Luca Salmasi

Evaluation
Idea
My idea was to create a short film based on a specific genre. My group decided to make a
horror/thriller film as we all understood the conventions that were associated with these
two genres and, because of this, we believed that we could make an effective story by
putting these two genres together.
Conventions of the Horror Genre
My A.4a coursework helped me with genre conventions over three separate genres and, in
particular, the horror film “Maniac” and the thriller film “The Initiation” gave me an
understanding of the conventions needed in both genres and because of this I was able to
use some of the conventions that I found in both films and use some of them in our film,
such as the use of low-key lighting from both films

As well as this my A.4b coursework also helped my understanding of the horror genre as it
allowed me to understand the conventions that go into three separate subgenres of horror
and how I would be able to use similar conventions in our film to make it successful. For
example, “Jameson.” Helped me understand how to make a to make my film suspenseful by
using some of the thriller conventions that are shown in this film and putting them into
mine.

In addition to this A.4a helped me understand a mix of different genres including

conventions from an action and thriller film, by watching these it gave me an understanding
of how conventions change and work with different genres of film and helped me
understand how I may be able to use some of these conventions in my film such as the use
of low-key lighting in “The initiation.” As well as the montage of shots which was used in
both “Maniac.” and “Outlast.”

These are the conventions I have learnt from a.4a and a.4b:

An underlining fear of the unknown

This convention is commonly used in horror films to keep the audience on edge throughout
the film to build the atmosphere of the film as well as build tension, which usually takes
place before other conventions such as jump-scares to make these effective.
Vulnerability
Characters are often shown as vulnerable in horror films as this similarly builds tension and
creates an atmosphere of the unknown, which allows for the audience to become closer to
the characters, which heightens the sense of fear to the audience.
Loss of Identity-Linked to main protagonists
There is often a lack of identity linked to the main characters involved in the film, this is so
that the horror aspect of the film to heighten the suspense of the film and as well as this
make the horror aspect of the film realistic and heighten the fear in the audience.
Jump Scares
Jump Scares are used in horror films to scare the audience, by surprising them with a
sudden change, with a certain image or sound, to help build the atmosphere of the film and
as well as this it makes the story being told more realistic and amerces the audience in the
story.
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Dark colours
Dark colours are a commonly used in horror films, this is because these particular type of
colour it can help the audience see that the genre is a dark or of the horror genre and ass
well as this dark colours, especially black help add to the mystery of the horror genre
Low key lighting
Low-key lighting is conventional of the horror genre as it is used to enhance the shadows in
the scenes that it is used in, by doing this it focuses the audience’s attention on a particular
point in a scene which helps build tension and heightens suspense often before jump scares
take place

The story that myself and my group chose for our film was to feature the main character
cleaning a room in his house and whilst he is doing this he finds an old Ouija board. After he
finds the Ouija board, he sends a text to his friends to arrange to meet up with him at their
local park to use the Ouija board. It is once they are using the Ouija board things start to go
wrong and they begin to be hunted down by the spirit that they have angered by using the
Ouija board; one by one each character is killed.

We believed that this idea fits with the Horror Genre as it is based around paranormal
activity and the supernatural, similar stories have been used in successful blockbusters such
as “Ouija” (2014) as this film in particular has a similar story that we took aspects such as
the use of a Ouija board and the fact that our story is also about as close group of people
and as well as this had a consistent use of low-key lighting, we researched other horror films
to help understand the conventions that make this genre of film successful.

This film is clearly a horror film as it based on paranormal activity and by using an Ouija
board in this film which has common conventions with summoning spirits and other
paranormal occurrences and because of this is a key part of the film.

A way that horror conventions was met in this film is by the use of low-key lighting as this
type of lighting is ideal for a horror film as the dimness and shadows that are created by this
particular lighting allows for the scenes to build tension by creating a secretive and shady
atmosphere. This controls how much of the environment is shown to the audience and
heightens the sense of the unknown for the audience, a film that successfully used low-key
lighting was the short film and an example of this that has been used successfully was in the
short film “Maniac.” As this helps build a sense of the unknown and heightens the sense of
fear in the audience.

