Production

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Welcome to the Production!

👻 🎃 👻 ☠️ 🎃 ☠️ 🎃

 

Commencement of Project

The production was schedueled for night of 1st February. As planned, the shoot was done and completed in the whole night and the editing was completed the next day.

Filming and Lighting

I filmed my movie with an Iphone 15 camera which has a 48 MP - 26 mm wide camera. Along with that we used a ring light to assist me as the scene had to be shot in the dark and it made my face clear. Also, the first shot I took, was not of the place I usually live. I captured that establishing shot some time ago when I went on a trip and that matched my film's ambience so I added it there. Most of lighting the film was lowkey to give a gloomy effect, but I also used chiaroscuro lighting at places too.

Acting

I was the protagonist as well the only actor of my film... For the start of the film, no serious acting skills were needed as a boy writing script was to be shown. However in the upcoming scenes, the repetitive smacking of the door firstly made him shock and then later, scared. Here, the expressions played a significant role as they give the viewers the ability to relate to the situation and make the scene seem real.  Towards the end of the film, the protagonist has seen something upstairs and had to be shown running away from it. However, as there wasn't any place he hides under the bed. There, I acted out to be holding my breath so it doesn't create any noise. This added a layer of thrill for the spectators as in the background everyone can see someone standing and then leaning. The film ends with the protagonist turning around as the screen blackouts. 

Cinematography

The opening scene displayed a house or the location where the scene is set. An establishing shot was used to do that so the whole area can be seen. Followed by that the hands of the protagonist are shown. An aerial shot captures the scene as the camera moves to a close-up shot of the protagonist writing. His voiceover plays in the background which explains the viewers about what he is writing. A standard focus is used which helps to focus the protagonist only and blur the background a little bit as it would help me later. 

The setup of our lights near the desk

The next scene shows the door in the background opening all of a sudden as someone has ran through it. As the background was a little bit blurred, it created a sense of suspense and thrill in the audience while the protagonist gets up and closes the door. However, as he returns to his script, the ending of the story was already written with the protagonist being dead. To add realism to the scene, I used a POV shot coupled with a handheld movement and to emphasise on the word "DIE" I used a close-up shot. The following scene has a high angle which shows the protagonist weak or terrified. 

Then again, the camera sets to close-up of the protagonist with the standard focus. Firstly, the POV of the ghost is shown opening the door. Then the blurred background shows it standing and again running away after smacking the door. This time, the protagonist had to see what was happening so he had to move out. For that, I preffered a dolly movement which would capture his motion and would be easy to execute too. Here the climax takes place, where the protagonist switches on his flashlight and gazes upstairs. This scene too was shot using a POV with the handheld movement which injected the spectators with a pace of urgency. 

Making the ghost ready for his scene 

The protagonist runs in the room again after seeing something as a dutch angle paired with the zoom in movement records his expressions. Sound effects like echo of footsteps and heavy breathing were added to add more thrill to the scene. In the ending scene, the protagonist hides under the bed. A close-up shot captures his countenance, while the background is set in standard focus due to the upcoming scen. Someone in the background arrives with only the feet visible as soon, the hands become visible too. The last shot is of the protagonist with a zoom-in as he screams and the film ends. 

 

How I set the light under the bed 

Sound Recording

There wasn't much need for recording of the sound as I decided to use downloadable free sounds. However, at some places sound recording was necessary as it didn't match the on-screen visuals. Firstly was the voiceover of me which obviously had to be in my voice. I recorded it with the mic of an Iphone 15 and used the mp3 audio to add it to my video. After that I had the heavy breathing sounds which were very hard to find. Even if I found any, they didn't match my acting and were becoming hard to integrate. Hence, I did the same for this and recorded it and later added it. 

Some of the sounds and their locations:

The soundtrack             - https://youtu.be/1tGfDASXmds?si=2FVdAcQH3vA_erQ5

Sound FX (Heartbeat) - https://youtu.be/TgZjYIPPe50?si=OJvHBiH3k26seRVX

                    (Footsteps) - https://youtu.be/mPgGg4MJKKc?si=TCA3VvlMLYm3n7su

                       (Writing)  - https://youtu.be/si_rJ2_PoXk?si=J456SxQl5Nq-_PkP

This is how I did the production of my film, and my research helped me alot as I used the shots, sounds and editing techniques I learned about earlier.