Juggling of Equipment

First camera

The first camera we used was a Panasonic mini dv camera. whilst we got alot of footage using this camera we had a major problem with it which was that the battery even when charged provided us with little power meaning that on many occasions filing had to be cut short due to the power running out. This was a major inconvenience as it cost us time and sometimes valuable footage because the power would cut out right in the middle of a scene.

Second camera

The second camera we used was a Sony handy cam which was alot more reliable interms of battery life and the picture quality was better. We had a uv filter and a wide conversion lens at our disposable and a remote to control the functions of the camera meaning that we could set up the camera on a tri-pod and be able to control it whilst acting in a scene which came in very useful on the occasions when only two of the group could film and we both needed to be in the scene.

Characters and casting

Most of the characters in our trailer will be teenagers apart from a couple of characters which is good because most all of the people in my friendship group are the right age for these roles.

all of the people in my group (Adam Maestro, Benji Hooper) including myself have decided to act in the film meaning we won't have to find as many people to act in our film which will save on time.

We needed to start filming soon so we found a couple of friends who I had worked with before in previous films (see previous posts for previous films). The first person who we asked was Sam Reinders (see previous posts) who had written, directed, acted and starred in many of the previous films I had worked with him on so as well as acting experience he had alot of experience with cameras and could help us with filming as well and gave us advice on which shots would work best for different scenes and advice on lighting.

Sam Reinders

The second Actor we found was Adam Bloom. Adam was a good to have in the trailer because he has acting experience in both films (see previous posts) and has acted in plays as he does drama for a levels. We wanted to get as much footage with him as possible as we felt this was a good opportunity to use his acting skills.

Adam Bloom

Rough horror plot idea

Introduction: Students are taken by teachers on a camping trip 20 miles away.

Development: The students are split up into two groups by the teachers:

each group has six people in it, one group has a cocky arrogant student who is a bit venerable.

the other group is less confident but just as capable as the other group.

Complication- Group 1 discover cult of murderers/devil worshipers.
- Arrogant kid shows interest in Cult
Crisis-Arrogant Kid from group 1 sucked into cult: Goes on a killing spree! Kills off several group members from both teams.
- Two groups combine to form one after death of others-start to push against the cult.
Resolution- Most kids die apart from one (female?)

Horror trailers: The Thing

The first trailer I'm looking at is for the 1982 John Carpenter film 'The Thing'. The trailer starts off with the title in bold white slowly being revealed while there is a radio transmission saying that something has been discovered, this already sets up that in the plot there is something mysterious in the film. when the title is revealed there is a cut to a research facility in the middle of Antarctica, this shows how isolated the characters are from civilization and that they are alone with the mysterious creature. This trailer gives a real sense of tension shown through uses of a multitude of different shots including tracking shots close ups, tension is also shown through the unsettling music and the multitude of cuts. the trailer is very character driven as it shows many shots of the different characters and features alot of dialogue, this suggests that the film will have alot of character development which is relativly common place in horror.

Horror movie 3

Story: Sam Reinders, Miguel Garcia de Paredes.

Starring: Sam Reinders, Miguel Garcia de Paredes.

Filming: Sam Reinders, Miguel Garcia de Paredes.

Editing: Sam Reinders.

This horror film was inspired by the recent horror Paranormal Activity in which mysterious events occur at the home of a young couple. Sam and I made this the same day we saw the film so we had a good idea in our minds of how it needed to be, we adopted as many camera and editing techniques as we could from the film and even interpreted a few of the scenes.

Horror movie 2

Story: Sam Reinders, Miguel Garcia de Paredes.

Starring: Sam Reinders, Miguel Garcia de Paredes.

Filming: Sam Reinders.

Editing: Sam Reinders.

Here is another short horror film i made with one of my friends which, rather than a blair witch style film is more in the style of the twilight zone. this one includes a wide variety of shots, editing techniques and music.

Horror movie 1

Story: Sam Reinders

Filming: Sam Reinders, Sarah Pughe, Adam Bloom and Miguel Garcia De Paredes.

Starring: Sam Reinders, Sarah Pughe, Adam Bloom and Miguel Garcia De Paredes.

This is a short horror film I made with my friends in the style of the blair witch project. the story is simple, four friends go to an a school that is haunted by the ghost of a former headmaster of the school.

Storyboard 2

This part of the story board shows the hacker making his escape with the secret file, This is where we meet the antagonist who I've called the 'suit' because I imagine him to be some sort of mysterious agent.

Storyboard

Here is the first part of the story board, although when it comes to filming and editing I will probably change a few things this the initial plot of the chase.

The video will start with the Hacker downloading a secret file in a room full of computers, there will be many different camera shots of him doing this cut together to add a sense of tension and urgency which includes footage of his hands typing, close ups on his eyes and a download bar on the computer screen to show the passing of time.

I want to have some music which has a good build up part at the beginning to add to the tense atmosphere.

Chase Video: Initial Ideas

After making my practice film, My group and I (Benji, me and Adam) began planning four our chase scene. we threw around some Ideas and I put together a rough written draft of the story board.

The rough plot we went with was having a Hacker as the protagonist who has downloades a secret file and he is chased by a mysterious man who supposidly wants the file so we know it holds importance, I thought it was a good idea to have something that both characters needed to add a sort of purpose to the chase 'a drive' so to speak. Using the story board template was quite useful because it allowed me to organize the different scenes like how long they last, the camera shots and a brief description of the scene.

The next stage after this is to make some proper storyboards including images and a more spread out format.

first project

The first film i made with a group consisting of michelle, benji, adam and myself. we did a simple plot of three characters each with the same desire which only one could posses. it had an overall feel of conflict but with alot of humor as well, especially since the desired object was an apple. we ended it with each character getting knked out and a new character played by michell entering the film to claim the apple with some upbeat music to contrast the fast and heavy beating music during the rest of the film.

we used various different shots such as, medium shots, wide angle shots, close ups, over the shoulder shots and panning shots.

making this videos was a good way to practice these different techniques so that in future we would be able to make better movies.