Welcome to the blog OliRic Production's Richard Mclachlan, charting the evolution of the opening to the new feature film Acts of Repulsion, jointly produced with Oli Preston, click here to view his youtube account. You'll be able to see the final cut on my youtube channel, click here to view my youtube account, as well as various short videos and podcasts right here on this blog! Enjoy, and please feel free to comment/add suggestions!



Monday 31 January 2011

All - Acts of Repulsion Discussed Changes

  • More extreme establishing shot
  • Low angle through gate *sound of footsteps* - hand reaching for door. Dialogue: Shhhhh keep it down
  • Adds narrative enigma
  • Use a match on Action
  • Use close-ups for when characters are talking (180 degree rule)
  • Vary shot angles
  • For Sound – use a boom-microphone, voice recorder or re-record dialogue in future
  • Don’t pan or zoom with the camera
  • Build on the haunted house image
  • Use fade ins and outs to show time has passed – use a bottle full before fade out and in. After effect bottle empty
  • Same with sleeping bags. Before effect sleeping bags are rolled up. After bags are rolled out
  • Shot of outside – night – owl cooing?
  • No violence on screen – isn’t as effective
  • 4 people (2 male, 2 female)
    A couple consisting of a scream queen and her boy friend who is very masculine
    A final girl
    Another male

 

All - Acts of Repulsion Rough Cut Feedback


Saturday 29 January 2011

All - Acts of Repulsion Rough Cut

Here is the rough cut of Oli and mine AS Coursework task titled 'Acts of Repulsion', we have both uploaded the footage onto facebook to get feedback on how we could improve it. We have yet to add idents and a soundtrack. We are hoping to get this done within the next week.



Click here to view feedback for this rough cut.

Thursday 27 January 2011

RM - Audience


Due to the film being in the slasher genre and taking inspiration from the Hostel (Eli Roth, 2005) and Friday the 13th (Marcus Nisthul, 2008). The audience that would enjoy this film most would be the 18 to late 20s age range and is targeted for both males and females. However we feel that the male gender would prefer to see and enjoy this film. Although the opening scene contains no blood and the killing is off camera the audiences does sees the victim being dragged down some stairs and an axe being swung at the camera it BBCF Certificate would be an 18.
    It can be argued that the ethnicity of the cast impacts on a productions success at the box office and that non-Caucasian actors should be included to widen a productions appeal. However there are examples of productions that do not apply to this rule for example The Lost Boys (Joel Schumacher, 1987). We consider that ethnicity is not relevant to our plot and would appeal to a mixed audience.
   With have tried to avoid targeting a specific socio economic group by having a cast centred on teenagers with little to identify their class background. Our aim is that teenagers in general empathise with the characters.
   With 'Acts of Repulsion' we are trying to target a British audience too the slasher genre, by using stereotypes that are associated with Britain. For example teenagers being rebellious and always causing trouble. We are also trying to attract a British audience to the genre by using a British cast.
   We feel that fans of the Friday the 13th, Hostel and Halloween franchises would enjoy this film as we took inspiration from those franchises to produce the film. We also feel fans of the slasher genre would enjoy this film as it is part of that genre.

Wednesday 19 January 2011

All - Script Draft

Script

RM - Deconstruction of Saw



Saw (James Wan, 2004)
Budget:$1,200,000
US Takings: $55,153,403
UK Takings: £6,645,485
Seven films in the franchise

No establishing shot just a shot of the main character underwater

Eerie music is played though out most of the opening scene
Saw appears – like it is underwater (fits in with the opening seconds of the film)
Shots used: Mainly close-ups for the main character (Adam) and medium shots for the other character (Lawrence). Shots are also limited due to the location, which is a large bathroom. Long shots are mainly used as point of views for the two characters.
Light: Darkened room – characters vulnerable, when lights are turned on characters are dazed for a few seconds.
Props used are: a pistol, a bullet, a cassette player, two cassettes, dead body, blood, toilet, two envelops with the characters names on, clock, key, bath, bath plug, black bin liner, two saws and two sets of chains and feet cuffs.
Narrative enigma of the voice on the two cassettes speaks in riddles to Adam on how to win the game but tells Lawrence exactly how to win the game – to kill Adam by 6 on the clock Alison and Diana will be killed – mental torture.
Always a sense of panic in the opening – doesn’t help with the two cassettes telling each other what their objective is with the other one listening to it at the same time.
At the end of the opening scene the screen turns green signify a flashback?
No deaths in the opening scene
15 mins 48 seconds

