Storyboards of our final idea

Storyboards of our final idea

Now that our production group had decided on the storyline that we wanted to portray in our opening sequence, before filming we had to draw out storyboars to show our idea step by step. By having a storyboard it would help us when filming as we would have a step by step plan on exactly what we needed to film as shown in the images below. Each shot is mapped out clearly in what area we needed to film, along with what sound would be placed over the clips, and the voice over, which would also help us in the editing process as we could refer to exactly where we needed sound, and what sound we would need to create.

Production Schedule

Production schedule

In today's lesson our production group sat down and devised a scheduel of all the times as shown in the table below. It shows all the dates and props that we will need throughout the filming proccess. By having a production schedule it was easier to plan out when we could actually film, and when people were free. It made our group more organised and could see that we were able to complete the filming within the 2 weeks before we had to start editing.

What Are We Shooting ?	When are We Shooting ?	Where are we shooting ?	What do we need to make it happen?
Happy flashback ‘café scene’	Thursday 13/12/12	Castle Green cafe	Props: cups, plates etc. Character costumes
Happy flashbacks ‘café scene’ ‘ random, flirty footage’	Tuesday 18/12/12	Starbucks/ Costa shopping Centre shops.	" " " "
Sarah in the dark room ‘ winter flashbacks’	Tuesday 18/12/12	Drama room in school	Character costumes Props: Knife, Fake blood
Voiceover	Once all the footage has been edited	In media class rooom	N/A

After our group had decided on the schedule we made a production post in 'Photo Booth' taking the viewer through our step by step guide on what we were going to do whilst we were filming, and exactly what we would need. By doing this it also helped to make it clear toward our group so we each knew verbaly what we were going to be doing when it came to filming.

Wordle Description Of Our Opening Sequence

Wordle Description Of Our Opening Sequence

Below I have created a wordle, using all the words that can be linked with our opening sequence. There are words in there to describe the characters such as Sarah, she can be linked with words such as hurt, scared, targeted and isolated. The character James can be linked with the words dark, violent and abusive. There are also words that describe the opening sequence and the story as a whole such as Traumatising and Damsel in distress.



Crime Drama Titles Research.

Crime Drama Title Openings 

Ripper

Below is a screen grab from a crime drama called " Ripper. I have chosen this screen grab as it relates well to the codes and conventions of a crime drama. We can see the text at the lower right of the screen, not too big or central so we can see what is going on in the rest of the clip. The font is a reasonable size so we can see what the words say, They have used the colour red to connote blood and murder throughout the title sequence, as well as we can see blood on the camera throughout the whole opening sequence. The murder isn't shown either, he is shown to be this dark shadowy figure, like above shown in a door way, this creates an enigma code of ' who actually is the murder '.














The title name ' Ripper ' is also shown right at the end of the opening sequence, so the audience don't know what it is called right until the end, hooking them in. We can see from the image that they have used a shadow effect, The main title is shown clear at the centre of the clips, but in a slightly darker colour, and a bit blurrier, the title name appears again slightly behind, mirroring the idea of a shadow throughout the opening sequence.














Elementary 

This is a screen shot from the opening sequence of Elementary. Here we can see a clear image of a gun on a rotator, this connotes the side of gun crime and possibly a murder throughout the rest of the film. The actors name is show slightly under the gun, as an audience we still get a clear image of the gun but can also see his name, it's not in a big font but the white colour stands out from the dark, blury background.















Southland

The final opening sequence I chose was from Southland. Below is a screen shot of a man, holding a hand gun. We can see that the camera is looking at a photo, as it's in a sepia colour, possibly connoting that the camera is looking back on time, like a flashback. The crime is visible, and could possible again show a murder throughout the rest of the opening sequence. The writing of the actor is also seen, the white colour stands out from the sepia, brown effect of the photo, as well as the letters at the bottom of the image, possibly connoting a psychological side to the crimes.

Title Sequence Ideas

Title Sequence Ideas

Actors

Eniola Silva as Sarah

Conor Drake as James


Editor -  Lauryn Corbett
Cinematography -  Sonny Rowling
Producer -  Conor Drake
Lighting -  Eniola Silva
Director -  Sonny Rowling
Composer -  The music that we chose from youtube and the composer will be shown.

For the titles above that appear we have decided as a group that we would like a handwritten font, in white, as it reflects the psychological aspect of the film. These titles will appear during the flashbacks, in either of the four corners, so that the audience can still see what's happening within the shot.


Title name :  Imposter

We have chosen the name ' Imposter ' as it reflects the story line of our opening sequence, the idea that James isn't really who he say's he is, and Sarah only finds out later on into the relationship. We thought that the name of the film should appear at the end of the film as, the word " Imposter " is the last word that we hear on the voice over, during the flashback before Sarah falls onto the floor. We thought it would be effective if the title name showed after that, so the name sticks in the audiences head. Also the bloody knife is firstly shown at the beginning of the film, apposed to the blood red title scenes at the end, the first thing the the audience see is blood, and the last thing they see is a blood effect, playing on the crime side of the genre, linking to the murder of James, as the title scene would be show in in red, and a blood like, dripping effect.



