SELF DIRECTED PROJECT

By Richard Davis

Module Title: Professional Development Module Number: 206 AAD Module Lecturer: Ian Killick

Review

SELF DIRECTED PROJECT

Looking back of my previous projects I have been happy to see a steady progression as my knowledge of film has improved. There are many things I can take from this Cozen reflection and I will go into more detail now, starting with Cozen my first short film. When filming Cozen one of the biggest hurdles I had to overcome was an actor dropping out of the day of shooting. Obviously this was a big issue and required me to rewrite on fill the role. Luckily I did not have to change the storyboards. Of course I will always look to get reliable actors but it is one quantity that is hard to control. In future I may I was able to get access to the location from midday but after running around all the day, but I had a backup plan, a friend I had employed to help with sound was able to need to pay actors to make sure they arrive, or use people closer to me, that I can trust. morning getting the last of the props, batteries and lunch, I wasnt set up for filming till late afternoon. The shoot was going smoothly but because of the late start we lost light quickly, this meant I had more work to do in post as I had to grade light coming in through a window in a scene so it was consistent throughout the shoot. I now know how important it is to have a well-prepared shoot, I would have liked to spend far more time on each shot but the fading light and actors time was a pressing factor which meant that I had to rush the shoot slightly. My preproduction needs to be locked down so I dont lose quality in the shoot.

The rule of thirds was used a lot on the shoot. I made good use of the different lenses,

each lens used for a specific reason. My shot progression also worked well. In future I very happy with the finished product.

would like to get more cutaways; I found them very useful in the edit. I was very happy

with the shot choices, the angles were exactly as I had story boarded them, overall I was Sound in area where I need to focus on more. This is mainly down to access to the after, for clean quality audio.

proper equipment, but in future I may think about ARDing the sound and adding it

I shoot most of my work on the 5D Mark II. I love this camera; it gives me amazing

image quality. Its not so great at run and gun style shooting because the focus is very sensitive so some time if the shot requires more energy a video camera maybe better. because it was shot in black and white the great colours where lost but I know I can created great looking blood effects that look really effective on camera. Shortfall I was really happy with the special effects (e.g. bloody head wound) but unfortunately

For this short I felt well prepared from working on Cozen. I knew the limitations I have to impose on myself. This is not a negative thing, it can force my creativity. So I needed to think of ways to have the same dramatic impact within the story and in my shots, but could rely on. The locations would no longer be an issue as I picked places where I did not need to get permission to shoot and didnt use (very) public places. Less cast and things I already had or could borrow. crew, fewer locations equalled less complication. The props were also easily sourced; on a smaller scale. A story that would give me something beautiful to shoot and that also has a strong narrative. I kept the cast down to a minimum and only used people I knew I

The only gripe with the film was that I slightly drifted away from the realist genre; I found this happened naturally, I wanted the story to have elements of realism but I films available, its clear they have a very large and diverse cast. The films may be characters. wanted to add mystery and spectacle. With a small cast I found it very had to stick solely in the British social realist genre, when looking at many, if not all, of the British realist centred around one character in particular, but its their relationships with others in the story that drives the narrative, rarely, if ever, will you see a realist film with one or two Shark in a Suit With this short I wanted to use techniques that gave me the verisimilitude of a dream. I used blends and transitions in my final piece, I filmed in black and white with blending modes, and I felt the blends were more effective with two colours. I was ecstatic with my liquid shots. The liquid shot set up worked so well, much better that I could have imagined, its defiantly something I want to revisit. A light, an empty

vodka bottle and some ink. Shot on the Canon 5d Mark II, with a Macro lens on a50mm

1.8 lens. I also did one tracking shot, and I love the movement of the shot, I want to add more movement to my future work, but I want smooth movement, Im looking to move before, my story boards served me well, I got all the shots I was after and I even got time. some more from playing with variations of the original shots. Again having the time to play and be creative was very useful. So in future I want to allow for creative shooting Let's Go Down The Rabbit Hole... From looking back at these projects and others I have also worked on, I knew there quality, shot progression - matching this with the edit and narrative structure. away from the realist approach towards a more cinematic aesthetic. Like my short films

were many aspects I wanted to improve on with regards to camera movement, image First off I want my new projects to look beautiful, this may sound shallow, but the

videos I create now are a calling card for future work and people are enamoured with pretty pictures, this does not mean I want to sacrifice story, I want every aspect to be films, its very hard to describe but it has a kind of cool, cinematic filter. perfect, but I will be going for a certain look. You can see this look in many Hollywood I also want to create an iconic piece and I have found this can be done with the right

props. I intend to use animal masks in the story, this will make sense within the story iconic factor of the film. but it also adds a strangeness to story and visuals, but this strangeness adds to the

New Short Film

Because of my previous projects I feel I maybe repeating myself her, but I have a passion for certain types of narrative and certain directors and their style. I feel all my training in film up until now has guided me to this place and Im happy to have found a style I feel 'fits' me. This may sound pretentious but its honest and Im really excited about Genre? Well thats a tough question, I think of it more as a feeling. Its no secret I genre I would say they were mysteries. But they are so much more, Noir, Horror, exploring my genre (if I can call it that) to see where it takes me. So what is this admire the work of David Lynch, he is my film hero, and if I had to put his films in a

Thrillers, Surrealist, the list goes on, but I always get the same feeling from his films, and its this feeling that I love and this sense of otherness I want to capture in my own work. I admire many other film makes and I think their films share some common films that will, and have, inspired me on this project: ground (and I think they would all admire each others work). Below are some of the Pedro Almodvar The Skin I Live In (2011) Thriller Ben Wheatley Kill List (2011) Thriller, Mystery Justin Kurzel - Snowtown (2011) Thriller

Michael Haneke - Le Temps Du Loup (2003) Drama. Cache (2005) Thriller David Lynch - Mulholland Drive (2001) Mystery David Fincher - The Game (1997) Thriller Kubrick.

