Unit 6
Short film Production(fiction)
Narrative Structure refers to the way in which a story is organised and presented and an example of this is how they use plot, setting and theme. The structure of a story is normally presented in three stages, the beginning, the middle and the ending and these are dependant on the genre of the story, so in this case a horror genre would typically mean that the beginning, would start with a build up of tension of some weird noises for example. By having a strong narrative structure, writers can successfully portray what is happening and more importantly the meaning of what is going on. Structure is also split into different parts: Exposition, Rising action, climax, falling action and resolution. For exposition, we focus on the setting and we are introduced to the characters and the situation. For rising action, we shift focus onto the series of events that build tension and move the story towards the climax. So, climax is where there is the highest point of tension and often there is a choice that is made. Falling action refers to the aftermath of the climax, in which the story's conflicts are resolved, or further complicated/worse. The resolution of the structure, is the final outcome of the story; loose ends are tied up and the character's fates are revealed. Non-linear plot structure refers to when the events happen in a non-chronological order, so an example of this is when we have flashbacks of anything in the story. Basically, time moves back and fourth in the story and this could create confusion to the audience most of the time, but in the end everything links up. A circular plot structure is where the beginning and the end tie up together, so anything that happens in the beginning should link exactly to the ending. Narrative structures begins with an opening image that basically shows the audience what to expect or what to think of in terms of the tone used and the opening picture. For example, a Horror film may show some creature's point of view in its cellar for the opening image and that would show but not tell that there is a creature out and about killing people. For the set up part of a narrative structure, each character that has been introduced would most likely meet up and start discussing what they will be doing, but this is all part of the equilibrium, where there is 'normality' and the fact that they do not know that a creature is out there in their area. Then, there would be a catalyst, where the movie starts to shape itself. An example is where a couple of teens are frightened by this creature that is following them and then they set out to protect everyone from it.
After this you would have the debate section, where it is split up into two separate debates. For the first debate, you could in my case have the teens figure out what they should do about this problem and weather they should tell the police about it or if that would make them at a higher risk. In terms of the second debate, this is where there is another problem that has occurred and the teens would have to face another dilemma of how they are going to go about and solve it.
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An example of a film with good narrative structure is definitely "Lights Out", which is a short horror film:
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This film starts with a shot of a house on a rainy night, immediately implying that this horror short will be about some creature in someone's house. The 'set up' portion of this short film is when the house owner spots this weird creature in her hallway and is pretty frightened. So, the catalyst/debate part is when she eventually decides to stick tape to the light to keep the creature from turning it off. Due to this action, the tension builds up even more as the creature would have to take the tape off, which it does and so the house owner is terrified and is hiding in her bed. At this point all is lost because she can't help but feel petrified and she has no idea if she was just hallucinating.
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For this graph, I have plotted down where each significant part of the short film is, such as when the creature appears when turning the light off for the 20 second mark and yet again for the 1st minute as she could hear the noises from the creature. In every movie/short film there are sections where it may get dull or where nothing is really happening, but throughout this horror short, as you can see, there are not really any of those points, but just big spikes in engagement. Additionally, you can see that at the final part of this short, there is a spike to max engagement because the camera pans to a jumpscare.
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"It's Not about Fear" is another example of great narrative structure as this one especially has two good sub-genres within it, which is romance and psychological. This film starts with an opening shot of a front door, where this guy his heading back home but he looks anxious and isolated because of his psychological fears/anxiety, where a creature is "following him". The catalyst begins when the couple are both together and the fact that the guy is experiencing a fear of this creature but it's actually his anxiety. At this point, the creature is appearing in any movement that the girl does. She suddenly realises this and sets the new equilibrium where she shows him that it's nothing to fear and that she has one too, so that he's not alone. In conclusion for this short horror film, I would say that it's definitely a three act structure as there is clear representation of 'set up, conflict and a resolution/ new equilibrium'.
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For the graph representation for this short horror film, I've picked out the fact that every 20 second point in these short films, there is an introduction to the yet to be seen problem. The equilibrium is there but it quickly gets disrupted and becomes the new equilibrium near the end. In this case, the creature is fully within the guy's head and we are quickly introduced to it with a lot of engagement and the audience may wonder if the monster will affect his date. Yet again the sub genre is introduced within this horror, being the romance and you could even say the psychological side of it, where the guy can't bear to see his monster following his every move. To conclude this horror short, I would have to say that it's a 4 act structure as there is a closing image, dark knight of the soul and even a mini finale.
