Font

For the title of the film they use the same font. The font, as used above, is quite basic, with the key difference being that the 'E' and 'A' are not fully completed letters. They give the font a futuristic vibe that goes along with the theme of the film. The text shows that the film is of sci-fi genre and is a very modern film. Under the text is three dots, three dashes and then a final three dots, representing SOS in morse code. This suggests that the film will put the characters in danger where they need to be saved. The morse code tells us that the characters are going to be intelligent and gives subtle hints about the film. The font used on the poster above shows a slick, classy look which continues across the film. The gray colours also heighten the modern look creating a very good poster for the film.

Music

This is a royalty free song we are able to use for our production. We will use this song when we want more upbeat music. We will use it for diegetic music when the character walks past the radio as it sounds like something that could potentially be on the radio. 

The song works well due to the lyrics. The verse's end with repeated words for the final line that are quite dark. "Wish 'em dead, with 'em dead, wish 'em dead", "Hunt 'em down, hunt 'em down, hunt 'em down", "Let 'em burn, let 'em burn, let 'em burn", "Time to kill, time to kill, time to kill", "They were slain, they were slain, they were slain". These lyrics are quite dark, but fit in with the connotations that the golliwog is spooky and potentially dangerous to the characters. 

We will use this song at the same time as the water phone, creating a layered effect. This will make the the song 'Gallows Hill' sound creepier.

This song by Alan Walker will be used as background music to the credits. It is the last thing the audience will hear as the film ends. The royalty free song play out with a black screen after the credits end, as if in a cinema. In the cinema the music continues to play as you get up and leave which i something we have trie to resemble. We have used the beginning of the song and then faded the song out before the first base drop.

Final Cut Pro

Final Cut Pro is the editing software we have been using for our production. Recently we saw a video on YouTube from a Sunday League Football channel, showing his viewers how he creates the player walk ons. This video was a great insight to Final Cut Pro showing us additional features we never knew existed which we can now use to improve our production.

The video went through lots of areas of the editing software as to how to crete these player walk ons. It looked at how to crop a scene, scale the scene, zoom in on specific areas of the scene, create key frames, look at video animation settings (distortion, composting opacity, colour, trim and transform), how to remove colours from a scene (green screen) and also how to paste attributes.

The scaling of a scene we used on a few of our stop start animations, as we were not able to keep the golliwog in place without our arm on the scene. This video meant that we didn't have to go onto Photoshop and crop each image individually. Once the image was scaled and cropped, we could then move the image left or right, up or down so it was positioned in the middle of the scene. This was far easier than cropping each image on Photoshop and then placing them back in on Final Cut Pro. What made it far quicker was pasting attributes. This tool allowed us to copy the attributes from one image to another so they were all scaled to the same size, and positioned in the exact same place so that the camera doesn't move for the shots.

The video animations part is going to be very useful to us, in particular the composting opacity. This allows us to make the scene fade in nicely from 0% opacity to 100% opacity. This is great for the beginning of new scenes, but also the end of scenes so they don't just cut. The small opacity fade makes the edit between scenes look much smoother and more professional. Final Cut Pro allows us to make small, precise details as to how quickly it fades in and fades out so we can match it up with our scene.

Another part of the video that was very useful was a keyframe. This is where you make certain parts of the scene move into a different position. This is done by selecting the starting position as a key frame. This position is where you want X to be at the beginning of the shot. You then need to set another key frame. This frame is where you want X to be at the end of the shot. The key frame allows you to mark which parts you want the key frame to use such as scale, position etc. Once the two key frames are completed, Final Cut will play the video so that it moves smoothly between the two positions. This is something we may use to create specific wipes between scenes as Final Cut Pro does not have too many wipes that are going to be useful to us. However, we will use key frames when adding rain to the scene. The football scene in our production we think will look better with rain. We will use the key framing so that we can start the rain as really heavy and the colours as dark and gloomy at the beginning of the scene, but towards the end of the scene we want the rain to be much more gentle and the colours to be brighter again. The key frame creates a gentle fade between the rain so that is slows down gently.

Another part of the video was how to remove colours from a scene. The edit was showing the tutorial on a green screen. This was done by using a keyer which takes green out of the footage. If we want another colour to be removed we need to locate it using the sample colour, which then takes away colours that were just highlighted. This is unlikely to be of use to us, but could be used if we want to remove a colour from a scene.

Shooting Schedule

We filmed on Sunday 30th October, 6th November, 14th November and the 20th November. Two of the days we filmed were with the two actors, Rory and Peter. The other two were days where we filmed stop start animations, which take a while to film so we didn't want to make our two volunteer actors wait around.

On Sunday 30th October we filmed stop start animations. We filmed some of the shots that are earlier in the production. These included the golliwog climbing the drawers, the golliwog sliding down the banister and the short walk along the hallway. These were our first time filming a stop start animation for our full production, so we found them quite slow to do. We were using thread and blue tac to keep the golliwog for the first time so it took us a while to work out the best way to use them. We filmed for 4 hours until we were stopped by the camera running out of battery, an issue we faced due to the hundreds of photos we had taken. We also had the drone available to us this day, however we were not able to use it as our phone did not want to connect to the drone due to a lack of mobile data signal in Drayton (a village). This meant we were not able to film the planned shot of the drone outside the house filming through the windows.

Sunday 6th November was our first day filming with Rory and Peter. We began filming early, starting at 10am, filming for multiple hours. We started the day filming Rory walking through the hallway past the golliwog. We cross referenced the position of the golliwog from the previous week to match it, hopefully avoiding continuity errors. We then filmed Rory walking through the kitchen, through the dinning room to the fridge. He then grabbed a can of coke (filmed from the GoPro) and walked back through the two rooms. This was a difficult scene to edit because we were not able to match his body positions in the shots so it was never truly smooth. What made this even worse is the shot in which Rory walks to the fridge, the footage was corrupted so we were missing the clip. Near enough this whole scene needed to be re-filmed. We then filmed Rory and Pete having a conversation in the lounge and Rory storming off. After this we filmed the two characters leaving the house from multiple different angles, including the drone shots.

The 14th November we filmed for a few hours after school on the Monday. This was another chance for us to complete stop start animations. We filmed the continuing shots from the banister scene. This was the golliwog walking into the kitchen and then along the cooker. We then filmed the stop start animation before Rory and Peter went to play football. This was the golliwog climbing to the window that overlooks the drive. We then filmed our last few shots, ready for the filming with the actors the following weekend. These stop start animations were of the golliwog climbing out of the bin inside and outside the house. This became a slight issue because it got very dark very quick. We were pushed for time, and unfortunately two of our shots needed to look and be outside. Thankfully Adrian is very capable with his camera, and was able to change settings such as the exposure to make the shot look brighter.

Sunday 20th November was our last day of filming. We started the day re-filming the shots in the kitchen of Rory walking through to the fridge. This whole scene became an issue when we filmed our stop start animation of the golliwog climbing up the cooker. This was because it was two weeks later from the first filming day, so everything in the kitchen was out of place. On the Monday we laid the kitchen out so it was easy to replicate the positioning of everything such as hand towels and kitchen utensils. This meant we were able to re-film all the shots without continuity errors. We then completed the football scene. This was finished with the two characters playing football, coming back home and then binning the golliwog. We then filmed Rory and Peter in different clothes to show a different day, sitting down to watch TV and then seeing the golliwog, so they bin it again, but this time outside.

Casting Interviews - Video

From the interviews and looking back at the video footage, we are going to use Peter Weir to play the older brother. He helped us before with the practise camera angles, so Peter already understood how we would interlink stop start animations with the roles of the characters. Peter seemed very interested in the plot and really stood out to us. Combining his interest with his school acting, he was a definite choice for us.

 We interviewed Rory over the phone which gave us enough information as to what he has done in the past. Rory has lots of experiencing acting and he seemed very engaged in the plot. He was one of the few we interviewed that would suit the younger brother. Furthermore, Rory would complement Peter in height, making it seem like they could be brothers.

We have casted Peter Weir and Rory James in our short production, Golliwog. Rory will play the younger brother and Peter will play the older brother.

Casting Interviews

These are the five interviews we filmed so we could decide who we wanted to play the protagonists in our production. By using these interviews, we can make a good, informed decision using in order to select the right person for the role.

The first person we interviewed for the part is Peter Weir. He was willing to help us for our practise camera angles filming, and was good at following instructions to what we wanted him to do. He was very calm during the filming and seemed natural in front of the camera. He understood our plot line and found it quite interesting. He hasn't had any experience acting, however he came across as a good actor during our practise so the lack of experience may not be too much of a factor.

The second person we interviewed was Ryan Morrow. His preference was to play the older character, although Ryan looks quite young and so would be more suitable for the role of the younger brother. He didn't like the plot too much as he thought it was quite plain and boring, which could become quite a big issue. When we asked about experience, he said he has done a little bit of acting, featuring in another short film about drugs and social issues.

The third person we interviewed was Matt Smith. He liked the plot, but was a bit confused on where the storyline went. This could become an issue as we need the actor to understand the plot so that they can visualise what we want from them. Like James, Matt has a beard but he said he would be willing to shave it off. Matt has had some previous acting experience, having also been in a short film as a boyfriend in a gay couple.

The fourth person is James Godwin. He is rather tall and has thick hair and has a beard, making him seem quite old. When we asked him, he said he didn't want to shave it off, which could be issue as it makes him look a lot older. However his beard is very thin so he could pass for 17. James has some acting for his YouTube channel which has over 300 subscribers, although he hasn't done YouTube for quite some time. In the interview, James came across as very professional, giving very detailed, in depth answers.

A fifth person we interviewed is Rory James. We interviewed Rory over the phone because we were not able to find a time in which we could interview him. He has had quite a lot of roles in many short films, giving him quite a bit of experience. He is good at getting into character and playing his role convincingly. He did quite a bit of acting during school and has always been improving and looking to act more. When we briefly explained the plot, he was interested to know more and sounded like he wanted to be a part of the production.

Two people that didn't make it to the interview stage for different reasons are Hanting and Kieran. Hanting is of asian ethnicity and so it would not be possible for him to be a full brother of any of the other potential actors. On top of this he didn't come across as very outgoing which would be a set back during the conversations. Kieran was not too keen on the plot although he did understand it well. Furthermore, Kieran is very tall which would make him seem older than 15/16. This would create an issue as it would be hard for the audience to realistically see the two protagonists as brothers.

The five candidates we will interview are similar age, and would work well with each other. Any combination of the four would be able to portray two brothers to the audience. They would all be able to play a part in our production and we will interview each of them to finalise two of them to act in our production out of the five of them.

Survey Results

These are the results from our survey. 10 people answered our survey, and on some questions we have got more than 10 answers as we allowed them to select multiple answers.

The results in question 4 tells us that many people are not fussed if they watch a trailer before the film, as 70% of people that took our survey responded sometimes. This means that we could make a trailer for our short film, although it would be difficult to show off the film, but not show too much.

The results to question 5 tells us that half the people surveyed would prefer 1-2 characters, likely to be because multiple characters can get confusing for the audience in a short film, as there is not much time for the audience to learn about and connect with the characters.

The results to question 6 tells us that 80% of people who took our survey would want a short film to be between 4-6 minutes. Not too short that you can't get into the film, but not extended in length for little reasoning.

