Production : Filming

For filming we decided that my house would be the best place for filming as I had somewhere we could burn our photos safely and had a dark creepy shed at the bottom of my garden where we could film Amy and we could film in there even if the weather was bad, so it was therefore the best place for filming.

For the filming of the fire - where we burnt the photos - we came across quite a few problems. The main one being the wind as it was hard to keep the fire going and the photos kept blowing around. We fixed this problem with lighter fluid. However, by the last set of photos the fire had gone and so had the lighter fluid, so we were lighting the pictures so they started to burn and then put them on top of the coals; this method worked ok, but in future we will have to consider the wind before we start filming.

John filming the burning photos.

Rebecca filming Amy's possession in the shed.

Rebecca filming an extreme close-up with Amy.

Agne filming the demon sigil thats been stuck to the wall.

Production : Preparation - Part 2

Starting Amy's makeup

Before we started filming we had to do Amy's make up so it would have the effect we wanted, to do this we used mascara and water to make it run. However while doing that we realised it wasn't having the effect we wanted, so we used black eye shadow to make it look as if her makeup had run and smudged.                                                                                                                                                                          

We then added fake blood to her face and neck to insinuate that she had caused harm to someone. However, we made sure to only put blood on the front of Amy, so front the back she looks innocent and scared, contrasting greatly against the front of her.

Starting to make Amy's makeup look like it
had run and smudged.

Doing the makeup underneath Amy's eyes

Amy's finished eye makeup

Production : Preparation - Part 1

Before filming we had to create our props so that the miss-en-scene was perfect.
Firstly we created our fake newspaper covers, deciding on the headlines to have and what they should look like, because we needed the papers to look realistic.
Agne and John then created our fake newspaper using the website www.frontpageme.com and then suck them on old newspapers; we had three different newspaper covers.

John creating newspaper cover

We then smeared the papers in fake blood making some of them look like a bloodied hand had been dragged down the page.

Final newspaper

I then decided to make the Devil's trap and demon sigil, which I painted separately on two different pieces of A2 paper. Painting them in red paint and then going over them in fake blood and hanging them up so the blood would drip. We found this method highly effective and it played on the feeling of the film. 
We then stuck these pieces of paper onto my bedroom wall so that it would look like they were painted onto a wall. This worked very well.

Painted and dried Devil's trap, top. Half painted
demon sigil, bottom.

Starting to add the blood to the demon sigil.

Adding the fake blood.

The darker fake blood creating a more realistic
and bloody look to the demon sigil.

Agne the scanned some of her family photos and printed them off, creating multiple copies, so we could do multiple shots at different angles while burning them.

Agne cutting out the pictures.

The copies of the pictures.

Production : Test Filming

Before we started filming our we started filming our the footage for opening of our teen horror film we practised with the camera we would be using, since we first started filming with 
I-pads  going onto the cameras were very different and we had to learn how to handle them and film correctly. We did this so our footage for our project would be better and more professional.

John test filming

Me test filming

Agne test filming

Overall we found this extremely useful when we started filming as we had experience with the camera and knew how to sort out the focus and contrast, as well as learning to zoom before recording.

Planning : Shot List

Planning : Mise-en-Scene

Mise-en-scene is a French term that simply defines 'put in the scene'. This term covers the main elements of symbolic codes like costumer, make-up, setting and props. By attaching symbolic values to these certain items, we'll have our audiences make assumptions or impressions about those codes.

Evangeline will have smudged make-up on her face – what is known as ‘mascara tears’ – this will show the emotional turmoil she's gone through. 

We will also have blood of her victims from previous crimes smeared on her face to show clearly what she has done and that it was her that did it. As well as blood splattered onto her white dress, which will represent her corrupted innocence.

Her hair will be messed up and big, showing how she’s gone feral.

For the clothing, we came to a conclusion of a white dress because it will represent her innocence – or lack of - but will also allow the red of blood stand out against the white. We also decided for Evangeline to be barefoot because it gives her the look of someone wild and out of control.

We came to a decision of using a meat cleaver, discarded and covered in blood. We think that it's relatively a messy but traditional weapon for the killers in common horror movies, and we also thought that using such a close contact weapon, Evangeline would get he pleasure of the blood – the lifeline – of a person running down her arms, allowing her to feel it, makes it more personal.

By showing old photos of her previous families will give brief ideas of the range of types of families Evangeline has experienced in the past. The photos will progress from very old photos to more modern ones as the opening titles go on to give a brief timeline to the audience. Along will these there will be features of newspapers consisting of articles mentioning some of the families' mysterious deaths. There will be blood splattered across the top of the newspaper.

To further support the fact that Evangeline is possessed by a demon, we thought of featuring symbols related to the devil, like a devil's trap or a demon sigil - these will be painted on wallpaper and put onto a wall - to represent possession and give the audience clues of Evangeline's current condition and relationships with evil.

Demon sigil

Planning : Casting

This is Evie Brudenall, she is 16 - making her the right age to play Evangeline. Evie is a great actor and does drama for A-level. However, she will not be able to film when we need her and couldn't get to where we need to film. Because of this she will not be cast as Evangeline.

 

 



 

This is Amy Boyce, she is 16 - making her the right age to play Evangeline. Amy is a good actor and is perfect for our character of Evangeline. She also will be able to film whenever and will be able to get to where we are filming, therefore making her perfect for the part of Evangeline.





This is Nicole Storey, she is also 16 - also making her her the right age to play Evangeline. Nicole does A-level drama. However, she won't be able to play the part of Evangeline as she's to busy to be able to film and wouldn't have a way to get to where we're going to film.


As a group we have decided to cast Amy to play the part of Evangeline as she seemed the most suitable and easy to work with, as she'll be able to film nearly anytime and anywhere, as she hasn't got a busy schedule. This will make it easier for us as a group to finish filming quickly and efficiently.

Planning : Location

I think that it's a good way of visualising the story board if you take photos of your planned location. With the shots of our location, we have a brief understanding of how our video will look like as a result.

When deciding on the best place to do our shooting, we looked at what settings are possible because having that sorted out before filming saves us time and avoids all the fuss.

In the end, we came to a conclusion of doing our filming at a shed because it meets most of our expectations. First off, it is a dark area, which will allow us to play around with light and shadows. We think this is a very great advantage for our opening titles since it's in a dark atmosphere with little hints of light. We can also use our own source of light, like a torch, where we have full control over.

Additionally, it's an unusual (and unlikely) place for a child to hang around with the dangers lurking around every corner, and we thought it'd be a great place for shooting Evangeline within the setting because it will go well with how wrecked Evangeline is. I believe that the mess in the shed could've been expanded from within her to her surroundings.

Planning : Storyboard

For our pre-production, John and I created a storyboard to show as much detail as possible like camera instructions and details of camera movement. We managed to include some scene duration and details of text like their placement. We think that by observing each shot in a panel helps us visualise our opening titles easier.

Although I believe we could have included further detail for each scene like the current location of the shot and the duration of how long the scene will stay on the screen. Also, we could have included details on sound used in each scene.

I think that in certain areas we managed to explain, or at least attempt to visualise a transition between two scenes, but to really go into detail we could have done a transition for each scene.