Today our film was finally completed! I have chosen to put this particular screenshot at the top here, as I think it is the most effective shot in our film, as it is very unnerving the way the hand reaches out, and her unexpected reaction.
I am first going to analyze whether or not our film fits into the genre of psychological horror. In terms of being set in a location that is typical of psychological horrors- yes our film works, as these events took place in the college. However, since the events in the film couldn't really happen to anyone, since it is about one girls bereavement, I'm not sure the audience will feel involved in the way they usually do with a psychological horror film. For example, in "The Blair Witch Project" it's set in a dark forest where a creature is hunting down the hikers; if a member of the audience had just watched this film and went into a forest in the dark, then they may feel unnerved as they could imagine that scenario happening to them in their head. However with our film, I don't think it's going to scare anyone as there weren't many "scary" parts to it. If we'd have had more time to do this project, then I think we should have worked harder on the scenes where the dead girl appears and then during editing we could have made her fade into the scene, or perhaps have made it into more of a jump scare to shock the audience and make them jump.
While I don't think our film will necessarily scare the audience, it still has an unsettling atmosphere which I think has been achieved due to our muted colour scheme and also with the way how our actor Jasmine used unsettling facial expressions to make it look as though she was with someone. I think that also this atmosphere comes from the use of ambient sound when the dead girl is in shot, as it creates tension. The makeup of the girls is also very dramatic and unnatural which helps to show that something is off about the characters.
A convention of psychological horrors is that the "killer" is very innocent and unsuspecting, and goes round causing pain and distress to others. In our film, our main character Mourning Girl was very innocent and odd, but she wasn't actually causing problems for other people, she was facing her problems herself. I think it is with our characters that our film moves more towards a drama, as in dramas the main character is sometimes going through some personal problems that other people aren't aware of. In our film, Mourning Girl is distraught over the death of her girlfriend, so creates an imaginary friend that no one else can see.
Our film does slightly fit into the horror genre, but it also fits into the drama genre, which isn't what we intended to do. If we could have done this film again, I think we should have been more conscious of the conventions of the genre we were aiming for so that our film would have had the conventions in it.
In the Brief, it was stated that the film we created must be 3 minutes long. I'm very pleased that our film managed to stick to this time limit. In total our film was 3 minutes and 24 seconds long, however the actual film is 3 minutes 2 seconds long, and the credits are 22 seconds long. Since our film fits in to the time frame that we had to stick to, you could say that our film was very successful.
Our film starts with a medium shot of Natalie sat in an office with her school counselor, followed by a close up. It's really unfortunate that our opening scene is so out of focus, as the opening scene to a film is very important as it sets the tone for the film. In this first scene we used a range of camera angles as we wanted to experiment. There are lots of closeups so that you can see our character's expressions- especially "Natalie's" as we wanted to relay to the audience how nervous and jittery she was whilst talking to her counselor- as though she was feeling guilty for something. We also tried out a panning shot which goes from the counselor to Natalie to show the distance between them to exaggerate how uncomfortable Natalie was feeling. We also used a shot that panned down from "Natalie's" face to her hands which she was toying with uncomfortably. I felt that this was a really effective shot, as it is a natural reaction when someone is stressed/nervous.
Another thing that we did for this first scene was prop placement, as before we went into the "office" it was very bare and didn't really look too much like an office. We borrowed a clipboard for the counselor so that they could look as though they were writing down everything that Natalie said. We also placed the sound recording equipment case on the table, as it looks sort of like a briefcase and therefore made our last minute actor look more official and older. Another "prop" that we used to help make our actor look older were our sound recordist Kira's glasses.
We did unfortunately have some audio problems with this scene: it was just too quiet, and a little muffled. Perhaps we should have put as much time into making the audio nice and clear, as we did into putting the footage together into a film.
Our next scene is introduced by a shot of Mourning Girl's feet, which I feel works quite well, as it creates an air of mystery as the audience will wonder who it is that they're going to see. For this particular shot, we wanted her to walk very slow and drag her feet as though she was putting off going somewhere. This shot is quite shaky and slightly out of focus, which is a shame, as it could have looked really good. I think that what should have been done, is the camera should have been on a tripod and then used the leaver on the tripod to move the camera in time with Mourning Girl's footsteps. This would have made it a lot smoother and more focused.
