Changes in Shooting Script

Scene #3: The bedroom

SCARLETT and OLIVIA are sitting on Scarlett's bed in her room. She's is confused because no one believes that she can see MADDISON. Olivia is angry with her friend.

OLIVIA: What girl? There’s no one out there! Stop seeking attention!

Scene #8: The opening scene

SCARLETT is sitting in a white room with bare walls. DR.LEWIS is in the room with her.

DR. LEWIS: Why don’t you tell me what happened?

SCARLETT: Why? It’s not like you’re going to believe me.

SCARLETT: What makes you so sure?

SCARLETT: What do you want to know?

Evaluation Question 3

What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why? 

See Lionsgate website here: http://www.lionsgate.com/movies/

Lions Gate Entertainment Corporation (or Lionsgate). is a North American entertainment company. As of November 2013, it is the most commercially successful independent film and television distribution company in North America and the seventh most profitable movie studio.

We think that Lionsgate would distribute 'Maddison' because it is well known for being a independent media institution and distributing horror movies. Because they are well known we feel like 'Maddison' would get a good representation.  Some of Lionsgate' horror movies include Saw and Open Water. 

Lionsgate's website on their latest horror releases also shows that our film would get good media coverage. 

See the site here: 

Evaluation Activity 4

 Who would be the audience for your media product?

Name: Joshua Miles
Age: 17
Studying: English, Biology, Law & Psychology at sixth form
Favourite Subject: Psychology
Favourite Food: Pasta
Favourite TV Shows: Another (anime horror), Deadmanwonder land (anime psychological horror) and Breaking Bad
Favourite Films: Shutter Island, The Thing and Creature from black lagoon
Future Job: Psychologist

Joshua is from a working class background and at age 17;  is in our typical target audience of 12A. 'Maddison' mainly aims at the groups C2, D and E. Joshua also fits in to this target in Group E as he is a student. Joshua is also a good representation of our target audience as he is very interested in Psychology, meaning that our sub-genre of psychological horror would be a chosen genre for him (also seen in his chosen favourite films).

Joshua's Feedback on Maddison:
"The opening titles effectively set the mood of the film and I was able to infer what genre and plot the film was going to have. The way how the separate scenes  were put together was well done and very professional. However I must say that the acting looked and felt forced. In general I found it interesting, and would watch 'Maddison'.

Dr. Abraham Maslow in 1969 studied monkeys and then went on to study humans, which he found acted mostly in the same way. From this Dr. Maslow's famous Hierarchy of Needs was born.

Because Young & Rubicam also asked what brands people bought and how they felt about them, the system also became a way of understanding the deeper appeals of those brands.The system accepted that people from different countries were influenced by their differing cultural backgrounds,and removed the effect of those backgrounds. And so it was named the Cross Cultural Consumer Characterisation, or ‘4Cs’ for short.
4Cs divides people into seven types, depending on their core motivation. Shades of grey within the type come from the secondary motivations of their members.

Joshua took the test to find out which of the seven types he was and got these results:

This means that Joshua comes under 'The Succeeder'.
Succeeder's possess self-confidence, have a strong goal orientation and tend to be very organised. As a result, they tend to occupy positions of responsibility in society. Their investment in the status quo means they tend to support it.

Focus Group

We got together a few people to give us feedback on our draft before making a final edit of 'Maddison'.

Evaluation Activity 7

Looking back at your preliminary ask, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?

 

Preliminary Task:

Final Task:

The Preliminary Task helped prepare me and Rebaka for the main task by helping us get to get to groups with the technology and point out key things that set us back which meant we could try avoid these in the final task. When filming our editing our preliminary task we found that we hadnt left much time after shots to enable editing or we only filmed one scene once and then when we upload for editing found that the shot wasnt good enough due to talking over the top or shakey camera skills. The three most important concepts we had to understand was the 180 degree rule, match on action and shot/reverse shot. Learning these three things in the preliminary task meant that in our final task we understood the importance of them to make it as realistic as possible.

Match on Action in Preliminary Task and Final Task:

Shot/Reverse Shot Preliminary Task and Final Task:

Close-Ups Preliminary Task and Final Task:

 Flashback:
this scene is in the middle of he conversation between Scarlett and her friend.

I feel like in the progression from the Preliminary Task to the Final Task me and Rebeka made sure we was both prepared by detailed planning. However when filming and then editing in the final task we didn't stick to our story board due to shots which we couldn't do at our location for example. The quality of our products improved dramatically due to technology which you can read about here. Overall I think i learnt how to produce a better media product from the the progression of the Preliminary Task and Final Task.

Evaluation Activity 6

What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

Evaluation Activity 5

How did you attract/address your audience?
 

Rebeka and I have pointed out some of our selling points and conventions in our opening titles using notes on youtube writting about how we attract our target audience.

