DanielFilmBlog

You can watch the first scene of my video roughly edited here -

Currently I am in the process of editing scene 1. Im making sure to edit and produce this scene first because if this scene ends up failing, chances are the whole concept will fail and I will have to re-conceptualise my film. During editing, I noticed that my film footage has a lot of noise due to the inside setting. I thought at first this would make the film look poor but with more consideration I have decided to fully use the grain as an asset rather than as a liability to my footage and further distort the footage. This gives a very odd, upsetting feeling to the footage. I also decided to use the build up of non-diegetic audio with animalistic audio and a very eerie tune to create a not especially terrifying atmosphere but certainly an unsettling one to creep out spectators.   I have also decided to speed up and distort the footage at certain parts to give the video a 'jumpy' sort of feel as though the footage is damaged or being distorted. This will give a sense of...

I have decided that I will be making a film called 'The Bargainer' it will be a horror film with elements of experimental film and be centred around an enigma which is who exactly is the Bargainer? The focus of the narrative will be a man being coaxed by the Bargainer as he distorts the poor man's mind and manipulates him into an animalistic cannibal, only for the Bargainer to, in essence consume the man, making them one. The film will be a silent film as I believe that dialogue may come across as too sloppy or cheesy unless handled perfectly and as I don't have such confidence in myself with the dialogue I will refrain from using it. Not only this but I think that it may be more powerful to see what I can do using visual expression instead of relying on lyrics to convey a narrative. If I think that any dialogue is necessary, I will use sub-titles. The Location will be all indoors as I don't think that an elaborate set is needed. The majority of horror  films ta...

Scene 1 Location - Bedroom. Mise-en-scene - Bed, plate with an apple, window, curtain, Bargainer (prop version), knife. Characters - Man, Bargainer (character version). Light - Natural(Day), Red(either edited or artificial red lighting). Duration - 1:30 (mins) Editing/ Shot notes - Close-ups for eating with rapid cuts to make it seem more harsh and strange. The scene distorts when the Bargainer arrives, try lighting and if it does not work I will edit in the red colouration.   Scene 2 Location - Kitchen/ Bedroom. Mise-en-scene - Worktop, common kitchen appliances, platter from before/ same as scene 1. Characters - Man, Woman. Light - Natural(Day), Red (edited) Duration - 1:00 (mins) Editing/ Shot notes - Distort parts of the scenes with red colouration edited in and other effects to make the scene more ominous. Scene 3 Location - Dream(non specific minimalist realm). Mise-en-scene - Minimalist, dead bodies, blood, vague liquid/ rough textures. Characters - Man, B...

Rough Narrative Plan Scene 1 Man sits on bed and eats somewhat desperately. Bargainer arrives and speaks to him (text shown in subtitles/ as a title on screen). Bargainer asks for apple, eats it and in return offers a knife to the man. The man is very confused by this gift and in questioning the Bargainer, he gets no answers and the Bargainer disappears into the shadows. Scene 2 The man walks about his house and begins to notice distortions in the world around him, slight differences occurring that seem to cause him distress. He sees visions of people dead and nightmarish imagery. He sees a woman(implicitly related) and asks her if she's seen a hooded figure around here, to which she is merely dumbfounded and takes him up to his room to sleep.  Scene 3 During his sleep he has a disturbing dream sequence where the Bargainer observes him murdering helpless people.  Scene 4 The man awakes bolt upright and sweating beads; he scans the room for a sign of anyo...

'Night Fishing' (much like 'The Grandmother' and 'Meshes of the Afternoon') is an experimental film and is relatively difficult to grasp the story of however it seems to be a story about a father dealing with his own regret in abandoning his wife and child for his own love of fishing, a story represented through him fishing up his daughter. The story then progresses to the daughter and gives us her side of the story supposedly. 'Night Fishing' seems to at first lean towards being a music video. This is incredibly evident through the use close ups of instruments, close-ups on performers, odd visuals that slightly relate to the song/band and the constant jump cuts. I would like to use part of this maybe for further along in the main character's progression where they are murdering someone to maybe show how trivial it is for them and make it more of a disturbing feel to linger on the death of the person. The shallow depth of field here is also somethi...

'Meshes of the Afternoon' seems to be an experimental film that follows a loop with a lady following a mysterious figure with a mirror covering their face. The lady then seemingly wakes up and the events she saw inner dream occur in reality but with the figure being a man. The film uses a strong sense of shadow which is an aspect from the German Expressionism movement which became a nor aspect and it is also used in horror to either imply actions that are not shown or to create an enigma around a figure. It can also have connotations with sinister activity and therefore works well for villainous characters. In addition to this, shadows can create meaning such as lighting in bars giving a sense of imprisonment. I would like to use strong shadows to give a sinister feel to the main character as they progress into the monster The Bargainer is luring him into. Another feature that the film uses is the characters bring silent. This makes the expressionist performance all the mor...

'The Grandmother' is an experimental film that seems to be a mash-up of different footage however the main focus seems to be on a child who is abused by his father, he seems to take an seed/egg of sorts and plant it and watches it grow on his bed, becoming more monstrous with each change. The non-diegetic audio builds up over time and seems to be the key to building the tension as this is a silent film. Included with this is a monotone drone that is often part of the non-diegetic audio which creates this feeling as if something is there even when there isn't. As my film is also a silent film, audio seems to be important to conveying the mood of what is going on. As I want a sort of distort to reality, using atonal music or slightly unnerving music may be better for disturbing spectators and creating a horrific atmosphere. The mies-en-scene of the boy is also incredibly disturbing with him wearing white makeup on his face, making him look gravely ill and red makeup around ...

'The Gunfighter' is a film about a gunfighter who enters a bar an engages in conversation with the narrator, a voice usually unheard, and the conflict in the omniscience of the new-found voice leads the characters in the bar to nigh insanity as they are turned against each other. 'The Gunfighter' uses an elaborate set with intricate mise-en-scene to help immerse the spectator better in the western setting. This is a professional aspect of film making and as I am making a film on an extremely minor budget, I will not be able to create such a incredible set; instead I will have to use a set that I already have like my house or the woodland though I doubt this will be an issue as horror films are normally set in a more realistic, natural set so that spectators can project themselves onto the set and the characters and empathise with them to make them get more emotion out of the film. The use of a shallow depth of field in the opening shots is effective as the shot focu...