Unit 6
Short Film Production (Horror)
Pre-Production
Narrative Structure
Narrative structure is the way character beats are arranged to tell a story and reach a satisfying conclusion. It is made up of 3-4 acts that have a variety of different beats. Below is the explanation of the three different acts.
Act One is the first act where it builds up the suspense to the main plot of the movie and builds tension in the audience so they want to find what is going to happen next. This act is usually where the characters, setting and tone is set up.
Opening Image-the first shot in the movie which usually has hidden or important meanings to it.
Set Up-the start of the build and is made to set up the rest of the film and introduces some or all of the main characters.
Theme Stated-shows the theme that the film will be in, usually in kids films they are a lot more obvious.
Catalyst-the changing factor, a big thing will happen to change the point of the movie
Debate-when 2 or more of the characters are debating about something, show both sides of the argument
Act Two is the main part of the film where most of the viewers are hooked and it's where all the big things that act one were building up to happen.
Break into Two-introducing the next act and any new main characters.
Sub plot-when there is something that is happening on the side-lines, it doesn't need to be there for the main plot but to make the movie more interesting they add subplots to add to different characters' lives.
Fun and Games-when characters are getting to know each other and there is humour.
Mid point-the middle of the movie
Bad Guys Close in-when nothing positive is happening
All is Lost-when all the good guys have lost all hope and think they have nothing left.
Dark Knight of the Soul-the good guys talking and being inspired again.
Act Three is the final act where the main bad things have happened and it's all calming down again.
Break into Three-it is all going back to normal and everything is fine again
Final-the last scenes where life is back to normal
Final image-the last image that has been shown
Below is an example of narrative structure. The film I have used is Frozen.
Act 1
Opening Image:
The opening scene in Frozen is when the ice harvesters are cutting up the ice whilst singing. The song represents how ice is both beautiful and dangerous which then later reflects onto Elsa.
Set Up:
Anna and Elsa are playing at night with Elsa ice powers but she accidentally hits Anna in the head which then sets up for the movie as they have to visit the trolls and find out Anna can not see her sister again. The film is also set up when Anna is singing and each chorus she has grown up more and more, during the song it also shows that Elsa's powers get worse, it also shows when the queen and king die so Elsa now has to be the new queen. The movie is also partly set up whenAnna meets Hans and spends the coronation ball with him.
Theme Stated:
The theme is shown when Grand Pabbie shows what Elsa's powers are like, this links to the song at the beginning as it shows that if it is controlled it can be beautiful but when out of control it becomes dangerous.
Catalyst:
A main changing factor in the film is when Hans proposes to Anna. They then go and ask Elsa for permission and she says no.
Debate:
An argument is causes when Elsa says no and that leads to Anna asking why Elsa shut her out years ago, she then grabs one of elsa gloves and keeps provoking her, this then leads elsa to get annoying and when she's had enough she turns and accidentally creates and ice barrier which exposes her secret so she runs away.
Act 2
Break into Two:
Here we get introduced to some new characters. We get introduced to Kristoff in the Wandering Oaken’s Trading Post, we then get introduced to Kristoff's reindeer Sven in a barn.
Sub Plot:
This plot is Anna,Kristoff,Sven and Olafs journey to the north mountain, it shows all their relationships getting to know each other.
Fun and Games:
Olaf is the comedy relief in this film as he is a talking snowman who is just discovering the life of being alive, he also believes that he would love summer and wants to experience it but the audience knows that that couldn't happen as he would melt. The trolls are also part of the comedy relief as mid way through the movie they sing a love song for Kristoff and Anna, through the beginning of the movie they are also referred to as ‘love experts’.
Mid Point:
Half way through the movie they have just arrived at Elsa's castle to try and solve the problems they caused. They also have a duet song which then causes Elsa to get mad/stressed so she strikes Anna in the heart which causes lots of problems.
Bad Guys Close in:
This is when Hans and the soldiers go looking for Elsa and try to kill her when she is in her castle, instead they capture her and put her in a prison, when Anna returns to Hans for her true loves kiss he declines her which then leads her heart to become more frozen and they think there is nothing left.
All is Lost:
Elsa believes that Anna has dies due to her striking ice in her heart, when Elsa is crying on the floor Hans is about to kill her by using his sword but Anna comes and saves her but turns into ice, this makes everyone in Arendale sad as they have watched there princess turn into ice due to there Queen.
