Production Process

Pre-Production 

The pre-production stage of a project is where planning takes place before the filming and editing and sets the overall vision of the project. Aspects involved in pre-production include; working out the shoot location, casting, planning a shots list, storyboard and script. story-boarding ideas can smooth out  production and also the post-production process when editing. 

As preparation for filming, I therefore began by creating a shot-list and twine story to plan the kind of shots I wanted to create. As this artefact is going to be interactive, giving choice and control to the audience, I needed to plan a variety of shots which would steer the narrative in different directions.
Following the 'critical path' model, I created a narrative which the audience interact with and decide their destiny. 


https://docs.google.com/document/d/12aOO7lOEyRNUJD4qjIiwtCVW7BigdMgTO6Q6yn9_1X4/edit 

Production

Production begins once you hot record. This process will capture all the scenes and information captured in the pre-production process.


I began filming, locating the film style artefact in a woodland area. I decided to mainly use a GoPro Hero5 camera, as I decided this would be the most accessible to portraying a first-person perspective as this camera provides maximin view of the operator’s surroundings. I then thought about placing this camera on a smooth tracking/ stabilizer apparatus although decided against this decision as I wanted to create the impression that the player is walking through the woods and therefore used the camera handheld. The use of a handheld camera also creates the impression of intensity, and this evident as this is a popular camera technique used in the horror genre.

I believe the choice of a wide angle camera here was effective, as the character/ player looks up, the trees appear to be looming over as they stand mighty and tall, which therefore adds to the feeling of appearing small and vunerable, which is the feeling I wished to create to add to the intensity of the game.


Other locations of the production also included; shots by a lake/ stream running through the forest,
outside of a castle building and 'crossroads' along the woodland paths.
As well as the player interacting with locations and objects, I also used an actor to act as a 'live obstacle' for the player to tackle. This live obstacle takes form of a 'killer horse'- a character who attempts to stop the player from escaping.

 I also used a DSLR camera to pick up small detailed shots of the players surroundings, which are mainly used in the introduction of the game to establish the setting and to visually make the artefact more pleasing.

Post Production

Through editing footage in post-production, it is possible to change the intention of the movie. I have found this to be true within my post production process. 

The use of colour grading tools and the addition of music and sound is another part of post production which is essential in creating the atmosphere of the content. For instance I colour graded the film to create a cold atmosphere using mainly a blue tint, as this is a colour often used in movies to create an uneasy atmosphere. Different colours in film can provoke different thoughts and emotion to the audience. The colour blue creates a cold atmosphere and build tensions and so I used this mainly throughout with the intention of creating the feeling of isolation to the audience.

As mentioned in my research, escape style games often use a ambient soundtrack to create the impression of complete isolation. Though as I wished to also build tension and a sense of urgency, especially when the player must make a decision, I found a free to use track which does just this. 
This track is played at a quiet level throughout most scenes. As well as the use of a backing track, I also used natural sounds recorded in production, such as the use of forest sounds such as birds chirping and the sound of water flowing from the lake. The sound of heavy breathing is also used, especially within the introduction to create the impression of anxiety and isolation as the character is completely alone, and vulnerable. 

Another effect added in post production, is the use of text  to provide context to the narrative. The use of animation text, with an 'American typewriter' font and sound effect to accompany this creates the sense of tension. Additionally, the lexical choices directly address the audience, which would hopefully help to engage the viewer and encourage them to continue watching.


One of the very final stages of post-production was creating the interactivity aspect. Using Eko I created a critical path which consists of the player  interacting with obstacles and cross roads which they must choose from, to direct the narrative in different directions.