Another feature of Mise En Scene that is in this film was the location of the woods where
this film was set, the location is important to this genre of film as it visually enhances the
quality and, as well as this, successful blockbusters such as “The Blair Witch Project” have
used woodland as their set location which gave us inspiration to set our story in one place,
and the reason for this is that in films such as “Friday the 13th.” as this makes the audience
unsure of who Jason Voorhees is going to kill and builds up tension, and heightening the
fear in the audience that are watching the film.

An additional example of Mise En Scene that was used in this film is the use of props, the
Ouija board that we used was important as it was the key part of the story and, as well as
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this, it was important to make the scenes that it was featured in more authentic and make a
story that was plausible for the audience and a reason for this is that the characters are
wearing ordinary casual clothes and because of this it makes the story realistic and that it is
like any other ordinary day until they begin to use the Ouija board. The films that inspired
our costume choice were “Ouija.” As well as “Blair Witch Project.” As the costumes that are
used in both of these films are casual clothing, and by using this style of clothing makes the
story a more realistic scenario.

As well as this, we used a wide variety of camera shots specifically close up shots and wide
shots when the Ouija board is being used as well as the aftermath of it, this is so that we
were able to show the emotions of the characters and how they change over the course of
the film, as well as keeping the continuity of the film so that there is a clear story that the
audience can follow.

Wide shots were going to be used in this film as they help show the audience how the
characters relate to their surroundings and as well as this they give greater detail about the
location that the characters are in, this was used in our films during the montage of the
group of friends moving through the park to the woods, the reason for doing this is so that it
could help show the audience the location in further detail and by doing this it can increase
their emersion into the story that is being told and an example of when this has been used is
in the short film “Outlast.” Which has been done to show the audience the location the
main character is in and the danger that is unknown to the main characters but is shown to
audience.

Editing techniques which would have used in this film were jump cuts; we used this because
it helped show the uncertainty of which character was going to be killed by the spirit first
and this shows how the characters are vulnerable as the audience is unsure who is going to
die or be killed first which heightens the suspense, this would have been used after the spirit
is released from the Ouija board and the main characters are running away from it, this is to
add suspense to this scene and make it unclear to the audience which character is going to
be killed first, an example of a film that I researched that used jump cuts was “Maniac.” And
the reason for this was so that each angle

Another example of editing was the animation of our group logo which was a ghost, this is
because it is a common theme that represent the paranormal sub-genre of horror, by
adding the movement in after effects this made the logo stand out more and as well as this
the additional movement helps make it clear of the genre of film that we were going to
make. This is conventional to horror as ghosts are commonly used to induce fear in the
audience and as well as this terror of the unknown.

As well as this on premier pro the use of opening credits gave the film realism as this often
used as it has an important link with the film as it can sometimes briefly introduce the story
or the characters that are involved as well as telling the audience the genre of film.

Another example of editing that was going to be used in the film was the use of jump cuts,
this was used at the end of the first initial montage as this was to help show the
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development of the day as it is meant to push forward in time and was used to help the
development f the story being told.
The subgenre of our film was thriller and the reason for this is that the conventions of this
genre are similar to the horror genre such as having low-key lighting as well as music that
builds tension and because of this we decided to use this as a sub-genre due to the
similarities between both genres and that this would improve the film’s continuity and
suspenseful nature.

SOUND
The sound that I used in my film was easy to find ,such as the use of eerie piano music which
I found on YouTube , the reason I chose this music was because it helps frighten the
audience and immerse them in the film; in addition, The other song that we used was
“Blood in The Water” by Grandson which was recommended by another group member, as
this song has a sinister tone and lyrics, because of this we believed that it would help make
the final chase more dramatic and add extra suspense to the closing scenes of the film.

The score would be used in a montage to help add to the suspense of the film and heighten
the sense of fear in the audience and as well as this the song by Grandson would be used in
the final scenes of the film when the main characters are in danger and being hunted by the
spirit, the reason for doing this is that due to its sinister tones it will help add to the
suspenseful fearful atmosphere of the film.

The piano music or general music scores are conventional to horror films such as “Jaws.”
(1975) as they are often memorable and often recognised and quoted after a film has been
seen, but as well as this they help add suspense and mystery to the particular scenes that it
is used in.

Pre-Production
The A.1 coursework helped me understand how budgeting is used and how it affects a
Major, Mini-Major and small scale film and its effectiveness to make a successful film, this
helped with our production as it helped us understand how we could use money to make
our film successful and ensure that it is a high quality film with consistent continuity.

The A.2 coursework helped the group understand the different processes of pre-production,
this helped our group as we had not done this previously and gave us a better
understanding of the technical processes that have to take place before a film can begin its
shooting and because of this we were able to understand what pre-production tasks each
group member understood the most and would be able to complete successfully.

Finally, the A.3 task was to understand the media codes & regulations, this was important as
it made me understand the legal and ethical factors that have to be followed to keep
production and treatment of everyone involved fair and legal.
An example of this that was used in production is that for the music I added to the video I
would first look for royalty free music so that the film cannot be claimed by an artist for its
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use, and as well as this if I am going to use an artist’s music I would ask for permission to use
it to ensure that I am allowed to use their music.

We decide that it would be ideal to use conventions from the thriller genre as they have
common conventions with horror such as the use of low-key lighting as well as the fact that
they both aim to keep suspense throughout the film, I believe that both genre’s conventions
were used in our film and that there is an eve distribution of conventions from both genres
throughout the film.

The first task we carried out during our pre-production phase was to make a spider diagram
of three different genres and create film ideas from these genres and from the three that
had been created, choose one to be our short film. This was important as it showed me
which genre the rest of the group best understood the conventions for and what would be
best genre for us to make a short film.

Storyboard

The storyboard is an important part of pre-production as it gives a basic view of the premise
of the story that we are going to create and allows each member of the group to understand
what is meant to happen; as the pre-production process develops so does the storyboard as
it will increase in detail as other factors are finalised and it is also important as it shows the
flow of the film and can be easily changed as ideas about the film may develop and
transform.

A problem of using a storyboard is that it cannot be very detailed and as well as this can be
very restrictive in showing your idea well as well as effectively show how you are going to
film.
Visual Representation of each Scene

Technical details of each scene

which include what camera
shot will be used as well as as
well as how long each scene
will be.

Location Recce

On the other hand, a problem with the location recce is that it is not a clear representation
of how the film is going to look on the day of filming and doesn’t take into account any
aspects of the film that may change. The location that we originally started to film in was
Jubilee County Park and the reason for choosing this location was that it is a large park with
a lot of open space and as well as this for a backup location we decided to use Parkfield
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Recreational ground as this similarly has a lot of open land as well as a forest next to it,
which if we needed to use would help continue the continuity of the film.

List of Health and safety
concerns and how they can be
prevented
Pictures such as this one have been A description of how
put on this document to help give a and why we may use
visual understanding of how certain certain shot types to
hazards can occur and as well as this help show what
represents how shots can be used in conventions of the
our final film horror genre will be
shown in the film.

Risk Assessment Risk Risk Prevention

The risk assessment is important to do before you start the

production process as it gives an understanding of the risks of
filming in the locations that have been chosen and how different
factors such as weather, traffic and how it will potentially affect the
continuity of the film and how we can adapt and change the filming
process so the risks are minimised and that the filming is successful.

Alternatively, the risk assessment did not predict events that were
out of our control such as the rain that we experienced on the first
day of filming and because of this there were some risks that we
were unaware of until the day of filming.
The risk that was out of our control was the fat that on the day of Severity
filming and the day before it had heavily rained, which meant that the surfaces were bogged
and slippery which meant we weren’t able to find a lot of suitable ground to safely film, nut
because of this we only filmed were the ground was the least dangerous and as well as this
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before filming begun we ensured that each member wore the right footwear to decrease
the risk.

Equipment List
The equipment list is important as it is key when researching the equipment that you need
to make the film and ensure that you are able to keep in budget for your film and that you
can change particular elements to suit the budget with the equipment t you have.

The equipment list also helped on the day of filming as last minute we were unable to
access some of the equipment that was listed, and by having this list we were able to swap
in different equipment.
Price of equipment

Description of Equipment

Budget
A budget is important as it ensures that the group has enough money for the equipment
and other things that are important for filming and by sticking to the budget this reduces
the risk of spending more money than originally planned or unnecessarily spending money
on equipment that is not essential.