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"Forrest Gump" is a non-linear narrative structure as there are multiple flashbacks when Forrest tells his story to someone else. This movie is a third person narrative as well, when introducing his story and this makes the film not in the category of the three/four act structure, but you could argue that some parts of this film fit the linear narrative structure.
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This graph shows how I managed to pick out each point in the Forrest Gump trailer. As you can see from multiple points throughout the trailer, there is a flashback sequence, showing clearly that this film is a non-linear narrative struture and that the opening scene follows onto a flashback and that the final shot finale ends with back to the present, summarising his life story.
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"Memento" is yet again another non-linear film as the protagonist has memory loss and the whole film is backwards. In this film, Shelby has short term memory loss from a tragic event that had his wife murdered and him uncovering each piece of evidence. There are different black and white sequences that shape this film and that it alternates between each one, where Shelby is convinced of another attacker that caused his memory loss. As Leonardo finally finds the other attacker, he kills him and takes a photo just like the attacker did and then, the sequence goes back to the original colour, signifying his completed attempt.
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What subsequently makes this film non-linear is the fact that Shelby goes back through evidence as he has no memory of the event and goes back through sequences to finally uncover the other attacker and strangle him. This film cannot follow the three act structure as the film jots back in time throughout and the structure isn't linear, so the finale is from the uncovering from evidence that he couldn't use because of memory loss from the tragic event.
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Character development is basically when the protagonist, antagonist etc evolve their traits, such as being soft at the start of a film, but then growing to become brave and strong near the end from conflict that has caused this character to develop themself. An antagonist would have caused this change as they would have caused conflict tension and brought the protagonist to go and train for their fate in ending the conflict and subsequently becoming stronger/braver. In addition to this, a character could start off, being presented as the 'good guy' but then at the end of a film, that character, such as Anakin Skywalker, would then go to the 'bad guys', or in this case the dark side from before being a Jedi.
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EXAMPLES:
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Harry Potter is a great example for how a character evolves/develops through each film and it is especially due to Voldemort, the antagonist of the franchise. Voldemort killed Potter's parents, which left Harry with hate and anger; he wanted to get his revenge in the later films and in the "Deathly Hallows, Part II", Potter finally got his own back and defeated Voldemort at Hogwarts. From his hate throughout the films, it has consequently changed his character development. For example, he starts of as an inexperienced Wizard, not knowing what he can do to become stronger, but as he experiences pain and hatred, he is determined to learn lots of new incantations and then once he had no choice to do so, he thought Voldemort in a wand battle and won after resurrecting himself. This is all of his overarching motivation that drove him to do all of this. Additionally, the whole catalyst which is the backstory of Potter and the fatality of his parents is mainly the reason why Harry went on to defeat Voldemort partly on his own. Harry Potter's emotional story arc starts of with him being lonely for the first film, but then when he goes to Hogwarts and finds Ron and Hermione, Harry becomes happier, but the hate over Voldemort lasts throughout the whole franchise.
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EXAMPLE 2:
The "Nun 2" is an odd choice for character development and character tension/conflict as it's an ambitious horror movie with the whole journey of defeating the demonic Nun. However, the protagonist, Irene evolves in the film through fear and overcoming the fact that there is a demon on Earth. She grows stronger and braver and went on to defeat Valak by using Saint Lucy's eyes, but it was no easy task. In terms of the emotional story arch for Irene, she has obviously dealt with fear, but she has also had some feelings for Frenchie, which made her vulnerable even more as she wanted to save him from possession throughout the film, so she couldn't really focus on the main fears of Valak being around.
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Idea 1: My Work place. Title of Horror Short: Just a Game
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For my first idea, I am going with my work place as it would be a deserted and isolated place for a horror film to take place. Multiple things there link to the idea of horror including saws, grinders and axes. This location is also guaranteed and all we would need are consent forms. "Saw" and "Jigsaw" are both connected to this place as the vibe and atmosphere is near exact and these films are entirely linked to the theme of isolation. Because of this, we could easily get some great shot ideas of using machinery and there would be low lighting as well. This location is about 25 minutes away from college, so it's not too far in a car journey there.
