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Wednesday was spent working on something other than our final production/project for this term. Tutor Mentor Lorraine Love ensured us that our deadline for any Unit 11 paperwork for Term 1 of Year 2 was due in by the end of Wednesday the 22nd November. Due to this, I spent my entire day completing two individual SWOT analysis worksheets about my strengths, weaknesses, short term goals and long term goals. I then had to create a mind-map presenting all of these before recording a podcast of me talking about these topics for a minimum time of four minutes. This may have indeed needing doing, however it took an entire day that I could've spent editing the final project that was due on Friday. So, you can imagine my frustration when I found out the next day that the Unit 11 paperwork wasn't due on the 22nd but was due on the 4th December.

Thursday, I managed to begin editing the project due the following day. However more frustration and stress came with it after finding out that on their filming day the previous Friday when I wasn't present due to lack of transport. That my group had seen it fit to submit grainy/dark or hardly focused footage for me to edit with the simple attitude of 'It can be fixed in post'. For some reason it feels as though certain members of my group think I am a miracle worker in post and can make horrible footage look 1080p HD 60fps with a click of my fingers. Sadly, this is not the case and now I have had to spend hours of extra time in post adding Warp-Stabilizer after Warp Stabilizer and even motion tracking my colour correction on a duplicate layer where I have had to use the pen tool to create a mask around certain areas of the shot just to make them visible or clearer for the viewer.

Friday, this is obviously the deadline for the final edit to be submitted for this unit. I planned to have a stress free day with my headphones in and just crack on and finish the edit for my own and my groups sake. Sadly, this did not go to plan as after multiple discussions with my team I decided that with the footage they had given me, it was not possible for me to create the original idea to a decent standard and expressed that it would not make sense and would be of poor quality. Therefore I changed the storyline myself to something that made a bit of sense using what had been given to me and have now created a semi-decent standard horror/thriller to be submitted. This was on the second attempt of editing this day however, as half way through my day the Mac I was working on froze and I lost my entire almost finished edit. Due to this I was the last student to leave college (I left at 4:54pm) after my entire group had gone home at various points in the day with the earliest being around lunchtime leaving me to edit OUR project by myself.

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I have spent Wednesday working from home due to the fact that I required access to Sony Vegas and Magic Bullet Looks as well as my original Vegas file for the dream sequence due to the fact that I have to re do my render settings and render the project out in higher quality and put it onto a USB or External hardrive to avoid compression by online sites such as dropbox and YouTube in an attempt to fix the video quality issues we are facing. Along with this I have caught up on my dairy logs to the current date required as asked by mentors Lorraine and Leila.

I spent Thursday beginning to work on the final worksheet needed to pass my Task 1 for initial research. I spent the entire day working on this paperwork in order to complete it to the highest possible standard that I felt I was capable of in the time given. However, I did not complete the worksheet before needing to leave college. Due to this I will make sure that I complete the outstanding piece of paperwork before the project deadline on the 4th December.

Friday was filming day for my group however I had no mode of transport to get to the location across town therefore I worked from home making plans for the overall edit for the week coming and reviewing and organising all footage we had done already whilst keeping up to date with my production team via our facebook group chat and group padlet wall where they updated me with their progress in getting the last few shots our director and producer thought we needed. This was not ideal for me personally, however I had no choice in this matter due to my lack of transport available to me on that day.

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This week began with our second attempt of filming with the DJI Ronin. So we as a team met at my house again and George set up the Ronin. Much to our disappointment and frustration the Ronin did not work again due to unexplainable reasons. It was on, however according to George the motors used for auto-stabilisation and turning were not working so he dismantled it and put it away. In order to get something out of the shooting day we attempted to film the next part of the production which we would've liked to do using the Ronin however we decided to try and do it without the Ronin as it was not working.

I then spent my Thursday and Friday going through the footage we got that day and deleting the ones we do not need before using Premiere Pro at college to piece together the clips in the order we wanted. I then created a fast cut flashing transition from scratch using key frames on the opacity to give it a horror and glitch/dream feeling. I then used the Premiere Pro built in Plug-Ins such as Lumetri Colour to colour correct the scene to give it more of a horror movie feel. Elliott is yet to create audio for this scene and is yet to decide whether we will use it in the final product as the idea now may be changing to our contingency plan due to lack of time and poor planning.

This contingency plan involves scrapping the idea of the POV shot where the person wakes up and just extending our dream sequence to the full time of the movie as when planning my group mistook the shooting dates and have now announced we have less time than we originally thought. This is not a definite change in plan, that is yet to be decided by Elliott and Luke.

Mirror Shot Edit:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/xm10p090bb2mwoq/Mirror%20Thingy.mp4?dl=0

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This week was our first day of filming. The team met at my house (Location Recce and agreements had been completed prior to this and can be found on the team padlet wall) to begin filming. However, it took us around an hour to set up the Ronin which we had booked out from the college and picked up in the morning only to find out it had not been charged prior to our booking, despite our annoyance we continued filming and captured some good shots that we may or may not use in the final product however they are there in case we do need them thanks to the help of outside actor Izzy Lacey.

