Horror - Year 1 and Two Project

Pre-Production

Wednesday 16th September 2020 

Today we were assigned our project for the Horror Short Film. We went through a presentation about what makes a good horror. We went through the music and how the build up of sound keeps the tension and often a sound makes a jump scare. Furthermore we went through. We learnt that the hero for in horror films is usually an average person but are apart of the typical social group. Furthermore, many horror's have a universal moment, an event that many of us will have experienced. Then an incident that kicks of the story and creates drama at the beginning. Other important things in horror is mise-en-scene, this includes props, costumes, SFX and makeup. 

I began to write down ideas for our horror film, I was very intrigued and interested in a physiological horror. I brainstormed and came up with the idea of homeless people going missing and are used for organ donors. I wanted this short film to be a microcosm for how society treat homeless people. I wanted to do something like this as my favorite horror films include Get Out by director Jordan Peele, where he uses his physiological horror as a microcosm on racism and how society treats it.

Wednesday 23rd September 2020

Over the weekend Sam wrote the script for the horror and we went through it together as I was chosen as director for this project. We went through the script discussed what I wanted and what Sam wanted, after we began looking at locations as the surgical room was an important location to set the scene. Due to COVID-19 we had to film around college. After asking around we were told that the barbershop is a good location as it has similar features as a surgical room. One problem we had with the room is that there was lots of mirrors all around the room. This would be tricky to film as the reflections will show the camera on screen. Our Production designer, Kai, thought of the idea of a back screen over the mirrors. 

Wednesday 30th September 2020

Today I began the accompanying visuals for the pre-production work. I began to create and plan a shot list for the short film. Having shot lists helps the production process as it helps you plan with the camera team and help them visualize how they will set up the camera and work with me to get the vision to come to life. Being director, I have to work alongside all teams to make sure the camera, actors, set design, make-up and more know what the plan is. Pre-production is very important when it comes to planning everything. As a director the most important form of pre-production is accompanying visuals. 

After this me and Kai (Production designer) had a meeting with the make-up team, as I had to explain what make-up we wanted. During our meeting we created a mood board with the style of make-up we wanted and gave them a copy of the script, with highlighted parts for the main make-up scenes, including the branch in leg and the slit throat.

Monday 28th September 2020 - Monday 19th October 2020

As a class we all had to isolate for two weeks, this was a massive issue as we wanted the Horror short film out for Halloween. As a contingency we all had certain tasks to do whilst we were isolating. I finished of the storyboards and all other accompanying visuals, whilst the producer (Sam) did risk assessments and the production designer (Kai) contacted the make-up team and actors so that we were completely ready for when we are back for the last week of term to film. 

Doing storyboards are one of the most important pre-production work as it is a graphic representation of how your video will unfold, shot by shot. It's made up with illustrations/pictures representing each shot, with notes about what's going on in the scene and what's being said in the script during that shot. This allows the camera crew and the actors to understand what we will be filming and what I want from them.

Production

Tuesday 20th October 2020

On the 20th we decided to record the radio show that Billy listens to in scene three. We used the recording studio to record this to get the most realistic sound that we could. We did multiple takes with over the top radio voices and normal radio voices. We did this so we had a wide range of audio to work with. The main problem we had at the start is that there was a vent above the recording studio, meaning it was interfering with the audio. We fixed this problem by moving the studio away from the vent so there was no interference. This was very time consuming but it didn't effect us as we came well prepared and began early so we didn't run over on any other projects/production.

Wednesday 21st October 2020

This was our first day of filming and we wanted to film scene two. Due to COVID-19 we are unable to film in someones house hold, meaning we cant film scene five. As director I had to improvise and think of a solution, I decided that I would merge scene two and five together so we could film the sister conversation outside, along with him finding the missing poster of himself. The second problem we had was the actor who was playing Hollie was unavailable due to unforeseen circumstances. I was able to figure out a solution by having an actor who was available and gave her the script.

Whilst filming, I wanted very simple shots on the conversation, as it was a very simple scene. I wanted certain close up shots and zooming out shot. I wanted this as it added a bit more to this short scene, instead of just simple over the shoulder shot. A shot that we did was adjusting the focus from Billy to the poster of Billy. We did this manually by adjusting the focus on the camera instead of doing it in post production. This camera effect added a bit more to the scene as it looked interesting and unique. Furthermore, on the final shot I used rule of thirds, to have one actor stand in one third of the screen (Billy) and the other (Hollie) stand behind him but in the other third. It also gives a nice depth of field to this shot with the focus being on one actor and not the other. 

Thursday 22nd October 2020

On the 22nd we filmed scene 1 and scene 6, using the barbershop. We spoke to the college before hand about what days are available for us to film. The only day that the room was available was Tuesday, so after getting a location agreement signed we were able to film. Whilst all the actors were in the make-up, myself and Kai (Production designer) began setting up the room. We fixed the mirror problem by covering up the mirrors with a big black sheet. We only used a corner of the room to film and we had the surgical bed as a table with a white sheet over.

Once the make-up was completed and we had all the actors in costume, we began filming. I first spoke with the make-up team and we discussed how the slit of throat would work. We had a tester blood socket and tested it to see what is the best way to cut it and spoke to the actor's. We began filming, having all the storyboards and shot lists on set helped me explain my idea with the camera crew. I then spoke to the actors about the performance and how I wanted the performance. During this scene, I wanted close up shots as it gives the visuals a uneasy and creepy look. A problem we had with the throat slit was on the first take to bag didn't competently rip, but it was dripping out slowly. This meant the continuity wouldn't work, as his throat and clothes had fake blood on them. I fixed this issue by getting a separate shot of nurse looking disgusted then cut back to our second attempt of the throat slit. This allowed the edit to run smoothly and so it didn't look jumpy.

For scene six, I wanted dutch angle shots for the shots of the doctor talking to Billy. The low angle of these shots show the power the doctor has over Billy, she has his life in her hands. Secondly, I wanted the dutch angle shot to convey discomfort for the viewer as it is made up from a low angle and a little bit tilted. Throughout filming I directed Izzy (playing the Doctor) to focus on her facial expressions and to be very unpredictable with the pitch of her voice. This gives the performance an uneasy and creepy tone.

Friday 23rd October 2020

This was our final day of filming and we were filming scene three and scene four, these scenes were filmed outside in a forest. We arrange to meet at Billingham beck valley woods at around 1 o'clock to look at the different shots we wanted and the locations in the forest where we wanted to film. Whilst I was doing this Kai our Production designer was in makeup with the actor as the makeup in this scene was a branch stuck in the protagonists leg. We looked at different shots whilst waiting for the actor, by practicing the shots we wanted with the camera. This was useful because it meant when everyone was on set we could go straight through the each scene.

Similarly, to the music video we would have to film the scene backwards, from the wound, as the makeup would create a continuity error. This wasn’t a massive shock as we had this same problem during our music video so we came prepared and brought a spare pair of black joggers for continuity. Furthermore we got a long continuous shot of 'Billy' falling to the ground and crawling back to behind the wooden shelter then we framed the shot between the gaps to reveal the hunters chasing him. The use of framing in this shot was perfect and I had to direct Ethan (the actor) and the camera crew and bloc through the scene so the movement was in sync with each other. This took multiple takes but after some practice and more directing we were able to get the shot that I wanted. Once we went through the whole ending scene we began to film from the start of scene three, to the point where the protagonist first gets the wound. The shooting went well, however we began to loose light meaning the continuity wouldn't match, this meant we had to film each shot before the sun goes down.