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Synopsis:
In terms of structure/plot of this short horror film, I would say that the beginning of the short film begins with a wide shot of an axe being hit against something the audience cannot see, but blood splatters against the camera. We do not know who is using the axe, but this leaves the audience thinking to themselves who it might be. After this shot, the camera(POV of creature) slowly tracks around the place until it reaches the victims, where they have tape on their mouths and they are begging to get out. Then, the creature walks out of the room to grab its axe and re-enters the room to grab hold of one of the victims. This victim starts breathing heavily and is dragged along the floor to then reach the killing spot for this creature. The rest of the victims try to get out and one of them manages to cut the rope tying them up and then sneaks out the room, but the creature hears the escaped victim and starts walking to them without them knowing. This then leads to the victim hearing some strange noises and banging against the wall. She/he then turns around to a jump-scare of this creature.
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Mind Map of Short Horror Film
Log Line: 4 Terrified kidnapped victims try to make it out alive whilst they are held captive by a petrifying creature that will strike them with an axe.
Character Development for this Idea:
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For this idea, there are victims and the creature which is killing the tied up victims. The first point at which the audience connects with the victims is when they are petrified and try to escape. In terms of the representation in this idea, I think that it should be based around one's fear and how they cope with it, but I might make it so that only one makes it out alive to show that they are brave.
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Pitch Idea 2: Of The Midnight Tranquility
For my second idea, I have an idea of l filming at Blaise Castle as it's a very eerie location, where there is nothing surrounding the building, but a forest separated from lots of fields. I think that this location would suit a horror film as its location is perfect for a place where no one can hear you and the fact that it's sort of a remote location not that close to anything. Yet again, this location is quite close to college and all I have to do to get this location, is to email them on the website. We would also be able to get lots of shot types, especially an easy bird's eye view shot to begin the short film of the visitors walking in. We could treat this idea like it's a B&B, where a group of teens rented out a place for a few nights.
Synopsis:
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Structure for this idea, would be the fact that there is a castle B&B and a group of teens are going to stay there for a few nights. Everything is going well and they are having lots of fun, but suddenly they hear strange noises in the other room next to where they are sleeping. One of them goes out to have a look and in the darkest corner of the room, a strange figure is staring at him/her. The next day, he/she tells the rest of the group about this occurrence, but they all laugh about it and on night 2, the strange noises happen again, but this time, all of them go out to check and things take a turn from there as that strange figure is standing there yet again. Suddenly, it disappears leaving a loud banging sound...
Final Pitch Idea Slide:
Pitch Audio:
My pitch went well I think as I managed to address my synopsis, as well as the log-line to give an in depth explanation to my group. Additionally, I explained a shorter version to get the overall point across and plot of the film. What went unexpected was the fact that i was getting interrogated over the fact that they didn't want a creature in it, but in my opinion I thought that would fit the aspect of a horror short, because the ones that they showed us on screen all had a creature and it made us scared, especially in jump-scare scenes. In the end of all of our pitches, a vote was casted and the winner was picked out to be Tim as he grasped our enthusiasm over his idea of a countryside location, with a 10th century looking building. Although that idea subverts horror tropes with it being set all in day time, I think that it will look professional with no grains.
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What Idea was picked and what is it?:
The idea that was eventually picked was Tim's idea of filming a short horror film in the countryside, where the location is based near a 10th century looking house that is supposedly haunted and so we thought that this location would definitely suit the horror genre as everything about the location is eerie. In addition, the structure of Tim's idea intrigued us all as it basically is where a middle-aged man is walking around the country side(on his way to his house), but finds notes that he finds ominous, but he has Alzheimer's and forgets about these notes and in the end of the structure, he hears lots of noises and gets more notes that make him kill himself. If you want a full look at the plot, read this from Tim from our Horror group chat:
Short film pitch


The film tells the story of the life of a lonely rural farmer living in a dilapidated house amidst vast fields. His only companions are a flock of sheep, which he tends to alone to make a living. Everywhere he goes, a radio in Welsh language accompanies him, we can hear throughout the entire film. The farmer has a radio on the wall and a portable battery-operated radio that he takes with him while tending to the flock. The radio never turns off but becomes louder during tense moments or quieter to create the tension.