Tuesday 18 January 2011

All - Call Sheet Draft

Call Sheet

All - Production Schedule

Film Date: 22nd January

All of the film will be shot on the day with most, if not all, of it will be filmed mid-morning (No specific time yet – we will be able to confirm it if the next few days)

Location: An empty property on Ashlands Road, Ilkley, West Yorkshire.
We have obtained permission from the owner and the estate agent to use the house for the production of our film.

Cast:
Friend 1 - Ben Braithwaite
Friend 2 - Kyle Meeson
Friend 3 – Josh Spence
Attacker – Patrick Godden

Crew:
Richard McLachlan and Oli Preston

Update: Filming started at 11am and went on till 1pm on Saturday 22nd January

All - Treatment

Treatment

All - Podcast 1: Oli and myself introducing ourselves

Sunday 16 January 2011

All - Company Idents

Production Company: Oli & Richard Films

Distributers: One Slasher Films
   After some discussion we thought that 'One Slasher Films' was quite catchy and would tie in with the genre.u

Update:
Production Company: 'OliRic'
   For the 'logo' a oil barrel would tip over, spilling out a liquid and spelling out 'OliRic'
Distributors: $lash Films
   For the 'logo' for $lash Films we thought that a weapon would go across the screen. The weapon we thought of using is a scythe with blood on spelling out $lash Films.

Update (2nd Feb):
Production Company: 'OliRic'


   We made the front look like Oli as much as possible, as it is a play on the words Oil Rig.


Distributors: '$lash Films'

   We made slashes appear on screen over a red background with '$lash Films' appearing over the slashes in red (signifying blood).

RM - 'Acts of Repulsion' Location

The location for our film is an abandoned house which is currently for sale. We have got permission from the owners and estate agent to use the property for the production of the film.


The house is located between the cemetery and a local funeral director. The house was also built in the Victorian period as a lodge to the cemetery and is current empty. All these add to the effect. It is pictured below.



Update: Email from the estate agents confirming the use of the house.

Ian Briggs Dacres Email

RM - Lighting Test

A series of lighting tests were recorded to see how external light conditions would effect filming.

Wednesday 12 January 2011

All - Acts of Repulsion Update

Date of Filming: Either weekend of 15th - 16th or 22nd – 23rd January
   We have asked a local estate agent if it would be possible to use an empty house which is currently on the market and we are waiting to confirm a date when we can film. If this isn’t possible we will use our second idea.

Location: Unknown (Due to the reasons above)

Characters:
Friend 1 - Ben Braithwaite
Friend 2 - Kyle Meeson
Friend 3 -Josh Spence
Attacker - Patrick Godden
Friend 4 (Only needed if we are doing the second idea) -

Both of us have agreed to star in the film if we can’t find enough/suitable people to star in the film but only as a last resort.

Props: Casual, normal teenager clothes
           Axe (Or any suitable weapon)
           Beer bottles or cans filled with suitable liquid e.g. for a clear liquid we will use water
           Sleeping bags (Only for idea one)

Update on Location: An empty house located in Ashlands Road, Ilkley. The property benefits from its situation which is close to a cemetery

All - Required changes to Act of Repulsion: Storyboard Idea 2

This is the storyboard for the new idea, we drafted out in Required changes to Act of Repulsion Part 1. This idea will be used if we don't get permission from the local estate agent or the owner of a house.


Acts of Repulsion Idea 2

All - Required changes to Act of Repulsion: Storyboard Idea 1

This is the storyboard for moving the film 'Acts of Repulsion' inside.

Acts of Repulsion Idea 1

In the end this was the film we produced.

All - Required changes to Act of Repulsion Part 1

In the original film idea our initial thoughts were that the film would be set at night in the local woods, due to weather conditions in January we rejected the idea of filming in the woods at as it would be too cold.

Due to lighting conditions at night filming will be difficult without specialist equipment.

The original concept there was a shot of inside the tent with one of the characters trying to get to sleep as the character turns towards the camera a silhouette of figure dragging a body moves across the tent. On the 5th January we experimented with the idea in daylight but it wasn’t successful. As it wasn’t successful we concluded it would be at night.

As a result of our work we have had to develop new ideas, which follow:

Instead of camping outside in the local woods, we could move production of the film into a house. Ideally an empty property e.g. a property for sale.

A more radical idea is to take the best elements of the original plan and develop them into a new script.
Draft:
At the start of the film there is an establishing shot of an ordinary house, a group of friends walk into shot and enter the house. To show time has passed there will be a few seconds of footage showing them drinking and having fun. After about 30 seconds of film, the group (except one person as he/she lives in the house) leave the house. Whilst walking home together one of them goes down a side street to get home. The other friends continue walking the route they were taking until they hear a scream. As soon as they hear this they run back and find a body lying on the floor. When they turn the body over it is their friend. Whilst they look down in shock of finding their friend dead the camera shot changes to a figure walking up to them from behind. When the two friends turn around the figure attacks them with a weapon, as the figure attacks them there is a point of view shot with the weapon coming down and the screen goes black.

Saturday 8 January 2011

RM - Deconstruction of Hostel

Hostel (Eli Roth, 2005)
Budget: $4,500,000
US Takings: $47,277,326
UK Takings: £4,216,561
Dolby Digital    36 seconds then a warning about copyright
Screen Gems
LGF (Lions Gate Film)
Next Entertainment Raw Nerve
   
Company credits (except Dolby Digital and copyright warning) takes 40 seconds

Water dropping and the sound of scrubbing – but of what?
Shot of pipes with water dropping out of
Shot of Instruments – used for what? – and someone scrubbing a body, wall or wall in the background.
Foam running down a wall with an operation coat to the left of the shot – is the character a surgeon in his operating theatre.
A jar of water, red colour – diluted blood? – Scissors being cleaned in the jar – audience can hear the sound of metal on glass.
Water dripping down into a puddle of water, slowly stopping sound of water stops.
Blood being washed down a drain. Gurgling sounds to accompany the shot.
All shots above are close ups with a blurred background.
Long shot of a chair centered, looks like people can be strapped into it – key part of the film – door being closed with a squeaks – screen goes black.
Throughout the scene someone is whistling.
2 mins 11 seconds

Monday 3 January 2011

RM - Horror Research - Wes Craven

Wes Craven is an American film director and writer. Craven is probably best known for creating horror films including A Nightmare on Elm Street and Wes Craven’s New Nightmare (the seventh instalment in the A Nightmare on Elm Street series) as well as the three Scream films (with a fourth to be added this year), The Last House on the Left and The Hills Have Eyes Part I and II.
Although A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984) was a success with takings of $10.8 million in America after having a budget of $1.8 million. Craven refused to work on a squeal (A Nightmare on Elm Street: Freddy’s Revenge (1895)) because he didn’t want to make it an ongoing franchise, Jack Sholder directed the film. However when the third instalment of the franchise came (A Nightmare on Elm Street: Dream Warriors (1987, Chuck Russell)) he was one of the writers and intended it to be the last in the series. However due to the success of the film the series returned in 1988 with A Nightmare on Elm Street: The Dream Master (1988, Renny Harlin). Craven again returned to the franchise with the seventh instalment Wes Craven’s New Nightmare (1994). In 2010 A Nightmare on Elm Street (Samuel Bayer) was re-made, Craven has expressed his disapproval of the film being remade, mainly due to not being consulted about the project unlike other re-makes which he has helped produced including The Last House on the Left and The Hills Have Eyes Part I and II.

As well as directing, writing and producing films Craven has also starred in some of his own including Wes Craven’s New Nightmare, Scream, Scream 2, and Scream 3.