Shot List For 30/12/2015

Wound - Special Effects

In order to create a cut on Stanley's hand, we will be using moulding wax and paint. As the film is in black and white it is not essential that we use red paint, as long as the colour and consistency represent that of blood, it will look right. We will aim to use red, however, as it will ensure that the exact shade is matched even in black and white.

This is an early practice of the cut on my hand. The final product look quite realistic but was a bit too large in temrs of the bulkiness of it. On the shoot we will try to use less tissue in order to keep the cut flatter to the hand.

Script Draft 2

Additional Scene

After carefully reviewing the script we feel that it may not be long enough and that we should consider another scene.

1. After practising the tricky shot of transferring through the interior of a computer tower, we were inspired to maybe create a scene that takes place inside the tower. This would be possible by taking a side panel off of the PC tower and capturing a still video of the area in which we want the scene to take place. This would involve then filming our scene on a green screen and, using a chroma-key, replace the background with the video taken of the inside of the computer. Although it may look very strange (due to the green screening), it may add to the surreal tone of the film and work particularly well with our desired themes. We thought that this scene could be introduced by having a transition through Stanley's head; a slow dolly in which dissolves (unnoticeably) into a shot inside the computer tower. 
2. After throwing the computer across the room, Stanley will go outside to breathe for a second and try to gain some inspiration. He struggles to do so, so in his already angered state he punches something (could be a wall or plant pot etc.). His hand is cut open- for this we will use make up to create a wound effect. In the world of Stanley's novel he notices his hand is cut also, he then turns the body over to reveal it is in fact himself. He backs away in horror and, as he does so, Stanley begins to set the omputer back up. The computer comes back on and, in the 'novel world' Stanley approaches the edge of the car park. Stanley highlihgts all of the text he has written and looks at the backspace key. Stanley slips off of the edge of the car park.

Detailed research into potential audience

Our film is a very unique niche film. This is because it has many factors that arn't used in typical films. For example our film is a short film and is planned to be around five minutes. Most people dont even know that a five minute video is classed as a film and wouldnt go out of their way to watch them. The majority of people watch length films that are high budgeted and largely advertised.

Our film is certificated 15. We have chosen this certificate because of the mild themes our film is going to include. These themes can have negative psychological affects on people under the guided age as they desensitise children to these mild themes. I feel our film will appeal to older teenagers and young adults aged between 16 and 30. This is because people  around this age are more likely to watch films and are especially more likely to watch shorter films on things such as YouTube and social media. This age range is also more likely to be more interested in the psychological thriller genre however we are likely to attract elder viewers because of the noir style that was also used in many older films.

Our film may appeal to people who are interested in psychology, for example someone who works in counselling or other psychology related jobs, or people that are just interested in the genre. Our film may especially appeal to them because it shows psychology from the point of view of the experiencer rather than the psychologist so people may watch to get a differant viewpoint.

Our film will not focus on a particular region or ethnicity, it will be open to all nationalities. This is because psychology can affect people everywhere and the thriller genre is world wide watched. Although our film is more likely to be watched in english speaking countries because the film  will not be filmed in any other languages.

The film we are going to produce will not appeal to a certain gender. This is because both males and females can be interested in the same genre of film. Also both genders can be massively affected by psychological illnesses and aspects of life and jobs in psychology are not gender specific so there willl be just as much interest from both genders as an audience.

Location Photos

(A)

(B) 

(C) 

(D) 

(E) 

 (F)

(G)

This is the top level of the car park on which we hope to film. Picture D is our desired area as to where the opening shots will take place, the view from here can be seen in picture C. The scenes in which Stanley encounters the hooded figure (apart from in the apartment) will take place around the area shown in picture E and G. Picture B shows the general area where all the rooftop scenes will take place. 

Difficult shot practice

We had a particular shot in our film that we wanted to try out before principle photography began as it was rather difficult. We wanted a shot that went through the computer, showing all the insides, and coming out of the other side into a different scene.
Our first challenge was getting a computer that was disposable, and luckily our college had some old computers that were unused so we were allowed to take one. This meant we could go to work taking off all of the panels to see how much room we had inside for the camera.
The second challenge we faced was that a regular camera would not be able to fit through the computer. Luckily, one of us has a GoPro with attachments, so we used the monopod so we could slide the camera through.
Next, we needed to find a way to create a hole so the camera could actually get inside. There was a panel on the back that came off fairly easily, but creating a hole at the front was difficult. There was a mesh grill on the front which we cut away with wire cutters (which was hard!) but eventually managed to create a gap big enough to get the GoPro through.

Now we had a gap big enough to get the camera through, we needed to make sure the insides of the computer allowed enough space for the camera to move all the way through. We only needed to move a few wires to allow enough room, so that did not take long.

