Risk Assessment

Before filming at a new location we did a risk assessment each time.

Red Room:

Hazard	Why is it a Hazard?	Level of Risk	How we overcame it?
Wooden blocks	Could get splinters	Low	Checked blocks and made sure everything was sanded down
High angle shot	Could drop camera on Jody’s head	Medium	Had 2 people holding and made sure the camera was secured into tripod correctly

Car Scene:

Hazard	Why is it a Hazard?	Level of Risk	How we overcame it?
Having the car moving	None of us can drive, would be focusing on filming	Medium	Parking the car
Parking on the road	Could get in the way of other cars	Low	Parked on the side of the road out of the way

Forest (for poster):

Hazard	Why is it a Hazard?	Level of Risk	How we overcame it?
Wooden blocks	Could get splinters	Low	Checked blocks and made sure everything was sanded down
High angle shot	Could drop camera on Jody’s head	Medium	Had 2 people holding and made sure the camera was secured into tripod correctly

The glass in the forest that was a hazard.

Shooting Schedule

On Saturday 31st March 2012, we will be shooting the whole of our thriller. To ensure that we get everything done, we have created a shooting schdeule which we aim to follow throughout the day. We have also made a table as to who is in charge of what props. We aim to be meeting at 9:00am and finish at around 5:00pm.

Props

Shooting Schedule

Voiceovers

Here is a video of us recording some of the voiceovers we are planning to use in our thriller. We used a microphone to talk into and also slowly sang 'Ring A Roses' as we felt that this song would go well with our thriller as it is an innocent song but we made it sound creepy by singing it slower.

For the actual voices heard in the thriller, we said things like 'We're going to the zoo today' 'Where's your teddy' and 'Happy Birthday Holly' which were meant to be memories of the little girls past life. We overlapped them all to make them sound creepier and as if she's getting surrounded and trapped in her past.

Finding & Creating The Music

To find the music, we searched on http://www.incompetech.com as they provided a range of royalty-free music which we were able to use in our thriller.

We used 2 pieces of music from this website. They were called 'Darkest Child' and 'The House Of Leaves' and were free to download.

We edited these pieces of music together, as well as adding in our voiceovers and 'Ring A Roses' that we had previously recorded. Here is how we edited the music in Sony Vegas. We have marked where each piece of music was put, including the voiceovers. We also muted the sound from the video as we didn't want any of it in the video.

Hair & Make-Up

On the day of shooting, we faced a problem with the make up. When we practised the costume and makeup, Maisie had done the fake bruises for Jodys face. Unfortunately, Maisie was busy the day we needed to film so we didn't have her to do the make up. Instead, we looked at a photo at what she had previously done and tried our best to copy it. Here is what Jody who is playing the main character looked like before the hair and make up had been done.

We used purples and browns to create a black eye look and other bruises on the face.

Here is the finished black eye.

For the hair, we gave Jody an off centre middle parting and put it in two ponytails. We backcombed the ponytails to show that she'd been in a car crash and also add to the thriller atmosphere. Here is the final look.

Practising Hair & Make-up

We practised the make-up for our thriller. The left side shows fake bruises to show she's been in a car accident. The right side is dark make-up to show she's turned dark and evil. We decided to use both of these make-up styles for our thriller. We will use the bruise make-up for the car crash scene and the dark make-up for the shot when she is evil, she will also have red contacts in this scene.

We also tried the make-up with red lips to represent evil and danger, however we felt this didn't look right and there was too much make-up and it looked unatural for a child to wear this so we will use red contacts to represent the danger instead.

We tied up her hair in bunchies to make her look younger and more innocent. The right side is more neat and tidy, this is the hairstyle we'll be using during the car crash, messing it up a bit afterwards to show that she's hurt. The left side is a lot messier and more rough, we will be using this hairstyle whenshe's possessed to show that she's not so cute and innocent anymore. To do this we straightened her hair and tied them up with small hair ties. The left side was then backcombed to get bigger and messier. We will use hairspray to hold it in place when filming so that there is continuity.

Costume

 Costume is very important in film as it sets the mood and time period. Certain colours are associated with thrillers such as red- that could represent blood, danger, strength and power. We knew that we would be filming in a red room ,therefore the white would stand out and the different meanings would group together.