Creating a Survey

We created a survey so that we could analyse the target audience. We used a variety of questions, looking at who is taking the survey (age and gender) and then asked about their favourite genres. We then asked the age rating they think this should be. We then changed the topic to short films, asking how many characters they expect to see, how old they should as well as how long they short films should be to get their opinions on short films. We then changed the topic to location, asking what locations they would prefer to see in a horror film and how many different locations there should be in a horror. Our final question gages how often those taking the quiz watches horror films on a scale of 1-100.

This is the link to our survey: https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/DX7JKPY

Power of Editing

This is a video published by one of the most successful content creators on YouTube, NigaHiga, who is very well known for his fantastic editing ability. This is a short segment of his video "How to be  Ninja 2.0".

This video is very basic, but really showcases what editing can do. The video shows Ryan (NigaHiga) moving around the kitchen. He keeps the camera in the same place for the whole of it, which is very important for the edits to look smooth. In one shot he walks to the right of the screen and goes off camera. Ryan would then walk around to the left of the screen and walk in. When editing, he cuts it so that when he leaves the screen on the right, he enters it on the left. Another good shot was where Ryan ducked behind the island in the middle of the kitchen and then fell from the top of the screen. This again, with a simple cut, shows Ryan disappearing behind the island and then instantly coming back. They key to these shots are fluid movements. For example, NigaHiga was moving down behind the island and then fell down from the ceiling, making the video look smoother to the audience. Editing has allowed him to create a video where he 'teleports' across the screen.

At the end of the video, NigaHiga overlapped multiple videos, which is where the same camera position becomes key. He filmed himself screaming from multiple different positions in the kitchen and then edited them together so all 10 of him were screaming at the same time. Editing allows him to be in multiple places at once which of course is not possible.

This video is very simple, and yet looks very professional. Nigahiga showcases very basic and easy editing, but makes it look very good. This editing is something that anyone could replicate with quite a bit of ease if they know what they're doing. We are using this video as a guide incase we need to film some shots using the golliwog in a similar way.

Poster analysis (Advancement Through Time) - Texas Chainsaw Massacre

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre is a very successful horror film series, producing lots of high quality, scary films. For each film, there have been separate and unique posters relating to the film which increased the amount of advertising and marketing each film got. On top of this, each film had multiple posters which further improved the branding of the films.

This poster on the left is for the first film which came out in the cinemas in 1974. The poster showcases the age of the film to the audience due to the colours used and how the poster is laid out. The colours are quite bland and almost cartoony. The layout of the poster is very simplistic and lacks creativeness. The poster shows a man holding a chainsaw with a woman tied up behind her. This suggests to the audience what the film will be like. Along the top in bright red letters is the films title, with a bright white question below which contrasts to the black background. The question makes the audience think and should make them want to find out the answers to the questions, which would only be possible by watching the film.

This modern day poster looks a lot cleaner, and is clear it is modern due to the colours, the general layout and also how the image is positioned. This poster is very dark which depicts the genre of the film. It suggests the film will be mysterious, leaving the audience in the dark. The title is a small font so is not very eye catching, however the film has enough branding by the 7^th film that the chainsaw is very iconic and most people will link a horror film poster and a chainsaw to 'Texas Chainsaw Massacre' so the title is used to only confirm it. The title is still in red which is used to connotes blood and gore. The image of the person is zoomed in, showing his elbow to his knee. This leaves the audience clueless to who the man is, creating suspense. The man is holding a chainsaw, dripping in blood which is very well edited, making the poster look very professional and modern.

This poster is for the same film as the last poster, Texas Chainsaw Massacre 3D. This poster goes into more detail about the film along the bottom and again has the title in a small font. The character on the front is in dark clothes with a big mask on, holding a chainsaw. The chainsaw is angled in a way that makes it look like it is coming forwards, towards and through the screen as if in 3D. The poster is very dark and has the characters zoomed in, coving the entire poster.

The difference between the two posters is quite substantial, showing how technology and ability has advanced in 40 years. Its very remarkable to see how different they are, and it's clear which poster came first due to its quality. This really shows off the different connotations in film posters and how they are produced, e.g. not much text, dark colours, image covering the entire poster and not a full body image.

Script

Key: 
Brother 1 - Younger Brother
Brother 2 - Older Brother


(Brother 1 walks into bedroom and sees golliwog)
Brother 1: For god sake.

(Brother 2 watching Match of the day)
(Brother 1 walks into the living room)

Brother 1: CAN YOU STOP MOVING THAT GOLLIWOG!

Brother 2: What are you saying?

Brother 1: Can you just stop with moving the Golliwog already?

Brother 2: Seriously what are you talking?

Brother 1: Oh come on you know what you're doing just stop it!

Brother 2: Ok seriously what are you talking about? I just wanna watch Match of the Day, Chelsea's on right now, there's some big highlights.

Brother 1: I don't care about the Chelsea game just stop it!


(Brother 1 and 2 leaving the house to play football)
Brother 1: And then he was just like
(Brother 1 dabs)
(Brother 2 laughs)

(Brother 1 and Brother 2 return from playing football)
Brother 1: Hang on, if you didn't move it then who did...?
(Pause)
Brother 2: I don't know if you didn't move it, hows it there?
Brother 1: This doesn't make any sense.
Brother 2: Alright this is freaking me out.
(Pause)
Brother 2: We gotta do something about this. Take it.
(The two brothers walk over to the bin)
Brother 1: Screw this I'm binning it.
(Throws the golliwog into the bin)
Brother 1: It's not gonna bother us again.


(Next day, the two brothers sit down to watch TV)
Brother 2: I thought you binned that stupid doll...?
Brother 1: I did, I did it yesterday.
Brother 2: Why's it here?
Brother 1: Did you take it out?
Brother 2: Of course I didn't take it out, I hate that doll.
Brother 1: What the hell then?!
(Brother 2 stand up and grabs the doll)
Brother 2: Alright lets get rid of it, lets get it outta here.
Brother 2: This time its not coming back!
Brother 1: Lets put it in the outside bin!
Brother 2: Good idea!
(Two brother leave the room with golliwog in his hand)

(Walking around the side of the house to the bins outside)
Brother 2: Finally this things gone
(Brother 2 puts golliwog in bin and slams the bin lid shut)
Brother 1: If I see that again I'm gonna flip!

New Narrative

We have decided to amend our narrative as we felt the previous narrative was not going to work as well in a short film. We felt there were too many little parts needed in order for it to make sense to the audience, and would've needed more than five minutes to include the story, as well as the conventions of horror films. This is our new narrative.


After sometime the younger brother notices that one of their kids toys, a Golliwog, starts to appear in random areas around the house. The younger brother thinks it's his brother playing a little joke on him, so he confronts him. The older brother denies even knowing what a golliwog is and continues to watch TV. The youngest brother refuses to accept this but moves on with his day. 

A day or so later, the two brothers leave the house to play football. As they get in the car, the golliwog is watching them from the upstairs window. Whilst they are not home, the golliwog moves into a new place so when the brothers see it, they realise neither of them had been home to have moved it.

The brothers notice that the golliwog is moving much more frequently, and the two brothers begin to get scared and worried. They decide to throw the golliwog away but as they put it in the bin, the golliwog begins to laugh. the brothers understandably get creeped out, but as its in the bin they aren't too worried.

The next day, the golliwog is back in the living room, just sat on the sofa. The two brothers are once again concerned so they decide to throw it out in the big green bin outside. As the brothers go back inside, they lid of the bin opens and the golliwog laughs once again.

Initial Casting

In our short film, we have two brothers. We need to cast two males that are of similar age and ethnicity so that it is plausible they could be brothers. One of our character is younger than the other in our short film, so the two people we cast need to look like they are of slight different age between them. We will do this by first contacting the potential actors over the phone. We will call each of them, giving them a brief overview of the plot. We then began to organise an interview with those that were keen in the role so we could narrow the group down to the two that will play the brothers in our short film.

At the moment we have organised interviews with Peter, Harry, Ryan, Matt and James. We are still trying to get a few more so we have a larger group to choose from.

Our Logo - Oblivion Productions

The first step to creating a logo was to come up with a few potential designs. We drew these up by hand and came up with quite a few different ideas. 

We then finalised on a design and took this design to photoshop to see how they would look. 

This is our brand image and logo for Oblivion Productions. We created it on Photoshop in a way that would stand out to audiences and hopefully be rememberable, so any future productions we make would already have some recognition. We have kept it dark and shadowy as it resembles the genre that we, Oblivion Productions, will specialise on, horror. This should showcase to the audience what we will produce and so we could build up a horror fan base.

We will use this logo on our social media sites such as YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat and Instagram, as social media sites with logo's will be taken seriously. On top of this, if the logo looks professional it will showcase quality from Oblivion Productions and could grab potential audiences' attention.

New Line Cinema Logo

New Line Cinemas logo shows a camera roll that has been completely darkened out with the right side cut off and put over the top of the film itself. The logo is very well made within the context of the companies name and the market it situates in, with New Line Cinema obviously being a production company. The logo uses an image of an old film roll that was used during the beginning of movies and the film industry, but even to this day some people and companies use film roll to make their movies for a more retro feeling. 

Their production name is very clear to see as the white font contrasts the black background. The old film has a blue light coming from behind it, creating a nice glow around the outside. This stands out and is also very recognisable so New Line Cinema will be remembered for their films. This is important if New Line Cinema want to create a name for themselves and be associated to the films they make.

Warp Films Logo

Each business will have a unique film logo to allow them to create an image for their brand. A logo is an instantly recognisable feature that links certain thoughts, for example quality, to the business. The logo needs to stand out to audience and needs to be the same/very similar on every media platform (Facebook, youTube, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat) so that they can gain brand recognition.

In the media industry, this is still relevant. From big or small companies, each will want their own logo so audiences can associate their films with the business. Warp Films have a bright purple logo and their name across the middle. The logo is very clear that is the logo for Warp Films. The logo is eye catching due to the amount of colour, so if this were to be on the front cover of a DvD etc, the audience would be able to understand that it is a Warp Films production and so it will improve Warp's brand image. A rememberable brand image is important to businesses as it can boost sales. This is key to a small independent media company such as Warp as they work on small budgets, with small amounts of revenue.

However, their logo isn't very rememberable. We both enjoy films made by warp such as 'Four Lions' but we didn't even know it was made by Warp. This could be seen as an issue as good films cannot be linked with the brand. When a film does well, the business will want the audience to know who made it as it could make them want to watch future films. If Warp make a good film, but the audience do not know it was made by Warp, they may have the chance to watch an independent film in the future, but decide against it as they do not think it will be very good quality.

Practice Camera Angles

Stop Start Animation Research & Analysis - 'Lego City Hotel'

This stop start animation of a lego town really shows how precise each movement is. Because of the lego'd floor, we can see each stud the characters walks on and so each individual movement is clearly shown. The creator of this stop start animation made each step very minimal and could be extremely precise with each step of the characters. The production looks very smooth due to the amount of photos taken. From this production, we can clearly see how much time goes into making a stop start animation look detailed and so we will make sure our production goes to the same level of detail so it can look very professional.

The beginning of this production shows the protagonist ordering a taxi, placing their luggage in the boot and then driving down the road. The taxi rolled down the road so smoothly it looked like it was really driving. This made the scene look like a video in which the lego had come alive and was moving on its own. One effect that stood out was the talking scene in the taxi. The camera was close to both the taxi driver and the protagonist as they had a conversation of where to go. The director did this by swapping the heads of the protagonist between a closed mouth head and an open mouth head, to make it look as if the protagonist was speaking. This was clever but would have taken a while to make it perfect as the heads would have to be at the same angle each time to be smooth.