Dark Knight of the Soul:
Elsa hugs and cries on Anna whilst she is frozen and that was an act of true love so Anna unfreezes. When everything has unfrozen Anna, Elsa, Olaf, Kristoff and Sven are speaken when they see Hans so Anna goes up to him and punches him off the boat.
Act 3
Break into Three:
Life starts going back to normal and Olaf gets his own snow cloud. Anna gets Kristoff a new sled and they start there relationship. Olaf and Sven start becoming good friends.
Final:
Elsa makes the floors into an ice rink and they are all skating and having fun.
Final Image:
the snow monster finds Elsa's crown in the ice castle and puts it on.
Character Development: Elsa-Frozen
The character I have chosen to analyse is Elsa from Frozen. I have chosen her because I believe in each act of the film she develops differently. In the first act she is only a child. She is loving and fun and enjoys using her powers to make her sister happy. She is open about her powers and who she is. When she injers her sister she becomes petrified of who she is. She locks herself away and the only people who knows about her and her powers is her parents, when they die she has the duties of becoming queen. This is when the second act starts. She becomes queen and is once again speaking with her sister. When Anna tries to ask Elsa to get married Elsa flips out and reveals to the whole ball room of her powers. She is scared in this moment and runs away. She eventually starts getting used to her powers and becomes a strong
independent women. She builds her own ice castle to live in and learn to control her powers. When Anna comes to find her at first Elsa is happy to see her but then anger fills her and she kicks her out of her castle by creating a giant snow monster. When she finally reaches a calm state again Hans and the other soldiers come to take her back to arendale. This only enrages her more, she becomes frustrated and just wants everyone to leave. When they finally trap her it goes into act 3. In the beginning of this act she has woken up in a dungeon with metal retainers on her hands, she's confused, angry and all she wants to do is escape. She finally builds enough power to break free and run but she stops running when she hears Hans telling her about how she killed her own sister. She drops to the ground as the world goes silent around her and the only sound is of Hans pulling out a sword to kill her to. When her life doesn't end she looks up to see her sister, she isn't dead but frozen. An overloads of guilt and sadness overcomes Elsa. She killed her sister but not how how she thought. All she can do is hug and cry on Annas frozen body. When the ice around Anna starts to melt she realises that true love saved her. After that day she open the gates and became more in control of her powers than she ever did before and didn't hide any longer.
Synopsis for Horror Idea
Script Writing
After choosing the idea we would like to base out short film on we began to write a script. Our first mistake was splitting our group into two. We wrote differnt scripts but will the same base. W hen coming together to discuss the scripts bith groups discovered that they thought the main boy would be two differnt ages. My group thought it would be best to have the boy as a 14 year old and the other group wanted him to be around 19. Both groups had very good reasons for both sides and there were troubles with both but after many different arguments and debates we got advice from the teachers and ended up going with the boy being 19.
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As the other half of the group had written there own script and we were choosing there's me, Tilly and Charlie wanted some of out ideas included. We had around eight different drafts of the original and we still felt that there weren't as many ideas as we would have liked and it felt as though it was there script not our script as a team. In the end we had decided to sit down all together and discuss every single scene and if someone had an idea or problem we would either decide then what we would do or write it down and discuss it after going through the whole script. Finally we were all happy with the script that we had come up with as a team.
Full Pitch Recording
Our Idea
Script Drafts
Draft 1
Draft 2
Draft 3
Final Draft
Lined Script
Script Feedback
We had a few peaices of feedback from our peers. What age to make the boy? Why is he in the house by himself? Why is there hair in the soup? It sparked many debates within our group but when we were aware of these certain holes in our script and quickly resolved them.
Shot List
Storyboards
Shooting Script
Recce (The Crown)
Recce (Dowlais Farm)
Risk Assessment (The Crown)
Risk Assessment (Dowlais farm)
Full Production Schedule
Master Shooting Schedule
Call Sheets
Model Release Form
Write-up
In the beginning phases of planning, there was an initial problem which was that the group had split into two. The idea behind this was so that we could all come up with ideas for the story separately and then come back together. This ended up causing a clash in terms of how to merge our ideas. However, it did highlight a key story point of our script ideas which was the main characters age. Me, Tilly and Charlie wanted the age to be about 14-16 and Zac, Yoyo and Lydia wanted him to be 19-25. Having got feedback from the teachers, they agreed with the character being older as they couldn't see why a child would be in a house alone. In the end, we decided to go for older. From this. we re-wrote the script but I felt that there wasn't many of mine, Tilly and Charlie's ideas included to it so we sat down as a team again and went one scene at a time to make sure everyone was happy and if we had things we wanted to include we would say then and come to a conclusion of what we would do. Next time, I think it would be good to not split into two separate groups at the start of the project to avoid potential clashes. Also, I would work on being patient with my peers as sometimes we butted heads with how to progress during the planning and production phases of the group. Saying this, I feel pleased with how the roles were delighted and how organised the members of the group felt with just a couple of us leading the planning stages. It made it easier to follow what I was doing and made for a structured day. We wanted to try and get a mansion type house to film in so we called Clevedon Hall and it was a possible yes. We decided to go with The Crown in Wells and Dowlais Farm in Clevedon as they fitted our groups vision quite nicely.
