HOLLOWAYS GARDEN - RESEARCH

  While in the pre-production stages of the short fantasy film, I carried out lots of research into the best ways to portray the story on screen. I looked at lots of fantasy films, including the works of Guillermo del Toro (Pans Labyrinth, The Devils Backbone, Cronos). Pans Labyrinth was a big inspiration for me when researching for Holloways Garden, they are similar in many ways, for example both are dark fantasies aimed at an older audience, and both have Labyrinth scenes. Although I took inspiration from this film, it was important that it didn't look too similar, especially the Labyrinth scenes, as I wanted to add my own personal style into the aesthetics. Pans Labyrinth is a brilliant example of what can be achieved without a heavy use of special effects, and how you can create tension through seeing little and using sound design to an advantage.

  I realised that the Labyrinth scene would be very difficult to pull off with such low budget, as we could not build a plausible set with the money/time we had. Therefore we came up with the idea that the audience see little, only Victoria as she holds the lantern and walks around the Labyrinth, and then the rest would be built into the sound design, ie hearing her voice echo to trick the scale of the labyrinth and make her feel more alone, and hearing monsters and other scary sounds. We are using Victoria's mind as a way of getting round this, as we will generate different fears in the different stages of the Labyrinth, putting the audience in the shoe's of Victoria, as they will be guessing what is around them as much as Victoria. Again, sound design will play a big part in this.

  http://vimeo.com/43912784

This short film is a prefect example of what can be achieved through lighting and sound design on a low budget. The film is clearly done in a studio, we aim to do a similar thing with the labyrinth scenes in Holloways Garden.

  As I had never filmed underwater before, I did some research to figure out the best way to do it on a low budget, and watched lots of different films/videos that have underwater sequences to work out how I wanted the sequence to look. I watched the XX - Chained music video, and loved how the bubbles looked and how the shards of light cut through the water.

  It was suggested that I use a GoPro camera for this shoot as they are simple to use and waterproof, but I do not like the aesthetic that a GoPro produces, and it would not fit with the rest of the film, therefore I used my Canon 6D, which I had used for the rest of the film, and used an underwater case. It is possible for DSLR cameras to over heat when underwater and in a cheap case such as the one I used, so therefore we did not have much filming time as I did not want to risk it.

  I needed a way to light Victoria in the labyrinth, that would move with her, as a static light would ruin the illusion of the lantern giving the light. and it would also reveal the surroundings which we did not want to do. I researched ways in doing this, and the best way on a cheap budget was to use a Chinese lantern, with a tungsten bulb inside, and then walk alongside the camera with this light, thus giving the illusion of the lantern giving the light. I also bought a dimmer kit to attach to the bulb, meaning that I could manually dim the bulb whilst filming, emulating the flicker of the lantern.