Other directors include: Darren Aronofsky, Gaspar No and last but not least, Stanley Its hard to say exactly how their work has, and will, inspire me, but again its the feeling I get from these movies (and directors). Its clear from the list that I like the mystery element in films; the mystery and the drama from situations people find themselves in. The Mystery genre is normally focused on someone investigating and solving a crime, so does the audience. The audience gets to participate in the story, they are drawn in they are presented with clues along the way, and as the protagonist uncovers the clues and I want to create a mystery that may not be resolved in the running time of the film, you may have to go home and think about the mystery and resolve it yourself, in your own head, to your satisfaction. This creates a story that speaks to you personally, you viewer. I read (unfortunately I dont remember where) that you can measure the success of a film by the distance between you and that world. To me this is key in the films I love; they take me to new places and make me ask questions of myself, what distance is mirrored, it show you how you really are. would I do in that situation? How would I react? What kind of a person am I? But this make it your own story and I think making this connection brings true enjoyment to the

So I want to create my own mystery thriller, a story that makes people think, give them no option. After reading much of David Lynchs writings, I began to understand how he creates the feeling in his films. With his last film INLAND EMPIRE (2006) he had no completed script, just a hand full of scenes that were not even tied together. He knew to go when he started making it. He had faith in his ideas, they have got him this far not set in stone, films change over time, as society changes, as cinema develops. In that I have read massive explanations of the items meanings from many different the ideas had come from the same place, in his mind, and wanted to see how the ideas

take control of the narrative, he freely admits he had no idea where the film was going recognised as one of the worlds leading directors. Yes this is experimental cinema; this is why he is so well love in Europe. I love films that make you think, a films meaning is Davids book Catching the Dream he states I have no idea what the box and key are

this is in reference to objects that appear in Mulholland Drive. The interesting thing is people, when David himself admits he does not know what they mean. Here its clear to see that films can mean many different things to different people, and why not, this is the film taking on a life of its own, it become its own entity, belonging to no one and every one individually. I adore this about film and I hope to capture this in my own would all be award winning writers and directors, but we're not. work, I allow my subconscious mind to feed me ideas, for no one knows where they

come from, yes we get inspired by others, but if you knew where ideas came from we From the above directors work I have the feeling, and I have let ideas come to me.

Quickly I was able to build up a mental picture of my script. I want to play with the

structure of the narrative; I dont want A to B to C etc. I want F to Z to A to 54 (Dont

worry Im not going crazy). This will be a surreal piece, a disjointed narrative, no linear story, I dont intend to explain any aspects of the film, it will get weird, it will make you ask questions, and some of those questions I wont have an answer for. This does not up the audience to form their own opinion. I look forward to hearing others the story my end up showing me something about myself as well. mean Im just throwing any old shots together, the story all come from the same place in my head, I feel the story, I understand it on a level, but I wont explain the narrative, its interpretations of the story and its meaning, and I may be shown something new. I think

Script

FADE IN: 1

BUCK

Girl in the boot of a car, she is tied up holding a torch, (put camera in boot with her and rock the car) 2 INT. HOUSE - NIGHT

INT. CAR BOOT - NIGHT

Sometimes I wake up in strange places. Mr X is lying down. Shot from above we just see his face upside down. RING. Phone rings. MR X

MR X (V.O)

Hello? 3 INT. HOUSE - NIGHT

A dark room. Curtains move in the wind from an open window. The camera tracks back to reveal a bloody body on a bed, naked, wearing a horse head latex mask, track back further to revel a man, Mr X, sitting next to the bed, bloody hands, head bowed, he is crying. A brightly coloured plaster on his cheek and hand. 4 INT. HOUSE - NIGHT

RIINNGG. Phone rings. Mr X answers, old black receiver. Voice Domino sale now on, quote offer code 52 in store for further 10% off, see you in store!(Hangs up) VOICE

A shop front. Inside the door opens and Mr X walks in. The girl behind the counter is chewing a pen, oblivious. He approaches the counter. (plasters visible) MR X 57

EXT. SHOP - DAY

Its ready for you sir, men's wear, upstairs, changing room number 2 Overhead shot in the changing room, sitting on the floor, he opens a box, inside is a gun and a note. 6 EXT. HOUSE - EVENING

(removes pen, smiles)

ASSISTANT

A wide shot of a house. Cut to a low shot of a door opening slowly, a masked man (pig look at Mr X. (plasters visible)

mask) sits in a dark room watching porn on a massive screen, the light from the screen highlights his face. Cut to a shot from behind the masked man, CU, he turns his head to PIG

Why don't you wear mask? Cut to low shot from the floor looking up, wide shot. Mr X walks up to him Because I'm here to kill you. BANG. He shoots him. Cut to CU of pig mask, blood runs down the mask. 7 Mr X is looking through a door peephole, light from outside highlights his eye. He has a brightly coloured plaster on the bridge of his nose. RING. Phone rings. Voice INT. HOUSE - DAY MR X

This is the Library, the Book 'Catcher in the Rye' is now overdue, thank you. (Hangs up)

VOICE

Library front. Wide shot inside. MCU - Mr X stands at the counter. (Plasters visible) I have a fine to pay The assistant puts a box on the table. Overheard shot of removing box lid to reveal a Knife and note. 9 INT. HOUSE - NIGHT MR X

EXT. LIBRARY - DAY

POV Bloody hands being washed in a sink, over heard shot, reflected in a mirror. Mr X walks away from the sink. Tight medium shot, compress the depth. Mr X walks past a bath, revealing a man in a Penguin mask, in the bath, his arm hangs over the side and blood drips to the floor. He is dead. 10 INT. HOUSE - DAY

Mr X is lying on the floor, a phone is ringing. (plasters visible) He answers, bringing the old receiver to his ear. MR X

Hello? VOICE

Hello, Sir, this is Coopers garage, you car is ready for collection (Hangs up). 11 EXT. GARAGE - DAY

A lager garage pulley door is quickly brought up. We track into the garage, Mr X walks into view ahead of the camera. He enters a small office, where a guy behind a desk pushed across a box.

12

We track down a corridor. Cut to low CU tracking shot of Mr X holding a lead pipe, we can only see his hand and the pipe. He opens a door, the camera hangs back. Through pipe as the door closes behind him. 13 INT. HOUSE - DAY the open door way a man in a panda mask turn around on his chair, Mr X hit his with the

INT. CORRIDOR - DAY

Mr X is lying on a sofa, a phone rings.

Hello? Cut to black, sounds of a hammer hitting meat. Fade up, Mr X straddles a body, he is

MR X

naked and covered in blood, he holds a hammer in one hand. He stands (close up of him doorway, with his back to camera naked and bloody holding a bloody mask. CU blood dripping on floor. HONK. A car horn sounds from outside. Mr X moves to the window and leans out. on'. 14

dropping the bloody hammer) we see his bare feet walk away. Wide shot, he stands in a

Looking down, below him is a beautiful young girl, she smiles and silently mouths 'come INT. CAR - DAY

Mr X stares blankly out of the passenger window, trees go by. The girl, driving, looks hand he rubs his chest. She puts her hand on top of his. GIRL

over at him, he has a plaster on this face and on the back of his right hand. With his left

Your almost there. You want to be free don't you? Like me.

