Case study: Lights Out Short Film

Lights out is Horror short film released in 2013, directed by David F. Sandberg. The movie is about a woman who is Haunted by mysterious entity that only exists in darkness. The short film is only three minutes long but manages to create a very tense and eerie atmosphere. The movie starts with a woman turning off the lights in her apartment and noticing a figure standing in the corner, the figure disappears as soon as the light turn on. This frightens her so she tapes light switch to stay on at all times during the night. Knowing the lights are on and her door is half open she comes to ease and decides to go sleep, but as soon as she goes to sleep the light start to flicker. she feels confused and frightened so she decides to bundle up end her duvet to feel safe. To stop the madness that is happening around her she unplugs the light switch next to her bed to turn it off and see the figure in front of her and it ends there. The movie builds tension effectively with the use of sound design and lighting. The performance by the actress, Lotta Losten (who is also the directors wife) is excellent, and she effectively conveys the fear of the character. The film had no budget and it only involved sandberg and his wife, it only involved two lights and two rooms. Sandberg only used a Blackmagic cinema camera with a Tokina 11-16 lens, a Zoom H4N with a Røde NTG1 microphone, a paper lantern from IKEA, a 375-watt photo bulb, a Chinese knockoff redhead light from eBay, a Manfrotto tripod, a homemade dolly with PVC pipe, a piece of shelving also from IKEA, and skate wheels. The special effects used to bring the entity to life is very impressive, and the use of practical effects adds to the overall creepiness of the movie. The way he did this was by using by using a split-screen technique. The climax of the movie is well done, and the ending is satisfying. Overall, Lights Out is an excellent horror short film It is well-directed, well-acted, and effectively uses sound design and lighting to create a scary atmosphere.

Pre-Production

Storyboard

Risk Assessment

Here's the Risk assessment:

Schedule

Job Roles

These are the Job Roles that have been assigned to our team, Callum is the producer as it is his Short Film. Carlos will be the director as he is the most knowledgeable in directing and has good leadership skills. Harvey will be the cinematographer as he will be dictating the overall look and visual style of the film. Damani will be assistant producer and will also be tasked to be the sound recordist During the production. Luke Has been tasked with Risk assessments, Budgets and will be helping on our research.

The job role that I have been assigned to is graphic design and location scouting my job is to make a movie poster for our short film, I also have to find suitable areas that fit in with the film. The unofficial job role that I have is runner. I will be helping out with small task and big task to make things run smoothly.

This will be the scene that Brett and Felix first meet. This interaction will be somewhat awkward between the two character's as they just met.

Script

This is the script for the first scene that's going to be shot in school. This will be a conversation between him and his teacher. This was a scene that we had original planned for. Things didn't go as planned so we scrapped it. The reason for this was because we had no actor for film who could play scene and when we did shoot the scene (using one of the crew member as the actors) it didn't go the way we envisioned it so we scraped it.

This is the 1st draft of Brett's note. This was intended to be for his daughter but we ultimately changed as things didn't work out. Throughout the filming process we had ultimately had cut out the things that were highlighted as we felt it was too much taking up too much space. And we kept in the green as we thought it was good and didn't need any changing

Locations

Here some Potential locations we have scouted out!

This is a potential Factory that might be used in our film.

Here is the link: https://www.google.com/maps/@51.5050605,0.0295637,3a,75y,270.21h,112.07t/data=!3m8!1e1!3m6!1sAF1QipN6PO65NAM-4Ftj6cvwR40hwq0C3afN0ltwF68s!2e10!3e11!6shttps:%2F%2Flh5.googleusercontent.com%2Fp%2FAF1QipN6PO65NAM-4Ftj6cvwR40hwq0C3afN0ltwF68s%3Dw203-h100-k-no-pi-0-ya176.64192-ro0-fo100!7i10240!8i5120

This location is in Beckton, near the docklands, this could be a great area to film in as it doesn't feel like its in London and its somewhere like the countryside.

Here is the link: https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@51.51066,0.078251,3a,75y,224.83h,66.85t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sZShaOiwq1fbk7VokmyRAmw!2e0!7i16384!8i8192

This is the location that could represent the main character loneliness because the bus is lonely.

Here is the link:https://www.google.com/maps/@51.5166374,0.0429446,3a,75y,166.34h,76.79t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sU9R72TDdF-_ur-8_LprEjQ!2e0!7i16384!8i8192

This Location is in the college campus and it is where the mechanic students build their cars. The reason for this is because all the places we called up for the factory wouldn't allow us to film in. So, we had to find a alternative and the car park was a perfect place.

Props And Costume

This is the Props that Brett would have.

Barrel: The barrel is the most important as it signifies who brett is and what he works as .
Bag: I believe brett will be wearing a bag because he will be traveling from and to place.
coffee table: I think his coffee table would be messy and all over the place, with half eaten food and drinks.

This is the costume that Brett peel will be wearing. As you can see he is wearing blue overall because he's a factory worker and he'll be working with deadly chemicals. The Mise en scene here is that he is a worker and the way the audience will find out is massive barrels that are shown.

Production

On Set Filming

Week 1:

The First day of this week we mostly discussed job roles and what everyone was going to do. This was the pre-production week this was the week that we spent calling up factories, schools and any location we need to film in. During this week I was looking for locations and and doing prop.