For the thriller we had a young girl- itself representing innocence and purity, to emphasise this innocence and purity we decided to put her in a white dress. We found the dress in a store called 'select' (in the sale!) for £9. This dress worked well on the main character as she was younger and it had a young look to it, and wasn't too revealing. The colour white is know to show "light, goodness, innocence, purity, and virginity" which is all the aspects we wanted the audience to think about the character on screen.

A lot can be suggested from a costume like the characters personalities, what they might be like in the film, and their class status. A costume couldn't be too over the top or elaborate as it may take the focus away and be unbelievable to the audience. it will have to be expected to if not, there must be a reason why it is not the normal look.

This is the final look of our main character in the white dress:

Props

Weused wooden blocks from the Technology Department and painted them using the Art Department and stencils that Scarlett made in order to spell out SOLEMN. We used these blocks in the poster, and while filming Jody was shown playing with them.

We used Megan's teddy bear Bernard in the poster and he is also shown in the thriller filming.

We bought red contact lenses for Jody to wear at the end shot of filming.

Practising the Car Crash

We put Jody (playing the little girl Holly) in her car to test out what shots would be good to use and how we would create the car crash scene. We videoed Jody hitting her head forward onto the car seat in front while we figured out how to position the camera for this scene. We tried an over the shoulder shot from behind, a shot from each side window, a shot from the front passenger seat and a close up of Jody's face as it hits the seat from the view of the backseat passenger. We needed to practise what shots we are using and when so that we know how to film to real thing. We need to use for than one shot because when she falls backwards back into her seat she will have blood on the side of her forehead.

We are as yet undecided on whether to have the car moving at the time or not. We will be filming in slow motion so it wouldn't really matter if the car was moving at the time. However, if it is we may be able to get Jody to emphasise the impact of the crash more as the car will actually have to break hard. If we decide not to have the car moving, we still know how to make the crash look realistic so we may end up trying both ways when we film. It also depends on what is available to us on the day and whether we have the driver of the car with us and they are willing to drive or  not.

Making Fake Blood

We spent some time, while deciding our location, making fake blood using Strawberry Sauce and Natural Red Food Colouring. We originally were just going to use the strawberry sauce but decided that adding red food colouring would make it a darker red which would be more realistic for blood, especially when it dries. However, on the day of shooting, we made the fake blood and it appreared to be too light. We then decided to add Brown Sauce to make it darker and appear less fresh and more dirty. We used this on Jody (playing little girl Holly) on the side of her forehead when she is in the car crash, and her skin when she turns evil. At first we were worried that it wouldn't look real, but after playing around and smudging it and after it dried a bit, we were happy with the way it looked in the end.

Making The Photo Frame

To create the photo frame, we took the pictures of each person individually as we couldn't have all of the 'family members' in the same place at the same time. For the parents, we asked Miss Thompson and Mr Shearing to pose as if they were in a family photo for us.

Here are the original photos of each person that we took:

We then edited them so that that there was no background meaning we could easily put the photos on top of each other, creating the illusion that all of the people were photographed together. Here is what the edited photo looked like, we created a 'green screen' behind them and then edited the green out:

Here is the final photo on the left, and the photo with the little girl edited out on the right. We made a video with the two photos fading into each other making it look like the little girl had faded away:

This means that the video must be edited in meaning that we cannot have an actual photo in the frame when filming. To make it easier to edit in, we have placed some green card inside the photo frame to act as a green screen. We will then add in the video to make it look as if the girl is fading away from her family. Here is a picture of what the original footage looked like with the green card in:

Here is what the final scene looked like with the video edited in. You can see that there is no green visible:

Finding Red Contact Lenses

For the end scene of our thriller, we needed red contact lenses for our main character to wear. Having red eyes will make her look evil and will represent danger. This will tell the audience that she is dangerous and possessed. 

We searched online for some contacts and found some on Amazon.com which we thought would work well. They had good customer reviews, both 5 stars so we could trust that they were good quality. They also came with solution so that we can take care of the contact lenses in between shooting whilst we're not using them.

Here are the contacts in the bottles they come in with a picture on the box to show what they look like when in use. We think they will work well and be effective in our thriller.

