Paranormal Activity – It was said to be the scariest movie ever made, with the secret camera scary audiences on the TV commercials, so just before Christmas we sat round and watched Paranormal Activity.
So much here can be learned about the human psyche, and the mass hysteria syndrome or what is after all just good marketing.
While the film did have elements of psychological horror with the home made feel to it, the scariest thing about the movie for me was the gross takings of over $100m against the initial $11k that the film took to make along with the camera and Sony Vegas editing software.
So to kill a bit of time over the holiday period I made my own version, and included one of my all time favorite bands.
A Day to Remember was one of those films when in pre-production you get a great idea like a sudden bolt of lightening… Or something like that!
The only brief was the title and the rest I had carte blanch on, so the creative juices flowed.
I wanted to highlight a subject that make people think, and what a better way to do that than get people to unwittingly participate and watch the film consciously, so sub-titles had to be used, and the subject was dyslexia.
Fellow student and Frenchman Camille Clerk kindly agreed to be the star of the film and speak in his native tongue. Now all I needed was two more actors, and a film location, and after that we were ready to roll.
The storyline to A Day to Remember, is a man played by Clerk talking about his challenging experiences growing up with dyslexia, that is until he met up with Mr. Greaves, a teacher that specialises in helping pupils with dyslexia.
The story unfolds to reveal its conclusion and relationship between the two main characters.
Filming:
A very simple set up. Camera was a Sony DSR 570 16:9 with a track and dolly for the seating shots. I wanted to pass in front of a pillar, unfortunately none were available so I improvised with the end of a bookcase which worked well for the transition.
The camera shots were slow but continuously moving using what I call investigative shots where the camera moves close then to each side of the subject as if to look for information.
Lighting was a single redhead for the seating shots and natural lighting for the others
Audio was provided via a wireless Sony radio mic.
All in all, the film worked out well, with the all important storyline being one that is relevant to thousands of people, and each element (mood, camera angles, lighting, music and editing) complimenting each other.