The narrative entirely unfolds during the day. The only scenes shot in darkness are inside the house, yet the film doesn't hide anything in the dark or in the background.


The plot is: The farmer finds a note with something frightening written on it, making him uneasy. However, in confusion, he discards it in the trash bin and proceeds to the barn, where he sharpens an axe to slaughter a sheep/chop the wood for a fireplace (version for college). Hearing a noise outside the barn, he lowers the volume of the radio hanging on his belt and shouts, "Who's there?" in Welsh. Receiving no response, he cautiously approaches the door, opening it abruptly. As the shot transitions from the farmer to the speep, the sheep bleats loudly, aiming to slightly startle the audience. The farmer stands still for a couple of seconds before heading towards the house. Upon entering the house, he accidentally impales his hand on a protruding nail near the door handle. Slowly releasing his bloodied hand, he enters the house to retrieve a first aid kit. When he opens the kit, another note falls out, saying, "Nail`s sharp, can pierce hand." The farmer looks at the note in disbelief, shock on his face. After a few seconds, the camera switches to a wide shot. The farmer turns 180 degrees, taking a step in the opposite direction but collides with the open first aid kit door and falls on the ground. The shot remains unchanged for a while, but heavy sighs and coughing are heard. The camera is filming the farmer lying on the floor with a cut brow. He almost cries from pain but notices something above him. He squints, shielding one eye with his hand. Another note hangs on the ceiling. He looks at it, stands on a stool, takes the note, and reads it. It says, "Must weigh down the first aid kit." He stands on the stool, and we see a close-up of stool swaying, sweat running down the farmer's face, hands shaking. The stool wobbles, one of its legs gives way, and the radio starts screaming louder. Tension abruptly releases. The farmer steps off the stool, grabs an axe from the table, and heads to the door. This shot lasts about 5-8 seconds, allowing the audience's tension to ease a bit. But as soon as he opens the door, a dead, bloodied sheep lies in front of it (vfx). The farmer stares at it for a couple of seconds with a frightened expression, steps out, looks around. A shot of empty, endless green fields. Quiet sounds of the radio are still audible. A shot where the farmer sits in the field, surrounded by many sheep. He has a portable radio playing on his belt. The farmer lies down on a folded blanket. He lies there like that for some time, closing his eyes. The radio starts crackling, momentarily losing signal. Then it completely turns off. The atmosphere fills with the loud rustling sound of grass and wind. Viewer can hear every rustle. The farmer opens his eyes, filled with intense fear. He quickly sits up, looks at the radio and there another note is attached to it. It says: "Batteries are in the top drawer of kitchen." He tears off the note, angrily throws it into the field, and hurries towards the house. He rushes into the kitchen, goes to the kitchen table, opens it abruptly, takes out a pack of batteries, and nervously inserts them into the radio. He turns it on, but it plays very, very quietly. He brings it closer to his ear, trying to turn it up. The radio announcer's voice remains as soft. The farmer starts getting angry, but notices another note on the wall. Angrily, he approaches it, rips it off. It says, "Turn to the right." He slightly turns, sees another note on the floor, with an arrow drawn on it. He lifts his eyes and looks into the room.
Starts crying, chokes on his tears, and the camera smoothly moves away from him. The shot changes and shows a rope lying on the floor. A sudden shot of the stool's leg breaking. A taut rope hanging from the ceiling. Crying and gasping sounds continue. The sound persists, and the shot transitions to a stack of note sheets, a pen lying on them, and the farmer’s radio next to them. The sounds emitted by the chocking farmer are still audible. About 10 seconds later, they end, a pause, then the radio turns on at full volume, and the credits roll with the radio heard working in the background.
My Script Draft 1:
My Draft 2:
My Final Draft:
For my script drafts, I have made sure that my format is correct to scripting standards, so I have scene headings, actions, Dialogue and text. For scene headings I have stated if it is interior or exterior and if it's morning or sunrise and. finally, where that scene takes place. For draft 1, I have gone through it as though it's a practise script and I have not worried too much about whether it needs much modifying, whereas in draft 2, I have made sure to clean up as much as possible, where there isn't too much text for one scene and so it's simple and clear to whoever is reading it.