Stop Start Animation Research & Analysis - 'Doughnuts'

This stop start animation of the making of doughnuts is a great insight in to how to make a stop start animation look smooth and professional. The animator did a great job of doing small precise movements in every step so the movements are fluid. This is done by taking a photo, making a tiny movement to something, and then taking another photo. Repeat this a lot of times and you will have a smooth flowing stop start animation. 

In this stop start animation the director used clever shots to make the glass fill with milk. The glass moved every so slightly each time, making it really look like a video rather than lots of separate photos. When the glass went behind the milk carton it filled up slightly more before circling around the cartoon again. This was a very effective shot, and showcased the what is needed to make a stop start animation look good. The shots of the play-doh character at the start of the animation will be similar to what we will create. We will be using a Golliwog in our production so these slight movements will be similar in the way we will make our golliwog move. The director was very accurate whilst making this at the start of the animation and looked at every detail to make it look professional. The play-doh doll looked left and then right, and then slowly moved towards a recipe book. The looking to the left and right, although a very minor adjustment, was done very well as the director took there time and took lots of photos so it was smooth.

We will use this video to help us film our camera angles as some angles will work better than other angles in a stop start animation to capture certain movements. One key element we learned from this YouTube video of the production of a stop start animation is to keep the camera in the same place for the shots, so that the movement can be precise and clear to the audience. If you move the camera whilst filming, it can be hard to show the objects moving fluidly. We also learned that the smallest, precise movements are much better than large changes, as the more photos taken, the more fluid the production will look. This encourages us to take our time with our production, and ensure each scene is done very well.

Storyboard 5

This storyboard shows how the protagonists will realise the golliwog is possessed and moving on its own. Both the brothers will walk out of the house to the car. They will drive off and when they come back, they will notice the golliwog isn't where they last saw it. They will then look around the house until they find it, and when they do, they come to the conclusion that the golliwog has moved on its own. The younger brother will realise that it cannot have been his older bother this time, as he was with him the entire time. 

The bottom three shots of the car driving away will be filmed from a combination of a camera and a drone, creating multiple angles to make a simple shot of the car driving away slightly more interesting for the audience. The drone will be able to capture the car leaving the driveway and driving down the road away from the house.

Storyboard 4

This is the scene in which we will use the drone. The drone will start in the first window, film inside and then fly around the corner of the house and film from the second window. When the drone films from the second window, the golliwog will have moved positions. This shot will create a voyeuristic angle as the audience feel they are spying on the golliwog. On top of this, the audience will also know extra information that the protagonists don't know.

Storyboard 3

This is another scene for our short film that would work in a similar way to the last. The protagonist would be in the bedroom getting ready for bed with the golliwog sat on the bedside table. As the boy walks to the bathroom, the golliwog begins to move towards the hall. The younger brother brushes his teeth and then heads back to the bedroom, walking past the golliwog that has moved from the bedside table into the hallway.

As the young boy begins to walk through the hall on the way to brush his teeth, we would do a cut and begin a stop start animation of the golliwog moving. We would see the boy brush his teeth and then cut to the antagonist moving once again with a stop start animation. We would then film with a tracking shot as the boy walks back to his bedroom, walking past the golliwog sat on the floor.

Storyboard 2

This storyboard utilises the multiple Golliwogs that we have available for our production. The storyboard shows the younger brother in the kitchen, taking something from the fridge. The golliwog is perched on the kitchen counter watching on. The protagonist then walks into the living room and the camera pans around. The young boy then walks to the window, has a look for something/someone and then heads back to the kitchen to begin cooking lunch. Without realising, the golliwog is now back in the kitchen in a slightly different place.

In the production of our short film, we would film the boy walking into the other room, then we would show the golliwog moving with a stop start animation and then film more of the younger brother walking to the window. We would cut to the golliwog and stop start animations, before filming the protagonist walking back into the kitchen with the golliwog in a new location.

Storyboard 1

StoryboardThat is the website we have previously used to create our storyboards. However, this time using it we encountered an issue, we cannot insert images onto the storyboard. This was a big issue because the main character, the antagonist, the Golliwog, needed to be inserted. We tried to resolve this issue by taking a screenshot of the storyboard and then inserting the Golliwog onto the background (storyboard) on Photoshop. This came with its own issues, the screenshot of the storyboard was blurry so it looked horrible.

We tried to resolve this issue by saving the storyboard and downloading it in HD quality. However, storyboard decided to create another obstacle for us to climb. This time by putting their watermark over the six plot steps, thus making it look very unprofessional for our use. 

Our settlement to this was to get the high resolution image of our storyboard, but not download it. Instead, we zoomed into the image using google's zoom feature to enlarge the image, as well as putting the Mac into full screen mode. We then screenshotted this, maximising the quality of our storyboard without the watermark. We then placed this on Photoshop, cropped the edge of the image and inserted the golliwog into each plot step, allowing us to finish our storyboard.

This is one scene we will use for our production. The two brothers are having a conversation on the stairs, and without knowing the golliwog is moving behind them. They continue their conversation in a relaxed manner as they are not aware of the golliwog behind them edging closer towards them down the stairs. When the older brother gets up and leaves, he walks past the golliwog which would have stopped moving, and just been sat on the stairs. He doesn't realise that the golliwog wasn't there at the start of the conversation and so continues on as normal.

