Production and Post Production Schedules

Week	Scene order of shooting	Location	Props
1	Fighting scene	Kitchen – in house	Glass
1	Opening scene	Path by the field by my house	Coat, scarf, handbag
1	Woman entering house and hanging coat up and noticing glass	Hallway – in house	Coat, scarf, handbag, coat hook, broken glass
2	Glass scenes	Kitchen – in house	Glass, dust pan and brush, bin, picture
3	Wine and radio scenes	Kitchen – in house	Fridge, glass, wine, radio
3	TV scenes	Lounge – in house	TV
3	Shadow at door scenes	Bottom of stairs – in house	-
4	Dark room and final scenes	Spare room – in house	Fake blood and duvet

Week	Post Production work
5	Watching the scenes captured and re-capturing scenes if I’m not happy with them
6	Produce a rough cut, with minimal editing
7	Show a preview screening of my film and obtain feedback
8	Finish the final editing and produce final cut, using the feedback from preview screening

Titles of Happy Anniversary

I wanted the titles to be black and red, as those colours connotate evil, blood and danger. I experimented with various different fonts in order to obtain a Gothic horror feel.

Brush Script MT was my first choice, as it was in italics, often thought to be quite Gothic, however I think it looked too happy and joyful

I then tried MS Gothic as the name itself made me expect it to suit my film, however I think it looked too plain

I then tried Viner Hand ITC, which I think looks very Gothic and scary, which is why I have chosen it as the font to use in my title.

However, during my screenings, it was thought that titles on a dark background looks unprofessional, so instead I put the titles over the top of the action being filmed.

Business - USP, certificate and distribution

Unique Selling Point

         I think my film's main unique point is it is showing the female character as being the killer and the male as the victim, which is very rare in horror films, as women are often shown as the vulnerable victim.

Certificate          

I have used the BBFC website to gain what certificate my film would get. My target audience are people who often watch horror films; 15-24 years of age. This is going to reflect my certificate rating of a 15, as it will contain violence and moderately strong language, but no drug use, sexual scenes or nudity. I don't want my film to be an 18 as I want it available to as many teenagers as possibly and a majority of teenagers who go to the cinema to watch horror films are under 18.

Distribution Hammer films production is a London based production subsidiary of Exclusive Media Group, that specialise in horror films, which is why I think it would be perfect for my film. Hammer films  have many film festivals that show new short and long horror films, which would be a great chance for Happy Anniversary.

Script for Happy Anniversary

SCARLETT walking down a path at night. A front door is opened and a woman enters and hangs her coat up. She looks into the kitchen and notices a smashed glass on the floor

SCARLETT tidies up the glass using a dust pan and brush and puts it in the bin, we see a picture of her and her boyfriend just above the bin. SCARLETT point of view shot of her looking around the fridge, with a shaky hand, she goes to pick the bottle of lemonade, but opts for a bottle of wine and pours herself a glass. She turns round and goes to take a sip of her wine, but just before she does, a light goes out. She kneels on a chair to try to fix the light and as she is doing so, the radio turns on. She turns it off and as doing so, a noise is heard from the living room. She walks into the living room where the TV is turning on, she turns it off, but as she is walking away it turns back on again; scared, she leaves the room. We see her run up the stairs and into a dark room.

SCARLETT

Josh, please sweetie, stop this

SCARLETT turns the light on

We then see half of JOSH's face and blood coming out of his ear. Cuts to a flashback of SCARLETT hitting JOSH with a glass, then back to JOSH's bloody face. Another flashback is shown of JOSH's leg being dragged away with blood seeping out, back to JOSH's bloody face. Back to a flashback of SCARLETT looking distressed. Back to the close up of JOSH's bloody face, SCARLETT leans in a kisses his cheek. A close up of Josh's bloody arm is shown, then an extreme close up of his hand.

Actors, locations, costumes and props

Locations
I am using my friend's house to shoot as it contains the characteristics I need for my opening of my film. I would like the mise-en-scène of my piece to look as realistic as possible; to look like an ordinary house. However, I want there to be key aspects that will cause the audience to question whether the house is ordinary, such as blood and broken glass.

This hallway is where I'm going to shoot the scene where the woman hangs up her coat and notices the broken glass on the floor. It is a good location as the hallway is narrow and the claustrophobic feel suggests that the woman is isolated and lonely, something that is essential for my film. However, the mirror will have to be taken down in case the camera is seen in it, although won't be a huge problem.

The kitchen is a good location as the lights are spotlights, which are needed for the part the woman having only one side of her face lit, as one light bulb blows, to show she is two faced and has a split personality

Lastly, the front door is made of glass, which is needed for a key scene in my opening sequence, where the woman notices a shadow coming closer to her house. Also, the front door is in view from the stairs, which is wear the character is placed, as she then frantically rushes upstairs.












Actors
I attended a friend's college performance where I then noted who would suit the two characters needed for my film. One of the girls I thought would be very good as the role of the main woman, however, she was busy with other commitments for a long period of time, so I went back to my notes on who else stood out in the performance. Playing the role of Scarlett is Lauren Umpleby and playing the role of Josh is Adam Ritchie.


Costumes
Josh's costume won't be seen very much, only part of his leg, so he must have three quarter length trousers on, in order for his leg to be seen. He will also need an outfit for the flashback, so a casual top and jeans

 Scarlett's costume needs to be a suit or of formal wear, to show she has just come home from work. I want Scarlett to be shown as middle class, rather than working class as I want to show that money, a good job a nice well kept house won't necessarily make a person happy. In order for her to look as professional as possible, her hair will be tied up, possibly in a bun or ponytail. I also want it to be clear that Scarlett isn't a teenager returning from a night out and is a woman returning from work, which is why I have picked a suit for her to wear. Furthermore, in a lot of horror films, the woman is either seen as the weak, vulnerable victim or as a sex symbol; I want to get away from this stereotype, so I won't have a lot of flesh on show. She will also have to have some casual wear that she will be wearing in a flashback, so will be just leggings and a top.

Props
The props needed for my film are

• A coat
• A broken glass
• A dustpan and brush
• A bin
• A picture of the two characters together
• A bottle of wine
• A glass
• A radio
• A duvet
• Fake blood

Al of these props are all fairly accessible, so won't be a problem to obtain during production.






Rejected location ideas
I had planned to have most of the film shot outside, in the garden at night. I thought this wouldn't be a problem as the outside light is fairly strong, however as you can see, the light isn't strong enough and would only light a small part of the garden; thus limiting the space available to be shot in. I could have changed the film to being set in the daytime, however I think darkness and night time is a major convention of horror and wanted to go along with the convention.

Rejected Prop ideas
I was going to attempt to make the glass a sugar glass, so it could be smashed around the character's head with no damage, like seen here;

However, not only was it quite difficult to make for only a short scene, but it didn't look very realistic, as it was hard to shape the glass. So I decided to instead use the "Hitchcock" technique and cut the scene just before the action happens, so the audience can just assume he was hit.


Rejected Costume Ideas
At first I wanted my female protagonist to be wearing casual clothes, in order to be more relatable to my target audience, however I wanted the audience to understand that the couple were slightly older, so would be working, which is why her costume is a suit. I also first decided that my actor would keep her facial piercings in, so for the audience to relate to her, however I decided that too look professional and as if she has just returned from work, that the character would not have any.

Original costume

Shot list for Happy Anniversary

Storyboard Happy Anniversary

My first draft storyboard had the flashback of the fight scene at the beginning, however after showing my storyboard to others, it became apparent that this would be too confusing; so I put the flashback towards the end of the scene and had the woman walking down the path as my opening scene. Also, I wanted the woman's actions to be ambiguous, so I changed the flashback and didn't show the reasons for the murder, just the murder and aftermath.

This was the original story board, showing a man knocking on the door. However, during test screenings my target audience that this confused them, as they weren't sure whether the spirit was controlling the electrical appliances or this mysterious man, so I decided to cut these shots out.

Plot synopsis for my film Happy Anniversary

Plot Synopsis
A woman, Scarlett, comes home from work and sees glass smashed on the floor, she sighs as she tidies it up and mumbles something about her boyfriend not tidying it up. Things then start to go wrong; the light goes out, the radio turns on by itself, the television keeps turning itself on and off. She gets frustrated and worried as she can't turn the television off so just sits on the bottom of her stairs. She then sees a shadow coming from outside, slowly getting nearer towards her house. She runs upstairs and goes into a room and shuts the door. She says she’s glad her boyfriend’s in that room as she’s scared because weird things are happening. The camera then pans round to a shot of a duvet, with a bloody male leg coming out of it, then a shot of her boyfriend, Josh's, face with blood coming out of his ear and dead. It then cuts to a flashback of the two fighting and her smashing the glass around his head. Josh's face is shown again and she leans in and kisses him on the cheek. The titles Happy Anniversary then appear.