Behind The Scenes Pictures

Here are some behind the scenes photos that I took on our shoot day. 

Behind the Scenes Notes

Here are some notes I made when we finished out shoot which explain the strengths and weakness of our shoot and how we overcame the difficulties as a group. 

What went well?

• Our idea worked well and we were able to stick with most of our original ideas
• I worked well on the sound boom and as the director because I was paying attention and listening to instructions and coming up with new ideas.
• Coming up with new ideas and adapting our scene outline and shot list to work best with the set and the layout of the church. 
• The actors were very good at listening to instructions and also came up with ideas of their own to contribute.
• The mise-en-scene of the location was really good and the costumes worked really effectively in creating the right look for the film.
• The fake blood and scar looked really effective on camera.

What didn't work well and how did you deal with it?

• The church was very cold and our actress was just wearing a white summer dress and so she was very cold but we were able to deal with this by giving her a jacket or a blanket between takes so that she didn't get too cold.
• At times our communication as group could have been better as we had different ideas about what would work better but we were able to sort this through discussion, compromise and listening to each others ideas an supporting those ideas. 
• The retractable knife was quite bad in terms of quality so we tired to cover up the parts of it that looked quite fake and unrealistic and we also had to bear in mind that this part of the film needed to be rehearsed a few times without the camera before we added the fake blood because we only had one shirt for the character and so we needed to work out the logistics of this shot before we added in the fake blood and so we were only able to film this shot once.

What did you change?

• We changed the order in which the shots were filmed due to the availability of one of our actors (Mike T) and also we needed to bear in mind that some of the shots needs to be left right until the end of the shooting, such as the use of the fake blood and the candles.
• We made some adaptations to the scene outline in order to use the location to our advantage. There was small ally way entrance that we decided to use for the psychopaths entrance. 
• Mike, the actor who played the role of the psychopath started singing 'It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas' in a very creepy and psychotic tone, and so we decided to add this in at the beginning of the scene when he enters. 

Possible Target Audience

Our idea for our opening sequence to a thriller is centred around a dangerous psychopath who is holding a young girl hostage in a Church.

 


From this, I have been thinking about what our possible target audience would be. We think hat our opening sequence will contain genre conventions of a thriller including violence, action, suspense, thriller, mystery, danger and of course thrill.

This leads me to think that taking this information into account our possible target audience are likely to be males aged between 15-21 because the audience would be old enough to understand the content and for it not to scare them and for the content to be appropriate fro them and in addition this I think that our thriller would probably be best suited to a younger audience due to the nature of the opening sequence ad the fact that we intend to use young people for our actors.

I think that males aged between 15 and 21 years old would enjoy our opening sequence and would be the best suited audience to watch our opening sequence because they are the most likely audience to enjoy the violence, action and muster of our opening sequence as well as being close in age to the actors we intend to use and the are within the age group that I would expect to enjoy my thriller the most.

In addition to this, I also believe that males aged 15-20 would be our possible target audience because from my previous research of what films are similar to mine in terms of characters and plot I also discovered that these films have similar target audiences to mine. Therefore, this leads me to believe that if an audience of males aged between 15 and 20 years old enjoy films such as The Silence of the Lambs, The Dark Knight and Taken then they would also be a suitable target audience for my thriller film.

  

However, in order to be sure about who my target audience would be after finalising on what our opening sequence will contain I will need to conduct a questionnaire to people of different ages and of both genders in order to get a better idea as to what kind of audience my media product would appeal to. 

Similar Media Products

I have been researching some different media products that have similarities to my own media product in terms of character and plot as well as other similarities including music and location. Below are some examples of similar media products:




The Dark Knight is similar to my media product due to the fact that both have the character of a deranged psychopath who plays the villain role in the film. The Joker from The Dark Knight is very similar to the psychopath in my opening sequence in terms of his mannerisms, behavior, facial expressions and general persona. 

The Dark Knight:
Studio: Warner Brothers
Director: Christopher Nolan
Release Date: July 21st 2008

The film Taken is also very similar to my film in terms of the plot because it follows a kidnapping of a vulnerable young girl which is similar to that of my opening sequence. However, in my opening sequence the young girl is very young and is being held hostage in a Church however in Taken the female character is much older and has been kidnapped for human trafficking purposes. 

