Directors Commentary

This is the directors commentary made over the original clip with all of us talking at different sections about specific parts of the film e.g. mise en scene, camera composition, editing and sound etc., we were tasked with narrating about our film using specific examples of media terminology whilst the film is playing in the background, this allows us to get a proper bit of analysis over the actual film from the people which made the actual film.

What does a production company do?- A production company usually has mass funding and is in charge of most aspects of the filming, usually they take care with the hiring of all essential staff such as the director, producer, screenwriter, actors, marketing manager etc. They are in charge of all the making of the film and when and how they will produce it, whether or not they release more than one trailer or use social media as an important platform to release it on, e.g. trailer on Facebook or YouTube.
 In our film we made the production company IFM studios (independent film making studios), the logo we created is simple but effective with the picture being a non-copyright image as well as the studios bit having a line running above it.

The idea of the distributor and who that might be and why- A distributor usually is in charge of setting a release date for the films release which would benefit the film well in the cinemas, for example if Disney are producing a film at Christmas then the distributor must know that it won't be able to out perform Disney and therefore reschedule the films release for another date. If they are a smaller company they may also have to decide which cinema to release the film in, what company they will use to help them or whether or not they will release it in 3D or on Blu ray. Warner bro's studios is a good example as it makes the films whereas Warner bro's pictures produces it saving the company a larger share of the money.
The distribution company we created was called Triptic films and the logo we created was a shot taken from our original setup with the candles, the actual candles in the few seconds they are on screen change to a different colour (from black and white to colour) which makes the actual company logo look a lot more professional.

Where the money might have come from for a film such as yours- Seeing our film is a horror film its all about the actual suspense and being able to draw audiences in to watch the actual film, unfortunately however when trailers for horror films are usually produced they normally look really good with lots of scary parts in the trailer but when you see the actual film the trailer has ruined it and there is no more scary bits to show. With our film being the opening two minutes we need to try and lure audiences in through scary factors, in our film we did a preview of the what would have been the end of the film, with the cliffhanger at the end providing the perfect opportunity in the next scene to put it back a few weeks before the incident happened so people can relate more to the characters and get to know them more. Money would have usually come through the release of the trailer and through YouTube views or people sharing it on social media.

Why the various people are named in the titles- which jobs appear in titles and in what order and how have you reflected this?- We ended up naming all of the actors who were involved, the particular order in which we did it was chosen because it best reflects the groups input, for example the first three names that come up are of the people in the actual group (Bill, Billy and I), this is because we had the greatest influence on the making of the film as it was our idea and all the mise en scene, camera composition, editing and sound was done by us three. The next three names in the opening are of the other three actors in our group who didn't necessarily have an impact on our films making but were crucial in the filming, Matt was mentioned first as he created the original script which we were supposed to use and therefore in the opening credits it said "written by Matt Cottee".We did however change the script around a bit on the day of the filming as we believed for a horror film the less amount of speech the better as it gives more emphasis on the actual music and the little amount of speech we actually have. The other bit of writing shown said "directed by Billy Budgen" this was because on the day of filming Billy took control of where he wanted the camera to be, what order people should walk, what shot should go after another etc. While the rest of the group made sure that he stuck to the 180 degree rule so the audience don't get disorientated whilst inputting loads of ideas ourselves.

What your film is similar to "institutionally" (name some films which would be released in the same way)-A good film which we can relate our film too is the actual film Ouija which just like ours had a group of friends who use a Ouija board and then suffer the consequences of evil spirits. Unfriended is also a film similar to ours as they are both about spirits and a group of friends who get into trouble from forces beyond their control. These are not the only matters which are similar between our films, for example all three are horror and are aimed at an audience of 15 plus, they all have some sort of malevolent spirit which is unknown and shown in a dark atmosphere. The sounds we used are just like those in actual horror movies with quiet music gradually getting louder and then disappearing completely before the big reveal of a jump scare or the main antagonist character moving somewhere, the short sharp sounds used in horror movies help to create an intense atmosphere, for example in our film there was the door slamming at the start and the leader of the group turning the door handle, this sounds like the actual sound has been amplified as everything else is dead quiet around it, this is good as it brings more emphasis onto the sounds and the growing intensity of the music.