Production - Trailer Rough Cut

North Chamber Rough Cut from Sam Duxbury on Vimeo.

This is the rough cut for our trailer, which will differ from our final trailer as it does not yet include a voiceover monologue, and we are yet to shoot some scenes which will be included in our final production. Of the footage we already have, we are predominantly happy with how it looks in this rough form, however we would like to make some of the shots less sustained to be more in keeping with trailer conventions.

Production - Shoot Diary 5th December 2014

Call Sheet - 5.12.14

Prior to this shoot, we arranged for three of our actors to arrive at the same time, so we could film the scene with only them in before our fourth actor got to the location. Two of our actors (Robert Mason and Loan Evans) attend our school which is our location, and their costumes were basically their school uniforms with some additions, so they were quickly ready to film. After Kaitlyn Knight had changed into her costume and had her make up done, we were able to start filming the first scene on the call sheet.

This scene could have been very problematic, as it involved one of our characters ripping a page from our main character's notebook, meaning that we only had the chance to film one take of this scene, as the page would have to be ripped from the book. However, we got around this problem by ripping the book before we filmed the scene, and having Loan, who was supposed to rip the book, hold the ripped page in place and pull it out, meaning we could film multiple takes of this scene. Another problem was that the location for this scene was outside, and was therefore very cold due to the time of year, so we had to film quickly for the comfort of our actors.

Once our fourth actor arrived and had changed into her costume, we could film the rest of the scenes on the call sheet. The next two scenes posed a challenge, as some books needed to be knocked out of our main character's hands and then be shown in close up landing on the floor in the next shot, meaning continuity was an issue; we had to film many takes of the books landing on the floor and, off camera, Kaitlyn had to throw the books into shot. Another challenge was the fact our main character had to be "pushed" by the others onto the floor, which was an obvious health and safety risk. No one was hurt, as our actors only pretended to push her and she pretended to fall.

The remaining scenes could be filmed without any problems, and overall we were very happy with the footage we had filmed on this shoot. We could have improved some things though; we noticed a water bottle in one of our shots whilst editing which, as these shots were supposed to be set in the 1940's, did not fit with our setting. Also during editing, we realised that one of our actors was too loud and used some phrases which would not have been used in the 1940's, which we could have rectified by directing him more when shooting.

Production - Shoot Diary 26th November 2014

Call Sheet - 26.11.2014

Before this shoot we had established that our actor, Miranda Markham, would get a lift to the shooting location, so we could all stay in school setting up our location. We had to film during the school day because our location, a cleaning store cupboard, would be unavailable after school had finished as cleaners would need access to it. Only Rebecca had met Miranda before, so we had decided to film scenes with only her as she is a main character who we needed to film with again and therefore familiarise ourselves with her. Whilst we were waiting for our actor to arrive we set up our filming location. First, the cleaners removed any equipment they could store anywhere else from the cupboard, and we put all harmful cleaning chemicals to the side so neither the crew nor our actor could knock them over. After this, we placed our props in the location, putting our old photo on the door, and books on a shelf inside the cupboard.

Our actor arrived in costume, so we could start filming immediately after she arrived. The biggest challenge we faced when filming was working in a small space which could not accommodate all four of us. It was a struggle to fit our actor, someone operating a camera, and someone holding the lighting into this small space, but we managed to get all the footage we needed. Lighting was another issue; whilst we wanted the scene we were filming to have low key lighting, the cupboard was too dark with no lighting and too bright with the lights turned on. We had to improvise lighting by using the torch function on Rebecca's phone, but achieved a level of lighting that we were happy with, one which will fit the conventions of lighting in the horror genre.

Overall, we were happy with what we had filmed on this shoot, and did not have much we wanted to improve. The flour we used to resemble dust on the books that our actor picks up did not show up on camera, so putting it on the books was an inefficient use of our time, and if we were to do this shoot again we would probably not use the flour.

Behind the scenes footage of our shoot:

North Chamber: Store Cupboard BTS from Sam Duxbury on Vimeo.

Production - Music and Sound Effects

To get music and sound effects, we initially looked at two websites which provide free music and sound effects. These were www.soundbible.com, which features mostly sound effects and www.incompetech.com, which contains mostly music.

