When coming up with the title for our film we wanted something that was eye-catching and memorable but would also link to the genre that we had chosen for our film. Once we had the initial idea of the film we decided to google words that linked to 'murder' and 'death'. We narrowed it down to 'homicide' and 'demise' because we hadn't seen a film with either of these names before and they also helped to hint to what the film was going to be about. We ended up choosing 'Demise' purely because we really liked the catchy sound of it and also because 'homicide' seemed too obvious whereas most people wouldn't know what the word 'Demise' meant. We also thought that this title would go with the typical horror/thriller conventions of a film title and would help to give the audience an idea of what they would be getting themselves into when they watched it.
The Film Setting/Location - Cabot Circus Car-park Bristol
When planning for our film we had decided that we wanted our character to be running up a staircase running away from someone, but we didn't know where. When I went to the cinema one night in the middle of December, I was parked on the top level of the car-park in Cabot Circus (Bristol) and I was able to see how amazing the view was and how brilliant it looked on camera. I told the others in my group and we decided that it would be a great place to shoot as the stunning sky would contrast with what was going on in the opening. Although not completely typical of a horror film, we thought that the car park would be really effective because of the types of shot we could get and also the large staircase which gave us a lost of space to play around with different shots. At night it is also quite dark and eerie, which was what we were going for. This proved to be the perfect location for shooting as it was so large but also because it was so quiet it really helped to add that eerie and mysterious effect that we wanted.
Costumes and Props
In terms of costumes and props we didn't actually use many. We wanted to keep the film quite simplistic so decided to do the same with the costumes and props that we used.
For costume we decided that we wanted our main character to be wearing slightly athletic clothing, but also clothes that were on trend whilst being easy for her to move about in. In the end she ended up wearing a black hoodie, with black skinny jeans, a white cap and a pair of trainers. We thought that although this isn't typical of what every sixteen year old girl would wear and instead of conforming to the innocent young girl in a horror film, we wanted our character to be strong and independent so we tried to show this with her clothing.
For the villain we wanted them to be completely anonymous due to the fact that nobody was meant to know who they were. So we decided on a large black coat with a hood so that we could hide their face and keep them completely unknown.
The only prop that we used was the knife that was dropped in one of the flashbacks. We decided to use this to add some more tension to the film but to also hint to the audience that this was going to happen in the film.
Camerawork and Editing
For the whole time we were filming we used a tripod to get out shots because they were all at fairly middle angles. We also wanted them to be still so we knew that using just a handheld was not going to work. We used 3 different cameras to get our shots, they consisted of...
We used the GoPro for the point of view shots from the main character, this was the only shot that we used without a tripod because we wanted the full effect that we could see through our characters eyes what was happening and get a sense of how they could be feeling.
We used my large Nikon D3100 for the majority of the film because it had the most clear and crisp shots so we decided to use it as our primary camera for the film. It was also because we were able to alter the focus easily.
We then used my Sony A5000 to film the shots of the knife falling to the ground and also the blood streaming down the glass. It was really easy to use because it has auto focus and HD video so we were able to get really great shots. The cameras that we used were perfect for our genre because it let us get great detail and focus on some of the knife shots and flashbacks clearly.
In terms of editing, a lot of our clips were just simply straight cuts with a few transitions, mainly for the titles and also the flashbacks. For the flashbacks we used a slight white filter to make everything look like it was a dream...
We then used a continuous filter for our hooded figure so that every time they appeared, the audience knew that something was wrong. We also did this with sound and added a kind of motif for every time the character appeared.
Title Font and Style
I am really pleased with the font because although it isn't typical of a horror film, I feel that it is actually very effective in terms of the colour and style of it. I also really like the way that it appears and then blurs the background, drawing attention to the font and the title of the film.
Overall I think our film conforms to most of the conventions of a Horror film, but also contradicts some. The use of fonts and our strong female protagonist opposed to a pretty and frightened one, challenges these conventions and in some senses intensifies the genre because of some of its contrasting values.
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