Pre-Production Planning - Synopsis

Synopsis:
Katie, a 17 year old girl, is getting ready to go out for the night with friends. Whilst getting ready she is listening to her iPod on her docking station and is unable to hear what is currently going on downstairs, she is unaware of the unfortunate upcoming events that will ruin her life. Katie is unaware that her love sick, yet insane ex-boyfriend, Fred, has been planning her murder and he plans to kill her tonight, as an act of revenge. Fred quietly lets himself into Katie's house and sneaks upstairs. He attacks her with a knife and she is knocked unconscious. Fred ties her up and brutally murders her. Why did this happen to Katie? That is the job of Chief Inspector D'Alvarez and Agent Boyce.


Script:
There is no dialogue throughout our short film.

Written as a group.

Pre-Production Planning - Props

We are going to have the female character, the victim, listening to music whilst getting ready to go out. We want her to be listening to her iPod on a docking station as this fits in with the modern times of today.







We are going to include a graphic match in our short film and want to use a digital watch and a clock, in order to create this. A graphic match is two successive shots joined so as to create a strong similarity of compositional elements (e.g. colour, shape). We want to have our male character looking at his watch and for it then to merge into a clock on the wall of the female characters bedroom.




We are going to use a typical, serrated edge, kitchen knife as our weapon because it is an iconic weapon in the thriller genre.











We are going to have Fred, the murderer, tie Katie, the victim, to a chair and then the murder is going to happen.











However, having researched we are now considering using cable ties in order to tie the victim to the chair. This is because the police use these in the force and they are shown to be more effective, therefore a murderer could use these to tie a victim to a chair. We also think that cable ties are more of a common household item than rope.

Photo of Katie and Fred, will be ripped down the middle. Fred will get this photo out of his pocket, whilst walking to Katie's, look at it, lovingly and then throw it on the floor. We will see the photo float to the floor.

Pre-Production Planning - Possible Location

Here I have uploaded some pictures of my house in Cuckfield village as a possible location for filming. We have chosen to shoot in an ordinary, everyday house, in order to create normality. The stereotypical image of a village is that it is very quiet, with many old residents and that out of the ordinary happens. I think that this then creates suspense for the audience because at first they will believe that nothing bad is going to happen, but then they will see the murderer and be suprised that this could happen in an ordinary village.


This is a shot that we will use in our filming as we want an establishing shot of the house that Fred, our murderer, is going to enter. Lighting may be a problem for this shot as there are no lights, except from the porch light. This is going to be a problem if this location is chosen and to overcome this problem we will most probably have to film at around 5 oclock when it starts to get slightly dark but not dark enough that you can't see the house clearly.

This is the road that Fred will walk down, if this location is chosen. We may have problems with this road for a number of reasons. The road does get very busy at times and too much noise could disrupt our filming. Another difficulty of filming outside is the weather as it could be raining on the day that we decide to shoot, therefore we would have to choose another day to shoot or just film whilst raining, which wouldn't affect our filming a great deal. Another problem is that we want to film in the dark and still be able to see Fred walking down the path and there is only one streetlight along this path, therefore we will have to use artificial lighting, however we will need to make it look similar to the light of a streetlight which may become difficult.

This is the side gate that Fred will walk through in order to gain access to the side door of the house. Again, lighting will be a problem here because, as you can see, there is only one small light, which may not show Fred as clearly as we would like him to be seen, therefore we will need to use artificial lighting however this may mean that it is not constant throughout the first few seconds of our short film, which we will have to try and overcome, probably by using redheads.

This is the landing and if this location is chosen we will film Katie walking from her bedroom into the kitchen and we will also film Fred walking from the stairs and into the bathroom. The lighting on the landing is good, however it may be too light and therefore may cast shadows, which we do not want. As you can see from this picture, there are some shadows cast upon the wall, which could be a problem for filming.

Katie, the victim, is going to be getting ready in the bathroom. I think that the lighting in my bathroom is very good and would give us some good shots. A possible problem of this could be the size of the bathroom as when the door is opened there is not much room avaliable near te sink, however it depends upon how wide the door is opened.

These are the stairs that Fred will walk up in order to get to Katie. If chosen, we will film him walking up the stairs, through the gaps int he bannister because we think it will be a more interesting shot. I think the lighting on the stairs is good enough for filming, however the lighting from the kitchen and up the stairs may not be consistent, therefore this may be a problem.

We are going to film the murder downstairs and of this location is chosen then we will use this room. A disadvantage of this room would be the lighting as it is not very strong and would result in our filming being dark, however we could easily overcome this problem by using redheads. It may be better if we change the room of the murder to the bedroom, where the lighting is better.

If this location is chosen, this is the side door that Fred will enter through. I think the lighting is good in this room and therefore we should not have a problem when it comes to filming.

Jess D'Alvarez

Pre-Production Planning - Actors Needed

This is a poster that I created in order to find some people to act in our short film as we didn't know anyone who we thought would like to act and thought it best if our group members, Jess, Mat and Ed, didn't act as we want to focus on framing and camerawork.


Jess D'Alvarez

Pre-Production Planning - Roles

Storyboard Artist: Mat
Animatic Creators: Jess and Ed
Location Scouts: Mat, Jess, Ed
Prop Managers: Mat, Jess, Ed
Casting Director: Jess
Director of Filming: Mat
Camera Operators: Mat, Jess, Ed
Acting: Fred: Lee D'Alvarez
Katie: Jess D'Alvarez


Written as a group

Pre-Production Planning

In our lesson on Monday the 8th February we discussed some ideas and possible locations for our filming. We did not have a lot of time for this but we felt quite confident with the task ahead which is
"The titles and opening of a new thriller film, to last a maximum of two minutes" (OCR Syllabus 2008).
Mathew Garrett

Research for Thriller Openings - Wallander - Mathew Garrett

Wallander

• Very bright light, inconsistent with the thriller genre
• Calm, relaxed music. Contrapuntal sound as it does not fit a traditional thriller
• Women looks upset and nervous - she rushes through the field
• Shes carrying a Plastic container which looks like it has some sort of oil in it (judging from the colour)
• Music becomes more upbeat and faster paced. This is when we first see Kenneth Branagh's character
• Music becomes tense and quiet when Branagh arrives at the farm
• The dog seems unsure of him and becomes vicious (only because he is a guard dog)
• The farmer seems weary and unsure of Branagh
• He stands up straight and almost prepares himself for something
• Branagh appears rugged in the sense that he doesn't show any emotion in his face or the way he speaks
• The women appears to be hiding in the field amongst the framers crops
• Farmer more worried about his crops than the girl or the Policeman (Branagh - Wallander)
• Women becomes more nervous and jittery. Sounds like she is crying although we cannot see her face
• We then see her face and see that she is crying. she seems scared and unsure of Branagh
• The lighting stays constantly bright (sunny day and bright yellow crops)
• Branagh tries to calm the women but she seems to get more upset and more anxious
• she starts to pour the oil on her and from other programs you can tell that she is about to set herself on fire
• Branagh stares at her not realising what she intends to do
• Then once realising he rushes to get her and he becomes shocked and scared of her intent
• Camera goes to extreme long shot of the field and we see all the crops including Branagh and the women. Then we see a huge fireball near Branagh and we instantly know what has happened
• Camera goes back to Branagh and we see him helpless to do anything
• Titles appear and we see different shots of Branaghs character in different light
• None of the lighting is particularly "normal" such as ambient light. It seems to only be coloured lights