Genre: Horror

As part of cinematography, we have been put into groups and given a specific genre to film a short film that cinematically adheres to the conventions of the genre. The members of my group are Corey Fuimaono and Matt Van Dorrestein and we are filming a short film idea that Matt came up with years ago and filmed with his friends. We plan on re-creating this film and are shooting a section of it each to fill the requirements of our brief.

Genre conventions to consider:

- POV shots let the audience see through the monster's eyes
- High and low camera angles to connotate fear and nightmares
- Handheld shots can make the audience disorientated
- ECU (extreme close up) shots to see the fear in the victim's face


Here is a link to a slide share by George Woodford, about horror genre conventions:
http://www.slideshare.net/marine18/horror-genre-conventions

We are planning to shoot the film in Queens Park and using Coronation Drive which runs right through the middle of the park and is lined with trees that look spooky and leafless which would set up the environment for a horror.

Coronation Drive, Queens Park

Here are some links to YouTube videos that discuss the conventions of the horror genre:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=oaHsEoZ3Gko

www.youtube.com/watch?v=0zosPpJepok

www.youtube.com/watch?v=aTgjqChqsJ4

We are filming this on the Blackmagic camera and I am a little nervous about doing this because it will be the first real time that I have used this camera but onwards and upwards and let's make a horror!!!!!

Script Post Mortem 27th April - 3rd May

This week in class we have read each others scripts and pulled them apart - post mortem time!!!!! Rat Race is the name of my short film ( I think I may have mentioned this in an earlier post). It is about a young boy at a funeral, who is meant to read a poem at the service for the dearly departed but instead ends up chasing a rat all over the cemetery because it steals his poem. The feedback that I received was good overall. I received good comments about my big print and the story. Rat Race was intended as a live action film but because I ended up giving the rat a name, everybody felt as though this script was written for an animation and I fully agree with this as well. By giving the rat a name it kind of became the rat's story (at the point that the rat was introduced) instead of the boy's story. All in all, I was happy with my script but could also see what could be changed to make it better.

We also did a session on writing scripts for the Rialto Channel 48 Hours Furious Filmmaking competition. We discussed how best to come up with script ideas and how to write a script to make the film compelling to the audience and most of all, the judges of the competition.

Things to remember for 48 Hours script writing:

- Observe the conventions of your genre
- Pick your model film(s)
- Identify key genre tropes (the skeleton of the genre)
- Don't fully copy tropes, just be aware of them
- Gimmicks are fine as long as they are backed up with substance
- Stinger (surprise) at the end of the film

These are all things to remember for the story and genre and the next list of things to remember is in relation to character:

- Character needs an objecive
- There needs to be an obstacle for the character that throws the character's objective out the window
- Antagonist: Can be either an inanimate object or person
- Character arc: What does the character give up or compromise/give up to find a sense of resolution

- Extra obstacles and challenges are needed for the character to progress through the story

This is my third year competing in the 48 Hours competition and also my third year in an animation team for the competition. Fingers crossed that everything goes well for the weekend and bring on the sleeplessness!!!!!

Shoot Week! Week: 13th April - 19th April

We started filming Beast of Fawkes this week! Our first shoot day was called off because of the atrocious Southland weather - rain, hail, snow, wind and just terribly yucky, crappy weather! The shoot was called off because of safety issues for the crew, cast and equipment. The second day went ahead as the weather was better and we shot what we had intended on shooting during the first day. The weather got better each day until the fifth day when it poured down again but we had not officially scheduled any shooting for that day anyway. 

We managed to get everything shot that we had intended on shooting during the three days that we had scheduled. Overall, I felt that the shoot went very well. We had a few minor hiccups like costume pieces getting left in town by accident and needing things that we had to send runners back to town to get for us. The reception in the location that we were shooting in had very limited or no cellphone coverage which made it difficult for communication between unit base (Speed Boat Club) and anybody that was in town. Somebody would either have to drive all the way out to unit base and then back to set or had to drive out of our location to somewhere that had cellphone reception. Other than these few issues, the whole crew worked very hard and nobody let the rest of the team down at all.

I feel privileged to be a part of this group and to be a part of this project as I have had quite a few positive experiences during this shoot week. Check out some photos that were taken on set!