How did we decide which script was better?:
So, deciding who's script was more relevant to the narrative was made possible by each of us voting weather the script had a good opening and a quality ending that is linked to the genre of horror and especially if it fits the theme of isolation. In conclusion, we all voted for Tim's script but Tim is basically combining his script with the opening of Bryson's. Here is the final draft for our group:
Feedback for our group's script: By Harry Wilton's group
Our Feedback to Harry Wilton's group: Click the button below.
My Visual Treatment : Click the button below to view it.
Group final treatment:
Shot Lists:
For our shot list, we have made sure to write down each different location and what we need to do for that specific shot, such as descriptions on actor's positioning. For example, for scene 1, shot 1, there is some b-roll of the countryside and the fact that it's including some sheep. Shot lists are very important, especially before doing storyboards as you need a shot list for reference.
Shooting Script:
Kit List:
Props/budgeting:
In terms of the budgeting for this shoot, we would need: a rope for the final scene, grinding wheel for one shot, wall mounted aid kit etc. However, some of this might be quite expensive, so that is where we can see where some things are worth it or not.
Below, is our welsh newspaper that me and Harry Panter worked together on. It is needed for one of the props in the short film. Props like this are useful just for something to also look at in the film and have different things linked to our idea:
Cast and Call Sheet:
Recce Document:
For our recce document, we talked about the facilities in the shooting area, such as the access to power/lighting/set dressing etc. So, for our access to power, we have multiple power outlets to use around the area, to make sure that we never run out of power for lighting. However, weather conditions mean that for some shooting days, we would have to be cautious of rain as there is a possibility.
Risk Assessment:
Risk assessments for this project were more in depth as we had more things to assess, such as the props and how they can be heavy to lift around or working hours due to some days being much longer than other days, so for our first shooting day, we could be filming for 7/8 hours and we would need suitable rest breaks. Another thing about risk assessments, is the fact that we have to rate them on how cautious we have to be, so for working hours, we rated a 2 as it's an easy thing to sort out as all we would need to do is include enough rest breaks.
Script Supervising:
Script supervising is where we get our scripts and basically jot down where each shot should go for certain sections of a scene. For example, we would have a POV of a grave as in the description, there is a "fresh grave", so we could have our farmer's POV of him looking at it. In addition to this, inserts are used, which are close up shots on inanimate objects, so for one shot we would need an insert for the pasture.
In the next scene, I have wrote down that we would need a master shot for a big part of this scene and this means that for that chunk of the scene, one big shot is used throughout with no cuts. Long shots are also used and they are like a master shot, but the shot type changes throughout, so a wide shot could transition to a close up.
For this scene, I have included some b-roll for the montage of the broken stool, radio on the wall etc. We actually needed to clean up the script as we found out that we mistakenly included "The camera", but this is for the script supervising part and should not be included anywhere in the script.
Finally, for the last scene, there are quite a few pans, such as a pan up to the radio on the wall and a pan down to a close up on a note. Pans would be useful in our short film as we wouldn't need to cut some shots, but rather have pans, so it's like a long shot.
HOD Breakdown Script:
A HOD breakdown of the script is needed to help sort out what props we will need for the shoot, so I outlined where descriptions of each different thing appears. For example, this first page of the script shows: a "shovel" , "cross" , "photograph of a dog" , "old radio" , "bowl of fruit" and an "axe".
Circled text, is where we would need to think about the costume/makeup, so for the "injured hand", we would need a rusty nail and we would have to sculpt this wound onto the farmer's hand.
For the "dead, bloodied sheep" , we are either going to get some CGI by Harry or we will get a fake sheep and put some fake blood all over it.
Production Schedule:
Daily Shooting Schedule:
Behind The Scenes:
These behind the scenes photos represent what it was like on the days of shoot. I had opportunities to film and we all switched roles from time to time, such as being director, lighting or sound. Each one was fun to do and we all managed to get some experience for each one. On day 2 is when I had an opportunity to film a shot and because it was a bigger camera than what everyone else was using, i had to understand the different controls and I also had to pan the camera for this particular shot as well, so I had to be steady with my movements.
