Podcast On Filming So Far

Character Profiles

The Protagonist: Joe ( Mark Cooper ) 
The Key Protagonist is called Joe this is a fairly average name so there for could be considered and everyday person, he is 26 years of age; we had to adjust the age of our main character to suit the appropriate audience of our genre as the target market is mostly focused on people over the age of 18.






The Girlfriend ( Ellie Broadley ) 
She is a Brunette, to steer away from the stereotypes of blonde females. Also mid twenties this also appeals to the target market of an older audience




The Muggers ( Rob Cranley & Joe Drakard ) 
The two muggers are young teenagers, they are wearing trackies and hoodies which is the stereotype of a young working class male, this ties in with representation of social class.

Possible Film Titles

For the title of the film we want it to be related to the theme of recurring dreams, hanging, or general fate and destiny.
Here is what we came up with:

The Snared.
–noun

1.

a device, often consisting of a noose, for capturing small game.

2.

anything serving to entrap or entangle unawares; trap.


Phantasmagoria
–noun

1.

a shifting series of phantasms, illusions, or deceptive appearances, as in a dream or as created by the imagination.

2.

a changing scene made up of many elements.

Premonition
noun

1.

a feeling of anticipation of or anxiety over a future event; presentiment: He had a vague premonition of danger.

2.

a forewarning.


Blue Funk
n.a state of depression. : You've got to get out of your blue funk and get back to work.


Denouement
–noun

1.

the final resolution of the intricacies of a plot, as of a drama or novel.

2.

the place in the plot at which this occurs.

3.

the outcome or resolution of a doubtful series of occurrences.

Image Rights Permission Form

Release Form for Media Recording DB Edit As

This is needed to be signed by everybody that appears in the film so that we are allowed to use their image to show to others.

Story Board

Props : Sugar glass

Sugar glass is used as a replacement  for normal glass, it is made of: Golden syrup, Sugar, Water and Cream of Tar Tar. It is the same density as glass but is not as sharp and saves us breaking a real car window which is definitely not within our budget.
We made a video blog to document how we made it.






Ingredients:

• 3 1/2 cups of sugar
• 1 cup of Golden Syrup
• 2 Cups of water
• 1/4 teaspoon of Cream of TarTar 

BBFC Certifications

British Board of Film Classification

This is the group of people that decide what rating films are within the UK.




These are the film Ratings used by the BBFC, each film falls under certain classification depending upon its content.

• U - Universal - Suitable for all 
• PG - Parent Guidance - General viewing, however scenes may be unsuitable for young children
• 12A/12 - Exactly the same criteria applies to 12A and 12 films however 12A films are recommended that children are accompanied by an adult

Now coming in to our bracket of the film classifications as our opening includes Violent content, Upsetting images and the use of Alcohol.
Several Issues are looked at by the BBFC before any films are classified. A detailed list of issues and guidelines can be found at the BBFC website, or alternatively you can just look at This Link

• 15 - Suitable only for those of the ages of 15 and over
• 18 -  Suitable for only adults
• R18 - Only to be shown in specially licensed cinemas and specially licensed sex shops

BBFC Rating for our film:

• Commonly with psychological thrillers the audiences are older as the issues and themes which are central to the film are often difficult to understand or deal with emotionally/mentally by younger audiences. The complicated plot line which involves the mental stability of a characters psyche is much more likely to appeal to an adult audience, as well as the violent scenes that take place within our film. Also due to the older characters that nearly always play the key Protagonists/Antagonists it is much more likely to appeal to an 18+ audience.

Updated Idea

Change of idea explained through our 3rd Pod caste

Animatic of Original Idea

Audience Feedback

• Mis en Scene: Hanging - Use of a Kicked away chair?
• Instead of having the knocking on the door and the hanging separate - link them together
• Have more of each shot revealed slowly.

Based on Audience feed back we have decided to change our initial location from a house to some woods, so that a more accurate hanging effect can be achieved.

Location, Props, Mis en Scene, SFX, Costume ect for seperate scenes

Scene 1 - Hanging

• Location: Woods/Forest
• Props: Rope, Torches, Dog, Car
• Mise en Scene: wooded area, clothes of the character
• Costume: Standard clothes for Protagonist, Police outfit
• SFX: Special Cuts to make it look like a man hanging + Make up to create verisimilitude

Scene 2 - Burnt toast

• Location: Kitchen
• Props: Toaster and Burnt toast
• Mise en Scene: Things in the Kitchen

Scene 3 - Wake

• Location: Mothers Wake, House
• Props: Photo albums, Bottle of Vodka
• Mise en Scene: Lounge things around the lounge
• Costume: Formal attire e.g. shirt, tie: suit

Scene 4 - Fired

• Location: Office
• Props: Office Box + Items to put in 
• Mise en Scene: Office+Desk
• Costume - Scruff clothes

Scene 5 - Mugged

• Location: Alley way ( Claustrophobic space )
• Props: Knife, Wallet, Ipod, Phone ect
• Mise en scene: clothes of Muggers - Hoodies ( representation of youth/ethnicity )

Scene 6 - Car stolen

• Props: Car 
• Mise en scene: Driveway/Street
• Costume: Hoody ect

Scene 7 - Evicted

• Props: Suitcases & Binbags
• Mise en scene: Stairway of flat

Scene 8 - Wake up

• Props: Bed, Duvet
• Mise en scene: Bedroom
• Costume: Pyjamas

Opening Two Minutes: Initial Idea

• Our Opening two minutes will actually be a nightmare and result in the person waking up.
• It wont actually be fully anchored as a nightmare untill the end of the scene.

• First of a starting with the Production logo and company name, distributors ect
• Pan shot of street, Close up on a front door, and a character banging on the door, so far this has a non diegetic audio bridge playing through from the title and production company logo.
• The Camera Will pan down to te letter box: Open + shot through the letter box
• You see a pair of feet hanging across the room. at this point the music changes and the atmosphere becomes alot more tense and it zooms in through the letterbox
• Cut to the rope + knot
• Pans down to head + shoulders - hes clearly been hung.
• Flash + Cut to Flash back of Burnt Toast( forshadowing)
• Flash + Cut to body - feet
• Flash + Cut to match on action in kitchen --- mothers funeral/wake
• Flash + Cut to the body - back
• Flash + Cut to empty house with him in
• Flash + Cut to close up of neck
• Flash + Cut to party - Key Scene - Drugs!
• Flash + Cut to Mouth
• Flash + Cut to dealer - Male
• Flash + Cut to body - Side of Face
• Flash + Cut to being pinned against a wall
• Flash + Cut to Blood drips
• Flash + Cut to Black Eye
• Flash + Cut to eyes
• Eyes Open
• Cut to sitting up in bed. Heavy Breathing - Nightmare
• Fade to Film Title

Film Openings - Genre Research: Psychological Thriller

Das Leben Der Anderen ( The Lives of Others) 2006

A film based on the attempts of The Eastern German Government to know about those who apose the socialist regeime and their mission to know everything about and control the Protaliterat. set in the 1980's during the cold war.

• Production company logo
• First scene 2 shot of guard and man
• Setting in prison - establishing shot 
• Subtitles for setting, German Temporary detention centre 
• Subtitles in English because the Language used is German
• Long shot on Guard and man walking down the Hallway
• Audio bridge
• Goes into the cell and is sat down in an interview situation - Claustrophobic space

The Jacket (2005)
A man returns from the army to be falsely accused of murder he is then declared insane and sent to a mental institution, where he is put under a new psychoactive drug treatment, where he is placed in a straight jacket and put in a locker for hours on end, in the locker he begins to see into the future and needs to unravel the mystery of his own death.

• The Locker and Jacket - Claustrophobic space 
• Visions in to the future - Premonitions. Links in to our initial idea.

Taking Lives (2004)
Set in Canada it details the Killings of a young man, beginning in his later teens he runs away from home, in Quebec the police desperately try to solve a group of murders. Unbeknown to them they have already met the murderer.

Vertigo (2004)
A Hitchcock classic in which a private detective is sent to find a young attractive woman, finding her on the brink of suicide, he stops her. After this he develops a strange Obsession with her.

The Butterfly Effect (2004)  
A young man blocks out harmful memories of significant events of his life. As he grows up, he finds a way to remember these lost memories and a supernatural way to alter his life. [IMDB]

• Production and Distribution logos flash up, black background
• A brief quotation from the Chaos theory is shown on the screen " flap of a butterfly wing can cause a typhoon on the other side of the world" - This gives us some idea where the working title as come from.
• establishing shot of a small office (claustrophobic place)
• shot of door opening,  Ashton Kutcher comes through the door, there is match on action to show this.
• He is wearing a patients outfit from a hospital, this gives us some brief exposition to the setting of the film.
• Torch lights shine through the tinted windows of the office, gives the audience a sense of tension.
• The protagonist begins to write on a piece of paper, reading it aloud in his mind, this non-diegetic sound aswell as the music aids the tense aura of the scene
• There is a flash and it goes back to Ashton Kutcher's character's childhood, this is a non-linear narrative very similiar to the one that we shall use within in our opening scene. 
• 
  

2nd Pod Cast

Codes & Conventions of Thriller.

Psychological thriller

• This is one of the many sub-genres of the wide spread Thriller genre, in  thrillers; Plot is often more emphasized than Character. However in Psychological thrillers this is somewhat reversed.
• It may also include aspects of the Mystery and Drama genres and very often bordering over into Horror. [Wikipedia]                                                                                                However Thrillers follow certain Codes and Conventions:    
• Claustrophobic spaces
• Quick pace cuts
• The use of lighting to create shadows
• Foreshadowing of events
• Dark Lighting
• Aspects of Propp's Theory: Hero, Helper
• Ignited Audiences Mind
• Generally older characters leading to an Older audience

Film Openings Analysis

The Lost Boys (1987)

• Directed by Joel Schumacher
• The production company logo appears and then cuts to  blank screen on which the directors name then appears.
• Increase in non diegetic sound followed by and extreme long shot, which is also used as an establishing shot on a amusement park next to the sea this sets the scene.
• The title then appears over this shot fading in.
• The title is a Serif Font with a mix of Upper and lower case letters with a red underlining, signifying the possible link to blood and vampires and that the film is possibly a Gothic Horror.
• There is a straight cut and then closes in on a Protagonist in this case an Antagonist. which is commonly used.
• one of the characters walks past and picks at his teeth this is a form of foreshadowing often used in The Horror and Thriller Genres.
• The above point and the body language portrayed gives subtle exposition.
• The forces of law and order are represented as unaffective thus appealing to a teen audience
• There is a Wide variaion of shot types including, Medium close ups and Longshots.
• After 2 minutes the genre hasnt really been specifically defined
• Although it is clear an act of violence is occuring it is not shown on screen so therefore it leaves what happens to the audiences imagination, this can help keep verisimilitude.
• There is an establishing shot following a car from a "birds eye view"
• The audience can hear voice coming from inside the car
• There is some music playing, the audience is unsure whether or not it is non diegetic or diegetic
• There is a mid shot inside the car focusing on the characters and we discover that the music is diegetic
• The song " People are strange" by The Doors is playing helping to give some exposition to the location.

Divorcing Jack  (1998) 

Cry Wolf (2005)  

Human Traffic (1999) 

Coursework Brief

• Preliminary task:  Continuity task involving filming and editing a character opening a door, crossing the room and sitting down opposite another character and then the two partaking in a conversation. this should entail shot reverse shot, 180 degree rule and match on action. 
•  Main Task: The titles and opening of a new fiction film, to last a maximum of two minutes.
• all audio and video material must be original, produced by the candidates with the exception of music or audio effect with copy-right free support.

• The coursework is worth 50% of the AS (same at A2) and the marking (detailed later) is divided into 3 sections:RESEARCH AND PLANNING: 20%
  PRODUCTION: 60%
  EVALUATION: 20%