Location

Location


When i first started planning my opening, I wanted to film in Hockley Woods. However I found that there was a lot of roots and little holes in the ground around. This was gonna be a problem because when it gets dark, its going to be hard to notice. I could have cause injury to myself. Also as the woods isn't near any roads, there will be no light around and the trees will block out most of the remaining light. As a result I decided to change location to something more suitable to run in.


I then came to the decision of using Grove Woods as there was easier access and less leaves and roots which means it was safer to run through. The woods is also more spacious which means there is more room to film

Hockley woods has too many people walking through the woods which means people could be intercepting the shots and could make it more of a struggle to film. Therefore Grove will be a more suitable location to film at.

Production Company

My first production company is know as 'Clockwork Studios'. For this production company, I found a royalty free time lapse of a clock. The reason for this is because I tried to record my time lapse but I couldn't get it to work at the right speed I wanted. My other production company was known as 'Candle light productions;. For this production company I filmed a burning candle and filmed it up close. Both of these ideas were both thought of by myself however I did need to use a royalty free clock time lapse.

The name of the film is called: 'The Grove Devil'

I chose a devil because devils are associated with horror and are typically quite scary as devils are associated with evil. The reason for calling it the Grove Devil is because I filmed the opening in Grove Woods. Therefore I found it fitting to name the devil after its location. This will also make people aware that the devil is associated with the woods.

Demographics and Psychographics

Changes

Over the course of carrying out the blog, I made a few changes to the blogs for multiple reasons. This post outlines some of the changes and why I made them.

I planned to base my theme around a murder taken place in the woods of Hockley. Situations changed however and my friend was unable to participate in my opening which meant I had to think of someone else to be in my media film. Another problem I encountered was the story itself. One of the props I planned to use was a wheelbarrow. After planning my story, I realised that getting the wheelbarrow to my location wasn't going to be a possibility due to the fact the wheelbarrow was far to big to fit in the car. This meant I had to re-draft my story as my desired story line wasn't going to be an option.

Original Location

Later on I found it would be better to use a different woods as it was closer to the road so I could get there quicker. There was also less tree cover so there was more lit than Hockely woods. This meant I would be able to film there at a later time than I could of in Hockley woods.

New Location

After visiting both the locations, I found that Grove woods had a lot less roots and leaves on the floor, this was good as it meant it would be safer to run, which I mentioned in my risk assessment.




As you can see in the new location, it has better access to the road and an open sky which made it easier to get enough light to be able to film. This meant I had the opportunity to bring props which I would have previously not been able to use. This opened more filming ideas that I could think about.

Due to being busy a few days during my holiday, I had to delay some filming days which meant I had to also set editing back a few days. Thankfully this didn't cause an issue for me.

These were the only changes I made during the filming process as everything else went to plan.

Marking Previous Work

Influences

Influences

My film is very strongly influenced by The Blair Witch Project. When I was planning my film, I wanted to have a hand held film to create verisimilitude. I took the idea of having a message about when the film was found and what it is about. However I adapted that idea by starting near the end of the film as oppose to the start of the film. This is because I feel if it was going to be made into a full film, it would be more interesting as people will want to watch on to find out the story behind what happened in the woods. Some people believed the Blair Witch was real due to the 'footage found' message and also the missing poster. This for me is very interesting as this made the fil a lot scarier as it felt realistic which allows the characters to emphasise with the main character. This as a result led me to creating a handheld film in the style of Blair Witch. I personally prefer horror films that rely on the storyline to make the scary as appose to jump scares, this again also influenced my decision to make a handheld horror as Blair Witch was similar to the style of horror films I prefer.

Health and Safety/Risk Assessment

Risk Assessment

There was only one scene that could have caused danger. In my opening, there is a scene at the end where I am running through the woods to escape the' Grove Devil'. To prevent any injuries, I planned the route I was going to run to ensure I wasn't going to trip over any tree trunks or roots. This is especially since it was very dark outside and visibility was limited. It was important that I planned out where I was going to run as if I tripped over I could have really hurt myself. I also had to stage me falling over. I did previously plan how I was going to fall over as there were sharp stones around and I didn't want to cause any injury to myself.

Just for added security, I had others around me and a phone in case I had any injuries. If an injury occurred, I was easily be able to get help and wouldn't be in any immediate danger.