Film Production Diary

Wednesday 30th November 2011 & Thursday 1st December 2011
Today with one of our group members being absent, we overcame this problem by deciding to finish the script we had started off last week, in the next two days ready for us to start filming within the next few weeks. We used our completed storyboards to help us and created it on Publisher.

Monday 5th December 2011
Today we experimented with our film equipment for the first time. We established the type of camera we would be using (Mini DV Digital Camera) to accomodate the situations we will be facing, such as low-key lighting and outside environments. We were given a demostration of how to use the camera properly allowing us to create a professional short film for our project, which we are excited and looking forward to our planning into practice.

Wednesday 7th December 2011
Today we took some test shots with the Mini DV Digital Camera to help us get use to filming with this type of camera and give us a bit of experience before filming the actual production. We took test shots of certain shot types such as extreme close-ups and reaction shots as these are typical conventions of a horror film which will be included in our filming. We have gained knowledge of how to do these kinds of shots effectively to help us with the actual film so it looks realistic, mainly through all of our research which were perfect examples. We also practiced establishing shots and camera panning for the start of the film.

Thursday 8th December 2011
In todays lesson we uploaded the test shots we took yesterday onto our computer. This allows us to look back at what we took so we can scruntise it in order to get some professional shots for our actual project. It was good to see the quality of the filming on a bigger screen giving us an idea of how clear our horror film will be.
Tuesday 13th December 2011 
Today we managed to film a good proportion of our project. We filmed for three hours using our storyboards and tried to get most of the shots that didnt require much dialogue out of the way so next time we can focus on using the script effectively. Filming went really well and we were pleased with the results. We used props such as fake blood to give the film more of a realistic feel because a typical convention of a horror film is blood.

Wednesday 14th December 2011
We are uploading the bit of the short film we managed to film yesterday. This allows us to cross off the scenes we have successfully done and to plan the shots we need to take next time we decide to film. Its helpful looking back at the scenes we took yesterday as it helps us analysis the scenes properly and decide whether theres anything we need to bare in mind next time and any problems we need to overcome. We managed get some really good shots and have made a good amount of progress on our project.

Thursday 15th December 2011
As this is our last lesson together before the Christmas holidays, we decided it would be best to finish all unfinished work and get a head start before we return in January. To achieve this, we all allocated sperate roles for each other and got on with seperate tasks. Alice Taylor made a start on experimenting with different fonts suitable for a film poster, Aimee Lomas began to compare and evaluate existing horror posters for research and Alex Berry uploaded the team's finished work into the blog and began to edit and capture some of our captured footage in preperation for the new year. Despite an unavoidable slow start, we are pleased with the progress we have made this year and are looking forward to our finished film production which will be completed in the new year.

Wednesday 4th January
After the Christmas Holidays we are back in college for the first time together in the new year. Unfortunately Alice Taylor was absent this period so Alex Berry and Aimee Lomas, we had decided to start the first lesson back by catching up with any unfinished work and made sure all completed work was uploaded onto the blog. By the end of this week we hope to have our final areas of research completed and make sure we have covered every aspect of the horror convention. Once this has done we can then progress with our film footage and look to begin editing and finalising our production.

Monday 9th January
Today the full group is finally together, and we are pleased that we made real progress in the lesson, as we were all able to crack on with individual pieces of research. Aimee Lomas looked into the death scenes of classic slasher films and their frameworks, Alice Taylor began to review a short horror film for our research and Alex Berry analysed the different aspects of sound used in horror films.

Thursday 12th January
Again during this lesson we progressed even further with our research. Aimee continued analysing death scenes of iconic slasher films, Alex researched and investigated into sound effects that are present in horror films, including theme songs, whilst Alice continued her analysis on short horror films. Overall we are pleased with the progress we have been making in the new year and are looking forward to the end results of our film project                            

Thursday 19th January
During todays lesson we had a very productive hour. We had our first induction into using the software Adobe Premiere Pro and got to experiment into some of the basic controls. We are very pleased we got the time to try out the software as it has given us more confidence when it comes to editing and we are confident to achieve a sense of professionalism when it comes to editing. In the next lesson we will screenshot our prgress on the software and upload this work onto our blog.