Thai (played by Luke Page) lining up his shot

Aaron Askew - Gaffer Assistant

Krai (played by Gabby Mainland) getting make up done

Thai getting blood make up put on

Art Director, John Mellor makes some final adjustment to Krai's costume

Film crew at Sandy Point

Behind the scenes crew getting set up

Camera and sound teams getting ready to shoot

Krai in the protective tree 

 

Well, now all we have left is any cut aways or pick up shoots and all the green screen shooting to do. We still need to find a location to hang the huge portable green screen up in, so that we can shoot a cave scene and an interior spaceship scene. I can not wait to see the finished product and am so proud of the whole team for all the hard work that they have put in. Not one member has slacked and this year's project feels as if it is going much better than the project I was involved in last year! Different project, different people, different attitudes = different result!

Writing 'Rat Race' Week: 13th April - 19th April

I have named my non-dialogue script "Rat Race". I can see my script play out visually in my head but I have been having trouble forcing myself to sit down and write it. As I have commented in other posts, we have been filming the group project, so my head really has not been in a writing space.

I managed to lock myself in a room and write my script though and it came quite easily. I have written this script putting in most of the things that I have learned about 'Big Print'. I think it sounds pretty good (well, i hope it does because I have already submitted it) but I can guarantee that I will sit down and read my script and find things that I should have done better.

I wrote this script as it played out visually in my head and wrote done pretty much what the audience would see. I enjoyed writing this script because it was fun, quirky and amusing. The next thing to write is our tableplay script which is essentially a script involving two people and this means DIALOGUE!!!! Oh well, here it goes.....

Producer! Producer! Producer!

I decided that maybe it was worth me writing a post in relation to my Professional Practices paper because I have been using the skills that I have learned from last years projects and also the skills I learned interning on Human Traces. 

I used the dropbox application for all the administrative stuff for Beast of Fawkes which is something that I learned on Human Traces. Previous to Human Traces, I had only used dropbox to store photos from my phone. Dropbox allowed my production team and I, to update the same file and always have the newest version of the file available to any one of us. It also meant that we could access the files we needed from any computer in any location. This stopped files from being left (saved) on any old computer and not being easy to locate.

I also created a production booklet which had all the equipment, crew and cast information and also all the emergency addresses and contact numbers. This meant the crew could contact people in charge of specific equipment items or other crew members directly. The production booklet was introduced to me during Human Traces and also acted as a kind of inventory list for equipment as well.

I enjoy producing and like it when I get to put the things that I have learned into play. Beast of Fawkes has given me the opprtunity to use those skills. Every project is different and I enjoy learning new things with each project I do. I look forward to the next project that I get to woprk on!!!!!

Bloody Square Law Week: 13th April - 19th April

So, this bloody inverse square law is doing my head in! Every time I think I am close to working it out, I find something that makes me go back to the beginning to try and understand what it all means!!!! It's starting to drive me batty! It probably has not helped that we have been filming on location this week for our group project and I am absolutely knackered!

Anyways, I have found some more information about the inverse square law. If a light is say for example 1 metre away from the subject then we work out the lighting ratio and percentage like this: 1 metre squared  = 1x1=1 which makes the lighting ratio (fraction) 1/1, therefore, the light intensity is 100%. If you move the light back, however, it does not halve the light intensity but quarters it because 2 metres squared = 2x2=4 which makes the lighting ratio (fraction) 1/4 = 25%.

Here's a few links to videos on the inverse law and its application to cinematography:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GasmmsK6k84

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=saJSCGk7C_g

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C3aa-CJYhGU

It has been really hard to find a video or even photos that show the difference in light intensity over distance without the shutter speed or the aperture of the camera being changed. I managed to find two examples of images that show the difference in light intensity over distance out of everything that I have found during my research.

Examples of images showing the change in light intensity

Well, I really hope I am going down the right path with this topic and I hope I can teach my class mates something when I present all of my information to them.

Non-dialogue Week: 6th April - 12th April

As I have already stated in two of my other posts, I am super busy with the group project - Beast of Fawkes. I have done a tiny bit of work on my non-dialogue script. I have just been working out the details and the sequence of events that will happen in my film. I am finding writing this particular script easy to write because in the past when I was studying animation, all of my short films were non-dialogue. I am just hoping that I have taken in all the things I have learned in class about big print and applied that to my own piece.

I will hopefully find some time to work on my script next week and see if my story works, is coherent and well written. Only a couple weeks and the finished script is due! Eeeeekkkk!!!!!!

Scene 1