Creating Our Blocks

We have decided to create the building blocks that we will show the title with. We asked Mr Jagger to cut us out some 6x6x6cm blocks out of wood. The blocks wil spell out or title 'Solemn'.

We asked Mr Jagger to cut us out 7 6x6x6cm wooden cubes to spell out our title'Solemn' with one practise block.

We then went into the Art Department and painted all of the blocks with white paint.

We then used the stencils that we had previously made to paint the letters spelling out 'Solemn'.

Here are the finsihed blocks. We will use this in the title sequence in the opening of our thriller.

Here we are in the Art Department painting the blocks for our thriller.

Creating Stencils For Our Blocks

As we are planning to make the building blocks in our thriller that spell out the title, I made some stencils to help us. These stencils will help us make sure that the letters are all the same size/font and will make it easier for us to put the letters on the blocks.

Our Blocks are 6x6x6cm so I made sure that the stencils would fit onto them

I then drew on the letters needed to spell out our title 'Solemn'.
I used the font Times New Roman to copy the style as this is a
classic font and isn't too childish.

I then cut the letters out using a craft knife. These are the finished stencils.

Props Mood Board

This is our props mood board that highlights all the props that we will be using throughout the thriller. These include:

Red contacts, photo frame, letter blocks, seat belt, car, teddy bear, and fake blood.

Props are used to enhance the thriller and could add different meanings to different plots. Some props could be the centre of a story line with the characters all involved with the prop, then the storyline developing from the prop. They could also be given significance and meaning while also representing something important to the story.

The props could hold symbolism in the thriller. The teddy bear that the main character holds will represent innocence and childhood. This is then tainted when the young girl turns evil and she is still holding the teddy bear, then it is seen in a negative light.

The red contacts are used to enhance and clearly show the audience that the girl is now haunted/evil. They will be shown at the end when the suspense has been built up, but then the introduction will end, this will then go on to raise questions, which will then be answered throughout the rest of the thriller.  

Poster Ideas

We began thinking of ideas for our poster so we knew what photos we needed to take for it. We wanted a poster that advertised what the film was about but didn't want to give too much away. We wanted to make the audience interested and raise questions so they would have to see the film to find out the answers.

In our first design we put bricks as the background as we thought this could create mystery however we felt that the brick background didn't relate to the story and was misleading. We also liked the idea of having the girl in the poster however we decided that if we were to have her in the poster then we would want the whole of her body and not just her face. We like the idea of using the blocks for the title as this relates to the opening of the thriller as they are used in the same way to spell out the title. We also liked the idea of putting a slogan at the top of the page as slogans are a good way of advertising.

Design #1

In our second design we thought about showing the family photo used in the opening of the thriller as this would raise questions. However we weren't sure if it related to the story enoguh as it's only in the thriller for one scene. We also weren't sure about the cracked glass in the photo frame as again, this doesn't happen in the thriller. We also liked the idea of having blood stains and fingerprints and would want to use this in the final psoter as it also creates mystery. We have also decided that we want to put small credits at the bottom to make sure it looks like a real, professional film poster.

Design #2

In our third design, we made sure the little girls whole body was in it as we wanted her to look isolated. We liked this idea as it relates to the film because she is alone and has been taken away from her family. However we felt that she should be even further away to show how isolated she really is. She is holding a teddy to show her innocence but it still raisies questions as to why she is alone. We liked the idea of using a dark background aswell as it will inform the audience that it is a thriller.

(Design #3

In our fourth design we used a red background as this represents danger. We liked this idea because it would also remind the audience of blood which we will be using in our thriller. We also liked the idea of using a teddy bear in the poster as it informs the audience that there is a young child in the film yet we don't know who or why. Although this creates mystery, we were unsure whether it told the audience enough and whether it raised enough questions for them to want to come and see the film.

Design #4

Here is our final design. We took elements from each poster but mainly focused on design #3 and the blocks from design #1. We intend to include some blood stains aswell to create some more mystery and inform the audience that it is a thriller. We will have a slogan at the top of the poster though we do not know what it will be yet. We plan on using a dark background with the little girl very far away to show that she is alone and vulnerable. The teddy and the building blocks will remind the audience that she is still a young girl. We also plan on having the girl wearing red contacts to show that she is possessed which will raise questions. This way the audience know what to expect from the film but do not know too much and will still have many questions.