First draft feedback

Teachers feedback:

After presenting our short film to our teacher, we received a large amount of helpful feedback which will guide us when trying to achieve a level 4 for this project. From looking at previous exam reports, I found out that a popular issue many people face when carrying out this task was that their short film can come across more like a trailer to the audience. This is an easy mistake to make and can be difficult to avoid due to our short film containing a cliff hanger as the ending which trailers always include. Therefore, we decided we must add some additional shots at the very end which will solve the cliffhanger and eliminate any confusion amongst the audience.

Feedback that we also received involved the sound throughout the film. Clear sounds used when appropriately are a vital element of film-making. Therefore, from reading exam reports from past years, I acknowledged that films with unprofessional and muffled sound can not received a level higher than 2. To gain a level 4, we have decided to include more Foley effects to create a more intense atmosphere. A further benefit for adding these effects is to also give the audience a sense of realism and escapism as the film seems realistic, greatly capturing their attention.

First draft

Horror Film Posters

Famous horror film posters

In this Sinister poster, you can identify a bold clear title to ensure that the film stands out to the audience. This title is in black which is a popular use of colour when it comes to horrors due to them being dark and mysterious. This colour connotes death which is a popular theme in all horror films. The title is also in a bold, clear and quite a scary font due the shadows or streaks coming from the bottom of the letters.                                                                            A key convention of a horror is used which is the blood running down the wall. This is what captures the audiences eye first as it is in the enter of the poster and is dark red causing it to stand out. Furthermore, as you continue to look at the blood on the wall, you soon discover that within the blood, there is an outline of a scary face. This is a very simple poster for a horror film due to the small amount of colours used, a plain wall, one person and blood which catches the eye of audiences more that a detailed and complicated poster would.

For this film poster, it is different from Sinister in the way that the poster is just of a scary face. The title is in a bold, white font which is a typical colour to use when placed on a dark background. The image on this poster is a scary face which seems to be made up of lots of small pictures which adds to the un-natural theme of horrors. This poster is more complex than the poster above but still has minimal colours.






This poster is simple with minimal colours being black, white and grey. The main image used is a chair with an unknown character sitting on it, facing away. This adds mystery and foreshadows what the film will hold. The title stands out brightly from anything else on the poster which is one of the main aims I hope for in my own poster.

Short horror film posters

- Large title which stands out
- Colour red, black and white is all used
- Clear title
- Titles in a bold font
- Black background
- Credits
- Face not shown

How short film posters differ from others:

- They seem to have less credits that famous horror films due to the famous films being full length and therefore having more actors
- They do not have a release date due to not being released in cinemas.
- They look less professional such as the creepy crawly poster
           

Titles and credits in short films

The time taken to display a short film titles and credits is hugely shorter than in a long film due to having less actors and people taking part in the production. I then analysed some short horror films and focused on their titles and credits.

Example One: I heard it too

Title - The title is shown at the end of the short film and does not show any institution logos which a normal, full length film would.
Credits - The credits are displayed before the short film starts and take up roughly 5 seconds of the overall running time. This is a very noticeable difference due to full length film credits being shown at the very end of the film and could also last up to approximately 10 minutes.

Example Two: Moonlight Man

Title - The title is shown at the very beginning and again, does not have the presence of any institution logos.
Credits - The credits also last a very short time in comparison to a full length film.

Example Three: Under the stairs

Title & credits - Both are displayed at the end of the short film.

Summary:

Overall I have found that the titles and credits can be placed either at the end or the start of any short film and the examples above have proved this theory. The titles are simple and are not presented on the screen for long. The credits take up less time of around 10 seconds to show everyone who is involved in the film. This is a huge difference from full length films but is purely due to short films not needing many actors or extras and also being a lot more simple to film so needs less help in that department. From this research, I plan to place my title at the beginning of the film to catch the audiences attention, and then place the credits at the end, lasting up to around 10 seconds only.

Update: Casting of Grimm

Unfortunately Jonathan Oslar has unexpectedly become unavailable for the part and we need to immediately find a replacement. The only way to overcome this issue and sudden panic was for my partner to play the role of Grimm himself.

Dominic Lewis

Fortunately he is 6 foot tall which is perfect and shows intimidation. A huge benefit to casting him is that he will always be available. I will film all of the shots where he is playing Grimm.

Filming equipment list

Filming day schedule

Organising Filming and Re-filming

This picture is how me and my partner have communicated when organising when to film. This made organising actors and directors very easily and efficiently. It was a successful method.

Panic Attack Short Film - Two Step Flow Theory

Panic Attack is a short science fiction film which is directed by independent filmmaker, Fede Alvarez, in 2009. In this film, giant robots appear and try to destroy a large city called Montevideo. This film contains a lot of weapons and shooting at the buildings. It soon becomes a huge war between the robots and military. The ending of this film is the robots coming together, forming a sphere and engulfing the city in a fireball. This is the cliffhanger the audience is left with.

This short film applies to the two-step flow theory. The two step flow theory is the communication of ideas that flow from the media to opinion leaders, and then to a large part of the population.
In this case, the opinion leader for this short film was a famous music artist, Kanye West. This brought larger exposure and attention towards this short film.


From looking at this example, it shows explanation as to why independent filmmakers choose to distribute their film online. Therefore, I have chosen to distribute my film online to introduce a slight possibility of being apart of the two-step flow theory.

New Location Recce

Due to narrative changes, we have decided to change the house we were originally filming in for one that is off a big size and has a large drive way. This was offered by my partners family members and has benefited our film massively.
All of the pictures below are rooms we plan to film all of our shots in. They should hopefully cause the audience to feel discomfort due to the amount of windows there are.