achieving this look we found a site that produces fake latex that may be useful for our horror trailer. We browsed through a site called www.Mostlydead.com and found a prosthetic eye that can create something similar to this image.

This is the prosthetic we found through the site to create the missing eye -
This is a safe way to apply latex scars and wounds over the eye however it does restrict the sight to the actor.

Music videos.

As well as horror trailers as a group we looked at music videos that have tried to incorporate features of horror into the narrative of their video. One of the videos we looked at was from a artist called Krept. His named his tracked after popular horror film  "Paranormal activity". This video in particular was very interesting  due to the use of  props and make up.

By Tyler Mason

The process of learning to edit.

As we are all  new to editing using final cut pro ,we looked on youtube to learn the basics, one of the first things I looked at was colour grading, as it is essential to our teaser trailer. The tutorial was very useful and easy to understand, from it I learned how to  add colour to a particular part of a clip as well as removing colour.

By Tyler Mason

Group discussion 1.

As a group we have come up with the main concept for are horror trailer, we have decided to base it on youths who have to film a horror project for there college coursework ( just like we are doing )  and on there way they encounter a killer who by the end of the trailer has managed to kidnap them all. 

We decided that we would not reveal the killers face until the end of the trailer and all killing done before hand would be implied rather then shown to generate suspense and leave the audience on and edge.

We also had a discussion on how we plan to portray the teenager playing the parts.We discusses on whether they should for fill the stereotype put on the younger generation (Unruly violent and disrespectful)  or would they be innocent and subvert this image. We still have not come to an overall decision.

Another matter we discussed was music, as shaquille is an artist and has the ability to produce beats he decided to make a track or instrumental to with the trailer, how ever this is still t be decided near the editing stage, as we also considered having a narrative voice over, but as it is a teaser trailer a voice over may not be as so affective as it is traditionally used to trailers.

We then had a look on youtube at make up tutorials so we could see what visual effect we could achieve. I will be uploading the videos we looked at in new posts on this blog. From the videos we got a general idea of how we can use make up to make are antagonist appear scary.

Another factor we have to take into consideration is who we act for are group, but as we dont no how exactly we want are characters to be portrayed we have not decided yet but hopefully this will be fine when we get around to filming.

In the discussion we also looked at how we were going to edit the teaser trailer, by looking at other trailers and music videos, we mainly talked about how we plan on using colour grading and use of transitions and sounds instead of using a lot of  irrelevant effects. 


We have finally come up with a production name , we all agreed on temper productions but decided to spell it "tempa productions" which would appeal to the teenage audience of which are teaser trailer  is aimed at.












    


By Tyler Mason

Killer ideas research 1 (Nhung Pham)

As part of our research, we looked into different halloween make up tutourials to see what interest us and what captures that vision of a killer to use for our antagonist. As our trailer is based on the genre slasher we wanted the killer to have a gory effect with however not slashes or over the top makeup as the trailer will be shown on national television to a wide range of audience.

This is one of the ideas for our killer to look like. I browsed through horror makeup tutorials and found a man with a zipped face from the middle which intrigued us to put this forward as an idea for our antagonist. For our antagonist we may use less blood as the trailer is opened to all audience of all ages therefore we don't want to scare of children with over the top gory effects.

Equipment for this tutorial are:
- Latex Appliance
- Zip
- Fake blood
- Make up (foundation, eyeshadows)
- Contacts (optional)

We found a tutorial that shows us an easier application to make a zipped wound from a youtube makeup guru taking us through step by step which simplifies the way we can create this look.
To stick on the zip to the face i will be using eyelash glue or either latex which is safe and tacky so it would not ruin the actors skin or be in danger.

horror conventions by Tyler Mason

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story board

story board draft