The Ring

Here are photos of the ring which we have bought for our protagonist to wear.

Colour Isolation

Our film will be in black and white, however in post production we are going to edit a few of the objects to make them red, using colour splash. The ruby ring and the red lipstick will be the only objects in red; with an aim to draw attention and symbolise blood, consequently foreshadowing the female protagonist's death.

Our idea was inspired by the 1993 film, Schindler's List, where there are only four colour images during the three hour long black and white cinematic picture. The girl in the red coat is the most obvious and haunting symbol in the film.

Bella has been experimenting colour splash using a special software on her laptop. In the meantime, Pip used the app 'Video Star' on her phone to demonstrate our idea. However because it only picks up blue pigments, it wouldn't show anything red, so she used a bracelet with blue charms to demonstrate.

Test Shoot vs Storyboard Analysis

Over the last few days Pip and I have been putting this Emaze presentation together to compare still frames our test shoot and the corresponding storyboard images.  We have found by analysing and comparing the images that in general we have closely followed the guide of the storyboard.  However, we have changed the angle and framing of some shots as we felt they looked better and more effectively told the narrative of our film.

Test Shoot

A few weeks ago Pip and I filmed the test shoot of the bedroom scene.  It was a really useful exercise which will definitely help with filming the real thing in the upcoming weeks.

We had to set up the room in which we were filming to make sure the mise-en-scene was appropriate for the timer period our film is set in, the 1920s.  Filming the whole scene took about two and a half hours and other hour or so for setting up the room and putting it back as it was after filming.
From the test shoot we discovered that some of the storyboarding was slightly inaccurate in terms of the camera angles used and the logistics of them- especially when panning as the camera had to be at the right height and position in order to frame everything in the sequence.  The panning therefore took a few goes to get the angle and position correct, but once that was sorted out the panning went very smoothly and I feel is very effective in the opening of our film.

A few camera angles were changed during filming as we felt they worked more effectively than the ones planned.  Two examples of this is the lipstick shot and the mirror shot. The lipstick shot was planned as a birds eye, however whilst filming we felt there was something about it that didn't quite work and so we changed it to more of an eye level shot. 

For the mirror shot after the protagonist gets dressed, we swapped the camera from the left of the protagonist to the right and a lot closer than planned too.  The reason for this swap from medium shot to close up was to enable the protagonists face and expression to be seen more clearly by the audience and we felt that switching the side from which the camera was filming helped with this.

A shot we thought worked very effectively was the one where the protagonist picks the ring up from her bedside table.  We love the framing of this shot and feel the small photo frames with old fashioned photographs in behind the ring are a small touch which really add to the mise-en-scene of the shot and the scene as a whole.

Pip and I had some trouble with the lighting due to the fading of natural light as filming progressed.  Therefore we turned on the light in the bedroom and also used a phone torch from a distant to give more directed light.  Whilst filming with the torch light we felt it looked quite artificial, however after post-production, which included putting the scene in black and white, we thought the lighting looked a lot better than we expected.  Despite this we would still like to improve it for the real thing as we did have to lighten most of the footage in post production.

Overall, the test shoot was great for us to see what needed to be improved for the real thing and what problems we were unprepared for- such as lighting.  I feel that changing some of  the shots as planned on the storyboard is normal as sometimes you only really know how that shot will look when you're actually filming on set with all the props etc.  This is possibly something that we didn't consider, however it was very easy to adapt and I think it was definitely the right decision as the shots are effective in aiding the telling and development of the narrative.

University of Kent

On Wednesday 14th January the two media classes from my school visited the University of Kent in Canterbury.

Firstly, we were put into small groups and were given half an hour to create a film. We were also helped by two film students who showed us the quiet areas where we could film. Our brief was to include: a mysterious stranger, blinding light, a lost soul and a key to a lock. Because of the short time we had to film, we couldn't re-film anything or delete any clips, meaning it all had to flow continuously when we presented it to everyone at the end. This taught us a lot about the importance of proper planning and thinking of all eventualities in order to produce the best footage possible in one take. I feel this was an important lesson to learn as I think it is all too easy to over film, which does have its benefits, however by taking lessons learnt from this exercise we should be able to film our film opening in as few takes as possible as we know now the importance of planning and making the first take as good as you possibly can.

 We then had a session on screen play and shooting scripts, where we watched scenes from films and got to view the actual shooting script. After, we were set a task to team up with a partner and write our own shooting script then feed back to our friends, the lecturer and the film students.

 Next we were given a tour around the film, arts and drama building, including the very high-tech recording studios, computers suites and the green screen room. We also had an exclusive viewing of a documentary, Living the Dream, made by two students who are currently studying at the University of Kent which will be shown on BBC 3 Fresh. They are amongst a select number of up and coming film students who have had their work chosen to be aired on national television.

 We also had a lecture on the types of horror films and the iconography associated with them. I found this very helpful and interesting due to our film's close link top the horror genre.

Conventions of a crime investigation/horror film

Foley Sounds

We tested foley sounds of a perfume spray and knocking on a door.

We knocked on a window to achieve the sound of knocking on a door and feel it is effective, however echoes a little so maybe knocking on a solid wooden door may be better.

We used deodorant to create the sound of perfume spraying.  We found that when using perfume the sound was too quiet and the spray wasn't long enough.  Therefore we had a play around using deodorant instead and found that the sound was a lot more effective and sounds very realistic.

We shall use these foley sounds in our film opening and shall try and create any other non-diegetic sound effects ourselves such as the car horn.

Production Company Animation Ideas

Pip and I have been experimenting on various software's how to animate the logo so it will end up as a production company animation shown before our film opening.

Some examples of the most famous production company animations:

This is an idea of how ours will look which we found on Vimeo.  We would like to create an animation similar to this and have the logo appear from the birds wings or underneath the bird once it has paused in the middle of the screen.

Animatic

After completing our storyboard I made the animatic for my group which should give an accurate idea of the story and the shots and angles we will use in the opening for 'The Wring'.   I have included non-diegetic background music throughout and then also added a sound to add suspense at the end to reflect the sort of sound effects we will use in the real thing.

BBFC Rating for 'The Wring'

We have decided a 12 rating is appropriate because:

• There will be scenes of mild violence
• Some physical and psychological threat
• Brief and discreet scenes of sex and nudity in the flashback
• Discreet references to imitable behaviour
• No strong language used
• No misuse of drugs seen or referenced
• No discriminatory language or behaviour endorsed

Reverse Tracking Shot

A Reverse Tracking Shot is achieved by the camera being pulled away from a subject whilst the lens zooms in, or vice-versa. This makes the background appear to change size relative to the subject.

Alfred Hitchcock's 1958 film 'Vertigo' was the first film to use dolly zoom.  Hitchcock himself implemented this technique. This shot can be seen in the clip below at 0:33 and 0:50 seconds.

The Reverse Tracking Shot was also used in Jaws.  It can be seen in this clip from 2:01-2:03.





We will use the reverse tracking shot in the bedroom scene of our film to build tension and drama, just like the clips above.  We will use this shot on the ring to emphasise its significance to the plot and the bad and haunting memories it holds for our female protagonist.

Health and Safety Risk Assessment

Risk	Hazard	Control
Wardrobe	Falling off the wardrobe whilst filming the high angle shot	Not sitting close to the edge and being more aware and careful
Car	Crashing the car during filming	Ensure neighbours know we will be filming so a crash will not occur
Car	Crew members being run over by the car	Stay off the road and be aware when the car is moving
Equipment	Tripping over equipment such as tripod	Being more aware of your surroundings and making sure the equipment is visible
Makeup	Allergic reaction to makeup	Use the actresses own makeup and be aware of any allergies she has
Lake	Falling in the lake whilst filming	Staying a safe distance away from the edge of the lake
Tower	Falling off the top of Hadlow Castle whilst filming the high angle shots	Don’t lean and keep a safe distance from the edge
Window	Falling out of the open window whilst filming	Don’t open the window further than necessary and keep a safe distance away

Our Production Company

We have decided to name our production company New Heights Productions.


We chose a crow as our logo due to its representation as a bringer of death/association with the horror genre.


We hope to make an animation of the crow flying across the screen before pausing in the centre of the screen and having the production company name appearing underneath.  However, in the mean time we have made a still mock-up of what we hope the final animation will look like.

Test Shoot

On the 2nd January we filmed the test shoot of the bedroom scene.  We set up at 2pm and was ready to film at 4pm.  It took us just over two and a half hours to film and are really pleased with the results.  We have changed the footage into black and white and also added sound effects to make the test as close to the final film opening we planned as possible.

Things we noticed in the test shoot and will improve:
-The first half of our shots, you can see its still daylight, however we had to use artificial lighting for the rest of the shots because it was dark outside and we had no natural lighting- meaning when we edited it, it didn't flow as well.
-We have to add in a few extra shots of the character doing her makeup to improve continuity.
-We have to practice the dolly zoom.-Finally we have decided to split up the long panning shot because it was over 10 seconds and it lacked a fast-paste mood.

Shooting Script

Storyboard for 'The Wring'

Recceing Shots

Pip kindly took wrecking shots of our locations so we could use them to help complete the storyboard.

                                                                      The Bedroom

Hadlow Castle and grounds

Final narrative decision

Our film will be called 'The Wring' because of the symbolic ruby ring that is shown throughout the film; foreshadowing the female protagonist's death. However, there is already a horror film called 'The Ring'. Therefore we thought spelling wring with a 'w' would have a double meaning; the symbolic ring and foreshadowing how she gets strangled later on (like 'wringing' someone's neck).

Second Film Opening Idea

Moodboard

Click on the link above to view the mood board for this idea.

This film is a horror set in the present day at Hadlow Tower.  A group of teenagers stay at the tower one night whilst house siting for a friend.  They all sit and talk in the lounge, and then one girl goes off to get a drink/toilet.  The other girls in the lounge can see the lift start to move (girls are scared).  The lift opens however is empty.  The door then closes (girls are relieved).  Then the door opens again and the girl who went to get a drink/toilert is in the lift and had been murdered.  Suddenly all the lights go out and throughout the night the girls have to try and escape the tower but only one can survive.

First Film Opening Idea

Moodboard

Click on the link above to view the mood board for this idea.

The film is a horror/crime investigation set in the 1920s.  The whole film will have a black and white filter on it with a colour splash on the red ring and red lipstick.  The protagonist will be a glamorous young woman in her early 20s.  She arrives at a party held at Knole House in an elegant car, however there is a man spying through binoculars in the bush.  The young woman sees the reflections of the man with binoculars standing behind her in the door knocker.  

In a bathroom at Knole House the women is strangled because of an affair (audience believe it was the man in the bush who murdered her).  When her body is found, the ring is missing.  There is then flashbacks of the story of her affair before an investigator turns up at the party to solve the murder.  The murderer is found and arrested.