Intentions: Filming – Day 1

Me and Coupy began filming at my house today and on the whole it went very well despite the fact that we had a last minute change in actors leaving me to do the filming and sound recording. We managed to get the majority of our shots done today, taking us a fair four hours, but had to postpone the rest of the filming for another day as our camera ran out of charge. We probably could have finished all our filming within the time we allowed ourselves today if we had not been so cautious and careful with each shot that we took in order to get it as close to perfection as possible.

My concern for the next filming session is that, obviously now that Coupy is acting, I am going to have to use the SteadiCam which I haven’t had any practice with, where as Coupy has. So, I shall be getting in as much practise as I can with the equipment between now and the next filming session in order to not fudge it up on the day. Another problem on the agenda that Coupy and I are yet to solve is who we are going to get to act in the final few shots of the opening, and when we are going to film them.

Intentions: This was not our first intention

Ahh! We’ve run into what could potentially be a HUGE problem, as the actor we were originally planning to use for the part of the ‘main man’ (my dad) can no longer be with us to film on the days that we planned… So, we’ve decided that the easiest option will be for Coupy to take his place in that role. However, obviously this is going to cause problems in the filming and sound recording department, as only I will be able to handle the equipment during recording time.

Intentions: Cast and Costume Design

Our film opening involves four characters: The main man, the dead woman, the detective and the neighbour. Each of these characters will not only need to be casted correctly using appropriate actors, but will also need the appropriate costume and make-up, if needed.

The main man:

After researching your average supposed psycho-killer I found a list of must have attributes about the guy:

1. Normal – The more normal looking the guy appears, the bigger the shock is impacted on the audience… Nobody likes to suspect your average-Joe.
2. Fairly built – This person obviously has to have some muscle behind them in order for their crime to even be feesable.
3. Middle aged – The majority of psyco-killers need to be coming up to a mid-life-crisis of some sort. It’s just how it works.

Fitting these criteria happened to be a guy as close to home as you can get – my dad – how convenient.

Coupy and I decided that our main man would have to be wearing pyjamas to show the audience that he is moving around in his own or his girlfriends home.

The dead girl:

Your average dead girl:

1. Very plain looking – this promotes the idea of innocence.
2. Wears white – once again, this fits in with the idea of innocence.

Due to a lack of people volunteering to act for this part, and the fact that this character only appears in one shot, we decided that I would do to play this role.

I need to find appropriate white costuming and a way of making myself look sufficiently dead (as shown in the video below).

The detective:

At this point in time we don’t know who is going to play our detective character although, once again, there are a few criteria that are actor must fit:

1. Male
2. Stern looking – these detectives mean business.

As well as this, during my research I’ve noticed that all detectives wear long coats, i don’t know why, but i suppose it has to be done.

The neighbour:

The neighbour can literally be any old randomer off the street, lets be honest! Is there a definition of what a neighbour should look like? I think not.

So, for this part, I think we are likely to use my actual next door neighbour if it is convenient for them, because it’s certainly convenient for us!

Steadicam Practice

Upon discovering that I would in fact have to use the steadicam during filming, I thought I’d better get a bit of practise in. I watched a few videos on YouTube, which as it turns out are fairly unhelpful, and then resorted to just having a play with this new equipment. It took me around 15 minutes to balance up the weights correctly in order for the device to stay steady in my hand. And that’s when I had my dumb blonde moment… I had been charging the battery, so forgot to put it back in the camera. Upon putting the battery in, I discovered this added an extra few pounds to one side of the camera; thus completely throwing it off balance and declaring the past 15 minutes of careful weighing pointless.

But none-the-less, I re-balanced the device and managed to get the hang of handling it. All in a good days work!

Intentions: Animated Storyboard

While I was drawing up the final storyboard, Coupy was putting my drawings into FinalCut in order to animate the pictures and to replicate the camera movements that would be happening in the filmed version of events. The process included taking pictures of each individual shot that was drawn, uploading it onto the editing software and then adding a movement with a likeliness to that of what the camera would be doing in the final piece. On top of this, we added the music that we intended to use in the film opening in order to give a real feel of what the film was likely to look like by the end.

Intentions: Story Board

At first the story boarding process was taking a long time, but none the less was exciting because we could finally see our ideas coming together properly. After I had finished each page of the storyboard, Coupy would take a picture in order to put it into our animated version.

The more pictures and captions I got down, the quicker the process became and the easier it was to visualise what shots would look like in real life.

To be completely honest, the process of story boarding was becoming quite tedious by the end, and I was glad to finally finish after about 5 hours work.

Intentions: Script Version 2.0

It became clear to Coupy and I that once we got our actors to rehearse the script, the words they said just didn’t sound right – almost too clique.  We also decided to change the acting roles; instead of having a conversation between a detective and a police officer, we concluded that a detective and a neighbour would be easier for us to pull off considering we were finding it difficult to get hold of a police officer uniform.

In addition to these role and conversational adjustments, we also decided to add an extra shot of the main character staring out of the window into the cold morning, in order to add some suspense.

Intentions – Script 1.0

After writing the fist draft of the script we were daily pleased with the out come, and this was a basis for us to start storyboarding. We used a script writing software called ‘Writer Duet’, which enables copy and myself to work on the script writing simultaneously, which makes the task easier as we can edit parts that we don’t like and add to others. This takes the pressure off having to write everything up at school, as we can be writing the script from the comfort of our own homes.

we have currently drafted in some dialogue for the end of the clip which is likely to be changed at a later date, as we still aren’t sure exactly what we want our actors to say. However this is only the first version of our script. We plan to make as many revisions as required in order to perfect our script before we begin to film in the Christmas holidays.

Coursework – Pitch

Today, we had to present our idea for our short film to the class in order to receive feedback and comments on how we can improve. We gave an outline of the whole plot of our film in order to give the class a better idea of how the film opening would link in with the bigger picture. Our whole film outline involved a man who is trying to prove his innocence for the murder of his wife. However, an ongoing investigation and bombarding accusations make him question his own sanity.

But anyway, the basics have been outlined, but for a full version of our plans check out the video below!

Intentions – Outline

Together Coupy and I, after pithing our initial idea to the class and receiving feedback, came up with an outline for our film opening:

It’s a cold, winter’s morning, in what seems to be a derelict house. The chilled sun has not yet fully risen, in order to melt away the morning frost. A man, wearing pyjamas, begins to prepare breakfast; an exquisite full English, with all the works, ready to be washed down with a refreshing glass of orange juice. The man seems happy, like he hasn’t a worry in the world, as he joyfully begins to play his favourite record on his vinyl player, while constructing his food masterpiece. The man carefully places the contents of the breakfast onto a tray, making sure the presentation is at a top quality standard, before finally placing a freshly picked flower onto the tray to complete.

The man slowly carries the tray upstairs, making sure not to drop the food and ruin the cuisine he had carefully put together. He creeps inside a bedroom, tip-toeing, as if not to wake anyone up. Carefully, the tray is delicately placed onto the bedside table, directly next to a bed. However, on the bed there is a lifeless body; the body of a young woman wearing a dressing gown. The body is completely still, the face is as pale as a ghost and blood can be seen on the woman’s neck…

Later that afternoon, the frost has melted away, but the air is still freezing cold. A detective and police officer stand outside the rundown property, which is now completely covered in police tape. The rookie police officer turns to the detective and nervously asks,
“Weird guy don’t you think?”
The detective quickly glances at the police officer and then returns his attention back to the house.
“Certainly seems like it.”