Documentary Filming

• medium close shot

• rule of thirds

• high key lighting

• not looking straight into camera

• setting that reflects character

• fades between cuts in speech

Images:

http://archives.library.yorku.ca/pchp/?p=262

http://www.eidolonfilms.com/2011/05/19/three-point-lighting-for-interviews/

Survey

As part of researching audiences for evaluation question 4 I have created this survey. If you could fill it out it would be highly appreciated.

 Target Audience Survey

Credits and Titles

The way we have decided to put our titles is as follows. 

• Name of distributing studio

• Name of production company

• A film by

• Sound and Music

• Edited by 

• Filmed by/ Cinematography / Director if photography

• Screen play 

•Produced by

• Directed by

• Starring

• Film title

Normally the starring title would come after a film by however we want it later on as our main actress does not appear fully until later on. 

Target Audience of Blair Witch Project

We got a lot of inspiration for our film opening from the Blair Witch Project. It is a 'mockumentary' like ours, and in the same genre of horror. We hope to appeal to the same sort of audience as they did. Therefore, we can learn a lot about our target audience from this film.

I've established that the target audience of the Blair Witch Project is mainly young people 15-30 who enjoy horror and thrillers, and in particular have an interest in film-making and/or supernatural things. The Prezi below explains this in detail, and how they marketed the film to these people.

Music Consumption Survey

If you can complete this survey your help would be much appreciated. 

Music Consumption Survey

First Time Filming

Last night our media studies team travelled through to Battle in East Sussex to film for the first time for our trailer. When we arrived at Battle Abbey School we immediately encountered problems. After setting up the camera and tripod to film our establishing shot of the building we found that due to the poor lighting the camera picked up nearly nothing. 

We tried various ways of lighting the building such as hand held torches and even trying to use a car headlights. We then moved on to trying to film the 'action' for our trailer. This too was a disappointment and we found that to pick up our actor she would have to stand less than a three meters away from the camera. Although we did not manage to film much we did get a feel for the building and thought of some new ideas. 

After the poor nights filming I went home and researched different ways of filming at night. Unfortunately the researched made me realise that it was going to be difficult for us to film at night due to lack of lighting and ability to light the Abbey grounds. However my research did open me up to ways of filming in day time and using editing to make the footage look like it had been filmed at night time. In response to this we have decided to film tomorrow evening and edit the footage and see what results we get. 

Copyright

Copyright is a legal concept which allows the person or organisation who created the work to have all of the rights to its use and distribution. This is normally just for a set period of time, and aims to allow the creator of the content the right to get compensation for their work and gain financially from the distribution of it. Copyright is a form of intellectual property, which includes trademarks and patents. 

Youtube

Youtube cannot stop a copyrighted video from being uploaded, however if it receives a complaint from the owner of the copyright it has the right to remove the video from Youtube. This helps to stop illegal copies of songs from being on the website, and means that the creator of the song or video will be the one to benefit financially from its views and sales. There are many websites and downloads available which allow you to download songs from music videos on Youtube, however in the terms and conditions of the website it states that -

"- You agree not to access Content through any technology or means other than the video playback pages of the Service itself, the Embeddable Player, or other explicitly authorized means YouTube may designate.

- You shall not download any Content unless you see a “download” or similar link displayed by YouTube on the Service for that Content. You shall not copy, reproduce, make available online or electronically transmit, publish, adapt, distribute, transmit, broadcast, display, sell, license, or otherwise exploit any Content for any other purposes without the prior written consent of YouTube or the respective licensors of the Content."

This means most Youtube videos cannot be legally downloaded and used. The only exception to this is if the video has been uploaded under the Creative Commons (with attribution) licence. Youtube allows video uploaders the option to allow other users to use their content however they would like using the Creative Commons licence, provided they provide a link back to the source, as opposed to the standard Youtube licence mentioned above. This means that some of the content on Youtube may be available for us to use in our film opening.

Itunes/Apple

Music from iTunes is subject to copyright and it is illegal to use any song bought on there, other than for personal use, without permission from those with the rights to the track (usually the record company or artist). However, the music, jingles and sound effects that come with iMovie are allowed to be used royalty free. Music created in garage band is also copyright free and therefore we would be able to create sounds and music there and then use them in our film. 

Royalty free music

Some websites provide royalty free music. Some are free, and others you have to pay for. This could be a good option, although the range of music can be quite limited. Some websites which offer this are -

http://incompetech.com/music/royalty-free/

http://www.royaltyfreemusic.com/free.html

http://www.themusicase.com/

Copyrighted 

-iTunes music

-Normal Youtube videos

Not copyrighted

-iMovie sounds

-Garage band

-Youtube videos with Creative Commons licence

-Royalty free music download websites

Directed Improvisation

Improvisation: Something that is improvised, in particular a piece of music, drama, etc. created spontaneously or without preparation.
We have decided that we want an element of improvisation to our film opening to get the mood and atmosphere we want to portray.

After looking at how the Blair Witch Project was created we found that the film was unscripted other than a short back story the cast were given, the director would plant objects to scare the actors, resulting in naturalistic acting and genuine fear.

Structured Reality

Structured reality programs are based around real people, put into pre-arranged situations and filmed talking naturally. For this sort of filming to work well, the filming and production team have to be trusted by the cast, so that the cast feel comfortable talking in front of the cameras as if they aren't there.

The constructed situations have to be planned well, as they have to respond to previous happenings and events, the situation also has to have an interesting result for example two people meeting after having an argument or after a party. These situations won't be scripted but it may be easy to predict the nature of the conversations which has to be taken into account when devising situations.

These sorts of shows are currently aimed at a younger demographic as the sorts of people and situations may appeal more to them and as a result of this are only shown on digital channels.

Target Audience

The target audience of our film opening is going to be mainly young people. This means we will have to cooperate with the relevant legislation enforced by the British Board of Film Classification.





The 15 label means nobody below age 15 can buy, rent, or watch the film in the cinema. The Prezzi below displays what the British Board of Film Classification states is not allowed in a 15 rated film.





The 18 label means no-one under the age of 18 is allowed to buy, rent, or watch the film in the cinema. The Prezzi below shows what the British Board of Film Classification states an 18 is not legally allowed to include -

Why Horror?

Why we have chosen Horror as the genre for our film opening.
Inspiration: We  have been inspired by Films such as the Blaire Witch Project and Paranormal activity to create a 'Mocumentary' style Paranormal found footage Horror. 
Costs: the costs of filming something like this is very low, the Blaire Witch Project was filmed on a very low budget compared to other films and made a lot of money despite this. for us, using handheld camera work is not only the look we are going for but would also be very cheap.
SFX: We have dicussed filming in black and white or putting a night vision effect onto the footage which we feel will enhance the look and feel of our work.

Possible Filming Location

Location: Battle Abbey School

Battle Abbey is a historical building located in East Sussex. As well as the medieval architecture the Abbey contains 'the ruins' from the collapsed church. The Abbey has been investigated in recent times due to paranormal scares and ghosts. 

Typical locations of horror films: Typically horrors are filmed in and around historical or deralict buildings and 'haunted houses'. They may also be filmed in places that we see as safe such as homes or schools, which shows the audience that anything can happen, this adds fear.  

Gender representation in adverts