Evaluation Activity 2

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

 

Dr. Lewis

 

Lewis represents Group A under well paid professionals. The tie and smart clothes shows that he is professional however having the sleaves rolled up makes the costume slightly more casual and means that Scarlett and people may feel he is more friendly and open to speak to.

 

Maddison

 

Maddison represnets young girls as innocent witht the white to connotate her purity. She also has her hairs tied in pig tails which is usually how you expect young girls to have the hair done. Making her look alot sweeter with her hair back from her face. For filming we added a little foundation to her face which was quite pale to give off the idea that she is almost like a ghost. Mascara also made her eyes look bigger and give the impression of 'doggy eyes'. Maddison would cme under Group E which means that our audience should be able to relate. The fear may be high as the audience may relate Maddison to young family members such as brothers or sisters.

Scarlett



Scarlett comes under Group E which is also close to our target audience. Scarlett generally represents an average teenager; with up to date fashion such as jeans and denim shirt. In the opening sequence Scarlett vaires outfits and having her hair up and down which shows how teenagers have a change in apperance. She generally wears dark clothes to signifty that their is darkness in her life but also shows how their are different types of teenagers and Scarlett keeps herself to herself.



Janis from mean girls would show how she is a similar type of teenager to Scarlett. They wear darker clothes to show how they are different social groups such as the plastics in Mean Girls. For example it sows that Scarlett and Maddison have different personalities compared to yur conventional teenager.

Evaluation Activity 1

In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions or real media products?

For the title of our film we used the antagonists name 'MADDISON'. This gives the audience a link to the film and helps them make a connection to the film. The way our titles look and appear plays on the two main charcaters Maddison and Scarlett. Our font for the main title has bits missing from them looking as if they are hidden this gives the link to Maddison as she is in Scarlett's mind and no-one else can see her. This is the audiences first hint towards the film and helps them to understand the plot. The red 'S' which appears slowly and is red creates the link between Scarlett and Maddison. Throughout the titles the colours white and red are used to show Maddison is innocent and pure however the res suggests the dangerous element she brings. The fact that the 'S' is red just gives the aundience another link as it is the first letter of Scarlett the protagonists name. Other films such as 'Chucky' use the anatagonists name as the name of the film. Overall we fiollow conventions in our main title as you can see where our inspiration comes from in real media products.

Main settings commonly used in Psychological horror films are big houses; forest/woodland areas; ware houses; schools; hospitals and surburban areas. These types of settings create realism for the target audience as they are able to relate to the film on some level, having seen/ been or currently living in these settings. This increases the fear for the audience because they begin to picture themselves in these positions. Our film follows these conventions with locations such as the surburban village, house and hospital.

Our film once again follows conventions through costumes and props. Overall in our opening sequence we dont really use any props. However things such as the hospital beds follow conventions of what hospitals look like. Our costumes are used as main conventions using colours to connotate the antagonist and protagonists charcaters. Other films which we looked at such as 'Orphan' see the girl in white suggesting their innocence but the red ribbon again which links to the titles is used throughout films to suggest danger. Scarlett wears quite dark clothes in comparison which connotates mystery and overall darkness. Which in this case is Maddison being in her head.

Psychological horror aims to create discomfort by exposing common or universal psychological and emotional vulnerabilities and fears instead of other types of horror. The story of our film follows these genre conventions with Maddison being the main one to create fear in the audience as you are unsure at first to what part she plays in the film. Because Maddison is in her head it also links to phycological problems. Maddisn is'nt ever introduced to you in the film you just see her apperances with Scarett and the audience make their assumptions on what is going on therefore creating that fear of the unknown.

Final Edit

Maddison Draft Two

This is our second draft of the opening sequence. For this edit we are going to get a focus group together and ask for feedback on what they think. This way we can make sure that the final edit looks at what our target audience like.

Editing- Update No.2

During our editing we thought we had occoured a major crisis. From the timeline view the program was showing a diffrent clip to what it then played. However after looking we realised that this problem was because in a diffent video layer was the other clip! After deleting this we could continue editing. During this editing day I was in charge of editing clips and the video. I looked at cutting down all the clips making sure they was where they was meant to be and adding sound that Rebeka searched for. When searching for sound she needed to find a general music track that was copyright free to put on the opening sequence and also sound effects such as a little girl laughing. When looking for sound she also found sound to put with our production company. When I added in the sound I adjusted it so that it got louder towards major points to build up tension with the audience.

Editing- Screenshots

These are a variety of screenshots from mine and Rebeka's editing process of 'Maddison'. When editing we had to play around with: the lighting effects of the video, adding titles, adding music, adjusting the sound and transitions.

Editing- Draft 3

 After listening to our focus group about what they liked and would improve we took them into consideration giving us our third draft. Something that wasnt an original idea was having the main title in the middle of the clip of Scarlett opening her eyes. However we think this implies again that Maddison is in her head giving the audience another link to the film so they can begin to get an understanding.

