A Change in Names

I have decided to change the title of my film from 'Run from the Reaper' to Reaperation, this is because I felt that the title 'Run from the Reaper' sounded a bit boring and cheesey, the name Reaperation gives it a little more spice.

Second day of filming

Due to the weather I couldn't do the outdoor side of the filming on the same day as the indoor, so I managed to persuade my cast to help me film for one more day. Instead of using the wood as the ground was extremely muddy I used a derelict piece of land. The advantage to this was I had more space to move the camera around and the Reaper costume did not keep getting caught on the trees.

First Day of Filming

Did the first day of filming yesterday, 'The house scene' it went reasonably well but there were a few problems and changes that had to be made. But before I go into them I would like to thank Jamie and Gareth for being extremely patient with me. 

The first issue that I came across despite the fact it was snowing at the time, was moving the fridge in front of the garage door, the fridge was moveable but when we did move it we accidentally knocked it to the side and almost broke it, so I scrapped that idea but instead found some planks of wood and used them to barricade the door.

The next thing I changed was the grim reaper walking past the kitchen window. I had real trouble timing it right so that the reaper walks past at exactly the right moment  so instead I got the reaper to just stare through the window as the victim walks past.

Editing

I am trying to decide on what piece of software I am going to use for editing the film, either Final Cut, or Sony Vegas Pro 9. But for editing music I am going to use Free Music Editor, and for the titles I shall use Paint.net

22/01/10

I have begun the editing process  using Sony Vegas Pro 9 and have found a way to create stop animation using it, which means I no longer have to download the trial version of Stop Motion Pro which would have only given me a maximum of 16 uses', as I am not using pictures taken via a camera to create my stop animation it would not be a huge benefit if  did use it. 

The Stop Motion animation is going to be used for the grim reaper and also for the title screens. 

I was originally going make the title screens by working the names into the film itself, by either writing them on the ground or wall. But yesterday whilst watching Tenacious D, I thought I could do an animation a bit like that but not so comical and not using characters. But by having the scythe spin across the screen and as it does so blood splatters out spelling the out the name. (This Part is not finalized for the main title screen the scythe will spin towards the camera land and then a drop of blood will fall off the blade of the scythe create a small puddle of blood on the floor where the name will appear.  

Genre

Horror / Action

The Cast

The Grim Reaper - Gareth Savage
Victim - Jamie Jordan

Location(s)
Merlin Park

Marconi Road

The Scythe for the Grim Reaper costume I am going to make it out of a 1.8m curtain rail and card which will be painted

Props and People

I have just ordered my Grim Reaper costume, which should arrive within 2 days...and I am having to rethink one of the cast members as he may not be avaliable to film during the week, and I am going on a geography field trip on the 24th of Jan taking up that weekend.

Grim Reaper Costume -



Scythe -

AS Media Coursework - Film

It has taken me a while to make this first post on my blog showing my progress with the planning of my Media Project. So I shall just some up what I have been doing towards this project over the past few weeks.

I have decided on doing an Action/Horror film opening. The opening shall be another chase scene but not like the seen from the prelim (The Pizza). This scene will involve two chracters and I have already got two of my friends to play these parts. The two chracters will be a victim (possibly with a name) and the Grim Reaper.

My two favourite film genres are action and horror which is why I have chosen to go in this direction. But one of my more general influences is the sort of music that I listen to, taking for instance one of my favourite artists, Children of Bodom, a lot of their songs are based on the lake bodom murders that occured in the 1960s. If you are unfamiliar with these murders then follow this link http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Bodom_murders . I do not want to recreate these murders. But the event itself has helped me choose characters for this film opening.

I have also looked at many diffrent action and horror films.
Action
The Chronicals of Riddick
V for Vendetta
Avatar
The Dark Knight
Bourne Trilogy
Hell Boy 1 & 2

Horror
Alien, Aliens, Alien 3, Alien Resurection, Alien vs Predator.
The Ring 1 & 2 in both Japanese and English
Jason X
Silence of the Lambs (Thriller / Horror)
The Grudge
The Blair Witch Project

THE RING
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cQm3BV6s0r8
This is one of my favourite scenes in the ring, it features some excellent special effects that have stuck in my mind for years, when I first watched this film at the age of 13 I had trouble sleeping for nights on end. I may use some of the techniques is this scene for my final project such as, Sadako moving slowly compared to Ryuji Takayama, who is moving quickly and in his panic stumbles over various objects.

THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FeShmrlFT5M
This is the final scene from the blair witch project, it was such an original way to shoot a horror movie using nothing but hand held 'amatuer' camera shots. The wat they build tension is really clever; Instead of using music they use the screams of the girls voice as they enter the house, after a few minutes in the house the screams become more and more extreme, and the breathing of 'Mike' becomes a lot heavier. As they venture further into the house it begins to look more and more creepy with the strange symbols on the walls, and handprints everywhere. When the girl heads down into the basement this is really the climax of this tension as we see Mike standing in the corner of the room for a few seconds.