Week 2:

This was the production week. Next two week we spent filming. our first day of filming was set in the primary school because this was the opening scene

Week 3:

Week 4:

During this week we spent mostly re-shooting scene that we felt lacked a bit of content or didn't really fit in with the narrative. This was also the week were I started getting more comfortable with my groups as I'm starting to get to know them more. I'm also sharing my ideas and voicing my opinions, saying what works and what doesn't.

This was the post-production week, I personally spent this week working on the poster for our short film.

Here's me setting up the equipment

We also filmed Brett's first scene during this week. We filmed hours worth of footage during this day.

Here's me making sure the camera is operating correctly.

During this week we didn't have the boom mic to record sound so, our group decided to the mic on a chair right underneath the actors so it can record the sound

During this week we re-shot Brett and Felix first encounter, during the shoot it was raining and we didn't have an umbrella. so, I took the initiative and went to a nearby house ask for their umbrella so the expensive equipment doesn't get damaged.

This was filming our last scene and wrapping things up.

Another thing I did during this week was take the role as a "best boy". The group need someone on lighting so I took on the role. Here's me doing my job role

Cinematography and Directing

This why filmed this seen from the ground to show emphasises on Brett's deteriorating and he's invertible death.

During this day of filming our director wasn't in due to some school reasons. so me and my co-director took it upon ourselves to lead the crew.

The reason why took this close up shot was because I want the importance of the younger self to be known by the watcher. To also show Brett old self is would be disappointed if he was to see him in this self.

Here I am taking lead and directing the team on we should film.

Post-Production

This a poster that I had made on photoshop, here's how I made it:

Poster

I added the picture and then went to image, adjustment and then went on "black & white" to make it black and white.

I then adjusted the black and white and added the orange tint

Before I did the effect on the text the first thing I did was change it to a "smart object". A smart object a type of container that holds multiple layers within Photoshop.

I then added the liquify tool to the text to make all wavy and have the effect I want it too.

I also added drop-shadow, inner and outer glow to make it look more nice.

I duplicated the picture so I can cut out the head but keep the body so I can make the text look like it's behind the image.

The way I cut out the head was by using the pen tool was. I Then inverted it so i cut out everything else but the head.

Another Poster I Made

By using the pen tool the first thing I did was cut out the main character from the original photo so i can isolate him. I then went on to "Adjustment", "Black and white" to find a dramatic black and white tint I could use. I also then changed the tint to brownish orangey colour.

The next thing I did was duplicate the picture and use the pen tool so I can cut out the head to put the text in the background.

I also added the translation of Noli Me Flere around the body of the main character so it can out line him.

Final Draft

I first used the pen tool to cut out the main character and made him really big.

The next thing I did was change the main character to black and white. I then added the noise filter to it to make it grainy and look bit old. I also changed the back ground to a solid yellow

I Then went onto google and found a chimney and factory. used the pen too to cut it out and put noise to make it look grainy

The next thing I did was add some clouds to the background to add some life to it.

I then added title. I did was change it to a "smart object", went on liquify and changed the title to make seem wet and toxic. I also added drop shadow to the text to pop it out more.

This is the final poster, I made a lot of tweaks and changes but I think this is the best poster I made so far. The reason for this is because shows the factories and gives a really surreal/animated feel to it. I believe if someone was to see this they would want to go and and watch because of how friendly it looks.

Overall Evaluations

During Pre-production the tasks I completed were: Location scouting, and props. I was tasked to go find suitable locations to film in and give it to the permissions team to go and ask for the permissions to film on sight. During production, I was the runner and was helping and assisting everyone in the group just so that filming can go smoothly. I took on unofficial roles like "best boy" and when our "Boom operator" wasn't in I took on the role. During production our director wasn't in for day so I took on that role to help direct everyone on set. Post-production I was the teams graphic designer, I was entrusted to make the film posters which I did. I think it went well and everyone was happy with it. I think we achieved the initial idea and what we wanted to come to life during story boarding. Of course along the way we came across a few bumps so, we tweaked it so it can fit better. I think the overall aesthetic of the film was just perfect we shot certain scene in 4:3 and others in 16:9. The thing we could definitely work on is the sound, for example in the scene when Brett meets Felix that entire scene was recorded on the phone we took on to Adobe Audition fixes the sound up the quality got better but I think it can use some overall fixing.

I think our strengths for this production was that everyone in our group worked together really well and we all complimented each other one way or another. we all helped each other when we need it for example splitting the work load or encouraging each other. I think a weakness we could improve on was more involvement within the group for example, I think we could have split the roles evenly so we could all improve on our individuals skill by taken turns in certain things like directing or editing. My main strengths for this project was on the graphic designing side of things I got to creatively work on posters and made many drafts until I felt like I found the one that was perfect. My main weakness for this short film was that I wasn't vocal enough to voice my opinions. I think I had really good ideas but just didn't speak up until the last week because I was afraid of what the others in my group would have thought. Some challenges we faced as a small production group was lateness. There was some people in our group that were constantly late or didn't show up for certain days I think this held the group back and made it even more challenging to film because certain people take up more than one role to filling for them. For the future when I work in another team is that we all understand our roles properly and play our position. I also would like to have big and more impactful role like Director, editor or cinematographer.