Below is an image of the ideas we created for the font, size, colour, and blood dripping effect for the title name ' Imposter '

Focus Group Research

Today I chose to do a focus group to get more opinions on our opening sequence so that i had things to improve on, and see what my target audience actually thought as a whole. Firstly I showed them a prezzi presentation to take them through the questions that i woould ask them step by step, so that they had a rough idea on what i would be asking them as shown below. Then after I had shown them the presentation I filmed the focus group on IMovie and uploaded it to youtube.



Analysis Of Focus Group

For my focus group I chose, 3 girls to participate, I did this so that I could get a good idea about what girls thought about the idea of domestic violence and a girl murder in our psychological crime drama, as well as the girls were all 16 fairly close to what the age Sarah is of 18, and 16 is generally the age girls start to get involved in relationships, So I thought that they might have had previous experience in a relationship to talk about that aspect when answering the questions.

Overal I think that the focus group went quite well, I was able to get some decent feedback in, compared to the questionnaires the answers from the focus group were more detailed and i could see clearer what the public thought. Each question that I asked I gave all 3 of the girls a reasonable amount of time to answer them, and I asked them all the same questions so that I could get a variety of answers back. Some questions each girl had their own opinions of and others they all agreed and said the same.

Each of the girls generally liked the idea of our opening sequence and thought that the characters and the over all story worked quite well, and liked the idea that we wasn't showing the domestic violence in a graphic way, that we did it behind james as a masked character. They also liked the idea of a voice over once I showed them an idea of what one was, and told them our voiceover idea, they said that the idea of a cinderella story character was good and fit well with the opening sequence.

If I could change anything I think I would change some of the questions that I asked, and would make them slightly more detailed, but the answers that I got have really helped the group in making final ideas for the production.



Identification of target audience

I think that we have clearly identified our target audience now, at around 16-30. We chose as young as 16 as that's usually the age that girls or guys get into a relationship properly, and as old as 30 as even though 30 year olds may not watch our psychological crime drama, they may know someone who has been involved in domestic violence, or has been a victim or knife drama, or may possibly have been a victim or the domestic abuser/ user of the knife at some point in their lives.

Character Profile Of The Main Character Sarah

 Sarah

Below is an image of what I would see our main character of Sarah to look like in our opening sequence. Sarah is still a young girl at the age of 18 when she enters her realationship with James, 25. Unlike typical 18 year old girls, wearing quite a fair bit of make-up and quite revealing clothing, Sarah would be the opposite, wearing minimal make-up looking quite natural, with non-died, natural hair to show her innocence. Which is why she is targeted by James as he wants to take the innocence away from her, as she looks rather vunerable.

 

James

I have also added in a character profile of James. James isn't really seen in our opening sequence as he is portrayed more as a mystical, shadowy character, giving him no identity. We decided this as a group as we thought it portrayed the idea of domestic violence quiet well as it doesn't give to much away, and isn't shown as openly. The shadowy figure takes away James' identity as toward the public, he's this loving boyfriend toward Sarah. Where as to her he's a monster, and a nasty man as he commits these crimes toward her.

Mood Board

Mood Board

For my opening sequence I have created a mood board on 'Scribd' with images related to the story line. I have chosen to do most of the images in black and white to contrast the violent flashbacks as shown in our opening sequence.  Both sides of the young girl Sarah and James are connoted throughout the mood board, again with images linking to both of their characters i.e Sarah could relate to the girl shown in the bottom right hand corner, to be kneeling on the floor, quite broken, looking into her knee's so she doesn't have to face anybody else. James could relate to the image shown of the heart being held in the middle left. He has control of what he does with Sarah, as if he owns her heart and can play with it how he wishes, yet knows she's broken inside by him hurting her. The relationship is shown to be quite broken throughout the mood board with images such as glass breaking, and an empty room to connote the emptyness of their relationship, that there's no love really involved.

Mood Board Final

Screenplay

Screenplay

By Conor Drake, Lauryn Corbett, Sonny Rowling and Enniola Silva.

Setting: The front room of a flat and a coffee shop
Locations: The drama room at school and Romford coffee shop /Castle Green Cafe
Time: A period in the summer(daytime), a period in the winter at (daytime and late at night)
Characters: Sarah and James (16 year old black female and 25 year old white male)
Dialogue: Voiceover spoken by Sarah, no other dialogue
Sound:Backing music, happy and sad depending on the flashback shown.

SFX. Non-diegetic heavy-hearted music that creates ambience
INT. Long shot, dark room with Sarah sitting in the corner, shaking, wearing a dark vest top with dark shorts. A spot light is shining onto her. The rest of the room is shrouded in darkness, slowly the camera zooms into her.