15. GARAGE - DAY depth.

Mr X sits next to a garage door on the floor, the girl squats opposite him. Side shot with MR X

No entiendo. Qu significa todo esto? She leans in close, kisses him gently on the lips and puts her hand on his face. Close up. She moves in and whispers something in his ear. RING. The sound of a phone ringing comes in loud. 16 INT. HOUSE - NIGHT

Mr X is lying on a bed. Flat straight shot. His legs over the edge of the bed. He sits up, groggy, picks up the phone and answers it. (plasters visible) Hello? VOICE MR X

Hello Farther Buck, I have your Kitten, you must protect her, but that will be expensive. 10000 Dominoes, wrapped in black plastic, midnight, behind the box. I'll be the hyena, you'll see. Shot from the side, Mr X hangs up the phone and turns to look in the mirror. In his reflection, he is wearing a rabbit mask. THE END

REALITY, NON-REALITY AND JUMPING IN TIME I intend to use a mixture of compositions to convey meaning in the story. Static shots, that allow people to explore the scene, sweeping tracking shots, which will add to the dream like quality, and slow methodical camera movements which are unnatural, when role to show an audience, on a visual level, that they are not in the real world, well not unreal, but in an other place, a position that would be unfamiliar in the real world. Camera orientation will play its part, as the audience may expect the composition to make viewership simple, but when the basic rules are broken they draw attention to and main character upside down, breaking the rules, this will let the audience know we're not in Kansas anymore (Wizard of Oz - 1939). Im intentionally breaking a wide establishing shot, to a medium shot, to a close up, but I intend to use this compared to how we view the world through own eyes. Framing will play an important

themselves and this creates meaning. For example I want to use an over head shot, this

angle is not natural, or how we would normally see the real world. I intend to introduce established cinematic filming rules, normally in a scene, we would expect to move from breaking of established rules to create meaning, for example: jumping from a wide establishing shot to an extreme close up, here Im highlighting that which is most the editing; its the composition of the story that dictates this, because initially it appears Im throwing together unrelated scenes, but in reality they are carefully important in the scene. The dream like quality of my short film will also be reflected in constructed because they represent aspects of the character. Here the story is presented as a collection of memory images and sound bites, so the editing and story will matches this. I will jump from location to location and I intend to use smash cuts (also called jump cuts) to imitate a persons memory, in our mind we dont have slow fades or dissolves, our mind jumps from place to place, seemingly unrelated images and sounds can become one, in our mind. Initially the audience will be unaware of this, but as the story evolves, the story structure will become apparent, through the use of on screen meaning of the film. I intend to use sounds that travel over scenes, sound bridges, clues and the way that the editing disrupts the normal flow of a film we expect, and this will add greater depth and meaning to the film. The edit will thus give us clues as to the creating sound bridges that run from one scene and continue in the next. This sound will link the images and scenes and also act like a bridge between worlds. I want the

sound to move us through the film, and will be mostly comprised of music and

soundscapes I create myself. One such sound is the telephone ringing; this sound will often bridge scenes. A good friend of mine is a composer and he is creating some soundscapes for me using a synthesizer as Im looking for distorted atmospheric audio. I may well end up using a lot of diegetic sound, sound captured on the day of recording, can get on location is like. I have an idea to pinpoint one particular sound I capture on location and raise that exclusively, one sound that drowns out all the others. I always AFFECTING THE AUDIENCE feel the most appropriate sounds will come to me once I have a rough cut of the film. this could also create a nice jarring effect as one scene jumps to another, going from an intense soundscape, to almost silence, Ill have to wait to see what the quality of sound I

I want to make the audience think. I want to evoke a reaction. I believe the best films are story line, the audience will need to form their own opinion about the stories meaning, and although this may be immediately apparent to some, I bet everyones conclusions and a film that can be enjoyed on repeated viewings. will be slightly different. This creates an individual personal connection for the viewer, INSPIRATIONS EDITING the ones you take home with you, in your mind. By creating a non-linear, ambiguous

narrative structure. Here a young actress moves to Hollywood to seek her fortune. She becomes involved with a woman who was almost murdered. The main characters are in one reality she is a young successful girl, making it in Hollywood and in another pulled into a psychotic illusion, where reality is stretched. Through the films editing the story's time line is quickly broken as we see the main character in two different guises, reality she a failed version of the same girl. It is unclear which version of events are

Mulholland Drive (2001) this film closely parallels my idea in terms of nonlinear

actually real, this is because neither of them are, all the events of the film are happening in her head, its the directors way of showing us inside the girls mind, opening the door on her broken psyche. The films edit jumps from one place and time to another place and time, not in linear order, we move forward and back in time, and it is up to the

audience to piece the parts together. I really enjoy this approach; its a reflection of how

our memory works, just like in the story, this is the main characters distorted memory of the events played out. When we think about past events, we dont thing about them along a time line, we can jump to an event that happened many years ago, but our memory of this event can be influenced by the present or new knowledge of past events. edit that reflects this. Here a man tells us the story of how he became unstuck in time, abducted by some kind of other world beings, or entities. George Roy Hills Slaughterhouse-Five (1972) also has a nonlinear narrative, and an

The story begins with the protagonist as an old man, he falls asleep and we assume to have travelled back in time where now he is now a young man in WW2. The story can describe it) as he wakes up in different worlds or realities. constantly jumps through time, back and forth and even sideways (thats the best way I We see the character in these different guises and in different times and we are left to fill in the blanks, it leaves us to assume certain events are connected and ultimately, when the film ends, we are given a very ambiguous resolution and its still wide open for interpretation. Like Mulholland Drive, Slaughterhouse-Five is an exploration of (and control of the direction of the narrative. The characters are not dictating the films situations the protagonist finds himself in are pushed to a point where he no longer has for) the mind. A doorway opening into the mind of another person, this person and the

direction or the structure of the edit: it can all change at the drop of a hat, this makes it contemplations become our own. To me, many of these films represent an aphorism are concerned with the interpretation of signs, metaphors and analogies.

thrilling and involving to watch and its why I love these kinds of movies. The characters

presented in a visual language. These films dive head first into the field of semiotics, and If we take a look at the film Memento (2000), where a man suffering from short term memory loss must find his wifes killer, its easy to see how they could have edited the

story in linear order, in fact I believe on the DVD extras you can watch the story in linear

order. Obviously the story only comes to life when presented in its nonlinear order.

