Au Revoir, mon cherie!

Oh, what a sad day.
Blogging for this project has been amazingly enjoyable, completely unlike any other coursework experience: it's colourful, creative and interactive. I'll really truly miss it.
I think in our blog a clear passion comes across for film...we all loved the subject matter.
Talking of 'we': Amelia and Laura, you've both been amazing partners, I was so lucky to be in your group, you were so supportive and if any problem came along, I could count on you to help.
Goodbye huge-chunk-of-my-life's consumption....I will miss you!
Lots of Love,
Holly x

The Treatment

Our treatment was yped up from the document we hand-wrote in december...

1. The action: identify the event your idea is based around; what actually happens (discovery of a body, an illicit meeting, a witness seeing a crime being committed, a criminal act taking place, a telephone call, a chase, a short journey etc)?

Our idea for our opening sequence isbased around a computer (instant messaging) conversation between a young teenage girl and two older men. The identity of the men is kept mysterious, so the conversation is being interpreted in two different ways; the audience knows the truth, but our current heroin, the girl, does not. This is the first part of the action, as the second is more fast-paced of the men packing up their "kill kit" and getting ready to leave their flat to do murder. The rest of the film will be based around a detective tracing internet clues of the men to try and find them, and of more killings, more suicide notes and crime scenes. We would want to keep the rest of the film fast and montagey, mixed with slow suspense-building scenes, to create a nice contrast.

2. The theme(s): what should it make the audience think about or feel, what ‘issues’ will it raise (revenge, sexuality, voyeurism, stalking, obsession, greed etc)?

Our main themes are depression, sexual stalking and investigating. In our film as a whole, we wanted to create a continuous sense of being watched, of searching for clues and of knowing that there was so much that you didn't know - danger could be just around the corner. To convey this in the opening sequence, we will leave our main murderer's identity ambiguos, and make it clear to the audience that the girl has no idea what she was getting herself into. We will also make it clear that the issue of internet safety will be a central one during the film, as it is the first thing we will open with.

3. The narrative: how is it structured - classic narrative pattern or break with convention, real time or different time zones, flashbacks/forwards, dreams etc. Will there be dialogue? What about diegetic/ non-diegetic sound?

We have not chosen a classic narrative pattern as we begin with disruption, breaking you usual convention of beginning with safety and then straying into danger. However we have chosen to shoot in a linear, real-time way, with no flashbacks and crosscutting between a real time conversation, as memories do not feature as an important part in our plot. We want to include dialogue for most of the sequence to show cross-cutting techniques, and this forms the main base of our storyline, too. All the sound, apart from the music, will b e diegetic.

4. The character(s): who are they, identify their roles, what are their characteristics, including gender, appearance etc?

Emma: female, 17 years old, white, pretty teenage girl. She is clearly sweet and typically girly in her pink room, but very fragile (in tears) and expresses whiney desire to kill herself. She is the victim.
"Julie": male, 24 years old, half-black & half-white, well-built man. He is the clever, cunning man of the operation who lures girls into his clutches by wooing them. He wears a mysterious black coat and has deeply thoughtful eyes.
Man 2: male, 53, white, very tall and fairly stocky man. He wears all-black, black leather coat and a black hat, looking very thugish and does not smile. His voice is harsh and merciless. He is the muscle of the opperation, killing the victims.

5. The setting and choice of location: where is it set?

Our first setting is 'Emma's' bedroom, where she taps away on her computer. We will use Laura's actual bedroom to shoot this. The second location is the men's flat, where they talk to the women and get ready to find them. We can shoot this in Laura's art studio, which is perfectly dark and cobwebby.

6. The mise-en-scene: identify colours, lighting, dress codes, the overall visual look

The girl's part will be very pink, saturated, girly and inviting, with lots of pink fluffy pillows and her wearing jeans and a pink top. In contrast to this, the men's flat is dingy, dark, dusty and ominous. Their clothes are black and concealing, they see by desk lamp and hanging lightbulb, and there is a nearly-finished bottle of whisky on the table. We will see flashes of knives being sharpened, tape and matches, all being piled into a black suitcase. The lighting will also be very pale and ghostly.

7. The camera work: the style you are aiming for

We have decided to shoot in a range of angles, including CU's, LS's, sutch tilts and shakey P.O.V angles. This will give a sense of being watched, of a webcam, and be slightly disorientating. Only some shots will be static and normal.

8. The editing: edited as a continuous sequence, use of cross cutting, use of montage, or combination?

We will have a continuous sequence and then move into a montage at the end, to pick up the pace, and at the same time pick up the music. This is when the action begins. Before this, we will use crosscutting between the two screens and cutaways.

9. Has your idea been ‘tested’ against the key criteria (the 8 questions)?

Yes - we were able to answer yes to every question.

10. Group responses?

We had two other strong ideas that we could have moved forward with, but we all agree that this idea is the strongest. We are all excited about the uniqueness of the idea and the opportunity to shoot in some quirky,unconventional angles.

11. Teacher responses?

Great idea - original and chilling. But be careful to loeave enough time to film both sets of footage (male part and female part). Also careful of continuity between the two.

Re-Shoot shot list...

Here is another example of a shooting script however this was for our re-shoot
Re Shoot List

Publish at Scribd or explore others:

Shooting script

Here is one example of our shooting scripts which we printed out and filled in. We found these very useful on shoots to keep track of what we had shot, and what we had left to shoot. It also showed us that it was easier to shoot all shots from one location first, and all shots from another second.
Here it is:

Shooting Script1

Storyboard

This is a sample of our storyboard. We originally devised a storyboard using post-it notes on sugar paper, so we could easily move shots around, but this wasn't worth photographing/scanning in, so we remade it using screen snapshots of our actual shots.

Holly Amelia Laura Storyboard

Final To-Do-List

We're practically finished, but these are the last things we have to do:

1. Make one more title on the mac in Mr. Dean's office.
2. Make the drone (over the whole thing) quieter.
3. Stretch the music over the end a bit.
4. Change the colour temperature on some of King's shots so that the saturation is the same throughout - make it warmer.

And then we will be onto the evaluation!

Computer Conversation 2

Something's Gotta Give

The computer conversation in "Something's Gotta Give" shows lots of good techniques like zooming in to the line as it's being typed, and cuts between expression and screen in a realistic way. We could easily try all this.

Feedback Feedback Conversation

Hello ill people, hope you're feeling better.
I agree that it doesn't make sense at the moment...it does look like her boyfriends and there isn't an indication that she thinks he's a woman...But when we do screen shots of typing and show "Julie" on screen won't this make it clearer? I don't know how to change this....if the girl bit is first how will it make it clearer? But we should try it anyway.
Also if we remove the "F word" from the line it sounds stupid - we deffinitely can't have it?? But it's a horror movie that would be an 18!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
More shots of King, yeah we were planning on doing that anyway.
And the briefcase bit we should try differently because it can go anywhere, really.


In this editing session, shall I try some new things? Can you give me some specific things to do and I'll try them? Or shall I just leave it.

Holly x x

Reflections of the Shoot

Shoot 1 - Saturday 29th November

What Went Wrong

• Amelia forgot to collect the equipment (tripod and boom pole) from Miss B after her French Oral. Fortunately, she picked it up the next morning and we had it on time for our shoot in the end.
• In our footage, on some shots the microphone picked up mobile signals and this can be heard. We didn't realise this would be recorded - however it is only on some shots that are not too important, and we can just cut them out.
• Planning - we didn't plan our shots out in a storyboard style; instead we just shot from every angle that everyone wanted to and it worked out pretty well. In our sequence we want a range of shots from a lot of angles to give the impression that the girl is being watched, but it was very tedious to shoot the same conversation over and over again! We now realise we need to start drafting storyboards and we are currently doing this in the form of post-it notes on sugar paper, so as to move them around in different orders.
• We couldn't decide whether to film with music from the iPod speakers, as originally agreed, or whether to add it in later. We tried it with various music tracks then disagreed about what song to use - some were too obviously depressing, others too happy. A Radiohead track called "Just" was the best, but after this we decided not to include music as the continuity would be hard to get right. We will deal with it this weekend.

What Went Well

• We managed to film all the shots we wanted for the girl's part, and the footage looks realistic and not too staged.
• We stayed within the time limit we had, even having lunch inbetween!
• All our equipment worked and was used to its full potential - there were no accidents or misplacing of items.
• Costume and make-up looked good. We actually used eyedrops to make Amelia look as though she was crying before every shot, which worked really well.
• Everyone was there on time and left at the same time, and our actor turned up with an open mind.
• We tested the script and found it to be good - it wasn't too cheesey, predictable or over the top.
• We communicated well with each other, and voiced our opinions without needing to be bossy or rude. This came up when talking about the music and everyone was very rational and decisive.
• We always thought of what was best for the group

Script Draft

Our sequence is an online conversation between this victim and the murderer. The script starts half way through the conversation. We have decided the girls name is 'Emma', and the murderers screen name as the agony aunt is 'Julie'.

JULIE

(muttering) Oh, no...that must be really hard for you...Did you take your pills?...Yeah?....Hows your mum?.......Is she still drinking at night?...(continued)

EMMA

I feel so alone at school...I wish I could talk to you all the time...Things seem to be getting worse. I don't know what to do!

JULIE

You know you can always talk to me...I'll always be here for you.

