Final Film Preparation- Survival

Introduction:
To prepare for my final film piece, and to decide how I want it to look when I'm editing, I need to do a series of plans and brainstorms. I first started off by drawing my ideas and scenes on a basic storyboard, this can help me whilst filming and it will help my actors too. I am going to plan out the dialog, the camera shots and also the music I will use to add an atmosphere.


Storyboards:
























Scripts:
As there is dialog in many different places, I am going to write it out in scenes, just because it will make it easier for myself and my actors to read.


In the woods:


Seth is keeping his girlfriend, Elly safe, as they don't know what to expect next, suddenly they hear Luke (he will be out of view to the audience)


Luke: Seth! Seth I need your help.
Seth: Luke?
Luke: Mate I need your help now! Please come help me.


Seth turns to Elly


Seth: Wait here.


kisses her forehead and runs away.


Elly's disappearing act:


Seth returns from helping Luke,with Luke also by his side to find Elly is gone, he looks frantically behind trees and in bushes, Luke helps too, but she is nowhere to be seen.


Luke: Elly? Elly where are you? Elly? (Searching in bushes and trees) 
Seth: Elly? Elly? Elly? Elly? ELLYYYYYY!?


*Seth is in a state of hysteria by now, worried sick to where his girlfriend has gone, from this, we go into the chase scene*


Before the Chase Scene
Seth (to Luke): Mate, go find somewhere safe, i'll find you when I have found Elly.
Luke: I'm not leaving you by yourself.
Seth: (With a serious look on his face) Just go.


(Luke, debates for a second, but then runs off, Seth then goes in the opposite direction to find Elly)
 
Flashbacks:


During the flashbacks that Seth has when he realizes she is dead, there is a few lines of dialog


Eating ice creams:
Laughter and squeals only.


On the swings:
Elly: I can go higher than you.
Seth: No! I am gonna beat you!
*swinging*
Elly: I'm going higher!


Stealing Seth's Hat:
Elly: *dangling it in front of Seths face, withdrawing it quickly when Seth makes an attempt to get it* you want it back?
Seth: Yes! Give it here!
Elly: Come get it! *She runs away* 


Seth chases after her and finally catches up with her, he grabs her from behind and swings her around until he gets it back. There is laughter.


Production Schedule:


To keep on track and to make sure I meet the deadline, I will prepare a Production Schedule so I can keep on track.


Thursday 18th November: 
2:15-3:00; Storyboards, and other preparation
3:00-3:40; Updating Blog and uploading pictures of Storyboards.


Saturday 20th November:
11:00am- 11:30am; Prepare the actors e.g. get them into costume, go over their lines.
11:30am- 1:00pm; Film the first six scenes.
(Opening running Scene, Seth leaving Elly to save Luke, Elly by herself, Luke and Seth looking for Elly, Luke leaving Seth and the build up to the chase)
1:00pm-1:30pm; Film the Chase Scene and him discovering Elly.
1:30pm-1:35pm: Film the final scene (Seth seeing something) 


1:35pm-2:15pm: Go back to the house, make Elly and Seth look clean and normal.
2:15pm-2:45pm: Go back to the setting and film the flashbacks.
2:45pm-2:50pm: Film the 'Sitting on the Bench' flashback.
2:50pm-2:55pm: Film the 'walking' flashback.
2:55pm-3:00pm: Film the 'Swing' flashback.


Monday 22nd November:
First part of the lesson: Capture all clips needed and drag them into the timeline.
Second part of the lesson: Begin cutting the clips down.


Thursday 25th November:
Carry on cutting down the clips, make sure everything is in order and I have everything I need


Monday 29th November:
Begin to add in Transitions and Video Effects. Also add in a Sound FX. Add in chosen music and cut it down so it fits.


Monday 6th December:
Finalize everything, make sure it flows easily and there is no problems. 





Thursday 16th December: Deadline.


Shot list:
Whilst I am filming my final piece, I need to have a list of what shots I am going to use, and also, what I would like to help me set the atmosphere.


Extreme Closeup&Closeup- I only really used this when I want to capture the actors expressions, also to target the fear that they have, just so it can entice the audience and make it really tense.
Medium Shot- I will probably use this alot, especially in the chase scene and when Seth and Luke are looking for Elly, it will range from a close up to a medium shot.
Birds eye view shot- Finally, I decided the Birds eye view shot for the final scene, as it will capture Seths grief and torment very well. It will also show the cliffhanger before the screen goes black.


Asset List:
- Ice Creams: For the flashback.
-Hat- For the flashback
- A big stick- For the beginning when they are in the makeshift shelter
- Plastic sheet- for the shelter.




Font Styles:
For the rolling titles, I would like to have something quite blunt, simple but also creates the atomosphere that this is gonna be tragic. I went on the website dafont.com and looked under two categories that related to my film, these were 'Horror' and 'Distorted' I found three possibilities;

I like the second one the best, this is called [ank]* I like it because it looks simple, but at the same time it sets the atmosphere. I also like the first one a lot as well, because it is very bold, which can show the audience the importance of this film.


Required Sound Effects:
The sound effects I need can be easily created, for instance, I need a dramatic atmosphere when Elly is all by herself, this will be the sounds of snapping twigs and shaking leaves when it is not even windy. This can be done by Seth and Luke, as they are off camera at the time.


Music Possibilities:
When my music cuts in, I need it to be dramatic, and have a rhythm that can fit into a chase. I have a possibility for this, one song done by at band who I am in close contact with, so before I decide and use it I will ask for their permission first.


The song is:


1) With a Pinch of Salt part I by After the Ordeal
I am stuck on this song, there are no lyrics, it is just an introduction, but I am pretty sure i am going to use it, as the ending fits perfectly for what i want in my short piece, also, when it drops from guitar into a breakdown, it is a perfect chase song. The beginning of the song is simple guitar riffs but its very slow and quite emotional, so it'll first come in when Seth realizes Elly has disappeared. I will probably cut some of the beginning out as I do not want to make Seth waste time trying to film in time with the song, to save time I will let it run through once maybe twice, then go straight to the breakdown, and then the end of the song should fit in with the film perfectly.

Fiction Film Ideas

Introduction:
For this task, we had to brainstorm a couple of ideas for a Fiction Film Opening, it needs to last for around 2-3 minutes, I have decided to choose a couple of genres, because this would give me more of a range, I have chosen Horror, Comedy and Crime.
After I thought about theses Genres, I thought of some ideas that I know would work.

First Idea; Horror:
My first idea is based around a themed 'Zombie' photoshoot I did during the October Half Term, I plan to recreate this but as a opening scene, so it kind of links to show the story behind my pictures perhaps. The short clip will feature three of the main characters from my photoshoot, but Seth will have most of the cameratime. At the beginning, him and his girlfriend will run into a woods, he will see his friend in need of help, he will then say to Elly, 'Stay here'  he will then go to help save his friend, he succeeds and he will then turn around and realise Elly is gone, but then have to run away from the epidemic himself, I will make this look quite scary and heartracing, to make the viewers want to watch the whole thing. Half way through, he will then see his girlfriend lying on the ground, which will trigger several flashbacks of all the goodtimes they had together. He will then carry on running but eventually he will meet his end. The short film will start from the end and then continue through, if I was to make the whole thing.

The inspiration I got for this whole thing, including my photo shoot, was from several zombie films like Shaun of the Dead, Zombieland, but the biggest inspiration was from the '28 Days Later' just because it captures the point of my shoot the best and its where I got several of my shot ideas from. Although this doesn't really show in my pictures, it will show in my short piece.

Second Idea; Crime:
My final idea is crime, my basic idea of this, is it set behind garages, someone walking their dog, or just walking home from work, to make it more effective, maybe overlooking a train track, which can help set the atmosphere that something is going to happen. The person will then be confronted by a mugger, and they will exchange a few lines of dialog, an action scene will then take place and it will end with the victim laying on the floor, after being beaten up and mugged. Dramatic music will probably accompany this. I didn't really have an inspiration for this idea, but I think it came from the fact that these things do happen, and I would like to show how this can happen at anytime and anyplace.
The mugger will probably be wearing a hoody, maybe stained jeans or tracksuit bottoms, the victim, if I decide that she is going to be walking home from work, it will probably be smart/casual clothes clutching a handbag for prop use only.

Preliminary Task- Planning

Coursework Preliminary Task

Before we could even begin filming and editing our Preliminary Task, we had to prepare, we did this by writing out our scripts, deciding which shots to use and how we was going to make it run smoothly. We also drew up our Production Schedule, so we knew what to keep to and so that we could make sure we did everything up to date and on time.

Script

Characters: Person A, Person B

Setting

Person B sitting on chair at table, already in the room. Person A opens door walks in and sits opposite Person B at table.

Script

Person A: Why’d you do it?

Person B: Do what?

Person A: You know what you did.

Person B: If you’re talking about the party you’re talking to the wrong person mate.

Person A: I can’t believe you did it. You promised me.

Person B: No I didn’t.

Person A: (Storm out, slams door).

END

Shot-list

Medium Shot x1

Extreme Close Up x1

Long Shot x2

Over the shoulder x7

Shot Reverse Shot x6

Production Schedule

Filming: Thursday 4^th November 2010

Editing: Monday 8^th November 2010

Evaluation & Blog Upload: Thursday 11^th November 2010


Storyboards

Final Video:



Evaluation


Even though we had a slight setback with our production schedule, we still managed to get it filmed and edited in one double lesson, this meant we had still kept in our time frame and didn't have to use another lesson to finish it.

We started off with preparation, we wrote out the script, production schedule and what shots we was going to use, after this was completed, we moved on to writing our storyboards.

When it came to filming, we found it very easy as we only needed two actors and one room, plus, the piece did not need to be very long, as it is only a Prelim Task. We started off by filming the entering scene, in this, I used an extreme close up, a following shot and a mid shot. When that part was filmed, we began to film the dialog, the actors were very good and remembered their lines, for the most of this conversation, I used the 'Over the Shoulder' shot, as this worked well to capture the emphasis of the argument. When this scene was filmed, the last one we had to do was when Charliiee (Person A) storms out in anger at the end, this was a quick and easy scene to shoot, in this one I used a mid shot.

After we had all of our footage, we came back to the classroom and uploaded it all. To start off we opened Premier Pro, and imported all of our footage, when this was done, we began to capture it all, we did this scene by scene so that we could easily place them all where they needed to go, and so we could organize where all the re-filmed clips had to be placed. After this, for a short time cut the parts that were no use, sorted out the audio and then finally put it all together.