Costumes,Props and Location for our film

Characters Costumes:

Victim

When deciding what we wanted each of our characters to wear, we first discussed what we wanted our characters to look like (You can find this on a blog post titled 'Developing our ideas,Treatment and Casting'). Once we had decided this, we then talked as a group about stereotypes of what the Doctor and the victim should be wearing. We discussed horror films that we had watched for research and took down notes. Next we then had to link in our costumes with our story line. Therefore we decided to put the victim in a short black  body-con dress, this emphasized the age and the situation the victim was in (she was going out clubbing),however we could only do this due to our story line and we had to make sure it fitted with our target audience and overall piece throughout.
 We really wanted to keep her costume simple, therefore we went with the black dress and a pair of high heel shoes. Furthermore, we knew when discussing the ideas that we would have to buy this dress, we also knew from our story line that the dress would be cut open to reach the stomach of the victim in our piece, therefore when buying it we knew we had to find a cheap one so that we wouldn't be ruining an expensive dress. The picture below shows the final dress which we brought.

Doctor

When discussing what the male should be wearing, we all agreed that we wanted him wearing something that shows that he might know the profession, therefore we decided that he would wear scrubs, however due to us wanting it to look unprofessional, we only had him wearing the t-shirt half of the scrubs and not the trousers, we wanted to show that he wasn't bothered about hygiene, we also gave him a stethoscope to show that he knew the profession well and to indicate this. Moreover, we gave him some blue rubber gloves, but to show the unhygienic location we put dirt on them, this really emphasized the danger of not only the man but also the unhygienic location and that he was about to operate in bad conditions showing the high risk of infection etc.
Overall i was very pleased in the costumes that both characters were wearing, i think we manged to portray them both in the genre of our film very well, by sticking to the typical horror conventions we were able to create the typical main characters the audience would expect.



Props

When it came to our props we were very lucky that our location was already set up and we didn't need to do much with it. this helped us a lot, as we were able to focus on what we needed on the day. By using this sheet (See picture above) we were able to sort things out quickly and efficiently, we used people who had those specific things, this made it easier so we were not spending money and time on trying to get these things together for example Desiree brought the make up and we all knew this as it was on the sheet that everyone had making it a lot easier to get organised.
When it came to writing this list we put down the most obvious things that we would have with us such as our camera equipment etc. Some of the props were essential to the final piece, for example the table and the light as this was the main focus and most of the filming happened around both props and the victim was lying on the table with the light hanging down above her. Furthermore we wanted to keep the props to a minimal so that our piece wouldn't look to over the top and so that we could focus on getting the finish we wanted on the final piece. overall i was very pleased with how we organised our props and manged to arrange it so everyone knew who was bringing what. The props we used in our filming were very helpful to the look and feel to the piece as a whole and they helped create our genre.


Location

When it came to deciding our location we had to make sure it fitted our theme and genre of the film. As we wanted the location to look and feel as though it was somewhere abandoned, we decided to use a garage. By using this location it would give the film an unhygienic and abandoned feel which we really wanted to create. Once we had a rough idea of what we wanted our location to be like and what would fit our story line best, we discussed our ideas and Lauren said that her family owned a local garage. We then visited the garage and decided that this would be the perfect location to use for our film.

Below is a picture of our chosen location:

By using this location it really helped as we knew the owners and didn't have to hire it out for the day which really helped budget wise. Due to us knowing the owners we were also were able to find out the best days for both our team and the garage, and what part of the garage we were able to use (shown in the picture above). Furthermore by using this location we were also able to identify all the possible risks quickly which helped as we didn't have keep going back to check certain things, this made it easier when writing the risk assessment.
Overall i was very pleased with our location, it was exactly want we wanted and in the film highlighted the ideas and themes we had discussed

The Organ Player - 1st Cut, 2nd Cut and Final Cut

The Organ Player- The Dreggs Productions

1st Cut






There were many things that we disliked with our first cut. The first being some of the starting tool shots being a bit too out of focus, although we said that we wanted them to be out of focus some are too much out of focus and ruin the effect we wanted, so we knew that this is something we wanted to change.Another thing we had to change was the time length on the roles of each of us as they were too short,also the fong for each of these was wrong and we knew we would have to change them. The next thing we disliked about this first cut was how it suddenly get louder at 0:26 seconds, from the start its quiet and then the sound comes in and it didn't sound right, again this is something we knew we had to change. We very much liked the POV shots from the girl, as it shows well how she is drugged and cant really see what is happening, I especially like the one at 0:36 seconds where she can just see the head of the doctor but not clearly enough to see his face due to the drugs. This was the effect we were going for and we were all really pleased with this shot. At 0:54 there is a problem with her breathing as it overlap and you can hear it twice, another problem with the sound that we would have to fix in our next cut, furthermore at 0:59 the girls line 'What are you going to do to me' gets cut a bit short when the shot changes to her dress being cut and again the sound levels drop in this scene. At 1:13 the music starts but it comes on quite loud and  takes the suspense away all through till the end. We discussed this and decided this would be a key issue we would  have to go back on in our next cut. Also our cuts at the end were too long and therefore didn't add any suspense