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Managing the light outside wasn't too bad as we had a flag, which would completely block the light from the way it was facing and this helped combat any blinding light.
Model Release Form:
Shoot Write Up:
On the first day of our shoot, we all arrived to a field in chew valley and we started to take a stroll to a nearby field that looked remote. After eventually finding a field with a nice big tree in the middle, we unpacked all of the equipment we had onto that field, but this took forever due to the large amount of stuff we brought with us, not to mention the massive camera as well. Once everything was set up, it was time for blocking out each scene for day 1 and our actor was pleased with everything we had told him. Then, we started to position the camera and we set up some diffusers/reflectors and a few flags to block out some sunlight. After filming a few scenes, one scene required a dolly track but setting this up didn't really work, so we went with a handheld pan instead. Directing an actor was really easy on this day, as he knew what he had to do and he even prepared for each shot without us telling him.
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Day 1 was a wrap and so day 2 was next and for this day, we travelled all the way to Gloucester to film the sheep scenes, nail scene and the axe scene. Each of these scenes took a long time to set up and it started to rain during the filming of the axe scene, which hindered our efforts, so we had to put on a protective cover on the camera and any electrical equipment. This worked well, but was annoying to put on and off. On day 3 however, we needed to use lots of lighting, so once that was set up correctly, we blocked out each scene for that day and used any required makeup necessary. We used a blue screen for the window and lit it up well and made sure that the camera was set to the correct settings. Before filming each shot, we would say camera set/camera speed and sound speed/sound set and finally use the clapperboard to match the camera and sound. I directed a few shots for day 2, such as the nail scene and I even had the mic for a long duration of this scene.
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On our final day of shooting, we used the same location as day 3 and we shot the note shots and we also filmed the bowl scenes as well. Our actor knew everything that he would be doing for this day but we had to refer to some lighting plans to make sure we were doing everything correctly. That was finally it, we filmed everything we needed for our short horror film.
Shoot Evaluation:
After finally filming the short horror film, I think that we had done an excellent job at filming and using advantage of all the equipment that we used. One of the drawbacks that we had of using a professional camera, was the fact that the storage would run out quite quickly on the SD cards, so we had to manually back up the footage to our hard drives and this took a long time to backup. Next time to avoid this, we must plan an extra day or two, in case of any problems like this, so I have learnt that bigger cameras are more than likely to cause bigger file sizes. It's also the fact that the camera was massive, so any handheld shots would require patience and some strength. Next time to combat this issue, I will start using tripods more often, rather than lots of handheld shots, or add more support to holding the camera. Additionally, wind in our shoot was a nightmare at some points, because you could hear it in the audio, so post production solved this, but it was an inconvenience to say the least. To solve this massive issue next time, we have got to use a wind blocker or a different attachment on the mic. We recorded our audio on a big boom mic, which was great at directly capturing precise audio, but as you might expect; in the middle of the countryside - wind was appearing frequently and the sudden planes flying around. Using the method that I mentioned for next time would help though.
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Even though we managed to film well and get everything set up, it took way too long and we spent hours on end getting each individual shot - we even didn't finish until 9pm on Tuesday and I got back home at 12pm, which was crazy and led us to be tired on Wednesday. If we were to film this next time, we must plan out each shot in a more timely manner, because some shots would take forever to film and so other shots wouldn't go on to be filmed. Having an extra few days for separating the film would massively help this.
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Also, another major problem was the fact that for day 2, we didn't use a real nail for one of the shots obviously, because we wouldn't want any injuries, so this would eventually lead us to use premiere pro to add an artificial nail. Other things like this included the blue screen to replace the window ready for some fake scenery in the editing stage. If we were to film this again, we should make things much more easier for ourselves by filming shots that would be easier for post-production. I've learnt that it is easy to say "I will do this in post", so if I ever had a project like this again, I must make sure that post production is way harder to fix things, compared to filming on the day and fixing it there.
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In conclusion, I think that our efforts paid off, but we should next time plan things more ahead of time and make sure that our locations are more easily accessed for everyone. Next time, I will be more realistic when it comes to timing and I will especially have more days to split the time up into sections for different shots and scenes. I have learnt a lot when we filmed this and one thing that I will always look back on, was the timing and so I now know how to better prepare for issues like this, as I have stated.