Branding/Production Company Name

The other day I began thinking about branding and decided I needed to come up with a production company name so to begin with I made a list of quick ideas I had, which were:

• Mad Films
• Mad Entertainment
• MAD
• Vortex Films
• M.A.D
• Mad Productions
• Supreme Studios
• Mad Pictures
• Mad Cinema

After asking some of my peers and through my own decisions I picked my top four and created a 24 hour Twitter Poll to see which one my audience preferred/which they thought sounded better and more professional as a production company name, here are the results:

 In total I got 48 votes from people in the UK, US, France etc. meaning I'm able to apply these results to my audience globally. My top four choices were Mad Films, Mad Entertainment, Mad Pictures and Mad Productions. I chose this people I felt that they're rather simple names but very effective and also easy to pronoun and read meaning it would be easy to recognise also, I used the work 'Mad' for all of them because it started off as a way of incorprating my own name from Maddy to Mad but then it also acts as a slight horror theme as mad can also mean crazy, angry which connotes voilence and weirdness, both things that are conventional in horror films and therefore, I felt it was apprioate for my short horror film. As you can see 'Mad Productions' got 44% of the 48 votes making it the most popular and 'Mad Entertainment' coming second with 31%, I wasn't majorly surprised by the outcome as Mad Productions was also my favourite. One thing someone (Ryan Dawson) did say about the two most popular was:"Definitely Mad Entertainment or Mad Productions becuase it's more Formal and has a business type feel to it."

From these results I think I am going to draft some logo ideas for the two most popular 'Mad Productions' and 'Mad Entertainment' as I like both of these and cannot yet decide so hopefully creating a logo will help me make the decision.

Tutorials on how to reduce noise/grain

Something I know I personally struggle with when it comes to filming is the noise/grain that can appear on the clips, I have mentioned this in an eariler post and looking around youtube I have found some more tutorials on how to reduce the amount of grain/noise while filming but also in post-production which could come in useful if I do have any clips that i find have a lot of grain/noise when I come to editing.
I shall continously be on the look out for any more tutorials or advice I can get to overcome the issue of noise/grain as reducing it can really help my production have that professional look, I did try out some tips that were suggesting in the first video where they addressed the iOS setting and I found that it made some difference and I actually managed to make it more graining/noisey so now I need to figure out how to go in the opposite direction.

Getting Advice

As I have said before, our production will definitely have some low lighting in it which isn't one of my strengths, so I've been looking at tutorials and seeking advice from people I know work well and can overcome low lighting, one person I asked for advice from was my friend Leo who makes videos/short films (through self teachings) such as, are you asleep? & Parallel, both of this short films are short in close to pitch black.

I messaged Leo and asked him how he achieved the professional look it had with low lighting and if there was any advice he could give me so I can also achieve it.

Leo replied with " it looks like low lighting, but I actually had pretty bright coloured lights. Although there are ways to shoot in low lighting. You can get a lens with a high aperture or have a subtle lighting in your videos."

In response to Leo's response I played around with my camera to discover that when the camera I will be using (Nikon D5100) is in Mode A (Aperture) I can turn a dial to adjust the brightness the shot will actually turn out in the final production meaning I can use my softbox lighting to prevent noise but then use Mode A to lower the amount of light on the final shot without adding any noise to the shot. I haven't fully perfected this yet however, I believe that this is progress and with some practice and I can achieve a very professional low lighting film look.

 

I also messaged another one of my friends Matt Brosey who is currently studying film in the US and has also won awards for his short film. I asked him if he had any advice/facts/tips when it came to grain/noise on footage and the screenshots to the left are his responses. He replied with similar advice I had found in the youtube tutorials I've found previously. This has also shown me that I can look into more aspects to help me get the perfect and professional look rather then just searching 'reducing noise.'

I also commented on my another short film created with a Nion D5100 (the camera I shall be using) and here is the response i got:

Film Poster MoodBoard/ Additional Research

I wanted to narrow down the type of film posters I was looking at from Horror film posters to more supernatural horror but also specifically Ouija film posters and I found that for Ouija film poster they always used the same or near to the same font called "Howdy Captain" therefore making it a conventional font, this is also the font actually on a Ouija Board giving the poster a small theme and consistency.


Just like I found in my Ancillary research these posters follow the conventional colour schemes of black, white, red, dark colours and also a small sepia colour scheme. Something else conventional, specifically in Ouija films is to have a planchette as part of the image. A planchette is the triangle like piece of wood that the players place their hands onto and is then used as a way of communication as it moves, it typically has a small circle cut out with some glasses in it and this represents that on the other side of that glass is the 'spirit world' they're communicating to and during a modern set Ouija film one of the characters actually looks through it and is able to see the spirits around them.











