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This week was our final post production week. It gave us time to complete and finalize our short films.

Overall I am pleased with how this project went, it was my first time being fully involved in the entire creative process of filmmaking, it gave an insight to how the industry works and how much work goes into the making of cinema. Throughout the project I have learnt how important time management is within filmmaking and how to improve my own time management skills.

This project has definitely taught me how to effectively identify well made suspense scenes and even create my own. It as also helped me realise that you do not need the most expensive of equipment and production team to create your own film.

Although we ran into issues while producing our project, I am very happy with the outcome, as a whole I think we did quite well to overcome issues and find ways around inconveniences that occurred. With this being our first ever time producing a film, I was expecting to run into issues in all aspects. When we showed others our production after finalizing the edits, we had mainly positive feedback and any constructive criticism was helpful as we can apply it to our work in future projects.

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Here is my final production, shot, cut, edited and finished.

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This research log includes our inspiration and information we gathered to help create our productions story.

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Here is a file containing all sound effects and music used in my final finished production

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This week we imported our footage to Adobe Premier Pro and began the editing part of our projects. This has been my favorite part of the project because it opened so many doors when it came to our creativity and opportunities with different music, sfx etc. We ended up with three different variations of our project because we worked in a group of three. We had a brief lesson on how to edit and the different tools Premier Pro offers then were left to complete the edits alone. I have had a little experience with this editing software previous to this project so I felt I was comfortable and picked it up quite well.

I didn't encounter many issues while editing, although finding appropriate sound effects online was a fair challenge while also fun, I eventually decided on them.

Most of the editing part of my project went well, I enjoyed cutting and editing the video and audio, experimenting with different types of sound effects on different shots was fun.

The editing process taught me that there are an infinite ways editing clips to create different atmospheres and moods in films. It also taught me the importance of experimenting and trying out new editing styles. You may discover something you may not have tried before or discover a new tool you haven't used or taken full advantage of.

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After importing my footage to the editing software that we are using, I made a rough cut of how I would like the production to look.

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Storyboard 1

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We finished up our planning, treatment, storyboard and shot list and made sure we had everything we needed for filming days. This week was mainly used for filming our actual production, it took two nights to film. We followed our storyboard and shot list correctly to ensure that our focus was on the quality of our shots, making sure ever frame was carried out well and looked how we wanted it.
We ran into an issue when it came into filming in the dark, the cameras we were using are particularly difficult to film with in dark settings, we worked around this by using ambient light in shots where the dark was too overpowering.
I feel that our planning and pre production was done well and we were prepared for filming day.
Overall I am pleased with how our filming went and we didn't have to compromise much when it came to the production side of things, and I am looking forward to beginning the editing process that will start next week.

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Act 1 - Introduction  | After Jay finishes work on a wet, cold, but quiet evening, he’s reminded by a text that he will be home alone for the night, which doesn’t worry him whatsoever as this isn't the first time.

Act 2 - Foreshadowing  | Reading the text from his mother, he shrugs off the message as the same old same old, despite her warning to lock the doors.

Act 3 - Pacing and Tension  | Medium shots show Jay getting ready to go to sleep, but he's disturbed when hearing noises from downstairs. At first, he ignores it, and assumes it must be the water in the pipes, and on top of that, the noises are muffled by the sound of his toothbrush buzzing. Hearing it again, it hits him that pipes don’t creak like floorboards do.

Act 4 - Building Suspense  | With the power of his phone flashlight until he reaches the main light switch downstairs, he wearily walks down the stairs, watching his every step. Whipping his head around every corner, he sees nothing.

Act 5 - Confrontation  | Stepping away from the sink, he turns around to see a shadowed figure shift across the hallway. After catching his breath, he grabs a kitchen knife and begins to pursue the figure. While feeling dazed and confused, he still can't seem to see anyone else. He convinces himself that he's tired and just seeing things as nothing ever looked completely clear.

Act 6 - Unexpected Twist  | Now settling into bed, in denial of reality, and shaken up, Jayden gets up one more time and turns on his bedroom light, the intruder will now be revealed under Jays bed.

Act 7 - Resolution  | The screen will appear black, leaving the audience to decide and imagine what will happen to Jay.

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Location Scouting

We decided on using the house of one of our group members

Casting

We needed two cast members for our production, a member of our group was used for one character and a friend outside of college was the other cast member.

Props & make up, costumes

We used a toothbrush, a laptop, a kitchen knife and a mobile phone in our project.

Cinematography and Visual Style

We used a varied amount of shot types (POV, close up, panning shot etc.)

Sound Design & Music

The sound and music was mainly added in editing.

