Treatment Presentation

Feedback From Treatment

The feedback we received was;

• To make the plot clearer to understand with a more detailed summary of what we want to do and achieve as people were finding it difficult to understand what our plot was.
• They also made a suggestion that we should use more props to reinforce the idea that they are camping and for it look more realistic therefore more believable to the people that will be watching.
• They said that they feel that It can actually be believable as long as we show it in our short film clearly as otherwise it may be quite confusing for the audience.

Short Film Treatment

Case Study 3 Film

The reason I chose to do a case study on this film is because it was quite different from my other films I analysed. It took place in a totally different location and the plot was different as the main character which is the man with bloody scars on his face is unstable.

Case Study 3

Short Film- “One More Time”

·         This film begins with a narrative. It does not has an establishing shot as the first thing we see is a boy running with blood on his back and his voice playing over the shot. The camera tracks him as he runs.

·         The initial setting looks like a woodland area with bushes and trees around. There is also an abandoned house, which the boy stops at as he reaches it. There is a long shot of him stopping in front of the house.

·         There is non-diegetic sound of crickets and other woodland creatures playing also.

·         It then cuts to a close up of a light hanging from the ceiling. The cutting rate speeds up as it quickly shots to close ups of chains, blood, newspaper cuttings sating “missing person” etc. By doing this they automatically get the audiences mind trying to figure out what is going on and drawing them in. You can also hear diegetic sound of her crying gently. I think that in my movie at certain scenes I may speed up the cutting rate to give out more of an exciting effect.

·         It then cuts to a close up of a face of a female that is chained up and has cuts on her face. In my movie I will also use stage make-up to make everything more believable as I am doing a thriller which may involve some blood. I will also use props as they have done by using the chains.

·         A guy in a white lab coat covered in blood then comes in and holds a knife to her face, a close up shows this. Then non diegetic sound of a screeching noise comes into the scene before he quickly drops the knife.

·         The shot pans out as it shows the lady with masking tape around her mouth and acting frantic and the man talking to himself in the background. The female is represented as being very vulnerable and the man comes across as being mentally unstable as he is acting very dazed and confused.

·         The man in this film has flashbacks which I will also be doing in my short film. When having the flashback the colour changes to a neon pink and dark back, only really being able to see silhouettes.

·         The cutting rate speeds up as he talks to the girl as an attempt to try and explain himself.

·         The lighting in the room becomes dull and dark from the brighter light it used to be.

·         I like the dialogue between the characters as I will also like to have a lot of dialogue used. Also I am inspired by the use of non-diegetic sound as I will also be using that in my short film often to create tension and a creepy like atmosphere.

·         There is a lot of tension in this film and especially at the beginning and it continuously builds up throughout which is intriguing to watch.

·         They use a rustic, run down shed as one of the locations. They have a light also hanging in the background which adds to it being very spooky as you see that detail a lot in horror films.

·         At the beginning the man in the white coat has a lot of cuts and scars which adds to the suspicion of the viewers who are left wondering how or why he has bloody scratches on his face. It makes him come across of more of a victim which is quickly changed when you see that he is keeping a young women captive and is obviously mentally unstable.

Case Study 2 Film

Watching this short film I enjoyed the different shots that were used and the overall editing. I found that it flowed very well which is why I wanted to do a case study on this film.

Case Study 2

Short film – “The open door”

·         This film is a thriller and has a lot of suspense which is why I have chosen to analyse it in detail as I hope for my film to hold a lot of suspense and other similar qualities to this film.

·         The establishing shot if of a young women walking up an empty road.

·         It begins black and white and in the middle of the scene changes to colour which I could also do in my short film as it gives the film a twist and is quite captivating.

·         The is a close up shot of her opening the door with her keys and then it cuts to an high angle shot of her coming through the door with her shopping.

·         At this point the cutting rate is quite slow as it gives the audience time to digest the shots. I may do this at the beginning of the movie as it will give the audience time to digest the characters and the setting, then speed up the cutting rate when things begin to get a little more exciting.

·         Sound effects of the keys banging together and the shopping bag rustling (Diegetic sound) to help reinforce that it is real and that it is actually happening.

·         She then pushed the front door shut but it doesn’t fully close. A close up shot shows this. Then creepy mood music (non diegetic) sound plays.

·         A mid shot shows her cutting food up in the kitchen quickly cutting to a close up of her cutting up a cucumber. Non diegetic music continues to play in the back ground which is of a piano to build suspense in the audience and also to make the short film almost flow and help the cutting of scenes to also flow as well.

·         This is followed by a screeching sound and a close up shot of a black figure walking through the unclosed door. By using a close up shot we are unable to see who this person is or who he/she looks like which again builds curiosity in the audience.

·         It then cuts to the camera zooming in on her as she’s resting in bed then a pan up as the black figure walks into her room.

·         The next shot is a close up of the man whispering something into her hear before it cuts to her quickly jumping up as he pushes her back down. This is shown through a middle close up shot.

·         The cutting rate speeds up as it cuts to her jumping up in her bed in other clothes and looking scared as they show a close up of her face which they do to show her emotion and expression so we understand how she was feeling at that very moment. It also changes to colour when it cuts to this scene which makes everything seem more real and draws us in a little more as we realise it may have been in black and white before as she was asleep.