The budget was important to our group as it helped us understand what equipment each
group member already had which meant we were able to save more of the budget for other
items such as props to make the film more realistic
Cost

Final Cost
Name

Animated storyboard
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The animated storyboard is an important part of pre-production as it gives a basic view of

the premise of the story that we are going to create, and as well as this it gives a better
visual representation of what each scene will look like than the original storyboard.

A problem that occurred with the animated storyboard is that it was created on a free to
use website which meant that we did not have access to the full website to be able to create
a more detailed storyboard.

Scene Description
Length of Scene

Proposal
The proposal is important as it helped organize out
thoughts, points and sources that related to the
production of our film and as well as this and as well as
this it helps create realistic plans and projections for the
film.
As well as this it helped give us better direction and
structure to the other pre-production documents as well
as the production process, this also helped us understand
the strengths and weaknesses of our work which allowed
us to improve it even further.
8 shot sequence
The eight shot sequence was important as it helped us understand eight different shot
types, why they are used and as well as this understand how we could possibly use these in
our film to help portray the horror genre in our film.
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As well as this this piece of work gave us a visual representation of how each shot may look
like and this gave us a better understanding of how each shot type looks like and how we
would be able to fit each shot type into the film.
Name of Shot

Description of how
and why we may
use a particular Camera Shot Example
camera shot.

Interview Analysis
An interview analysis is
important to this process as by asking people what they expect from our genre of film, this
can allow us to understand the most common conventions and themes that people expect
in a horror film and with this information we were able to use this feedback to make our
film successful and as well as this the interview analysis was important as it helped other
technical aspects which helped us understand how to film affectively and clearly convey the
horror genre. Question

Explanation of the responses

that we had received from
and how we intended to use
this feedback to help with the
production of our film.

Idea Mind map

The mind map was important to our pre-production as it allowed for us to clearly represent
the different technical aspects of our film such as the important of our chosen location or
the important of our chosen typography, this was important as it gave the group a better
idea of how each aspect would give the desired effect on the audience and the reasoning
behind each aspect.

Title of convention

Explanation as to how
each aspect will be used
in our film.
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Paper Edit Sheet

The Paper Edit Sheet was important to our film as this document had detailed information
about each aspect of our film, this included the length of time each scene takes up and as
well as this it describes the shot type that is going to be used, the sound as well as the edit
that is going to be used.

This was important as it helped when filming to ensure that each shot type was the same as
the shots that we had listed on the paper edit sheet, in addition to this the paper edit sheet
would have been important if we were able to edit the film as we would have a structure to
follow to make editing efficient and ensure that the correct conventions have been
followed.
Type of sound
Scene
Number

Scene
Length

Description of scene with the

Editing Techniques
shot and be
type that will an used.
Description of what the sound
explanation of when they will
that is going to be used is.
be used.

Production Schedule

The production schedule is important as it lets the production team know when certain
aspects of the film’s production process are going to take place, so they know when each
process is going to take place then this will improve the continuity of the film.

These pre-production tasks benefitted myself and my group as we had not previously made
a short film. The pre-production tasks made it easier to understand how blockbuster and
low-budget films are made but also the pre-production tasks gave myself a better
understanding into the process of filmmaking, the challenges you may face and from this I
will be able to improve the process next time I create a short film.

On the other hand, problems that we faced with the production schedule was that closer to
the day of filming, people’s availability changed which meant we had to make changes to
the days we would be filming on. This, however, not have a huge effect on the continuity of
the film.
Production Schedule Task
Production Schedule Task Deadline
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Name of
Task

Production

The production of the film was successful as we managed to get everything filmed during
the two days that we had scheduled to film and, in addition, to this I learnt new camera
handling skills as well as how to edit on premier pro.

I believe that we were able to successfully organize the planning of the film as we divided
the work evenly between the group and gave people work that played to their individual
skills, which was done to try and make a successful production.

The most challenging part when making the film was the weather. We knew that it was
going to rain but we did not take into account how much it would rain during the first day of
filming and because of this half way through the first day we had to change locations to
another park which was close to the original location where we intended to film.

We moved location as it was drier and this reduced the risk of equipment being damaged
and the cast and crew injuring themselves. This demonstrates that although we had a
production schedule to follow, we were adaptable according to changing environments due
to the weather.

When we were creating our contingency plan we did not originally take into account a
change of location, therefore, this meant that the day before filming we researched other
woodland and parks that were close by to our original location, so that we took less time
travelling to a new location and spent more time filming as we did not have to spend time
on the day deciding where we would relocate to as we already had back-up location in
place.

As well as this before production began we decided to create a group chat on snapchat, by
doing this it allowed us to keep in contact with each other up until the filming dates and this
allowed us to be able to select the specific dates that we filmed on as these were the days
that were best for everyone and meant that we could get filming completed on schedule.

I believe that my film consistently shows the horror genre throughout and this is because as
a group we understood the conventions that are associated with the horror genre; in
addition to this the research task of looking into three other short horror films helped us
come up with our chosen idea and add similar aspects and conventions to our film.
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Next time I create a short film I would include a backup location in the pre-production
documents and this is so that if the day before shooting starts or if on the day factors such
as the weather impact one location severely then we will move to the next one so that there
is more filming done during the day.

In addition to this, I would also add an extra day to the filming schedule as a contingency
plan, this is so that we could have more time to film additional scenes if needed, such as if
filming is called off due to the weather.

The production process went well and this was due to the fact that we had created effective
pre-production documents such as the storyboard, risk assessment and the location recce as
these allowed the group to understand where and how each shot was going to be filmed as
well as a knowledge of where possible hazards could appear and heavily reduced the risk of
injury that could have occurred on location.

The production schedule also helped the production of the filming as by knowing when we
were going to film, this allowed each individual involved to be on time for both days that we
allocated to film and because of good timekeeping this allowed us to film for longer periods
which increased the continuity of the film.

My next step after filming was to upload the footage onto the computer and then begin
editing the footage together on PremierPro and by using this software I was able to add in
additional sounds such as music which was used to build tension in some of the scenes and
montages that we filmed as this process went along

The editing phase was difficult as I had not used this particular editing software before so I
had to learn how to use this software and how it worked in comparison to the software that
I usually use. With this software I was able to add additional sounds and transitions to the
film to help create tension and build the atmosphere throughout the film.

As well as this we used the diegetic sound of dialogue as it can help the audience
understand the story better, but also understand a character’s personality as the story
progresses and they are faced with new challenges. We kept in the diegetic sound of nature
as this adds more realism to the scenes in the film.

Analysis of Production

There were not many challenges during production and they did not have a drastic effect on
how the footage and, therefore, the final film, turned out but the biggest challenge which
affected production was due to the current lockdown measures caused by Covid-19 which
meant that I was no longer able to have access to the film or editing software so I could
make the necessary changes to complete the video or communicate easily with the rest of
my group to edit the film.

The processes of production that went well were the use of a wide range of different
camera shots as this was a horror film and because of the shot variety I believe that we
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were able to show the story successfully and keep the tension and atmosphere building
throughout the film.
Another successful part of production was that all involved understood and knew the
location where we were going to film which meant that once we got there we knew exactly
where we wanted to film and how to make the continuity consistent to help the story flow.

If I were to create another short film, I would create a different genre of film specifically a
comedy short film as I understand the convention required, as this is a complete contrast to
the film genre that I have just worked on and I could bring the skills I have learnt and face
different challenges which I would enjoy.

As well as this next time I would use a proper film camera, as I believe that this would
increase the detail of the footage that is being filmed and in addition it will make it easier to
transfer the footage onto my computer to edit.

Another thing that I may do next time is create a back-up plan for the production, this is so
that if factors which are out of our control disrupt the filming then by adding more days for
filming then there is less of a chance that the process would be rushed.

The editing of the film allowed for me to have control over how the film looked with the
addition to feedback from group members. Before this task I had little experience with this
specific editing software and by using Premier Pro for the first time it allowed for me to have
a look at all of the features and make the necessary changes to make a successful film.