The next shot is a close-up of the bloodied knife in her hand. Slowly the camera tilts up to her face. Her clothes are covered in blood and her face is dirty from running make-up, looking hysterical.

V/O: "Every girl enjoys fairytales..." (Ambient music stops here)


Goes to flashback.

INT. Of Sarah and James laughing and smiling in a long shot of them in a coffee shop/cafe.

V/O: "Especially cinderella..."

Sound: Happy, upbeat, synchronus, non-diegetic music begins playing.

Cuts back to INT. of Sarah in the dark room, cuts to a close-up shot of her dropping the knife in slow motion. The music stops and only the sound of the knife hitting the floor is heard.

V/O: "They love the idea of a Prince Charming who is prepared to whisk them off to a life time of bliss and wonder..."

Cuts to a sinister flashback.

INT. Sarah is in the same room but this time looking up at James, from a point of view shot, so it feels like it's from her prospective. James is wearing a dark hoodie and is blurred out to look like a dark shadow so all the viewer see's is the christmas tree in the background connoting that it's winter.

V/O: "You know the line... and they all live happily ever after? "

Flashback of happy scene cuts in again. INT. Happy music plays again. This time there are jump cuts of the sinister scenes between the happy scenes to show the violence between the couple and add to the psychological hybrid of the genre.

V/O: "The end? Is that is ... ? "
Flashes back to sinister scene in the winter.
POV shot, low angle, looking up at James. The shot is slightly blurry to show James as a shadow. James reaches down and grabs behind the camera to make it shakey,connoting that he's grabbed Sarah's throat or the cuff of her top.

V/O: "Not even close..."

Music begins, more dramatic and sadder, creating a tense atmosphere.

V/O: "What they forget to tell you is, that Prince Charming is, well... non-existent"

INT. shopping mall, Sarah and James are playing around, laughing and having a good time.

V/O: "So you settle for a mimic, a wannabe, a fake, a poser..."

Instantly cuts to the flashback of James grabbing Sarah from the throat in the POV shot. With his free arm he launches his fist into the camera, connoting that he's hit Sarah, and she falls onto the floor, blocking out all vison and the screen fades to black.

V/O: "AN... IMPOSTER!"

Music fades out. Against the black background, the title slowly fades in. The word "IMPOSTER" looks drippy to connote blood, whilst in a red colour. After it's shown for 5 seconds it then fades back out into a black screen.

Props And Clothing

Props And Clothing

In today's lesson our group had a meeting and we decided what props that we wanted and what sort of clothing our characters would be wearing and the settings, where we would film.

Props

Firstly we will need a knife, but where we have to use a fake one, we will need to find one that looks realistic and real. We will cover the knife in fake blood to show the enigma code of a murder and make it look like Sarah has actually hurt or killed somebody as opposed to a plain knife looking like she hasn't used it. We will buy the knife hopefully from a fancy dress shop, or see if the drama department in school own one.

As mentioned above fake blood will be needed to use on the knife and around or on Sarah to show that she has actually commited a crime, as well as making the scene look quite realistic. If we can't find fake blood in a fancy dress shop we will borrow a suitable red paint from the art department in school, which will also look rather realistic, we just may have to tone it down during editing.

Settings

For the happy flashbacks we decided that we wanted to show both Sarah and James sitting in a cafe or a coffe shop together, being civilised, having a nice conversation and laughing and joking about to show the other, ( fake ) side of James in public. We will film this scene in two places, one in Castle Green Cafe, as they have the props already located in the area, or in a costa cafe, to make the scene look more formal, and public located. Once we have filmed both we will see which one looks better and use that footage.

For the opening where the viewer see's Sarah sitting in a corner, and for the sinister flashbacks of James hitting Sarah we will use a drama room from school, as they have dark, secluded rooms as well as spot lights, so we will have a variety of lighting within the room, as well as it will be easier to see Sarah and her expressions when she drops the knife.

Clothing

For the shots of  Sarah in the drama room and the sinister flashbacks she will be wearing a dark, possibly black vest top and any shorts. This helps to connote the innocence of her, as she's quite open, and when the camera zooms up her arm, the viewer can see the cuts and bruises that she has attained from James, and start to peice the storyline together. In the sinister flashbacks Sarah will be shown from a point of view shot, so what she wears isn't really relevant. Forthe happy flashbacks she will be wearing a flowy dress or top with shorts to help connote the sunny weather, and the time change as well as showing various different costumes to show the change in day, so it's not a one day relationship.

In the happy flashbacks James will be wearing a shirt and jeans, quite casual, to show that it's a normal everyday, typical relationship. He doesn't need to be wearing anything inparticular as he is shown as a dark shadowy figure in the opening sequence, so will be blacked out as much as possible, which is why he will wear a dark hoodie in the sinister flashbacks just to add a more dark and mysterious effect.