Taken:
Studio: EuropaCorp
Director: Pierre Morel
Release Date: September 26th 2008

Some other films that are similar to mine in terms of plot, character and setting include Swordfish, Se7en, Shutter Island, As Good as Dead as well as Silence of the Lambs. 

Se7en: 
Initial release: September 22, 1995 (USA)
Director: David Fincher
Studio: Cecchi Gori Pictures

Swordfish:
Initial release: June 8, 2001 (USA)
Director: Dominic Sena
Studio: Silver Pictures

Shutter Island:
Release date: March 12, 2010 (United Kingdom)
Director: Martin Scorsese
Studio: Paramount Pictures

As Good as Dead:
Initial release: October 8, 2010
Director: Jonathan Mossek
Studio: Eclectic Pictures

Silence of the Lambs:
Release date: May 31, 1991 (United Kingdom)
Director: Jonathan Demme
Studio: Strong Heart/Demme Productions

Below is a video that shows scenes from other media product that are similar to my own media product in terms of plot, narrative and in some cases setting and location. This video shows scenes from other films that involve s hostage situations with weapons being used against the hostage. 

Research - How Hostage Negotiation Works

Prolonging the situation is a very important part of hostage negotiation because the longer the hostage situation lasts, the more likely it is to end peacefully with nobody being hurt.

One thing that is crucial is that the negotiator asks open ended questions and not yes or no questions as this increases the likelihood of getting the psychopath on the negotiator's side.

Ensuring the safety of the hostage is another important thing to bear in mind. It is important that the hostage is kept safe because they can provide essential details about the location, the habits of the captors and the other hostages.

Keeping things calm is crucial when dealing with psychopaths as it reduces any threat of violence being used against both the negotiator or the hostage.

By using minimal encouragers, such as brief statements it allows the captor to know that the negotiator is listening to them and responding in a non-opinionated manner which effectively conveys that the negotiator is paying attention and listening to the pints being made by the captor. These responses will encourage the subject to continue talking and gradually relinquish more control of the situation to the negotiator.

Overall, the important things for a negotiator to bear in mind is that it is important for them to stay calm collected and remain on the captor side until the safety of the hostage is secured.

Research - Location

As a group, we have been discussing our different ideas for a location for our shoot. We have contacted 2 churches, however we haven't heard back from either of them. Therefore we have started to research other possibilities for a location. It is very important that our chosen location creates the right atmosphere and creates tension within our thriller. We want the location to mirror the action in the scene and create a creepy and tense atmosphere.

 

There are some requirements that the location needs to posses including being in close proximity to our school, have stained glass windows, candles and pews for the victim to sit on, it is also essential that the location create a mysterious and tense atmosphere and is within the gothic style.

Our backup plan would be to use a similar location that creates the same atmosphere such as an empty room that is very dark and cold looking. If there are no options of borrowing a church then we will have to use a dark shed, the basement to the school or possibly a room that fits within the requirement of having large windows and benches. 

However, another option would be using the studio at school and create an artificial setting, but this would require a lot of planning and discussion as we would have to  complete a set design in a very short amount of time.

Research - Retractable Knife Prop

I began researching retractable knife props after we decided as a group that this would be essential for our scene outline. It was important that the knife looked realistic as we want to use close up shots of the knife and so it is essential that the retractable knife looks naturalistic and believable on camera. 

There are many different types of knife and so we first needed to decide on what kind of knife we wanted to use. Although we want to use a realistic looking knife, we also needed to ensure that it would be safe to use and that the materials wouldn't cause any harm to our actors. 

Research - What Does a Director do?

A film director is the person who is in charge or directing the making of the project. Usually, a film director controls the dramatic and artistic elements and they are also in charge of visualising the script whilst also being in control of guiding and assisting the actors and technical crew in order to create the vision to the best of their ability.

A directors responsibility includes creatively translating a film's script into images and sounds for the screen. Ultimately, they are responsible for the artistic and commercial success or failure of the film.

During the pre-production stage of filming, directors are responsible for making vital and essential decisions, including casting the right cast and selecting the right crew members and location for the film.

They are also responsible for managing the technical aspects of the film including aspects such as special effects, design, lighting, sound and camera.

They play a massive role in the smoothness of the filming process and they probably have the most important role in the whole filming process as they are responsible for making sure that the vision comes to life.

