Name of our Film: 'The awakening of Emily-Beth'

Finally we have come up with a name for our film! We wanted it to keep the audience guessing and we thought titles like 'Into the woods' were a bit boring and unoriginal. The 'awakening' is referring to the fact that even though she is in a daze, she is actually being awoken from her age of innocence and is being corrupted and drawn in to something dark and sinister.

We have decided to use a song from 'The village' film's soundtrack called 'The bad colour'. It is very atmospheric and we think it would fit in well. the band Signur ros were considered but we couldn't find anything that was 100% right.

Another day of editing:

So today has gone brilliantly! The film is finished and I am so happy with the outcome.

We used crossfades, to add to the dreamy quality and this effect has caused the girls character to jump and fade in a ghost like way.

We have rewound footage and sped clips up to create that creepy feel, and also overlapped images of swirling candles and woods to add to the dreamy atmosphere.

One part Elle and I especially love is the part where the camera begins to spin round the young girl and footage of the woods are layered over the top, creating a ghostly feel to the scene. The opaque level is changed to a higher level each time, and buy the 3rd flash of woods she appears as if she really has transported there. I think we have shown successfully that she is on a journey and when she enters the woods it doesn't come as such a shock to the audience as they know she is being lured there.... but by what?

I am also pleased with the transition from dusk to darkness. We have achieved this through the use of overlapping clips, slow montion and crossfades. We wanted this to be a smooth process and i am happy with the outcome. I also think that rewinding the candles so that they appear to be magically coming alight was very successful, as was the short clip of the rewinding of the glitter falling.

All that there is left to do is put the soundtrack on which has been the hardest part to decide on. We want to include possibly some white noise at the beginning and end but also a song by the band sigur ros or possibly blue foundation? This is what we will be staying up later tonight deciding i am sure!

More Editing:

So today we have managed to give the focused clips a blurry look. Using a combination of movement blur and wind blur we have managed to create a similar look, thankgod!

The colours have also had to be changed slightly at the begining of the film, and a blue tint has been applied. However we like the watery effect of the colours and we don't want the film to look perfect. The blurred, dreamy effect is what makes it beautiful. I am feeling alot more confident with editing now, and am enjoying using final cut pro, i really feel like i've learnt a skill!

On monday we need to add in some more edits and experiment with rewinds and fastforwarding. The film is really coming along and the end is in sight!

Editing: Oh God!

So, Elle and I have begun to edit our clips. Final Cut pro is pretty hard to get your head around at first but we're getting there. I don't think i've ever shouted at a computer so much! The computer rooms on the fashion floor are rammed and boiling hot! We have decided to edit our footage in a small computer room on the lower floor where it is so much quieter, here we can really concentrate. Today we have looked at all our our clips and uploaded them all onto the computer. We have some really lovely footage and have began to transfer it to Final Cut Pro. The beginning is coming along and we've made the basic skeleton for our film, however we need to introduce so many short cuts and edits. Due to our film being so simple, we have to jazz it up through editing.

Due to the footage being on different cameras the borrowed video camera and Elle digital camera did not allow us to use it manually- meaning everything is in focus. We need to sort this out tomorrow.

The final shoot

With no chance of getting a camera out at uni for our shoot day we turned to plan be and borrowed a camera from one of Elle's friends. I arrived in London with plenty of time to spare, where I met Elle at costa and we got straight to work. We went straight back to her house to get everything ready for the shoot that day, only to begin freaking out about the borrowed camera as it had no uploader lead with it. Elle and I being rather rubbish with technology started to panic and ran straight down to jessops where we were advised to buy a firewire. Everything was on track again.

We perfected the hooded lurker's costume and met Freddie, bringing her back to get ready. Everything seemed like it was back on track after our little panic. We walked down to Sheen Common and started shooting in chronological order. We used the large tree mentioned during the blog discussing the test shoot and we got some amazing footage. We decided to experiment with me climbing up in the tree, getting some high up shots looking down on her to create a kind the sensation of her being watched:

We also got some footage of her by a broken down gate and fence which looked beautiful and made the location seem huge and gave a feeling of her being completely alone and vunerable. We took footage of her walking long distances which we intend to speed up and rewind to create an unnerving style.

So everything was going amazingly until half way though SHOCK HORROR! The borrowed camera decided to break. GREAT. luckily we had a backup so used Elles digital camera to record the rest of the footage and prayed we would still get some good shots. Luckily we didn't need to zoom or do anything too fancy with the camera,we wanted simple, raw footage.
So after taking a deep breath and continuing things seemed to get better again. We also experimented with glitter falling onto the candles, however we are unsure whether to use these shoots as we don't want the film to look 'pretty and magical'. We also blew out the candles and hope to experiment with rewinding this footage and see what we can create!

Overall Elle and I are really happy with our footage. We managed our time successfully, got all our shooting done before it got too dark and Freddie was so much better and relaxed around us this time. We've certainly had our ups and downs but we think we have some really beautiful clips which we just can't wait to edit and play with!

Experimenting with the hooded cloak costume:

It was obvious during our test shoot that the costume really wasn't working out. We wanted shoulder pads to create a strong look, however they kept slipping off the shoulders and just didn't look right. The costume was very uncomfortable for the actress and she couldn't breath very well (which obviously isn't a good thing!). The cloak was also difficult to walk and we couldn't achieve the slow, smooth walk we wanted.

Here is a picture of the original shoulder pad, made from black tassles sewn on cloth wrapped round a book- (Elles rather inventive idea, so gutted it didn't work!) :

After humming and harring we decided to scrap shoulder pads altogether and thought about experimenting with the tastles in other ways such as including it is the veil or wrapping it round the gold chain:

However after trying these things out we decided to keep the costume simple, and discovered that a large black sheet, layered with other black material and chains actually looked better as it was.

What have we learnt from our test shoot?

By doing a test shoot Elle and I have learnt a lot, whether it be technical camera work, the importance of time management or what is successful in terms of costumes.

We love the blurred camera effect so this is a technique which we will definately include in our final film. The location works well, however due to the film being shoot completely outdoors at dusk, we have learnt we need to move fast and try and film as much in chronological order so the shots don't variey in light when we come to edit.

We are now starting to prepare for our final shoot which will take place on Tuesday 23rd March.

The Presentation

The presentation today went well. Geraldine and Olle were positive about our work so far and Elle and I are excited to continue with this project. We need to go out and get more footage but we are generally feeling good and hope our final cut will be successful. I am also looking forward to the screen event for The Cut and have been appointed part of the events management team!

The test shoot

The day begin with Nat and I dring to uni to pick up the camera. I almost had a heartattack when I arrived at the camera office to discover that they were closed for lunch. I was running around grabbing random people asking them if they knew where the 'camera people' were and all I got were a few shrugs and funny looks. Just when I was about to slope back to the car in a state of misery to consider my options the camera office opened and after a lot of begging and pleading to a not very happy camera man I got the camera! Thank sweet Jesus.
So Nat and I set off on our way to London. We somehow managed to get the whole way to Elle's house in Richmond without getting lost (much) and we headed to Elle's friends house to get ready.
Last week Elle and I had gone shopping to buy clothes for Freddie’s young girl character. We knew wat kind of thing we were looking for and we decided on a plain white nightdress from bhs which we sewed lace around the collar and sleeves to give it that vintage, old fashioned look. We found some amazing black lace up boots from a charity shop for £5 which we loved and thought they were very puritan in style. We decided again tights as we wanted the girl to appear as if she had just gotten out of bed. Below is the outfit:

We had some problems making the ‘hooded-lurker freak’ costume, the girl who said she’s help us was called Charlotte and we chose her for her height and slim body type. On the following page is an image of us experimenting with the costume:


We all headed to sheen common to begin our shooting. To get that dreamy effect we used manual mode on the camera but also experimented using autofocus but this just looked too crisp.


We really loved the image of Freddie above. We thought the lighting was very atmospheric and the tree in the background was eery and interesting. Whilst we didn’t get any shots of the tree upclose, we intend to when we go back for our final shoot.

We experimented with candles and hanging ribbons from trees. Whilst we thought the swirled footage of the candles we weren’t keen on the ribbons.




Overall the shoot day went very well and looking back at the footage we learnt a lot and got lots of shots we are able to use in the final cut.

Going to get a camera...

Elle and I are filming tomorrow so with Elle having gone home to prepare for the shoot, I have stayed in Maidstone to book a camera out because we know how impossible it is. I turned up at uni at a ridiculous hour to collect a camera and the que was huge! I waited for what seemed like years and finally as I came to the front of the que I had a moment of panic and was convinced I wouldn't secure a camera. THANKFULLY I got the very last hd camera! I have to go back to uni tomorrow morning before I travel to London to shoot which is rather annoying but atleast we have a camera!

Organising the test shoot

Here is a facebook message organising the shoot day. Due to Elle going home to london over the weekend, and me being at our student house in maidstone, this was the easiest way to get hold of everyone and make sure people knew where they were meant to be:

Between Natalie Anne Bruno, Rebecca Evans, Sian Holmes-Moorhouse, Anna Elektra Koukis, Charlotte Louise Long, Frederica Hawthorn and You
Elena Koukis March 8 at 1:27pm
okay, I know theres some confusion as to where we're all meeting and what times etc, so thought we should set some proper plans, if anybody has problems with this arrangement please say asap!

2.30pm. Nat and Becky arrive at Richmond. ( Park down Sheen Common Drive.) We're going to head straight to sian's to finish costumes, go over scene plans, etc.

4.30. Meet Freddie at the corner (by the garage, opposite the black horse) Bring her to Sians to put her in her costume and do hair and makeup.

5.00. Aim to be at Sheen common to start filming. Anna and her friends will waiting at the gate raring to go.
Whilsy assistants Sian and Nat make sure clothes look okay, Becky and I will arrange the set (ribbons, candles etc)

Okay, just a few more bit, could Charlotte,Anna and Ellie : we will 100% need you three again, as we havent finished your costumes. Anna its unlikely we'll need to film you this time, we've got two costumes and as the other two have booked it off work i say its fair we use them. Could you two please make sure your wearing all black, leggings and a long sleeved top would be ideal.
Freddie, dont worry at all about what your wearing as we have a complete costume for you, make sure you have socks and a big hoodie as it'll probs be cold and in between shots we will want to keep you warm.

Hopefully we'll be able to get the whole thing done by 7ish, before its dark. But we will need you all to help us again, to do a final shoot, duting this one we'll do as much filming as we can but we're sure they'll be other bits we need your help with! Thankyou all for doing this for us! see you tomorrow :) xx

Casting: Young girl

We decided to use Freddie Hawthorne as our young girl character. She is naturally very pretty, has beautiful long wavy hair,is small and slight- the look we are going for. She has that innocent feel to her and she lives near the shoot location which is extremely handy.

Location: Sheen Common

Elle and I knew had a very clear idea of the location we wanted from the beginning. We needed an overgrown, quiet wood which lead on to a large open field. It had to be fairly diserted loaction so members of the general public would not appear in the shoots.We were going to scout maidstone for this location when Elle suggested Sheen Common which is right next to her house. Luckily she was going home within the next few days so it was decided that she would take some pictures and videos on her digital camera so I could get a better feel for the location and see if i agreed. Here are some videos below:

Untitled from elena koukis on Vimeo.

Untitled from elena koukis on Vimeo.

I immediatley loved the location and think it will be perfect for our film. I also noticed that in the picture below of the location a church can be seen in the background. I really liked this and thought that at dusk, filming the church in the distance could add to the disturbing atmosphere.

Workshop: Styling for our shoot

Elle and I were excited to start creating our costumes and see what advice Kim Howells couldgive us. We popped to hobbycraft that morning to finish buying things for our 'cloaked figure' costumes, be bought:

3m of black material

1m of shiny black material

3m of gold chain

Black ribbon

Safety

Black netting

Other items from our wardrove which we thought could work

I was the lucky one that could to dress up in this fetching ensemble. We attached my scarf to the black of the cloak to create a make-shift train and the effect was nice on film when I walked. Kim Howells was very helpful, and seemed positive about our creation. She liked the idea of using a seperate piece of material to create the hood, giving the cloak a more layered and interesting look. We also discussed shoulder pads with her and sewing fringing on to them, which is a technique Gemma Slack uses. Kim said to think about the shape of the shoulder- round would look more 'nun-like' whereas square shoulders would look more high fashion. Elle and I decided to go with the high fashion look because we still wanted to create something stylish that does Gemma Slacks work justice.

I found this workshop very useful and it helped me realise what works and what doesn't. I was helped to discuss my ideas with another person and see how successful and realistic they thing it is.

Inspiration: Costumes

Whilst obviously the Puritan era is a huge influence there are also other things which have inspired me in relation to the costumes. I love this Dazed and Confused October 2008 cover, there is something magical about it and the structures clothing reminds me of Gemma Slacks work. There is also something rather unnerving and wild about the image due to the face of the model being in shadow and the way it appears as itf she is growing out from between the trees. This cloaked figure then reminded me of the film 'The Village' and the costumes used throughout. Even though the film is actually set in the present day the people of this small community are lead to believe they are actually living in a more primative time. The clothes are all very simple and conservative, created in plain, dark colours. Below are some film stills:

I likes the style of cloaks used and these are something which i would like to incorporate and recreate for the cloaked figures used. The ku Klux Clan, as starnge as it sounds, also sprang to mind with their pointed cloaks covering their faces, masking their idenity. That gave me the idea of covering the cloaked figures faces in our film also.

When researching into the masking of peoples idenities to create a frightening feel i immediately thought of Alexander Mcqueen's work and how he often used masks and interesting head pieces to create a startling look, as seen below:

The Ring: Video

This has been included for it's mood and disturbing nature. I like the idea of possibly still injecting some strange images now and then into the film to add to the feeling of chaos. I like how the creators of this clip have managed to turn average things such as brushing your hair into something unnerving.

Inspiration: Music Videos

1. Bat for lashes 'Daniel'
The black figures in this video grabbed my attention and whilst they are not visually what Elle and i want to recreate i liked the way they swarm and move around the singer to create a sinister, unnerving feel. The fact that their faces are covered gives them a lack of identity and makes them even more disturbing, which is a concept my partner and I have discussed to use when creating costumes for our cloaked figures.



2. Florence + the machine 'Rabbit heart (raise it up)'
I really love the colour tones used within this video and the wildness it has to it. The music video is very caotic and within our witchcraft scene we also want to portray this, but with a much darker feel. Clips are also layed over eachother to create a double image, maybe this is something we could consider for out film also?



3. Florence + the machine 'Dog days are over'
This music video again caught my attention as it is set in a forest. Like 'Rabbit heart' it has a fun feel to it however the clowns and circus concept gives it a slightly unnerving touch. I like it when they all crowd round her and also the throwing of glitter. This music video can still be used as inspiration and we are considering recreating aspects of it but adding a darker twist which fits in with our story and concept better.

Inspiration: The Crucible

The Crucible was something that came to mind immediatley and I thought that it would act as good inspiration. Written by Arther Miller in 1953 it is a dramatization of the Slame witch trials that took placet in Province of Massachusetts Bay during 1692 and 1693.

We will be using this as inspiration for our work, and encorporating the madness and havoc into our short film. Below is a short manmade trailer for The Crucible remake, i found it really hard to find any of the film clips and could not locate an offical film trailer. I have chosen to include this clip as it shows the witchcraft scene in the forest which portrays the dramatic mood and excitable feel we would like to capture during our film.

Below are some images which inspire me and help to visually explain our film concept:

OUR FINAL IDEA!

My partner and I had truly come to a dead end so we decided to go back and look at the designer in more detail in hope of coming up with some inspiring ideas. I noticed that Gemma Slack’s gothic work had an aged nostalgic feel to it and her panelled, dark and often constricting clothing reminded me of Puritan clothing worn in America during the 1600’s. This made me think of the Salem witch trial which obviously was a very desperate time for all those involved. Gemma Slack’s large headdress made form real human hair reminded me of the hats the men used to wear during this time era and I thought that we could create a short film promoting the designer’s work inspired by witch craft and cults.

We plan on still featuring a young girl walking across a field at dusk, being drawn toward something she is unsure of. Handheld camera will be used to create a tense feel and she will be dressed in plain smocks similar to those worn during the era previously mentioned. The ‘witches’ will be dressed in cloaked ensembles, with headdresses and veils so all of them but their hands are concealed. As the girl is being drawn towards the ‘witches’, flashes of them will be caught by the camera, but only brief glimpses to add suspense. She will reach the forest and as she travels through more tense eerie shots of cloaked figures walking through trees with candles will flash past her etc... She will come to a clearing in the forest where the ‘witches’ will all be gathered. Ribbons will be hanging from branches, blood will be splattered around and raw meat to signify a sacrifice. These cloaked will be acting bizarrely and taking part in some form of ritual, the mood will be very dark, tense and disturbing with lots of candles everywhere. As to how it will end Elle and I are not completely sure, we are going to research more films and see if we come up with anything that can inspire one.

Where to go from here?

Today we had another tutorial with Geraldine and Olle, we explained our idea inspired by 'The killers' music video but again, or idea was critisized. We were told that the storyline was unoriginal and now we are both completely lost and unsure of where to go from here. With only 2 weeks until we have to present our ideas to the class we are getting worried and frustrated and are wondering whether we should completely start from scratch or continue to develop our romance idea.

Idea: Desperation in Romance

Listening to my itunes The Killers 'When we were young' came on which immediately made me think of the music video and how beautiful it is. I love the mexican feel the video has and the soft natural lighting used throughout. Montage is also used to create an atmospheric mood, a technique i have been looking at closely during this project.

This gave me the idea of using this video as inspiration and making a film based of a girl desperately wanting to be with a boy but knowing she can't be for one reason or another. It would begin with her walking through a field or a wood at dusk, not much of her face would be visible, just closeup shots of her feet, her hands brushing branches/bushes, long shots of her from behind, handheld camera would be used. She would close her eyes and a very fast short montage would be screened, then there would be a long shot of her again before the main montage would begin. This sequence would be her memories of being with this boy eg. them playing outdoors, images of them kissing, at home etc... These happy memories would continue for a while until we would see him turn away and walk from her, possible across the field they were playing in. There would then be a close, quick montage of a letter being written, the camera would be close to the paper and highlight certain words of 'desperation'. Other images from her memories would flicker in between the shots of the letter, growing faster and faster. The film would end with a long shot of her standing alone outside.

Evaluation: Current thoughts

Whilst Elle and I have got some ideas which have interested us we have decided to continue to look and research other areas incase something else comes up. During out tutorial with Geraldine she said that we still needed to explore and develop our ideas. We are both becoming fairly frustrated with this project and have seemed to come to a mental block concerning which direction to take our work. I think we are both waiting for the idea/concept to come which we both immediately embrace and fall in love with, but it hasn't arrived yet. We will continue to research and keep developing our knowledge of film in order to produce the best possible film we can.

Our ideas so far:

Idea 1:

Elle and I have been discussing a narrative for our short film. We really like the idea of using a dark, disturbing montage similar to that in the TRUEBLOOD opening sequence but we weren't sure on a story line that could we stitched around it. When thinking of what we personally would find disturbing we thought that this montage could be a person's thoughts or emotions and who scarier to think these things than a little old lady? The scene would begin with a person going around their daily life in their house, the audience would not know the identity of the person, we would only see parts of their home like a used glass, a mess bookshelf etc... Throughout this scene we would hear them humming away, possibly a nursery rhyme and then the doorbell would ring. The person would make their way towards the door and when it is about to open the disturbing montage of memories would occur. The scene would end with the door opening revealing who the person thinking these things were.

Idea 2:

We then thought instead of using this old woman and portraying her in a negative, disturbing way could be make her the victim? Could this memories be a montage of her life and the happy memories with the husband she has lost?

Photographer: Martin Parr

I have always been a fan of Martin Parr's work. I really like the snapshot quality to his images and how he has the ability to turn the most average object into something fantastically interesting. Wanting to keep a natural and truthful edge to my film I thought that Martin Parr documentary style imagery would be relative to look at and maybe give me some ideas for shots to include in a montage sequence

Inspiring Director: Floria Sigismondi

During a tutorial it was suggested that Elle and I look up the work of Floria Sigismondi. Her videos are edgy and quiet often dark in mood which is something that we would like to include in ours. The music video that she worked on with The White Stripes really grabbed my attention. The gothic feel reminds me very much of Gemma Slack's collection and I like the way in which she has used fast paced editing and speeding up of shots. The camera angles used in some places are also very interesting, capturing peoples movements in a way which is slightly unnerving as it feels as if the camera is 'spying'.

Inspiring Director: Chris Cunnigham

Chris Cunnigham's work is fantasically edited and his ideas are you innovative and individualistic. He has created a personal style which is immediately recognizable if you are familiar with his work. The video below really interested me, I like the tone of colour used throughout the video and it's overall disturbing storyline and feel created through mood and the use of documentary style camera work. Like the TRUEBLOOD video quick clips and editing is used to create an edgy and tense atmosphere:

Ideas: Desperation and Darkness

Definition of desperate: 'Being filled with, or in a state of despair; Hopeless; reckless abandon in the pursuit of an extreme desire.'

After studying the TRUEBLOOD opening sequence I decided to research into images signifying desperation which could be recreated in video form to be included within my short film. First are some film stills from the opening sequence itself displaying images of depressing people, places and the wilder side of religion:

Here are some other images portraying desperation: