In 7th September, the last day before I left, when the last time I have a tutorial with nick. After he saw my works, he expressed his praise of my work, and helps me find a good title for this film: “J”. “J” means jealous & it is abbreviated form of my heroine’s name. For this film which is the first one I produced independently, basically, I was satisfied with it. And I found there still has lots of things which I ca get some improvements. Such as the transition part, the sound part, these gave me a lot of valuable experience from this producing. During the past one year, my tutor nick & Ken gave me a lot of helps in the professional part. I am from an unfamiliar of the media production to the todays a student who can complete their own independent production of a film. This year gave me lots of benefits; I sincerely thank the tutors & classmates who helped me and the difficulties which I have been encountered. I was very happy for this year in the UK; I think this will be the wealth for my life.
It is an enormously important role that well-composed music and striking sound effects play in creating a complete and truly frightening horror film experience. I have a great interest in background sound & music. “Music in horror films is probably more powerful than in any other genre, so it is good for a composer to do them because he can be very influential on the action. For example, watch a horror movie without music and it is not frightening, though it may be gruesome. But add the music and you add tension.” In my film I mainly want to use the music and sounds to express the bizarre atmosphere & suffocating feelings. So I decided to use some Japanese & Korean horror film music, coz I thought these genre of music will be fit the feelings of the performance of my film. Then, I started to listening lots of soundtracks from the Japanese & Korean movies. I found some soundtrack in those films, such as A.Rang, Celle, A.Brighter.Summer.Day, Ringu, and Ringu.2. And I thought there are just few soundtracks matched my requirements. I need some very simple & slow music which played by piano to fit my images. The sounds cape in films usually consists of three separate, yet closely related aspects: Music, sound effects and speech. Both the music and the sound effects are directly linked to the visuals of the film. Music works by accompanying the events in the film to create or adjust a certain mood or atmosphere. Sound effects are usually tied even more closely to the events in the film and in most cases are applied to intensify and mark direct actions such as movements and impacts. These sounds are usually exaggerated (especially in horror films), and a classic example of an exaggerated sound effect is punches (and other impacts), which often sound like whip lashes when normally they would produce a barely audible. Although “amplifications” of this kind in some cases negatively affect the realism of certain events in a film, they do serve to increase the power and intensity of movements, impacts and other actions, which is very important especially in horror films aiming to create an audio-visual experience. “A sound’s origin is not as important as the listener’s expectations of how something should sound. In films and television, many natural sounds do not meet everyone’s expectations. When this happens, they are either replaced with more suitable sounds or the natural sound is layered (other sounds are added) to make it more desirable”. It is also interesting to note that horror films tend to highlight sounds that we would normally not pay attention to, such as a beating heart or someone breathing. The purpose of this might be to draw the audience into the scene, to make it part of the action and put it in the situation of the victim and it works well.
For the detailed cutting, I have a few steps to work: first, add scary and scratchy, eerily atmosphere music for it. Second, make something completely ordinary of the drama (suitcase). Third, have a plot twist. Forth, add some good effects, for my film, I chose the ghosting effects and some slow motion & reverse fast motion for it. Finally, make sure I use good effects. Never change the originals ending, it will confuse the audience and will cause non-originality. And sometimes, a quick ending, possible can have an effect. Avoid using music that already in some familiar movies & find unique soundtracks.
At the very beginning of my first editing, I cut each part of my film according to the initial ideas, due to I filmed some different views of the same lenses, so I have some different choices when I did editing. At the part of drugging & locking, because the editing is according to the timeline so I just need to connect each action and make it smoothly. Then, I decided to do a separate screen at the part of when the younger sister struggling and shouting in the suitcase & the elder sister is smoking at the bathroom. At first, the camera is moving from the door to the bathroom, and the elder sister is sitting in the toilet. (I made the cutting matched the rhythms with the background music) then I used the separate screen when the younger sister opened her eyes & gave the close-up for the elder sister’s smoking. In the separate screen I used the 50:50 proportions of the framework for each part, when the younger one is struggling & the elder one is smoking in calm. Then I used a 10-second shot to do a transition, this empty shot which I filmed the outside from night to dawn. The next part is two different emotion of the twin sisters, for the part of elder sister, I used lenses of she is sitting in a chair and rotating connected to she is doing some leisure things, such as grinding nails (dynamic lenses), watching a book, smearing mascara, drinking a cup of wine, smearing lipstick, smoking in the bathroom (3-4 different angles). The other side, the younger sister slowly closed her eyes, she recalled the memories of them: leaves is shaking, they are holding the candy gloss which flying under the sun, the features on the ground is shaking in their shadow, the younger sister feed her to eat candy gloss, the elder sister walk in front of her sister, and the younger one to pull her sister’s hand. After the transition, the elder sister opened the suitcase & the younger fall out of the suitcase and dead. Then the time starts to back, I used the ghosting effects to present & the photos to describe the reason why she is killing her sister: she is jealous her sister have many friends, and she thought her sister just can belong to herself. She doesn’t want her sister talk & have a fun with other persons. At the last part of my film, the elder sister was holding the younger sister’s dead body & the dead body is looking at the camera.