Look at supernatural horror posters as a whole the posters almost always includes the person or the object being posessed/haunted/haunting etc. I believe this is becuase it shows the audiences the sub-genre but also the themes within the film. Taking all of these things into account I have decided that within my poster I want to include just one character and then hints of the Antagonist/spirit but just like the Ouija film posters conventional did, I want to have the ouija board on there whether thats it can the background or infront of the characters I am unsure yet and to help me come to a decision I'll have to do some drafts and see which is best. I also, want to use the Captain Howdy font as it fits in with the storyline of the short film creating consistacny and the audeince will be able to easily understand what it is about.

Topic Research - Greek Mythology

While doing some idea developments I can looking for words relating/meaning death and came across Thanatos so I have been looking into greek mythology to see if I could in anyway represent him within my storyline. While searching I found two websites who give a clear indication of Thanatis's story and what he represents.

Website #1- Quote :
Thanatos is the daemonic representation of death in Ancient Greek mythology (daemonic here is used with its classical meaning, which refers to benevolent or benign nature spirits). He did not play a major part in Greek mythology and rarely appeared in any stories, as he was mostly displaced by Hades, the god of the Underworld.
He's the son of Nyx (the Night) and Erebos (the Darkness), while his twin brother, Hypnos (the Sleep). Other siblings of Thanatos and Hypnos included Geras (old age), Eris (strife), Nemesis (retribution), Apate (deception) and Charon (the boatman that led the souls to the Underworld).
Thanatos was believed to be merciless and indiscriminate, and both mortals and gods hated him. However, he could sometimes be outsmarted. In a myth, Thanatos was told by Zeus to chain King Sisyphus in the Underworld, as it was time for him to die. Sisyphus managed to chain Thanatos in his own fetters, thus protecting all mortals from dying while the god was chained. In the end, god Ares, angry that at the wars he waged noone died, freed Thanatos and gave Sisyphus to him.
Thanatos Is also called Thanatus, Mors, Letus, Letum.
Webstie link - http://www.greekmythology.com/Other_Gods/Thanatos/thanatos.html 

Website #2- Quote :
In ancient Greek religion and mythology, the personification of death. Thanatos was the son of Nyx, the goddess of night, and the brother of Hypnos, the god of sleep. He appeared to humans to carry them off to the underworld when the time allotted to them by the Fates had expired. Thanatos was once defeated by the warrior Heracles, who wrestled him to save the life of Alcestis, the wife of Admetus, and he was tricked by Sisyphus, the king of Corinth, who wanted a second chance at life.
Website Link - https://www.britannica.com/topic/Thanatos-Greek-mythology

Thanatos can be represented through the following symbols which actually comes in very handy with my idea developments as I want to have a section where a Ouija board is surrounded in symbols and if I can represent Thanatos in that way that would be very effective and great.

Quick Survey Observation

While I was getting responses for the three surveys I made, I found that my main task one (Short Film) was very quick in getting them and so was the poster survey however, it took awhile to get responses for the film review survey and I believe that this is because people aren't as interested in film reviews as whole which in itself acts as some audience research because even though I shared all the surveys the same way and through the same platforms, it took longer for some. Indicating that when it comes to deciding on whether to go see a film or not people are more interested in the film poster then they are the review however, we didn't eventually get all of the responses for the film review showing it still plays an important role.

Plot Blocking

A2 Media | Plot Blocking from Maddy Flaherty

Inspirations I Found During Plot Blocking

From analysing the Smiling Man I saw that there were some very small but interesting and impactful things within it such as, the way the long fingered hand of the Smiling Man lightly stroking the little girl's pigtail. I really liked this small movement as I found it added a really creepy and suspenseful atmosphere but also it gave the audience more insight as to what was happening then the actually character did, making them more involved into what was happening. This is something that I really wanted to incorporate into my own Short Film and therefore, added the section where one of the characters have gone to the bathroom to calm down and the camera in placed in front of them so the audience can see behind them as a dirty, paint soaked hand reaches from behind them and entwining their fingers in the character's hair but when they turn there is no one to be seen. I also really liked it because it hints at the antagonist without giving away their true identity giving the audience time to create their own picture of them meaning they want to watch till the end to see if their picture matches or not but also, this leaves them with the mystery that is conventional given when it comes to the antagonist, something that can be seen as an audience pleasure when it comes down to the storyline and the antagonist's reveal. Something else that I really liked was that the antagonist themselves were human which makes it slightly more realistic, even if they did have some strange aspects about them such as the sharpened teeth and murderous ways but still, this is something I had already wanted to involve in my storyline mainly because it was the best choice when it came to a low-budget but also because the audience would be able to put themselves in the antagonist's shoes better as in way they're the same species something that can also act as an audience pleasure but also disturb them slightly adding to the creepy and twisted storyline because it shows that someone just as human as them are capable of this, even if it is possession like in my idea.

