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.

Typical Audience Member

Equipment

Camera

The camera that we used to film our opening two minutes is a Canon EOS 500D. It is my camera and I am also a photography student so I know how to work the camera. I also taught the others in my group how to use the filming setting so that they knew how to use it if i was not there or if i was in a scene and couldn't be behind the camera. Recording a clip is very simple as you just turn the dial on the top of the camera on the top of the camera to the movie setting and by the screen on the back of the camera is a small button that is clearly labelled as the record button.

Tripod

Another piece of equipment that I have is a Miranda 500 tripod. Its legs extend twice and the total height of the tripod with the camera on top is about 5 foot off the ground. The tripod allows the camera to capture smooth and steady shots which you can do for taking images and also video. It is not hard to understand how to use the tripod so it wasn't hard for the others to understand.

Adobe Premier Elements 10

The final piece of equipment that we used in our film was Adobe Premier Elements 10. It wasn't majorly difficult to use but we had a few complications along the way of editing our film. Billy was our chief editor. Before we edited our movie we had never used this software. Before we edited the movie we had to learn the basics of the software. Billy did a very good job of editing the movie and it looks professional even though there is a lot more that we could learn about Adobe Premier Elements for the future.

Screen Grabs.

    

The title of the film

The title of our film is pure white text against a black background. This is conventional to the genre of horror. The title is bold and all in capitals which draws the viewers in because it stands out.

Setting/ location

The location that we films in was actually one of our actors homes. The exterior of the house looks creepy and abandoned which is the perfect setting for our movie.

 

Costumes

The costumes that we had for our characters are stereotypical teenager clothing as the group of friends are aged sixteen to seventeen. 

Props (Candles and Ouija board)

The main props we had for our movie was the candles and the Ouija board as the candles illuminate the characters and the room and the Ouija board helps to tell the story. We also use matches after the Ouija board scene.

How characters are introduced

The characters are introduced by having a shot of them walking past the camera. The guy at the front is seen as the leader as he is first in to the abandoned house followed by the geek, the girl, the jock and the dark one.

Camerawork and editing

We used a range of camera work in our opening two minutes. The shots that we have used the most in our opening two minutes are the two shot, a type of shot that has the view of two people, and a medium shot, a camera angle that is shot from a medium distance. 

Title font and style

We have used a  basic white font for our opening two minutes as we didn't want it to look too cheesy. We wanted the text to look quite sinister and also a little sophisticated. The white also stands out against the dark scenery that we have created.

Story and how the opening sets it up

The story is about a group of friends who go to an abandoned house to use a Ouija board. What they don't expect is that they would release an evil spirit by using the Ouija board which kills all of the friends but one who the demon preys on last. The opening sets that up by using the codes and conventions of a horror movie to tell you what happens to the characters. 

Genre and how the opening suggests it

The opening shows that it is part of the horror genre through the scenes like the Ouija board scene as using a Ouija board can be quite dangerous if you summon an unkind spirit. Also the last scene represents the horror genre as we can clearly see the monster that attacks the leader of the group last but has clearly killed or kidnapped the rest of the group.

Special effects

We used very minimal lighting as we wanted to keep a dark scenery which would represent the horror genre also. We used matches and candles to create the eerie glow throughout the whole opening scene. We didn't use any advanced special effects as we didn't need to use them because horror movies can have a very low rate of special effects due to the wonders of imagination, for example: the film Psycho by Alfred Hitchcock is all down to imagination as you don't really see anything.

Presentation

This is the presentation we made of our film.

This is the feedback that we received from our presentation. 

The comments that we have gotten about our film were very useful and the improvements that were stated have been taken in to mind for our upcoming projects.

All of the comments made had a positive response which we are very pleased about as we had worked very hard on our opening two minutes.