A tutorial with ken
In 2nd September, I have a tutorial with ken, and I first showed him what I have done in my work. Ken gave me some suggestions after he saw my works. First, he thought the visual parts in my works are quite good, the performance of the contents of the lens is very clear and I don’t need to cut any lenses in my film. Second, he thought there are some effects which I don’t need to add, such as some lenses which I used the reverse effect to present and some subjective view which I used the ghosting effects to show audiences. Finally, he pointed that there has a big problem at my sounds part. Because my sounds part has different volume, and I need to balance this volume to make the background sounds smoothly. I accepted his suggestions and did some change in my effects part & sound part. And I thought these changes are very useful for my film. I am very appreciated for these suggestions which ken gave me.
In the selection of music and sound is a huge problem for me because I can not use someone else’s work, so I sought the help of friends to find some piano soundtracks which can match the tone of my movie. First, I have to say something about the selections of the music which play for the memories of sisters, the best start I found a few songs in a Japanese film Hana & Alice, There are: season of flowers, Wo Ai Nee, hana’s season-ocean. But in the repeated comparison I gave up these tunes, and then I found a song of a Taiwan’s film candy rain, which I most satisfied with a song named bubble, however, some acoustic piano piece for only 30 seconds, what I need is 1 minute. In multiple comparisons, and then I chose a song, and received the help of friends produced a piano soundtrack. Here is the piece, and my clips Version:
Except the memory parts of two sisters, the remaining part of the film will be done at home. For various reasons, I need to re-shoot indoor scenes. During the process of shooting, I ran into new problems: In the play that girl who plays elder sister because of personal problems need to back to China in 18th August, which means that if I need her re-filmed lens can not be achieved, so every shots in my film are taken 5-6 times as much as possible to avoid the situation can not be used with certain lenses. The followings are my shooting script:
Scene 1
Location: living room
Performers: elder sister (Jolly) younger sister: lacie
Camera: Peng
Lighting: natural light plus orange & red
1 the lens similar to peeping, younger sister sat on the sofa and reading (her sister’s subjective lens)
2 elder sister came from a dark room, then looked at her sister, and then open the kitchen light, walked to the stove (dynamic camera movement followed the trajectory of the girl)
3 elder sister poured a glass of water, open the closet, took out a pill
4 white drug’s foam integrated into the water, (close-up of the cup)
5 stirring a cup of water with chopsticks, and then took a look at the water
6 panoramic lens of living room, elder sister stand before the stove, younger sister still reading
7 elder sister turned around and holding a cup went toward her sister (dynamic lens to follow the trajectories of girl)
8 younger sister took over glass from her sister (shooting from the head)
9 close-up of younger sister’s drinking
10 younger sister got up and left the room, her sister look at her then bow her head & smile
11 close-up of cup (behind the cup is virtual lens of elder sister’s smiling)
12 close-up of elder sister’s smiling
Scene 2
Location: bedroom & Corridor
Performers: elder sister (Jolly) younger sister: lacie
Camera: Peng
Lighting: natural light
Sounds: music (played by piano)
1 close-up of elder sister’s foot, she is moving towards a door (shooting from the ground)
2 she opened the door then walked into the bedroom & open the light
3 she went towards bed, her sister slept at bed then she pushed her
4 pushed a suitcase into the bedroom
5 elder sister pulled up her younger sister up (dynamic lens)
6 filmed from a full-length mirror, elder sister put her into the suitcase and locking
7 she pushed the suitcase, close up of foot
8 she pushed the suitcase, close up of face
9 she push the suitcase from room to corridor then turned into closet (camera from head)
10 opened the closet then put it into it
Scene 3
Location: bedroom & living room & bathroom
Performers: elder sister (Jolly)
Camera: Peng
Lighting: natural light plus blue & grey
Sounds: music
For this part, coz I will cut it without timeline order, so there are all fragments.
