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Location pictures and photos from filming day!

This shot is of the close-up we see of the keys opening the door.

This is the hallway, which leads down to the kitchen. Here we did many tracking shots.

This was a rehearsal of one scene in the opening. 

Close up of the spooky fireplace :O

Another shot of the hallway.

Rehearsal of Fay's character crying.

And again!

This is the angle at which I was filmed entering the house and calling "Mum"

                 

Kitchen.

                                                      

Props list and cast list.

LIFE AFTER DEATH....FINAL OPENING SEQUENCE !!! :)

:)

Opening Sequence finished :)

We have finished our opening sequence! Today we completed and added all the sound necessary for our film to have the effect that we wanted! We put it all together and exported it to quicktime player! We now have to begin our evaluation questions :)

Meetings Week 8 ;)

Today we went through our footage and altered the brightness and contrast in some of the shots. In some of the shots we craeted a smoky scence due to the fact that there is a candle in the scene and because it is in our very last shot. We also started using 'LiveType' to create more creative and original tiltles and credits.

Meeting (; Week 7

During this week we have continued our editing process, adding features such as title sequences.  Our teacher watched our opening sequence again and suggested what places we could add some titles to cover up jumps within the filming. She was impressed with our progress, however she wants us to go through the editing again to perfect slight jumps within the footage. Moreover, our teacher suggested to be more creative on title design and to make it look more effective.

Meeting (; Week 6

During this week, we have continued to edit the film opening and  have now completed the complete rough edit. We then consulted the teacher to gain approval. We got many opinions from peers and other media teachers who gave us guidance on how to improve our editing and mentioned that we needed to brighten up some of our shots.

Meeting (; Week 5

Today is the first day back after our half term break. This week we will be re-shooting some of our missing shots. We have also got together as a group and watched some more opening sequences for more inspiration and ideas. We have now completed the rough edit of the first half of our opening sequence.
This week we have also had to be ruthless with some of our editing, cutting out a huge chunk of our film. This is simply because the opening sequence would have gone way over the two minuite time limit. 

Meeting (; Week 4

This week we have started our editing process. At the moment we are completing the rough edit for the final and complete edit.
Whilst doing this we have discovered that some shots are missing and one scene will have to be re-shot. In addtion, we have had to leave out many shots from within different scenes as the overall footage was too long. Therefore we have decideed to meet again at the film location and get the correct shots for more editing next week.

Meeting (; Week 3

During this weekend, we decided on the final location where our opening sequence will be shot. We decided that it would be filmed at a house giving the impression that it is a believable setting and would relate to many viewers.
              We also decided that the film idea based around our opening sequence will be called "Life after Death". Everyone in the group agreed that this was an appropriate title, we also consulted our teacher about the name and she agreed that it was a good idea that was suitable for the story.

Character Description!!

The main aim of our characterisation was to ensure that the audience sympathised with the character and that the character portrayed hints of mystery due to the murderous outcome of the opening. We tried to do this by the characters gestures and facial expressions. The character is rebellious but also sweet and self-conscious. We tried to portray that the character - named Anna, is in a changing situation which through the opening will become more dramatic.
         The protaganist is wearing a dress as the previous night she was out with friends partying in her rebellious nature. Her hair was made to look messy due to the murder that took place. We made the character have pale skin and lips to play a significant hint that in fact the character is dead. She also had very dark eyes to stress the mystery of the character and the scene.We also used make-up on her neck to show how she was murdered - strangled. However we did this subtly so that the viewer/audience would perhaps notice it but not realise its relivance until the end.

Furthermore, another cast member of this opening sequence is the mother of the main character. Even though her performance is minor she is still a significant part of the opening sequence as she is needed to put the storyline together. She is seen by the audience as a caring mother who is grieving over the death of her daughter.

Character shots!!

Part of the character photos. Olivia's character (Anna/daughter) face and shoulder shot and close up of the neck, to show she has been strangled!!


The second shot shows the characters dark eye make-up, pale skin and pale lips. It also shows her messy hair. All these factors hint to the viewer how the character was perhaps killed.

Storyboard!!

This is our second storyboard.
The first storyboard was used in our filming process. However, as we had to cut and edit out a lot of the footage based on our fist storyboard we decided to make a new one shown here.
As there are no artists in our group, we found it quite hard to get  our amazing ideas down on paper, because of this some of the shots in our filming aren't actually on the storyboard as we added them in whilst filming

 

Meeting :) Week 2

This week was all about agreeing on the final storyboard.

Meeting (; Week 1

This week was our first meeting in which we were discussing our location, equipment and character. We had a long discussion to whether we were going to shoot the sequence outdoors or indoors. After a long debate within the group we have decided that we were going to do a combination of both outdoor and indoor shots. The reason for this decision is because we as a group believe we can make the opening sequence more effective in this way and portray the main theme as a thriller/horror. By doing outdoor shooting at night time, we are able to use our theme more effectively for the opening sequence.

Target Audience and Purpose - Research!!! (;

As a group we agreed that our target audience for the opening sequence will be teenagers and young adults from the age of 13-26 years old. Our main reason for this age group is because they are mostly interested in horror movies due to their rebellious nature and their keen interest to be thrilled and scared. Therefore, the purpose of our opening sequence is to entertain, shock and thrill. 

Research about our Genre - Horror/Thriller

Horror films are a movie genre seeking to provoke a negative emotional reaction from viewers by playing on the audience's most primal fears. They often feature scenes that astonish the viewer through the means of ghoulish and the supernatural, thus frequently overlapping with the fantasy and science fiction genres. Horrors also overlap with the thriller genre. Horror films deal with the viewer's nightmares, hidden worst fears, revulsions and fear of the unknown. Although a good deal of it is about the supernatural, if some films contain a plot about death, serial killers, a disease/virus outbreak, they may be seen as a  “horror”.

      Plots written within the horror genre often involve the interruption of an evil force or event, commonly of supernatural origin entering into the everyday world. Themes or elements often prevalent in typical horror films include ghosts, torture, gore, werewolves, ancient curses, Satanism, demons, vicious animals, vampires, cannibals, haunted houses, zombies and serial killers. Conversely, stories of the supernatural are not necessarily always a horror movie as well. Early horror movies are largely based on nineteenth-century literature of the gothic genre, such as Universal's Dracula (1931) and Frankenstein (also 1931).  

     The term "horror movie" first appears in the writings of critics and film industry commentators in response to their release, but the term has since been applied with hindsight to similar films from the entire silent period.

Inspiration!

As a group we thought that a thriller/horror would provide our opening with the drama we needed to cause suspense and deliver a poignant and effective movie opening.
        We decided that we would all meet up and watch some horror movies for inspiration. These included 'Paranormal activity', 'Insidious' and 'The Others'.

WELCOME TO OUR BLOG! (;

Welcome to our group blog for our AS media studies coursework/project! Our crew members consist of Fay, May, Olivia and Lucksiga.  (;