Casting!

Shia LaBeouf: As a group we feel that Shia labouf will be a really good same becasue he has featured in many thriller films such as Transformers and Eagle eye which are great successes. I feel he would bring a good personality to Sam as he plays characters like this before.

Judi Dench: As a group we have decided to have Judi Dench as our actress to play as a parent because we feel Judi has a good motherly figure and she could bring a lot of suspense to this character.

Jack Nicholson: We have also agreed to use Jack as our monk in the film becasue he can create great suspense in a character like that. We think he would be good in this role becasue he has been in thiller/ horrors before like 'The Shining' and 'Batman' so he has good experience in these types of films.

Evaluation!

I personally thought that our final project 'The Crucifix' was a really good introduction to a film because it created a good storyline and I thought our actual filming showed this with the character Sam and especially the Monk. I felt that the monk was very effective in all scenes he was in particularly in the dream becasue he had a sense of mystery and suspense about him.
I think that our target audience would want to know more about the Monk after watching the introduction because you don't know much about him.
I thought that we achieved our target of a thriller/horror through scenes like the man commiting suicide and Sam's dream at his house.
I think that our film should be rated a 15 because it would be scary for anyone under 15 but is not gory enough for the film to be rated an 18.
One of the best shots in the fiulm i feel is the one in the dream when we filmed the trees looking into the sky and speeding it up. It is really effective for a dream like that because it adds a bit more suspense to it.
Our first car scenes we had done at first were not good enough becasue of errors while filming like reflections of us filming so we re-filmed them and they were much better second time round becasue they flowed much better and they made more sense to the audience. We also had different types of shots of the car second time filming which made the introduction better.

In this final project I have learnt to film as much as possible becasue it will help in you editing becasue you have much more clips to play around with. Also using a variety of shots like high angle shots, low angle shots, point of view, over the shoulder; all these work well and create more atmosphere in a film. From my last project I have tried to make the film flow more and I think that the final film flows really well, much better then the first project I did.

Editing- technical decisions

In all scenes of out final project we have made each shot slightly darker and have slightly increased the contrast of them to make the film more defined and seem it is darker then it actually is to give a sense of mystery.

We have placed each clip of the car driving in sequence to make the car really flow well from clip to clip which is easy to understand for the audience. The pace of the car was not edited because it was not too fast and wasn't slow enough to edit the speed. The only part we did edit was when Sam saw the monk for the very first time in his car which we put in slow motion when he saw him which makes it obvious for the viewers to see what Sam sees much easier. Through the car scene we have also placed a few fade ins and fade outs because it seems to make some of the clips flow to the next one instead of being very sudden it makes the music also match the speed of the scene making it look smoother and relaxed.

When Sam is sleeping in his bedroom we made the lighting seem very dim with a covered lamp to make it seem it was late at night/early morning. It then cuts from Sam sleeping to The monk in a creepy looking forest with fast images from different views of the monk all in a row. Oscar thought that we should have it in black and white and we all agreed because it made the dream look so much more effective because it made the monk look more creepy and mysterious to the audience. It then cuts back to Sam sleeping then back to the monk, so it goes back and forth. We thought that would be very effective as it creates suspense for the viewers because it shows that he is having a bad dream and u could tell by his reactions when Sam is sleeping.

In the running scene when we have the possessed man being chased by Sam, we have good variety of shots that are focused on the man that flow well together and shots of Sam following from behind. Just like the dream we had jump shots from the possessed man to Sam, back and forth. When the man jumos off the edge we slowed it right down so you can see it in slow motion when he falls which gives it more of a suspenseful shock for the audience. When he goes out of sight we faded it out to a bird flying off a tree because we felt it would create a unique shot from other groups.

The music we decided to edit into our final project was a slow dramatic song which creates a slow suspense atmosphere for the audience. It gets really into the song just before the man jumos off the edge because it represnts something good or scary is about to happen in this scene.

Locations (Appendix D)

These are the locations we decided to use in out final project:

• St. Annes Hill (used for most of the scenes)
  
• Oscar's house (Sam sleeping)
• Dual carriage way next to Thorpe Park (establishing shot of St. Annes Hill)
  

Contribution (Appendix C)

Throughout our planning and filming everyone in the group has put in good ideas towards our final project. The contribution I have made to the planning and filming are:

• Camera shots in car scene.
• Camera shots in Sam's dream of the monk.
• Contributed towards editing, suggesting ideas.
• Provided ideas towards storyline.
• Suggested names for the final project.
• Researched what production companies and distributors to use.
• Suggested what shots we could use or take.
• I was there for most days of filming.
• Contributed to the storyboard(action, effects, props. Sound, speech)
  

Target audience and Feedback!

Our target audience for our film would be from young teenagers aged 13 to adults aged 30 or onwards. It is a very brawed target audience because many people like thriller/horror films which could lead to problems creating this, but i feel that our storyline and how it is portrayed can adapt to all ages of our target audience because it would have most things each person would like. For example, the film would be horrific enough for young teenagers to enjoy it but the adults will relate to the storyline more and enjoy the twists of it.
The adults that we would target our film at would be attracted to the film by the sudden actions from the characters for instence, when the possessed man that is running away from Sam jumps off the edge of the cliff suddenly. I feel that the adults that see this scene would be shocked and confused making them want to know why this happened and how, making them think deep about the story behind the monk and why he is there.
Where as, the teenagers that we target this film at would enjoy it because of the creepy and mystical images of the monk. For example, the dream that Sam has in his house about the monk haunting him. The fast scenes of the monk in black and white would hopefully capture the teenagers to watch more and see what other horrifying scenes would be yet to come.

I think our genre for the film which is a Thriller/horror is shown very well in our filming with the dream that Sam has and when the possessed man commits suicide. The feedback from other groups that have seen it have agreed and can see that it is a thriller/horror.
The feedback we got from other groups was overall good. They thought that our scenes from the dream and the possessed man commiting suicide looked really good and very eye catching. Although when groups watched it they didn't really understand why our actor was running and got confused until will explained to them that he was possessed by the monk then they understood what was going on with him. The feedback we also got was that the car scene when Sam is on his way home flowed well together from clip to clip.

Research on production companies!

We have chosen to use Dimension as our prduction company because it is closely linked with horror films similar to ours like Scream (96-00), Halloween (95-02), 1408 (2007), and The Amityville horror. These films have the same genre as our films so we feel it would fit perfectly.

Miramax Films is a film production and distribution brand that was a leading independent film motion picture distribution and production company. They have been involved with many great thrillers such as Gangs Of New York(2002), Kill Bill Vol. 1(2003), Kill Bill Vol. 2(2004). Just like Dimension, Miramax would also match well with our Thriller film.

My First Project!

In my first project my idea/stroyline for the filming was a good one in theory but it didn't come out as well as i wanted it to in the end. I feel it was because of the minimum amount of filming i had done with my group. If i had more filming i could have used a more variety of shots experimenting and making it more effective.
My idea of having a point of view shot of a girl running down an alley then jumping back and forth from shots of the girl running from behind. I thoguht this would be very effective for building up suspense but in the end it didn't work as well as i thought it would.
I did like my last low angle shot of the girl sitting down against the wall crying then someones foot stepped in front of the camera making the girl scream and try run away. This was effective becasue i felt it it was a cliffhanger and you done't see what happens to the girl. This makes the audience wonder about what could of happened next.
For my next project i would want to be in a different group because the group i was with in this project did not put much effort into it which led me to do most of the work. I would also like to adapt my ideas from this project and make them better in my next one because i feel that if me and my group film it correctly it would be really effective and make the project a really successful thriller for the target audience to enjoy.

Equipment required! (Appendix E)

• Camera
• lighting
• tripod
  
• monk costume
• crucifix
• actors
• car with licenced driver
• Fake blood
• charcol for costume
• makeup
• music used for effects
  

The Crucifix (Appendix B)

Sam has recently moved to St. Anne’s Hill after his dad had taken up a new job in Surrey. When Sam arrives the hill starts to seem mysterious and Sam has a funny feeling about this new place. Already when Sam arrives in his car he could swear he could see a figure dressed as a monk in the deep woodland, from here he knows something’s weird about this place. H e is then haunted by the Monks image as he sleeps and has vivid dreams of this haunting image. Sam decides to go for a walk up the hill the next day after his dad suggests he goes to explore. He is then drawn to the attention of a man in distress in the woods so runs to see if he can help but the monk is there again louring him into the forest deeper and deeper Sam then Sam is brought to the attention of the distressed man on a high rocky ledge he say “I have to do this or he won’t leave me alone I cant do this anymore he coming” and jumps to his death. A crucifix is left at the scene. A new report follows and this is when Sam realises that this wasn’t the first suicide in St. Anne’s hill where a crucifix was left behind. Sam is force to look further into the history of the hill and finds that a monk in the 1800’s killed a girl then burned down the house with him and her inside it killing himself. Sam starts to realise who this Monk is and how he possesses people. Sam is then confronted by the monk who can also control objects that he uses to scare and almost kill Sam. On the way Sam’s mum is endangered but when Sam and his parents report the Monk to the police they are laughed at, the only people who believe them are the creepy old locals who all attach large crucifixes to their doors and are seen covering their doorsteps with holy water. Then Sam must act to save his dad when he is possessed. when his Dad is reported missing Sam knows exactly where he will be, where the last suicide victim was. He only has a certain amount of time to save his Dads life. He can only save his dad if he knows how to break the spirit of the monk and Mrs Roberts the 70-year-old widow is the only one who offers him advice. The Monk killed her husband. Mrs Roberts house is creepy and full of spell books and history about the Monk, It's clear she has been waiting to seek vengeance. It’s now a footrace for Sam to save the day but the Monk is to powerful for Sam. Sam tries to stop his Dad jumping to his death but he fails to stop him, we think this is the end for Sam and his Dad, but then round the corner comes Sam’s mum and Mrs Roberts with some witchcraft; They save the day and escape the hill as quick as they can. The Monks spirit and possession is avoided Sam’s dad is saved. Sam and his family decide to move away but on the journey home the same image of the Monk is seen waving at Sam goodbye as he leaves just as he did to greet him, is this the end of the Monks curse……………………