1 Elder sister sat in a chair and rotated, close up of her face
2 She is grinding nails (dynamic lenses)
3 She is watching a book
4 She is smearing mascara
5 She is drinking a cup of wine
6 She is smearing lipstick
7 She is smoking in the bathroom
Scene 4
Location: bedroom & bathroom
Performers: elder sister (Jolly) younger sister (lacie)
Camera: Peng
Lighting: natural light plus blue & grey
Sounds: silent & audio effects
1 elder sister slept in the bed then opened her eyes, and see her sister (focus on eyes)
2 younger sister stand beside the bed and watched her
3 elder sister suddenly woke up
4 she turned around but no one stand there
5 she washed her face in the bathroom
6 she looked up and her sister stand behind her
7 she looked up but no one stand there
During the process of filming I am very grateful to thank jolly and peng for helping my final project, because we have been shooting continued until 1:00 am. For the camera peng is very exhausting, because I often asked him to repeat the shot, and often asked him to do multi-angle shooting. Here are very grateful for their support.
The part of the memories of two sisters in the film:
In 15th August, we came to the Swan Lake Park, Coventry and take the first time to filming the outdoor scene. During the process I used natural light, & I designed the following scenes to shoot:
1An actress’s hair is flying. Headrest with the two girls.
2 the elder sister walk in front of her sister, and the younger one to pull her sister’s hand
3 sitting on the benches, two sisters are eating candy gloss (hand holding candy gloss and look to the sky)
4 the younger sister is clinging to her sister from behind
5 two sisters lying on the ground & look to the sky (the empty sky, cloud rotating lens)
6 sitting on the park benches, long lens
In the actual process of the filming, we not only completed the original plan of these lenses, but also increased the number of new lenses. Newly added are: two girls are playing seesaw; one girl takes on a headset to another one, along with listening to music, doves flying overhead from them … In reality, the process of filming can always find some unexpected images to the video and brought some surprises. There are some pics from our works:
New Storyboards
- New Storyboards
• First, I need to do a title sequence for about 30 seconds，in this sequence there have a shadow of floating smoke, and the white foam of the drug dissolve into the water … in the first minute of the film, a girl woke up in the suitcase, she efforts to try to recall the last things what have happened of the night…she was reading in the living room and her sister handed her a glass of water, this cup of water has been put into some sleeping pills by her sister, and She drunk up the whole cup of water then go to bed … later at night, the older sister went into her room, then attempt to push the younger one to see whether she was sleeping or woke. Then she pushed the suitcase into the room & put the younger sister into the suitcase. When the night passed, the younger sister woke up then struggled, but no one noticed her screams. The older sister is very happy and doing her favorite things: manicure, surf Internet, reading books, put on lipstick…the younger sister recalled some of their past … A few days later when day at night, the older sister began to hallucinations, seeing her sister on her behind, but in fact nothing happened. Many days have passed, and the younger sister is not noisy at last, perhaps hungry died in the suitcase, the elder sister to open the chest, and found she fell from the suitcase… playback the plots: There are a lot of people come to their home, guests and younger sister are very happy but the older sister has a very dark look at what has happened … Finally, the elder sister holding her sister said: “You only belong to me at last”.
There are some footages from part 1 (drugging & locking):
- Shooting
- With regard to the film shoot: in July, when I carried out the film’s first shot, the original idea of shooting is what is happening now and what has happened in the past in two different colors, the things happened now used an orange-red tone, the things happened in the past used blue and gray tones. The whole movie shot was using static means. After the first filming there are a lot of issues which have been found in the materials: First of all, the first shooting was using HD mode, so I had to clip in high definition models with subsequent editing, but the scenes which I am in the suitcase can only be shot using DV mode, so that the editing process in the future will be a lot of problems. Second, the film looks too many medium & panoramic lenses, close-up lens is relatively less and static shooting makes the film was too monotonous, and compared with what I imagine, the shooting what I did is in a different rhythm. Finally, the adjustment of the light is too dim, and it making the film texture declined significantly. Then, with a combination of the above reasons, in early August, when I re-shoot the film. The idea of the last one got a lot of changes: First, the basic use of natural light in this film, I am using colored plastic bags for lighting, making a more gentle light textured in appearance. Secondly, the biggest breakthrough in this shot is the use of dynamic lens to shoot, although those can have an effect of making them more vivid rhythmic, the longer the time and the more the number of shooting (due to the inevitable dynamic lens instability, shaking and non-uniform) will be taken, and one shot is often to shoot 5-6 times. Then, I added a lot of close-ups, which will help to express the purpose of the action and the actors emotionally. I also shoot a lot of empty lens, & the use of these lenses is to connect the various parts of the movie.
The reasons why do I want to change the purpose of killing in my story: First, I do not want to apply the one I already know, because the story will only be applied blindly and I will lose my creativity. Second, shooting a funeral is a difficult thing, and I need to find a cemetery, and then to find a number of actors, including a major actor, as well as one need to be played as dead mother. In the beginning of the film when I asked ken, ken said that I do not need to shoot a funeral, only need to be filmed in the form of photographs. This suggested that I continue to follow the point to my new ideas. In the past two months I have been thinking about a reason for abnormal homicide and also a friend of mine recommended me that killing for love or revenge like the old routines, but I insisted to find a metamorphosis reason which I feel able to meet my requirement of the killing subject. Finally, I decided to use for this reason: because her sister’s possession of desire is too strong, and led to her sister think that if her younger sister die that will not keep on chasing someone else to play, and will forever be a girl who belongs to her. I think this is very in line with my theme.
The process of final project
In the past two months, I have done a number of Internet research on my short film which has been inspired by some videos, at the same time I also find the tone of the music. Now, I basically set my video background music, they are: dead meat, for my sun, triste. At the meanwhile I also write my detailed script, and some of the shooting scenes. About filming scenes on the video, I have the following ideas: there are four short films in different shooting scenes, the first is in the real life the process of the older sister to lock the younger into the box, The second is how is going about the younger sister in the box, and the third is after the older one locked the box her life and illusions, the fourth is their memories. I have been carried out the first two scenes of the filming, the following is some pictures taken of the scene:
Part 1, the initial thoughts
Part 1
My initially thought was due to a story which I heard: Once upon a time, there were a mother lived with her two daughters, one day, their mother died suddenly due to disease. A few days later they held a funeral for their mother, the younger sister felled in love with a man by the first sight in the funeral. One month later, the younger sister killed her older sister; people could not understand why she has to kill her sister?
Later, the younger sister said, because if her sister died there can be held another funeral so that she can see this man again.
For my final clip I would like to produce a psychological thriller+terror themes. In addition, I also want to make it into a stream of consciousness of the film.
There are many piecemeal ideas into my mind: a girl locked in a box and she can not be escaped…
I have watched lots of Japanese thriller + terror films, such as Tomie. (see clip 1) and got some inspriration from that…
These rather disturbing tales tell the story of a high-school girl named Tomie, who can be seen as a living embodiment of lust and all the negative emotions that go along with it, such as jealousy. Tomie is the ultimate self-destructive entity, yet ironically she survives anything. She possesses an undisclosed power to make anyone fall in love with her. Through sleight of hand, or emotional manipulation, she drives these men into jealous rages that inevitably lead to brutal acts of violence. Tomie is inevitably killed again and again, only to regenerate. Tomie is cursed to go on forever in this way. Later it was revealed there are several copies of Tomie roaming around the world, each with an individual mind. Sometimes the two Tomie copies would be jealous of each other and try to have each other killed. When her body scattered into pieces, each fragment of her body is capable of regenerating into a complete and independent body.
And the most impressive horror film for me is ‘Saw’ 1, (see clip 2). The film’s story revolves around two men who are kidnapped and locked in an industrial bathroom with a dead body between them and given instructions related to escaping. Meanwhile, police detectives investigate and attempt to apprehend the criminal responsible, the “Jigsaw Killer“. (and I put some useful links on the right side of the page)
The style of final clip
After my research by watching a lot of videos I have decided the style of my film. I would like to mix the two different rhythms together in this film. With regards to the two sisters’ memories of life, I will imitate the film “Candy rain”. The younger sister is now being held in the lives of the suitcase I will use some strange, tense background music and images to interpret. Sweet memories in a bloody space, crazy emotion in a calm life, this is the style I would like to display.
The process of final project
Firstly, I find some new clips to give me inspiration:
In this film the director used the distortion of each frame when actress walked on the stairs. Because of this form of montage, so that the audiences feel that she is in the twist. So the audience can feel her heart twisted.