They also play a big role in the post-production process as they work very closely with the editing team through all of the technical elements of the editing process in order to reach the final version of the film.

During all of the stages, directors are responsible for the motivation of the creative team and this ensures that they, as a collective, create the best results possible. However, they also need to be aware of the constraints that may be present such as budget and filming schedule.

Shot List (2)

'A shot list is a document that lists and describes the shots to be filmed during principal photography.'

We have decided to make a shot list in order to ensure that our entire production runs smoothly and efficiently. The shot list insures that all of the shots take into account the location and setting of the shots as apposed to a scene outline which displays the shots in a chronological order and does not contain information about the camera angle or movement used.

In some ways a shot list is very similar to a storyboard as it explains and it identifies what exactly is in the frame and being filmed.

A shot list is useful and can be easily distributed to both the crew and the cast and it ensures that the director, cinematographer and the rest of the crew are all on the same page and agree on what the believe will be filmed on the shoot day.

A shot list is essentially a detailed log of all the shots you intend to include in your film. As a group, we have decided that it would be helpful to us to use a shot list when filming and it will give our film a sense of efficiency and direction as it will contain all of the minute details that we need.

Shot List (1)

Here is the shot list that we have discussed as group. This is  list of the different camera angles and movements we are going to use for our shoot and this coincides with our scene outline.

Filming Date: Tuesday 26th January 2016

Production Name: Joker in a Church

Group members: Nanci Kelham, Mia McCallum, Victoria Maximova 

1) A close up of two legs (pale blue dolly shoes and white frilly socks) tied up to a chair
2) An extreme close up of the victim’s eyes closed, she then opens them
3) An close up of the victim's (wounded/bruised) face in the darkness - she’s tied up to a chair - the victim is clearly discombobulated, she is peering into the darkness around her, squinting
4) A shot of a murderer’s back as he stands in front of an altar
5) The angle doesn’t change - the murderer walks off to the side revealing a tray with different torture instruments
6) A close up of the victim’s face as she starts getting worried and looks behind her shoulder
7) A close up of the victim’s hands behind her back also tied up to a chair
8) A close up of the victim’s face struggling, trying to escape the bondage
9) An extreme close up of a match being ignited and lighting up a candle
10) A mid shot of the murderer shaking the burning match to put out the fire as he turns around
11) A mid shot of the victim panicking
12) An extreme close up of the murderer’s hand picking up one of the knives
13) A long shot from behind the altar - the murderer slowly walks down the stairs with a knife, approaching the victim (the back of the murderer can be seen, maybe a little from the side)
14) A close up of the victim’s face helplessly screaming and panicking, looking up at the murderer as the back of his head appears in the frame
15) A shot of the murderer’s face looking at the victim as he’s about to stab her (as he cuts a piece of sellotape, which isn’t in the frame)
16) A close up of the victim’s face as the murderer tapes her mouth
17) A close up of the murderer smiling and saying “we only started”
18) A long shot of a door kicked open and a policeman entering
19) A long shot of the murderer standing over the victim (from the back)
20) A mid shot of the policeman with a gun shouting “get on the floor”
21) A close up of the murderer turning around as he steps behind the victim on the chair and puts a knife to her throat and makes a big smile, saying “try to make me”
22) A close up of the victim’s hands, trying to untie the rope
23) A mid shot of the policeman putting one of his hands in the air and bending down to reach the ground with the hand holding the gun
24) A shot of the gun being dropped on the ground
25) Back to the mid-shot of the policeman with his hands up, saying “calm down. the place is surrounded, there are men with guns at each exit”
26) A close up of the victim’s hands, carefully untying the rope
27) Back to the mid-shot of the policeman saying "listen, i’m only here to negotiate”
28) A close up of the murderer’s face giggling, saying “you really think you can stop me with this?”
29) A close up of the victim’s hands, almost free of the bandage
30) Back to the policeman saying “just let the girl free and we won’t hurt you”
30) An extreme close up of the victim’s eyes looking up and to the side
31) A shot of the stained-glass window with a Jesus’ image
32) Back to the eyes looking down to the side this time
33) A shot of a knife laying on the floor next to the victim’s feet
34) A close up of the policeman saying “...i will have to call the troop”
35) A shot of him getting a radio set out
36) A mid shot of her bending down
37) An extreme close up of her grasping the knife
38) A shot of her plunging towards the murderer
39) An extreme close up of the murderer’s side being stabbed with a knife
40) A mid-long shot of the girl running towards the policeman
41) A mid-shot of the policeman taking the girl in his arms and pointing his gun at the murderer
42) A close up of the murderer’s side bleeding (camera tilts up)
43) A close up of the murderer with his head down, rising his head up and laughing hysterically
44) A close up of the policeman's and victim’s faces looking scared and confused
45) A close up of the murder tilting his head back and to the side, staring at the other two and blowing out the candles on the rack behind him

Scene Outline - Final Draft

Here is the final draft for the scene outline. We have finalised the props and costumes and so all of this should be what we intend to film on Tuesday the 26th of January.

1) Two legs tied up to a chair (the victim’s)
2) Victim closes and then opens her eyes and we see her wounded bruised face - she’s tied up to a chair - the victim is clearly discombobulated, she is peering into the darkness around her, squinting
3) A shot of a murderer’s back as he stands in front of an altar and we see a tray of torture instruments
4) We see the victim’s hands behind her back also tied up to a chair and she’s trying to escape
5) The murderer then lights a candle and picks up one of the knives
6) The murderer slowly walks down the stairs with a knife, approaching the victim
7) The murderer cuts a bit of duct tape and tapes her mouth
8) The murderer smiles and says “we only started”
9) The door is kicked open and the policeman enters
10) The policeman with a gun shouts “get on the floor”
11) The murderer turns around as he steps behind the victim on the chair and puts a knife to her throat and makes a big smile, saying “try to make me”
12) The victim is still trying to untie the rope
13) The murderer picks up the gun and drops it on the ground
14) The policeman with his hands up, says “calm down. the place is surrounded, there are men with guns at each exit”
15) The victim carefully unties the rope
16) The policeman says "listen, i’m only here to negotiate”
17) The murderer’s giggles and says “you really think you can stop me with this?”
18) The victim is almost free
19) The policeman says “just let the girl free and we won’t hurt you”
20) A shot of the stained-glass window with a Jesus’ image
21) There is a knife laying on the floor next to the victim’s feet
22) The policeman says “...i will have to call the troop”
23) The victim reaches for the knife and plunges towards the murderer and stabs him
24) The girl runs towards the policeman
25) The policeman takes the girl in his arms and points his gun at the murderer
26) The murderer then laughs hysterically and then blows out the candles

Confirming Actors Availability (7)

Here is a screenshot of the email I have received from Mike, the actor who will be playing the role of the policeman/inspector.

As a group we need to have a discussion about what our exact ideas are regarding the details for the costume of the inspector. Mike has asked us to consider whether we would prefer a single or double breasted suit and what kind of pattern we want on the tie. These are all details we need to take into consideration and also think about the mise-en-scene and how this will be affected by our choices.

Here are some pictures of some ideas that we have discussed:

Confirming Actors Availability (6)

We have been discussing as a group who are back up choices for actors would be if for any reason we couldn't use our preferred first choice.

Despite that we have had confirmation from all of our first choice actors saying that they are available we need to make sure that we have a back up just in case.   

Villain: Gabe Jackson
Policeman: Adam Grant
Victim: Naomi Sklar

After a group discussion, we chose these actors because we know that they will be reliable and just as good as our other choices if we are not able to use them. 

(NEEDS PICTURES!!!)

Confirming Actors Availability (5)

Here is a screenshot of the email I received back from Mike, who will be playing the role of the murderer. 

I met with him in person and we discussed the character and what he will be required to do.

I told him that the character is a psychotic murderer who is holding an innocent girl captive in a church and that he will be required to convince the audience that he is psychotic and also that he is planning on torturing the victim.

We chose Mike because he has the right look for the part and we believe that he could convincingly play this role. We also checked that he could do a very creepy and menacing hysterical laugh and it was able to create a very unnerving laugh.

Confirming Actors Availability (4)

Here is a screenshot of the email I received back from the actor who is playing the the role of the policeman/inspector. His reply is confirming that he is still willing to take part in the film, however he does also mention that a Thursday would not be a very convenient day for him. We will need to take this into consideration when finalising our shoot day.