Practice Film Opening Preperation

Opening 2 Minutes to a Film Preperation
2 Minute Film Opening Task:
Develop a character and use this character in a 2-minute film opening set in a given location. Plot, cast, film and edit an opening to a film. Incorporate your character's traits into the film.

Character Development
Character development is the expansion and growth of a character, including in-depth details, within literature and film. Character development is important in order to create an in-depth, relatable character. Creating a relatable character is necessary to engage the audience, as they have a character to connect and empathise with. A basic, plain character will not be relatable, as they appear inhuman and are therefore not engaging because they are seen as boring. If the audience cannot engage with the character, it will make the film less entertaining and people will be less inclined to watch it or enjoy it. A character used merely as a plot device cannot engage the audience as a sole character, and they don't really add much to the film besides aiding the plot. Moreover, characters with certain personality traits, including a fatal flaw, can impact what happens in the story, and therefore makes the plot more in depth and thought out.

Creating a Character

During the lesson, we were provided with a sheet containing several images of random people. We were asked to choose one of the people and develop a character based on their appearance and expression in the image. This is the sheet of images we were provided:

This is the image I selected:

From this image I brainstormed these notes:

Group Member's Characters
We were randomly generated into a group of three, so again I was working with people I was not entirely familiar with. However, this didn't have much of an impact, as we all shared and explained our ideas thoroughly and confidently to each other. Upon being put into the group, a member of the group (Jack) and I realised we both were working from the same image, and therefore had the same character appearance. Initially, we thought to use them as two different characters but then we compared both our character analyses and realised that they had minor similarities. We decided to merge our character analyses into one character for the project. This is the character analysis Jack brainstormed from the same image as mine:

Jordan, the other member of the group, chose to use this image from the selection:

These are his notes he made based on the image:

Group Brainstorming
In our groups, we were given a location in which our 2-minute opening had to be situated. We received 'Woodland'. From this, we had to develop an appropriate situation in which both our character's meet realistically. It also had to be engaging. We devised the concept of burying a body in the woods and this is the idea we decided to use in the end. These are some of our brainstorming notes:

Another concept we came up with was the idea of a drug dealer retrieving his money off somebody who owed him. This plot involved three characters. The first, mine, was the person who owed the drug dealer money, as it specifies in my notes she is addicted to pills. In the plot, she is running through a wood to get away from him, having escaped through the window of the apartment she never leaves when she heard a knock at the door. This will show her anxiousness and paranoia as she is constantly checking who is around. The drug dealer (Jordan's character) uses Jack's character to beat the money out of her, as in his notes it specifies how she is 'evil' and aggressive.

Location
We brainstormed different places we could potentially film the project. The first suggestion made was Thetford Forest.

Thetford Forest is a large woodland and nature reserve on the edge of Thetford. It contains tall, varied types of trees, including pine trees, which is the image we had initially desired for the project. Thetford forest is appropriate because it is deep and huge, therefore the chance of any pedestrians walking in the background, disrupting the film, or making noise is low. Moreover, there are little to no everyday noises that will mask the audio of the film, and it is open spaced therefore we can move freely to obtain the desired angles. It is also a good choice because of how deep it is, therefore won't have any plain field, park, town etc in the background. On the other hand, Thetford forest is a popular forest for dog walkers and hikers, therefore on the off chance somebody does walk past, it will disrupt the filming. Furthermore, it is so large, it requires a lot of travelling to get to the desired spot, which requires transporting the equipment too. This is a hassle and will use up valuable filming time. If we were to film in the easier areas to access, it will be close to the main road, therefore noises of vehicles passing will be caught on camera. We decided not to use Thetford forest because not everybody could get there, as it is 35 minutes away from the majority of the group and requires travelling by vehicle. This is an image of Thetford Forest:

 

Another location suggested was Wayland Wood, Watton. This is a deep wooded nature reserve in Watton. As a nature reserve, it doesn't have any industrial or artificial noises in the background to mask the audio or make the setting too close to civilisation and therefore not appropriate for the plot. There are several open areas which are convenient for setting up good angles and makes it easy to manoeuvre. It is a large wood, therefore any chance of pedestrians walking by and disrupting the filming is low. The size and deepness are a benefit as no civilisation or fields can be seen in the background of the film; just deep wooded areas will be seen which is the image we desired for the film. Wayland Wood was a good option because it is a very attractive woods, with many flowers and vegetation which will look really good on camera. On the contrary, Wayland Wood is mostly closely packed, therefore you'd have to locate more open areas for filming which requires transporting the equipment far which uses up time and effort. Moreover, the fact the trees are so close to one another means not much light comes through and the film will be made dark. This isn't good because it can make the film grainy or too dark for the appearance we wanted. Going not so deep into the woods would prevent this, as the shallow areas will be more lit, however, the shallower areas are closer to the main road and therefore would capture the noises of vehicles passing by. In addition, Wayland Wood is too far for the group to travel to and must be accessed by vehicle. This is an image of Wayland Wood:



Our chosen location is Kett's Park, Wymondham. This location is appropriate because it contains open areas, making it easy to film in. In the wooded areas, it is confined and remote, so not many people will disrupt the filming. There is no noise of traffic or people talking to mask the audio. It's easily accessible to the entire group which was the main factor in our final decision, as the entire group must be present when filming.



Casting
Casting the roles was difficult, as we had to find actors who were both willing, free and looked remotely similar to the characters chosen. We had to find a female actress, fairly young with fair skin and hair. Unfortunately, I couldn't locate a female that precisely fit the required description, but found someone who's facial features mildly resembled the character's. This is the actress chosen:

I chose this actress because she was eager to become a part of the production, and can innately perform the role of an anxious yet angered female. Moreover, her facial features are very mildly reminiscent of the character's, including her long face and small, darkish eyes and small, straight lips.

