Genre

I made a slideshow (embedded through slideshare) to display a few features of horror and thriller films, which I would say are the two main genres that my short film would fit into. I also did this to see how my film fits into these categories and to further understand who my target audience is. My slideshow is embedded below:

Short Film Format

Most of the short films I have watched in preparation for the main task follow roughly the same format in terms of titles and credits. These two, both very different short films of different lengths both show the film’s title at the beginning of the scene as text that can be seen with the first shot, this title then fades away before the rest of the film begins. All but one short film I have seen have also followed this feature, this one film was entirely animated and had an opening credit title sequence that opened the scene, in which only the title was shown.

Often the directors name or production company can be shown at the beginning, however most of the credits seem to be at the end of the scene. Idents usually are the last thing shown. Other than the title of the film, there isn’t normally anything shown whilst the story is on screen. This is likely because of the length of the overall scene, we wouldn’t want to be distracted by credits as the director has only a short amount of time to establish setting and character and to grab the viewers attention.

I will need to follow this format roughly when I edit my scene together because I will need to create something that looks like a real short film. Often directors will not follow rules and make something that doesn’t comply with a previously executed format, however for the purposes of my coursework and project aim to make a short film I will add the title of my film and ‘directed by’ over the opening shot of the music box and end with credits and ident.

Final Script

This is the finished script for my film ‘Familiar’. I have added in a little more detail, including what will be added in post production but will still play a large role in my short film, the scrolling titles at the end for example. I have also finalised speech and stage directions so that the entire thing will flow from beginning to end and my actors will be able to understand their role as they read it before shooting.

 

Script Drafts

In my first draft, I felt that I’d be showing the adult male a little too much throughout the film and that he wouldn’t be ambiguous or mysterious enough if I showed his as much as I planned to in the script, so therefore I changed it a little so that he wasn’t seen very much until the end of the scene.

I then needed to be a little more descriptive about how the camera was moving around the house so I added into the second draft when the camera was moving through the walls or floorboards so that anyone reading my script would be able to visualise the entire film and know how I want the end product to look.

Young Girl Costume and Make-Up

I’ve put a lot of thought into what my characters will be wearing because I think their different roles within the film are really important, and I want to make sure that they are dressed correctly because this will determine how my audience see their character. Luckily my little sister has a collection of really cute dresses that I could choose from for her to wear in my short film, I already had a rough idea what I wanted her to wear which I mentioned in a previous post. I chose a white dress with flowers and birds on, I thought it represented innocence and youth really well.

I also put a little make-up on her (mainly because she really wanted me to do it for her), I obviously didn’t want to apply too much because this would take away from her infantile appearance. I added a little white around her eyes to match her dress and still looked youthful and innocent. Here are a few photos of my sister in her costume:

Like many other girl’s her age, my sister finds it difficult to keep her hair under control and brushing it is a difficult option. I therefore decided to put her hair into two plaits which made it look a little neater and youthful. This should hopefully also help to keep her hair out of her face during filming and mean that there is less risk of a lack of continuity if I need to film on separate days.

 

Camera Through Floorboard Test Shot

The camera through floorboard shot, I’ve had a lot of difficulty with, particularly whilst going down in the upstairs bedroom because there is nothing for the camera to move behind. As a result there is a harsh line where the edge of the shot is during the transition which doesn’t look effective at all. This is what the transition looks like at the moment, I will need to find a way to soften the edge of the shot, or possibly move the camera behind some clothes or toys when filming next time.

Camera Through Wall Test Shot

I have done two test shots in preparation for filming my short film. The first of which was the camera through the wall effect. This was a lot easier to execute than going through the floorboards because I had the utility room available to move the camera behind the door frame. From this I was able to use a dissolve to make the smooth transition from one room to another. I continued to film up my stairs, to demonstrate how I could move from this transition to tracking my character as she moves upstairs.. To improve on this next time, I will use the steadicam rather than the monopod, which meant the camera was very shaky! Other than this I am relieved I have finally almost completely sorted out my through walls and floorboard shots, which have been the source of most of my worries about my film!

 

Location

The location I will be using is my own house, I will be using two rooms which will be my sister’s room and the kitchen. I will be rearranging my sister’s room so that I will be able to pan around the room and there will be a lot visually for the audience to look at. For example, I will move what is already onto of the chest of draws and replace this with the music box and toys. I will then put up some of my sisters drawings on the walls so that the wall won’t be too plain and also this will mean that the background in some of the shots will be improved. I will ensure that the room will be very bright, colourful and childlike which will contrast well against the storyline. Despite being a little messy and in need of a few touch ups, I really feel that this room will look nice on camera due to the innocent overall feel of the room, I especially like the curtains and bed sheets which look like children’s drawings, this will match the pictures that I intend to put up on the wall.

The kitchen, I don’t feel that I will need to alter too much although I may move around some of the appliances such as the kettle so that they can all be seen in shot, making it more obvious that the setting is supposed to be a kitchen. Both of these rooms in particular in my house look fairly generic and identifiable as the rooms they are supposed to be in my film. Whereas my living room and various other rooms I think wouldn’t look very good on camera.

It will be useful to be filming in my own house because I will be able to pick timings that suit me well and not have to worry about transport or timings. I will easily be able to return to my set if I need to reshoot any shots which will be really convenient should I find any errors when it comes to editing my final film. I will also be using my family for actors which should make filming a whole lot more easier, I also feel that they would look good on camera, especially as I am not using other students, my young sister will be perfect for the role.

Survey Results

I got over 20 results on my survey after I’d posted it on WordPress and Facebook, after a couple of days responses started to slow down and I wasn’t gaining any more. So I decided to collect in my results, look at the graphs and look at the comments people had made on each question. I had no intention of altering my film to suit a market, but I wanted to see who my target audience was and whether or not my film would meet the expectations of horror fans. Here is a video displaying my results:

Sherlock Floorboard Shot

http://vimeo.com/37406179

In this episode of Sherlock there is one scene that involves a continuous shot where the camera goes through the floorboards. This is very similar to the effect that I am hoping to achieve and it also looks really nice because you can see the inner floorboard as the camera moves up and through. I felt that the light in the ceiling looked really nice, however this won’t be possible in my kitchen, although I can try to replicate the dark lighting as this will almost masks the cut through the ceiling.

This is the first scene since the beginning of the year that I’ve noticed this effect being used and I do think that it looks really nice and is super effective. The only downside is how difficult it will be. I will need to locate some equipment that will allow me to control the speed at which the camera moves down and then hopefully I will be able to follow the tutorial that I watched and alter the perspective as I wipe through the floorboard.