Directors Commentary-Will Smith

Evaluation Activity 8-Will Smith

Next year I will make progress by increasing our film duration as well as spending more time on filming. I would like to incorporate more technical shots in our film to improve grades. I would like to structure our filming with our group in our next production as well. I would like to use better props and spend time on ordering online the right ones to make our film look professional. I will practice my skills on Premiere at home so next year I am familiar with the software.

Evaluation Activity 7-Will Smith

Progression from preliminary task to final product

In our preliminary task we used match on action. Our actor (Matty Folkes) is filmed walking up to the door with a medium shot, we then cut to a close up of him opening the door and then back to a medium shot of him walking through the door. This is an example of match on action, giving our shot a sense of continuity.

Since learning the basics of shot reverse shot, match on action and the rule of 180° we have now since tried to incorporate these in our final product where appropriate. Match on action is a continuity shot which is similar to shot reverse shot but unlike shot reverse shot is not used during conversations, it is infact used when portraying the actions of a character. Shot reverse shot is used in many films during conversations between characters to show facial expressions and dialogue. The 180° rule is a guideline meaning filming must take place within an 180 degree angle, which is maintained during conversation. We used the 180 degree angle during the beginning shot of our opening scene as our characters walk into the woods. We didn't find any convenient scenes in our introduction to include shot reverse shot and match on action. 

In our final product we used a variety of shot types, particularly medium and long shots. We also used the point of view shot twice in the opening scene. This proves our group have learnt different filming techniques since our preliminary tasks.

Evaluation Activity 4-Will Smith

Who would be the audience for your media product?

The main audience for our media product will be teenagers and young adults who are thrill-seekers. There will not be too much blood and gore, which increases our range of viewers meaning squeamish horror fans will happily view our film. We are not targeting a specific gender for our horror which opens up our options for viewers. We will try and target audiences through YouTube advertisements on    YouTube videos about other horror movies.

Evaluation Activity 1-Will Smith

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

Here we are walking into the location for where much of our horror movie is filmed.There are three casually dressed teenagers strolling into the woods, which is the main setting for the introductory part of our film. We take shots of us walking into the woods from the front and then from behind. The characters are introduced obviously as being friends as they are seen chatting and laughing, enjoying each others company.






At the start of the film we used simple font and colouring for the titles to keep the viewers attention on the film. We get a better view of the teenagers height and clothes, giving a hint of their age.







This type of shot is typical to a horror movie set in the woods. It is showing that the teenagers are walking further and further into the heart of the woods, away from help.

The camerawork in this shot is a POV shot of the killer, creeping around in the woods watching the teenagers. This character is introduced without anyone knowing what he looks like or who he is, leaving mystery with him. This is typical of a horror opening leaving suspense with the viewers not knowing who the antagonist is.

In this scene the friends are all discussing about football. This is a subtle way of showing the three are just normal boy teenagers who love football and who commonly socialise with each other.

This shot is a key part of our film. The actors excuse for leaving is that he needs the toilet. This needs to be done so we can separate the teenagers from each other leaving them vulnerable to danger. It isn't unusual in horror films for a character to somehow find themselves alone and separate from friends.

The character is tapped on the back and suspects nothing of it-thinking it's just a friend. When he turns around we see an attempted expression of shock. This shows the audience the murderer is about to attack. We black out the ending of the opening scene leaving a cliffhanger to what happened to the unsuspecting teenager.

Evaluation Activity 6-Will Smith

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

Evaluation Activity 5-Will Smith

How did you attract/address your audience?

Evaluation Activity 2-Will Smith

How does your media product represent particular social groups?





The protagonist Will is murdered  just like Paul Allen for the Christian Bale film American psycho. They are both victims in a murder. They both have scared and confused expressions on their faces. 

Both are males in between the age regions of 15-30 and are well dressed. Will is wearing a smart parka coat while Christian Bale is wearing a shirt and tie. Both have a scared expression on their face.

Evaluation Activity 3-Will Smith

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









Our production company is mainly Graveside Productions. We chose this new film company as they were British and brought in positive input on how to improve the film.
Lionsgate have produced notable horror films. Lionsgate target the same audiences we are looking for in our film. Films like American Psycho, The Saw Films and The Cabin in the Woods are all movies we have taken inspiration from to the create the Woods By The Lake. Lionsgate have a strong budget and are notorious within the horror film community. Lionsgate can therefore distribute our film using their various links and using their budget. We are looking for a similar expenditure as what The Cabin in the Woods were allowed. We will be looking to double our budget to make roughly at least $60 million in box office which we think is a reasonable aim with Lionsgate being our distributors.