The next shot after this is from behind Mourning Girl so that it builds tension, as this kind of shot usually suggests that someone/something is behind the character. In our case, it was Natalie coming to tease Mourning Girl. I thought that the audio of Natalie's voice was effective during this shot, as the audience will wonder who's voice it is calling her.
We then changed to a medium close up of Mourning Girl on the stairs with Natalie behind her. The purpose of this shot was to have the two character's expressions in shot so that the audience could see how Mourning Girl's distress progressed. However, when we looked back at this scene we realized that Natalie's head had been cut off and we were worried that the scene wouldn't work- but, to our surprise it didn't really make much difference, as the main focus needed to be on how Mourning Girl reacted to Natalie's harsh words. I really liked the lighting in this shot, as it showed off Mourning Girl's drained and sickly looking face. I'm so pleased with how the makeup I did on her shows this so well, as I was initially worried that I had been too dramatic with it, but I needed to be a bit more dramatic with it so that it would show up on camera.
I'm not very sure about the next shot we did, where Mourning Girl moves further down the stairs, as you can only see her face and Natalie's body which I don't think works very well as you can't really tell what's going on. I think that instead of this shot we could have done with a shot that showed Natalie's expression to show how worked up and angry she was getting- or perhaps she could have clenched her fists and we could have had a close up of that. I also think that a long shot of the stairs would also have worked well here, as it would have clearly shown the stand off between the two characters.
The next shot of Mourning Girl running down the stairs is effective, as the audience gets to see just how much Natalie's words upset Mourning Girl. I think the way the camera follows her looks really nice. The only issue with this shot is that we did it the following day when we didn't have our actress for Natalie, and therefore she isn't in the background of this shot which is a bit of a continuity error. This shot is what gives the audience the first glimpse at Belle, I think that the scratchy ambient sound as she comes into shot is quite effective, as hopefully it will make the audience jump a little. I don't like the visual effect here, though as it is a bit too much, I think if it didn't have a filter on it, and it hadn't have been so fast so that the audience could have gotten a better look at Belle, then it would have been slightly more effective. However the shot is still effective, as it's unexpected.
My favourite scene comes after, where Mourning Girl is sobbing hysterically under the stairs. The first shot of her is a bit too dark and I think that the filter over the footage is a bit too severe as it makes her look a little too scary and menacing. I don't think that this shot should have been altered, as it looked nicer before. However for the next shot where Belle's hand rests on her shoulder, the filter seems to work better, as the light changes due to the new position of the camera. This accidental change in light happens at exactly the right point- when the hand comes into shot. It allows the audience to see Mourning Girl's shocked, yet content expression as the hand caresses her cheek. The reason why I like this scene so much is because I just think it looks so nice- when I say nice I mean it looks very dark and sinister. I also think that the audio here works well because it is the same ambient sound effect as before that is unsettling and suggestive of something unnatural, due to the sound being so unnatural.
The next scenes that follow are a sort of "montage" of clips where Mourning Girl appears to be alone and then we see a shot of how it appears to Mourning Girl. The same dark over dramatic filter is used for the shots where Belle is in the scene, for example, in the classroom where Belle is sat on the seat beside Mourning Girl. Although I don't like this filter, I understand why it was used, as it makes it more obvious that the scene is otherworldly. It makes this supernatural feeling clear to the audience to help exaggerate the fact that Belle is a ghostly apparition.
Although I haven't been the biggest fan of the filters used on our film, I do really like the one that was used for the last shot where Belle appears behind Mourning Girl and put's her arms round her. It's a sort of glowing effect that gives off a melancholy yet blissful atmosphere as the two characters seem so close. It works well this shot being so dark, as although the audience can't clearly see their expressions- it's as though their feelings for each other are still hidden by the dark that separates them.
To conclude my analysis of our film, I think that although our film hasn't entirely stuck to the conventions of it's genre it was still a success as it met the criteria on the brief. I'm actually really pleased with the film, as it was our first project- so obviously it isn't going to be as clean and polished as something we will create by the time we're on our last project. Although there are shaky and unfocused shots with some imperfect audio, our film still manages to clearly tell a story, and from the feedback that we received, it's good to know that the audience were able to easily follow the story line. When we were planning, we were having a hard time explaining our idea to our peers and tutors, and began to worry that our idea wouldn't come through clear in the final film. However to our great pleasure, it has, and all of that worrying was for nothing. I'm now really looking forward to all the other projects that we have, as this has helped to prove to us that even when things go wrong, such as actors dropping out last minute, we can still create a reasonably successful film.