Equipment List

The equipment we used in our production:

• DJI Phantom Drone
• Nikon D3100
• VolksWagen Polo 1 litre 2001

Prop List

Props we will be using in our production:

• Golliwog 1
• Golliwog 2
• Blue Tac
• White thread
• Black thread

Asking For Use Of A Drone

We emailed Joseph Gray about the use of his drone for our short film. His drone would allow us to film a variety of extra shots, including many establishing shots to help set the scene for the audience and show the time of day. We would also be able to film some crane shots and high angled shots from various positions. One shot we will film is from outside the upstairs bedroom window. The drone would be hovering outside the window, filming inside to crate a sense of spying and thus voyeurism. The drone is very stable, and when it moves the camera gyro self-stabilises so the quality of the shot is never effected. 

I kept the email very formal and polite, trying to show that we are serious and professional when it comes to our work. If he didn't take us seriously, he may not have trusted us with the use of his drone and not allowed us to use it.

Joseph replied allowing us to use his drone. He explained to us how it worked so we could film to a good, high quality standard. He gave us his address so we could collect it, and his mobile number incase we had an queries about it on the day and needed help. Joseph was very helpful about with all the organisation, and was very kind to allow us to use it for our production.

Sound

Camera Angles

For our short film, we will utilise quick and short cuts to show movement of the Golliwog (an inanimate object) creating a stop-start animation. We did this by taking lot of pictures of minuscule movements of the golliwog at different camera angles. These angles are representative of our short film as these small adjustments will be copied for our film. We looked at a long range, side on perspective shot of the golliwog moving along a table. We then filmed a close up and an extreme close-up of the golliwog from slightly different angles, creating slightly different effects for the audience. A low angle of the golliwog gives the impression that the golliwog dominates the audience.

We then filmed a tracking shot of the character walking through a hall which is something similar to what we will film for our actual production. This shot showed the characters movement as they walk, and in our production we will see the character walk past the golliwog that is sat on the floor. We will then film a close up of the golliwog as it moves along the wall in a stop start animation. A cut to the younger brother walking will follow next as he walk towards and then past the golliwog in a tracking shot and low angled shots.

Other shots we will use in our production are close-ups and low angled shots of the golliwog walking towards the draws by using white thread to hold the golliwog upright, as if walking on its own. The golliwog will then be filmed from multiple different low angle shots climbing up some draws. This will be done by using blue tac to position the golliwog and ensure each movement is gradual for the stop start animation. The golliwog will reach the top of the draws, and we will change the position of the camera on top of the draws so that we see the golliwog's head appearing from the side of the draws. The shot will be a close up of the golliwog as the body slowly gets higher and eventually stood up on top of the draws. We then will reposition the camera to a medium angle to show the draw opening on its own. This could be done by using thread, however the draw is a light brown colour meaning the thread will be visible. We overcome this issue by placing some thin books under the back legs of the draws, creating a slight slope so the draws would open automatically. We then realised every draw opened, so we blue-tacked the hinges on the draws so only the second draw from the top would open. This created a mysterious effect where the draw opened by itself, allowing the golliwog to jump in the draw and sit there. We filmed the golliwog jumping using blue tac on the feet to stick to the draws, and then tied thread to the hands so we could show the golliwog falling into the draw.

We will film many shots with the drone (if we get permission). The key shots will be establishing shots, providing a setting for the audience. The drone would film from high up, showing the village and the house itself. These establishing shots will help the audience visualise where everything is happening, and the setting can then be used for the audience to create stereotypes and their own opinions on the area and the people living there.

Another shot we plan to use the drone for is to film a shot of the driveway, showing the two brothers getting in the car and leaving the house. We will use the drone to film a crane shot that will pan from the sky, following the two brothers. We will then cut to the camera, filming an extreme long shot of the characters sat in the car, about to drive off. We will then film a birds-eye view shot of the car from above from the drone, creating a different angle, but telling the audience neither brother is at home.

The last shot we intend to use the drone for is a panning shot outside of the upstairs bedroom windows. The drone will film through the bedroom window, showing the golliwog sat on the pillow on the bed. The camera will then pan around the corner of the house to film through a second bedroom window, and the golliwog will have moved along the bed. This shot will create the sense of voyeurism as the drone will be almost spying through the window.

Genre - Box Office Receipts

Blair Witch, distributed by Lionsgate, was released on 16th September 2016, and achieved an opening weekend box office of £959,401within the UK. This was the second highest grossing film of that weekend (16th-18th September), behind Bridget Jones's Baby which had an opening weekend box office of £8,111,077 in the UK. This vast difference between the two films in opening revenue isn't just because of the film itself. Universal distributed Bridget Jones's Baby into 641 UK cinemas compared to Lionsgate distributing Blair Witch into 462 UK cinemas. Furthermore, Bridget Jones's Baby is a UK film where as Blair Witch originates from the US. Combined together, this reduces the sales figures for Blair Witch within the UK.

Another horror film, The Conjuring 2: The Enfield Case, was distributed by WarnerBros into 504 UK cinemas. Within the first week of its release, it had a gross of £4,637,862 which is very impressive for a horror film. This can be down to the vast amount of marketing WarnerBros did for The Conjuring 2. They created multiple trailers, lots of adverts and played them everywhere, TV, YouTube, FaceBook etc. This made the public very aware of the film and created lots of anticipation for it, helping to increase sales. The Conjuring 2 went on to make $320,200,000 in box office figures, which is very impressive for a horror films. Another film distributed by WarnerBros is Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. It is a US film, distributed into 612 UK cinemas after its release, achieving a gross of £14,621,007 in the UK, on the opening weekend alone. The second weekend, the film made £4,661,9590 in the UK, followed by £2,284,293 in the UK on the third weekend. Batman v Superman went on to make $873,300,000.

The difference between the two films is their genre, because both were advertised heavily on many different media platforms and both are well made productions. The genre is the key reason why The Conjuring 2, and other horror films such as Blair Witch, don't do as well as other film genres, e.g. animations (Finding Dory) and superhero films (Batman v Superman, Age of Ultron). Although the production company does make a big difference when it comes to total box office receipts, the type of genre the film is makes a much larger difference. We are doing a horror short film, so if it were to be distributed nationally, we wouldn't be expecting large amount of sales.

BBFC Classification Certificate

This is our BBFC Classification Certificate. We found a template online by searching 'BBFC' into Google. We then took this background image onto Photoshop and began editing out the bits we didn't need from the stock image, (title, age rating, signatures etc). We did this by using the 'brush' tool on Photoshop to colour over the lettering, which we then put our own titles, signatures, age rating on to make it about our film.

BBFC Age Ratings

12 Age Rating

A film that is classified under the age rating of 12 is seen as being suitable for viewership of people over the age of 12, this being due to many different reasons, be that the amount of blood and gore, the language used, drugs, etc. Anyone under the age of 12 can only see a film rated 12A if they are accompanied by an adult. When an adult is planning to take a child under 12 to a 12A rated film they are advised to think carefully as to whether the film would be suitable for the child to see.

Within a 12 rated film the producers must ensure that they do not break certain rules otherwise their film will be given a higher age rating. Some of these rules include those such as violence, which in a 12 rated film should only be given a moderate screen time and should stay away from dwelling on detail, this meaning that there should be any focus on blood or injuries that'd be sustained from the said violence.

Threat is given the same rules as violence within a 12 rated film, this being that it should be kept to a moderate level, as only some physical an verbal threat will be tolerated before having to push the film to a higher age rating such as a 15.

The language that is permitted within a 12 age rating film is fairly moderate as well however, foul language should be kept to a bare minimum, and should be used within the right reasons, buy the right person etc. If any of these rules were to be broken by a slight the film would automatically be bumped up an age rating.

Other things such as sex, nudity and imitable behaviour are prohibited against being in a 12 rated film due to them being seen as non-suitable for the main viewership, which in this case are children around the ages of 12.

15 Age Rating

By the BBFC rules that one under the age of 15 is prohibited from seeing or renting/buying a 15 age rated film, this being due to the amount of un-suitable images that are used within these films.

Just like a 12 age rating but more, a 15 age rated film is allowed all the possible acts such as, Sex, Nudity, Imitable behaviour, Violence, Drugs, and Discrimination. However, the film is only allowed small portions of each one due to it still being shown to a audience that are not fully considered as adults. For example, under discrimination, the BBFC states that the film in a whole must not endorse any discrimination against anything or anyone however, racism, homophobic or other discriminatory themes and language are still allowed but only at a small level and when used in a certain manner, this being as under the form of comedy or historical correctness and etc.

18 Age Rating

Films classed as being suitable for viewers of the age 18 and over allow all kinds of things to happen, such as foul language being able to be used freely with no restrictions, this applying to the racial and discriminative language as well, as the viewership is considered to be able to handle the content as they are adults.

sexual content is also allowed to be used within an 18 rated however, if the film includes clear images that of containing real sex, strong fetish material, sexually explicit animated images, or other very strong sexual images will be confined to the R18 category.

Creating a Website

We decided to create a website for our production company, allowing us to be found online and potentially attract more audience members. We used Weebly in order to create the website which was fairly simple to use.

Firstly, we were asked how we wanted the layout of the website to look. We chose the top right image, because we wanted an image across the entire background of the website. The layout allowed us to create a title and have it placed in the middle. We were then able to place images and post our ident, as it will be something that is easy to recognise in any production we make.

We were then asked what we wanted the domain name to be. This is what people need to type into the URL in order to find the website. Our domain name is oblivionproductionsuk.weebly.com. This allows us to have an online persona and are able to reach a larger audience.




This is our homepage. It has a picture of a dark street with a singular light as a background. This is a basic as to who we are as a production company so we gave a brief introduction. Also on the homepage is our ident and our film logo because these will be important if we want to improve our brand and will be something the audience can instantly recognise to be ours.



This is the about page on our website. We have the same heading in the top left of the page. The rest of the page is filled with our logo again and then a paragraph about our upcoming production 'Golliwog'. This is to tell the audience of the website what we are creating and what the production will be like. This page has a dark image of an empty farm with the moon in the centre, fitting in nicely with the text and image.


We then have what could be one of the most important pages in terms of branding. This contact page has our different social media platforms so we can get some media publicity and marketing. We then have a link to our youtube channel so the audience of the website can find our work easily. This will heighten the amount of people that see our work. Lastly we gave our email. This could be used to contact us about our next production, feedback on our last production or maybe even enquiring about potential job roles in our future productions. This contact page is very important as it is what audience members and fans of our work can use to spread the word.

This is a link to our website: http://oblivionproductionsuk.weebly.com/

Our Ident - Oblivion Productions

Ident Research and Creation

Institutions

Time Warner have many layers of vertical integration, owning hundreds of other businesses. One of their subsidiaries is Warner Bros. Warner Bros then vertically integrates into many other businesses, one example of a Warner Bros subsidiary is New Line Cinema. This means that New Line cinema is owned by Time Warner, but its parent is Warner Bros.

Vertical integration is where a business in the same distribution and production chain. For example, Time Warner owns Warner Bros and so can distribute films globally that New Line Cinema and Castle Rock Entertainment produce (other vertically integrated subsidiaries owned by Time Warner). These films can then be distributed to other subsidiaries that Time Warner own such as Cinemax (a US premium cable film channel) and Warner Horizon Television (an international TV company). Warner Bros owns both their suppliers who make the films, and their distributors who can shows what the suppliers make.

Horizontal integration is a media company's ownership of several other businesses of the same or similar value. This can be seen in the media industry as owning magazines, books, radio, television and newspapers. Time Warner own Mad (a magazine), CNN Newsource (radio) and HBO entertainment (TV). This helps create more money for the business as it will meet a wider target audience because some people would prefer a newspaper, where as others would prefer news via the TV or radio.

New Line Cinema are a subsidiary of Time Warner, with Warner Bros being their parent company. They were founded in 1967 making 521 films as the distributors and the producers, and 440 as the production company since 1967. Those 440 films were distributed by Warner Bros. Time Warner are one of the big six multinational media conglomerates within the industry that create the oligopoly in the market. An oligopoly is where a few businesses own the majority of the market. This means that it is hard for other companies to gain a large share in the market and receive a large scale audience.

Minor and major film institutions vary in many ways. Major institutions such as Universal have large budgets at their disposal, meaning they can cast their characters from a wider selection of auditions (including the best of movie stars), they can have a larger production team making filming and editing easier and quicker, as well as being able to distribute their films to a much wider, international audience. On top of that, major institutions have the funds to buy the best equipment for their films such as cameras and microphones etc, allowing better quality films for the audience, they can use CGI to make the special effects seem more realistic, and furthermore, they make more money from films which can then reinvest it into future films. Minor films studios have not got the same capabilities that major studios have so the films produced by minor institutions tend not to be as successful in comparison.

They have produced lots of famous horror films, including Conjuring (2013), Conjuring 2 (2016), The Nightmare on Elm Street (1984), The Nightmare on Elm Street 2 (1985) The Nightmare on Elm Street 3 (1987), The Nightmare on Elm Street 4 (1988), The Nightmare on Elm Street 5 (1989), Annabelle (2014), The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974, 1990, 1996, 2003, 2006), Seven (1995), Friday the 13th (2009), Snakes on a Plane (2006) and Critters (1986, 1988, 1991, 1992) to name just a few of their more successful horror films.

Annabelle, a film produced by New Line Cinema and Distributed by Warner Bros,  had a budget of $6.5 million, which is quite small in comparison to many other films distributed by Warner Bros such as Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone which had a budget of $125 million. New Line Cinema, although they have the money available for them to use from Time Warner, use small budgets for their productions. Despite the small budget, Annabelle had a box office of $256.9 million, showing that small budgets can still create big revenues. Budgets can be very important for production companies because the quality of the film can be improved by investing more money into it. However the businesses will have to decide whether the film will generate enough revenue to be worth investing a larger budget or else the film could make a loss.

Annabelle has been nominated for 5 different awards in 2015. The Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films, USA nominated Annabelle as the 'Best Horror Film', and so did the Empire Awards, UK, nominating it as the 'Best Horror'. The People's Choice Awards, USA nominated Annabelle as their 'Favourite Thriller Movie'. The film was also nominated for the success of two actresses in their film, Annabelle Wallis was nominated by MTV Movie Awards with the 'Best Scared-as-S**t Performance' and Alfre Woodard being nominated for 'Best Supporting Actress' by Fright Meter Awards. These nominations shows that the film was widely received in both the US and the UK as it was nominated for awards within both countries.

A Change Of Plan

At first when having to decide between doing a trailer and a short film, we decided to go with doing a trailer as we saw it as the best option for us to do the best work however, after working on our narrative we realised that doing a short film instead would best suit as to what we have to offer.

We were originally planning on making a horror trailer, with the many different elements that would be expected from a horror film by the audience such as jump scares etc. We were originally going to base our narrative and characteristics off of the 'Conjuring 2'. Now that we have fully decided upon our narrative,we saw it best to do a short film instead, and have also decided to base our film upon that of 'Chucky'. We believe our cinematography skills outweigh our editing skills, thus us making a short film would benefit us further as a trailer focuses upon editing more so, whereas a short film requires better cinematography with less editing involved.

Character Costumes

Characters - Conjuring 2

This is the main character from 'The Conjuring 2'. She is possessed with a 72 year old man who is trying to get her to "commit the ultimate sin". The 11 year old girl is wearing her pyjamas which portrays her innocence and vulnerability to the audience. This makes the audience feel bad for the young girl as she has no control over who she is. The protagonist has a long fringe with curls at the bottom of her short hair, suggesting again that she is very sweet and childlike. Her facial expressions suggest that she is very scared and confused, wondering what is going on in her bedroom. The girl almost seems lost which really makes the audience feel sad, but also worried if they if they were putting themselves in her shoes. The girls body language can also portray what she is thinking. In this image her shoulders are slumped. This makes her seem very submissive to the audience because she isn't standing up for herself. The director would have done this in order to make the audience feel compassion and empathy for the protagonist.

This is the antagonist from 'The Conjuring 2'. In the image on the left, the nun is in at the end of a long hallway. Her facial expression is very serious, showing little emotion in the image. Her body positioning is very relaxed, but leaves the audience on edge as horror movie stereotypes suggest the nun is scary so her stance is very creepy to the audience. On the right are two images from the same scene. The above image shows the reflection in the mirror of the lady trying to help the protagonist and the nun. Here we see a close up of the antagonist, scaring the audience more as the nun is very expressionless. In the below image on the right, we see the lady come face to face with the nun, creating a jump scare for the audience, The director uses an extreme close up of both the characters to show each of their emotions in great detail. We can tell that the lady is petrified of the nun and fearing her life. This scene is very dramatic for the audience as it is one uncut scene with lots of mystery involved, ending with a loud scream, frightening the audience.

If we look at the lady on the left of this image, we can see a great detail about what she is thinking just by her facial expressions and her body language. She has just seen seen the reflection of the nun in the mirror, turned around and nothing has been behind her. This image was then taken when the lady turns back around to look at the mirror and the nun is in the reflection behind her. The lady has a very shocked expression on her face, clearly showing the fear that she feels. Her body positioning indicates that she was surprised as her arms are bent at the elbows, showing she is very tense and nervous. This feeling is then passed onto the audience who feel the same as the character in this scene.