The VERY Rough Cut

A bit choppy, but an idea of what my film will look like. Missing ending, tint, opening title and a couple of sound effects. Here is the music I used...

 

 

 

And this is my rough cut... 

Ancilliary Task: Final Posters

Ancillary Task: Research and Planning: Part Two

Independent Hollywood is a colossal chunk of films. We decided to narrow the spectrum to Independent Horror Films.

One of the key films I researched was a Swedish Vampire film "Let The Right One In." directed by Tomas Alfredson.

"Oskar, a bullied 12-year old, dreams of revenge. He falls in love with Eli, a peculiar girl. She can't stand the sun or food and to come into a room she needs to be invited. Eli gives Oskar the strength to hit back but when he realizes that Eli needs to drink other people's blood to live he's faced with a choice. How much can love forgive? Set in the Stockholm suburb of Blackeberg in 1982." Written by John Nordling, Producer.

                                There were many different posters created for this particular film.

Another example of an independent horror film is BITTER FEAST (2010) Written and Directed by Joe Maggio. "A celebrity chef exacts revenge on a food blogger who torpedoes his career."-IMDb  

As can be seen, the poster is extremely compelling, giving very little away about the story, other than the fork and spoon, along with the plate of food, which suggests his status as a chef.








The Loved Ones

"Okay, this is a bit of a cheat. I did not see this for the first time this year, rather my very first viewing was 2 years ago, but due to the fact that it had a US release in 2012 I had to include it. Not only is this my joint pick of the year, it is one of my favourite films of the last 10 years.We follow Lola, a gloriously creepy Australian teenager, as she sets about trying to win the heart of a classmate, with a rather unusual flattery technique, including nails, syringes, drills, one particularly devoted father and a song you won’t be able to hear ever again without shuddering. Brutally fantastic, Lola Stone is one of the most original psychopaths we’ve seen for years, making this film without doubt a must-see."- HorrorQueen

Here is the poster for The Loved Ones, it is a classic case of "The more you look, the more horrific it gets." there is also, much like Let The Right One In, another poster. This one features the phrase "Prom night can be torture." Which is a case of dramatic irony, as it is usually associated with girls not knowing what to wear to prom, or getting stressed about it. However, the meaning in this film is literally that she tortures her "Prom Date." I picked up on this use of a catchphrase on horror film Posters.  For my film poster I used "She's waiting." Similarly having a double meaning.

Bibliography:

Unleash The Flying Monkeys: Blogger

IMDb

60 Greatest Horror Film Posters

http://www.horror-movies.ca/2012/12/the-good-bad-and-average-horror-films-of-2012/?nextgallery

Music Ideas #1

I have been considering music for my short film, what tone? What genre? Will there be any lyircs.
I have loved this band called The Cure for years, and their song "A Forest." Is perfect for my short film, this is because it has a certain tone of mystery, also I wanted to use a song which meant something to me. However, due to copywright issues I cannot use this exact song. HOWEVER, I can use a cover by a far more unknown artist. So far I have found two covers which I really like.

Here is the original

 

 

 

And here are the two covers...

 



I LOVE this cover so much as it so tech-y and it doesn't have lyrics which I like, as the viewer is less likely to get distracted from the film by the music.

 

 

Here is a version by a female singer. I really like her voice but I felt that in the original, because it was a male, it fit better with Jack almost like a narrator.

 

 

Day 1 of Filming

This is one of the two shoots I will be doing for my short film. However, it is now safe to say I have 80% of my film done. The shoot began at 10:30 this morning and ended at 3:30 this afternoon. So was a fairly long, however successful shoot. The second part will be about half the time, perhaps even less as there is far less to film.

I started off doing Jack's make-up which took a fair amount of time to capture the dark and Gothic look. Here is the video of me creating Jack's look...


I took photographs of the sets I created for the film...

 Here are a couple of the roads I used. For example, this picture is of a housing estate called Poppy Fields. I used this as it is always very quiet, making it easier to film in. It also gave the film a far more urban feel. I also chose areas which led on to countryside tracks to vary the setting.







I changed a few aspects of the original shot list such as the opening of the parcel was not stop-motion as I felt it was more naturalistic to the film. But in general the shots were pretty much the same.







     

Shot List

1. Title, I have not yet decided on a font but am fairly sure I'm going to title the film "Jack". I tested out a few fonts curtousy of DaFont.com. Aiming for a curly, fairytale-type feel I tested on a variation of fonts. Here are my results...  
(Alongside the title will be the sound of an alarm clock...http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ytKfoo1Yqsw http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZZvRjF-X-C0)

2. Shot of eyes opening, suddenly.

3. Bird's eye view shot of man lying in bed. In the frame only the top of his chest upwards will be visible. He will be wearing a grey t-shirt.

4. Shot of alarm clock being turned off (Cut-in shot.)

5. Shot of stairs and his feet coming down them as he comes into view.
 (Sound of doorbell ringing as he reaches the bottom of the stairs.... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y4E6tNhxeFo)

6. Shot from behind as he looks to the left in response to doorbell.

7. Shot of door from outside, Jack open door.

8. Close up of his confused face. (Reaction shot.)

9. Shot of parcel on door mat. (Point of View.) 

10. Side shot of box as it is picked up.

11. Shot of box on the table. (Point Of View)
12. STOP-MOTION OF BOX OPENING REVEALING THE HAT.

13. Hands reach down and grab hat (Point of view.)

14. Over the shoulder shot looking into the mirror as Jack puts on the hat. 

15. Same door shot as Jack leaves the house wearing black trousers, black shirt and hat.

16. Following Jack from behind shot as he walks down the street.
paper crumpling sound (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i867Jl7duPc)

17. Jack stops walking.

18. Cut-in shot of paper below his foot and his hand as he picks it up.

19. View of paper in his hand, revealing it to be a photo of Boy George.

20. Reaction close up of his confused face. 

21. Cut in of Jack's hands putting photo in his hat

22. Wide shot of Jack walking down the street

23. Shot of photo in a hedge as Jack walks towards the camera and takes the photo.

24. Jack puts photo in his hat.

25. Shot of photo stuck to a sign.

26. Wide shot as Jack walks into shot, and takes the photo. He puts it in his hat.

27. Shot from behind as jack walks down the street.

28. Jack finds photo pinned to a church sign.

29. He takes the photo looking a little frightened.

30. Shot from behind as Jack throws the hat on the ground, scattering photographs over the pavement and road.

31. Jack walks towards the camera, stops, sighs, turns around, runs back, gathers photos and hat and continues on his journey.

32. He walks up his friends drive and knocks on the door.

33. They all open the door and are all wearing different hats.

Planning: Prop List

1. The bowler hat and The Lion Hat

2. Photos
3. Cardboard box
4. Jack's outfit. [See blog post]
5. The girl's outfit [See blog future post]

Location, Location, Location

Here is my location video, showing where everything will be filmed.