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Day one of the shoot, we were up in Wells shooting at The Crown. When we arrived, we spoke to the manager of The Crown and he showed us to the rooms we would be shooting in. The first thing we did was set up for the dining room shot. The setup of the scenes was fairly smooth, moving furniture around and setting up the key lighting to create the setting as planned. There was also a use of practical lighting such as candles to enhance the space. To tackle the natural light coming through the windows, we had to cover the windows with black fabric which worked effectively. We spent a lot of time perfecting the set up of the room as the attention-to-detail was important bring the "home" to life. The agenda for shooting was very well organised which made the schedule easy to follow and adhere to when shooting. We started with all the soup scenes, using cold vegetable soup which looked gross. We then moved on to the shots of Archie pouring his drink and drinking it. We did about 4 different takes of this to ensure we got the best possible take to cut. My main responsibility for the day was sound. I was either operating the boom or the recorder. Moving on, we then took some of my hair and put it in the soup to get the effect of it being his mums hair. The first shot we did for this scene was a wide and then we moved onto some close up ones of the hair to get all the details to add to the mood. ​On the second day, there were some issues with timings of the day going wrong. We had plans to shoot earlier but ended arriving later than intended. Because of this, we couldn't really film as much as we had hoped. Though the day shots were fairly smooth and shot, the night time shoots were more tricky as the evenings were now taking longer to get darker. It was also much warmer which made it uncomfortable at times to shoot for longer periods of time. With this all in mind, logistically it was becoming more difficult to keep everyone for as long as we could due to travel times and being so far away from home. For example, there was an evening where we were unable to film scenes with Charlie who was already in full make up. Luckily, we were able to secure another shooting day.
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Overall, there were many positives from the pre-production and production stages. For example, it was smart that we filmed multiple takes/angles of the same scene as this gave me the opportunity to have the best selection of shots to piece together in editing and allow me to be more creative with my choices. Another positive was how simplified the setup of scenes was on shooting day. As I knew the owner of the farm, it was easy to communicate with him and he was more than happy to help us with the shoot. Furthermore, it was easy to find and hire our actor. Not only did he cover his own finances when it came to his travel, he was also very easy to work with and was relaxed on shoot days. This helped keep the morale up within the group. Another very helpful thing that happened was that our parents took turns in chaperoning our actor back and forth from the shoot when we were finished so that removed a lot of potential stress.
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​Some things that didn't run as smoothly was mostly tied to planning and organisation. For example, when it came to planning of time/dates for shooting, although it was organised well as a group and agreed up, it wasn't always stuck to. This then lead to a knock on effect when it came to guaranteeing enough time to shoot what we needed and making sure everyone was available for the time allocated. Next time, we would make sure to be more strict with the plans so that issue wouldn't come up in the future. There was also a challenge when it came to removing Charlie's makeup as there was a lot of blood and sfx to get rid of but no real functioning space where we could do this quickly and less messily. Another though was that not everyone in the group had been to the farm location before. Though I had done my own recee and shared it with the team, it might have been even better if everyone at some point had gotten the chance to visit the site so that they could get accustomed to it beforehand. To add, as it was a working farm, there was substantial noise issues that came from passing vehicles and machinery so a lot of time was used just waiting for the optimum time to shoot. Had we discovered this before shooting, it might had lent itself in to preparing a more useful schedule for the day so that all the time we had was used wisely.​​
Final Film
Post-Production
For this section of the project we had to edit our short films. The first step was to make an offline edit.
For the offline edit I added in all of the clips I wanted to use the sorted every scene into a different bin for organisation. Then scene by scene I added the clips I wanted to use in and cut them down to the correct length and order. I cried this on for each clip. This took a couple of days to complete. I then colour coded each scene so in the final edit it was easier separate the scene and work on each one individually. I started adding sound and then realised I didn't need to until the online edit so only the first 2 scenes have sound.