Final Chosen Group Poster

KARMA - Completed First Edition

This is the first render of our completed film. It is now subject to critical audience evaluation, for us to act upon if there is any major feedback saying we need to change something.

Karma Photo Storyboard

Our photo storyboard is completed and uploaded to Google Drive as a word document. It can be viewed here :-)

Karma radio trailer

Recorded and produced in just under an hour.

Voiceover by Connor Jackson
Edited by Matthew Jones

Featuring the voices of Kieran Charlesworth and Sean Martin

Location Photos House Scene

The photos below were taken from the scene when Adrian goes home. We added this scene in after as we didn't have enough time to complete the film. 

Filming Diary - 01/03/2013

Today we began filming our extra scene. We needed to add some time onto our film, by adding a previously un-filmed scene. The scene takes place in Adrian's office, and Matthew is finally added to the cast list as an unidentified co-worker of Adrian. Below are the photographs taken on the set.

Karma landscape poster design 2

This is my poster for our film, made in Photoshop Elements 8. I used a screen shot from the film for the photo of Sean (Adrian) and took the edited image of Connor (Demon) in the background. I then layered over the 'Karma' title, the tagline, some smoke, and the text at the top.
This poster would be suitable for display on a billboard, in a cinema lobby, or as an online ad.
The desaturated feel along with the dark background of the image, with Connor hiding in the shadows, reflects the overall feel of the film.

Filming Diary - 01/02/2013

On our second day of filming, we got through quite a lot, and spent around two hours on the set! We gained access to an undercover car park near college, and used the areas of it wisely, to ensure we kept continuity. This meant that we had to make sure that the car was parked in the same space if we filmed again and the bins. The photographs below show us on the set.

Filming pack day 2

The filming pack for day 2 is on Google Drive here

Filming Diary - 25/01/2013

The first day of filming commenced today. We filmed part of our first scene, and part of scene two. We completed the corridor part of scene 1, and the car park part of scene two. The photographs below show us on the set.

Filming pack day 1

The filming pack for day 1 is viewable here on Google Drive here

My Name is Adrian

A key part of the first few scenes in the film is establishing who Adrian is, and how the audience should relate to the character. To make it as blatant as possible, we decided to create a badge for Adrian to wear to show the character's name and the company he works for. The plain grey colour scheme shows how boring the company he works for is, and how grey and miserable the character is at the beginning of the film.

Practicing tricky shots

It's nearly time for us to start filming our project so before we went out into the field, we decided to practice a few of the tricky shots we might encounter. To achieve the desired effect, we used various methods and techniques both in production and post production. The finished video is below :-)

Tricky shot list

1 - Match on action when Adrian kicks over the homeless guy’s cup of money. To do this shot we will have to film the whole scene from one angle and then from the other. We will then have to edit both shots together so that the film flows.

2 - All shots with the demon in, where we need to hide his face. This can be achieved by lighting the demon from above or behind, creating shadows and / or a silhouette.

3 - Shot down the corridor as Adrian leaves work - elliptical edit. In order to cut out unnecessary walking shots, the scene showing Adrian walking away from his office will be cut like the shot at 4:43 in this video, except we will slightly crossfade the shots to further exaggerate the passage of time. This will be done by filming him walking down the corridor in one shot. It can then be edited to look like an elliptical shot by cutting a few seconds out and adding a fade.

6 - Match on action when Adrian drops his keys - have to make the demon appear behind him as he bends down to pick up keys, whilst keeping continuity in every other element. To do this shot we will have to film it when he drops his keys all in one shot. Then we could film it from another angle to be able to edit the clips together and create the match on action.

7 - When Adrian's car refuses to start. The sound of engine cranking, and the headlights flickering on and off will be done in an editing suite, rather than being done on-set. They will most probably added in Adobe After Effects with the VideoCopilot lens flare plugin.

8 - Pull focus when Adrian is sitting in his car, and the demon is in the back seat. Focus pulls from Adrian's face, to the demon in the back of the car. This will be done with the manual focusing ring on the lens of the cameras.

9 - Rear view mirror eye-line match. When Adrian gets in his car, he glances at his rear view mirror and sees the demon in the back seat, before spinning around to see it has disappeared. This will require an eye-line match from the drivers' seat of the car, with Adrian's hand adjusting the mirror.

10 - End transition as Adrian is laying on the floor. The shot is meant to look like the transition used in the Final Destination films where the camera quickly zooms into the character's eye then back out again in a different location.

Film Poster Ideas 1 - Half Faces

Our first idea for a film poster is to have half the face of the old man and half the face of the demon, blurred into each other or with a dividing graphic between two halves of each face. Some examples of these type of posters are shown below.

This poster to the left advertising 'The Ideas of March' is vaguely like the effect we want to achieve, except the cut between the two separate faces isn't obvious enough. At a glance or from a distance, the two different halves of faces could be easily mistaken for one whole face. We want to make the two separate halves more distinctive.