Casting the male proved even more difficult, as nobody knew of any middle-aged male appropriate and willing to perform the role. After long consideration, I chose an actor with fairly long hair, which would be able to be combed over in the same fashion the character in the image chosen has. As a group, we agreed to apply makeup to the male character to make them appear much older and add temporary grey dye to achieve the look of the character the appearance is based on. This is the actor chosen before makeup has been applied:

I chose this actor because even though he did not look like the character, he can be transformed into the role using makeup, hair dye and wearing a suit. He can perform the role of a refined man and come across intimidating but derisive, which is perfect for the role.

Props

For the project, we only require three props: a wedding/engagement ring, a shovel and a packet of pills. These props are easy to obtain, as I own a shovel that we can use. However, we must make sure the actress is cautious wielding it, as it is rather heavy and can cause an injury. A cheap, dupe ring can be purchased from an inexpensive retailer, and can be passed off in the film as an expensive wedding/engagement ring. As for the pills, we can use simple pain killers. 

Plot

The film begins in a woodland and pans to a man walking through the forest. As the man progresses through the forest, the sound of shovelling dirt can be heard. The man approaches a woman patting on a pile of dirt, assumed to be a grave. The woman patting the grave appears to be anxious and paranoid (one of her included traits) and is constantly checking her whereabouts cautiously. She hears a crunch of leaves and turns round to see the man, shocked at first but upon recognition calms. She shows him her finger excitedly, it has an engagement/wedding ring on and she says she stole it from the woman she's buried (the man's wife). The man is unimpressed, which makes her uneasy and begin to panic about not getting away with the murder of his wife. He then reassures her, saying that he's going to be okay because he's going abroad and laying low. She's is confused about not being in his plan and he admits to using her to kill his wife. This angers the girl and she begins shouting before slapping him in his face. This then angers him too and he grabs her by the throat and slams her against the tree before saying that he never loved her. He takes her hand gently, which seems romantic at first, but he then proceeds to pull the ring off her finger and flick it past her face onto the ground before walking away. She shouts at him, revealing that she's pregnant with his child. He continues walking but she drops to her knees before noticing the shovel she was using. She grabs the shovel and runs after him, hitting him on the back of the head so he falls to the ground. The scene ends with him laying on the floor, appearing dead.

I interpreted this scene as a flash forward at the beginning of a film, and as the rest of the film progresses you find out the events prior to that and eventually after that.

Here is the images of our story board:

Here is the image of our script:

The script used only contains subtle hints that imply what is going on, rather than saying directly what is. This leaves it to the viewer to interpret more from it, and also makes it more realistic and natural, as opposed to being forced and too specific to seem like two character's who already know what they're talking about having a conversation with full details.

Characters

In the project, we had to show our character's traits shining through, which would be difficult in just a two-minute clip.

Lucy (female)

The character Jack and I created based on both of our notes combined is a less extreme version of the character's we initially developed on our own. We created a young, female character, roughly in her twenties. Despite being quite aggressive and violent, she is rather naïve and easily fell for Gordon's manipulation. We (Jack and I) decided to discard the notes we made about her past, as they clash, and developed a new background for her. Prior to where the opening scene begins, she had already met Gordon as a journalist during an interview. During this encounter, Gordon seemingly took a liking to her and from this, they began to have an affair behind Gordon's wife's back. Nobody's sure if he genuinely felt the way he claimed he did about her or whether he was using her - perhaps for good publicity in the media (as she's a journalist) or for the plotting of his wife's murder. Lucy is mentally unstable and is addicted to pills, this was never aided by Gordon's constant manipulation of her. She's insecure and paranoid as well as extremely jealous, which is the trait Gordon plays on and takes advantage of in order to kill his wife. My notes about the character stated that she is anxious: this will be shown through her constant checking around at the beginning of the plot, also conveying her paranoia to the viewer. Her paranoia will also be shown by how quickly she becomes uneasy about the situation when Gordon hadn't even said anything yet. According to Jack's notes, the character is evil and psychotic. This will be conveyed by her mannerisms and the general plot. For example, she takes the ring from Gordon's dead wife and wears it herself, as well as bragging about it. Moreover, she murdered Gordon's wife prior to the plot. She is supposed to be an aggressive character with a temper, this is conveyed when she loses her temper at Gordon and slaps him in the face (not to mention hitting him round the head with a spade). She's quick to escalate a situation.

Gordon (male)

The notes Jordan made did not include specific traits, however, did contain a backstory. As a backstory is harder to convey in a two-minute clip, we decided to invent traits based on his backstory. For example, as an MP, he must be a good speaker and confident. This will be conveyed through the way he talks to Lucy (talking down to her) and the way he treats her. Politicians have a reputation for being inconsiderate and selfish, which shown through Gordon, not including Lucy in his plan and admitting to using her to kill his wife. Moreover, as a drug dealer, he is involved in wrong doings. This gives the opportunity to make the character quite cunning and shady. As a man in a professional career (MP) he dresses smartly and must be quite clever, which is conveyed through him being able to manipulate Lucy into going along with his schemes and get away with all his doings. Gordon is charming and endearing, which is what attracted Lucy to him in the first place. He's well spoken and good with words. Gordon is extremely manipulative and has Lucy hanging by a thread.

Filming Schedule

We decided to film on Tuesday 27th September, at 5pm, as it is the most convenient time when everybody is available. The location is in Wymondham, therefore everybody is in relatively close proximity and doesn't require much transport. We also chose 5pm because evening lighting will be the warmest light, and therefore will create the most attractive and appropriate tones for the footage.  

Finished Product (30/09/16)

Here is the finished film: