Having planned our low-budget horror film, it's now time to take the photos we'll need for our website.
This will be the most creative part of the course and hopefully result in some stunning low-budget horror images.
Here's Tuesday's lesson video going through the photography process:
Links and resources
Reminder of the brief: Create a working homepage and one linked page for a website promoting a new independent, low budget film.
The AQA coursework brief is here - with the details from the exam board regarding what can be submitted due to Covid-19. You'll need to be logged in to your Greenford Google account to view it.
Here's our example film website using some A Level Media pictures from a different project. This is what we're trying to produce!
Low budget independent horror films
Fortunately, our brief is ideal for taking photos using our phones or a camera at home… low-budget horror is all about being creative with the environment we are in.
Mise-en-scene: CLAMPS
Planning every aspect of mise-en-scene for your photo will result in a better set of images for your production. We use CLAMPS to remember the different aspects of mise-en-scene:
C: Costume
L: Lighting
A: Actor placement and expression
M: Make-up
P: Props
S: Setting
Photography top tips
Once you have planned and prepared everything you need, it’s time to take your photos. Top tips:
Take LOADS of images (assuming you have space on your phone/camera). You need at least three different images on your website but the more options you have the better.
Take photos using a variety of different camera shots - wide shots, medium shots, close-ups, extreme close-ups etc.
Take a selection of landscape AND portrait images.
Think about how you will use the images on your website when setting up your shot.
Ask your actor to use a range of expressions to give you options when selecting images for your website.
Coursework: Photography blog tasks
Create a blogpost called 'Coursework photography' and complete the following tasks:
1) Plan out every aspect of your mise-en-scene for your photoshoot:
C: Costume
L: Lighting
A: Actor placement and expression
M: Make-up
P: Props
S: Setting
2) Take your photos and post the best FIVE images you take to your blog. You should be able to upload them directly from your phone.
Due date: on Google Classroom
Optional extension task
Once you have taken your images, go back to your Statement of Intent and see if you need to update any of the Media Language elements now you know what mise-en-scene you are using for your photos.
The first 10 marks of our coursework are for a written Statement of Intent.
This is simply a Word or Google Document in which we write what we are planning to make for our coursework. Your completed film pitch will give you most of the information you need for this and you are welcome to copy and paste details from your film pitch straight into your Statement of Intent.
Another tip is that you can use subheadings and bullet points in your Statement of Intent - it doesn't need to all be in paragraphs. In fact, bullet points are very useful for keeping the word count down.
Our first bit of planning for our Film website production is to come up with a new, original horror movie concept.
This is the creative side of Media Studies that we all love but it's not easy! We need to come up with our own, original idea that we can turn into a brilliant independent horror film website. You need to work through several steps...
Original independent horror
We need to come up with an idea for an independent film that would appeal to fans of independent movies. What does this mean?
Low budget
Creative or unusual ideas
No star names or directors
May challenge ideas in mainstream movies
Title and tagline
What makes a good horror film title?
Simple
Memorable
Suggestive of narrative/story
Immediately identifiable as HORROR
The tagline is like a slogan for the film and will appear on the poster, website, trailer etc. Let’s look at some classic horror taglines…
“Be afraid, be very afraid.” (The Fly)
“In space, no one can hear your scream.” (Alien)
“Sometimes dead is better.” (Pet Sematary)
“Heads Will Roll.” (Sleepy Hollow)
“I Warned You Not To Go Out Tonight” (Maniac)
“He’ll Tear Your Soul Apart.” (Hellraiser)
Logline
The logline is a one-sentence summary of the story of the film. It’s designed to immediately tell a studio or distributor what kind of film it is and what happens in the story. Let’s look at some examples…
Titanic: A young man and woman from different social classes fall in love aboard an ill-fated voyage on the most famous ship of all time…
What about some example horror loglines? These are from the Screenwriting Staffing website...
Fallout: When two women awake to find themselves trapped by a madman in adjoining rooms with only half the information needed to escape, they soon discover that only one of them can make it out alive and that working together will be very dangerous.
Demon: Five teenagers take shelter in an abandoned slaughterhouse which is haunted by a malevolent poltergeist. Overcome by an incredible rage, one of them seeks to destroy the others.
Narrative and character
Your logline should give you a basic overview of your film. Next, plan a few more details:
Narrative – what happens in the story?
Character – who is the main character? Who is the villain or threat? Are there any other important characters?
Here, it might be helpful to think of your film as a combination of existing horror films (“Like a cross between Scream and Paranormal Activity”)
Plan what you'll need for your website...
Once you have a basic plan for your low-budget independent horror film, plan a few more details that will help you with your media production work:
Come up with a name for your director (it can be your name!) as you’ll need this for the interview
Plan your photos for the website/interview
Plan any costume/make-up/lighting/location you’ll need for your photos
Plan the font/typography or branding you will use for your film title. Examples on next slide…
Font/typography
Horror film branding is usually created using particular font/typography and colour (black/white/red):
Film pitch planning: blog tasks
You may want to start the process of planning your film by scribbling ideas on a blank piece of paper - possibly storylines, scary villains, main character names, locations etc. Then, create a blogpost called 'Coursework film pitch' and answer the questions below:
1) What will be the title for your own original NEW horror film? If you're not sure, write down two or three possible titles and you can choose later.
2) Write a tagline for your film – it's effectively a slogan for the movie:
3) Write a logline – this is like a longer version of the tagline. It's one sentence that sums up the film and hooks the audience in under 25 words:
4) Write down any existing horror films that are similar to yours ("My film idea is like a cross between Scream and Contagion"):
5) What is your narrative/storyline? Write a short paragraph that explains what happens in your film:
6) What is your main character’s name and what happens to them? You can also mention other characters if your wish.
7) Who or what will be the villain or threat in your horror movie?
8) What is the name of your film's director? You can use your own name here if you wish.
9) What costume/make-up/props will you need for your photographs for your website?
10) What font/typography/colour you will use to create a brand for your film’s title and branding?
By completing these tasks, you will have the basic structure to create your photography, website and interview with the director or member of the production team.
After a long delay, we're now able to start our coursework worth 30% of the GCSE.
The government has confirmed that coursework should continue and will be a key aspect contributing to teacher-assessed grades at the end of the course.
We had to wait back in the Autumn for the exam board to update their briefs for Covid-19 and then delay again due to lockdowns and the government announcing they would be replacing exams with a different system. However, we're now in a good position to work on this with all exam CSPs covered and the brief is a really creative one that we can work on from home.
Here's Tuesday's lesson video:
Coursework brief
Create a working homepage and one linked page for a website promoting a new independent, low budget film.
We have chosen a website brief for this year as this will allow all of us to work on coursework from home as well as once we're back in school. The coursework brief is here - with the details from the exam board regarding what can be submitted due to Covid-19. You'll need to be logged in to your Greenford Google account to view it.
The task is to create a website for a new independent low-budget film. This will include the homepage and one linked page with an interview with the director or another member of the production team. The creative side is that we will need to come up with our own new, original film idea.
The target audience for both the film and the website is existing fans of independent films and we're going to suggest you focus on the horror genre.
Create your website using Wix
We're going to use wix.com to create our websites. This is a simple, user-friendly and free site that AQA is happy for us to use and will really help us to create our website. Here's a tutorial explaining the basics in case you're interested to find out more:
To test it out, we've created an example film website using some A Level Media pictures from a different project. This is what we're trying to produce!
Low budget independent horror films
In order to complete this coursework, we need to come up with our own, individual, original idea for a low-budget independent horror film.
We will develop our film pitch next lesson. This is because we need to carry out research before creating our own work.
Website and film poster conventions
In order to create a professional-level media product, you need to use the codes and conventions we expect to see in those media products.
Here are the key conventions for a film website for an independent low-budget horror film:
Title - in a particular font/typography to create a brand for the film
Central image - usually making up most if not all of the homepage of the website
Menu bar - usually containing options such as Trailer, Interviews, Reviews, Watch Online, Behind The Scenes etc.
Tagline (like a slogan) that tries to draw the audience in
Release date / how to watch the film
Star/director/actor names
Critic reviews
Social media hashtags / icons
These are the key conventions for film posters - useful for planning your photography and design. Note that many are similar to film websites as they are critical elements of the marketing:
Central image
Title - in a particular font/typography to create a brand for the film
Tagline (like a slogan) that tries to draw the audience in
Release date
Star/director/actor names
Critic reviews
Social media hashtags / icons
Production blurb
Iconography of the film’s genre
You will want to use some of these in your website design.
Coursework: Film website research
Create a blogpost called 'Coursework research and planning' and complete the following tasks:
1) What is the main image on The Invisible Man film poster (on the left of the website homepage)?
2) What is the tagline for the film? (Clue: it starts 'What You Can't See...')
3) How is the story of The Invisible Man described on the site?
Due date: on Google Classroom
Optional extension tasks
Horror film posters are a great way to plan the kind of photos you will need to take for your horror film website.
1) Research horror film posters - you could start with the low-budget horror films you've already researched above. What do you notice about the photography used?
2) What iconography can you see that creates connotations of the horror genre?
3) How could you use your phone to create a similar style images for your film website?
Here's our example film website using some A Level Media pictures from a different project. This is what we're trying to produce!
Planning every aspect of mise-en-scene for your photo will result in a better set of images for your production. We use CLAMPS to remember the different aspects of mise-en-scene:
