Media Short Film Evaluation

Genre

Upon being set the brief to create a short film, we chose to create a film from the genre
of Horror. The reasons for which we chose the genre of horror is because we knew that
we would be able to convey the clear conventions based around this genre, such as jump
scared, long intense build ups that lead to climatic scares, and also strongly portray the
idea of the supernatural and demonic possession.

Our film is conventional due to the main theme of the genre and the actions included in
order to achieve our intent of scaring the audience and creating a sense of delirium and
confusion throughout. This is captured by the way in which we shoot each specific scene
in order to increase the fear factor and the states of tensions, therefore leading to fear
being created and a true horror experience for our audience. This was captured through
the way in which we used sound effects to build the tension, such as loud bangs and
quiet violin music that builds up, becoming louder and louder until it reaches a climax
and a horror/ unpleasant presence is then presented on screen. Each scene is made to
conjure the sense of fear by the different camera angles and positions we use in order to
create effective shots and immerse the audience into what can be seen as a very realistic
portrayal of a possession of a young girl. This sticks with the audience, as our main
target audience are of the age of 15-18 (teenagers). This results in us as the directors
gaining the preferred reading of terrifying the audience as we are able to connect and
portray our ideas and conceptions of horror through teenage characters. This then
personifies the horror aspects and creates for a compelling and gripping watch. In order
for us to gain the preferred reading it was crucial for us to plan in detail.

Idea
We began our planning by creating initial ideas through a large mind map. This helped
us as we could plan a brief idea of what we could make our short film about and choose
the best idea that we came up with. This was an important piece of planning
documentation as it gave us a basis and general stimuluses’ for what we intended to
include in our film. It also help us with the whole process of deciding what genre, what
themes and what the general film was going to be about, as we were able to jot down all
the ideas that came to our head and decide what ideas we though would work and look
the best. Therefore leading to us choosing a supernatural horror.

We then chose our final idea and developed it, putting it into a detailed mind map. We
chose the first idea on our initial mind map, which was a horror, as we thought this was
the strongest idea for a film and we thought, that we would be able to convey our
aspects of horror clearly and in a well-organised and creative manor.

The overall idea begins with a slow fade in revealing a girl in her bedroom and her
phone begins to ring. She jumps on her bed and answers the call; her friend is on the
other side and wants to meet her in the park near their house. However, Emilys states
that the time is rather late and wonders if it is a good idea to go, but she is convinced
none the less to meet her friend in the park. There is then a black out and the viewing
jump cuts to Emily walking into the park. Upon arriving at the park she looks around
and can’t seem to find her friend Amber. The scene is based late in the evening to add to
the horror theme as the later it gets in the day the darker and more eerie things become,
this heightens the horror aspects as night time is generally known as the time when bad
things happen. The girl now alone and isolated; tries to call her friend but there is no
answer. The girl begins to panic and looks about the park, as she is doing this she notices
one of the swings moving on its own. She begins to panic, after this she looks to a tree
positioned next to the swings and sees a vague figure peering out of the woods. She
begins to run. She runs across the film, which shows to the audience how isolated and
alone she is by the fact that she is seemingly running forever over such a vast open
space. She stumbles over as she turns into the ally and quickly looks behind her to see if
the figure has followed. There was nothing there; she then looks in front of her and its
all clear so she runs off. The camera fades out and jump cuts to show her waking up the
next morning. She walks down stairs and goes into the kitchen, as she enters she sees
that all the draws and cupboards are open, she freaks out and clamps he eyes shut
hoping it will all go away, upon opening her eyes all the cupboards are close and
returned to their original positions, the girl is very confused on what has happened as
she doesn’t know if it’s a dream or not. She begins to call for her mum and dad and the
viewing then fades out and a new scene is presented. There is then a jump cut to the girl
in bed that night and she can’t sleep and she keeps having the same dream of something
standing at the end of her bed in the doorway. Then one night she jumps out of bed and
walks into the toilet to wash her face. As she lifts her head back up there is a
monster/demon standing behind her, she screams, and by the abrupt black out the
audience is notified that something very bad has happened to Emily and she is in grave
danger. A few days pass and the parents begin to get scared as their daughter is acting
strange and isn’t leaving her bedroom. From this they call her friend, Amber who was
suppose to meet her in the park, however, when Amber picks up the phone she has no
idea of a meeting in the park. So the friend decides to come round and try to talk to
Emily. The friend arrives and walks in the house being greeted by the parents, showing
that Amber is a close friend of Emily, therefore giving the audience an idea that these
girls have been friends for a long time and have a history together. She then climbs the
stairs and goes into her friend’s room, located at the top of the house in the attic; she
opens the door and sees Emily standing facing the wall muttering to her. Amber calls her
name. There is no reply, so she calls again and the friend turns and says yes, however
her voice is deep and masculine and her eyes are black. Ending the video, showing the
girl has been possessed.

We were able to gain help from our film analysis, which was a task where we had to pick
3 short films of any genre, and create an analysis on them. This included many different
pieces of analysis; such as what types of camera angles did they use and how were they
effective. What was the mise-en-scene used, and how was this effective? We were tasked
to go in depth about the micro aspects, analyse them and see how you could possibly
adapt some of the ideas we have seen and use them in our own short film. This was a
very useful task as it showed us many new ideas, in terms of what camera angles to use
in order to create an effective horror, how to edit effectively and create an exciting and
thrilling horror that keeps the audience on the edge of their seat. Also through doing
film analysis, it showed us many things that we though we shouldn’t do. This saved us
time in our filming process as we already knew some camera angles we didn’t want to
use and we got a general grasp for the style and way in which horrors were filmed,
allowing us to have smooth filming and this also gave us support when it came to editing
and adding sound effects over the top of our footage.
We managed to take inspiration from blockbuster horrors
such as ‘sinister’, ‘the conjuring’ and the ‘6th sense’. This gave
us clear notions of what is included in a horror in order to
make it scary and action pact, whilst not being tedious with
build ups that last too long, loosing the climax of the scene.
We chose these films to use as inspiration as they are all
supernatural horrors and involve some sort of possession of
haunting that scared the victims throughout the film. We
wanted supernatural horrors to take inspiration from as our
idea is about a young girl getting possessed.
We chose ‘sinister’ as there are many slick
and nifty transitions that heighten the
tension of the scene and clearly progress the narrative making it clear
for the audience what’s happening and how the family is slowly being
haunted by a terribly demon. We also chose the film the 6th sense as its
based upon a boy who can see the dead, creating for a very scary and
real film. As I have previously seen this film I knew there were aspects
that we could modify in order to place it into our production that
would work well and look good on screen, creating a frightening
horror film. This allowed us to create an exciting, realistic and
terrifying horror film that scared the audience and leaves them on the
edge of their seat.

Aspects that we chose to use that we thought work well within our film, were things
such as music and sound effects. The music used is very ominous and fits the genre of a
horror by the way in which it builds the idea of danger and heightens the tension as it
foretells, by the fast pace and heightening pitch of the track, that a scare is coming or
someone is about to be scared on screen. Continuing from this point, the music was used
to also be misleading and trick the audience into thinking a jump scare is about to
happen. For example, the main character Emily is shown to have a restless night sleep
and goes into the bathroom. However, when she gets up, scary intense music begins to
play, making the audience thing that she is about to be scared or hurt, however, we
resolved this and misled the audience as at the very climax of the track, the tap then
begins to run, shattering the tension of the scene and dissolving the scary atmosphere
that was initially created. This entices the audience and immerses them as they are
beginning to get into the viewing emotionally.
Pre Production
We did a large amount of pre production in order to create our film. We did many things
from a call sheet to a paper edit sheet and budget. We created forms and documents
such as these in order to make the creation process of our film as realistic as possible,
and to show us what is needed in order to create a short film or film in general. This
helped with the creation of our film as it allowed us to see clearly what goes into
creating a film and all the aspects you need to consider when creating a film.
By creating a budget, it allowed us to see what filming devices we need and how
expensive these pieces of equipment would be. For example, we were able to see how
much a proper filming camera would cost and the different qualities of which different
cameras are able o provide for you. It also showed us what lighting is needed in order to
create a good short film, and how expensive this would be. This is the same for the
sound equipment that we needed to look into in order to create an effective film of our
own.
We then moved on to create a detailed script with clear
annotations and intentions written on it, in order to
allow the actors to know what to do and how to feel in
each specific scene. This was very useful for us as it
gave us a back bone and structure for the whole
creation process of our play, allowing us to stick to the
script and always have clarity of what scenes next and
what is happening in the film. This made filming a lot
easier as we didn’t need to improvise any scenes. Also,
because we produced and created a clear and detailed
script it meant that very little changes needed to be
made when filming, again speeding up the filming
process. When the script was created and filming
began, we held a small meeting/ gathering with all of
the actors in order for them to familiarise themselves with the script and get an
understanding for what emotions we intended for the to create. However, there were
very small changes made to the script in the meeting that we held. Some actors though
that certain sentences that didn’t make sense, so they helped us by suggesting ideas for
what would sound better and I would make a decision weather I thought it was a
positive change.

We were also helped when it comes to making the filming

process easier by the fact that we created a story board with
clear pictures showing what each of our intentions are for the
play as a whole. This made filming run very smoothly and we
had little setbacks when it came to filming as we have created
clear stepping stones and guidelines, so all we needed to do
was follow our plan and make few corrections in order to
create the best film we possibly could. Again, similar to the
script, because the story board was created with a lot of detail
it meant that few changes were made and we were able to
visually see by the images what the general censes for each
scene was. This strengthen by the fact that we annotated these
pictures and wrote exactly what is happening, with each
specific character, allowing us to have a very solid guide, making the filming process run
very smoothly. We then took the story board further and created an animated one, with
detailed animations of each character and each setting for the scenes. This allowed us to
have a clear visual representation of what the characters will look like, how they are
positioned and what they are doing in each
scene. Again, making the filming process
easier and a smoother process.

We were then tasked to create a call sheet. This is a document that shows who is in
charge of what when it come to the creation of the filming. Making it easier for the
creators and directors to know who has what responsibility and what to do when tasked
with each specific job. However, our group only consisted of myself and Charlotte Elkins,
meaning that we needed to divide all of the tasks between the 2 of us. This could have
meant that detail may have been missed in specific areas of our filming, however, we
were able to handle the numerous
tasks and create a good-looking short
film, clear following the intended
conventions of a horror. We were then
led to create a paper edit sheet which
is a document that step by step lays
out the foundations, to timing, what is
happening on screen at what time and
with the specific characters that are
needed for the scene. This again was
very helpful when coming to the
filming process of the play as it saved
us a lot of time as we knew exactly
what we were doing when filming.
The paper edit sheet just gave us more
depth when coming for filming, what
each specific scene and movement in
the film would be, what happens and how the story unfolds and how we capture the
aspect of fear in order to capture our intent of a horror.

Proposal;
After a large amount of our pre-production was completed, we were then tasked to put
all of the work we had create and place it into one PowerPoint document that we
presented to the teacher whilst being filmed.

The proposal was a task where we had to present and

vocalise our idea in order to get feedback and show that
we have create a strong idea and stimulus for a short film.
We began by explaining and stating what our idea is and
what happens within the film. Showing how there is a
narrative and clear structure to the story, building to a
climactic point and ending in a resolve either good or bad.

We had to annotate and pick apart the work

we had already done and state why we had
done it in that fashion, showing to the teacher
and examiner that we knew what we were
talking about making it clear to them that we
have researched how to film for the genre of a horror and how to capture that fear factor
that all horrors strive for. This task also gave us a lot of help and insight into how to film
certain scenes differently and how small changes could have a very positive impact on
the overall quality of the production. For example, the teachers saw that we had done
very little analysis of other supernatural horror films, so they asked us to create a horror
film analysis. This was very useful for us as we saw new ideas and conventions that are
associated with supernatural horror films. One key element that we discovered through
this process was how other films use low-key lighting in order to create very scary and
horrific scenes that frighten its viewers. This gave us the inspiration to manipulate this
transcending it into our own film, creating the scariest horror we could. However, we
saw that many horrors focus too much on the ‘scare’ aspect of the film, meaning that the
narrative of the story become very dull and boring. So, because of this we intended to
create a horror that had a clear narrative with impactful moments, putting our
production ahead of the rest.

Analysis of Production;
The filming soft wear that we chose to use whilst filming was a Cannon camera, just a
standard filming camera. We chose to use this for a number of reasons, first being the
fact that we already had it available to us, and also the quality that can be captured by
using a Cannon camera is very good, allowing us to filming good clear shots and capture
the clips we wanted. Post filming we needed to edit, so for this we used the editing soft
wear called, Premier Pro. Premiere Pro is a timeline-based video editing app developed
by Adobe Systems and published as part of the Adobe Creative Cloud licensing program.
This allowed us to edit our video, making cuts and transitions clear throughout. This
also allowed us to put all of our footage together and make an entire piece that we could
present and hand in for our task. It also allowed us to add sound effects by using an app
called YTMP3.EU, which converts sounds from YouTube and allows you to place them
onto and over your own-filmed pieces of footage. This allowed us to create a very
effective horror, as we were able to create build-ups and force tensions in order to scare
the audience and make a convincing and gripping horror film.

We were face with a number of challenges and hazards when it came to filming. For
example, one of the days we planned and chose to film on, it began to rain ruining our
filming schedule as we didn’t want to include rain into our film, as 1 we thought it would
be too noisy and 2 it would make the footage very hard to see as it became very dark
and ambient. Another challenged we faced when we were in the rain was trying to keep
all of our electrical equipment dry so that it didn’t break or get damaged, meaning that
we needed to come back and film on another day.
However, on the other hand to this, most of the filming in general went really well and
ran smoothly due to all of our pre production and planning of the film. The easiest and
least time consuming filming was the filming inside the house. This was due to obvious
reasons, such as not having to deal with nature and capture certain shots at certain
times because it is too noisy, dark or light for certain scenes. This meant that we were
able to capture all of the indoor footage in one day and not have to wait. However, our
film did require re-filming for certain parts meaning that we needed to schedule a re-
filming day, juts to capture the parts that didn’t come out right the first time. In my
opinion the filming that went the most successful was filming the time-lapse scene of the
film when Emily is seen to getting affected and tormented in her sleep by a large black
figure that stands over her. This is because when this footage was put together and
edited with sound, it makes a really effective and scary piece of the play, denoting to the
audience that the demon is in her house and is soon going to posses her.

If I were tasked to create short film again, I wouldn’t actually change that many aspects
of the film. I was really happy with the way in which our film turned out, however we
have a few very minor parts where I think new and different sounds could be added in
order to capture that sense of fear and horror in the clearest and most ominous way. For
example when Emily is shown to walk into her kitchen and all of the cupboards are
open, I would play a very quiet and underlying track of a soft violin, slowly building up,
conjuring tension for the audience as they can see that the acts presented by the actors
and set are very strange and follow a superstitious nature. This would make the short
film more interesting to watch and allow it to fit the conventions of horror better and in
a bolder way.