Actor Interview - Victim

This interview was held between myself and Sid who played the Ghost in the film. I asked him several questions and he asnswered, the transcript is below.

Interviewer - Hello there, what’s your name and how old are you?

Sid – Sidney Ratcliff and I’m 18.

Interviewer - Okay Sid, what part did you play?

Sid – The first victim

Interviewer - Did you enjoy acting?

Sid – Yeah it was fun

Interviewer - Ah good, what was your favourite scene?

Sid – Walking up the alley, as it was exciting as it was a well excicuted shot.

Interviewer - If you could play another part what would it be?

Sid – The Ghost

Interviewer - Do you like the story line?

Sid - Yes, it was good it was interesting.

Interviewer - Yes it is, Do you think they will change the film into a book, or is a sequel lined up?

Sid – Yeah I looking forward to the sequel which is on its way I have a bigger part which I’m very excited about. It has the most exciting twist, which you’ll love!

Interviewer - Was this your first time in a big role?

Sid – No, I have played various other parts in other big films.

Interviewer - Do you think Mine Forever will sell well?

Sid – Yeah every well

Interviewer - Did you train in any way in order to partake in this role?

Sid – Yeah, I went on a strict diet and workout plan.

Interviewer - What is your favourite Horror film?

Sid – The fourth kind, it is so engaging.

Interviewer - Do you think you will continue acting after Mine Forever?

Sid – Yes, I have multiple roles lined up, keep an eye out for me!

Interviewer - Thank you

Script

(Thunderclap)

(Eerie music)

Detective – So what happened?

Victim 1 – Well it started when jack went back to the car to get his phone.

Detective – Please continue.

Victim 1 – He took too long, I went to see where he was. But when I got there he was dead

(Starts crying)

Detective – So what did she look like?

Sam  - She’s blonde, average height, please find her. They might have her. I can’t imagine what they could do to her.

Narrative – Earlier that day Jack went back to the car where he though he lost his phone. What he didn’t know was going to kill him. Someone or something was following him.

Actor Interview - Ghost

Adam interviewed me as I played the ghost in the film, his questions and my responses are below.


Interviewer - Hello there, whats your name and how old are you?

Me - Hello, My name is William huck and I am 17 years old.

Interviewer - Okay will, so you played the ghost in the film?

Me - Yes, it was really fun being the killer as you get a lot of screen time and your what is remembered the most about the film.

Interviewer - Did you enjoy acting?

Me - I have never done it before so it was a bit pressurised but it became funner later on when I became used to it.

Interviewer - Ah good, What was your favourite scene?

Me - My favourite bit was at the start in the car where you see me sneak up on my Victim.

Interviewer - If you could play another part what would it be?

Me - If anything, I think I would of enjoyed playing the Detective as they are always cool headed characters and they also usually have an important role in the film.

Interviewer - Very cool. How did you find the costume for the ghost?

Me - It was quite an effort to get on and off due to the make up but it made the film look a lot better as you can easily tell I'm a ghost in it.

Interviewer - Do you like the story line?

Me - Yes, its an original storyline, I haven't heard or seen anything similar either which is good.

Interviewer - Yes it is, Do you think they will change the film into a book, or is a sequel lined up?

Me - I think if the film sold well then they would be silly not to sell a book of it as it opens the product to a new market as older people generally seem to read more than watch movies. Also selling a book would also help generate profit which could be used to create a sequel, I'm not sure where the story would go but I'm sure the writers will make a good turn of events if a second is created.

Interviewer - Was this your first time in a big role?

Me - I have never acted before! Let alone a big role, it was a challenge but I'm proud I did it.

Interviewer - Do you think Mine Forever will sell well?

Me - Of course! With such  a good storyline and acting like min, it would be hard not to win an award!

Interviewer - Did you train in any way in order to partake in this role?

Me - No, I didn't train at all, it just comes naturally.

Interviewer - What is your favourite Horror film?

Me - Probably dead silence, its a real classic, the dolls freak me out!

Interviewer - Do you think you will continue acting after Mine Forever?

Me - Maybe, I'm not really sure.