2nd Cut







We were much happier with this cut then we were with our first. we had added in music in the begging to stop the big sound jump that was discussed in our first cut section above. There were still some issues with shots going from one to another and sound being cut out and layered over the top that is quiet easy to here. We changed our font and length of time on our tittle which make it look so much better than just a normal font. Although the sound is bliping throughout we couldn't do anything about this as it was the software we used and to transport it. Sound was a key issues running throughout our 1st and 2nd cut they we had major difficulty with at the moment our sound was very much chopped and moved all over the place which made it sound overlapping. to sort this out in our final cut we eventually had to remove all sound and dialogue and replace it back in to the right place so that we had 3 lines of sound : 1 for dialogue 1 for back ground noises in the garage and 1 for music, this cleaned things up and made it sound much better in our final cut
Below is a drawing used to explain our sound in our 1st and 2 nd cut, and then the one on the right is what it looks like in our final cut.

Final Cut








On or Final cut, like explained above, we had to remove all of our sound and re build it into 3 separate  layers to make sure we didn't have any over lap. we also colour graded our final piece and letter boxed it to give it the more filmic view, we managed to sort out the key issues from our 1st and 2nd cut which we were really pleased about. Unfortunately the blipping is still noticeable in the music , however again there was nothing we could do about this as the software we used created this after we transported it and uploaded it to final cut pro.

Overall i am very pleased with my team The Dreggs production in our team work and our skills to make such a promising film opening that we are very proud off. There were some issues along the way but we manged to pull together and overcome these problems.

Risk Assessments and Logistics

Risk Assessments

A risk assessment is anything that could be a potential risk when carrying out a project and evaluating these risks. Therefore we had to discuss and evaluate the potential risks when carrying out our project which was set in a garage. We had to make sure that every risk was evaluated this could have been from water to equipment hazards. Below is our Risk Assessment which we created to be put into our pre production pack:

On the Risk Assessment we were able to put what the risk was, who was going to be effected if it did happen, whether the danger was high medium or low and the control measures we would put in place to make sure none of these things did happen. By doing this we were able to solve any problem which happened quickly and sufficiently so that we were able to continue filming.

The Risk Assessment was useful as it made us work as a team on what could happen and what could be done to prevent it from happening.

Logistics

We made a document of Logistics to keep track of everything we needed on set. This was: Props,Makeup, Equipment, Costumes, Location and anything else that was needed for the film or cast, each member was in charge of certain things on set and were in charge to ensure that the necessary items were on set when anyone required them to be. Below is the Logistics document

We made sure that everyone kept to the logistics list bringing everything to set that was necessary so that we didn't have to go and collect something that we might had forgotten. We decided that instead of going out to buy the things needed we would ask in our group if anyone had them and if they did then they could bring them in on the day, or ask someone who would have it and borrowed it from them, We also asked the actress playing the Victim to bring in her own shoes as none of us had her size and we thought it best if she was comfortable on set.  The only thing we did end up buying was the dress as no one had a cheap dress that they minded getting cut up.

Overall I think the logistic list worked well as it made sure everyone had everything they needed and other people in the group new what others were bringing.

Storyboard and Shot List

Storyboard 

Throughout our pre production process we made sure that we drew many different storyboards to keep up to date with changes in our screenplay or treatment. In each storyboard we made sure to include every detail to make it precise and ensure that when we come to film we wouldn't have any problems on set as we wanted to make sure it ran as smoothly as possible. When writing our first storyboard we wanted to make sure that certain shot would work, we did this by filming some mock shots in the classroom using a pencil as our scapulae to just an idea if these shots would work or. By doing this, we were able to see that some shots,although good ideas, were not going to be effective in our final piece and we had to think of a new way to create the look. our final story board looked like this :

In our story board we also had to include what type of shot we were using for example over the shoulder shot. We also had to add in if there was any dialogue in that scene, or any sound effects as we had a slapping sound effect for when the doctor hit the girl . Furthermore we also had to state whether the focus was in soft or sharp on certain objects, again we had to do this by some test shots to see what worked and what didn't and then added them to the storyboard.

Although the storyboard took time, i think our final piece followed it well, even if some where sjot differently to how we imagined them it followed the storyboard well.




Here are the shots we did in class with the pencil to see if certain shots would work.








Shot List


To make sure our shots matched up, we completed the shot list at the same time as the final storyboard was being completed. Making the shot list really helped on set as it showed everyone were we were and what shot we were doing next. By following the storyboard and the shot list at the same time it allowed things to run smoothly as everyone knew where we were and what we were going to shoot next. It also helped when it came to our editing process as we could rename each shot on Final Cut pro to the exact name on the shot list and therefore helped when piecing the sequence together.It also ensures us that we don't need to go out and re film any shots as we know that we have them all.  Below is a picture of our shot list :

We decided on 9 shot types to stick to the horror genre conventions but also to give the opening the right feel that we wanted to create . W also need to ensure that we had included enough shots so that when it came to editing we had enough to work with , by filming the whole film opening in each set up we were able to achieve this as we knew we could take bits from each set up.