Suicide Squad was a similar inspiration to me as their antagonist "Enchantress" would transform from this neat, business women Dr. Moon to a dirty, supernatural witch called Enchantress, the first time you see the transition between the two is when Dr. Moon places her hand on the table and Enchantress's hand slowly reaches out from under Dr. Moon's are turns it over as though a flip has been switched and she is now another person, which is the case. I really liked this way of transitioning and I also really liked the way that for a short duration of time you were able to see the comparison of the two characters. Originally I just wanted to incorporate the dirty look of Enchantress's costume as it looked like mist around her and connoting the darkness she has soaked into Dr. Moon's body but also the darkness within herself which goes the conventional antagonist look but the way it spread over Dr. Moon represented the possession and how it had taken over her, something that I thought was really effective and looked brilliant and why I wanted to use that on my female lead/antagonist but on a smaller scale such as just her face or her arm because just like how I said in my Smiling Man section I want her to keep her human to help create that disturbing feel about her actions whereas, if she becomes a supernatural being such as a witch the audience would blame the witch instead and it couldn't create the same atmosphere.

I watched Ouija after I had come up with the initial ideas for my short film to get a better feel for the conventions within the area of Ouija board and the paranormal, one thing I did find was that it both used the idea of Todrov's stereotypical characters types such as the protagonist being strong and brave but it also went again them such as when females are usually portrayed as the damsel in distress in this film they are seem as the more stronger people, I actually found in this film and others like it that it's conventionally the female that is the first to play the Ouija board or puts forward the idea of it this could be interpreted in different ways to the facts that maybe they're brave and don't fear the stories they hear about it, they're really stupid or depending on the storyline could be over emotional to save their friend or find out what happened to them which also links into Todrov's protagonist/hero character types as they're usually seen to have emotion and compassion etc. Due to this I think I unitentially made the main person female because it just seemed like the right fit and then when I watched more of the similar films I was more confident in my choice as it plays into the codes and conventions which can be seen as an audience pleasure. Just like the others I got some Antagonist inspiration from Ouija, similar to Suicide Squad their Antagonist is sort of dirty with a slight mist around them to connote that they're supernatural/paranormal and the colour scheme for them is always dark to connote their evil ways etc. So to see that what I wanted to do was something slightly conventionally done in films similar will help the realism within my own production but also this gives me something to work from when it comes to trying out different looks for the antagonist.

Gotham is a TV show based on the Batman comic series where it focuses on how he became batman and how the antagonist's development into their evil selves, one particular antagonist I'm interested in is Edward Nygma (a.k.a The Riddler.) Before Edward Nygma even became The Riddler he was obsessed with riddles for example, 'What's nowhere but everywhere, except where something is?' The answer is nothing, over time these became more dark, close to dark humour for example, 'A nightmare for some. For others, a saviour I come. My hand's cold and bleak. It's the warm hearts they seek, what am I?' The answer is death. The way that the transition from him being Edward Nygma to him becoming The Riddler is done in the way of him have a split personality almost, he'll be looking in the mirror and suddenly his reflection will be doing different actions to what he is doing which shows the two personalities and sometimes he'll say something, tilt his had and answer himself leading to a conflict betwen his two personalities. I liked the way they did this because it showed the two people within him without having to actually show them both which is something I wanted to incorprate into my production and was actually considering having a shot where the two characters are sitting down and the female suddenly jolts and there's a split second where you see some conflict between the female and the antagonist posessing her as they can help to represent and connote what is happening to the audience.

Plot Blocking Notes/ Idea Development

 As I said in my Final Pitch I was struggling in completely finishing the storyline so I have decided that to try and help me do so I will do a form of plot blocking where I can pin point certain aspects I definitely want in the storyline and then development them further.

1- First shot of female lead with blood all over her face.

2- Transitions with a black screen with un-human noises and whispers followed by the female lead startled and waking up from what can be assumed as a nightmare, Friend brings round Ouija board asking female lead to take care of it while she goes to work and after some hesitation and refusal she caves in, this portrays her as timid and weak.

3- After friend leaves, the female lead goes about her daily tasks. After some time she starts to hear strange noises such as shuffling, thuds, rattling etc. She goes to check/investigate to find the Ouija board had fallen from where she left it, maybe spilled out onto the floor. She begins to collect it back up to put it in the box when the planchette begins to move across the board and spells out a message(maybe in a different language that translates to something like 'death', 'revenge' maybe Greek word for death = Θάνατος etc.) message could first be spelt using English letters, Oavatoc and then when she looks back she can see it has been corrected to Θάνατος .

4- (Later in the same day, evening time) The friend comes back to the female leads house to collect her Ouija board and walks in to find the living room covered in pieces of paper with some satanic and some other dark symbols (inverted torch?) on to them (drawn/painted on in black and red.) The Ouija board is placed in the centre of the living room floor surrounded by all of the symbols, the friend turns to walk out of the living room but it met by the female lead face-to-face who then shouts 'boo' in her face. (perhaps the audience would be able to see her slightly in the shadows before the friend turned to face her.)

5-  They talk for a bit and then when the friend goes to ask female lead about the symbols she find that they're gone, the female lead looks confused but then shrugs it off, the same as the friend. They go to the kitchen to have some drink and when the friend goes to drink it she is met with a horrible copper taste and when she looks she sees it is blood, she spits it out only to find that when she looks back at it, it's water. At this point the friend seems nervous and anxious but the female leads seems joyful and calm.

6- The friend goes to the bathroom to splash water on her face and it cuts to a close up on her face fully in the frame and her looking above it and then suddenly a dirty dark hand twists it's fingers into their hair but when the friend turns to see where this motion had come from they find the bathroom empty.

7- The friend asks for her Ouija board so they go into the living room where the friend had left it the first time, as the female lead goes the collect it the lights flicker slightly as she walks past them and when the friends asks about it the female lead replies with "it's just a power surge" she collects it and hands it to the friend and then suddenly the TV turns on making the friend jump. (when the TV turns on it could possibly be a film with some dialogue saying "you're going to die" or "run" etc. foreboding the next event.)

8- The female lead grabs the friends arm and asks if she's ok and the friend begins to reply with yes when she looks at the female leads hand to see that it is soaked in black paint and then when she raises her head she see that the female lead now has large circles under her eyes with black paint also smudge on her face. Then looking at her surroundings she sees that the paper on the floor with symbols have yet again returned.

9- Scared and confused the friend backs away going to leave but as she turns the female is yet again face-to-face with her and she starts to speak but the female lead grabs the friends shoulder and plunges a weapon possibly a knife into the friends stomach stopping them in their tracks. We would see a reaction shot from both characters, the friend in shock and struggling to breath while the female lead seems expressionless. The whole time this is happening the lights could be flickering, TV getting more chaotic.

10- The friend drops to the floor landing on the symbols and the female lead finished her with one last attack, you don't actually see it but you would be able to hear the sound effects and the last breath the friend would draw connoting her death, as the female lead would stand up you'd be able to see part of the lifeless friend.

11- It would end with the same shot it began with, a close up of her bloody face.

Notes:
They could end up back in the living room and the female lead could kill friend and as she does the symbols re-appear and red blood drips onto the white paper of the symbols.

Number 6 slightly inspired by the Smiling Man/ Ouija

As you can see my idea worked and I have managed to complete my storyline and my next step will be to do another more detailed plot blocking where I can also narrow down the most important sections.

Final Pitch

Here is my final pitch, as I am working independently I shall be taking on all of the roles in both main and ancillary tasks.
Main Task:
A quick summary of my storyline so far is that the female lead's friend will come into her house and ask her if they can leave their Ouija board here while they go work and they'll collect it later as they have party and need to take it and after some hesitation she caves in and says yet. After some time the female lead hears some shuffling and rattling which is followed by a thud only to find the Ouija board is now on the floor. It begins to spell out a word which slightly frightens the female leads and after a reaction shot the screen will cut to black.
An indication of time passing will occur and then the friend will walk into the house to find the living room covered in symbols with the Ouija board placed in the middle of Chaos. She is then met face-to-face with the female lead as she turns out.

For the storyline this is what I have so far as I know I want it to end with the female lead becoming the Antagonist and either end up killing a group of people or just that one individual friend however, I need to fill in the gap between the middle and end which is what I'm currently working on.

To edit my main task I will be using Final Cut Pro X and for music and sound effects I will be using AudioMicro/Youtube Library.

Ancillary Task:
For my ancillary tasks (Film poster and film review) I will be using Adobe Photoshop CS6 to help me create both.
To take the photographs for both I will be using a Nikon D5100 which is the same camera I shall be using to film with.