The Woods By The Lake Full Opening-Will Smith

Soundtrack Music-Will Smith

The music chosen for our films came from the website incompetech.com. Incompetech had a wide range of non-copyrighted free music and our group could therefore choose from different categories, in particular the 'horror' category.

The song we chose was called 'Darkest Child var A' by Kevin Macleod. We chose it as it built up tension for the opening sequence of the film and to the murder. We slowed down the audio speed from 100% to 85%, creating extra suspense.

We then used 'Gloom Horizon' towards the end of the opening as the song represents the mans footsteps creeping up on his victim.

Institution Research-Will Smith

As a group we unanimously decided that Lionsgate Films would be the suitable distributors for our film, The Woods by the Lake.

Lionsgate have distributed films such as:

The Twilight Saga

The Hunger Games

The Day After Tomorrow

The Cabin in the Woods, and the seven-part ‘Saw Franchise’ are particular reasons why we chose Lionsgate to be our film distributors. We took inspiration from these films to create The Woods by the Lake. This is the main reason for our decision in choosing Lionsgate.

Script-Will Smith

Although we had a scrip we allowed for a lot of improvisation. I believe this helps the actors, in the introduction, to change any unnatural things their characters might say etc. 

SCRIPT

Three boys walk into the woods, with a couple of different angle shots showing this. They appear to be talking and having a laugh.
A POV shot of the antagonist as he stalks the boys.
The three are sat down on a log discussing, and then Will says he needs the toilet.

WILL: (Improvisation, talking about football)
WILL:I need a piss.

Walks away and takes his scarf of throwing it to Matty.
While urinating the antagonist creeps behind him and Will hears leaves crackling.

WILL:What?

The antagonist taps Will on the back

WILL:Mate I'm doing a piss.

Turns around with an expression of shock and horror.

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There wasn't much speaking in the early parts of this film. A lot of improvisation was allowed to make the script and dialogue feel more natural to the viewers.

Time Management Schedule-Will Smith

For our film, time management was very important as during filming it was getting dark very quickly, this was due to us being in winter-time. An obstacle we had to overcome was the darkness and with limited days and times our group were available for filming, this made it even more difficult. By stretching filming over a two day span from after-school to the afternoon, before it got dark (from 2-4). We didn't film all the scenes in a particular chronological order. We started off with filming our establishing shots of the woods and our three main characters walking into it. This was a simple shot to film which we got in one take. A more challenging shot is the 'point of view' shot that our antagonist in the story, Kai Bingham had to film. He had to hold the camera level to his eyes and breath heavily while stalking the friends in the woods. This proved challenging as it took acting skill.

Diary of Filming-Will Smith

Firstly we set up the walking scene finding the best angle to film the three characters going into the wood after finding the right angle we had some camera issues as the cameraman accidentally put his finger in the top of the lens. After filming that scene we filmed a scene of walking through the forest this was and over the shoulder shot so it made it easier to do as it was done it 1 take. The next scene filmed was the POV shot this was easier to do as it there wasn't a need for a whole amount of quality as the shakier the camera the better it would fit the character arc. We then filmed the social scene between the friends we found a log to sit on which made it easier to do, this was easier as the only thing we as the characters had to focus on was what was needed to make the scene; the script body language camera angle and etc. the final scene we had to film was the first murder scene, this took about 5 takes as the people involved couldn't get it right.

Opening Two Minutes Codes and Conventions-Will Smith

The codes and conventions of a horror movie featured in our opening two minutes:

In our opening two minutes we featured two main codes and conventions of horror films. This is because there are only so many you can fit into an intro and we don't want our film to be completely stereotypical of all other horror movies.

Our film is set in a Secluded Location. No one is around to help the characters when threatened or in danger. This means when there is a murder, the only people nearby are the friends who are extremely vulnerable.

The opening of the film is set in the winter time. It is starting to get Dark. This means help will be hard to come by.

Actors Interviews-Will Smith

Interview with some of the cast from The Woods By The Lake.


Was filming the introduction difficult? 

