Letter to Hammer Film Productions

I wrote this letter to ask permission to use the track from the Woman In Black film recently made. I had to ask permission because we wanted it to be featuring in our film also and we needed to make sure we were allowed to do so as our film may be uploaded on to YouTube which will be seen from the public eye and we didn't want to get in to trouble for doing so.

Picture for DVD cover

I chose this photo for the DVD cover for our film. I chose this one because from researching the different types of DVD covers it is clear that the photo usually includes either the villain or main character with a surrounding setting to give a little insight as to what the film may include. I got this inspiration from the DVD cover 'Friday The 13th' because of the way they have chosen to have the villain from a low angle looking up at him and also showing the surrounding setting around him. Instead for ours I have chosen to have the two young girls, one of whom gets taken by the villain in the film at that young age. The way the angle of the camera is slightly looking down on them makes it seem like they are being watched and are vunrable. We also do not see their faces but it is very clear they are two young children on their own. These two girls are the victims of the villain so I have chosen to have this picture as the front. I have also chosen this photo because it shows a lot of the surrounding lake area where the film is set, from when they were that age of being young and when the girl as a teenager goes down there to reminisce the times she spent with her sister. This picture also shows a lot of the woodland across the lake and on the other side you can slightly see a human figure if you look closely, this indicates that there is a man out there to get them (the villain). It shows some of what may be going on in the film which i think is important as it makes it clear to the audience when they go to buy the film but not so much that they already know whats going to happen and don't buy it or go to see it at the cinema. I made the picture from normal colour which was boring and not eye catching to this edited picture that captures the eye. I made this by uploading it in 'iPiccy'. This programme on the Internet allowed me to edit this picture by changing the colour on photo effects to slightly black and white and sepia and then adding a slight 'vintage' look to it, this gave it its basic colour. I then added the 'Focal Zoom' to it which gave the effect around it, the way it goes blurry around the edges and makes you focus more on the girls in the picture and the figure across the lake. I feel this photo really brings out what the film is about without giving away too much, it also relates to the black and white film and also is very eye catching in the way it is appealing to look at.

Filming day 1 - Ellie

Filming day 4 - Pippa and Ruby

Shooting Schedule

Music for film

DVD Covers to analyse

6th December 2012

Today Sophie and I had media for two periods out of five today which meant that we had two hours of time to progress with our film. In the first hour we started to adapt our shots to make them more sophistaicated and personal to the film by shortening the shots. We did this to make them more tense and to add more to the climax to make the audience feel more engaged and focused on what might happen next. We changed certain shots by using specific tools on Final Cut to drag in to the focus on Ellie so that it made two shots instead of one, we used this when she walks in to the shot, we found that it was too long and broke the tension slightly so this made it flow better. We then looked at the black and white contrast on the film we have used to keep the traditional look, we started to look at the level and making sure it was equal colouring so that it didn't look wrong for the viewer. Whilst doing so, Sophie and I realised how important it was that this film is in black and white because it really adds to the effect of horror and eerie feel. We watched the beginning of the film in colour and it really didn't give the same scary effect that the black and white did.

In the second hour we spoke about what music we want to use in the background of the film and we came up with a final decision that it would be a section of music from the Woman In Black, called Voices In The Mist. We still need to send a letter to the company that produced this film to get permission to do so but at the moment that is the music we will hopefully use. We felt this music would be appropriate for our film because the background noises link in very well with the noises you would hear around the setting we are filming. We also feel this would work very well in our film because of the high pitched sounds you hear most of the way through with the contrast of minor key sounds. In this hour we also chose the name of our film which is 'The Locket'. We felt this name would work well as it links in with the main prop and idea of the locket that the actor Ellie holds and focusing on mainly in the opening sequence. This locket plays a bit part in the opening sequence because Josh who plays the Villain will be holding the sisters matching locket from when he took her whilst down at the Blue Lagoon. We feel this name will not give too much away and it also doesn't give off a positive or negative emotion when the audience read it which is good because it again doesn't let the audience know too much as to what will happen, only that a locket will play a big part in the storyline.

Audience Profile

Evidence of us filming

These pictures show us filming with the setting around us of the Blue Lagoon in Stotfold. It also shows our main character Ellie and the main prop of the locket with the picture of her and her siser when they were younger

ideas for music

brainstorm of film names

29th November 2012

Today in our lesson, Sophie and I looked at the video we had taken so far for our film. We chose sections and started to put them in order. We also changed the colour to black and white to see what it would look like. We watched it through and at first we felt that some of the shots were not up to standards and needed more work done to them to make it look  more professional. But we showed our teacher and she said it was fine so we have decided to stick with the shots we already have but go out and film more varied angles of the shots so that we can add more tension to it. We feel this will make the storyline more tight and easy to understand. It will also help the whole thing flow a lot better from shot to shot. We really like the idea of it being in black and white as it keeps to that traditional feel and it also creates a sense of atmosphere as it looks dark and gloomy. We feel that this has helped us improve our film before we have even finished filming it all, because it has pointed out the parts that need to be adapted at this early stage instead of later on when we may not have enough time to re-do sections.

28th November 2012

Today Sophie, Ellie and I went to the Blue Lagoon in Stotfold to start filming. We went down at at about 1:30pm and started filming at 2pm. Sophie and I filmed and directed whilst Ellie acted out each shot. We achieved seven shots whilst being there and we also took photos of us doing this to show evidence. It started to rain whilst we were there which added the realism to the film and made the scene more eerie. Whilst filming we came up with developed ideas on how to make the shot seem more interesting and to add tension. We did this by producing more short close up shots and quick shots that added to the atmosphere of what was happening around her. There was also a man fishing over there whilst we were filming so we decided to add him in the shot to make the audience question more on what might be happening instead of it being obvious. We stayed there filming until 3'o'clock which gave us enough time to produce some of the film. Once we have looked over the section we filmed we may find that there needs to be more shots involved or that things are not up to the standard we want so we may go back again and re-do it before we start the next few scenes.

Data and conclusion from questionnaire

Animated Storyboard

Storyboard ideas for film

Own pictures of characters

  

 

This is an idea of what we want our two main characters to look like. These pictures are our own that we took to give a base idea of what we want. The girl in this picture will be what we want for our character because she is pretty, blonde and easy to make look pale. She also looks interesting which will engage viewers to be intrigued in who she is. The boy looks too young in this picture, if we did use him we would make him look older and more rough looking, with a stubble and give him more of an evil, scary look about him. In our opening sequence you wont see what the man looks like but if we were to film the rest of it that is what we would do. In this picture the boy is wearing a suit but in our film he would be wearing scruffy clothes to percieve the idea that he is a tramp. We are focusing more on the boys look in this picture. What the girl is wearing is the sort of thing we will have in our film because it looks old fashioned and antique. The girl is also wearing a necklace that looks like a locket, this links in with our idea in the film where the girl wears her locket that her and her sister had matching.

Audience Theory

Audience theory is a starting point for many different media tasks. Whatever it is you always need to consider the target audience and how that audience will respond to the text. Audience theory is the way in which an audience are fed or perceive information provided from different formats.

The Hypodermic Needle Model - This theory dates back to the 1920's to give a view on how mass media effects mass audiences. It suggests that audiences receive this information without any attempt to challenge or process it because they are swayed in the way they think. This theory was designed when media was still very new so it could influence and manipulate audiences much easier.This theory soon became too clumsy for media researchers.

Two-Step Flow - This 1940's theory suggests that the information from the media does not go straight in to the mind of the audience, but instead it is filtered through 'opinion leaders' who then communicate it to the people they have influence over. So the information is not necessarily a direct process but seen as a 'Two-Step Flow' because it passes through two steps. This theory has diminished the power of the media.
 





Uses and Gratifications Theory - In the 1960's people who grew up with the first televisions were adults who chose what they did when consuming media texts. Audiences were made up of individuals who consumed the text for different reasons in different ways. This theory shows that individuals have the power to control what they choose to listen to and process. This means that different types of media have to compete to achieve peoples interest to process the information.

Reception Theory - In the 1980's and 1990's the way individuals interpreted the text changed depending on their circumstances, e.g. gender, class, age etc because peoples background seemed to change the way people read things and thought about them. Individuals started to change the way they interpreted information so certain things were not clearly defined because people saw them differently through their relationship with the information.




This theory would be very useful in our own film because it helps us to make sure information is clear and perfect for our traget audience so that the audience get the best out of our film and we only add things that will appeal to these people. 

Tzvetan Todorov's Narrative Theory

Tzvetan Todorov is a philosopher born in Bulgaria but has lived in France since 1963. He is also a cultural critic and is the author of over 20 books.

Tzvetan came up with the idea of 'Narrative Theory' after reading and studying several films. He studied how the narrative tells the story in both fictional and non fictional context. This theory Tzvetan came up with explains how a narrative for a film is built up step by step to create the best possible story line.

Equilibrium -  This is the starting point for the narrative, it is seen as 'normal' life where everything seems happy and things are balanced. This is a good way to start because it makes the audience familiar with the surroundings and what is going on around the characters. It also gives the director the chance to introduce the characters easily and without confusion to the audience. This step is obviously very important.

Disruption - This part is where something disrupts the equilibrium in the narrative usually caused by an event, this gives the audience a storyline to start following so that other events can take place along the way. This part helps the audience identify what the characters personalities are like depending on how they deal with this disruption.

Realisation - In this step, they will realise the disruption to normal life and they will usually try and find a solution to resolving this. At this point the narrative might give the impression that this cannot be solved and things are really bad, this causes the suspense and tension that some viewers look for to keep them watching so this is an important part.

Resolution - The fourth step is how they will solve the disruption, this usually involves a character(s) having to complete tasks in order to do so. This is usually the point that the audience have been waiting to see, the bit that its all been building up towards.

Return to equlibrium - This is the point where they return to 'normal' life whether it is back to normal or to a new equilibrium where there life is different but back to being happy. At this point the ending may not be how it was at the beginning but this can create the beginning of a sequel.

This step by step has been very successful in films and once seen it can be easily identified in all types of films. This step by step narrative is used in 'The Incredibles'.
This is a very good theory to use in our own film because it is helpful to make the storyline simple but effective so that is it catchy and gripping. It also makes the planning easier so that the story doesnt get too complicated and boring. 

Propps Character Theory

Vladimir Propp was a Russian critic in the 1920's who was interested in the narrative of folk tales. He noticed that Folk Tales were similar in many ways. One of which was that they all had the same stock characters. He identified that characters have a narrative function and they provide a structure for the text.

He analysed over 100 Russian fairy tales to make this correct theory. He found that he could identify what the character is, what its personality is and their role in the film. This theory is useful because it can identify similarities between films that may be very different, although it has a weakness as this theory only applied to fairy tales so it is hard to put this in to modern films.


Vladimir believed that there were seven different characters that make the function:

The Hero- (traditionally male) The character who embarks upon a quest and is always the centre of action. They usually drive the narrative forward so that there is a conclusion at the end where he/she will receive some kind of reward, this is where Propp suggests this is going to be the Princess. A simple example of this is 'superman'.

The Villain - This character makes the film exciting and more interesting to follow. They usually plot obstacles to stop the hero from achieving what he/she wants. The villain is not necessarily male or female so has a chance of being either. This character often also wants to seek to achieve a reward of some sort. An example of this character is The Joker in the film 'Batman'

The Helper - (also known as 'The Donor'). This character is there to help the hero achieve their mission/quest by providing vital information or an object. An example of this is the Fairy Godmother in the film 'Cinderella'.

The Dispatcher - This character sends the hero on his/her journey and are often used for guidance and reasons. This character is thought to be wise and sometimes to have magical powers. Although they would not be able to achieve this quest without the hero. An example of this character is Yoda from 'Star Wars' as he helps Luke Skywalker.

The False Hero - This character is like the villain but instead wants to take the glory from the hero so that it looks like they are the good one who achieved all the work. This character is sometimes perceived as good but near the end of the narrative we realise they are bad. An example of this is the two sisters in the film 'Cinderella', they pretend to be the princess when really they are not.

The Princess - This character is most threatened by the villain and is usually saved after climax from the hero. This character is usually the main quest of the narrative or even the reward for the hero.In modern films this may not always be a female. An example of this character is the daughter in the film 'Taken', she is saved by her father, 'The Hero'.

The Father - This character is nearly always the father of the princess in the narrative. This character can be linked with the dispatcher as it is usually the father who send the hero on his mission to find his daughter, the princess. In modern day films the father character can disapprove of the hero who brings back his daughter where as in older narratives the father would have got on well with the hero. This charater links with the hero in the film 'Taken'.

This theory would be really useful in our own film in the way it makes it easier to set the characters out and make them link so that it helps the narrative flow better. This is going to help with our overall story and ideas.

Brainstorm of ideas for film

Suspense

Friday 9th November

Today Sophie and I discussed what we wanted our film to be like, including the setting, characters and props. We looked over what I posted earlier about ideas of what will be included in our film and we decided that it was all too cliche having the knife and girl and boy falling out and we felt it wasn't very traditional. We felt that the storyline needed to be more realistic and the characters needed to be more interesting and traditional as well as the props.
So we have decided to change our ideas as we researched more in to the type of theme we wanted.

Charaters:

We will have two young girls who are sisters in the flash backs of what their relationship used to be like before the sister got taken. We will portray their relationship as happy and free like any young children would be like so that it is clear they were just two typical girls.We decided to change the characters to two young girls because in our audience research we found that most people found a storyline with young children more frightening and spooky than older people.

We then will have the main girl as the age she is now about 16 years old. She will play a big part in the film as the victim of the killer.

As before we still want to keep the creepy man as the killer. We want him to be hidden in the opening sequence so that it doesn't give too much away too early, so that the audience want to find out what happens and who this man is and what he is going to do.

The setting will be the same as I noted down in the last post. It will be near a lake with surrounding wood area so that it is very enclosed and haunted. This will be the area in which the flash backs take place and where the girl goes when she feels sad to remember old times and to chill out.We have chosen for this type of setting because again in our audience research we concluded that most people found unknown settings more gripping and spooky and that is the idea we want to put forward so that the audience are grabbed in to watching it.

Props

This locket will be important in the film because it will be an object that the sister kept from when the little sister got taken, it will be the only thing left of hers when it happened. This locket will be held by the girl when the flash backs are shown as it will link with the fact that the audience will see the little girl wearing it in these flash backs.

This log will be significant in the film because it will be engraved with the two sisters names on it which will bring back flash backs of when they wrote on it together.

The overall storyline will be based on two sisters who were very close and did everything together and one day one of the girls vanishes whilst both playing in near the lake. There is a man who lives in an abandoned house near there and he is out to get the other girl years later. He has been identified before for hanging around down there but no one seems to believe them because he was thought to have died years ago...

Analysis of Preliminary Task

Preliminary task

Ideas for own film

Setting

We want the setting to be of a lake area to emphasis the idea of danger of falling in and we also want the surroundings to be forest because this gives the intention of something/someone hiding in there.

We want to film this as it gets dark so that it adds tensions and an atmosphere for the viewers to create the idea of it being horror and scary.

We want the film to based on the traditional, old fashioned horror films when they were in black and white as we feel this will be different to how others may perceive their film to be, we will put a modern twist on it but our aim is for it to be more traditional.

Characters 

For the opening clip to our film there will be two characters which will be a man and a girl.

The girl will have blonde hair and will look very pale. She will also look pretty but vulnerable.

The man in this will be older and will be hairy to emphasis the fact he is older. We want him to also look pale and a bit scruffy as we feel it will give more of a scarier look and will show this idea of vulnerability on the other character because people perceive killers and murders to look very manly and scruffy looking. 

Props

This type of knife will be used in our film as the weapon to modernise it. This will be used by the male character towards the female character. It will look sharp and it will have blood on it to show it has already been used and to give off the danger as to what might happen next.

This jacket will be worn by the male character to show he is older and is a typical outdoor person due to his well equipt outfit. This jacket will be significant through the film.



This balaclava will also be worn by the male character so that his face is hidden which adds to the tension of who this person is and what he looks like. Through the opening clip for our film this will always be on the mans head to not give away who it is.

This Iphone will be used by the female character to also modernise the film. The girl will use the phone to be reading texts and having a phone call.

Overall storyline