Survey Summary

In total I created four surveys using SurveyMonkey, I created two for my main task (short film) and one for each ancillary task (film poster and film review.) I wasn't surprised by the majority of the responses as I had predicted most of them from my own knowledge and personal opinion.
Something I found in all of my surveys was the majority of the responses came from 15 to 20 years old which is very beneficial as that is my target audience and I also believe this is because of the way I distributed the surveys out through social media platforms such as Twitter, Facebook and Instagram as the main demographic for them are similar if not a slightly larger age range.
Looking at my main task surveys I found that the horror genre isn't the most popular possibly due to it's scary and creepy conventions however, I found that even though some people responded saying they don't watch horror films these individuals still answered the other questions showing that even if they don't watch them they still understand the concepts behind the genre and what would be good within it, this is similar for my ancillary tasks with the sense that the responses for my review survey say that not many people read review however, they were able to answer the question to what they think would be good in it etc.
Something I also found relating to all three of my surveys is that my audience like consistency in such as aesthetic, themes (region, revenge), the same structure within a film review (1st person, 3rd person.)

MoodBoard

Film Review Survey Responses

Similar to what I did in my other three surveys, I asked for their ages which then allows me to see what the preferences of each age group are as well being as able to compare between them. Asking this question would also allow me to look directly and individually at my target audiences responses (15 to 20 year olds), I wasn't surprised when I found that the majority of responses I received were from my targeted age group (15-20) as I also found this through my other surveys, I believe this is due to the distribution of it through social media platforms such as Instagram, Twitter and Facebook which is only used by a minority of older people. However, even though this doesn't enable me to compare the results a lot it allows me to really focus on what my target audience want and all the different aspects I could use to include and inspire ideas into my short film.

Question Two "Do you read film reviews often?" is a useful question to ask because it helps me to figure out how familiar both my target audience and people as a whole, with them. Looking at the responses it showed that many people were moderately familiar with film reviews and had read a couple before but also, the option "I read them rarely" was the most popular which I wasn't very surprised about. Things like this suggests that in the age ranges 15 to 20 and 21 to 30, reading film reviews isn’t that common/popular, unless the individual is very interested in it. From looking at the results for this question I know that I will need to make my survey eye-catching to help grab the attention of both my target audience and more because if they aren't searching for it themselves and just pasting over them I would want my review to be there but catch their eye before they pass over it, resulting in them picking it up or clicking on it.

One big convention of a film review is the images however, I wanted to see how many images people preferred so that is why I asked this question. Even though some people responded with 'never' to reading reviews they were still able and still did answer this question as it was more of a personal opinion. From the results of the responses I saw that most people answered with "I prefer only a couple of images" and  "Yes, a lot of image" ultimately this question and results will help me when it comes to the layout of the film review because now seeing that my target audience would prefer more images, this also suggests that they find the images more interesting then a lot of text as the images would draw their attention and also help them make a quick impression and decision on whether they want to read the review or not.

Colour schemes is also a key aspect when it comes to a film review page. Question four "Do you think it would be a good idea for the film review to match the colour scheme of the poster?" asks for our audiences opinion and perspective. Unsurprisingly, the results of the responses were found that people thought that having the film poster and review page the same colour schemes is a good idea in one way or another I believe this is the result because something like this can be seen as aesthetically pleasing which is also an audience pleasure, this can also help the audience with recognising and associating both the poster and review with each other and the short film, similar to what brand identity does. I'm happy with these results since I myself would have chosen 'yes' due to the reason of brand identity etc. So when it comes to the drafting of my review this is something I definitely want to incorporate into both my ancillary tasks (poster & film review.)

For question five I asked for opinions on various aspects/area of film reviews I'd decided the best way to design this question was through a rating system, the higher they ranks something the more important they thought it would be. Through looking at the average ratings of each category, I found that it's clear that they all have gotten similar responses/ratings and indicating that the majority of people consider all these areas of equally importantance when it comes to the film review. Therefore, when it comes down to looking at each of these aspects for my own film review I won't put on area before the other because as seen through these results they all have an important role and impact on the context, visual representation, appeal etc. of the review. One area I wasn't at all surprised about was "information about the film" as the main aim for a film review is to present the reader with the information, critism and facts about the film to help them decide on whether to go and watch it or not and also with "the creativity" coming in as second most important doesn't surprise me because as someone who reads and writes film reviews to look at a boring and dull review page can put me off it instantly but also if the context or the written review isn't grabbing and doesn't draw me in then there's just no desire to read it. A film review needs to captivate their reader whether that is through pictures, text, colour scheme etc.