Maddison Draft

Here is a draft of 'Maddison' including some titles. At the moment this is the shots in order and the beginning of adding titles and editing lighting. The scenes of Maddison running need work with the soundtrack as we feel that maybe the scream is to high pitched. We also want to play around with how the main title is appearing as the scenes seem the sharp cut.

Editing Day One

Raw Footage

Here is the raw footage of our As media final task. This is the order which we want our shots to be in but are yet to be edited. However we have included the main title of 'Maddison'. This was done on our first intial day of me and Rebeka editing together. See Editing Day One Post for a video on the break down of what we done.

Editing- Rough Edits

Here is a quick edit I done at home on windows movie maker after we completed all filming. Me and Rebeka have both created our own initial edits of 'Maddison' from this we have then learnt what we like from the editing as you can see below both of our diffrent ideas about how we want our final edit to look like.

My Edit:

Rebekas Edit:
 

The making of Maddison- Behind the Scenes

Maddison Costume, Hair and Make-Up

After researching into antagonists we found that Maddison wearing white was best as it suggested her innocence as being a child. Because of colour usually suggests being pure. We have then added the red boots and ribbon as they indicate danger to the audience which is what Scarlett sees Maddison as. Her make up has been done lightly with a light foundation so her face is clean and quite pale. Then just lipstick and mascara to make the features stand out a bit more. Making her more 'doll' like. Her hair is ties in to pigtails as that is the general stereotype for how young girls and 'dolls' have there hair; obviously then with the red ribbon.

Other Casting Photographs

Dr. Lewis. We have kept Lewis in a basic smart/casual look. The smart shirt with tie and black trousers is just a general look which we want the doctor to be like. We want him to be presented as a safe figure for Scarlett, like a friend but also show his professional status. With his sleeves rolled up it suggests he has a more layed back/ casual  personality. 

We picked Lewis to play the role of the doctor because he looks sophisticated and older than his years. He also takes as drama so has the acting skills we need to make our final piece look professional.

Scarlett's friend needs to wear a bit more colour as she is at a good point however the dark bit on the dress shows a connection to Scarlett. As if she can link to her but she isn't in the dark place. We picket me to play the role of Scarlett's friend because I have had experience with acting in plays before and Jaime-lea who is playing the part of Scarlett is my friend in real life so the acting and situation is more realistic. Meaning are audience can make a clearer link to the both of us being friends. It also means acting run smother as we are both confident around each other.

Scarlett is going to change a few times during the filming to make it look like the events were on diffrent days. However for ease and stciking to a conventional 'wardrobe' she will wear jeans and then just change tops or add jumpers over the top. The clothers are going to be Jamie the actors clothes which she wears normally so it is deffinatley something that someone her age would wear. However we have asked that the clothes are darker and that she doesnt really wear white to clash with our convention of the antagonist, Maddison.

Shooting Schedule

Date	Scene	Day/Night	Int/Ext	Location	Cast
20 Januray	The Medical Room	Day	Int	The Medical Room	Scarlett, Dr. Lewis, Director, Photographer
25 January	The Breakfast	Day	Int	The main house	Scarlett, Mom, Dad, Director, Photographer
25 January	The Concerned Friend	Day	Int	The main house, Scarlett's room	Scarlett, Olivia, Director, Photographer
25 January	The riverside	Day	Ext	The riverside by the main house	Scarlett, Maddison, Director, Photographer
25 January	The phonebox	Day	Ext	The phonebox by the main house	Scarlett, Maddison, Director, Photographer
25 January	S, M walking, holding hands	Day	Ext	An alley in the neighborhoood	Scarlett, Maddison, Director, Photographer
25 January	S, M swinging on the swings	Day	Ext	Park in the village	Scarlett, Maddison, Director, Photographer
25 January	S, M shot-reverse shot (filmed not used)	Day	Int	Field in the park	Scarlett, Maddison, Director, Photographer
25 January	Maddison runing away	Day	Ext	A road near the park	Maddison, Director, Photographer
25 January	Maddison smiling	Day	Ext	Anywhere	Maddison, Director, Photographer
25 January	Location setting shots	Day	Ext	Various locations	Director, Photographer
25 January	The Bloody Dress (the bench scene)	Day	Ext	The bench by the river by the main house	Scarlett, Maddison, Director, Photographer

Crew List

Me and Rebeka have worked together on previous media tasks such as are preliminary task and practising with the camera. Before in the tasks I have had general control of the camera and Rebeka has directed what is going on and we both check to shots together.

As this has previously worked well for us these are the roles we are going to have when shooting our final horror opening sequence.

As there is only two of us additional friends may come along to take behind the scene pictures of during filming so we are focusing a 100% on what we are doing with the recording.

