Props

When it came to dressing the scene props were vital. We were basically given a blank canvas when it came to the barn so the props we chose would really set the genre of our film. Yasmin and I both began to research different props we could use that would make the film surreal and scary. Below are pictures and Videos of props we want to use.

Twitter Account

We decided that we would make a twitter account, this let us post tweets when we are filming to show what went well, what problems we had and what stages we are at. We felt that this would help us when it came to evaluating our film. It also works as a good way in keeping in touch with the actors that we decided to use. Below is a print screen of the account that Yasmin made.

New Script

We have decided to make a new script for Hidden. Below is the new script:

In our script the stage directions are coloured in red and the camera shots are in green, sound is  in a  blue coloured  text and finally the dialouge in black.

Close up of a girls shoes jumping/landing onto the ground tracking shot as she walks through over grown grass

Amy: remind me again why we agreed to do this?

Gemma: Because it will be fun and anyway we need practice camping if were going to go backpacking

Rosie: Yeah but I was thinking we could just stay in hotels

Gemma: stop complaining

As they stop talking they arrive at where their camping. They put down their bags. As they do a medium long shot is used of the girls standing in the field.

They begin to look around as they do there is a figure in the staring at them through some bushes a long shot is used.

Gemma: Lets have a look around and see if there is anywhere better to put the tents

They all split up looking around the field.

Long shot is used of the girls walking in different directions cuts to a point of view shot of Amy looking at the barn. Medium long shot as she begins to walk down the hill. Close up of her touching the chains towards the entrance. Cuts to an medium long shot of Amy walking into the barn.

She begins to look around moving belongings in the barn

Amy: guys come here, we might not have to set up a tent afterall.

Gemma: what is this place?

Rosie: just some barn thats been left

Amy: yeah but look at all this weird stuff

Gemma: maybe we shouldn't be here, the person obviously has something wrong with them

Amy: come on it was your idea to come here lets just stay here for the night

Cuts to a close up of the killer looking through the barn

We start to see what appears to be a clown/mask

Rosie: I'll go and get the bags and bring them down here

Point of view shot of Rosie walking to the bags

Rustling is heard

Point of view shot she looks around and sees a figure she goes to have a further look she sees the figure moving away

Rosie: GUYS!!! come here quick

Cuts to a point of view shot of the two girls running to Rosie

Gemma: what is it?

Rosie: I swear I just saw a man staring at me, I went to have a closer look but he had gone

Amy: don't be stupid if you did see a man he was probably just walking his dog

Rosie: there was something about him though it wasn't right maybe Gemma is right maybe we should leave.

Amy: It's absolutely fine nothings going to happen to us. God I didn't know you were all scared of everything. Lets get the bags and go back inside

Gemma: I'm sure we'll be fine Rosie and I have my car anyway so we can just leave later if you don't like it

Tracking shot of them walking back to the barn

Rosie: yeah because i'm sure walking up a pitch black hill to your car will reassure me, what is all this stuff?

Close ups and fragmentation shots of each character looking at something different

Gemma: i'm not sure but it's best not to touch any of it

Amy grabs one of the objects and starts playing with it

Rosie: Amy stop it, you don't know who's it is. It might belong to that man I saw

Amy: oh don't start with that again its just stuff that people leave down here instead if going to the tip

Gemma: it's pretty weird stuff though

Rosie looks out into the field sees the figure long shot is used

Rosie: (whispering) can you see him staring at us

Just as the others look the man dissapears

Gemma: Rosie there's no one there stop trying to scare us.

Rosie: i'm not it was the same man that was looking at me before and think this is his barn I really don't like the look of him maybe we should leave.

Amy: For the last time Rosie there is no one there and even if there is are you really going to walk in the dark back to the car with him out there? No? Yeah that's what I was thinking

Rosie: I'm going back to the car are any of you coming?

Amy: i'm going to stay here

Gemma looks at Rosie with sympathy

Gemma: i'm sorry rosie but i'm staying too, just stay till morning and we'll leave first thing

Rosie: No i'm going with or without you

Long shot used of rosie leaving cuts to a shot reverse shot of gemma and amy

Gemma: Amy we can't let her walk to the car by herself anything could happen

Amy: She's not really going to walk to the car, I give her two minutes before she's back here saying she was just joking

There is an ellipsis of time. Gemma is by the entrance of the barn while amy is sat on the floor.

Medium long shot- Gemma is tapping her feet, shuffling about and chewing her nails. Medium close up

Gemma: Amy she has been gone for ages, I think we should go look for her, she would have text us she made it back to the car

Medium long shot

Amy: Stop worrying I bet she's gone home but wants to scare us so isn't texting us and besides we don't have signal down here anyway so how would even get a text?

Gemma: Yeah maybe your right I still think we should try and ring her I have a bit of signal still

We hear the dialling tone of the phone, we then hear her ringtone being played

Gemma: Can you hear that

Amy: yeah but that isn't Rosie's normal ringtone

Gemma: what is it then? She's not answering i'll ring back in a minute

Amy: It stopped as soon as you hung up it must be her phone. ring it again I'll look for it

Point of view shot is used of Amy looking for the phone

Amy: it's in here she must have forgotten it

Gemma: No she was using it as a torch when she left, I told you we shouldn't have let her go!

Amy is still looking for it finds it inside a dirty jar

Amy: i've found it, are you sure she wasn't holding a torch?

Gemma: certain, Don't you understand? If the phone is in here it must mean that she was telling the truth that she did see a man and now god knows what’s happened to her.

Amy: Calm down i'm sure everything is fine and she's just trying to trick us

old crackling music is heard

Gemma: what is that, something isn't right we need to find Rosie and get out of here.

Amy: It's your phone, maybe someone is ringing you

Gemma: my phone doesn't have that song on there don't you get it Rosie was right that man doesn't want us here, he's had access to our stuff he could be hearing everything right now we need to leave!

Amy: Gemma Stop it, it's just rosie playing a trick on us things like this don't happen round here she's just trying to make us scared as payback for not listening to her earlier.

Gemma: I want to leave Amy.

Amy: what? So Rosie can say “ I knew I could scare you”

Gemma: it's not about that, something just isn't right.

Gemma looks out into the field to see a dark figure staring at her and amy he starts walking towards them

Gemma: LOOK HE'S THERE WE NEED TO RUN!

As Amy looks there is nothing there

Amy: There is no one there

Amy looks around the room- panning shot

There is an object with clothe over it that has been there the whole time the girls have been there

Amy: If you really want to go we'll leave in a minute I just want to see what is under here, it might be worth some money.

Gemma: Hurry!! I don't like it here

A close up of Amy's hand reaching for the clothe she pulls the clothe off where the killer is sat dressed as a dinosaur with a mask on

Black out

The End

Film posters

I decided to start looking at general horror film posters so I would know what conventions i should follow when it came to making my own poster for Hidden.
When looking at the posters I looked at these speciffic things:

• Main picture- how it represents the story
• font- which font is used and what effect that has
• Title- how it is displayed which colour is commonly used
• If the poster is visually effective
• where the posters were distributed
• What the poster included I.E directors names, actors names- some credits.

I really liked this inparticular poster as I feel it represents the genre directly.  I like the way the picture has been altered to make different colours more saturated, Yasmin and I both want to use this technique when making our poster. We want to add a surreal element to it like "Squeal" in the way that the writing is blood dripping down the poster. 

Experimental Footage

As Yasmin and I have decided to change the location, it is vital for us to get some experimental footage as soon as possible to make sure the location is going to work.
After doing some experimental footage we can decide what needs to be changed what will work and what won't.  We want to get as many different angles and shots so we can see what are the best shots to use to create maximum impact to the film.

Audience feedback

We decided that the best way to know what the audience want in a horror/experimental film was to ask them. We decided that we would ask different people questions about what they expect from horror, if they would watch our film etc..
We decided that we would film this then we can look back over the tapes after to see what people wanted.
We wanted to ask people with different tastes, personalities and social groups to get as wide a variety of opinions as we could. Here are the questions asked:
Where would a Horror/surreal film usually be located?
What character stereotypes would you expect to see?
What certificate do you expect a good horror film to be?
Below is the video of the research:

Problems with filming

Yasmin and I wanted to get some location shots while it was dark so we would be able to see what our film would look like without any artificial lighting. However after looking at the pictures we decided that it wasn't an  option as objects, people, expressions weren't visible in the dark. 
We began to think of how we could change the lighting, location or plot to make the filming a better quality. We decided that we would change our location to a field in Kingsdown, Deal. The field has a barn in which we could use as a source of artificial light we also wanted to use it in the story as the place the killer owns. Because  we changed the story so the barn belonged to the killer we were able to make the story more surreal as we could add in more objects which you wouldn't usually find. We also found that changing location meant we had less restrictions, Yasmin's father owns the field so it was easy for us to get permission for an open fire, we are able to access it at any time and it also meant we could change anything in the field that we wanted. Because of the changes made we are going to be changing the script and making another storyboard.   We feel that changing the location will let us explore a more surreal element to the film.

