Location Scouting - Christ Church, Erith

Location Scouting 

Christ Church, Erith

As part of our location scouting, we visited a small community church in our local borough. Shown in the video below are a collection of photographs we took to document some interesting aspects of mise-en-scene we could use within our film opening.

Some general research on the building let us to note that is a listed building due its traditional style and decorations. An old Church rather than a newly built one would be much more effective to film, due to its character and charm.

Pros of this location:

• stained glass window could make a very effective shot
• the Church is an old building (grade II listed)
• the interior of the Church has a variety of religious artworks
• the building is situation close to home, so filming on several days wouldn't be an issue
• there is an outside space to film the exterior of the building
• the building has bathroom facilities which would be helpful for a long filming day

Cons of this location:

• getting permission for entry to the building with cameras may be a significant issue
• the Church may not allow us to film shots of the exterior of the building

Overall, we decided that it would be unlikely we could gain permission to enter the building to film (however we will politely ask anyway). However, a few montage shots of the exterior of the building could be extremely powerful within our opening, for example shots of the stained glass windows or the wooden doors opening or closing. The general architectural structure of the Church could also feature within our opening, for example a short shot of the spire or brickwork.

Coursework Inspiration - Stigmata

Stigmata

Due to our choice of genre and theme, we decided it would be helpful to watch the film stigmata for inspiration. Made in 1999 and directed by Rupert Wainwright, the film is about an atheist inflicted with stigmata after coming into contact with a rosary owned by a deceased priest who experience the phenomenon himself. As a group, we thoroughly enjoyed this film and thought it was really cleverly made in ways such as editing and sound. 

Here is a personal favourite scene for inspiration from others in my group:

What we found really effective was the editing during her experience of the stigmata. The constant cuts in the scene away from the present into another scene to create montage editing was extremely impressive. We are seriously considering using this sort of idea in our opening scene. This is because it assisted the viewer in understanding what was happening to Frankie (the victim) as well as create a fearful effect and strong spine-chilling atmosphere. 

We also really liked the muffled and broken up sound used to assist the effect the montage editing creates. The repeated screams and off-screen diegetic noise of the nails and hammer, along with the low and barely visible lighting, helps devise trepidation among the viewer as it is constructing how fearful the actual experience is for the victim. It assists the viewer to get into the head of the victim and understand and empathise with what is occurring to her, creating a relationship with the victim which will overall result in a bigger impact on the viewer.

As you can see from the clip above, the opening is mainly based on religion which is a strong factor that we want to incorporate. The focus of the camera framing on religious concepts, such as the crucifix and the cross help to really emphasise the main factor behind the film and the stigmata itself. The lack of speech in the opening is a concept that we would like to follow as the mese en scene will hopefully be powerful enough, like in this sequence.

Here is my personal favourite scene from the film:

-Caera Mendez

Coursework Inspiration - Woman In Black

Coursework Inspiration

We thought that this opening scene for Woman In Black was a really effective sequence. We especially liked the idea of the three girls jumping out of the window at the end of the sequence. This is because it is a similar concept of what we would like to include in our opening, as well as the fact that it goes against the usual conventions of a horror of significant characters dying at the beginning.

We were also thoroughly inspired by the mese en scene of the room and costume in harmony with the plot. The mise en scene created a sense of realism for the viewer as well as setting the scene of the nursery so you could understand the innocence of the children. This inspired us greatly to use mise en scene to assist the viewer in understanding the plot and making it more life like and effective in just the opening.

-Caera Mendez

Coursework Inspiration - Harry Potter

Coursework Inspiration

For our coursework, we have had an idea to incorporate a dream sequence including flashbacks to the previous day of the actors in the church. We have taken inspiration from the dream sequence of the Harry Potter and The Order Of The Phoenix. As shown in the video below.

We thought this sequence was very effective due to the montage editing. The continuous cuts to the dream and cut backs of reality creates an uneasy effect for the viewer. It also establishes an ambiguous effect as the viewer is unclear what is actually occurring in the dream. The quick pace montage editing of the dream and short shots really conveys the setting of the dream whilst still creating a unsure effect. Also, we thought the constant cut backs and close up shots of him whilst he is dreaming reminds the viewer of his fear and panic whilst experiencing the dream.

We also liked the use of low lighting to create a strong atmospheric effect. As well as, the diagetic sound of his breathing creates the sense of his fear and the non-diagetic sound of music builds up the tension and trepidation for the viewer.

We are therefore going to use this as inspiration for our coursework and maybe incorporate some of the concepts used in this sequence to create as strong as an effect as possible.

-Caera Mendez

Initial Ideas Brainstorm

Group Brainstorm of Initial Ideas

As soon as we initiated our coursework groups, we decided to have a discussion brainstorming any ideas we have in mind for our film opening.

We quickly and easily came to a group decision that our film was going to be a Horror film, as we all thought this would be the best way to input our creativity into stage production, lighting and makeup. However, we are yet to decide on a sub-genre of horror. 

In our discussion we ran through any sub-genres we had in mind, verbally listing the pros and cons of each. We also exchanged any ideas of locations to use in our opening, and how we could go about obtaining access to these locations. Below is a brief summary of our discussion which I made as we spoke. I managed to make a note of the key points we discussed, however inevitably I missed out some of the finer details of our conversation. 

How was this useful?

As a group we found this initial brainstorming task particularly useful as we were able to gain a deeper understanding of each other's creative thought processes. Although not included in the mind map, we had a discussion about which roles in the project would suit us best. We said that we would aim to each attempt all the different aspects of the production process, but we established that Caera has already developed skills in stage makeup, Tibet has prior knowledge of the editing process and Ruby and I would be best suited to direct and initiate creative ideas. We also discussed who would be best at acting in the scene - and Tibet volunteered as the person would feel most confident at playing a villainous role.

This initial discussion also gave us confidence in the sense that we knew we had many realistic ideas, which also motivated us to get started with our blog and project.

-Anna Humphreys