Through the edit we are presented with scenes in reverse, initially we are unaware of whats happening but as the story evolves, the story structure become apparent, this way of editing disrupts the normal flow of films and gives us something new. Another film that plays with the narrative, is IRREVERSIBLE (2002) this film also gives us each scene in reverse order; we begin at the end and end at the beginning. Through the edit the end does it all make sense. CAMERA WORK they give us enough information to allow us to connect the scenes together, but only at

Continuing with IRREVERSIBLE (2002): the rape scene. The cameras work here is slightly hand held, naturalistic, adding to the voyeuristic nature of the scene. The camera position and composition of the shot allows deeper meaning to be injected into the scene as we see a bystander come upon the abhorrent. scene and leave, this makes a very uncomfortable scene

Inspiration has also come from: Michael Haneke - Le Temps Du Loup (2003)

Horses going wild in a thunder storm, the simple static shot is juxtaposed against the action and energy on screen. A young boy stands naked in front of a fire, the meaning without words. composition here shows us the boys inside the fire, the camera position conveys

David Lynch - Lost Highway (1997). David Lynchs background in fine art has carried through to his films as he composes his shots very meticulously. In his films we find fluid camera movements and lots of static shots. His camera movements and ball. compositions reflect the tone of the film, drawing us in and often throwing us a curved

The edit may disrupt the usual flow that we are used to in film, and when combined with the choice of shot, it can create an explosive scene. Alfred Hitchcocks Psycho BANG! cut, this is used to jar the audience with a sudden change in image, creating a visual

David Lynch uses light, space, composition, focus and effects to create meaning.

(1960), here he cuts from a medium wide shot to an extreme close up, using a smash

SOUND

Music can describe the narrative in sound, it adds emotional intensity and it can be used to describe a characters mood and their psychology. Berberian Sound Studio (2012). This film is about the creation of story. We find the sounds in the film are linked to the mental health of the main sound but it also gives us clues about the character. As the protagonists mental health deteriorates, the films sound reflects this and spans the divide between reality and fantasy. Barton Fink (1991) utilises inner world a beach scene and we begin to hear the

sound (Meta-Diegetic). Barton cautiously sounds of the sea side. This sound is not Here sound unveils the fantasy world.

enters his hotel room, he looks at a picture of present in the scene, but its in the characters

mind, we are hearing Bartons inner thoughts. Apocalypse Now (1978). In the

opening scene a beautiful sound

bridge is used as we see the main he is thinking about the war, and the sound of the fan is blended spinning blades. Here we are with the sound of a helicopters

character lying under a ceiling fan,

jumping from the real world to the inner mind of the protagonist.

LIGHTING

Lighting can play a key element in storytelling. If we look back to the days of Film Noir it was almost another character. Lighting has a great power to form space in the Citizen Kane (1941) Film Noir frame; its symbolic and can carry a lighting techniques are used. The lighting is expressive and makes specific story points. In the above scene from Citizen Kane, the beams of light from If we take a look at modern cinema, colour of lighting, can affect the story and setting. The Matrix above represent knowledge reaching into the darkness for Kanes memoirs. major portion of the storytelling. In

we can see how the lighting, and the (1999) here the use of lighting and its colour pallet are used to great effects to help us distinguish The staged, this is the unreal world; we still find high is softer and more Matrix from the real world. In the world, inside the matrix,

top shot the light is very green and below, we are in the real contrast lighting, but the light naturalistic and the colour pallet and changed from green to blue.

Scene 1

Actor

Production & Diary: Locations, Actors, props, meeting notes. Location Props Notes

Anna Davis

INT. CAR BOOT

Film at Marks house using the boot of his car. Filmed in sisters car boot on Sunday 24th Feb. Car rocking was not that successful, the suspension was too smooth, because the camera was in the boot it does not rock at all, may add camera shake in post

torch, Had issues of car rope, make boot being too small up for girl. to fit in body and camera. Also really needed a much wider lens, the 28mm was not wide enough, would have been better on a 16mm (which I dont have, yet)

Richard Davis

INT. HOUSE

Richard Davis Bruse + mark

Filmed on 19th Feb. Shot on many different lenses. Really like the 50mm look. Shot in very high contrast. See photos for set up of shot INT. HOUSE NIGHT Bedroom location, window curtains.

Maybe phone hand set

Shot over head using sticks (tripod) and slider.

filmed 12th March. Went great. Body wounds came out perfect. Used cake blood for deep cut and liquid blood for running blood. Shot on Sigma 28mm wide lens, wide open, using sticks and slider. Will have to edit smooth action in post.

Bloody body, horse mask, blood

track

Female INT. HOUSE NIGHT Phone voice over My house Abi or Emma. Voice over recorded on Zoom H4N - 17th Feb at shop. Richard phone 13th march filmed two phone shots scenes at my house, build small set using wood pallet. Shot in high contracts. Image quality was superb, got smooth camera rising motion from using sticks smooth head return motion. EXT. SHOP DAY Domino shop

Abi

filmed 17th Feb. Shot on 28mm wide. Over head changing room scene was to shaky (due to lack to time) will need to re shoot.

Pen, Box, gun, note

March 15th went back to shop with girls to reshoot close up of Abi's lips and over head shot because last time there was too much shake in camera. This time I mounted the camera on my slider to give it more stability and i was able to place it directly on the changing room walls. EXT. HOUSE EVENING maybe mark house front.

April 20th Went to marks house to shoot still of the outside of his house in the evening.

Richard Davis + Other

INT.

My house. Filmed 21st Feb. Shot using slider. Shot on 28mm wide, 35mm and on a 16mm wide. Happy with all shots, 16mm wide looked great, really added to the weirdness of the scene. Got some really strange but great effects from shooting a close up and zooming while moving around, may use in final edit.

Pig mask, gun.

V.O. any

After talking to lecturer, realised the pornographic nature of the images shown in the scene were to graphic. This posed a challenge as I did not really want to re shoot the scene as I was very happy with it. But this was a blessing in disguise, I added a blur and patch work distortion to the part of the scene that was to graphic and I really feel this added a new layer of meaning and complexity to the shot. INT. HOUSE DAY Filmed Sunday 24th Feb. EXT. LIBRARY DAY Library front

phone

My father did V.O. of library assistant on H4N.

Filmed 4th Feb. Had limited time. Not to happy with shot because of lighting, as I had no control over it, and had 5 mins

to shoot it. May have to really go to town in post on this part to make it look good.

Richard Davis + Other actor

April 5th, shot the close up of my lips talking to cut into this scene. was not really happy with result so may cut the shot in post.
Have been in email contact with Library. Monday 4th Jan, filming in Library. Go to back door just after 9:00 and ask for Claire James. Filming to take about 15 minutes. The Library opens at 9:30, need to be finished for then, should be easy as it only one shot. Filming in Library complete.

INT. LIRARY

Box

Richard Davis

any

April 11th did this over head shot of me opening the box and reviling the knife. Set up was done in my house using the tripod and 3 lights. I set the focus very shallow so things would be in and out of focus and the box was opened and the weapon revealed. INT. HOUSE NIGHT

Box, knife , note

Richard

House with mirror and bath, sink

Filmed 22nd Feb. Went great, looked amazing, and could not

Blood, Pengmask.

Track

be happier with shot. Had to adjust over head shot because of space, but pulled it off. Shot on 35mm lens and 40mm. 10 Richard INT. HOUSE DAY

In post this shot was stabilized.

Other V.O. Recorded at my house. 20th Feb on the H4N Rob Richard Rob or EXT. GARAGE DAY

Phone

11

Robs work shop. Filmed on 20th Feb. Shot was ok, could have done with more light, but it's hard to light a big area. I shot on my Fly cam (steady cam) and Rob played me in the opening shot (he was wearing my hoodie).

Box

In post I had to crop the shot at the beginning to cover Robs elbow that was caught in shot as he opened the doors.

12

Richard + Mark

INT. CORRIDOR DAY Marks work + office Filmed 8th Feb. Corridor shot was great, will need some post work. Shot on Fly cam with 50mm lens. Also got an extra shot of flickering light (which we achieved by taking out starter motor). Have a nice

Bear mask + Pipe

Track

Used fly cam and sticks.

hidden edit to work with.

Sound worked amazingly in this shot, when 'Hit' sound was added in post the shot came alive. very happy. 13 Richard INT. HOUSE DAY Any sofa 13th march filmed two phone scenes at my house, build small set using wood pallet. Shot in high contracts. Image quality was superb, got smooth camera rising motion from using sticks smooth head return motion. Phone

13

Richard Steve

INT. HOUSE

Any house - window on second floor Filmed on 19th Feb at Juliets house, in kitchen. Was messy but fun. Shot took about 2 hours. Used slider and many lights. Would have liked more blood in scene. Hammer shots was great, hair on hammer really make it look nasty. Got some nice extra close up shots.

hammer, blood

13

Richard + Girl

EXT. House

Out of window

8th of April. Shot at Juliet's

house. Unfortunately did not have all my equipment or the time to do the shots i originally wanted but did the best i could. Filmed the over head shot out of the 1st floor window, did this hand held. Shot was a bit to shaky so may only use part of it in post. Filmed 3 shots in living room, this was originally going to be set inside of a car but had to change this just because actress busy. Was not that pleased with some shots, but did get some new shots I had not intended to get which I really liked.

Shot out door talking scene, was tricky to get close up two shot as I was filming on my own and I had to be in the scene as well, but a few set ups and I got it perfect.

14

Richard + Girl

INT. CAR DAY Marks car. 8th of April

This was scrapped as I have mentioned above. Shot inside the house instead, same shot ideas but couple sitting on a sofa instead of a car.

Was really pleased with eye close up shot but not sure they will make the final edit.

15

Richard + Girl

EXT. GARAGE DAY

Garages down road from marks house

16

Richard Davis

8th of April - this was shot in the side passage of my friends house, I liked the location as is had a dark passage to one side. This allowed me to add more meaning to the original shot. INT. HOUSE NIGHT Bed wide shot

20th April. Completed al the final shots for the shots, using a friends bedroom. Shot the flat wake up shot, used a bright light outside the room, coming in through the ajar doorway and a red light in the background. Shot on a Dutch angle for the rabbit head reveal, when he looks in the mirror and the red background light was revealed more in the reflection making the rabbit head character really pop and stand out in the shot. Ext. street - night

Phone rabbit mask mirror

This shot was a little tricky as I had to shoot the same action twice with me in exactly the same positions, one time with the mask on, one time without so they matched up perfectly in After Effects when I merged them. This just required me to mark up positions of my body and count my action times in my head.

Extras -

20th April 3am. This was a last minute find. Recently in Stratford-upon-Avon they have started to turn off the street light in town after 1am to save money, it's a pilot scheme and

a great one, well for a filmmaker like me. The outskirts of Stratford and now plunged in to complete darkness and it's amazing, it's like being to another planet at night now, it makes it look like the end of the world. So I went out late night scouting to see what I could see and spotted this great phone box which I had passed every day for years but never noticed, but in complete darkness this was light up and looked amazing. I knew I had to put this I my short and I instantly new when and how to use it. I went out at 3am because I Knew it would be very quiet and the street would be empty, and I shot it. I was so happy with the results and again this worked with my idea of seeing what comes along and the story takes shape of its own accord, it starts to take on a life of its own, I just help its along. 8th April

Extra

Shot an extra scene: using knife and blood. I shot a scene in my bathroom - a low close up tracing shot over the bloody knife to be added to hours head bed scene. Also shot 'Foot' shot to be composited into bloody hammer scene.

Date

28th Feb

Production meeting with tutor - Notes

Went over script, talked about adding Codes and conventions in to pre production material. After meeting with Ian change above. Discuss my films attempt to move from reality to fantasy say what affect you want to have on audience Other directors Camera work editing sound.

8th March

Codes Conventions Editing Sound. Give examples, reasons why, and how you will employ techniques.

April

Checked the BBC web site and realised that while it is acceptable to show sex on screen (18) you can show image that are intended to cause arousal. Even though the scene I had constructed was not intended to cause arousal in any way, the original footage I had placed in the scene was intended to cause arousal so I need to hide this footage. This ended up being great as when I blurred out part of the offensive shot, it really added more depth and meaning to my original shot. This really played up to my original intention for this short film, as I wanted to create a shot very organically, I wanted to see what happened as I shot it and find new things as I went along and this is a prime example of this along with my final shots in the film. I want to make sure I keep my rough edits of the short so show my working as I go along and I want to show my sound work and i will be a very big chunk of my time.

Spoke to Ian about pornographic images i wanted to have in scene. I really need to review my idea and check BBFC web site for some guidelines.

I will add production pictures at end, have some of set ups and behind the scenes stills.

Props and Equipment Track

Blood: 1 pint of: 7.50 Work Light: 9 Cake blood: 4

Follow focus ring Ebay uk from U.S. 4.50 Assorted Masks: 50 Contact makeup artist: Lucy contacted. Steve also making blood.

