Bronwyn's Evaluation

On October 17th we went out to film our recreation of previous year 12 psychological horror 'Pendant'. Using the camera we showed that we can hold shots steady (with or without a tripod) and with panning as well as it wasn't jerky movement and it followed the person at the right speed. We used a variety of shot that were suitable for a horror to make it tense. When using compositing techniques we made sure we had the write amount of head room and that we were using the rule of thirds in every shot. I think we might have gone over the 180oc rule but it was to make our character feel more afraid.


When filming we made sure that continuity would be right when editing so we made sure bags weren't in the shots or our actor wouldn't be in one position then in to another position between shot. Most of our shots flowed together nicely without having to use any transitions. There is just one shot to the other that doesn't flow perfectly as our actor isn't fully sat on the bench, next shot she is. I think what looks effective at the end with the editing is when the pendant is spotted because it's flows well and is a shocking to the audience.  


When making decisions who our actor for the film will be we thought about friends who will be available and willing to be filmed, our actor (Sarah Woodall) did work for our film as there wasn't much acting to do. But we didn't meet our actor before filming which could have been a problem. So next time it would be best to meet our actor before filming. Choosing costume and make up wasn't an issue as the character in the film was dressed in everyday clothes. We asked for our actor to wear casual clothes and to have plain make up on that would enhance her face. In the 'Pendant' the most important prop is the pendant it's self. We looked at the pendant they used in the original film, to compare we looked for gold jewellery in our group and found that Jade had an earring that was similar and I had a gold chain that we combined together to make the pendant which looked realistic to the one in the film. The location was perfect as we chose the same location where the original was shoot. Though we did use a different angle of the park. There wasn't too many people around which didn't make it distracting or difficult to film.


How I help and contributed to the filming.
-As a group we decided what recreation we would be doing, but I had my own opinion why it would be good to shoot as it had lots of different camera angles and shots
-I had the responsibility of looking after the camera and making sure to bring it to the location. And taking the camera and tripod back the next day and making sure it didn't have anything missing.
-I did some of the filming at the beginning of the film. When i was filming i made sure that i was using the correct rules for the shoot. And before made sure that in the shoot nothing would ruined it e.g. a person walking in the shoot.
-I did some editing and made sure that they flowed together and that we were using the right shots.


I think as a group we worked really well together and had some good organization skills for this task. But when we come to film our final coursework film we should do somethings differently. I think we should give out jobs and take it more in turns for filming and editing and write a plan out so we get to take part in everything and be more organized, instead of just going with the flow, which did work but when we come to do it on a bigger scale we could have problems. Also meet our actor's before we film to get to know them and to see if they will be right for filming.

Helen's evaluation

I believe that our finished recreation of  a previous year 12's film 'Pendant' shows that we can successfully frame shots, use a variety of shot types and composition techniques and can hold a shot steady (whether it is hand held or using the tripod). In our recreation we tried to keep ours as similar to the original as possible.


I think that our version of Pendant follows the rules of continuity editing very well as the shots flow together. We did not use any editing transitions as we filmed in such a way that the shots flowed correctly, also we did not use any as the task we were given was to recreate an existing film and the original did not contain any transitions, therefore we did not add any as this would change the original film slightly which was not our aim.


Even though our film did not need any make up or costumes as such, I think we managed to get the correct things for this recreation as in the film we have our actress in casual clothes. We managed to choose appropriate props for our film genre- psychological- as we had a pendant which is an important part of the film. We chose an approprite location for our remake as we actually filmed where the original was made, therefore we were able to film the same locations as the original. An appropriate actress was picked as the actor in the original film was just a regular person who was in possesion of a pendant.


I helped with the completion of the film by
- helping to pick the film and therefore the part of this which we would recreate.
- finding the actress that was used in our recreation.
- writing out the shot list so we could use it on location.
- took out the tripod from the college and took it to the film location.
- at the location I helped to pick what angles were best to shoot at due to the sun and i looked after the equipment and personal belongings during filming.
- advised the public when they could walk through the shots and when they could not.
- when we were editing-even though I never actually used the iMac- i helped choose which shots we would use out of the many that we filmed, what sound effects would be used and where. As well as the soundtrack to our recreation. If we could film this again I think we would try really hard to achieve the same shot angles as the original, even though this would be difficult as the bench used in the original is no longer there.  Also I think we would film it at a different time of day so the lighting is not so bright. I do not think there are many things we would do differently in our final coursework film, as we believe we have managed the continuity and other aspects of filming very well. In our final coursework piece we may do each shot many times so we could choose the best one to actually use in the piece. I also think that we may change the time of day we choose to film so that lighting is not much of an issue.
Helen Gill ---- in a group with Bronwyn Stevens and Jade Dring

Our aim was to re-create a previous Bilborough media students horror film. We had to pick 30-40 seconds of the chosen film which was 'Pendant' - Our actress was  chosen as she has a history with drama, and was suggested by a member of the group.

We chose to film in the same location as the original, however unfortunately a bench used in the original was no longer in the same place, so our backgrounds alter. We worked hard to keep a high standard of composition and continuity and feel we did this well :) 

A few of our shots differ from the original, as they were difficult to remake considering the alteration of scenery since.

We like our film as we believe it looks visually impressive and represents the horror film well. It wasn't too difficult to film, we just had issues as said before with the scenery.

Composition Exercise

Our exercise in class was to create a storyboard that included certain shot types such as long shots and mid shots. We also had to include use of the rule of thirds, 180 degree rule, 30 degree rule, continuity, head room and lead room.

Our video was to include two people meeting, however this could introduce some difficulty regarding continuity and unfortunately for our group did. 

One of the clips has no sense of continuity, and therefore skips from one position to a completely new one. Also the sound erased itself on one of the clips. This was however no fault of our own and a computer error. In order to make the error less blatant we removed all sound and replaced a theme tune over the top.

 This video was essentially to evaluate our work, hoping to create a checklist for our new one.

Assessment Exercise Original

This is the original piece we have chosen to recreate 30/40 seconds from.

Practical continuity and coverage.

In our group, we were given a sheet presenting shots that we were to recreate ourselves. We managed to do this partly, however the continuity in one of our clips is not as adequate as we first hoped. 

If we had the chance to create this again, we as a group would show the movement of the hand  approaching the door, rather than a sudden clip of it placed upon the door.

Despite this, the majority of the continuity was successful, as our editing allowed us to check and adjust the clips accordingly to the appropriate continuity. 

Regarding shot types, we have been successful, as they match the equivalent of other correct shot examples. We have managed to frame them properly, and have included the correct number of shots planned.

Originally one of our shots was too slow meaning we decided that it did not fit in with our piece. Therefore we chose to increase the speed of this clip - consequently this allowed this piece to flow correctly. To include atmosphere we simply added a piece of music named 'suspense'

We were told to create a short film based on either a stalking event or a mock gun fight. This was advised to be a short piece, simply introducing us to the equipment/macs.

Camera operator - Helen Gill / Jade Dring

Leading actress - Bronwyn Stevens (CINDY)

Secondary actress - Jade Dring (STALKER HIPKINS)

As this was our first time using the equipment we were basically just learning standard techniques of recording and it was to resemble a horror film under the same sub-genre as our soon to be created horror film opening. With ours being psychological it had to be slightly mysterious as to what was going on. 

We included shots such as long shots, extreme close ups and low shots.

First lesson using equipment properly

We began filming a 'stalker themed' video today, using equipment such as a video camera and tripod. We later began to edit this footage using iMovie.
We found this interesting as it was fairly new to us as AS media students. We selected different shot types with the camera, such as long shot to create distance and extreme close ups for tension build up.
We had no difficulty using the equipment, and easily created many different clips, using angles such as - diagonal, high angles contrasting with low.