The Effectiveness of my Research

Location scouting for our production became an issue once we were denied access to our chosen filming spot days before we planned to start filming. We tried a few other spots that weren't quite right and finalized our chosen filming location as one of our group members house. Location scouting is important for all projects in order to ensure your shot list and storyboard ideas are actually achievable. If I were to look for a location for a project again I would ensure to secure a few places to make sure we have other options where we can film, its important to have multiple locations at your disposal when filmmaking.

When casting for our production I am happy that we used a group member, it ensure that we wouldn't have any dropouts or delays on filming days, so we could get straight to filming.

Our research for props, make and costume could have been better, although I am happy with how our choices turned out, I didn't want to overload the project in any way, if I were to redo this project, we could have improved our research and maybe found a way to add some unique features to our film through props.

When it came to cinematography and Visual style, watching professional suspense films was a brilliant way of expanding our knowledge on suspense. The movie Get Out was a big help, it sparked ideas for shots we would later use in our own production. Our research could have been more extensive, in some of the shots we unfortunately forgot to account for continuity, resulting in slight confusion for the viewer if they looked hard enough. Although not a major issue and our film still flowed quite well, we could have improved the shots. I learnt from this that once you have your shots in your editing software, that is all you have to work with so it is important that you get every shot you need just in case issues like these arise and you need to tweak anything.

Our research for sound design and music was done well, mostly consisting of watching horror and suspense films to see how they are used professionally. I am very pleased with how I incorporated music and sound effects into the final exported edit of the short film.

Creating our own short 25 second suspense film was also a good way of researching, it gave an insight as to how suspense can be achieved even in small time frames and sparked ideas for shots we could use in our actual production.

I really enjoyed watching other suspense scenes from successful filmmakers as it was a good way of sparking my own ideas, camera angles, shot types, audio effects and music etc. all aspects of professional films helped a lot.

Overall, I have come to learn the importance of research when it comes to filmmaking. My primary research was more useful because it helped narrow down what my idea for my production would end up being, although my secondary research was still a contributor as every part of research helped expand my knowledge and ability when it came to suspense productions. I definitely will improve my research in many ways in future and I would if I were to do this project again, using different types of research may help improve my projects. I have also learned that the main creative process of filmmaking is the research and planning, its that aspect off filmmaking that gives you the most room for freedom and change.

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Explain three things I have learnt

There are many types of lighting, mainly artificial and natural. Artificial coming from lights indoors, lighting rigs, anything made by man. Natural being illumination from sunlight, moonlight and fire. There is also ambient light, these can come from a light up "open" sign of a bar, a cars headlight or a lamppost.

The term "gaffer" refers to someone who is head of the lighting team on a film production crew. He or she help the director of photography achieve the desired lighting for each shot.

Sound and lighting must be consistent throughout all shots within film making, without consistency the production can easily look choppy and unpleasing to the audience.

The use of placing when it comes to lighting is important as it can be effectively used, for example using lighting to foreshadow something or put lighting on someone's face to emphasise emotion within a scene.

What sparked my creativity

I like the idea of using ambient lighting, I think its a great way of adding to the atmosphere of a scene with ease. I also like the idea of using lighting to put emphasis on a certain aspect of a scene for example the emotion in someone's face.

What I would like to use

I definitely like the idea of showing importance and focus on something through lighting. I think lighting can make an extremely big difference to a scene and playing around with it on set could be an interesting part of film making and each change to the lighting of a shot can really portray different feelings/atmospheres.

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This week we attended a careers event in which we learnt more about the creative industry. We also started working on our pre production which includes research and planning for our locations, actors, props, make up etc. This will all tie into next week which is the beginning of our actual production time.

In our practical session we were taught how to make accurate storyboards, you don't need to be able to draw like an artist and only need simple drawings to achieve effective and usable storyboards. We also did a 6 shot suspense scene with the cameras to build upon our knowledge and skills when it comes to our camera usage.

This week has taught me more about why pre production and planning in general is essential in film making. When you have a plan, written story, story board etc. the actual time you spend filming can be used to effectively achieve the shots you want.

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Here is a mood board we created to help inspire our real production, ideas and settings we found suitable and useful for our research, all of these images portray loneliness and/or suspense in some way or another.

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This week we worked on in detailed analysis of scenes from Jordan Peele's GET OUT, adding on our knowledge of suspense themes.

We also started the treatment and proposal tasks for our production, these will help in the near future when it comes to effectively planning and producing my short film.

In our practical session this week we learnt how to efficiently use the 180 degree rule and how to frame over the shoulder shots properly even when running into issues like a taller and short characters interacting. We also briefly touched upon how lighting rigs are used and the different terminology used within the lighting department of a film production.

I enjoyed working with the lighting because I think its is one of the aspects of film making that instantly adds to the professionalism and overall finished look of a production.

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Explain three things I have learnt

Using various shots and different framing techniques can result in portraying emotion and social hierarchies within the story of a film.

Uses different lenses and focusing on different aspects of a shot, along with lighting can help emphasise distance in a way that creates a unique effect, for example showing the disconnect between two characters.

Controlled and steady shots mixed with handheld more shaky shots can help immerse the audience in the emotions of as character, for example if a character is shouting and panicking, a handheld shot may working better than a steady and controlled shot as that would be more suitable in a calm speech.

Techniques I would like to use

In my own production I would definitely like to use a mix of steady and handheld shots, I personally think it is one of the best ways to truly immerse your audience and really put them in the shoes of the character. Although difficult to achieve, a POV shot would also fit well into my own suspense project.

What I watched

I recently rewatched a Netflix film called Extraction (2020) directed by Sam Hargrave. The film is of the action and thriller genre and I loved the varied use of techniques in all aspects of the film. A large amount of the film was shot in a handheld style, especially during action scenes. As I have mentioned previously I am a big fan of using handheld camera shots to portray stress and action packed moments. This film executes it very well without making the shots look tacky or unfinished. Although it had a little amount of suspense scenes in it, I think there are many things I can take inspiration from and add to my own projects moving forward.

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For this task we were split into groups (Mine being myself, Jayden and Silus) and asked to film a suspense scene with our mobile phones, with a time limit of 25 seconds, and 5 seconds per shot.

I am happy with the final product and I think throughout the whole activity we were using various techniques we have learnt recently and applying them to our own work. As this is my first ever production I am pretty satisfied with the outcome.

Our biggest challenge when assigned this task was planning and finding filming location, we had to find an empty corridor that we could occupy for quite a while. We researched how to effectively use various types of different shots in such a small time frame.

If I were to recreate something like this again, I would ensure my camera work was steadier as freehand filming is often hard to keep still, resulting in a less proffesional looking shot. I would've added some more suspense aspects to the shots, I feel like our sound effects and visual effects had to make up for lack of suspense in the actual shot.

I think our use of editing and effects really boosted the overall quality of our production without seeming too overedited and busy.

Overall, the activity gave me more of an idea on how to effectively use time within productions, filming such a short production can often cause issues when it comes to making sure your story is told and everything is included within the short shots.

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Explain three things I have learnt

Establishing shots help show the audience the whole scene and explain what is going on

The 180-degree rule involves shooting all your shots on an imaginary line, especially when filming a conversation, if you cross the line, it could not fit and make the character look as though they are changing direction

Diegetic sound must be continuous from shot to shot or the editing will seem unfinished and obvious

What sparked my interest

Using non diegetic sound seems perfect for suspense sequences and settings where the raw footage of a film may not set the atmosphere for the film.

I have always liked the idea of being behind the camera, the film and tv industry is one that I believe anyone can be entertained by no matter who you are or what you enjoy there is something out there that you will enjoy and that is one of things that inspired me to pursue a career in it. The idea of something that I created with my own thoughts and ideas entertaining people is what drives me to succeed in the industry. I think that with enough practice and dedication, anyone can use their own mind to create a story or a world of their own.

Techniques I would like to use

I would like to use silence in my own production, I think that dead silence is one of the best ways to create suspense and mystery in a scene, and it's also one of the easiest to achieve, need almost nothing to carry out.

Although hard to pull off, I would like to use a POV shot in one of my productions because I think it is one of the best ways to put the audience in the shoes of the character and really show the experience that they are going through, whether that be exciting, daring, scary or peaceful.

I would also like to ensure that I use a range of techniques when it comes to my camera angles and movement when filming otherwise my production may look unfinished or lazy

What I watched

I recently watch an American horror/thriller film called I See You, directed by Adam Randall and sourced from a screenplay by Devon Graye. The film is about a family that experience two phroggers (when someone secretly lives in another person's home without their knowledge.) living inside of their home. As phroggers, teenagers Mindy and Alec infiltrate the suburban home of police detective Greg Harper, his counsellor wife Jackie, and their teenage son Connor. Although Mindy insists on drawing no attention to themselves while hiding inside the house, Alec begins mentally messing with the Harpers by removing photographs from their frames, turning on televisions, and urinating on Greg while he sleeps. He also hides Jackie's favourite mug which has sunflowers painted on it. The family vaguely wonders if there may be a paranormal presence haunting their home.

I enjoyed watching the film because I am a big horror/thriller fan, the plotline and overall atmosphere within the film ties in perfectly with my suspense short film production. The use of music along with silence was commonly used which is something I will definitely be applying to my own work. The film taught me that suspense and horror can be created in pretty much any situation, light or dark, day or night.

