Missing Poster- PRODUCTION

I decided to make my missing poster on Photoshop Elements 8.0, having previous experience with this program from making my music magazine last year for my AS. This experience with the program enabled me to complete the missing poster quickly and effectively, meaning that no major time was lost for filming etc.

Here is the finished poster;

Missing Poster

Half way through my filming, I decided that I would not have enough content in my film and also that I needed to have a deeper story line that would entice the audience in and answer questions that were raised by my film cast. 

This is when I decided to adapt my story line and have the idea of people being taken in the forest who wore a particular bracelet. I then had the difficulty of trying to make the audience aware of this, so I decided to do some further research into the horror genre and looked through the research I had already done on my blog, looking for some inspiration. 

I previously liked the idea of using a missing poster, as seen in my earlier posts, I wanted to incorporate the poster in the ending. I then decided to follow a similar idea used in a horror film I recently watched, of who ever finds/wears a particular item, they will be taken next.

I was able to express this idea through a missing poster, as I can write about what the person was last seen in and have the protagonist find this item, deciding to wear it. To further heighten the horror of this idea I have decided to make the protagonist oblivious to the missing poster, therefore emphasizing her vulnerability.  

Camera Workshop

I recently took part in a camera workshop in school, where we got to terms with the cameras and tripods we would be using to shoot our films. This helped me to decide how practical it was to shoot certain scenes in my film and whether I had to change any of the shots from my storyboard so that they were more manageable. We started off by learning the following rules and techniques;

·         Rule of thirds, this is a straightforward principle that will help me to take well balanced and interesting shots. This important technique is where the camera is split into a grid with nine imaginary sections. The general rule is that the points of interest should occur at 1/3 or 2/3 of the way up the frame, rather than in the centre; as naturally we do not look at the centre of an image.

·         With this in mind we looked at how this rule works and how some directors break this rule by having the subject in the middle of the grid, which creates an uncomfortable scene and makes the subject appear daunting. This unconventional technique is something I would therefore take into consideration when filming my horror film, to create an uncomfortable shot.

·         We then looked at walking and talking distance. This is where you must make sure that the subject has enough room in front of them so that they do not walk off/lead the shot with the majority of the space behind them and create an uneasy frame.

·         We also looked at headroom; this is where you don’t want the shot to have excessive empty space above the subjects head. There should be little room above a person’s head in a shot, to ensure it looks comfortable for the audience.

·         We also looked at how to master a zoom. Before this workshop I would have assumed to have just stood as close as possible to the subject and then used the zoom to get closer. However, after comparing this to the new technique we learnt; standing within reasonable distance and then using the zoom to get closer to the subject, I found that it produced a crisper and more defined shot.

·         Once we had finished practicing the basic camera techniques, we moved onto learning about the tripods. Tripods are used to produce a steady frame, therefore making your film appear more professional. The length of them can be changed depending on what type of shot you are looking for; this is particularly useful, as my storyboard features numerous high angle shots, which will help to achieve these shots more affectively.

·         We ended the workshop with looking at how to shoot a conversation between two people. This put into perspective the numerous shots you need for each scene and helped me to understand how time consuming this process is going to be. For example, in a simple conversation, a master shot was used and two over the shoulder shots; one from each side of the character. 

Shot List

I decided to complete a shot list, so when it came to filming I would be able to tick of each of the shots I would have to film and therefore not rely on my storyboard where I may forget to film a certain part. This will give me reassurance when filming and hopefully make the process of filming quicker, as I will not have to work out what to film next.

Opening montage;

• Black screen dissolve into the sky
• Tilt down into establishing shot
  OR
• Gravel/path way
• Tilt into establishing shot of forest
• Extreme close up of moon behind leaves
• Establishing shot of forest path
• Feet walking along the forest path (P.O.V)

Page 3;

• Long shot/high angle shot of girl walking on the path-left hand side
• Long shot of behind the girl-on the path alone
• Hand held camera to back of girls head-becoming quicker as they become closer
• Close up of the back of her head
• Long shot of front of girl
• Median long shot-pause music/check phone
• Close up of phone

Page 4;

• Close up of phone
• Close up of bracelet
• Close up girls face
• Extreme close up of eyes-move left to right
• Hand held camera look right hand side of her path at bushes
• Hand held camera from behind the bush, move closer into the bush when she looks

Page 5;

• Hand held camera behind bush, see girl walk off
• Establishing shot/high angle of cross roads
• Hand held camera, long shot-quick flash down on path
• Hand held camera, long shot-quick flash down opposite path
• Extreme close up of girls face
• Hand held, long shot down the path-see masked man

Page 6;

• Hand held camera- screams and turns away
• Close up low angle shot of masked man in her way
• Jump cut mum at home
• Close up of clock, hand move from 7:00
• Close up of full moon
• Tilt down from moon onto the path
• Camera in front of girl-running past
• Hand held camera of girl running (POV)

Page 7;

• Tracking shot flash past left side of woods
• Median long shot flash past right side of woods
• Median long shot of girl screaming
• Zoom on feet tripping over stick
• Low angle shot of masked people surrounding girl (hole)
• High angle of girl on the floor-trying to back up

Page 8;

• Low angle of masked people with weapon
• Establishing shot of the forest; trees
• Worms eye view of phone-mum trying to call
• Focus pull on phone
• Focus pull on phone- hand in the background with blood scrunching the ground
• Worms eye view of girls hand trying to reach phone
• Focus pull change to girl trying to get phone
• Foot stamp on phone
• Close up on girl crying
• Tilt up from her phone to the masked man

Page 9;

• High angle of girl looking up to masked man
• From her head-long shot tracking shot another masked man pulling her by the feet
• low angle-hand held camera (P.O.V) of girl////high angle (P.O.V from masked man) of girl being dragged away
• Close up on bracelet
• Slow zoom out of bracelet- as much as you can
• Establishing shot of forest
• Median long shot of front door
• Close up of girl in mask holding a knife

EXTRA SCENES

Page 4

• Texting, focus pull on bracelet on floor,
• Close up on bracelet,
• Pick bracelet up,
• Close up on girls face,

Page 3

• Missing poster on tree-walks past it,
• Slow zoom on the poster-bracelet, poster on one of the trees,