I am first going to analyze whether or not our film fits into the genre of psychological horror. In terms of being set in a location that is typical of psychological horrors- yes our film works, as these events took place in the college. However, since the events in the film couldn't really happen to anyone, since it is about one girls bereavement, I'm not sure the audience will feel involved in the way they usually do with a psychological horror film. For example, in "The Blair Witch Project" it's set in a dark forest where a creature is hunting down the hikers; if a member of the audience had just watched this film and went into a forest in the dark, then they may feel unnerved as they could imagine that scenario happening to them in their head. However with our film, I don't think it's going to scare anyone as there weren't many "scary" parts to it. If we'd have had more time to do this project, then I think we should have worked harder on the scenes where the dead girl appears and then during editing we could have made her fade into the scene, or perhaps have made it into more of a jump scare to shock the audience and make them jump.
While I don't think our film will necessarily scare the audience, it still has an unsettling atmosphere which I think has been achieved due to our muted colour scheme and also with the way how our actor Jasmine used unsettling facial expressions to make it look as though she was with someone. I think that also this atmosphere comes from the use of ambient sound when the dead girl is in shot, as it creates tension. The makeup of the girls is also very dramatic and unnatural which helps to show that something is off about the characters.
A convention of psychological horrors is that the "killer" is very innocent and unsuspecting, and goes round causing pain and distress to others. In our film, our main character Mourning Girl was very innocent and odd, but she wasn't actually causing problems for other people, she was facing her problems herself. I think it is with our characters that our film moves more towards a drama, as in dramas the main character is sometimes going through some personal problems that other people aren't aware of. In our film, Mourning Girl is distraught over the death of her girlfriend, so creates an imaginary friend that no one else can see.
Our film does slightly fit into the horror genre, but it also fits into the drama genre, which isn't what we intended to do. If we could have done this film again, I think we should have been more conscious of the conventions of the genre we were aiming for so that our film would have had the conventions in it.
In the Brief, it was stated that the film we created must be 3 minutes long. I'm very pleased that our film managed to stick to this time limit. In total our film was 3 minutes and 24 seconds long, however the actual film is 3 minutes 2 seconds long, and the credits are 22 seconds long. Since our film fits in to the time frame that we had to stick to, you could say that our film was very successful.
Our film starts with a medium shot of Natalie sat in an office with her school counselor, followed by a close up. It's really unfortunate that our opening scene is so out of focus, as the opening scene to a film is very important as it sets the tone for the film. In this first scene we used a range of camera angles as we wanted to experiment. There are lots of closeups so that you can see our character's expressions- especially "Natalie's" as we wanted to relay to the audience how nervous and jittery she was whilst talking to her counselor- as though she was feeling guilty for something. We also tried out a panning shot which goes from the counselor to Natalie to show the distance between them to exaggerate how uncomfortable Natalie was feeling. We also used a shot that panned down from "Natalie's" face to her hands which she was toying with uncomfortably. I felt that this was a really effective shot, as it is a natural reaction when someone is stressed/nervous.
Another thing that we did for this first scene was prop placement, as before we went into the "office" it was very bare and didn't really look too much like an office. We borrowed a clipboard for the counselor so that they could look as though they were writing down everything that Natalie said. We also placed the sound recording equipment case on the table, as it looks sort of like a briefcase and therefore made our last minute actor look more official and older. Another "prop" that we used to help make our actor look older were our sound recordist Kira's glasses.
We did unfortunately have some audio problems with this scene: it was just too quiet, and a little muffled. Perhaps we should have put as much time into making the audio nice and clear, as we did into putting the footage together into a film.
Our next scene is introduced by a shot of Mourning Girl's feet, which I feel works quite well, as it creates an air of mystery as the audience will wonder who it is that they're going to see. For this particular shot, we wanted her to walk very slow and drag her feet as though she was putting off going somewhere. This shot is quite shaky and slightly out of focus, which is a shame, as it could have looked really good. I think that what should have been done, is the camera should have been on a tripod and then used the leaver on the tripod to move the camera in time with Mourning Girl's footsteps. This would have made it a lot smoother and more focused.
The next shot after this is from behind Mourning Girl so that it builds tension, as this kind of shot usually suggests that someone/something is behind the character. In our case, it was Natalie coming to tease Mourning Girl. I thought that the audio of Natalie's voice was effective during this shot, as the audience will wonder who's voice it is calling her.