Now we had a clear path and the camera could move through easily. Inside, when the camera was moving through, we wanted a big shadow of a fan moving to be cast along the sides. To do this, we removed one of the fans that was inside the computer and made our own rig which would work almost like a cookie.
We had a small metal panel that was part of a larger panel which we removed from the back of the PC. This was perfect to mount the fan onto as it fit perfectly across the gap where it would be. We used superglue to mount it to the panel, then mounted (again, with glue) the panel to the rim of the hole on the side of the computer.

We put the panel back onto the computer, and shone a light through the hole which we cut out like so.

 This cast a shadow perfectly onto the inside of the PC just as we imagined. Although this took a long time it was worth the effort as it created a really nice effect inside and lit it well. Despite this, we had the problem of the fan not spinning easily as it was hard for one of us to operate the camera and one of us to hold the light and move the fan manually. We tried to coil string around the base of the fan so when we pulled the string it would spin. This worked to some degree, but it kept getting caught and was costing us a lot of time.
To solve this, we cut off the top off a bottle and glued that down onto the top of the fan. This way, we could coil string around the fan without it getting caught so it could move more consistently. With this, we were finished, and put the panel back on and shot the scene.

This is the result.

Possible distributor for our film

An important part of producing a film is distribution,  this is the advertisement, marketing and manufacturing of a film. It is one of the most important stages as this creates interest that is vital to make people watch your film and make money.
I think the best distributor for our film would be STX Entertainment. They are responsible for distributing many similar films such as The Boy and The Gift.These films focus on psychological and thriller genre which links to aspects of our film. This means that it will be advertised in the same way and will also have a similar audience. Also people that are interested in our genre of films will be interested in the distributor so will be more likely to watch their films, this will advertise our film positively and bring in more viewers. Another majorly positive thing is that it is a new company, this means that it has a lot of media attention at the minute which is likely to be spread on to our film. Although the company is new, its film The Gift, which is a psychological thriller similar to ours is now released on DVD and Blu-ray. The film was a massive success with a budget of $5 million and a gross of $43,771,291. As well as showing that they know how to distribute a similar film it also shows that they are a successful film distribution company even though they are new.

 Here is a link to their website https://stxentertainment.com/
 

Floor Plans of Storyboard - Draft 1

Experiment with effects in Premiere

I have used free stock footage from the internet to create a short clip, with the intention to experiment with different effects with in premiere. The main effects and aspects of the sequence I wanted to experimetn with was colouring (through filters and effect controls), opacity (and how this can affect layering) and time (as in slowing down or speeding up clips).









 

I used an Arri Alexa Noir 1965 'speedlook' in the Lumetri Presets section of the effects panel, to give the film a really nice high contrast with the black and white, and also a feel of a tradional noir look. I also boosted the contrast in this preset to create the juxtaposition between really deep blacks and glaring whites.

There are parts of this film where colour does come through, particularly in the part where the flashing light and the eye are layered (0:45-0:53). This is due to rasing the exposure really high, which allowed some colour to penetrate through the black and white, which created a really good looking effect.

The layering of two clips meant I could set the opacity to a lower setting, to allow both clips to be seen. This can convey a relationship between the two images, particularly with the eye and the coloured light, as the eye has a colour light casting colour onto it, so you link the two and see the light itself as the cause of the colour on the eye, despite the fact that the two clips have no relationship whatsoever.

Finally, it was intersting to experiment with eyeline matches. The clips of the eye could create the feeling that the clips what follow is what the eye is looking at, although again they have no relation at all.

Title sequences

I have researched title sequences from existing films, finding that a Hitchcock-esque opening would be very fitting for our film. My first example is from Psycho. I think that drawing inspiration from this sequence would tie in really well with our Noir theme, as the sequence uses chariscurio, solid black and white text and bars. The bars which are used are reminiscent of typical noir iconography - venetian blinds. Using a title sequence where black and white is juxtaposed like this would be a fitting opening to our film as it creates a striking contrast over the black and white film.



Another Hitchcock intro I was inspired by to make an title sequence was from Vertigo. This intro consists of nothing but close ups of different parts of a persons face. I think that combining these style of close ups with the bars over the top would create a perfect intro for our film. As previously mentioned the bars have a very noir feel, which is one of the genres utilised in our film. The close ups would be reflective of another genre we're blending, which is thriller. These close ups create a tense atmosphere and give a very early indication in regards to the emotion of the character. Also I feel that certain parts of the face, the eyes in particular, can make the audience feel like they are being stared at from the screen. This creates a rather uncomfortable environment for the viewer which is a feeling we want to achieve.

Story Board - Draft 1