Camera Work: Elle (me)
Director: Rebeka

Actors:
Jaime-lea Taylor
Maddison Bishop-Saunders
Lewis Barnard
Elle North Bishop-Saunders (me- in small scene)

Equipment List

• Nikon Camera- we decided to use this as the quality of the clips were better than the video camera which the school could provide
• Medical Chair- for the effect of the menatl asylum we used the medical chair to improve our mise en scene
• Make-up
• Shooting Script
• Flash Light
• Costumes
• Batteries
• Tripod

Mise en Scene

SET, DESIGN & SPACE

We have already previously looked at our locations which you can find HERE.
The locations we have picked such as my village are generally not busy and can suggest isolation which is key in horror films as it creates that sense of being alone; no-one else can protect you.

COSTUME, HAIR & MAKE-UP

Maddison will be wearing the same outfit throughout to show clear links. It may also play on the fact that maybe she is dead and when you usually see ghosts in horror movies they appear in the same clothes. Click Here to see general description on her costume, hair and make up.


FACIAL EXPRESSIONS & BODY LANGUAGE

Our film is a physiological horror and throughout are opening titles we have flash backs that play on different emotions and feelings. Maddison is seen as being a friend but then also an enemy but she always comes across as happy which is what messes with Scarlett's head. In some scenes such as the park scene on the swings Scarlett is seen as playing with her so will be happy. However in other seen such as the bedroom scene she is represented as being confused and upset.

COMPOSITION

Maddison is usually far behind Scarlett to hint that shes in Scarletts head and also being a child that Scarlett is older and has more authority.


COLOUR

White and red showing innocence but danger in Maddison.


LIGHTING

Mostly Natural as we dont have the resources for artificial lightig outside. Eye opening scene using artificial light in a studio.

Representation in Task

Description of Target Audience

Our film is going to be targeted at C1 (Nurses, Bank Clerks and White Collar Proffesionals); C2 (Electricians, Plumbers and 'Blue Collar Proffesionals) and also Group B (Teachers, Middle Management and Fairly Paid Profeesionals). We feel like it may be aimed at these becuase of the the phycological element for hem to understand. However Group E may be our main target audience with 12A being our rating and charcters in 'Maddison' mstly relating to this target audience.

Character Photos On Location- Maddison

Font Planning

After researching fonts we realised as we will be using Adobe Premiere Elements 8.0 we would have to find the font in the programme. We like this font for our titles as it is like some of it is hidden. Parts of the letters are missing. This then links to our film with the idea that Maddison is there; but she isn't. This then gives the audience a clear connection to the film.

Font in 'The Thing From Another Wold'

Click the photo above to watch the titles

 

 

The titles are in black and white this creates the sense of the good and the evil. The screen starts off black and then the title appears with the effect that it is being burts into the screen. The white titles are being burnt into the black and almost like good is trying to burn over the evil. The title font itself looks like it was ripped or torn aswell as looking as if it has been burnt. When the title has fully appeard it gives the effect of something shining through. This could suggest that something is trying to take over. The font is also all in capitals, this makes the text stand out and adds importance.

Analysing Fonts

This font gives the effect that something has scrathched into it. Parts of the letters arent there so they look damanged. The audience may like this because it may give a connection to the film. The audeince can get a clue to what the film is about; you ask yourself is this film going to leave you damanged like the text, or damange the charcters.


This one istead of a normal font being scatched into gives the effect it itself has been scratched. This can suggest that sharp objects are present such as blades.

Camera Diagrams

Diagrams 2-6 can be found on Rebeka's Blog CLICK HERE


Below i have draw Camera Diagrams for scenes 7-11

 

 

 

 

 

 

Opening Credits

Opening titles can include everyone that contributed to whole of a film. Some such as 'The Godfather' have no titles. However people that could be included in the opening titles when I researched were:

• Production Company
• Directors Name
• Lead Characters
•  The Title
• Supporting Cast
• Casting Director
• Music Composer
• Art Director
• Set Design
• Costume Designer
• Hair & Make-Up Artists
• Editor
• Director of Photography
• Executive Producer
• Producers
• Story by
• Written by
• Directed by

Still my favourite opening title sequence is se7en as shown below. This gives you an example also of people that are included in the titles.

Font Research

Here I have experimented different fonts with out movie title to see which our group will like best. After researching into horror movie title fonts, I have found that the font should reflect the type of movie it is. The first two fonts our are favourites for the main titles at the moment. Because or films is about this imaginary friend Maddison we think the first one looks as if the have scribbled it or you could also think that it has been scratched into something. Basically giving it a child like feel but still a scary aspect not like for example just a child-like font like comic sans. The second font reminds us of a child's painting effect. I also like that the font is quite bold so it stands out. 

Working with the slogan and title: