The document analyzes the production of a student documentary project about ghost hunting. It describes the research conducted on existing ghost hunting documentaries and horror films to understand common techniques. These included the use of night vision cameras, which the students emulated using green lighting. It also details the filming process, including the shots used for different scenes. Post-production involved adding a voiceover to improve flow. Overall feedback was positive, praising the script and adherence to documentary conventions regarding characters and roles.

1. Lorna Inglis
The Haunting

2. I looked at existing documentaries based on ghost
hunting such as „Most haunted‟ and „Ghost Hunters‟
to get a feel of how a documentary is set out who is
used where and how. I also looked at some horror
films such as „Paranormal Activity‟ and „The Blair
witch Project‟ to get to know the paranormal/ghost
genre and how they film the „paranormal‟ using what
techniques to show up „ghosts‟. In all my research I
found they use night vision settings on cameras. In
our filming we took aspects of all these, such as the
night vision. But we had a few difficulties with that
due to cameras not having these settings so we
improvised with green light in a drama studio which
lit all the people and angled the camera so it didn‟t
look like a room light and then used after effects on
the footage. In experimenting with night vision I felt
this method worked the best on emulating the
night vision, we also tried using torches and
other lights but we nothing else lit enough of
the people and room. We used the green light
along with camera tripod and sound kit to
create the affects through the „night vision
section‟ in majority of our filming we used a
microphone on a boom except in the interviewing
scenes where we used tie clip microphones.

3. For the opening shot of the presenter I used a medium
shot with the pub setting in the background. We used this
to establish presenter and setting in the first shot and so
the presenter could talk about the surroundings. For this
we used natural light and angled it so there wasn‟t too
much and it was on the presenter nicely. To introduce the
„paranormal expert‟ I used lots of short cuts from medium
shots, over-the-shoulder shots, extreme close-ups and low
angled shots to include his knowledge with the
book, quirky personality and interest in the paranormal.
In the other shots with the presenter I used a close-up shot
and we used a little torch to light but had a tiny bit of
reflection in the glasses which is what we tried to avoid.
We lit it so it was quite dark and mysterious as he talks
about the night.

4. In the green room it starts with a close-up of the
paranormal expert to explain what is going on in the room
with the group. Then to a medium shot to establish all of
the people in the room. The lighting is used to emulate a
„night vision‟ camera setting but done with green strip
lights in a studio. Also in editing the colour is slightly
adjusted with video effects in premiere pro. Then in the
„reviewing‟ section of the film I used a variety of shots like
over-the-shoulder and some close-ups but also a cut back
to footage being spoken about fitting with the script and a
zoom on the footage over-the-shoulder to get a better
feeling of the technical jargon they are using. Then it goes
back to green room where the camera follows the upset
girl. This makes it seem more real as someone is clearly
scared by the „paranormal‟.

5. After filming and reviewing all of the footage in
place with majority of editing done we found
watching the documentary it didn‟t flow as well
as we wanted it to and not everything was clear.
Then we recorded a voiceover straight into
garageband and added it to the film just to carry
over from one scene to the next. We used the
presenter for the voiceover so he could carry the
whole documentary and the audience got used to
his voice. Also at this point found a sound clip to
be the soundtrack for the documentary which was
at the beginning and repeated at the end for the
title sequence and end credits.

6. Researching the documentary style I found
most had a presenter who lead the whole
documentary through, and introduced the
people in the documentary and spoke
about a brief history of the setting. They
also used an investigating team consisting
of camera men, paranormal
experts, technical experts, and in some
they take in the public to scare them. In
our film we choose a small group of
people to feature in it being a
presenter, paranormal expert, a ghost, a
member of the public and the technical
team. This group of people made it seem
more like a documentary and having a
„member of the public‟ in the group made
it seem more realistic and also made it so
we could include the horror and fear
element.

7. For the ancillary tasks I made a radio advert and a newspaper advert. It was
extremely difficult to find examples of these in the right context but I ended up just
looking at newspaper advert for sports programmes and channels, how big the
adverts were and how they were laid out and what information they have on
them.

8. For the newspaper advert I used
the presenter as the main subject of
the image. I used photoshop to put
it all together layering 2 images
(establishing shot of
pub, presenter). I used straight
forward text just to get the basic
information about the documentary
across to the audience. And to keep
in with the documentary genre it is
factual. Then I decided how I
would like to display the text in the
most clear way and using the font
from the filming. After reviewing
the first few attempts I then made
the image darker using the
„brightness/contrast‟ tool on
photoshop and „burn‟ tool in some
areas.

9. For the radio advert then looked on youtube and used the
teaser trailer conventions and what information they
include. For the first draft of the radio advert I used
garageband and recorded straight into garageband using
the presenter of the documentaries voice so the audience
has a clear link if they hear the advert then watch the
programme and it will reassure them it is the same thing. I
just used sound clips to create the eerie feeling behind the
voice to create suspense and an uneasy feeling. On
reflection it felt more like a horror film advert than a
documentary advert so I then redid it making the sounds a
bit more paranormal and the script more direct and factual
like a documentary.
The three tasks work together as a marketing strategy by
all linking with the presenter so the audience knows they
are all about one documentary and all back eachother up
using the same times channel and information as eachother
and the same theme and setting.

10. All of my audience feedback mentions the how „the script is well written‟.
Where as I feel we could‟ve spent a bit longer perfecting the script before
hand although I feel it worked well with the documentary as it was
factual. „You observe the conventions of the “Most Haunted” or “Ghost
Hunting” documentary skilfully with the transition from the spooky
presenter on location to the experts analysing the footage well managed‟.
I feel this is something we paid a lot of attention to and I am glad that
people picked up on it to make it flow we spent a lot of time establishing
each character and what role they play in the documentary.

11. Overall I think our documentary followed typical
conventions of a ghost hunting documentary by
following techniques displayed in the research
footage. I also think it worked well as we had
good audience feedback. The three tasks all
worked well together and linked appropriately.
Working with another person also was a good
experience as we both had ideas but were able to
rule out the bad ideas between us.