·         Diegetic sound of thunder and lightning plays in the background. They use lighting to resemble to flashes from the thunder and lightning going on outside. This gives the shot a creepy feel and haunting atmosphere.

·         A mid long shot shoes her slowly getting out of bed then a close up shows her grabbing some keys off of a dresser in her room.

·         Diegetic sound of her heavily breathing then plays as they again close up on her face as she walks towards the front door.

·         A worm’s eye shot shows her as she walks down the stairs. Then lighting is now very dull and gives a moody feel. It also helps reinforce the fact that it was quite late at this time.

·         It then cutes to a mid-shot of her checking the door. Non diegetic sounds of screeching plays in the background and the lighting remains dark.

·         The final scene is a close up of her face as a white man in a long black coat appears behind her before and lightning flashes. It fades out and the credits begin to roll.

Case Study 1 Film

The reason I chose to do a case study on this particular film is because I really enjoyed their use of sound effects and it was very inspiring to me. Watching it I found some scenes very intense and I would like to also replicate this in my own short film. It caught my attention and was a memorable short film for me to watch.

Case Study 1

"Stitches" - short horror film (Bloody Cuts)

·         I have chosen to do a case study on this particular short film as it is a horror and that is the genre I want my short film to be in also.

·         It has creepy sounds effects/music in the background which I feel adds to the tense and creepy feel of the film. That is called non-diegetic sound.

·         The lighting is quite dark which comes across as being quite spooky and thrilling.

·         It is set in a house making the environment realistic, making the short film more believable to the audience.

·         There are sound effects, such as a phone ringing and the noise coming from the TV, making everything seem very realistic.

·         Each scene plays for a few seconds before it cuts which allows you to take in everything.

·         They use a variety of different shots such as, long shot when they are showing the setting with the character to help set the scene and show the location that the character is in. Wide shot to capture the whole scene and the character also. Cutting on action was also used the she was look at some books, it but to a close up shot of her looking at the books and also when she open the door to a mid-shot of her coming out the other end as she walks through it which inspires to also use a variety of shots in my movie. The different shots allows the whole video to flow and create all different viewpoints for the audience. This helps them digest everything and be able to see her range of emotions and actions just by the different angles and shots they decided to use.

·         I also would like to have creepy background sounds and music to add to the suspense of my horror movie as it does in this short film.

·         They use props such as puppets and dolls to create a creepy setting as they cut to them frequently. This can also be used to add to the ‘horror’ film of the video.

·         At the end of the video she screams and it then cuts. I hope to do something like this in my video as I find it a very good ending and thrilling climax to the horror film. It leaves you in suspense and wanting to see more which is what all movies set out to do.

·         There are hints throughout the short movie of something weird happening. One of these is the TV that is on which talks about a patient escaping and they warn people of the local area which already creates suspicion. These hints build the short film up as the audience automatically begins to suspect something bad is going to happen. I feel like I could also do this in my short movie.

·         They use close up shots which show the emotion and facial expressions of the actor is the movie, especially at the scene at the end where she is screaming. I may also like to take inspiration from their use of close ups in my short film.

·         At the beginning of the short film the cutting rate is quite fast accompanied by spooky music and children’s laughter. This automatically draws in the viewer and captures attention. I could do this also as a way to capture my audience attention and set the theme. The cutting rate slows down once the actor is introduced which I will also do.

·         In the short film the actor has dialogue which I also want my character to have however I want more than one actor in my movie whereas the film I am analysing only has one.

·         She is represented as a normal teenage girl through the modern clothes she was wearing.

Production Schedule

 

Task:                                            Due by:

 

 

 

Creative Ideas and scheduling                                           13^th September 2013

 

Research/ Case studies                                                     16^th September 2013

 

Treatment                                                                        23^rd September 2013

 

Focus group/ pitch                                                             4^th October 2013

 

Pre-production                                                                  21^st October 2013

 

Shooting the video                                                           11^th November 2013

 

Editing                                                                          6^th December 2013

 

Research and planning the film review & magazine               6^th January 2014

Review page

 

Producing the film poster & magazine review page            24^th January 2014

 

Post-production focus group                                            27^th January 2014

 

Evaluation                                                                        14^th February 2014

 

Editing the evaluation                                                          3^rd March 2014

Ideas For Short Film

So far my group has come up with a few ideas for our short film. We are still trying to come up with a few more ideas as it is still a work in progress. However here are a few ideas were had already in spider diagram form;

Taster Lesson Using The DSLR's.

We have already had a taster lesson where we were shown how to use the DSLR Canon cameras which we will more than likely be using to shoot our short film. We were shown how to put together the camera and use the boom to record sound. We were then taught what the settings on the camera were for and what they do. We each had a turn to play around with the focus and record function on the camera. We then were put in groups and told to record a short film based on the title we were given, which was 'A secret'. We were then allowed to be creative and go about shooting our short movie. When doing this we had to think about lighting, effects and other aspects to make sure everything was in focus. We then showed it to the class and we were able to see where everyone interpreted the theme and hear feedback from our teacher.