I feel as though our shot list helped us a lot when filming as it made sure we had everything done and that we could tick each shot off once we were happy, without it we wouldn't have known what scene we had just shot and therefore it was useful to our team.

Screenplay

Both I and Naomi were in charge of the screenplay. We initially wrote down our ideas of what we thought the victim character was thinking at the time. here are some of our ideas:

Victim

• scared
• confused 
• anxious 

We also thought about the doctor and what he might be thinking. we thought that me might be wary as he doesn't want to get caught. 

We then focused on the screen play and what we were wanting to write, we able to use the proforma which showed us how to lay out our screenplay effectively so it didn't look messy. We both knew what we wanted the characters to say but we found it difficult to make sure it didn't sound cheesy as this would have ruined our final piece. Although the screen play took a while to write as once me and Naomi had finished and talked back to the group we found that somethings didn't go in the write place, which meant we took it back to re write it. I knew this was for the best of our film as we wanted it to be as effective as possible and didn't want it to sound cheesy. I felt that although it did take some time to write our final script was very effective to our film and portrayed what we wanted it too. overall i am pleased with everyone's efforts into making the script and realistic and effective as possible 

Developing our ideas, Treatment and Casting

Developing our ideas

After we had decided on our idea of Organ trafficking we had to develop a story line and characters for our film opening. We also had to decided the story line for the rest of the film, even though we weren't actually going to make it. By doing this, it gave us a better understanding not only for our film opening but also the genre and how we were going to portray and link the characters further on in the story. We also decided on the name of our film 'The Organ Player'.


Treatment

Once we had our idea, our treatment became very useful to us as a team. The treatment aloud us to write down everything in one place which stopped people from having a rough idea in the head, it aloud all us in our team to put down our ideas and thoughts on to one document which mean t everyone knew the same things. We decided to make a list in what we should include on the treatment:

• Film Title
• Production Company name
• Film Duration
• Roles within the team
• Casting
• Details of each character  
• Costumes
• Setting
• Synopsis (idea of the whole film)
• Lighting
• Sound
• Props

below is a picture of our treatment

We also came to the conclusion that everyone should write a part of the treatment each, this made it easier once we met up again to add bits in. This also made it easier for us as a team,as we didn't have 1 person write it then have them explain every part of it. This also speed things up for us as we knew that we wanted to start filming straight away, not only as we knew what we wanted to achieve but also to ensure we had plenty of time to edit our content in post production.

Casting

Once we had Decided on our ideas, we then went straight to our characters and who we were going to cast in these parts,we all had an image in our mind of what we wanted them to look like. We also wanted to keep the characters stereotypical to a certain extent. We wanted the girl to be weak but not a dumb blonde like in most horror films, so we decided to go with a brunet hair colour. For the doctor we wanted an older man  and being creepy and scary. Below is a list we came up with, which is a description of each character should look like

Victim

• A Girl
• Innocent
• Young
• Teenage
• slim
• black/short dress
• medium height
• brown hair

Doctor

• Tall
• Male
• A lot Older than girl
• Psychotic
• Creepy/Scary looking
• Stereotypical  

We decided to use a friend of ours to play the victim  as well as being a good actress she also fitted the description well and offered to help us out. The role of the Doctor was played by a family friend of Lauren's, who again fitted the description very well and was also willing to help us out . By using people we knew and trusted this benifited us out hugely as we were able to contact them at any time to arrange filming times ect.

Brainstorming our ideas

Ideas

After we were put into our teams, we had to decide what film genre we would make.Firstly we came up with  4 main genre we thought of doing, these were Romantic, Horror,, Thriller or action.We then decided to brainstorm our ideas our ideas for each genre. below is a picture of our brainstorm.

We thought very carefully which genre we were going to do, as we wanted our film opening to be as effective as possible. When thinking about making a romantic film we thought about how we could convincingly portray this in our opening 2 minutes, we concluded from all our combined thoughts that it would be difficult to make a romantic film opening. We also concluded that action would be difficult to create as we were thinking along the lines of police chase and this would have been impossible for us to make. This then left us with the Thriller and horror genre. we had similar ideas around both these genres and we came up with either a kidnapping in the woods or organ trafficking. after a lot of thinking and discussion we came to the agreement of organ trafficking as we thought about previous horror films we had seen or heard about and found that the woods in used quite a lot in this genre and we wanted to be different and unique.

We knew from the start that organ trafficking would be a risk, we wanted the opening of our film to look and feel as realistic as possible and we wanted to pull it off effectively. Therefore we knew that we would have to focus very hard in pre- production to make it as effective as we could. 

Furthermore we thought ahead to our casting and how we would do it so it would be effective as possible, casting will be discussed in a later blog post..

I was very pleased with our idea of our film opening, once we got our initial ideas i could really see it coming together. One thing i was worried about however, was if we could make it look as realistic and effective as possible, as there are not many organ trafficking films been made so i was afraid of how we would do this, but we talked about this and decided all we had to do is plan our film well, stick to the horror conventions and watch horror films and this will be our guiding point to go from.