Interviewer - Thank you

Evaluation Activity 7

From making the Preliminary task to the first 2 minutes of Mine Forever, my media skills have progressed in several ways which are listed below.
One way is camera work. In my preliminary task we used many basic shots such as mid shots and close ups, but we didn't use any with greater meaning, such as a high angle shot. Whereas in my first 2 minutes I feel that you can clearly see a way in which my camera work has progressed. For example I use a variety of camera shots, this is good as it shows that I understand when it acceptable to use a certain type of shot and why, such as a long shot is good for showing action and scenery but not good for showing fine details such as facial expression a better shot for this is a close up. You can also tell my understanding of camera work has progressed as well by the way I understand what canted angles do and suggest to the audience. For example having the camera look down on someone shows they are weak and powerless. I have shown a varying range of camera shots in my film, compared to my Preliminary task. I also understand about the equipment you need for your camera shots, such as using a tripod keeps the camera from shaking around.
A second way in which my Media skills have progressed is in Editing. In my Preliminary task you can see that editing was a strong point of mine as you can see the cuts are badly done and the scene itself doesn't quite make sense. Whereas after the practice my Preliminary task gave me, I felt confident that I could improve on my editing skills. You can see a large improvement on my editing skills in the first 2 minutes of Mine Forever. For example you can see a use of effects which weren't used in my Preliminary task, before i thought that the effects made the footage look tacky but I have learnt that if used well and in the right place it adds to the effect of the film. You can also see a large improvement in the cuts in my footage, as before they overlapped were as now they work perfectly. It makes the footage look a lot better and more believable.
Another way in which my media skills have progressed is by learning other media techniques such as the 180 rule, this is where flicking from character to character in a conversation you stay on one side of an imaginary line. Another rule is match on action, we used this is in our film when Sid picks up the phone when in the car. And the last rule I learnt was shot/reverse shot.

Evaluation Activity 6

To create my film and the attached products, I had to use several Hardwares and Softwares. I will list what it was used for and why. 

First 2 Minutes

For my First 2 minutes of my film 'Mine Forever' I had to use several hardwares and softwares.

To begin with we had to use a camera to film the footage with, for this we filmed with a DV1, we used this camera as it is small and compact, making it easy to transport and film with, but it also it is high resolution meaning that it is going to produce high quality footage, which it did. A picture is shown below.

A alternative we could of used is the Canon Mini DV, this is larger than the DV1 meaning it is harder to film with and it had a slightly worse resolution. But it had a better zoom, although it had a better zoom capability. A picture is shown below. 

In the end we chose the  due to the ease of filming and the high quality footage it produces. 

For the first 2 minutes of our film we decided to use a Tripod. We decided to use a tripod. A tripod is a stand for a camera, which you screw the camera onto. Using a tripod allowed for non-shakey footage, this would benefit our film as it will help it look professional and clean. A picture is shown below.

We used the Software Adobe Premiere Elements. This is useful as i also used Adobe Flash, this means they are easily compatible together. We decided to use Premiere Elements as it allows for a professional finish on the film, making it a good choice for non-professionals as it has an easy layout and interface. 

We also used paint to help create some of the still shots, we used this as it is a simple anquick way of producing a high quality picture. But it doesn't have many of the tools for creating some things more intricate. Below is a photo.

To also get some of the fonts used in the film we used a non copyright font called Chiken Skratch off  a site called dafont.com. This was very useful as it allowed us to use a scary font that was easy to use and wasn't copyrighted.

Storyboard Animatic

For our animatic I used a Software called Adobe Flash. This is a program that can be used to make GIFs and short movies, it allows you to draw pictures and it fills in the frames inbetween. It worked very well as a method of creating an Animatic as it can create a rough estimate of what the animatic is going to look like but is very visual allowing the audince to see what i think the film is going to look like. Below is a picture of the Software in use.

Poster

For the poster I used Photoshop as this allowed for a detailed poster to be created. The benefit of using Photoshop is that allows tools to be used which other simpler softwares do not have. Using it allows  the poster to be detailed and look professional. However a downfall of this is that it takes a long time.

Soundtrack

I tried to create a soundtrack for the movie by uising Garageband, doing this would allow me to create a creepy sounstrack that works well with the film, but in the end i found one that worked well and was copyright free so I used that one.

Evaluation Activity 5

This is our final film, it is called Mine Forever. On this version I have annotated it though, to let the audience understand in more depth what I used and why.

Evaluation Activity 4

The target audience for our film is 16-30 year olds and more predominantly males. This is due to research early on in the process, this came up as the group that watch the most horror movies. The picture below represents this target audience visually.

