1st: Camera
For shooting “Meng”, the horror movie we shot this time, we used two cameras in all. The first one is Sony X3, is the one we always use in class. However, because of the wrong set of gain, the quality of frames is quite low. Thus, we changed a camera to re-shoot. It calls Panasonic Lumix GH4. Its quality is 4K.
2nd: Story
At the beginning, we actually only had some pieces of ideas of different scary scenes instead of the whole story. Thus, the only thing we need to do is find the way to connect them together.
3rd: Light
The first time we did the filming, we use the red light in the dark situation. It works actually well, especially for the ghost part. However, it failed. We decided to film in the bright situation and edit it to dark in post-production. Almost all the location we filmed at the second time is outside. Thus, we did not use light for this time.
4th: Space
Finding the correct place is also a significant part of filmmaking. We used to plan to rent a place for shooting. One day, we tended to do a tour in RMIT. Then we found that all the place we imagine can be found in RMIT. This is so incredible. Thus, walk more before shooting.
5th: How to make the scene scarier
For this part, we have discussed and come up with some ideas.
- Make the character look small and powerless
- Set the scary scene in the safe place is more frightening.
- Keep some space behind the character. Leave the possibility of something showing up behind the character. Make the position creative and scary. Besides, make tension.
6th: Audio
We both searched on the internet and recorded by ourselves. We found sounds effects work better than music in a horror movie.
7th: Makeup & prop
For the ghost, we did not do makeup. It wouldn’t be seen after post-production. However, cloth and prop are important for the ghost. We bought a white dress and gush the red pigment on, make it look like blood. The ghost also always hold a doll. This idea is base on Annabell and we give this ghost a background story to make the role image more specific.
8th: what’s more?
It’s important to shoot one scene couple times. It may cost more time at that time. It actually saves more time in the future.