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This week we indulged in a lot of the practical side of filmmaking, we made multiple short films, one of which is included in my "First Production Activity  - 20/09/2023". On top of that we analysed some more suspense scenes form multiple movies aswell as watching the entirety of Jordan Peele's Get Out.

This week has taught me how to effectively manage time when filming in shorts amount of time, and has reinforced my confidence when it comes to composition and framing, and overall how to effectively utilize the whole frame when shooting different shots and gave me a slight insight as to how to edit and cut my own productions up post filming.

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(0:23-4:05)
From this point in the scene a gun is shot, killing a main character, the noise of the shot cuts off all music and brings an ambient static noise over the scene.
An over the shoulder shot establishes the killing followed by the whimpering and crying of the boy who shot the gun.

Another gunshot is fired, killing the first killer, the gunshot breaks the ambient noise and stands out as it is the only sound.

A faint whisper is let out by the second character who is shot, we then see an establishing shot of where these events are taking place, and a flashback scene that link back to these events, the music changes and creates a suspenseful feel to the scene.

We then see a tracking shot of a character walking towards the two dead victims along with the music getting louder and more intense, we see the same for another character

After another flashback scene, the camera cuts to a shot directly above the face of one of the dead victims, the music continues to get more intense, and another constant ambience is added over the top.

A still shot of the victim's face is shown, the body is loaded into an ambulance and the music comes to a close.

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Stephen King/Zak Hilditch's 1922 (2017) - Dead Wife Returns scene 

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Stephen King/Zak Hilditch's 1922 (2017) - Dead Wife Returns scene 

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The whole film heavily relies on and uses the theme of guilt, greed, fear and insanity to create suspense.

The swinging of the door and constant ambient sound of the snowy weather creates an atmosphere straight off the start of the scene.

Following this, the scene has been edited to show glimpses and visions of the characters wife that he murdered, it cutes between his face and expressions and shots of the visions of his wife returning.

The movement of the character being shaky and apprehensive also creates suspense and shows that the character is not sure how to approach the situation, it gives the whole seen an atmosphere.

The lighting in this scene is used effectively, often use to show silhouettes of characters in windows and doorways, the inside of the house has no actual light source.

We then see the use of animals in this scene, a group of rats scurrying across stairs creating more discomforting noise and suspense.

The movement of the dead wife being calm and controlled while also slowly approaching Wilfred helps show that he is not in control of the situation.

We get the feeling that Wilfred is trapped when the wife corners him and causes him to fall down stairs into the basement, expressing more confusion from Wilfred, he is truly trapped in guilt and in a situation he created himself, there is no escape.

The camera work throughout the whole scene is used effectively, mostly using medium close ups and close ups most likely used to convey the emotion within the characters while also not giving too much away to the audience, the focus and positioning in each shot is executed well, especially at the end we see multiple close ups of Wilfred's crying eyes when he is on the floor, moments before the camera switches to a close up of the wife biting, in which the focus is on Wilfred's face. The shot of the wife coming down the stairs and swapping to a downward angle of Wilfred on the basement floor is also great because it reinforces the idea that she is in control and Wilfred is completely powerless to the fake reality that he has created himself, while also creating a suspenseful atmosphere as the audience do not know what to expect.

At the end of the scene, a deep breathing sound overtakes the main audio, almost bringing the whole scene to its final climax before we see a shot of the wife biting Wilfred and the scene cuts to black.

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The scariest scene from Zak Hilditch's horror-thriller "1922".

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This week we took a look at and analysed multiple suspense scenes from many movies (ET, Silence of The Lambs, Misery and Candyman) We learnt new media language and terminology and explored how different techniques can help bring out suspense in films. We then decided on our own three scenes to study and analyse, which can be seen in the "Suspense Analysis" section of my Padlet.

This week gave me more of a insight as to how to consistently spot well utilised camera shots and well made suspense productions.

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The entire scene is filmed with quite tight framing which builds up suspense in its own right by only giving the audience a little amount of information.

Along with this the lighting fits perfectly, the scene is filmed at the dead of night with only lights from streetlamps and nearby houses coming through the background of the scene. It only allowed the viewer to see certain aspects of the scene, causing the build up of more suspense and provoking questions to arise in the audiences mind.

Although not commonly used for suspense scenes, the confused and muffled dialogue coming from Andre in this scene adds to the suspense and mystery of the whole scene.

The introduction of the music "Run Rabbit Run" coming from the car that pulls up is a brilliant addition to the suspense, the lyrics even reflect the scene, Andre is going to be kidnapped and he should run but he knows nothing of it and is completely clueless. This audio also increases in volume throughout the scene as the kidnapper gets closer to achieving their goal.

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Get Out Andre Abduction First Scene (2018)