This target audience like to watch Horror films as it matches their interests and hobbies. Below is an explanation of why.

Shops they might use : Subway, Game, HMV, Primark, Boots, Routeone, Asos, Netflix, Mcdonalds, e.t.c
Music they might listen too : It varies a lot between subcultures, it can include; Dubstep, Rap, Rock and Hip-hop.
Tv Programmes the might watch: Luther, Emmerdale, Football games, Cartoons, Documentaries.

These do make them more likely to watch our Horror film in some cases. For example, Luther is scary and they might watch it for the adrenaline rush and an advert for our film comes on, it makes this audience a bit more likely to see it. A second example is if they use Netflix, then they might stumble across Mine Forever while looking for another Horror film or it may be promoted as a good Horror film and therefore it makes it more likely for this audience to watch it. If the film was also part of a marketing campaign such as a subway or McDonalds's campaign people from this audience are more likely to see it as they are shops they use and people usually back large companies choices so if they back the film by promoting it and the customer is loyal they may just do what the company says as they like the food so they may like the film.

Evaluation Activity 3

This is the Directors Cut, where the director which is myself, talks about why I choose to create the film the way I did and how I did it. The video for this is below.

Evaluation Activity 2

For this activity I will compare how my actors fitted into their roles well and if they compared to any other  characters from other films with similar roles. The photos I use to compare will be screen shots from the movie clip.


Mr Thornton - The Detective

Mr Thornton - Detective

Luther from Crime/Horror Luther

Both these characters play a dark and almost mysterious detective. There are several similarities and differences between them.

One similarity is that they both dress the same. The both usually wear a shirt and tie and a long coat. This does make them more mysterious of a character as you cannot tell anything about their personality.  They both also have a slight beard, this is because they are to busy to shave, but a full on beard is too scruffy for a detective. Therefore the way they dress is similar. 

A second similarity is the way they act, Luther acts mysteriously and is quite pyhscial. So is the Detective in Mine forever, however you do not see this clearly in the clip. 

However one difference is the way the story is unravelled. luther has the story unveiling around him, whereas in Mine Forever the story unfolds around the Victim, therefore it has a different perspective.

Sam - Victim

Sam - Victim

Rowan - Survivor in Jason x

There are several similarities and differences between these characters. One of these is the Surviving Victim from Mine Forever and the other survives in Jason X, a Horror film based upon Jason Vorheez in the future.

One similarity is that they both survived. Sam survives and lives to retell the story to the the police and Detective and Rowan survives a stab from Jason Vorheez and is cryogenically frozen and healed in the future. As they both survived the film they are similar.

However one difference is that Sam is a civilian and Rowan is an army personal, this makes a difference as Sams character had no knowledge of danger, whereas Rowan knew that looking after a captured killer would be dangerous. This makes the audience more likely to feel sorry for Sams character.

A second difference is Gender. Most survivors in Horror films are usually females, therefore Mine Forever breaks a convention by having a male survive.

Me - Ghost 

Me - Ghost

Ghost from the Grudge

There are several similarities and differences between these characters. One is a ghost from Mine Forever played by me and the other is a ghost from the grudge.

One similarity is that they are both ghosts, there are many types of killers in Horror films and as they are both ghosts it is a major similarity however there are some minor differences within this such as the gender of the ghost.

One difference is the Era that the ghost comes from. The Mine Forever ghost is Victorian and dresses that way, whereas the Grudge ghost is quite a modern type of ghost and dresses to match. This causes a difference by the way they act as well, the modern ghost is more likely to understand modern day goings on.

A second difference is the sub-genre they come from. Mine Forever is a classic Horror film, and the Grudge is a Japanese horror, this makes a difference as they both have very different Cliches and conventions of there own.

Sid - Victim

Sid - Victim

Scream Victim

There are several similarities and differences between these characters. One is the victim from our film, Mine Forever, and the other is a Victim from the Horror movie Scream. 

One similarity is that they both get killed, some Victims do survive but both of these characters die in the plots. Due to this both of their screen time isn't as long as some of the other characters. 

A second similarity is that they are both Civilians. Therefore they are in the same situation and act the same, scared. They also dress the same because of this, in normal clothes which is easy for the target audience to connect with.

A third similarity is they both hold a phone call before they die, this Horror film cliche is used in both film and happens just before both of these characters die. 