The majority of sound effects and music from these sites are either royalty free, in the public domain, or have Creative Commons Attribution 3.0, meaning that we can use them in our production, subject to conditions. Royalty free sounds can be used commercially in media products, but cannot be redistributed for profit. A Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 sound must be attributed to the creator of the audio if used in a media product. There are no conditions, however, on pubic domain audio. Something is in the public domain - meaning it is owned by the public and therefore freely available - if it is older than the public domain age setting, or if the creator of the audio wants it to be public domain.

We also looked on www.youtube.com for music, and found a piece of music we are planning to use in our trailer. We have asked permission from its creator, Taylor Heywood, to use this music, and we have received this as long as we credit him.

Production - Monologue Recording

Monologue from Rebecca Ainsworth on Vimeo.

Production - Shoot Diary 19th November 2014

Call Sheet - 19.11.2014

Before the date of this shoot we had arranged for our actor, Kaitlyn Knight, to be picked up by Rebecca and driven to our school, where we would be filming. We chose to film scenes with only her on this first shoot as she plays a main character in our trailer and we wanted to familiarise ourselves with her, as only Rebecca had met her beforehand. All props, make up, costumes, and other equipment had been brought into school on the day so we could film. When our actor arrived, she got changed into her costume, and Hannah did her make up.

After Kaitlyn had been prepared we began shooting, using the call sheet above  which we had produced before the day of our shoot as a plan of what we would film, our script, shot list, and storyboards as guides. We started with simple scenes where our actor would not have to say anything, just walk, to ease her in, before scenes which required more difficult acting. 

The first shot proved a little problematic, as we were filming at the end of the school day, meaning some people were leaving and went past where we were shooting; this meant we could not get anything filmed for a short time. Also, this shot required me, operating the camera, to follow Kaitlyn as she walked up the stairs, tracking her feet. This meant I had to start off crouched down, and as she walked up the stairs I had to follow her movement, whilst also getting up from my crouched position, without making my camera movements too jerky. This required multiple takes as I became more used to doing this complicated movement with the camera, but we eventually achieved a shot which the group was happy with. 

In the third and fourth shots on the call sheet, our actor had to angrily bang the window in the third shot, and mirror in the the fourth, to show her frustration about being bullied. This required our director, Hannah, to explain to Kaitlyn what we needed her to do and get a good performance from her. After some different takes with altered camera position, and after Kaitlyn had really grasped what we wanted her to do, we got footage we were happy with for use in our trailer.

Overall, our first shoot went well and we are satisfied with the scenes we have filmed. However, some things could have been improved. The fake blood we were using had to be poured down a sink in one scene, and we did not like how the blood fell in drops and flowed in the basin, as we did not feel it looked realistic. We had not tested the blood beforehand, which, in hindsight, would have been a good idea, as we would have known how the blood acted and possibly put it into a different container for the shoot so it could be properly poured, rather than squeezed from a tube. As well as this, our shoot ran on for longer than we had planned, affecting how we will plan future shoots, probably including fewer scenes in one day and improving our efficiency in setting up our locations and actors.

Planning - Voice Over Script

We have decided that our trailer will include a voice over. This will be heard when the character of Scarlett is in the store cupboard and finds Cassandra's notebook. The voice over gives viewers insight into the plot of the film without giving too much away, and will make the scene more atmospheric as the voice over will be whispered, putting the audience on edge. The voice over is a rhyming monologue, as we took inspiration from the rhyming voice over from the trailer for The Woman In Black

Voice Over Script:
Covered in dust
At the back of a cupboard
There is a book full of secrets
Soon to be discovered
In the North Chamber
She’ll find it there.
Cassandra’s book
Don’t touch it.
Beware.
KEEP OUT.

Production - Film Company Logo Research and Creation

We have decided to use Ghost House Pictures as our real production company, as they exclusively produce horror films, some larger box office hits than others. For example, they produced the American remake of The Grudge(2004), The Possession(2012), and the 2013 remake of Evil Dead. This means that, whilst our film, if we were able to release it for real would not be a very small production, it would probably not be a massive blockbuster, making it likely that a dedicated horror production company would be involved, alongside a smaller production company. To obtain the logo for this production company we found the logo animation on YouTube, downloaded it, and put it into the start of our trailer.

Our small production company is called Red Herring Productions, which is the production company from my AS coursework, named as we were making a film in the thriller genre, and red herrings are frequently used in thrillers as a plot device. This device is still relevant to horror films, as they often mislead their audiences to increase shock value, for example making viewers think that the protagonist has escaped the antagonist, when he/she is really still in danger. To create our production logo, we used an online logo creator and then separated the text and image parts of the logo in Photoshop which will allow us to animate the logo in Pinnacle so separate parts of the logo appear at different times.