We then changed to a medium close up of Mourning Girl on the stairs with Natalie behind her. The purpose of this shot was to have the two character's expressions in shot so that the audience could see how Mourning Girl's distress progressed. However, when we looked back at this scene we realized that Natalie's head had been cut off and we were worried that the scene wouldn't work- but, to our surprise it didn't really make much difference, as the main focus needed to be on how Mourning Girl reacted to Natalie's harsh words. I really liked the lighting in this shot, as it showed off Mourning Girl's drained and sickly looking face. I'm so pleased with how the makeup I did on her shows this so well, as I was initially worried that I had been too dramatic with it, but I needed to be a bit more dramatic with it so that it would show up on camera.
I'm not very sure about the next shot we did, where Mourning Girl moves further down the stairs, as you can only see her face and Natalie's body which I don't think works very well as you can't really tell what's going on. I think that instead of this shot we could have done with a shot that showed Natalie's expression to show how worked up and angry she was getting- or perhaps she could have clenched her fists and we could have had a close up of that. I also think that a long shot of the stairs would also have worked well here, as it would have clearly shown the stand off between the two characters.
The next shot of Mourning Girl running down the stairs is effective, as the audience gets to see just how much Natalie's words upset Mourning Girl. I think the way the camera follows her looks really nice. The only issue with this shot is that we did it the following day when we didn't have our actress for Natalie, and therefore she isn't in the background of this shot which is a bit of a continuity error. This shot is what gives the audience the first glimpse at Belle, I think that the scratchy ambient sound as she comes into shot is quite effective, as hopefully it will make the audience jump a little. I don't like the visual effect here, though as it is a bit too much, I think if it didn't have a filter on it, and it hadn't have been so fast so that the audience could have gotten a better look at Belle, then it would have been slightly more effective. However the shot is still effective, as it's unexpected.
My favourite scene comes after, where Mourning Girl is sobbing hysterically under the stairs. The first shot of her is a bit too dark and I think that the filter over the footage is a bit too severe as it makes her look a little too scary and menacing. I don't think that this shot should have been altered, as it looked nicer before. However for the next shot where Belle's hand rests on her shoulder, the filter seems to work better, as the light changes due to the new position of the camera. This accidental change in light happens at exactly the right point- when the hand comes into shot. It allows the audience to see Mourning Girl's shocked, yet content expression as the hand caresses her cheek. The reason why I like this scene so much is because I just think it looks so nice- when I say nice I mean it looks very dark and sinister. I also think that the audio here works well because it is the same ambient sound effect as before that is unsettling and suggestive of something unnatural, due to the sound being so unnatural.
The next scenes that follow are a sort of "montage" of clips where Mourning Girl appears to be alone and then we see a shot of how it appears to Mourning Girl. The same dark over dramatic filter is used for the shots where Belle is in the scene, for example, in the classroom where Belle is sat on the seat beside Mourning Girl. Although I don't like this filter, I understand why it was used, as it makes it more obvious that the scene is otherworldly. It makes this supernatural feeling clear to the audience to help exaggerate the fact that Belle is a ghostly apparition.
Although I haven't been the biggest fan of the filters used on our film, I do really like the one that was used for the last shot where Belle appears behind Mourning Girl and put's her arms round her. It's a sort of glowing effect that gives off a melancholy yet blissful atmosphere as the two characters seem so close. It works well this shot being so dark, as although the audience can't clearly see their expressions- it's as though their feelings for each other are still hidden by the dark that separates them.
To conclude my analysis of our film, I think that although our film hasn't entirely stuck to the conventions of it's genre it was still a success as it met the criteria on the brief. I'm actually really pleased with the film, as it was our first project- so obviously it isn't going to be as clean and polished as something we will create by the time we're on our last project. Although there are shaky and unfocused shots with some imperfect audio, our film still manages to clearly tell a story, and from the feedback that we received, it's good to know that the audience were able to easily follow the story line. When we were planning, we were having a hard time explaining our idea to our peers and tutors, and began to worry that our idea wouldn't come through clear in the final film. However to our great pleasure, it has, and all of that worrying was for nothing. I'm now really looking forward to all the other projects that we have, as this has helped to prove to us that even when things go wrong, such as actors dropping out last minute, we can still create a reasonably successful film.