Evaluation Activity 1

In this frame, you see the title shot of Mine Forever, this is similar to many Horror films as most films have a title at the start to let the audience know what the film is called. It is also similar to Horror films in the way that it includes a Scary Font, the way it is scratched makes the audience assume that there will be some sort of trapped soul trying to escape, which is correct as this is what the ghost of the Miner boy is trying to do. The black background is also very suggestive of a 'dark' and 'shadowy' storyline, delving into someones secrets.

This clip is from the shot of pictures setting the scene for the film. These are meant to evoke fear in the audience, all except this picture, this allows the reader some knowledge of the film before the film has even started. It is of a miner boy, assumed to be the ghost in the film. The way the old fashioned font and sepia effect is used suggests to the audience that this is from a long time ago. This shot is also not similar to other Horror films, as most Horror films usually try to conceal the main killer until the film is properly underway. But I decided to use this picture and show the killer as it hasn't been done before and the audience do not know if this is someone killed or the killer so it confuses them which will allow them to be easily scared later on when the Ghost attacks a victim early on in the film.

In this shot you can see an over the shoulder shot taken of the interrogation room, with the camera facing towards the detective. His posture suggests to the audience that he is either confused by the story or doesn't believe it, which would make sense if he is being told about a ghost or a killer. It is set in an Interrogation room and for this we used a cupboard as the room. We decided this as it is dark and serious. But if we were going to redo these shots I would choose to film them in a larger room, with clean white walls and a singular light bulb hanging down from the ceiling, but we didn't have time to find the perfect location so we had to settle for this cupboard. You can see that the detective is wearing a long coat, shirt and tie. This is what an average detectives wears in Horror films. Also the unshaven stuble sported by the detective is also common of Horror film detectives. This shot could be used in other Horror genre films but is more likely to be seen in a Crime or action Genre film.

In this shot you see the Victim, played by Sam De Almedia, talking and crying about what hapened. This shot is also set in the interrogation room. The actor is dressed as a Civilian, therefore his clothes are what the average teenager would wear. Not only does this make the shot believable but it also allows the audience to connect with the character and pity him when he starts to cry. The shot used is a frontal mid shot, this type of shot shows some of the surroundings, with the actor centred at middle of the shot. This type of shot allows the audience to see a large white door behind the character, this allows the audience to assume they are in a interrogation room as the large white door symbolises an Institutional building. The lighting is also dim, reflecting on the characters feelings as he has just sen some of his friends die, you can also tell he is upset as he seems withdrawn and he crys. The shot being on the same level as the character allows the audience to really connect with him and to allow them to feel sorry for him. It is neither a high shot or low shot as in the police station although he is weak he is safe. This shot could be used in other Horror genre films as it allows the audience to easily empathise with characters.

In this shot you see a civilian victim innocently walking down an alley, the story behind this is that this is the first friend to be killed as thats how the story starts about the ghost killing them. The shot is where the Victim is walking from the camp site to the car in order to find his phone. This shot is set in an alley, for this we found an alleyway which looks pretty abandoned. If we were to retry this shot, i would try and find a woody area to film in. Sid plays the Victim in this shot, we decided that his costume will be a average civilians costume. For example he wore tracksuit and hoody which is what the average teenager wears. Getting the actor to wear this allows the target audience to sympathise with the character easily. The shot used is a long shot which allows for a lot of scenery to be seen, this allows the audience to understand where the shot is taking place. This shot is used very often in Horror films as it nicely builds tension, which can lead to the audience being frightened, therefore it is an effective shot and could easily be used in another film.

In this shot you can see the Victim walking down the alley still this time, instead of being alone you can see a ghostly figure behind him. This is the way in which the ghost is introduced into the film, he is seen early on, which in some films would be bad as they use the audiences imagination to frighten them. However in this film I belive that Ghost character is scary enough to be shown at the start and still be scary at the end. The ghost which is played by me, is wearing typical Victorian  clothing and white face paint so that the actor looks like a ghost. This works well as it means we don't have to use effects which take time and money to use.  It is again set in the alley which works well as the ghost seems to fade into the snow. This shot is used in alot of Horror films, but more Zombie films. It usually shows a zombie running across a window or doorway while the character isn't looking, this shot builds tension as the audience belive a character is going to die.

In this shot you can see teh Victim looking around for his phone. This shot works well when used after the last one as it builds tension as you cannot see the killer and the Victim is still unbeknown to that danger that lurks, building tension. It is set in a car, for this we filmed in an actual car this way it looks realistic. The only trouble with this is it was hard to film in such a confined space. This shot can be used in Horror Genre films, but a shot like this could be used in many types of films but to its ambiguity. This is a mid sho, to show some of the surroundings but allow th audience to see in deatil what the charcter is doing.

In this shot you can see the Ghost moving in to kill the Victim. This shot is set in the car again, following the last shot, to fit in with the continuity rule. Hear you can see more detail in what the actor if the Ghost is wearing, you can see blood on his face which further suggests to the audience that he is 'dead' or 'evil'. The hat and dungarees also shows clearly what era he is from as this is wellknown how Victorians used to dress like. This is another mid shot as it shows the audience details but allows you to see whats going on. This shot is commonly used in Horror films of the killer sneaking up on a Victim.

In this shot you can see that the Victim has noticed the Ghost and is trying to run away from it, and the ghost is trying to catch the Victim by reaching out. The ghost has its mouth wide open, this suggests to the audiecne that he is angry or wants to 'devour' the Victim. This is a mid shot showing action but also showing detail. For this shot we filmed from outside the vehicle to allow for a wider shot but made sure that the footage looked as if it was from within the vehicle. The actors are still wearing the sam costumes that they were wearing before and the car is the same, sticking to the continuity rule. The lighting is quite bright, this allows you to clearly see what is going on as this part of teh film isn't centred around dialogue. this shot is often used in Horror films as it is the start of a chase, were the killer chases a victim usually pinning them into a corner and killing them, doing this early on in the film allows the audeicne to know what they are dealing with and allows them to fear it turning up at any moment as supernatural creatures can do strange things.

Final Film

This is the final version of our Film Mine Forever

Film Treatment

Detective Davies ( Mr Thornton) is interviewing a witness to a series of murders and the witness James Smith( Sam De Almeida) is telling the detective everything that had happened to his friend, it then cuts to a clip of his friend Jack ( Sidney Ratcilff ) who is trying to find his phone and sees the ghost who is going to start killing people until he gets his beloved girlfriend back. The story starts a long time before the killings in the forrest it starts in the victorian era when he was young and from a poor background so he had to work in a coal mine his boss was horrible to him and made him work long and hard all day.One day the boss' daughter comes to see her dad and when the boy sees her he instantly falls in love, he goes to the foremans house and gives his daughter a ring that he had bought with the money he has been saving up for ages. when the foreman found out about this love affair he was furious he couldn't believe that his beautiful daughter could fall in love with a poor coal mine worker, he was so angry that he took the boy into the middle of the woods where no one would see them and he murdered him with a pick axe. The young poor boy swore that he would once again be reunited with her again, the foreman took his daughter and moved away, the ghost of the boy couldnt leave the woods where he died until he found her again.
 a group of friends go camping after they graduated as a way to celebrate they packed their bags got in the car and headed of, they  didnt have anywhere planned to go so while they were driving they found where they were and found a rural town and they thought that they would go there because it was getting late and it was close they found a place where they were going to pack and they set up camp, when night came Jack had to back to his car because he realised that he had left his phone. after a while James thought that he would go and check to see where he had got to. when he got to the car jack wasnt there so James looked around the area where the car was parked and he found his body lying there he had been killed with a pick axe James is so shocked he leaves his friend dead and runs back to the camp site where the rest of his friends where to get them to help, but when he got to the campsite all his friends had been killed aswell but he notices that one of his friends wasnt there Sam she had been taken by whoever had killed the rest of his friends, James runs for his life and tries to escape and goes to the car where jack was killed he couldnt find the keys in the car so he had to do the unthinkable and search for the keys on Jack he found them in his pocket gets into the car and drives to the nearest police station. then there is the repeat of the police scene.
we then have it go on to the girl who is missing Sam running through the woods and finding an empty house, she decides that it will be safer for her so she enters the house and goes upstairs and hides, but what she doesnt know is that the house that she is hiding in was the house that the ghosts lover lived the ghost gets angry because the girl that looks like his lover has ended up in her house the ghosts enters the house and is trying to kill Sam as he believes that killing her will be a sacrafice to bring back his beloved she runs down the stairs and falls through the floorboards on the landing she sees a young girl lying there. the body of the girl the ghost loves.