Feedback for improvement

Order the web-log so that the film is the last entry, then the evaluation questions in order and then research and planning.

Research/planning

You have location recce with photos.  Role allocation synopsis, mind map cast, schedule,  the script needs to show conventions of scriptwriting  in layout and screen direction. 

When discussing target audience use audience theory such as uses and gratification and demographics. Use the You-gov web-site to really explore a target audience

You discuss why you changed your idea and need to make this a focus of the evaluation

You need a new storyboard and thorough planning

Go through the answers for the evaluation and add to them for the new one.  Explain that you have made two separate ones.

In terms of the film there is good continuity at the start of the opening sequence with a range of shots interior and exterior including an establishing shot..  Show this camera direction in your script.  Appropriate titles and use of sound to evoke atmosphere.   A range of shot types and distances are edited with good pace with clear continuity.  There are some nice touches with sound and editing which create eerie noises and enhance certain shots.

Weaknesses include the fact is all shot in one house whereas your previous film used exterior shots which showed skill filming movement. Could you merge the two films at all? Shots going upstairs are quite dark and could be cut although I understand this is building tension they could be quicker and tighter. The title of the film pops up during this and may be more effective at the start.  Research should have provided a template for an opening sequence, confidence with the form is still shaky in some respects rather than feeling intuitive. The titles all need to happen at the start of the piece and then get into the narrative. Need to consider lighting in some shots. The narrative seems to  peter out at the end. You need to make it clear that there is a boy at the top of the stairs.

Put a Warner Brothers and the Skeleton Productions logo at the start

Put titles at the start

Talk about showing an audience and seeing if the idea of a second child works.

I think the end needs an effect to point out the boy on the stairs

The Playhouse

Recce- The Playhouse

Recce

 

Here are some images of the location we chose to film on for "The Playhouse"...

Kitchen Scene(Woman cuts finger and starts to hear noises)

Front of house(Establishing Shot for opening scene)




Stairs(Possessed child is found at the top)

Bedroom Scene(Possessed child is found inside the wardrobe)

Bedroom Scene



Living Room(Woman walks through in the dark)

 

View from top of stairs

Role Allocation- The Playhouse

Role Allocation

There is a variety of different roles throughout our opening scene. Here is a list of the characters with their role allocations...

• Antonia Georgiou(Mother): The Mother, Antonia Georgiou in our film is shown as a typical mother who cooks, cleans and looks after her child instead of going out to work. She wears casual but smart clothing and her make-up is very simple.
• Stevie Georgiou(Son of Antonia Georgiou): The Son, Stevie Georgiou in our film again is shown as a sweet little boy but because of the storyline to our opening scene he turns to the complete opposite (evil/possessed). We have done this as it will shock the viewer from how the character has changed.

Audience research

Audience research

BFI statistical yearbook 2014:

Using the BFI statistical yearbook (2014) we would classify out film using age classifications a 15 which means anyone aged 15 or above can view the film in the cinema and then when released on DVD anyone from the age of 15 can buy the film.

Our audience for our movie "The Playhouse" would be mainly teenagers and young adults. Teenagers aged between 15+ would be able to watch the film but I wouldn't recommend anyone aged 25+ to watch the film as they might not find it as scary as a teenager would. We would rate our film a 15 as some parts of the film could be found disturbing by anyone younger. Anyone 15 or above would find the film scary but not scaring or disturbing.

Our main age group would definitely be 15-24 as we think that this age would be suitable for our film but also  the films that have been put in this category such as The Woman and Black and The Dark night rises all have features of horror involved.

We also think out film would be good for 25-34 year old too as some of the films in the category such as dark night has features of horror and we also think that 25-34  year old's would enjoy our film.

As you can see from the table above the horror movie The Woman in Black has a higher viewing percentage by females which shows that our film "The Playhouse" could also be viewed more by females.

Why our new movie is better- The Playhouse

Why we decided to change our movie and why it is better...

After a very careful and thoughtful decision, we decided to change our opening scene with a completely different story line.

After watching our first opening scene quite a few times we were really unhappy about our opening scene so we decided to plan out some a new opening scene and started planning out where to film, new characters and a new storyline.

We spoke to our media teacher about re-doing our opening scene and at first he disagreed with the idea as it would take a lot of time and we would have to really focus on it as we would only have a couple of weeks. After showing our teacher all the preparation we ready to re-do our opening scene he finally let us go ahead with the idea.

Here are a few reasons on why we decided to change our movie...

1. Compared to our new and up to date opening scene ... The lighting in our first opening scene was very bad as it was very dark and fuzzy in parts, this caused our opening scene to look very un professional and difficult to see towards the end.

Scene from our first opening scene (The Cellar)

2. There wasn't any speech in our first opening scene so in our re-do we added speech to it. We added dialogue between the mother and son.

Plot Overview- The Playhouse

Plot overview for The Playhouse

 

 

 

In a quiet village, a family of three live in a house that has been sold for a very cheap price but an unknown reason. One night the mother and son are at home settling in whilst the father is at work. Whilst the son is playing and the mother is in the kitchen preparing dinner, the mother cuts her finger whilst chopping up an apple.

 

When she goes to wash her finger and plaster it up, her husband rings up checking on how they are getting on in their new house. Whilst speaking on the phone the mother hears footsteps quickly scattering across the landing upstairs... thinking it is her son.

 

 

She puts down the phone to her husband with mixed emotions towards what could be going on upstairs. With worry she makes her way upstairs with fear in her face. She thinks its her son but soon to find out her son was downstairs. When she gets upstairs she checks all rooms for her son but there is no sign of him at all. She finally checks her sons room where she finds clothes scattered all over the room, with anger the mother thinks she has found her soon in the bathroom.

 

When she realised that her son is not in the bathroom she calls for him and he appears downstairs. The mother looking even more worried makes her way downstairs to investigate when a pale ghostly looking face appears from the top of the stairs.

Mind Map- The Playhouse

Mind Map Of Horror Movies

 

 

 

As you can see above I did a mind map on a few different horror movies and what each horror movie has involved and how it would make the audience feel.

 

 

Our new movie "The Playhouse" includes a possessed child and ghostly actions so our opening scene is quite similar to Insidious as a possessed child was used in that film and also the conjuring with the ghostly actions.

 

 

Watching open scenes to horror movies helped us get ideas for own. After watching a few we put little bits of each one to create our own.

Casting- The Playhouse

Casting

The Mother- The mother who is the main character is played by Antonia Georgiou. The mother is portrayed as a typical mother who takes care of her child. She is dressed in simple clothes and has a very caring personality.

The son- The son is played by Stevie Georgiou. The son is again portrayed as a typical young child, playing on his Ps3. He is dressed in young boys clothes like a young boy would be. His personality is sweet and innocent.

Filming Schedule- The Playhouse

Filming Schedule

Wednesday 11th February- Filming all of opening scene at my house.

5.00pm- Set up camera and tripod.

5.15pm- Start filming.

6.30pm- 10 minute break from filming.

6.40pm-Finish off all filming.

7.30- Go through all footage and make sure we have everything we need.

Thursday 14th February- Recording sounds for opening scene.

5.00pm- Record sounds for opening scene.

5.30- Finish.

On Friday 15th we started putting together all of our footage, cutting and editing it and added sound. We finished editing our opening scene a couple of lessons later.