On the Thursday I was granted the ability to work from home by my producer and the rest of my team in order for me to begin editing the footage we captured the day before. I did this from home due to the college not having the software I wanted to edit it with (Sony Vegas Pro 13.0 and Red Giant Magic Bullet Looks Plug-In) which I had access to at home so decided to do some colour correction and clean up work on the shots from there. After working on them for a while we as a team decided the shots were too grainy due to the lack of light in the area we filmed in and we re-booked a filming date for the Wednesday of the next week and re-booked the Ronin out for that date.

On the Friday my group met up at a forest location that was local at the back end of Harlow near Staple Tye. I was not in attendance however I was taking the footage from the team as it was uploaded and beginning to edit the footage with the same programs I used before. With the help of Elliott Johnson editing the base visuals I could colour correct the footage and create my own multiple track audio that synced with the fast cuts Elliott had placed in. Therefore creating the dream sequence for our final product.

Dream Sequence (Listen with audio for full effect) :
https://www.dropbox.com/s/eav3nlrk0773x81/Dream%20Sequence.mp4?dl=0

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This week was the first we had in our production teams picked by the mentors. I myself am happy my production team and feel as though if we work together we can produce a high quality product for this unit.

I spent a majority of this week doing graphic work for the team. I created the social media account headers and profile pictures from scratch using Photoshop and created the overall team logo. All of this can be found on our team padlet wall which is linked in my showbie and also will be linked at the bottom of this entry along with photo evidence of the logos. To create the official Mortality Productions logo I actually took a plain white background, sized it to the dimensions I required, added a slight light grey gradient and changed its blending mode to soft light. I then researched fonts and downloaded my chosen one from dafont.com before downloading an image of the death character from Family Guy and using the pen tool to create an outline then filling it in black using the fill tool. After resizing this to the size I wanted the logo you see at the bottom of this entry was formed.

I also created my poster concept for the horror movie using photoshop. I took an image of a small child on a black background and an image of a demonic child. I overlapped the layers with the demonic child on top, lowered the opacity and changed the blending mode. I then went through using the eraser and zoom tools to erase the facial features I no longer required. Then I researched and found the font I wanted to use. I downloaded it through Dafont.com and implemented the production title and movie style credits therefore forming the poster attached to this wall. I also completed a font research mood board which can be found on our team padlet wall.

Team Padlet Wall:
https://padlet.com/elliottjohnson1/gp0t3re5nar

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This week I summarised research into multiple different areas of the horror genre and movie production and research itself. This being Location, Audio/Music, Costume/Props and Prosthetics/Make-up. I summarised the research into these different aspects of movie production into one document so that it is easier for me to find if I need to make any edits in the future, it also creates a clean presentation of research because it is all nicely organised into one document.

For each different aspect I researched and described what I needed and planned to use for each one in my concept idea. For Location I described the two locations I would need to create my horror and provided research into whether there were any locally that I could use. For audio I mainly talked about the song that my idea relied and was based upon ('It's All Over but the Crying'). In terms of costume and props there was only really one costume needed that being the classic blue medical/surgeon scrubs seen on TV. For props I needed the basic props to create my setting along with a classic straight flip razor which was my killers weapon of choice. Prosthetics were mainly going to be used to present injuries from the torture however using the research I conducted I would ensure that I kept it within the official British Board of Film Classification guidelines for my target audience (15+) to ensure I do not accidently make it an 18+ by featuring to much gore or dwelling on certain injuries in high and graphic detail.

Today, I pitched my concept idea to the mentors and the class. This video of my pitch can be found on showbie. I have never really had much confidence when it comes to speaking to a crowd about something I have created therefore I get nervous when pitching and want to get away from the front. This I felt may have ruined my chances of getting my idea picked as I felt in hindsight that I let my nerves get the better of me and rushed my pitch. However, I am happy with the idea I have been placed with and the group I am working with and feel like we can work together to create a high quality and professional looking horror movie that we can all use for our portfolios in the future. I am of course happy with my role as editor as this is my speciality and I plan to use that to help my group to create the best final product we can.

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For this week we researched Foley and what goes into recording Foley for products of the horror genre. On my showbie, you can find all of the foley recordings I made in my group for our chosen horror scene which we were tasked with recreating the audio for from scratch using only the things around us in the college. A majority of our recordings came from the old media studio in the other block which includes hollow walls, creaky doors and squeaky floorboards. This allowed us to manipulate these recorded sounds into the sounds we needed for our scene. I Also completed researched into a chosen scene from a horror movie where I felt audio had a strong effect. This scene was the death of the father from recent horror blockbuster 'Anabelle II' where upbeat old fashioned music is used to create an eyrie feeling of unwell.