Here a few shots of the original location which we took at the time we were wanting to film:









We feel if we carried on with the same location the film wouldn't be as effective.  We took pictures with the flash off and on so we could see the difference. We played on the idea of having the flash on throughout the film however it wasn't viable as we wouldn't have a source of electricity to charge the camera.

Below are shots of our new location. We feel it works well as the barn gives light to the field, it also meant we can film in the tent in the barn so that the audience think they are outside but  are actually inside. We could use the lighting from the barn to light the characters faces.

Casting

For our film we wanted good experienced actors who would enjoy the storyline and feel as if they were apart of a good fillm. To find actors we decided that the best place to advertise was on Facebook. Yasmin published this post which everyone could read.

People were then able to comment and let us know if they were able to take part or not.

We decided that we also wanted to hold auditions so that we could casts the parts to better people. We decided that we would make posters and place them around school stating who we needed, when the auditions would be and where. Applicants were then able to write there name down on the sign up sheet, this gave Yasmin and I a good idea of how many people would come. After applicants had signed up we waited for the auditions gave each participant a script and let them audition from this we were able to choose who would be best for our film. We plan to do this within the next week so we can start to think about shooting the film. 

We also had in mind some boys that we wanted to use so Yasmin wrote an email to them detailing what we wanted, when and why. We felt this was the best way to do it as we already know the boys so know how they work together and how they will work in our film.

Title to the film

While I was finishing off the script Yasmin started to brainstorm some names for the title of our film. It was really important for our film title to relate to the horror genre. As the title is what everyone recognises and remembers it was important for it to represent the genre.

Here is the brainstorm Yasmin created.

After  completing the brainstorm we looked at the titles and the script to our film to decided which fit the criteria best. At first we decided on Hide and Seek as we liked how it was sinister but also a child's game. We then thought about the story and it didn't really fit as well as it should. We both liked the name Hidden as it is short, precise and easy to remember we also thought it fit in with the script as the characters fail to see the killer throughout the film.

Yasmin and I both feel Hidden is the best idea as the word is very sinister, it suggests that someone is watching who shouldn't.

What we have changed from our initial idea so far

When looking back at the three film I had analysed I didn't feel we were going to use all the right techniques that we could have nor the cinematography that we had wanted.  We both felt that we needed to make our story more abstract. After dilberating with a few ideas we decided that our "killer" would be dressed in a full clown costume and will always be holding a balloon as we felt that added a more sinister tone to the film. We also decided that we wanted to make the events that unfold very quirky and experimental in comparison to other horrors which are based on events that could happen. To do this we decided that unusual things would appear that people wouldn't  necessarily notice. We also decided on how we can use editing to dramitcally change the outcome to the film we decided that we would add in sound, edit the colour and saturation of the footage. We feel this would really make our film more unusual and quirky which is what we want to create.

Here are some objects that we want to include in our film.

The chosen genre and Target Audience

Genre:
Our chosen genre is horror/thriller as we feel that this genre is very popular and it is something that we haven't done before but interests us.  We already learnt what is needs to be included in a successful horror film. We feel we have the factors included in our script, shots, costume and and location to call our film a horror.  Yasmin and I both want our short film to be surreal as we feel this works really well with horror/ thriller within a short film.

Target Audience:
When deciding on a target audience we had to look at the script in depth and the issues we were portraying and from that decide who would be a suitable audience. We decided on a fifteen film as we felt that some of the language was too strong for a younger audience. Yasmin and I both felt that story may  be frightening for someone under the age of fifteen.  After readin the guidlines on the British Borad Of Film Classifications website we realised that it had to be a fifeteen due to the content being shown.
Below is the list of restrictions set out by the film board:

Suitable only for 15 years and over

No one younger than 15 may see a ‘15’ film in a cinema. No one younger than 15 may rent or buy a ‘15’ rated video work.

Discrimination

The work as a whole must not endorse discriminatory language or behaviour.

Drugs

Drug taking may be shown but the film as a whole must not promote or encourage drug misuse. The misuse of easily accessible and highly dangerous substances (for example, aerosols or solvents) is unlikely to be acceptable.

Horror

Strong threat and menace are permitted unless sadistic or sexualised.

Imitable behaviour

Dangerous behaviour (for example, hanging, suicide and self-harming) should not dwell on detail which could be copied. Easily accessible weapons should not be glamorised.

Language

There may be frequent use of strong language (for example, ‘fuck’). The strongest  terms (for example, ‘cunt’) may be acceptable if justified by the context. Aggressive or repeated use of the strongest language is unlikely to be acceptable.

Nudity

Nudity may be allowed in a sexual context but without strong detail. There are no constraints on nudity in a non-sexual or educational context.

Sex

Sexual activity may be portrayed without strong detail. There may be strong verbal references to sexual behaviour, but the strongest references are unlikely to be acceptable unless justified by context. Works whose primary purpose is sexual arousal or stimulation are unlikely to be acceptable.

Theme

No theme is prohibited, provided the treatment is appropriate for 15 year olds.

Violence

Violence may be strong but should not dwell on the infliction of pain or injury. The strongest gory images are unlikely to be acceptable. Strong sadistic or sexualised violence is also unlikely to be acceptable. There may be detailed verbal references to sexual violence but any portrayal of sexual violence must be discreet and have a strong contextual justification.

Inspiration

When looking for inspiration we decided that the best thing to do would be to look at previous films and decide which shots,costume, make up and scenes inspired us. I decided to look at campfire stories and camp fire pictures to see which shots I liked and could use.

The film Campfire Tales inspired us as it is based around horror stories and a campfire. We were also inspired by Saw and other films in which murderers take on different personas as we want our killer to do so too.

Roles I am undertaking

When deciding which roles to undertake we had to decide who would be able to do each one best. As there are only two of us in the group it made deciding on the roles easier as there weren't more people wanting the same role.  Me and Yasmin both decided to both be director and producers as we feel we nboth have strong ideas and don't feel one would be better than the other.
Yasmin took a keen interest into the costumes and make up so she will be undertaking the role of mise-en-scene. I will be looking at cinemeatography as i enjoy editing and feel i will prefer this role to mise-en-scene.

Time and Dates for filming

When it comes to filming continuity is key so we have to make sure that the lighting and scenery will remain the same. We are filming outside this meant we had to check the sunset times for each day and the weather so we know whether we can film on particular days. As the sunset time changes by three minutes everyday so each day we will have to film earlier than the last. Here we can see which day it will be the best weather and when to start filming.  

Storyboard

Me and Yasmin both started our story boards this week, we decided to split the work and do half the story board each. Once completed we will scan it into the computer so we can animate it add any sound and dialogue. 

Location shots

When deciding on a location me and Yasmin both thought somewhere secluded and open would be a good place as it set the scene for the horror film. We looked at different horror films to see their scenery and what we could do so it would fit in with our genre. Me and Yasmin decided to go into to Sandwich, where we will be filming to, to take picture so we had a general idea of how shots would look. Although these shots are in daylight we will be filming in the evening when it's darker.

Character biography

 I'm now going to make a profile for each of my characters which will show their credentials, general interests and personalities.


Nathan:

 This is what Nathan will dress like, jack wills, hollister and hoodies.  He is the leader of the group and is a typical Jack the lad, he is a joker and is the one the rest of the group turn to when planning something. He likes to watch films like pineapple express, the hangover, the inbetweeners movie and super bad. He is popular in school and is also the captain of the football team.  Nathan is seventeen years old and enjoys going out with his mates and showing off infront of them. Nathan is from an affluent background so can afford whatever he wants to and likes to show off with his affluence.




    Pete:

t

This is Pete he is Nathan's best friend he has known him for the longest. Pete is the joker of the group and enjoys making everybody laugh by pulling stupid pranks. He is from a middle class background, Pete is not very bright so is often not sure what is happening. Pete is also very immature and sometimes embarrasses his friends. Pete is also popular and known around the school as being a "laugh" he seems to get along with everyone and doesn't take anything too seriously. He is also seventeen years old and plays on the football team.

Tom:

This is Tom he is seventeen years old, he is also middle class and plays on the football team. He wants approval from Nathan and others so tends to make stories up which many people don't believe. Most people like him as he doesn't say a bad word about anyone and is harmless.  He likes to play on his xbox on such games as halo, call of duty and assassins creed.

Josh:

This is Josh he is also seventeen but is more the oddball of the group. He is the only one of the group who isn't in the football team, he likes to be more independent than the others.  He is the one out of the group who will think of the consequences before he does something.  Josh is the one who will question things more, he is the most intelligent and enjoys art. The other boys tend to play more jokes on him but he doesn't mind and likes to feel part of the group.

Initial Script

This is the initial script idea some aspects of the script may change the further we plan

We see four boys around a camp fire one of the boys is about to start telling the rest of the boys a campfire story

John: Alright I've got a good story for you all, its a true story about the boys who last camped here.

Mat: yeah alright of course it's true, go on then start

John: Well four boys named Nathan, Josh, Pete and Tom all came here camping

Ed: There the name of those boys in year 12 that went missing

John: well yeah I told you it was true, anyway they all decided to come camping...

As John starts to tell the story it cross fades into the story. Two boys have already set up camp while the other two are on their way in the car. As they get their stuff out of the car they bump into a man.

Josh: Oi watch it mate yeah?

Nathan: What a creep!

We see them walk off as they do the man looks over his shoulder. He looks sinister. Both the boys continue to walk over to the camp where the other two boys are.

Pete: What took you two so long? We've been here ages

Nathan: We were getting out the car and Josh bumped into some guy and he just stood there as if we owed him something after that, I just laughed and walked off.

Josh: He was the weirdest looking guy I have ever seen in my life. He was wearing like all black with some hat on just staring at us.

Tom: We saw a guy like that before staring at us, probably some old man who doesn't think we should be camping here or something

The two boys proceed to put there belongings in the tent all of them are talking as Josh looks over to the bench and sees the man again

Josh: Boys look there he is again what is his problem?

Pete: Where let me have a look

Josh: just over there

As the boys look to where Josh was looking the man has disappeared

Tom: what you on about mate? There's no one there your seeing things

The boys continue to sit around the camp Josh has another look but can't see anything

Nathan: Fancy a game of footie lads?

Pete: yeah alright then mate

All the boys begin to play football they are playing a match when the ball goes offside and into some bushes near a hut and old battered white sign

Josh: it's alright lads i'll get it

as he picks up the ball he looks up and sees the man again staring at him through some bushes

Josh: (whispering) come over here you have to see this, I knew I wasn't just seeing things.

As the boys come over and look the man leaves again

Nathan: Mate what's wrong with you, your going crazy there's no one there. Josh do you want to sleep with the light on tonight?

Tom: HAHAHA I should have invited my little sister down she's less of a girl than you

It cuts back to the original story

Nick: Well this is obviously bull shit, how can a man just disappear?

John: It is true, mate I'm no bullshitter

The boys continue talking we see the boys around the campfire from the perspective of somebody else, it seems very sinister.

John: Anyway as I was saying

It goes back into the story.

Josh: Shut up, I know I saw him there. Do you not thinks its weird that some creepy old guy is just following us about? You won't be taking the piss when he comes and kills us all will ya?

Pete: mate you just need to calm down a bit why don't we do something? Lets go and play some more footie

The boys walk to another field to play as they are walking the man is in the field watching them as they walk past none of the boys notice him though they go into the field and start to play football. Josh notices a figure standing up on an embankment the figure is stood staring at the boys.

Josh: look guys you can't say you can't see him now he's following us.

Nathan: it's probably just someone walking their dog your way too paranoid lets just have a nice game of footie.

They begin to play football again Josh looks over to the embankment and see that the man has now gone. He starts to believe that he is just seeing things

Josh: maybe you're right. This isn't the type of place that you see on the news because someone has been following a group and murdered them.

Pete: exactly mate, there's nothing to worry about, well only the fact that your losing and you now have to go and get the ball.

Josh proceeds to get the ball which has gone into the trees which leads to a different entrance. He is gone for a few minutes the boys start to get worried the boys go to have a look for him. They find the football but there is no sign of Josh but the football is there. One of the boys picks the football up.

Nathan: JOSH!! look mate we know we didn't believe you but you don't have to play stupid tricks on us it aint going to work so you might as well come out now.

Tom: yeah just come out so we can get on with the match, it aint even funny any more it's just annoying

The boys continue to look but can't find him anywhere

Pete: You don't think it could be true? That there was a man following us and now he has Josh?

Nathan: Nah like Josh said things like that don't happen round here does it?

Tom: But what about that story about the four boys that came camping and that man followed them and they were never seen again.

Nathan: That's just some stupid story people tell to scare people, look josh if you can hear us it's not funny any more and were going back to play footie join us once you get bored of doing this.

The boys start to walk back we see the black figure once again watching the boys.

Pete: What we gonna do if he doesn't come back? Just pretend like he was never here?

Nathan: you really think josh isn't going to come back he'll be out in a couple of minutes.

Tom: guys look at this quick can you see him?

The boys look across the field and the black figure is looking at them he is starting to walk over to them he is holding the josh's phone he rings one of the boys they soon realise its him and run

Pete: Josh wasn't even lieing, mate what we gonna do?

Out of breath the boys begin to run into a forest they all take different paths causing them to get separated. Although all three are separated they all continuously see the figure. They meet up by the lake that surrounds the forest where the figure is waiting for them.

ALL : HELP!!!!

We see the figure in full he is dressed as a clown does a clown laughIt returns to the first story

John: And they were never seen again

Nick: I don't believe a word of that mate

Mat: HAHAHA yeah as if something like that happens in a place like this

The camera pans up to the bench further away in the field where a figure is sitting zooms in it is the same man dressed as a clown does the same clown laugh

THE END