Planning - Costume and Props

Quality costumes and props are very important for this feature, due to it being a period film, a genre where props and costumes are vital to creating an accurate representation of the past. Conventionally, these props and costumes are very lavish, but due to our film being set during World War 2 rationing, our props and costumes will have to be very plain.

Costume

Cassandra

• White shirt
• Black pinafore
• White socks
• Brogue style shoes
• Red ribbon
• Contact Lenses

Natalie

• White shirt
• Black pinafore
• White socks
• Brogue style shoes

William

• White shirt
• Black formal trousers
• Dark tie
• Formal school shoes

George

• White shirt
• Black formal trousers
• Dark tie
• Formal school shoes
• Dark braces

Scarlett

• White shirt
• Plain black school skirt
• Black socks
• Modern school shoes

Teacher

• Any formal work clothing e.g. blouse and pencil skirt

Props

• Sketchbook
• Wholemeal Flour (to use as dust)
• Old Picture
• Bag
• Extra books
• Fake blood

Planning - Casting List

Cassandra - Kaitlyn Knight

Kaitlyn is very passionate about writing, acting and singing; she especially likes to write and perform her own songs. Through pursuing this passion she has achieved many awards including a Music Achievement award, Performance Excellence Award, and Singer of the Year, as well as performing in King George’s Hall.

She has had various extra parts in several public performances including Snow White, Mamma Mia, and Joseph and his Technicolour Dreamcoat. Her biggest role was Harmony Galloway in a Theatre production called The Ghosts of Galloway House.

Scarlett - Miranda Markham

Miranda is currently training at The Performance Academy, Accrington, and is a dedicated, enthusiastic and talented performer who is equally at home acting, dancing, modelling and singing. She has performed in dance and drama shows, acting and musical theatre festivals, dance, drama and singing examinations and has won an array of trophies for acting and speech in Music and Arts festivals in the North West.

George - Loan Evans

Loan has numerous hobbies which include playing both bass and electric guitars, as well as flugal horn. He enjoys acting, but filming will be a new experience for him.

William - Robert Mason

   
Robert went to Northern Primary School where he obtained many main parts in Christmas performances before joining Bacup and Rawtenstall Grammar School in September 2013. He has attended the Performance Academy since 2012 and has taken part in the last three summer shows. He has recently been awarded a Distinction in his Grade 5 drama exam and is currently studying for his GCSE in Drama at the Performance Academy.

Natalie - Sophie Barnes

   

Sophie is very interested in Drama and Dance. She currently attends The Performance Academy and has just received honours in her first drama exam. She is also studying for a drama qualification - NCFE - at the Performance Academy.  Previously she attended Burnley Youth Theatre and performed in several plays including The Event and Animal Farm.

Teacher - Nicola Markham

Nicola began her acting training at Mountview Theatre School and has since completed a Masters Degree in Physical Theatre at Huddersfield University. During her twenty-year career as a professional actress Nicola has performed in a wide variety of theatre and film productions including a four-year No.1 tour and West End run of the hit comedy Girls’ Night Out. Further credits include a No.1 tour of The Secret Garden, annual pantomimes playing a variety of characters and a recent performance of a one-woman play called Artist Unknown which toured Manchester Fringe venues earlier this year.

Planning - Job Roles in a Film Crew

A film crew is a group of professionals hired by a film’s production company to produce a film. All crew members have their own job title and are involved in producing the film in different ways, however there are often multiple people working in the same role as part of a film crew, for example the film may have more than one producer.
Job roles in typical film crews include:

• Director
• Manages the creative aspects of a film, such as selecting locations the film will be shot in, directing actors, as well as controlling the use of lighting, positioning of cameras, and the content of the film’s soundtrack. They are seen by many as the head of a films production, but are in fact secondary to the film’s producer.
• Hannah will have this role during the production of our film as she has experience with acting, meaning she will know how to direct our actors.
• Producer
• Coordinates the process of filmmaking, by hiring key personnel, funding the film, and controlling how the film will be distributed. There may be more than one producer working on a film, and each producer will specialise in a certain role, for example finance or marketing, but as we only have three people working on our production this will not be the case for us.
• Rebecca will have this role as she and Hannah work well together and we can trust her with money.
• Director of Photography (DoP)
• Works with the film’s director to control the lighting and framing of shots. Directors will usually tell the DoP how they want a shot to look, and the DoP will create this using the desired type of lens, filter, and lighting.
• I will have this role as I like working with cameras and shot composition.
• Camera Operator
• Works under the DoP and director to film scenes. Sometimes, the DoP may also be a camera operator, but this is not very common.
• Each of us will take it in turns to operate the camera as there are only three of us in our film crew. If we were involved in a real production, there would be separate camera operators hired
• Editor
• Head of editing, i.e. assembling the shots recorded into order to create the film. They work closely with the director, and are often helped by several assistant editors, which is what we will be doing.
• We will all contribute to the task of editing, with Rebecca being the head editor. Again, separate personnel would be hired to edit if this was a real production.

Planning - Permission Letters

To shoot our trailer in school, we needed to obtain permission from the school's headmaster and the owner of the property. Below is the letter showing that we got permission from the school to use the premises to film on:

We also needed permission to film the majority of our actors from their legal guardians, due to the fact that our actors are all under 18, apart from Nicola Markham, who plays a teacher. The forms below are examples of the written permission we received:

Planning - Storyboards

These are the storyboards for our film trailer. We will use these storyboards along with our shot list, to show which shots need to be filmed and how they will look, which is very important to my role as cinematographer. Obviously, the shots we film may not be completely identical to the storyboards as we may not be able to achieve these shots within the constraints of a real life set, or we, the production crew, may decide that a different shot would look better.

Planning - Shot List

LOCATION: EXT. SCHOOL

Scene 1

-Panning establishing long shot of school from car park.

LOCATION: EXT. SCHOOL YARD

Scene 6

-Panning long Shot of Cassandra, Natalie and Ruth on playground through fence.

-Medium long shot of Natalie and Ruth holding up book and shouting whilst ripping out pages.

-Close up shot of book drooping to the floor. Laughing and mocking can still be heard.

LOCATION: EXT. SCHOOL DRIVE

Scene 15

-Long side on tracking shot of Scarlett walking down the drive, a tree appears in the right hand side of the shot with a red ribbon attached to the branches as she gets to the bottom of the hill.

LOCATION: INT. CLASSROOM 1

Scene 2

-Medium Close up shot of Cassandra in right hand side. She is drawing in her sketch book and 2 girls can be seen out of focus in the background towards the left third. Focus Pull so the bullies are in focus as they throw a scrunched up piece of paper at her head. Casandra turns to look at the bullies then turns away back to her drawing and there is another focus pulls back to Cassandra so we can see her expression.

Scene 17

-Medium Close up of Cassandra in class (as in scene 2). The bullies are still laughing.

-Same shot as previously but in the modern day. Scarlett is sat in the same place as Cassandra was in the past. Cassandra appears as a ghost is behind her.

LOCATION: INT. STAIRCASE

Scene 3

-Hand held tracking close up shot of Scarlett’s feet walking up the steps.

LOCATION: CORRIDOR 1 – BELFREY

Scene 4

-Long shot of Cassandra walking down the corridor towards the camera. Bullies   (Natalie and Ruth) are running up from behind.

-Medium Close up from behind of bullies pushing Cassandra over.

Scene 8

-Same shot as previous. Over the shoulder shot from behind Cassandra, the bullies can be seen running off down the corridor at the right hand side of the shot.

LOCATION: BELFREY WINDOW

Scene 10

-Close up of Cassandra hitting the window.

Scene 19

-Medium long shot from behind Cassandra sat on the window sill looking out.

LOCATION: INT. CORRIDOR 2 – EXTENSION CORRIDOR

Scene 5

-Handheld tracking extreme close up shot of the ribbon in Cassandra’s hair.

LOCATION: INT. GIRL’S BATHROOM

Scene 7

-Medium over the shoulder shot of Cassandra looking at her reflection in mirror.

Scene 9

-Hand held close up of blood draining down sink.

Scene 11

-Match on action from scene 10. Cassandra continues to hit bathroom mirror.

Scene 20

-Similar to scene 7. Medium over the shoulder shot from behind the ghost of Cassandra looking in mirror.

LOCATION: INT. CUPBOARD

Scene 12

-Medium long shot from inside of door being opened by Scarlett.

-Jump cut to Scarlett picking the book off the shelf.

-Jump cut of POV shot of her looking through the book. Turns to a drawing we have seen before.

-Medium long shot from back of the cupboard of her looking at the book. Door slams and she looks up.

LOCATION: INT. CLASSROOM 2

Scene 13

-Medium close up shot of Scarlett.

-180 degree pan around the back of Scarlett’s head, revealing the teacher as she starts talking.

Scene 16

-Big Close up of Scarlett flicking through pages of Cassandra’s book, tracking out slightly.

-Close up from the side of Scarlett starting to write in the book.

-Tracking out, Fast shots broken up by white flashes.

-Scratches made by Cassandra appear on Scarlett’s hand, getting worse each time there is a flash.

Scene 21

-A slight high angle medium close up shot of Scarlett writing in book, Cassandra suddenly strangles Scarlett from behind using a red ribbon.

LOCATION: INT. LOCKER ROOM

Scene 22

-Long shot of Scarlett running down the corridor (through the door window).

-Sudden extreme close up of Cassandra’s face through the window.

LOCATION: INT. CLASSROOM 3

Scene 14

-Long shot of Scarlett standing next to table, looking through her bag.

-Longshot from behind Scarlett, Cassandra walks in between the camera and where Scarlet is stood.

-Cassandra turns around to face where the camera is.

-Longshot from Scarlett’s point of view – red ribbon.

Planning - Location Recce

This video from our location recce shows the locations we will could be using to film our trailer. When drafting or reviewing our script, shot list and storyboard, we can look at this video to help us decide which location to use for each scene.
We took it in turns to film, direct and scout locations, and conduct a risk assessment at each location so we could all contribute ideas and spread the workload evenly.
The risk assessment we conducted:

Risk Assessment Sheet

Planning - Script Version Two

North Chamber

This is the amended version of our first script, and is the final draft of the script for our trailer.

Planning - Script Version One

Script Draft 1

Planning - Film Synopsis

When a dusty old diary is found, hidden in the back store cupboard, an angry spirit is disturbed and returns to seek revenge on the girl who dared open the book full of secrets.

During the Blitz a young girl named Cassandra was evacuated from London and taken to a school in the North of England for the duration of the War. She was left in the school feeling lonely and helpless; an outsider. Her only outlet was her diary which she kept close to her at all times. She was teased and bullied by the other children, sinking into a deeper depression each day she was away from her home and family. Eventually she had had enough of her life and ended her suffering by hanging herself in the North Chamber.

Over 60 years later, Scarlett, a school girl, finds the diary in a store cupboard. Not knowing the consequences of her actions or the horror she is about to encounter, she opens the diary. This causes Cassandra’s spirit to be unleashed and she returns to seek revenge on Scarlett and any other person who gets in her way.

Planning - Initial Film Ideas

The method our group used for the initial planning of our film idea was the “flip-chart method” used by Simon Pegg and Edgar Wright (Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz, The World’s End). This video explaining the method is an extract from the Hot Fuzz DVD extras:

This method appealed to me because I felt like it was a good way to get ideas down on paper to base the film’s premise on. Even ideas that would not end up featuring in the film if we actually made it could be written down and allowed to shape the final product. Some individual ideas might be better than others, and I think this method makes it easier to spot the better ideas and develop upon them more, so they become a large part of the finished product and the less relevant ideas can either form a small part of the final product or not be included at all, producing a better film at the end of the process.

Another feature of this method I found useful was the detailed character profiles that could be included in the planning. Having a full idea of a character means you know how they will react in certain situations, which would make a finished film seem more realistic. Without this, characters could react to situations in ways that don’t match their personality, negatively affecting audience reception. This will help us in producing a trailer which shows viewers what our characters are like in the short space of time that we have. As audiences would have more of an idea what our characters are like, they would be more likely to be interested in seeing the full length film.

Below are pictures of our planning notes that we produced using the flip-chart method:

Initial ideas on genre, premise, setting, characters, and the conflict which would disrupt the equilibrium in Todorovian theory.

Brief initial synopsis for the full length film.

Character profiles for our two main characters featuring ideas for names, appearance, dress codes, and motives.

Initial ideas for the main events of our trailer, the style of editing, and use of sound. 

Modifications to our trailer planning which we added after feedback.

After we had formed a basic plot we used aspects of the plot (e.g. setting, characters) to give us ideas for the film's title and put them into a mind map. The title we decided to use was North Chamber.