Michael Charalambous:-"It was difficult as we had to rely on the weather quite heavily. We couldn't film in the rain or snow and we didn't really want to have the introduction filmed in the dark. But obviously as it was filmed in the winter time that meant that time was against us as it got dark pretty early."

What was the funniest thing that happened on set? 

Matty Folkes:-"During filming for a scene where Will has to turn around with an expression of shock on his face, we attacked him with a can of deodorant and sprayed him in the face as a prank which was probably the funniest thing that happened on set."

Was it difficult to direct the opening? 

Kai Bingham:-"It is always difficult trying to direct three other 16 year olds but everyone chips in with good ideas on how we could improve or adapt our film."

Mind Map/Brainstorm-Will Smith

Preliminary Task-Will Smith

Questionnaire-Will Smith

WHAT IS YOUR NAME?
Will
Michael
Kai
Matty

HOW OLD ARE YOU?
16
16
16
16

DO YOU LIKE HORROR FILMS?
Sometimes
Sometimes
Yes
No
WHY DO YOU LIKE HORROR FILMS?
Sometimes have good stories to them
Scares you into being excited
I like to be scared
N/A
WHAT IS YOUR FAVOURITE HORROR?
Orphan
Mama
Child’s Play
Saw

I Am Legend Opening Scene Analysed-Will Smith

I Am Legend begins with an establishing shot of an abandoned and derelict looking New York City. The only diegetic sound to be heard is seagulls screeching. It now starts to become obvious the city is abandoned with numerous shots showing run-down buildings, empty streets and the eerie quietness.

A birds eye view is used looking down on a sports car driving slowly down the road, cutting to  a close up of an assault rifle laying down on the passenger seat. The driver of the car picks the gun up and rests it on his lap. The camera then pans up to show the protagonists face. The man looks to his right where the camera shows he is looking at his companion and dog, Sam.

The roads have vines and grasses overgrown on them, showing the road is rarely driven on by cars. Point of view shots of Will Smith (known in the film as Robert Neville) are used to show the poor states of the road. As the car turns a corner our attention is distracted onto posters with messages of hope, one of them reading "God still loves us".

The camera cuts to another point of view shot to put the audience in the character's shoes. A herd of deer jump out of nowhere causing Smith to jump and lose control of the car. Medium shots are used of the protagonist struggling to keep the car in control as well as point of view shots seeing Smith frantically turning the steering wheel.

The viewers realise Will Smith is out in his car hunting for food, panning shots are used to follow the car as it chases the deer around the city. Smith gets out his gun to kill the animals and aims it out of the window, an over the shoulder shot is used to get in the perspective of the protagonist. The angles are against Smith who continues to drive through the city taking a shortcut route to get back to driving alongside the deer. It becomes obvious Smith is accustomed to all the city routes and shortcuts, suggesting he frequently hunts and that New York is his playground.

The opening sequence ends with the deer getting away by running through a barricade of police cars before they enter a maze of abandoned cars. The end shot is a crane shot rising up showing the extreme scale and distance of vacated cars.

This opening scene causes an enigma code for the audience, enticing them to watch on and raising the questions of what caused the humans to disappear? Why did they abandon their cars? And is Robert Neville the last human left on earth?

The Woods By The Lake Film Poster-Will Smith

Breakfast at Tiffany's Opening Scene Analysis-Will Smith

At the beginning of the film an establishing shot is used looking down Fifth Avenue, New York City one of the most expensive streets in the world which is notorious for being a street popular for shopping in.

A taxi drives down Fifth Avenue and is followed by a panning shot, this signifies that someone important in the film such as a main character is currently inside the taxi. Out of the car steps an elegantly dressed woman. The camera cuts from the panning shot to a low angle shot looking up from the ground. We see the character is looking up high on a building which reads 'Tiffany & Co.".

The character who we now establish as Audrey Hepburn or Holly Golightly, as known in the film, walks over to a jewelry shop window. The audience presume Holly Golightly is upper class and is wealthy due to her dress sense and her interest in the film of expensive taste in clothing and jewelry. Hepburn portrays someone eccentric and a 'café society girl' as she gets out pastry and a drink from a bag. Holly Golightly carries on window shopping, looking at chandeliers before she walks off.

A new scene begins with Golightly running elegantly to her apartment before a man jumps out of his car to chase after her.