PG-13 (15 in UK) | 89 min | Horror| 24 October 2014 (USA)
Plot: A group of friends must confront their most terrifying fears when they awaken the dark powers of an ancient spirit board.
Budget $5,000,000 (estimated)
Opening Weekend
$19,900,000 (USA) (26 October 2014)
Gross
$50,856,010 (USA) $51,673,769 (Non-USA)
$102,529,779 (Worldwide)
Paranormal Activity 3 (2011)
R (15 in UK) | 83 min | Horror | 21 October 2011 (USA)
Plot: In 1988, young sisters Katie and Kristi befriend an invisible entity who resides in their home.
Budget
$5,000,000 (estimated) Opening Weekend
$52,568,183 (USA) (21 October 2011)
Gross $104,007,828 (USA)
The Possession (2012)
PG-13 (15 in UK) | 92 min | Horror, Thriller | 31 August 2012 (USA)
Plot: A young girl buys an antique box at a yard sale, unaware that inside the collectible lives a malicious ancient spirit. The girl's father teams with his ex-wife to find a way to end the curse upon their child.
As my idea was based on a scary game, I did some research on three films that is similar to my genre, age rating and idea/plot. As I will read some of their review, the good ones and the bad ones. So this will help me to meet my audience's expectations for film to be successful.
Hook, a term in film making. It's what grabs the audience's attention, it usually catch people's attention in the first five to ten minutes of the film they're watching.
In my 1 minute horror/thriller, the structure i will be using is non-linear as it will contain flashbacks in the story so we get to understand what has happened in the past. As I will be using flashbacks in the story, this will make the audience to understand the film as flashbacks are used to show or tell past events, it helps describe the character and what they've done to make the story occur. It also tell the background of a person and explain what made them feel that way.
I was mainly inspired by a short film by Michael Evan called "2AM: The Smiling Man". I thought I find it thrilling because of the thrilling soundtrack, naturalistic lighting in the dark, the editing etc. I would like my minute thriller/horror story to bring fear to the audience and keep them on the edge of their seats. I was also inspired by "Light Out - Who's There" where a woman seems to be playing with the light as she think there's something in the dark which there was, it reminded me of scary creepy game challenge you play at home with your friends such as "Charlie Charlie" and "Bloody Mary" challenges etc. Maybe I could make one of those challenges I pointed out as my one minute horror/thriller short film.
This screenshot shows a short film by Michael Evan called "2AM: The Smiling Man" has 3.7 million views, 28K likes and only 2K dislikes. It has nearly 6,000 comments.
As I was looking through the YouTube's comments on "2AM: The Smiling Man", I found a couple of feedback I screenshotted, for example, 'Bob Parker' prefer little girl than a man as Bob think it will more scarier. This made me think that maybe I should include a little girl as a ghoul/ghost in the story to make it more scarier as Bob think it will be creepier. In another comment, 'fraud1980' said that the costume was not right as it took some horror off, this will make me try to avoid costumes that doesn't fit the genre so it wouldn't ruined the film and received less or no negative feedback.
After I could not find out their age and gender, although they were both possibly male because of the username they have. As I did research, I found out that the usual age for someone watching a horror/thriller movie is 15+ as it includes violence which can be disturbing to younger viewers. The young audience usually want to try new things and experiment emotions and feelings, they want to experience life for themselves and make their own choices and be excite by many things. Horror/Thriller films usually excite young audiences more than older audiences, the audiences are often a groups of friends rather than just themselves. Males are more likely to a fan of horror movies than females, they tend to like the thrill of violence, blood etc. This research has helped me because it has given me a couple of ideas of what to do for my one minute short film like having a little girl who is possessed by the demon etc.
This is my mood board which include beginning, middle and end. I gathered these pictures as it based on my ideas which is murder.
Pitch
Couple of friends were having a sleepover on a random Saturday night, they're all having a nice time until one suggests they should play a little game that got out of hand.
Production Requirements:
Location
The location will be in the wood near Chislehurst War Memorial. But before I asked for a permit from Bromley Council as it's their property to shoot in the wood, I need to do research on the distance, for example, how long it will take us to get there on time and return back on time, we will also need to know if there will be any traffic or if it going to rain so there won't be any electrical damage while we're shooting our film. Facilities We will need production equipment such as a video camera and a tripod etc. As we're students, we don't have that sort of money to go and buy good production equipment, so our college provide for us, this mean we can get booked and borrowed production equipment for free from college (Christ the King: St Mary's). We will also need post-production equipment such as computers with software that allowed us to edit and add sound effect where need. Our college also provide that, there are editing suites in the college that contain Apple Mac Computers with good editing software known as 'Final Cut Pro X'. As they are free to use in college from 8am to 5pm on Monday to Friday, I will be using the editing suites in college to edit my 1 minute short film. I can also edit at home as I have this software that I know inside out which is very similar to 'Final Cut Pro X', it's called 'Sony Vegas Pro'. I use to edit a lot with this software before so I know how to edit, add sound effect, add transition, add colour correction etc. Time Deadlines are very important so we have to be prepared and organised. I make sure my short film is produced before the deadline given to us so if my audience is not satisfied with the outcome, we have more time to re-edit to their satisfaction. As I will be using the equipment given from college to shoot the short film, this will save time and money for me to buy one and wait for delivery. As I said before, I will do a research on the location to know how long it will take us to get there on time and arrive back on time or if there will be any traffic. Personnel I will need a director to make sure everything goes to plan. Secondly, I will need a cameraman to record and shoot the production. Thirdly, we also will need an editor to make it thrilling by adding colour correction, sound effects, tracks etc. Last but not least, I will need actors to be in my films, as I am in college I won't have to pay for actors as my classmates or friends will be the actors. I will only need 2 or 3 actors in this short film.