I Also completed my official PowerPoint for my pitch of my horror movie concept titled 'Welcome'. In this I go through all of the questions asked by the mentors and describe my concept idea and how I plan to create it. This PowerPoint can be found on showbie under Initial Research. Along with this I also completed my Products mind map required for task 1 of this unit. I created this using padlet and I feel I provide sufficient evidence to my research into current products and those of the past to provide further depth into my knowledge of the horror movie genre.

Along with this I also used padlet again to present my research into semiotics in the horror genre through a mind map. This mind map can be found on my showbie and I feel that gaining an understanding into semiotics is vital when it comes to creating an effective horror as it will allow you to convey your intended message with your target audience much easier than those who do not know how to use and implement semiotics into their work. Throughout task 1 I have completed a lot of research into semiotics be that picking them out of a already made production or researching their definitions and examples to gain an understanding. All of which can be found on my Showbie.

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I spent this week catching up with the work I needed to do for Task 1 Initial Research. This included my Film Review of IT 2017 which we saw as part of our research into the horror genre in an attempt to boost our knowledge for when we create our own horror movie later this term. In my review I provide my personal opinion on the overall film as well as discussing the individual semiotics I noticed throughout and the effect that the film had on me.

Along with my IT movie review I also researched, developed and created my own individual concept idea for my horror movie which I plan to pitch to the mentors and the rest of the class. My original concept was based around the song 'It's All Over but the Crying'. I planned to use this song to my advantage by manipulating the upbeat vibe it creates and twisting it to create a creepier feeling. My concept involved a person awakening in a derelict, run-down building/hallway hearing the song faintly in the background down the hall. They slowly approach the doors, lights flickering, building crumbling. They open the door and see a person tied up being tortured by a person in classic blue hospital scrubs and a surgical mask, he puts his hand out as if to say stop and the music scratches to a halt, he then beckons our POV character towards him, in a creepy voice he beckons 'Welcome' and then spins his straight razor round so the handle is facing our character. As the camera snakes back over the shoulder of our character and out of the room we see him take the razor and continue the torture and the doors slam shut and it goes to black.

On the Friday, I conducted my research into the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) to try and understand the restrictions and age limits for horror films and films in general so that I know what is and is not allowed for the target audience we are aiming for (15+). I also researched into different horror film festivals that I could maybe enter our end of term horror product into. All of the research I conducted and wrote up can be found on showbie under 'T1/Yr2.1/U9, 10/2017-18'

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Beginning of the week for me was only a half day due to me taking my Car Driver Theory Test in the morning which was booked before the change in timetable. To my understanding, the rest of the class were shown in depth research of how horror movie productions use prosthetic makeup and effects to create inhumane effects for their movies. When I got in, I took part in using liquid latex and a selection of paints to layer up and build a prosthetic cut on a peer (Shown in picture at the end) , this allowed us to get a first hand example of how makeup can be used in our final productions to make characters look ways not humanly possible.

On Thursday, we began our in depth research into music in the horror industry and how it came around and how it is used to have a specific effect on an audience. Music has been used to add to the effect the picture is trying to create for years. Classical and orchestra music has always been used throughout the horror genre since its origins as it allows sharp changes in volume, pitch and speed with ease making it simple to have the audience on edge. This research was lead by Leila Capocefalo and allowed us to understand how to use music to change an audiences feelings before giving us the chance to create our own horror movie music using garage band to get a feeling of how difficult it is.

On Friday, we had a sound workshop with dave, learning how foley and music is used in the industry. Showing specific examples of common sound effects used to change the feeling of the audience in horror films. We were shown a short film created by David himself titled 'Text' (my review can be found on www.showbie.com) in which sound effects were used well on a low budget to have the audience on edge. We then had to choose a scene from an industry production in our groups, delete the audio track and use foley from places around the college site recorded ourself to replace the foley used in the actual production.

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To begin the week, we had our welcome back section off the day bringing us back and introducing us back into regular college life after the summer holidays. We were introduced to the brief, to create a horror movie in production teams made up of our peers. Lorraine Love gave us a detailed overview of the terms brief and went through step by step with us to ensure that we understood everything we will later need to do in order to achieve a grade for this term.

On Thursday, we were shown a detailed insight into the different sub-genres of horror. Horror is a genre but inside of it are other sub categories that help divide and separate the millions of films created over the years. From Sub-genres such as gothic featuring classics like Frankensteins Monster and Dracula, to Slasher featuring the famous Texas Chainsaw Massacre all the way to your classic psychological horrors that really play with the audiences mind intelligently using their story to manipulate viewers. Films such as The Babadook fall into this sub-genre. We then had to put our knowledge to the test, completing our first piece of paperwork for this brief, where we researched and presented examples of each sub-genre individually and gave a description of the effect it has on the audience

On Friday, we were given the morning to finalise our paperwork from the day before to ensure it was done to the best of our ability and was as descriptive as we could make it. In the Afternoon, we had a Lighting workshop with David Jameson showing us the different types of lighting commonly used in the horror genre, with industry examples and showing us the effect it has on an audience before then allowing us to create the lighting settings ourselves to see how lighting can change a horror movie for an audience first person.