Writer & Director

Research

The Idea

First of all, before I could begin my research I had to nail down the genre and plot of my film.

I chose to produce a short horror film:

Synopsis: A boy is sat on a sofa in his living room, surfing the web on his laptop, when he begins to receive odd notifications. Suddenly his screen cracks and appears to open a portal to another dimension. He is visibly shocked but composes himself as he becomes curious. He tries putting his hand through the screen and to his surprise it goes through to the other dimension. When he does so the lights in the room flicker. He continues to take his arm in and out of the portal each time going further in and each time the light flickering becomes more intense. Suddenly a skeletal hand reaches out and grabs onto the boy’s arm and tries to pull him through the portal. He resists and manages to get his arm back before slamming the laptop shut. Cut to black.

The Pitch

Following the pitch, I received feedback from Paddy and Marcia. Marcia suggested a couple possible changes to the plot: If they were a young child it could be that there is a babysitter who, to pacify the child, places them infront of the laptop, or if it is a teenager it could be a commentary on what they were watching. She also suggested that the film could end straight after the jumpscare, instead of after the tug-of-war sequence. Marcia suggested researching films such as Poltergeist, Halloween and Nightmare on Elm Street. Paddy looked more at the technical side; he proposed that, whilst I could do the ‘arm coming thorugh the screen’ effect practically as I had originally invisaged, I could also digitally compose the shot. He also suggested that I should look into how to “shoot day for night” as I would be wanting to make a day shoot look as if it was done at night and I should research digital compositing.

Taking the advice, I decided to shorten the film to end after the jumpscare. I also researched and watched the film ‘Poltergeist’, which whilst it shared some of the same themes I didn’t really take much from it.

I also had a look into how to achieve various effects that I wanted to use in the film, for example I looked on youtube for some tutorials on how to create a smashing glass effect in both after effects and davinci resolve:

I had also looked at some other elements of production which I would be looking to apply for this film on my production diary:

As well as thinking about the specifics of my film I also had to look into what responibilities I actually had as a writer and as a director, so…

Who is a Writer?

A writer is one of the initial creative minds behind a film’s production. They create the story, characters, and the all-important screenplay that serves as the production’s foundation. In larger productions, multiple writers may be involved, while in smaller ones, there’s usually just one. The screenplay is the key document that guides the entire cast and crew, making it the first and most crucial part of the filmmaking process.

So… what will I have to do as a writer?

As a writer I will be responsible for:

• Coming up with initial concepts for the overall story and plot of the film, (Done)
• Creating the characters which will feature in the film,
• And creating the screenplay.

And how much are writers paid in the industry?

According to indeed.com, screenwriters can ask for up to 5% of the film’s budget and according to the ‘Writer’s Guild of Great Britain’ (WGGB):

• For film budgets that are over £2 million, screenwriters can receive a minimum fee of £42,120.
• If a budget is between £750,000 and £2 million, screenwriters can receive a minimum fee of £25,650.
• For low-budget films that are under £750,000, screenwriters earn at minimum £18,900 for their screenplay.

Who is a Director?

A director is a person who oversees and guides the creative and technical aspects of a production, such as a film, TV show, or play. They make critical decisions regarding casting, script interpretation, and production elements to bring a project to life. They are in charge of ‘directing’ the actors to make sure that they are playing the roles in a way which fits the style of the film. They also work with all of the other departments such as the camera, sound, costume, set and makeup departments to ensure that the production is cohesive.

So… what will I have to do as a director?

As a director I will be responsible for:

• Producing a script breakdown for the producer and other production team members,
• Working with the producer to cast the characters in the film,
• Working with the camera operator to produce shot lists and storyboards,
• Working with the producer to select a location,
• Working with the producer and other members of the production team to plan the logistics of the shoot,
• Directing actors to ensure the deliver the best and most appropriate performance,
• Working with the camera operator to decide on camera angles, framing and shot composition,
• And (in this case) editing the film and compositing visual effects.

And how much are directors paid in the industry?

According to payscale.com film directors in the UK can be paid anywhere between £18k and £99k depending on the budget of the production with the avarage base salary being £40k.

Production

More Paperwork…

The Shoot

Post-Production

The Edit

The Edit process was the most annoying part of the production especially because of the VFX shots which, as I mentioned earlier, ended up being much more complicated than I had first anticipated.

I began by putting all of the non-VFX shots onto the timeline and put them in order. Then, I began work on the first VFX shot which was a simple laptop screen replacement.

Then I moved onto the more complex shot of notifications flooding the screen before it shatters. For this shot I got help from Alex who showed me how to use the duplicator node in fusion so that I could create the stream of notifications. I then used the tutorial that I found in my research to do the screen shattering effect in fusion.

The next effect I needed to do was the first shot of the Teenage Boy putting his hand through the screen into the portal. This shot was one of the worst to compose because of the poorly lit green screen which meant that it was very difficult to key, resulting in the hand almost disappearing. We ended up editing this shot in after effects because of the more powerful keying tool ‘keylight’.

The other shots were more simple as they simply involved masking a plate. The finishing touches were to add some sound effects, a background drone and a light flickering effect when he puts his hand through the screen. Finally I added a colour grade to a few clips to make them fit with each other.

Evaluation

Tutor Evaluation

Once the film was finished I sent it to Paddy and he gave me the following feedback:

“It’s a really good attempt and is quite effective especially the final shot which works really well. The colour grade is bit too orange and doesn’t quite match the lighting outside the window which causes a separation. It might have been worth putting some kind of rug down to sell the living room location or having a practical light in the scene. I would have tried to have some more distance between the background and foreground that would have given you some more options with the frame. It’s also not quite believeable when the character is typing as you can’t see anything happening on screen. All in all though it’s a good effective little short that needs a title. Well done”

Peer Evaluation

Self Evaluation

Personally, I feel that whilst there are some good shots, I am not completely happy with the finished film. I think that my biggest issue with the film is the location – to me it simply doesn’t pass as a living room as it’s very obviously a set. I wish that we’d been able to source an actual living room location, and whilst we initially did have a location, unfortunately in the end we were unable to use it and we had to shoot in the studio, which is much more difficult to use as it meant we had to work with sets and lighting – which was difficult to make look convincing. I also wish that I had planned out and test-shot some of the VFX shots in pre-production before we arrived on set, because they took much longer to get right than we had anticipated which meant that we ran out of time with our actor and didn’t get all the shots we wanted with him. Furthermore, I wish I could have spent more time on the VFX shots – especially the one in which he puts his hand through the screen for the first time as it does not look convincing in my opinion (and in the opinion of my peers)

​

In terms of fufilling my role I think I did an alright job at being a director, however I didn’t do an amazing job at directing the actor and I wasn’t good at communicating my intentions to the other crew members which sometimes resulted in confusion among the team and wasted precious time with Aaron. However, in general I think we worked well as a team to produce something which looks decent.