LO4 camera and lighting settings to be used in a short film

To create the right atmosphere and tone for our film we needed to choose the ideal camera settings to fit the film, to do this we used a darker theme, to accomplish this we used a high aperture to let in less light and a lower ISO to keep the digital noise down and help refine the colour's and contrasts. However some shots needed a low aperture, this is due to the limited access to equipment, for example, in one shot we needed it dark with no artificial light. The problem is it becomes too dark to see what's meant to be shown, to fix this a low aperture is needed. https://youtu.be/0fvsm6AIkqE

In shots with the creature in the back we needed to use the camera settings to adjust the depth of field, this 

keeps focus on the desired character and lets the creature go almost unnoticed, throwing the audience off when they think they could have seen something not right. Towards the end a shift in depth of field was needed as we had the focus shift from a character to the creature as he becomes aware of it behind him, this is important as it shows the audience he has become aware. Due to this being an outdoor scene we  needed to change the camera settings to work with the new location so we adjusted the lighting to keep it dark but keep the characters still visible. https://youtu.be/nL1MRc0-oLA

The reason these lighting and camera settings have been chosen is because It reflects the tone and the mood of the film, different locations require different settings, so it was very important to remember the settings used in locations when revisiting them. Different characters need different settings too in order to give them a different tone and personality which will be reflected by how they're lit, the creature being a dark and scary character is always kept in low key light, this adds to the mystery, and also covers the noticeable look of a costume. For the creature we need a high aperture and a low ISO and exposure, depth of field is important to because sometimes the creature needs too be out of focus as it's designed to throw the viewer off about what they just saw. https://youtu.be/6thr0okiqAU 

This film follows generic horror conventions, such as the way we used chiaroscuro lighting which is when you see part of subject and the other half is covered by darkness, for example in our film  when the creature is eating the corpses we see half of its body and the other half was non visible. Another use of a hotter convention is props and in our film we use a fake ripped off arm on the part where Ben dies and we later on see the creature holding it. As well as props another way our film makes out to be a horror is through the music as in the more calmer scenes the music is quite and calm however I the scenes where the creature is chasing them the music heavily intensifies. The POV shot of Ben is also used in most horror films to put the viewer in the antagonists shoes to make them feel like they are in the film.

Narrative was used to create some sort of story for the viewer to follow. The first use of narrative theory was the candles which are meant to represent the lives if the teenagers and the monster. Also near the end of the film Roland Barthes 1977 Enigma code at the end because we see the minster staring at the last character and the film finishes there which allows the viewer to image what's going to happen after. Another narrative theory in our film is binary opposition, and this is used in the first few acts. This is reinforced in the scene before the monster arrives and they do the ritual and the lighting is very bright and you can see everything one screen. However after the creature is summoned most go the lighting is dark and cold, the creature represents the binary opposition as the creatures presence drains all of the light from the house. Usually in horror movies binary opposition is applied towards the costumes, for example the main protagonists in this film the teenagers wear bright clothing whereas the creature is dark and barely visible.

To make the movie seem more realistic the teenagers had to be accurately represented so to do this we they all had to be around 17-18, as well as age the clothes they wore were very young and fashionable clothes to match their personalities and the way they spoke was the way they would actually speak in real life which includes explicit language as we wanted it to feel as authentic as possible.