1st Draft of Our Film

This is the first draft of our film.  We used this to get some feedback easily, by sending out links to friends and family using YouTube and Facebook.   This gave us something to see what we could improve on, and what looked good so far.

On location!

Rachael and Kit on Nelson Golf Course with Pendle Hill backdrop!

Title credits

Putting the camera on a slow shutter speed, Kat and I (along with two other students), were able to create light graffiti.  We plan to use these in our opening scene to explain the 'found footage', in the style of The Blair Witch Project.

This is Kat operating the camera.

And here are just some of the finished letters;

Scripting

As a group, we have decided that it would be best to have a brief outline for the script, and improvise as we go along.  This was due to the genre we decided on and the best way to make it look as if nothing was scripted or planned, like a found footage film should be.

We believe that we need to have a few points mentioned at some point, to allow the film to flow and give the right impression about what happens in the rest of the production.  These included;

• 'I don't believe in witches'.  This is to get the point that the film is about witches, and the research into them.
• 'How do you work the camera?'.  This is to show our lack of knowledge when using a camera, and to show we are student film makers.
• Pendle Hill and its folklore.  This is to show where we are, and where will be shooting, as well as the history behind why students would be researching Pendle and the witches. 

Storyboard

This is our storyboard for our film opening.  This will allow us to know whats shots we need, and the locations on where we should shoot.  This will hopefully shooting days run smoother, as we will know what we need to do. 

This will also help with with editing later on, as we can look back on it to see the order of the shots.

Group Roles

To do the tasks easily, we decided it was best to split our roles to fit in with our skills.  Below is the production roles we allocated ourselves;

1. Research: Kat and Rachael
2. Planner:  Rachael
3. Storyboard drawer:  Rachael
4. Scriptwriter:  Me
5. Location and props:  Shared equally
6. Main Actors:  Rachael and Lorna (Rachael's younger sister)
7. Camera Woman:  Kat
8. Director:  Rachael
9. Editing: Me

We separated the roles in this way as we believed it matched the skills we have.  Rachael is a natural leader and has a clear idea on what the film needed, and the shots we required, which made her perfect for the directors role.  Kat had prior experience with the camera, so knew how to use the different techniques we needed.  I had the appropriate skills using Adobe Premiere Pro, so I knew how to edit the footage to make it look how we needed.

Film Opening: The Blair Witch Project

The Blair Witch Project starts off with a simple motif for the two production companies 'Artisan Entertainment' and 'Haxan Films'.

It then fades to show the title 'The Blair Witch Project' on a black background with white text, then again fades to show 'In October 1994...'.  This adds suspense to the film as you do not know what is going to happen, but gives you a sense of the horror genre.

It then cuts to a close up shot, which is very blurry, of the leads face.  The camera is very shaky adding to the unedited feeling of the film, which is continued throughout the film.  This also creates a sense of realism to the film.  The woman does not know how to use the camera, shown with the blurriness of the shot, and the voice-over 'Is it recording?'.  

After looking at both REC/Quarantine and The Blair Witch Project, we noticed some major similarities.  The shaky camera and blurriness of the shots added to the unedited feel, which make the footage feel as if it has just been found and distributed.

 The opening credits are very simple, and very short, and you almost forget them as soon as the footage begins.

There are no transitions between shots, and the footage has not been re-shot if any errors occur, as in REC.  All of the above make it feel as if the footage has just been found, and distributed straight away, which adds a different aspect of realism to the film.