Shooting Practice: Found Footage Horror Scene Recreation

This post contains a mini project that helped us learn how to shoot a cinematic scene. We did this as a group.

Lesson Description

Our teacher told us to find a scene from a movie in our genre. Our task was to recreate it. Heres our scene side by side with the original scene we chose. Original Scene: Paranormal Activity 3. 

Storyboard

Here is our Storyboard that we made from our original scene

Problems and Solutions

Camera

Problems: 

1. We had problems with the steadiness of the camera since we used our hands to film. 

2. When filming the scene, leaks regarding my team members "legs" were seen.

Solutions: 

1. There was a feature on the camera app that cancels out shakiness to create a more smoother and clean finish.

2. We decided to crop the leaks out to save time from retaking the scene.

Next time: 

1. We will get ourselves a tripod that could help make the panning shot look more smooth, and help avoid shakiness.

2. Before filming, we need to prevent these problems by checking the camera set up beforehand.

Mise-en-Scene

Problems: 

1. Controlling the prop was challenging to face since we had to remove and throw props in one take.

2, The location we filmed in needed modifications to help replicate the set design form the original scene.

Solutions: 

1. Since my team member wouldn't have enough time to handle both taking and throwing the props, we decided to ask for help from our teacher which made it faster to complete.

2. We asked for permission to move the furniture to our likings and decided to help move it back after using it.

Next time:

1.  Since we only had 3 members in for today (we have 4 members) we'll try to get everyone involved next time since having more people will allow us to create better effect with the props.

2. We'll look for a more accurate environment since we were in school (school does not have a living room or a kitchen).

Edit

Problems:

1. Timing the scene so that the trash falls at the exact time with the original scene was difficult to edit.

2. The internet was really bad and took ages to export the video.

Solutions:

1. We decided to use cuts and slow-mos to help slower down the time and to cut out minutes to help accurately match the timing with the scene.

2. We decided to be more patient since we were the first ones to finish filming and to edit. We also decided to use our own personal hotspot to help provide better network.

Next time:

1. We will have to follow and time the scene properly to avoid doing small difficult editing.

2. We hope that our school wifi does not get slower and let us use our phones for internet.

Here's the screenshots of my team member's (Maisie) editing progress

Sound

Problems:

1. The sounds of the wind was very disturbing and was hard to get our sounds in.

2. During filming, there were other people in the same area filming their mini project. 

Solutions:

1. We decided to just use the original scene's audio so we wouldn't have to record a voice over.

2. They didn't start recording until we finished so it wasn't really our problem, but it was taking them too long to wait and we decided to rush up the recording.

Next time:

1. We will have to film inside where it's quiet and actually try recording voice overs to get better at those skills.

2. We'll have to film somewhere private where theres no one except us.

Behind-the-Scenes images

Reflection: This task was very fun because we were basically making a short clip. Because it was the first lesson back from winter break, this boost up my motivation to work better for my media project. I think this will really help our project to understand how special effects work and how to get the illusion of supernatural activities. Overall this task was really entertaining and a great way to start after my long holiday.