Names

We have looked on the website '20,000 names' as research for the name of our main character that would also be the film name. These were the names that worked well and they're meaning.

Valeria - Hungarian - Strong
Alodia - Visigothic - Foreign, Truth
Morana - Slavic - Death, goddess of death and winter
Leilah - Arabic/Hebrew - Dark, Night, Dark oriental beauty
Nereza - Italian - Darkness

We decided that the name Morana would work well as a film title as well as the characters nam and also has stronger connotations with death and mythology, naming the character after a goddess makes her seem stronger, and also shows a good side to her.

Effects on Test Footage

I have tested different effects on our test footage to see which looks best. I have used such things as red filters and blurring black and white. I think that when the best effects are added in the right place it usually makes it better as it adds atmosphere and suspense which is good as that is what we are trying to achieve in our super natural thriller.

Test Footage

In this test footage we practiced using 'weapons', which we may use in our final project. We have identified that it is amateur footage, but we intend to add effects using certain programs. For example we will probably make it dark by using a night effect. Darkness would add to the atmosphere and will be looking for a dark effect when we come to do are final project.

PRODUCTION: ..............

CALL SHEET - 12/02/09

Director: Vonnie Pigott Producer: Cat Hughes
CALL TIMES:

Unit Base:
Long road sixth form college, CB2 8PX

Locations:
1) Alexander gardens, Carlyle road, Cambridge, East Anglia

Location Contacts:
1) Vonnie Pigott - 00000 000 000

PRODUCTION CONTACTS
Director: Vonnie pigott - 00000 000 000
Producer: Cat Hughes - 00000 000 001
Camera: Cat Hughes - 00000 000 001
Associate producer: Andy Jones - 00000 000 002 & Robbie French - 00000 000 004

SHOOTING SCHEDULE
TIME.......... LOCATION.......... SCENE.......................... EXT/INT........ CAST
1700........... Loc 1................... Opening fight scene....... EXT.............. Sheridan rankin

NAME.................... AGENT.......... CHARATER/ROLE........... CALL TIME
Sheridan rankin..... N/A................ Main Female lead............. 1700
.............................. N/A................ Attacker............................. 1700

Sound Script

Our film requires minimal dialogue and sound in general but the bits it uses are intended to have more of an impact because of this.

EXT. Playground
(Girl, un-named, sitting alone)

Voice over:
Why am I here?
(gap of silence)
How did I get here?
(gap of silence)
What's going on?

(Rustling noises, fast movement as attacker comes out, some sound effects added to fight, girl stabs attacker, everything is silent. Thud of body hitting ground, loud footsteps as girl walks away. Black screen)

Voice over:
What am I?

All the questions imply a vulnerability to the character but the fight scene shows she is not. This shows that the character reflects human qualities in that she is strong but she still has her doubts and questions as all people do, this helps the audience identify with her.
The question 'What am I?' also implies that the character is somewhat scared of herself as people are naturally scared of what they don't know or understand. Her demeanor seems solid and unflinching but the voice over shows that it is just a front.
The sounds are strong and have more of an impact as most of the scene is quite silent.

Risk Assesment

Risk assesment:

Hazard: Sitting on a climbing frame
What could cause harm?
Could fall off
What is the likelihood of this happening?
Unlikely, The frame isn't very high up
Who or what would be harmed?
The person could hurt themselves
How much harm?
Minimal, some scratches
Applying the following priorities, how will this risk be managed?
(3) Isolate. (4) Control

2. Hazard: Weapons

What could cause harm?
Baseball bat, Fake knife, accidently hit, overly hard
What is the likelihood of this happening?
Possible
Who or what would be harmed?
Person could be hurt badly
How much harm?
dependant, could be serious if someone hits too hard.
Applying the following priorities, how will this risk be managed?
(4) Control. (5) Personal protective equipment

3.Hazard:
Filming on climbing frame
What could cause harm?
Unstable place to film, could fall
What is the likelihood of this happening?
Possible, unlikely
Who or what would be harmed?
Camera, equipment
How much harm?
It could break.
Applying the following priorities, how will this risk be managed?
(2) Reduce or substitute. (4) Control.

Underworld analysis

We've already looked at Blade and What lies Beneath, but as Underworld has become our main inspiration, analysing a sequence of it will aid our piece.Particularly as it is the same genre, to the extent of also featuring a strong female lead.



(analysed the first seven minutes)

• Dusk/ night time, weather is stormy, its raining, and theres lightning and thunder. All these have connotations of something dark, mysterious and bad
• The voice over by the female lead shows her vulnerability as well as her power and hints at the plot by questioning the certainty of her future and mentioning war
• The dramatic jump from the large gothic building, shows her strength and power, and also a graceful almost cat-like quality to her, conventional characteristic of vampires
• She is wearing an all black costume, including the conventional long black leather coat
• Effects are used on the supernatural characters eyes, the different effects show us they are different, more animalistic, and also shows us the difference between them
• The Vampires are shown as fast moving and graceful with an almost feline quality, whereas the werewolves(or Lykens) are shown as more muscular, with slower, but dtronger seeming movements. They appear more dog like, which furthur represents the conflict between them and is also conventional
• The main character (Kate Beckinsale) has concealed weapons, as does her accomplise, whereas the attackers have larger, more intimidating weapons, clearly modified, these also tell us that we are dealing with supernatural characters and their war. The weapons also tell us that the vampires seem to have slightly more consideration for the public, as it is the Lykens that begin the conflict. This further emphasises the slightly more human traits of the vampires in comparison to the werewolves more animalistic and instinctual approach
• The Vampires also stand out to the audience due to their conventionally pale skin and dark hair, the contrast of which makes her complexion more obvious and striking. The vampires also have a tendency to have more slender figures.
• The werewolves stand out due to the convention of them being tall and of a muscular build- a reflectin of characteristics they have in their wolf form.
• Like in Blade, flickering lighting is used, when the shots are outside this is due to weather, and at first helps and mystery by leaving her appearance less known.
• The shots are dark and shadowed, leaving parts of buildings in darkness, it also reflects the lives of many of the characters, who have spent centuries living their lives in the shadows so as not to be hunted themselves
  
• Throughout all the shots the main colours seen are dark, for the most part blacks, blues and greys, this reflects the darker side of the characters and the deaths etc that are included within a supernatural plot
• An element of voyeurism is brought in, as the first shots show the two vampires watching the streets, searching for their enemies and tracking their movements. The shot also encourages the audience to side with these characters, even though they are also supernatural, and shows the vampires as superior, as we see them looking down on the werewolves and humans
• The animalistic tendencies of the supernatural, , in their heightened senses(another common convention) the most obvious example of this being when the lead female signals to her accomplise across a great distance.
• The sound begins as just the voiceover and weather, but as the tension of the scene builds and we begin to anticipate a chase, and even sooner her jump, music builds up to reflect the tension. After her landing its pace and volume indicates they are following, getting closer- and perhaps even being hunted themselves
• Even as characters enter a subway, which is reasonably well lit, the colours remain dark to continue with the connotations of the genre
• During the fight, to return to the mystery and excitement, the lights in the subway diminishes as lights begin to flicker, and some go out completely
• The shot of the female lead shooting two guns and advancin rapidly and confidently shows her power and courage, it also makes the audience look up to her in awe, the camera looks up to her
• She remains graceful throughout the fight, emphasised with shots of her slowed down, or showing the movement of her coat, and she also demonstrates aility and speed- particularly in the chase through the carriage, whereas the werewolf pushes throuh roughly and with loud, thudding footsteps and slower movements- again showing the werewolves as more animalistic

Equipment list

For our supernatural thriller filming we will need the following equipment:

1. Video Camera
2. Tripod
3. Lighting equipment(this is not definite but we may use it for effects like those used in the Blade sequence we analysed, and to create a better silhouetted effect when she defeats her attacker)
   

Props and furthur costumes

The props for our sequence are minimal, and will most likely consist of just the two weapons the characters have. We are currently thinking we would like to use a larger,more intimidating weapon-such as a sword for the attacker- and a small,easily concealed weapon for the main character. This is because if her weapon isn't intimidating on it's own where her attackers is the embodiment of strength and power, when she easily defeats him it will show her true strength and superiority. Our choice of weapons will aid us in showing our main female character as powerful.


The costume for our characters will be strongly influenced by films like Underworld and Blade, particularly our main characters. Our female lead's outfit will be all dark, most likely completely black, with a long black coat over top- a common feature of supernatural thrillers.This image of Kate Beckinsale in Underworld is very similar to the outfit we want for our lead, and was a strong inspiration.


For the attacker we want an outfit that has similarities(particularly in the dark colours of his clothing) but also shows that he is not the character we should identify with. We plan to do this by having him wear something hooded, that covers the majority of his face and leaves his identity hidden and secretive-- perhaps something that could be later revealed in the plot.

We also plan to use make up to add to the supernatural feel, and show that the characters are more than human.We are going to make the faces very pale, but use purple around their eyes in a style very similar to Tim Burtons.




We are also considering the use of contacts-possibly cat eyes- something that is conventional in supernatural films as a way of portraying the animal like qualities of many supernatural characters.

Positives and Areas for improvement on our blog

Positives:

• Good planning, clear ideas and i know what their piece will look like
• Very descriptive and informative. Best blog in the class
• Detailed shot list
• Lots of detailed film notes
• Amazing animatic
• Good location research
• Good film analysis

Areas for improvement:

• Pictures of costumes and visual ideas
• No call sheet
• Needs more pictures
• Seen as it is a genre very specific more imagery would help eg. costumes
• Maybe some images in the costume blog
• Maybe more images on the costume post

We will respond to this feedback by trying to add images to the blogs that require it- particularly costumes as this was mentioned several times.We will also add a call sheet and a risk assessment to our blog, as not only was this listed as an area for improvement it also reflects professional practice.
However in comparison to our thriller blogs we can see a vast improvement through the positive comments.Overall this blog has left us more prepared for filming then we were last time, this will hopefully aid us in regaining the time lost due to weather conditions.

Location

Some photos of the possible location for the film opening. We decided on a childrens park and this is one that happens to be close to my (Vonnie's) house. There is one other close to my house but it doesn't have the same effective elements to it. (alexander gardens)

Shot List

1. Establishing shot of the Children's park
2. Close up of a swing (moving back and forward slightly)
3. Close up of roundabout (also slight movement?)
4. High angle long shot of character sitting (shows character's strength/superiority)
5. Mid shot of character through ropes
6. Close up of character's face (expression is thoughtful)
7. Point of View shot of surroundings (rustling sound in background)
8. Extreme close up of character's eye
9. Mid shot of character with attacker behind her
10. Close up of character's side/hand,showing she is preparing to jump
11. Medium-long shot of character jumping
12. Close up of her foot landing
13. Mid shot of attacker, jumping after main character
14. Mid shot of main character and her attacker
15. Close up of main character's hand reaching for and taking a small,concealed weapon
16. Close up of attacker's hand and weapon (probably larger,more powerful looking), ready to strike
17. Close up of long coat moving, as main character spins around to face attacker
18. Medium long shot of character killing attacker (silhouetted)
19. Close up of attacker's face-pained expression
20. Close up of blood dripping onto the ground
21. Close up of main character's feet and attacker falling in front of them
22. Mid shot of attacker's body and blood
23. High angle shot of main character, slowly panning up (possibly stopping below her face or eyes)
24. Close up of main character's face (almost like a still,little or no movement)
25. Mid shot of main character turning away
26. Medium long shot of attacker on ground(camera stays focused on this) and the main character leaving the park(walking towards camera,then out of sight)

Shots one to eight will have a long duration, the middle shots will then be very fast paced, until shot eighteen, where the shot duration will lengthen again.