Equipment

Hardware:

• Camera
• Tripod
• Dolly
• Knife
• Fake Blood
• Normal Clothes
• Torch
• Moonlight
• TV

Software:

• Final Cut Pro
• ISO
• Voice recording, phone line effect

Locations

My short film by and large takes place inside the main characters house. Seeing as a lot of my shots will be long drawn out shots looking down dark hallways, I will need to have a building with long corridors and open hallways so I can get a good range of camera angles which will help get the type of atmosphere I want. Therefore I will film these pets at my friends house in Oxfordshire which has large open spaces and long hallways which look foreboding in the dark.

Kiddington Hall is a very large mansion house so I will have a great choice of camera angles and room to shoot in

The scenes at the beginning of the short film involve the main character in his kitchen on the phone, the point of this scene that the intruder can be seen peering in through the windows at the back of the shot, and there may not be an appropriate place to get that kind of shot in Kiddington Hall. However my own house in London has the right type of kitchen to film that sort of shot so it would be a good idea to film there.

Furthermore, my house in London is a lot smaller and normal than Kiddington Hall which makes the setting more believable. It also fits into the atmosphere of for boding that I'm trying to create because the house will look unattractive on an overcast day.

<Ground pictures to follow>

Short Film Storyboard

In order create more physical form of my short film idea I have storyboarded my film. Storyboards are generally a useful document to have on set to refer to when planning scenes.

This can serve as a visual reminder to me on all the scenes I want to be shot, with the correct angles and sets, without me having to improvise on the film set, which can lead to a disjointed film.

Storyboarding can also serve as a visual idea of what is needed from them, and helps the camera man know what to do in terms of camera angles and movements through the instructions below the pictures and the arrows on the drawings themselves.

This can also allow me to delegate tasks to other people because I now know they will carryout what I want them to do for my film without me having to micromanage everything. Furthermore it means I can leave the task to people more skilled at the task in hand, for example, the camera knows what I want from the scene but will carry out better than what I would have necessarily produced.

Synopsis of Short film

The film will start with an establishing, low angle shot looking up at a house in a dark, overcast day, thunder in the background. An interior shot will show that the man is alone in his kitchen, a silhouette can be seen in the background outside, a point of view shot looking into the kitchen will represent some sort of trespasser. Cut back to the man in his house, he feels someone watching him outside but can't see anything and thinks his mind is playing tricks on him.

The man is sleeping in his bed at night, in his house. He is woken up by a noise in the house so he gets up to go and check what the noise is. Tension is built while he slowly goes to check around the house with a torch to find out what the noise was. He is attracted to more noise behind a door at the end of a corridor and slowly goes to investigate, creating more tension. He suddenly opens to door to find that it's his dog "Snugsy" who was just messing around. He is giving his dog a loving hug, thinking all is safe, when a loud crash is heard upstairs. There is another long build up to the man cautiously returning to his room, there is no lighting in the house apart from the torchlight which furthers the horror aspect because there is limited vision. He slowly enters his bed room and walks into the middle of the room. He is looking around when the intruder in the house ominously steps in from of the camera when the film cuts out.

The pictures from the video game Alan Wake are good representations of the type of shots I will use; the torch will be the only form of light in the shots which will leave the rest of the shot in darkness. The picture of The Strangers is also relevant because it shows how the main character is being watched from behind at the beginning.

Mood Board

A mood board is an illustration of my inspirations for a short film supported by camera shots and already existing medias which are similar to what I want.

I have chosen pictures from The Strangers because that is one of my inspirations because of the idea that someone is always in the house with the main character and their presence can be subtly felt. I have used pictures of Alan Wake because I like the idea of an eerie torchlight searching the house for possible danger to create tension. I have include pictures of eerie houses to give the sense of isolation for the character and a silhouette standing outside the house. Lastly, I have the picture of the ISO Scale because I will need ISO scale alteration to make sure my shots more visible because they will be shot in darkness.

Analysis of Castello Cavalcanti

There is a wide establishing shot which sets the scene of a rural and classical Italian town so the audience has some orientation through the film. The camera then pans round so the audience can get a further look into where the film is set and introduce some of the characters such as the elderly people chatting outside the cafe. The music goes well with these camera shots because it has the feel of a quirky working class Europe, this goes well with the town because it is rural and probably full of elderly people and farmers with one restaurant in the town which is the cafe. The music also see to be emitting from the radio which gives the sense of boredom and slowness in the town.

The editing is slow because life is slow and boring (But comfortable) in this town and the upcoming race through there town is a massive event in their year. Lastly the costumes and props such as neon lights bracers give the impression that it is set in the mid 20th century. The film has been going for only 30 seconds and the audience is already aware of where it is set and when.

The sound of engines in the distance builds excitement to what is about to happen, it catches the attention of all the cafe's patrons which creates a contrast with what is expected in this quiet town. This is reinstated by the fact that there is one continuous shot to show the cars racing past.

The driver running into the cafe after crashing and dousing the flames is still one continuous shot which contrasts the fast racing life with the quiet village life. This contrast is also shown by the fact that the race car driver talks fast compared to the villagers. The driver is also placed in the middle of the shot of him at the table with the villagers around to show that he is completely the centre of their attention and is probably the most important person they've had in their village in a long time.

The editing remains slow throughout the film and the music is always played out of the radio inside the cafe, this is always to give the film the feel of a quiet Italian village. The mise-en-sene remains quirky in that the colours are quite vibrant despite the fact that it's a conventional dull village/town and the camerawork usually has the driver in the middle of the shot to signify his importance

The film ends with a wide shot zooming out of the cafe with the driver eating pasta. The slow movement of zooming out shows that the driver is settled and will be staying in the village which gives a peaceful and pleasant ending to the film.

Analysis of Lights Out

There is no music at any point in this film which creates a very eerie and tense atmosphere, it also works as a build up to the anticipated shock which leaves the audience tensing up for the moment. It also adds more emphasis on the sound effects such as the clicking of the light switch which again adds to the tension because the silence shows how the woman is all alone in her home which leaves her and the audience vunurable.

The silence between the flicking of the light switch gives us time to dwell on the silhouette seen in the hallway once the lights are off. The sound of the tape being torn of the light switch is also significant because it confirms the suspicion that there is something else present with the woman and amplifies it.

The majority of camera shots are close ups of the woman's face and POV shots of what the woman is looking at. The close ups of her face are to show here various facial expressions throughout the film, she is calm at the start however as she becomes more aware of something in her house she visually becomes more and more distressed which also shows the severity of the situation. The POV shots are mainly of her looking through the sheets when the demon is in her room, however we can't see anything to create more tension and more fear of the unknown thing in the house.

Lighting is extremely important in the film because it keeps the figure in the hall clouded in mystery. Darkness frightens people because you cannot see what is going on in close proximity to you and gives fear of the unknown. Even the bright lights are not particularly welcoming and literally give light to the emptiness of the house which furthers the feeling of loneliness and vulnerability felt by the woman and the audience.

There is no dialogue in the film because a conversation is too comforting for the audience and again this emphasises the tense silence in the house which creates further tension.

The point of climax is when the woman turns and sees the thing which is invading her house. The thing is some sort of possessed monster or has a major deformity which makes her hideous to behold and hence it only flashes for a split second to shock the audience. Throughout the film the audience has been built up towards this moment and so the spilt second we see of it adds to the horror aspect and mystery. The sound is also explosive at this point which adds to the shock of the moment.

Typical Horror conventions used are dark lighting, to make it more scary and unclear what is hiding in the shadows. There is also a scary mask or face which has been edited in post-production which is also typical of the action adventure genre