Before editors edit a film, they put each footage they received from their director into specific bins, for example, I made and renamed three new events for me to put the footage in. 'Train Station', 'Street' and 'Home'. Professional editors do this because it is important to put footage in each bin which should each have a name as it would be a whole lot easier for a editor to find the footage he wants and to know if they got all the footage in each bin. After the editors have sorted out the footage in the right bin, they should add comments to each footage, so this way the editors will know if it is a good or bad shot to use for the film and then know what shot to use when they start editing and dragging footage into the timeline. Following this procedure will save time and money for editors because they are reducing time in the editing suite.
A mainstream film technique where one character is shown looking at another character, and the other character is shown looking back at the first character. As the characters are shown facing in opposite directions, the audience will assume that the characters are looking at each other.
Shot/ Reverse shot establish continuity as it shows a conservation between two or more people to make it more realistic. D.W Griffith discovered Shot/ Reverse shot and other techniques through Continuity. As Shot/ reverse shot is a form of Continuity, this mean it should not violate the 180 degree rule.
Parallel Editing:
A edit of continuously alternating two or more scenes that often take place together but in different locations. It is used to create tension as it shows multiple points of views and can create dramatic irony when the characters in the production are unaware of an even/plot unfolding beneath they’re eyes. This technique gained notice from Edwin S. Porter in the film, The Great Train Robbery (1903). Porter only introduced the concept of parallel editing; allowing future directors to build on the technique. D.W Griffith developed the technique to develop suspense, he did this in the film, The Lonedale Operator (1911).
Cross Cutting:
Similar to parallel editing, however, this technique allows the director to cut between different sets of action that can occur simultaneously or at different times. It is largely used to build suspense. and establish continuity. The purpose of using both edits is that it creates motivation for the production as the cuts allow the audience to believe something intense, dramatic or highly interesting will take place. Moreover, it has a storytelling effects as the two unique scenes engage the audience as they wonder what will eventually happen in the production.
POV shot:
This is a technique where it will show the scene from the characters point of view, so you can see the events from their perspective, allowing the audience to feel involved in the film because they can see it as if they are there.
The Point Of View shot is used here, it is done to show the current events taking place from one characters perspective. It is done to see the events from the eyes of the character.
Continuity:
A sequence of shots done to entertain the audience, to create a story in a linear sequence. It was invented by D.W Griffiths, through trial as error, as he would try something out and see if it worked. Continuity came from the US, fighting between them and Soviet Russia, who created montage, continuity proved more popular with audiences as it was just done to entertain the audience, unlike montage, which is designed to make the audience think.
Eye-line Match:
An eye-line match is simply an editing technique which falls under continuity editing. It involves one shot of the character's gaze and the next shot has to be the object the character is looking at. This technique was discovered by D.W Griffiths who is the 'father' of continuity editing.
Eye-line match was used in one of his films called The Sealed Room which was released in 1909 where the characters had a rightward gaze which signifies that the next scene was beginning at the right side.
180 Degree Rule:
180 degree rule is an technique that show the relationship between two characters in an film as well as keeping them on screen. This type of editing technique was used by D.W Griffith (one of the film pioneers) who used this through trial and error as he was discovering different techniques while making films in the 1900's.
Seamless Editing:
Seamless editing or also known as invisible editing is when the cuts matches with the action. This means that there is no editing involved at all just cuts in between shots so it matches the action of what is happening in the film in a certain scene and continues to have the flow without breaking or ruining it but this certain technique was used by D.W Griffith.
Jumpcut: This technique was accidentally discovered by George Melies when he was filming a bus on busy road then the camera jammed midway, after he got it working again there was a horse infant of the camera instead of the bus. So when he watched the film back it looked like the bus mysteriously turned into a horse. He later on used this technique to make it look like people were disappearing in his films. This is an example of a jump cut.
Metric Editing: Metric editing also known as editing to the beat is a form of montage editing created by the soviets. It is a technique that often follows the beat in music videos or sets a pace for films. In this music video it follows the drum like so it looks like it is running smooth and fits in well with the montage sequence.
Transitions: Transition cuts are used when we film a shot or a scene we use transitions to cut out and cut in different transitions such as cut in and cut out. The was in which these were gradually developed was from George Melies as in his films he used jump cuts and transitions to create a sense of atmosphere or the viewers. there are also shot dissolves for example in the film psycho which was directed by Hitchcock in the shower scene were we see the victim get ruthlessly murdered we see the plug hole and it uses a dissolve transition and cuts to her eye. this shows us she's dying as the plug hole shows darkness. So the transition technique was used mainly by Alfred Hitchcock were he used two transition types in his film Psycho.
Rhythmic Editing:
Rhythmic editing is when you edit both the pace of your scene and the pace of you sound track in order to match what it happening. For example, if something exiting is happening then the scenes can be editing together at a fast pace and fast paced music can be played. This helps to raise the audiences excitement when it comes to this point. Similarly, if something is being revealed, a slow pace can be used to create suspense. For example, when a character hears something and goes to reveal what it is a slow paced editing and music can be used to raise tension in the audience as they wait for what ever it is to be revealed. It can also be used for certain genres. For example, if something is a comedy, they can use a slow pace in order to create a humorous effect.