EMMA

I know. You've helped me so much. How can I ever repay you?

JULIE

(Laughing, not typed) Yeah...that comes later, darlin'....

(typed) Oh, you know I love talking to you too. But you seem distant tonight...

EMMA

I know. I'm sorry (crying). I just want to end it all! I feel like I want to die...

JULIE

(not typed) Bingo....

(typed) No, don't say that. We can work it out together. I've been through the same thing as you, I know what it feels like.

(pause)

Don't think things like that, things will get better. I promise.

(pause)

Emma?

(pause)

(not typed) Fuck, where did she go?

MAN 2

What?

JULIE

She's fucking gone and topped herself, man. Oh, hold on, hold on. She's back. She's writing.

EMMA

Sorry. The phone rang but it was for mum. I mean, why would it be for me?

(pause)

Can I ask you something?

JULIE

Anything. You can ask me anything.

EMMA

A favour? Would you come over?

Hey guys - I wrote out a script but i dunno how long to make it, i say we all write out what we think they should say then just mix and match yarsss?
Also, out of curiousity, are you two actually posting those posts together or just putting your names on everything?!
Holly x

The Computer Conversation

The Holiday

This is the whole near-10 minutes of the first bit of The Holiday, but it was the only clip I could find of the computer scene in it, so watch from 8:00 - onwards.

This is exactly what we want to create in our opening sequence - two people in entirely different places having a conversation, muttering some lines, typing others. The techniques used to let the audience know what's being said are:

• Speaking of what they are saying AS they type it
• Muttering their replies AS they read it
• Close-up onscreen of the text appearing AS it is being typed
• Close-up of keys being pressed
• Close-up of lips/faces AS words are muttered

It would be good if we could use a combination of all these techniques to show the conversation in our sequence, and not just the same one over and over, to show variety. We will film the whole thing from the different perspectives and then intergrate them using the different "techniques".

By the way Laura, take some pictures of your room as it's one of the locations!
Holly x

Possible Victim

We've decided that either Laura or Amelia, who both do drama and want to be in it, should play the girl in our sequence. This will make things much easier - we know they will turn up to shoots, will actually care and can be in constant contact with them.



Name: Amelia Conway

Age: 16

Height: 5 foot 7



Amelia looks like a typical quirky, pretty teenager, and would work well in this role. Her screen test will determine whether she gets the part or not.

Yep that's a good idea, you do yours and I'll just do Amelias shall I? Might as well...
Thankyou - COME ON MEDIA DEDICATION!
Holly x

Oh ok, don't worry about it we'll just upload them this week some time.
I think I'll have to come in tomorrow to catch up and stuff! Also I think we should do two posts with pictures of you and Amelia as potential actors with profiles, just small ones, until we can upload the videos so that we don't get behind, what do you think?
Holly x

Hey guys

You think Amelia should be the girl? Sounds good. I really want to see the screen tests - can you upload the clips onto the blog?
Also did you draft a script? Shall I write one then we can edit it etc. ?

Holly

The Villains

We have not really researched/decided what the two villains in our sequence will be like, so I've looked at how male murders of the same sort have been portrayed in these films. We need to decide on dress, make-up, voice, body language and personality.

Male murders in Films


1) Jules and Vincent from Pulp Fiction

Although these hitmen are a pair like in our story, the characters are too cool and too funny - although they are murderers, there is no enigma about their personalities or characters that scares the audience, which is what we want.

TO BE CONTINUED........

Possible Villain

Before we screen test the two men for our sequence, I thought I'd post a picture of my dad (a potential actor) just to mark the fact that we've thought of someone.



Name: Bill Thicknes
Age: 44
Height: 6 foot 1


We need the two men to be stocky, tall and menacing. Although this picture is friendly, when we screen test him we will try out different expressions, shot lengths and sample scripts. I think he will work well at this stage, and we know he will be reliable for the shoot.

Him in a leather jacket (potential outfit) pulling ridiculous, Jack-Nicholson-in-Shining face...

Full-body shot...

The Story

We thought we'd try and come up with a story..

So, the whole film is about these two men who go around raping and killing suicidal girls and the opening scene is just a taster. After the successful murder (in the opening) an investigation is started. The men's next target is the detective's daughter, whose mum just died from cancer. The two killers play on this and realise she would be quite emotional and needing comfort, and her dad is their enemy. They discuss how it has been too easy, and they are always game for a challenge, so they choose to prey on the detective's daughter as they believe they can make her seem suicidal. They lure her to the forum by subliminal messages and notes in her locker. The rest of the film is about them trying to get her, and her trying to frame them, but nobody believes her, not even her dad. When the men are forcing her to write a suicide note (before they rape and kill her) she writes it cryptically so that her dad will understand what happened and be able to catch them. But will he...?