This poster for 'Warrior' is the closest match to the type of thing we want to achieve that we've been able to find. The colours are dreary and dull with only a hint of colour, and the two face halves are separated with a graphic instead of being blurred together. This poster may well inspire our poster for 'Karma'.





Finally, the poster for 'Me, Myself & Irene' also has a graphic to split the two faces, but it is much too clean and neat, whereas our horror film needs a grungier, more ragged graphic. Also, the colouring on the poster is far too vibrant and bright for our film poster, which has to relay the dark, demonic feel of the film.

Propp's Narrative Applied to Die Hard

The 8 Character Roles:

Hero – John McClane

Villain – Hans/Karl/‘terrorists’

Donor – Villain with the detonators

Helper – Argyle/ the policeman

Princess – McClane’s wife / hostages

Father – The policeman

Dispatcher – Christmas

False Hero – Hans/TV journalist

The 31 Functions:

1. John  McClane goes to LA and leaves home

2. Building is on shutdown

3. The Villain enters the building

4. Hans looks for Tekagi 

5. Finds him and gets infomation

6. Hans attempts to get the lock code

7. Tekagi tells Hans to kill him

8. Hans kills Tekagi

9. McClane sees and escapes

10  McClane sets off a fire alarm to signal firemen

11 .McClane travels to the top part of the building which is still under construction

12. McClane kills villain, gets radio and detonators from him

13. McClane puts the body in the lift with a note saying he has a gun

14. Uses radio to contact cop and limo driver

15. McClane comes face to face with Hans in the room with glass doors

16. Shoot-out in the room 

17. McClane gets wounded (glass in his feet)

18.  McClane shoots the villains

19. Hans gets the detonators back 

20. McClane goes back to the bathroom

21. The Villains capture McLane at the top of the building

22. McClane hangs Karl with a chain

23. FBI think he’s a terrorist when he’s seen on the roof from the helicopter 

24. TV journalist reveals McClane’s identity, meaning they now know his wife

25. To escape from the roof he uses a fire hose

26. McClane escapes and rescues his wife Holly after killing hans

27. McClane meets the cop

28. Deputy chief of police, shown up

29. McLane is given a new coat

30. Karl is shot by Cop and journalist is punched by McClanes wife

31. McClane meets family and returns home in a the limo he arrived in

Does our script follow Propp's narrative?

Our film doesn't quite follow Propp's narrative, but there are still some similarities. Propp said that most films have the same 8 main character roles:

Hero (main character) - Adrian (Sean)
Villain (conflicts with hero) - Demon / Homeless bloke
Donor (provides an object to help the hero) - None in our film
Helper (aids the hero) - None in our film
Princess (reward for hero) - Adrian's life
Princess' father (rewards hero) - Homeless bloke
Dispatcher (sends the hero on his way) - THE Pencil Company
False hero (pretends to be a 'good guy') - Adrian at the start of the film

Head cut makeup test

At one point in our film, there is a scene where Adrian (Sean) trips over and cuts his head open. This injury is a vital part of our film, so it needs to look convincing in close-up shots.

To see how difficult it might be to create a prosthetic cut, Matthew used a simple halloween makeup kit consisting of red, black and purple paint, a sachet of fake blood, a fine brush, and a blending sponge.

The finished result is good enough to use in our film, although it might not be as big in the final piece as Adrian only trips and bangs his head on the floor so it wouldn't need to be that serious of a wound.

Simple Film Test - I'll Get the Next One

This is a very short film we made to test a number of techniques and methods such as manual focusing (shown in very first shot), match-on-action (shown throughout the first 20 seconds) and deliberately & correctly breaking the 180 degree rule (shown at 16 seconds in).

The manual focus in the very first shot is used to give the film a professional, modern look. It is also a good introductory shot as the foreground is static, giving room to add a title with all the activity happening in the out-of-focus background.

The match-on-actions throughout the first 20 seconds help link the shots together and make for successful continuity. It also enables us to seamlessly link together shots that were filmed in different locations, as he walks through the door at 16 seconds.

Finally, breaking the 180 degree rule usually should never be done either deliberately or accidentally, but there are a few exceptions; walking up stairs (you can only go up one way and down one way), moving the camera around without a cut at all, to cut on the line so there are 2 cuts altogether, or to cut through a door like we did.

Director - Connor Jackson
Main actor - Sean Martin
Cameraman - Matthew Jones
Editor - Kieran Charlesworth

Costume - Hooded Top

This is an hooded top Group 4 purchased for £10 from the Internet. At first, we wanted a cloak, but then we realised we could order a hooded top, and cut it down.

The top photograph shows Matthew cutting the top to give it a darker, less-tidy affect. We didn't want the top to be tidy and clean. We wanted it to be rugged, and torn.

The bottom photograph shows the finished product. Connor (That's me) will wear this when he plays the part of the Demon!