Evaluation Question Seven

 Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product? 

         After completing both my Preliminary task and my final product I've learnt how hard it really is to create a proper film. We were working with a very low budget which restricted some of the things we could achieve with a camera. A lot of the work we have completed we have achieved through learning new skills over the past few months. 

         The idea of our prelim task was to follow three basic ideas. We had to achieve a Match on action shot, shot/reverse shot and 180-degree rule. After practicing these and learning what they were, we tried to incorporate them into our final production. 


         During the progress of making our production, we have realised the significance and how important it is to do research onto the genre. We spent a lot of time watching film openings of other horror/slasher films, helping us gather ideas for our own production and practice our deconstruction skills. There was no planning for our preliminary task, we were given a camera and a set of instructions on what we needed to achieve and completed it. This made decision making very hard because you had to make them on the spot. In our group we found it very difficult to organise filming dates, due to the cast not being able to shoot, or other commitments. We used call sheets and story boards on set to help us when we were filming, this helped the process flow better and was less time consuming. Filming at dawn meant we had little time to shoot in, this was one problem we faced. 

      

         A lot more thought went into the Mise-en-scene and the actors/actresses we would use. When making our preliminary task we were put into groups. The people in the groups had to play the main actor/actress's roles in our prelims. When we planned our final production we casted friends of ours to get the best set of actors we could. We also had more choice for location and the setting of our film. I learnt what a big factor the location plays in a film. When doing our prelim it was done in school time, this meant we could only film on school property limiting us. We used a tripod in both tasks to make sure the shots were steady. This was because it made the shots look a lot more professional. This was a key factor we focused on when filming. 


      I also learnt how to create an ident. For this we used a software called Live Type. Our idea was to create something that had symbolic meaning to the name. For example when making 'Flatline Films' we had a heart beat noise is background. This signifying a heart monitor. When using this program you can really achieve some really interesting results. 


      In our final production we have been out to shoot a lot of times. This has been because we have lost shots or just because we thought of a new idea. We have made a lot of rough cuts, when you get to editing them you realise how much you can change in order to improve them. Editing is a long process with so much thought needed to going into every small detail. With our preliminary task we only had a very short time for editing, this came as quite a challenge to us. Whereas we have had plenty of time to edit our recent production. This really showed us how much time and effort goes into the editing stage of a film and how rewarding this can be. After every rough cut we got audience feedback from a range of people, mainly our peers (our target audience). We realised how key it was to gather audience feedback, which allowed us to improve our production when it came to filming and editing. I found that when editing, it was important to make sure we were not cutting something out that was important to the meaning of the film. 


      Working in a group has been really good. We worked in groups for both tasks and it is really good getting a range of ideas for the filming. I have learnt to listen to your partners and take all views into consideration, which I think has resulted in a good outcome.  


A useful website that we used for research into the genre

RH - Late change in Film title

On the day we have finished our production we decided to change the title of our film. It was originally called 'Roadside' however because of the slight change in story line we decided to change the name to 'Full Moon'. The inspiration for this came from the fact that on our last night of filming their was a 'Super Moon', this meant the it was a full moon and it was slightly bigger than usual. There was an Indian film made in 1961 with the title of 'Full Moon', because the film was made in India and was produced in 1961 we won't encounter any copywrite issues. We realise this film title signifies the Warewolf horror genre, however our title of 'Full Moon' hold many connotations and we don't feel this will be and issue.

RH - Late change in storyline

After gaining feedback from our 4th rough cut it came apparent that we must re-shoot once more. One of several issues with this is that time is against our side. Also our main actress Megan cannot re-shoot. This means we have to use POV shots.

The main issue we have had is that we just haven't shot enough coverage. I will be going back up to our location and take loads of coverage of our killer approaching the car. We have also decided to change the way our 'Scream Queen' Casey gets murdered. This links into the change in storyline.

Basically we have tried to connote that 'Sam' has something to do with the murder.However we leave this as a narrative enigma as he will now be killed. 'Sam' is on the phone and slams the door. As he turns around the killer will be standing in the hall way with a knife holding a phone to his face signifying that 'Sam' was just on the phone to him. This is our preferred reading.

As 'Casey' drives closer to the doom we will see a shot of a sign post with some blood dripping down off the sign. When she crashes her car we will cut to shots of the killer approaching the car. 'Casey' will slowly start to come around after the crash. She will reach for her phone to ring 'Sam'. She will then look out the window to see 'Sam's' phone on the ground ringing. This will cause panic. We prior to this will have seen the killer approaching the car. We then will see a shot of the killer on top of the car. This provides intertextuality to 'Halloween'. Suddenly the killers hand will reach in and grab 'Casey' then his head will drop down and he will provide the fatal blow.

ALL - Roadside 4th rough cut

RH - Soundtrack recorded

Today I went up to record our soundtrack with a professional musician/composer who is a family friend. It is an original soundtrack. We went through the footage talking about when we wanted to add suspense and I told him what I was trying signify with the shots that have been included. It went really well. He was using some advanced software that we don't have use of in school which is an advantage. We were also in a studio which gave superb sound quality. We recorded the sound for each shot/scene and then mashed it together. Although we have recorded this, we still have to re-shoot which means we will have to edit our footage in keeping with the soundtrack which will be a challenge.

GG - Changes to be made from feedback

After gathering a lot of feedback from our 3rd rough cut we have decided to change the following:

• The opening drags on for too long, we are going to cut some of the shots from inside the house. 
• Recorded some more diegetic sound. The characters don't talk enough which makes the viewer think that maybe they aren't in a relationship and that she is a prostitute. Also add some laughter to show they are close and comfortable around each other. 
• In the killing scene, we need more point of view shots from the killer. 
• The car is traveling across the country road and a very slow pace, so we need to either speed it up or re-shoot the shots. 
• More cut shots need to be added in.
• Cut down the shots of the killer approaching the car to make it happen quicker, its drags on for too long. 

RH - Re-shoot because of continuity errors

I'm going to film some more shots over the weekend because we have continuity errors involving car headlight being on and off.  The sequence of shots doesn't make sense because of the lighting. We need to eradicate this.  Also we still want a POV shot of the killer stabbing the victim (Casey). I also might shoot some shots of a street sign with some blood dripping down off it, this would be an ECU, this would provide shot variation as well as breaking up a long take.  In the feedback we have gathered we have found out that our opening ends to suddenly. So we have to plan to film a continuation after the murder. Or just provide anchorage for the viewers that the victim is dead.