Plasters: Boots 1.90

Contact Library: Emailed Office, happy to let me film there, one morning before they open Clothing shop: Contacted manager, sorted, film one evening. Contact Abi White. Projector - Have

X2 White sheets: ebay 2

X4 Clear plastic protective sheets: ebay 3

x1 Gun - Brought a toy gun, painted half black. ebay 3

Diary (this is information taken from the above Production & Diary schedule with added photos) Filmed in sisters car boot on Sunday 24th Feb. Car rocking was not that successful, the suspension was too smooth, because the camera was in the boot it does not rock at all, may add camera shake in post. Had issues of car boot being too small to fit in body and camera. Also really needed a much wider lens, the 28mm was not wide enough, would have been better on a 16mm (which I didn't have at the time). Scene 1 - Anna Davis - INT. CAR BOOT - Sunday 24th Feb.

Filmed on 19th Feb. Shot on many different lenses. Really like the 50mm look. Shot in very high contrast. Shot over head using sticks (tripod) and slider. My mini monitor allowed me to set the focus and without it the shot would have been very hard to get.

Scene 2 - Richard Davis - INT. HOUSE - 19th Feb

Scene 3 - Richard, Bruce & Mark - INT. HOUSE NIGHT - 12th March

Bedroom location, window curtains filmed 12th March. Went great. Body wounds came out perfect. Used cake blood for deep cut and liquid blood for running blood. Shot on Sigma 28mm wide lens, wide open, using sticks and slider. Will have to edit smooth action in post.

Picture top left: Slider attached to tripod acted like a mini crane arm, allowed me to get sweeping shot across the room. This was shot in reverse, so when reversed the final shot would be smooth and Bruce, playing the dead body, would be able to hold his breath and play dead. Picture left: having too much fun. Scene 4 - Female voice over (Emma) + Richard phone shots - INT. HOUSE NIGHT 17th Feb at shop - Voice over recorded on Zoom H4N. 13th March filmed two phone scenes at my house, build small set using wood pallet. Shot in high contracts. Image quality was superb, got smooth camera rising motion from using sticks smooth head return motion.

Scene 5 - Abi & Richard - EXT/INT. SHOP DAY - 17th Feb March 15th went back to shop with girls to reshoot close up of Abi's lips and over head shot because last time there was too much shake in camera. This time I mounted the camera on my slider to give it more stability and I was able to place it directly on the changing room walls. Ext shot (right) of shot was cut from the short, was not happy with it and it just felt unnecessary. Scene 6 - EXT. HOUSE EVENING

Domino shop. Shot on 28mm wide. Over head changing room scene was to shaky (due to lack to time) will need to re shoot.

(Right) Shot was way too dark, may shoot again, but in edit found that I liked the idea of leaving the place holder in its place. The place holder simple says 'wide shot house', leaving this in really takes you out of the story and points to the artificiality of the film world. I may add a house exterior yet, I'm in two minds.

April 20th Went to marks house to shoot still of the outside of his house in the evening.

Scene 6 - Richard & Steve - INT. House - 21st Feb

After talking to lecturer, realised the pornographic nature of the images shown in the scene were to graphic. This posed a challenge as I did not really want to re shoot the scene as I was very happy with it. But this was a blessing in disguise, adding a blur and patch work distortion to the part of the scene that was to graphic really added a new layer of meaning and complexity to the shot.

My house. Filmed 21st Feb. Shot using slider. Shot on 28mm wide, 35mm and on a 16mm wide. Happy with all shots, 16mm wide looked great, really added to the weirdness of the scene. Got some really strange but great effects from shooting a close up and zooming while moving around, may use in final edit.

Scene 7 - INT. HOUSE DAY - 24th Feb.

Filmed Sunday 24th Feb, my father did V.O. of library assistant on H4N. Scene 8- EXT. LIBRARY DAY - 4th Feb. Library front - Filmed 4th Feb. Had limited time. Not to happy with shot because of lighting, as I had no control over it, and had 5 minutes to shoot it. May have to really go to town in post on this part to make it look good. April 5th, shot the close up of my lips talking to cut into this scene. was not really happy with result so may cut the shot in post.

Scene 8 - Richard & Mark - INT. LIRARY - 4th Jan

Have been in email contact with Library. Monday 4th Jan, filming in Library. Go to back door just after 9:00 and ask for Claire James. Filming to take about 15 minutes. The Library opens at 9:30, need to be finished for then, should be easy as it only one shot. Filming in Library complete, also got the static outside of library shot on same day. Scene 8 - Richard Davis - INT. HOUSE - April 11th Over head shot of me opening the box and reviling the knife. Set up was done in my house using the tripod and 3 lights. I set the focus very shallow so things would be in and out of focus and the box was opened and the weapon revealed.

Scene 9 - Richard & Steve - INT. HOUSE NIGHT - 22nd Feb

House with mirror and bath, sink. Filmed 22nd Feb. Went great, looked amazing, and could not be happier with shot. Had to adjust over head shot because of space, but pulled it off. Shot on 35mm lens and 40mm. In post this shot was stabilized.

Scene 10 - Richard & Rob - INT. HOUSE DAY - 20th Feb. Other V.O. Recorded at my house. 20th Feb on the H4N

Scene 11 - Richard & Rob - EXT. GARAGE DAY - 20th Feb Robs work shop. Filmed on 20th Feb. Shot was ok, could have done with more light, but it's hard to light a big area. I shot on my Fly cam (steady cam) and Rob played me in the opening shot (he was wearing my hoodie). (Right) To get the dropping shot in the scene I set the camera on my slider facing down and set the stopped pressure to allow it to naturally side down.

In post I had to crop the beginning shot to cover Robs elbow that was caught in shot as he opened the doors. Scene 12 - Richard + Mark - INT. CORRIDOR DAY - 8th Feb.

Marks work + office Filmed 8th Feb. Corridor shot was great, will need some post work. Shot on Fly cam with 50mm lens. Also got an extra shot of flickering light (which we achieved by taking out starter motor). Have a nice hidden edit to work with. Scene 13 - Richard - INT. HOUSE DAY - 13th March 13th march filmed two phone scenes at my house. One was a very close shot and one was a experiment with filming waking up inside a box with light streaming in from outside. One shot was shot under a red light, I really love this shot but the box shot did not really work, I believe I needed a bigger box and more space.

Sound worked amazingly in this shot, when 'Hit' sound was added in post the shot came alive. very happy.

Scene 13 - Richard & Steve - INT. HOUSE - 19th Feb

Filmed on 19th Feb at Juliets house, in kitchen. Was messy but fun. Shot took about 2 hours. Used slider and many lights. Would have liked more blood in scene. Hammer shots was great, hair on hammer really make it look nasty. Got some nice extra close up shots.

Scene 13 - Richard & Juliet - EXT. House - 8th April

Out of window 8th of April. Shot at Juliet's house. Unfortunately did not have all my equipment or the time to do the shots I originally wanted but did the best I could. Filmed the over head shot out of the 1st floor window, did this hand held. Shot was a bit to shaky so may only use part of it in post. Filmed 3 shots in living room, this was originally going to be set inside of a car but had to change this just because the actress was busy. Was not that pleased with some shots, but did get some new shots I had not intended to get which I really liked. Shot out door talking scene, was tricky to get close up two shot as I was filming on my own and I had to be in the scene as well, but a few set ups and I got it perfect.

Scene 14 - Richard + Girl - INT. CAR DAY - 8th of April

Marks car. This was scrapped as I have mentioned above. Shot inside the house instead, same shot ideas but couple sitting on a sofa instead of a car. Was really pleased with eye close up shot (above) but not sure they will make the final edit. Scene 15 - Richard & Juliet - EXT. GARAGE DAY - 8th of April Garages down road from marks house 8th of April - this was shot in the side passage of my friends house, I liked the location as is had a dark passage to one side. This allowed me to add more meaning to the original shot.

Scene 16 - Richard - INT. HOUSE NIGHT - 20th April

Bed wide shot 20th April. Completed all the final shots for the shots, using a friends bedroom. Shot the flat wake up shot, used a bright light outside the room, coming in through the ajar doorway and a red light in the background. Shot on a Dutch angle for the rabbit head reveal, when he looks in the mirror and the red background light was revealed more in the reflection making the rabbit head character really pop and stand out in the shot. This shot was a little tricky as I had to shoot the same action twice with me in exactly the same positions, one time with the mask on, one time without so they matched up perfectly in After Effects when I merged them. This just required me to mark up positions of my body and count my action times in my head.

Extras - EXT. STREET - NIGHT - 20th April.

20th April 3am. This was a last minute find. Recently in Stratford-upon-Avon they have started to turn off the street lights in town after 1am to save money, it's a pilot scheme and a great one (well for a filmmaker like me). The outskirts of Stratford and now plunged into complete darkness and it's amazing, it's like being to another planet at night now, it makes it look like the end of the world. I went out late night scouting to see what I could see and spotted this great phone box which I had passed every day for years but never noticed, but in complete darkness this was light up and looked amazing. I knew I had to put this I my short and instantly new when and how to use it. I went out at 3am because I knew it would be very quiet and the street would be empty. Very happy with the results and again this worked with my idea of seeing what comes along and letting the story take shape of its own accord, it starts to take on a life of its own, I just help its along. The image of the phone box was so great it became my poster (well one of 3 posters I have in mind).

Went over script, talked about adding Codes and Conventions in to pre production material. Production meeting with tutor - 8th March

Production meeting with tutor - 28th Feb

Codes Conventions Editing Sound. Give examples, reasons why, and how you will employ techniques. After meeting with Ian change above. Discuss my films attempt to move from reality to fantasy say what affect you want to have on audience Other directors Camera work editing sound. Production meeting with tutor - 1st April

Spoke to Ian about pornographic images I wanted to have in scene. I really need to review my idea and check BBFC web site for some guidelines.

Checked the BBC web site and realised that while it is acceptable to show sex on screen (18) you can't show images that are intended to cause arousal. Taken from the BBFC web site:

How much sex and nudity is allowed at 18?

in a non-sexual or educational context. Very strong, crude and explicit sex references are permitted at 18.

There can be strong and detailed portrayals of sex at 18, including full nudity. There are no constraints on nudity

An 18 film or DVD might also contain depictions of real sex if it is justified by context, as long as the film or DVD is not a sex work.

What are sex works?

Sex works are works whose primary purpose is sexual arousal or stimulation. Sex works containing only material which may be simulated are generally passed 18. Those containing clear images of real sex, strong fetish material, sexually explicit animated images, or other very strong sexual images will be confined to the R18 category. Material which is unacceptable in a sex work at R18 is also unacceptable in a sex work at 18.

Even though the scene I had constructed was not intended to cause arousal in any way, the original footage I had placed in the scene was, so I needed to hide this footage. This ended up being great as when I blurred out part of the offensive shot, it really added more depth and meaning to my original shot. This really played up to my original intention for this short film, as I wanted to create a shot very organically, I wanted to see what happened as I shot it and find new things as I went along and this is a prime example of this, along with my final shots of the phone box, in the film. I want to make sure to keep my rough edits of the short so show my working as I go along and want to show my sound work as it will take up a very big chunk of my time.

The Edit I just want to briefly touch on the edit and sound creation process, as there was so much work that went into this area of production that it would be an essay unto its self.

As you can see from the time line sound takes up a lot more room than the video, this is because a lot of the sound is layered and spans multiple scenes.

Most of the shots were colour corrected in some way and the brightness and contrast have also been altered to make the shots richer. I'll talk about some of the effects placed on the footage, in appearance order.

Girl in the Boot: this shot was edited in After Effects, I used a plug in called Magic Bullet Looks. This plug in allows you to enhance your videos with effects, you can make alterations to the Matte, Lens, camera and post filters. On this clip I altered the colour pallet and added a edge softness to the Lens. I wanted to focus the shot and the change in colour lets the audience know something is not right, it's almost like a image from a dream. The shot with the horse head man on the bed. This was one long sweeping shot and I wanted the camera to come to a slow stop and hold on this last shot. To get this I had to use Time Remapping to stretch the speed between two points and create a freeze frame to add on the last frame hold.

This over head shot had to be Stabilize in After Effects because it was very shaky. It was also turned 180 as I wanted the character to, in effect, be upside down.

(Shot below)Here the shot was altered quite a lot. To pixelate the porn on screen I created a copy of the video layer and made a mask around the offending part. To this mask I then added a Mosaic affect and a blur. I also had to draw a moving mask around the pigs head as it moved. From Action Movie Essentials I found a Free Muzzle flash they were giving away online and used Key Colour to remove the black background, in After Effect I composited this in and matched it to the gun shot action.

This was another shot that was stabilised in After Effect using the Warp Stabilizer tool. Using this tool I discovered a great effect. Warp stabilize appears to pick the most prominent object in the shot and attempt to stabilise around that item. This creates a weird shaking effect to the image, it's like the centre on the image is still and the rest of the image move around that point, it's hard to explain but it reminds me of the effect in Fight Club (1999) where Tyler Durden looks into the camera lens and the edges go super blurry, anyhow, it's really kind of cool and I used it a bunch of time to great effect.

Fight Club (1999)

In this shot with the bear I really liked the flickering light but the shot ended early so I took a clip from the end of the scene and repeated it, altering the length of each copy to create an artificial flickering.

This shot of the character getting off of a dead body was fairly complex, as I had no body in the shot. I took a photo of my foot and Keyed out the background ( shot on a black background) I then used a moving mask and a combination of fast blur and lighting to make it appear to be in the shot. The moving mask was a little tricky(a lot of key frames)

The penultimate scene, the rabbit head reveal. As I have talked about before this was a simple but effective After Effects trick. I simply filmed the same action twice, once with the rabbit head on, once without. In After Effects I over laid the footage, matched the character actions and simply made a mask around the mirror.

The Phone Box - this shot appears at the start of the short and at the end. I had shot video of this phone box but I only used one moving shot at the end to give the appearance of video footage to the stills shots. In each of the phone box shots I added a flicker effect to the light, this also gives the appearance of movement. In the beginning the phone is on the hook - at the end its off. It's very subtle but completes the story nicely.

As I have said these shots are just photos, but by adding a flicker effect we get movement. The shot below, of the handset swinging, was video but it was fairly shaky, I wanted it to look hand held, but after discovering the cool effect from Warp Stabilizing, I

stabilized it in After Effects and it really made the shot beautiful. Really pleased with this shot.

A quick note on Font and Titles.

Firstly it's called BUCK because a male rabbit is called a buck and buck has other meanings, to buck the trend, to throw off, object strongly to, to force a way through or it can represent a spirited man or youth. In the opening shot the title BUCK is actually moving, its scaling up in size but only very slightly. I really like this effect, its aim is to unnerve the audience, because you don't know if it's moving or not, it lets you know something's not quite right straight away, even if you only subconsciously perceive it. The Red font points to a warning, danger, its bold typeface lets an audience know the story is going to be in their face. I decided to also list the cast and crew 'anonymously' by that I mean not listing any jobs or roles, I feel this adds to the mystery of the short in general.

Sound This took about 4-5 days to complete. I waited for an almost complete cut before I started. I like to do this so I can get a feel for each scene and where it takes me. I wanted to combine some music and effects to create a mood throughout the piece. Originally I was only going to use royalty free music but I just could not get the right feel, and I had one song in particular stuck in my mind after watching the rough cut. Ill list some of the sound effects used below, some were created by me, others are royalty free sounds, collects from various internet sites and sound packages. Some of the music is from an excellent site called http://incompetech.com/music/royalty-free/ they have tons of music, all

Music included - (anonymous) Elevator music - The girl from Ipanema (1964) - (anonymous) Porno Groove (music from 70's porn) - Dizzy Gillespie (I got a bit obsessed with Bossa Nova music because of its quirky up beat tempo) - and the final piece of music was created for me by a

General background noise - washing hands - all voice over's - hammer beating - light buzz footsteps - These are some of the sounds I recorded.

Car driving - Various phone rings - heart beat - sound of thunder - phone hang ups and pickups doors opening - sci-fi energy sounds - background rumbles - Most of these sounds were collects from websites or free sound packages.

free to use in any project ( I have even heard there music in some big Hollywood productions). A lot of the dialogue I recorded after and matched it up, this is because I wanted the best audio possible to me.

music producer, Bruce Moose, the song is called 'Lune'. I asked him some time ago if he would mind creating me a piece of music and told him what feel I was after and he came up trumps, the piece of music is exactly what I was looking for, industrial, techno pop. In virtually all the phone scenes none of the sound was present at the time of filming, all has been recorded separately and added in post. Some of the effects I used in post, on the sound:

Channel Volume: I would adjust the left and right levels to place the sound within the scene, for instance its most noticeable when the phone is hung up, the sound is loudest on the side of the screen the receiver is placed. This is also used on most dialogue to place it within the shot. The EQ was used on a lot of sounds, but mainly on the telephone voices. The sound needed to sound appropriate, like it was coming from a phone hand set. The EQ allowed me to control the depth and pitch of the sound to get this effect. The Highpass and Lowpass filers were also used to cut off certain levels of frequencies, this gives it that small speaker sound.

When blending sound loops together I would use a Constant Power crossfade audio transition.

In the scene at the garage, the song 'The girl from Ipanema' spans 3 different scenes, and in every new shot the sound is altered. First it starts of quiet (with reverb) then gets louder as the garage door opens, then in the next scene its coming from the left side of shot as its outside the room, then it comes back flat as its in the characters head as he walks down the corridor, then the reverb comes in heavy as the character wakes up and the sound appears to be bouncing around his head in a dream.

On some of the music (and sounds) I used a Reverb filter to place the sound in the shot. It was also used to give the sound a dream like quality.

ADR sound. A lot of the sound was recorded on my Zoom H4N recorder.

Even the simplest things often need to be recorded separately as camera microphones are generally useless. Here I'm recording the sound of me washing my hands for the overhead bloody hands shot.

Here is the potato massacre. This potato provided the sound of the character beating someone to death with a hammer in the bloody hammer scene. I simply took a potato, wrapped it in a wet cloth and put it on a hard floor, to match the set I used for the actual scene (a kitchen).

Because the potato is a scaled down version of a head, the hammer also needs to be scaled down so the sound matches, so I used a heavy knife handle (being careful not to cut myself). In post production I boosted the depth of the sound and added some reverb and it suddenly sounds gruesome. Fin In summery I'm over the moon with how my short film turned out. From the beginning my aim was to let the film take on a life of its own, in every aspect, I worked within broad guidelines, when editing I worked by feel, when filming I would see what appeared when shooting. The film is dark and leaves you with many question, at first I myself did not fully understand the story but as it took on its own life I could see direction and garner meaning. All the shot and story elements have come from somewhere in my mind and they have tied them self together organically. If I could shoot it again I would have liked to spend more time on some of the shots, and use professional actors. I would have also liked to include more dialogue scenes, but again I would only want to do this if using professional actors. I would also record a lot more, on set sound, using a sound recorder to save time in post. I have hugely enjoyed working on this personal project and I am proud of my achievements and standard of work.

BUCK - Scene: 3
Curtain

BUCK - Scene: 5

1 3
Bed

1 2

BUCK Scene: 6

BUCK - Scene: 5
3 2

overhead camera pointing down

BUCK - Scene: 8

2 3

3 2

1
overhead camera pointing down

BUCK - Scene: 11

BUCK - Scene: 9
2

BUCK - Scene: 12

4 3 1 2

BUCK - Scene: 14
1 2

BUCK - Scene: 14
2

BUCK - Scene: 14

2 2 4 1

BUCK - Scene: 15

BUCK - Scene: 16