Second Film Opening Sequence (Final Ideas)

Second Film Opening Sequence (Part 2)
This is second part to my second film opening sequence, this contains all of our final ideas and the finished product.

Final Idea
The idea we finished with was a less chaotic adaptation of our horror movie idea in the previous post. This featured a man packing up in an office and, as he travelled home from work, he was being stalked by two ghostly little boys that he could not see.

It would begin with footage of a man typing on the computer, which is the method we will use to present the credits - the man types out the titles. He would then shut down his computer and begin to pack up his things and leave. This will be shown through a compilation of different shots. Before he leaves, he picks up a newspaper and the camera briefly focuses on it before it is thrown in the bin. The newspaper features an article titled, 'Two Boys Butchered', which is about two little boys being murdered in the city.

It cuts to the man making his way down a rural path, which is enclosed one side by trees. As he walks by, the audience will notice two boys, caked in mud and blood, watching him from afar. The two boys are ghosts, and this is conveyed to the audience by having them partake in loud and obvious activities - such as a game of tag etc. - but the man does not acknowledge them as he walks home. The opening finishes with man walking off camera and the two boys staring at him as he moves out of the way of the lens.

Final Characters and Casting
Our film will feature only three characters: two ghost boys and a man.

Man
Not much will be learnt about the man during the two minute opening. Just from his appearance, the audience can guess his age. He will be returning from an office - suggested to be his workplace - and the audience knows that he's in an office based occupation but it won't be hinted as to what exactly he does. The man has no dialogue and his performance will be very plain so no personality traits are suggested. The man will be played by our group member's dad, who looks the role as he is an appropriate age. Moreover, he can help the other cast members feel comfortable acting around him as he is related to them.

Children
The two people we decided to cast in the project was our group member's cousins, as they were the only people who could fit the age boundaries who were also willing to perform the role. They were brothers, so they suited the image of brothers that we had in our head when conceiving the plot, therefore they look similar and the concept of twin brothers has a more eerie appeal, as opposed to the comedic look to two very contrasting looking characters. Not much is revealed about the children's characters. It is suggested that they are ghosts because the man doesn't notice them despite them performing such loud and blatant activities. Moreover, they have a quite sinister appeal to them because they're constantly watching the man, which appears quite intimidating because they don't break their stare. At the the same time as giving off a scary aura, they also show that they're playful and cheeky - just like normal boys their age would be. This is because in some shots they're seen playfully wrestling each other. Moreover, it shows their cheeky disposition because of how close they come to the man, which is quite daring as well. This may suggest what they were like as characters before they died, as it doesn't fit with the intimidating vibe they eject when they keep themselves hidden while staring at the man. I wanted the occasionally effect it creates when they play together to show that there still is past characterisations in them despite being ghosts. There's a portion of their natures they had when they were alive ebbing through.

Final Location
The final location we chose was merely because of convenience. The location in which the office scenes were filmed were inside of our group member's home office. We couldn't get hold of the Norwich offices and didn't want to risk relying on the school offices just in case they weren't available or didn't fit the aesthetic we had in mind. Moreover, the home office was a more comfortable area to film in because our actor was completely familiar with the area and therefore could perform more naturally as they were completely in their comfort zone. Another aspect is that when I filmed in a school office in my preliminary task, it created the issue of space. The offices are small so its hard to achieve a desirable angle and manoeuvre around while not being in shot of the camera. The only issue we had with the interior location was that it didn't fit the professional, clinical appearance of a bland office denoted from the word 'office'. However, this didn't affect it too much as it still looks moderately professional and could pass as a workplace, and the list of mine-en-scene elements did not specify what type of office we had to use anyway.

As for the outside films, we mutually and immediately agreed to use Kett's Park, as it was open and therefore easy to manoeuvre, and had a long path spanning across its entirety that looked like a believable route home. The park is very large and therefore the deeper we travel into it, the further away the noise of the town would be and therefore, if we decided to keep the original audio, wouldn't mask the audio. It's very open so we weren't confined to a small area in which its hard to achieve good angles. There is a small collection of industrial buildings behind the park, so it looks like he's walked straight from work, and on the other side of the park is an abundance of houses, therefore looks like he's walking home. This establishes the location as the route home to the audience, without directly defining it.

Costume
The final costume for the male lead would be basic office wear clothing, as it looks professional and therefore more believable that he has just come from work. As for the children's costumes, they will have blood and muddy hands - this messy appearance would make it look like they had been victims of a crime, and therefore was appropriate. On the other hand, we still wanted to maintain the innocence as they were very young, this was shown through their general attire. Wearing casual children's clothes makes them look their age and therefore channel innocence. It also suits the shots in which they are playing because there is still a side of human left to them and we didn't want to make them entirely intimidating.

Prop List
As for props, the only one required was a newspaper. To construct this, we formatted a fake newspaper (containing references to other films) with a story on the front and a separate stories advertised around the edges. We folded it around a real newspaper, to give it depth and make it realistic looking. Other props we included was a computer and office style objects to make it appear more like an office.

Final Lighting Plans
As for lighting, we had to incorporate both artificial and natural into the production. The artificial lights were coming from the room lights of the office - this made the footage visible and therefore higher quality. Another artificial light we used was the light of the laptop, which was featured prominently at the beginning when the credits are being typed out. These were just subtly included - they weren't too intense and therefore opened more opportunities in post production as it didn't completely distort the original footage.

In terms of natural lighting, we filmed outside during the daytime and had quite sunny images, particularly when the boys were playing which has happy connotations and suited it. However, the sun in other images in which the boys weren't playing would look quite odd, as horror wouldn't often be associated with happiness and light - instead dimness. This was the only difficulty the sun presented us.

Final Video

Second Film Opening Sequence

Second Practice 2 Minute Film Opening
We were assigned the task of creating another 2 minute film opening sequence to practise for our coursework. This task had to incorporate elements of mise-en-scène.

What is Mise-en-Scène?
Mise-en-Scène translates from French as 'putting on stage', and when referring to cinema, applies to everything in front of the camera and their arrangement - this includes props, lighting, actors, costume, location and set design. The incorporation of mise-en-scène helps create realism for the audience, and makes the footage believable. The elements can give context, for example they can imply where the film is set and during which era through costume etc. They can signify clear distinctions between things such as characters.

Our Mise-en-Scene elements
In class, we were given 5 different elements of mise-en-scene that we somehow had to incorporate into our film. We used these elements to develop a storyline from, these were the elements we were provided with and the benefits and disadvantages they brought us:

• Prop - a newspaper - This is a fairly basic prop, particularly to find in an office as paperwork is generally in an office and the newspaper would not look out of place. In regards to incorporating it with the cast, boys of that age would not show an interest in reading newspapers so it was interesting to think of ways to include it without it being read. A newspaper is really easy to get hold of, so obtaining this prop would prove no difficulty.
• Location - an office - An office was a fairly ordinary location, however it brought difficulty in finding where to film it because we couldn't get hold of any offices. This is because we had to film outside of school and therefore away from a professional environment in which an office would have been easily obtainable. Moreover, creating a correlation between the cast and the location was difficult because young children wouldn't be typically associated with a workplace environment like an office. On the contrary, the location was convenient in terms of lighting, as it is indoors and extraordinarily easy to include artificial lighting.
• Lighting - artificial and natural -  I was very pleased with this because both effects are easy to obtain and left an open range of methods to achieve this as opposed to a specific form of lighting such as a sunrise. On the other hand, having to include both would limit our ideas because if we only wanted one lighting effect to achieve a mood, we would still have to somehow incorporate the other.
• Costume - muddy hands - this was an interesting and original costume, but fairly simple to obtain. I like the fact that it was such an obscure element to the film but could bring so much to it. For example, if we wanted specific attire it wouldn't matter so long as we included muddy hands. Thinking of a situation in which muddy hands would apply effectively was difficult, but it linked well to the cast as boys are associated with adventure and getting muddy.
• Cast - two 7-11 year old boys - this was the most difficult element of mise-en-scene we were provided with as we not only did we have to find one child willing and talented enough to star in the film, we had to find two. Although the cast connected well with the other elements, we couldn't think of anyone to perform the role. However, involving young children in a plot allowed for imaginative ideas to be conceived, so devising a plot which included this cast was not difficult.

The image below shows the mise-en-scene elements we received:

Initial Plot Ideas
Looking at the elements of mise-en-scène, we came up with different genres in order to create a plot, as the genre will effect the mood of the film and therefore will need an appropriate plot to suit the mood. Our first interpretation of the mise-en-scene elements we received was to create a light-hearted film, perhaps a coming-of-age romance or a generic romantic comedy.

Romantic Comedy
An idea we thought of was using the boys as minor characters in order to bring two characters together. For example, an adult male character asked the two boys for help in order to get a girls attention, and the boys would conceive a mischievous plan in order to do this. As all the elements fitted hand in hand quite well, it would have been easy to justify why they were included. For example, the boys were playing in the park, being overseen by the male character. The boys gained muddy hands by playing around in the dirt, which is an insignificant part to the film opening but can show that the characters are adventurous. The man spots the girl on the bench on her phone - thus including the artificial light of the phone - and asks the boys to help get her attention. They find a newspaper and make paper airplanes to throw at the girl in order to get her attention and everything propels from there. The office could be included at the beginning and depict the man coming from work to meet the boys. We decided this plot wouldn't work because it's too much like a short film as opposed to an opening sequence.

Family film
Two boys are waiting in their mum's office for her to finish work. They're obviously bored and their mum is paying no attention to them. They find a newspaper on her desk and begin to make paper airplanes with it and throw it at their mum, but they stop when she scolds them. They constantly try to get her attention but she doesn't give it to them. They take their mum's potted plant and wipe the soil all over her office without her noticing. We didn't like this idea as it wasn't exciting enough to be engaging for the audience.

Another idea we came up with was two boys getting scolded in the principal's office for making a mess (hence the muddy hands). This idea wasn't in depth enough and we decided it wasn't very original or exciting.

Horror
The last idea we came up with was a man being in an office on his computer (artificial light), he then packs up to go home. Before he leaves the office, he picks up a newspaper that reads 'Two Boys Murdered' and throws it in the bin. The man goes to leave the office and tension begins to build before it become overwhelming with suspense due to tense music. At this point a man is going down the elevator, and the music cuts out when the music cuts out, making it anticlimactic. The elevator doors open revealing an empty corridor. The man leaves the building and when he gets outside he sees a child crying. The other child is then joined by his twin, who has a twisted smile on his face. The man asks if they're alright, but then he looks behind them (what's behind them isn't revealed) and looks frightened before starting to run away. The opening finishes with the man being dragged off. This idea was a little too chaotic - too much happened in the two minutes. However, we based our final idea on this.

We made a development to the previous concept: instead of the man being dragged off at the end, the children are instead introduced in the office. When the man goes to do things in his office, i.e. putting something away in a cupboard etc. the audience is made jump by the boys who appear suddenly behind him. The man doesn't see them, but he is clearly paranoid and can sense their presence, thus making it obvious to the audience that they are ghosts. This idea was a little too short and vague, the footage wouldn't have lasted 2 minutes.

Casting
In terms of casting the boys, it was extremely difficult to think of someone around that age who would be willing to perform in it.

My first idea to play one of the boys was my friend's 13 year old brother, who aspires to be an actor. Even though he doesn't fit the age of a 7-11 year old, he looks and sounds very young so therefore could act as a younger child. I questioned him if he was willing to be in it, and at first he was very eager. That was until I informed him that it is a horror and involves fake blood. He then refused as he is rather squeamish. He would have been an inconvenient choice anyway, as he lives 30 minutes away from where we would have filmed.

Our next idea was to use one of our group members 12/13 year old brother and his friend. They're only slightly out of the age bracket however they look much older than they actually are therefore wouldn't be an appropriate choice for the role

Our third idea regarding the boys casting was to use one of the group member's two cousins. They were both an appropriate age for casting and were convenient to use as they live in Wymondham, where we intended to film. Our group member messaged her aunt to ask for permission to use the boys in the piece and if they were willing to act. What she said is depicted in the picture below.

In terms of casting the adult male in the project, we had two ideas. The first was the person I had used in my previous project, as he was available and willing. The disadvantage of using him is that he would look too young to be working in the office, and make the film opening a little hard to believe. We could work around this by applying makeup to his face to make him look older, however when we attempted this in my previous project, it didn't show up well on camera. We would have to use very define lines on his face to have visible wrinkles, but there is a risk to this in the way that it could look fake and unbelievable. Another disadvantage to using him would be that the boys cast may feel uncomfortable acting with a stranger, so it would have been more convenient to use someone who is acquainted with the boys. Moreover, he lives 30 minutes away from the intended filming location, and would require travelling to be there.

The second choice we had was to use our group member's dad. This would mean the boys would be more comfortable acting in it as they are related to him and therefore know him well enough to be able to perform well. He was more than willing to help, and he was a convenient choice because he lives in an appropriate proximity of the filming location and therefore wouldn't have to travel far. He also looks an appropriate age to be working in an office, therefore was a believable choice.



Locations
Thinking of a location to film the office scenes in proved quite difficult, as we had no clue as to where we would obtain an office from. Our group member's mentioned that her dad (the one performing in the project) worked in an office block and that we may be able to film in one of these. This was convenient, as her dad would probably had to have been present in order to film there, but he was acting in the project so it wouldn't have mattered anyway. Moreover, an office block was the kind of office we had in mind when we were imagining our opening sequence and therefore would fit our image well. As we would have been present with the person who works in the office, we would have felt more comfortable filming there as its not an unfamiliar place to all of us. It would have had to be filmed in Norwich, which is 50 minutes away from me and would have been inconvenient to carry a tripod and camera on a bus to Norwich.

We did, however, had to come up with a back up location on the chance that the office was restricted from use. This was one of the school offices, which we would have had to film when we got back from half-term. This would have been inconvenient because it allowed less time to edit between filming and the deadline, but we had no choice to opt for this backup because there were little options. Moreover, we would have had to have gained permission from the school to allow our actors onto the premises, plus people may be working in the offices and therefore render it out of bounds. This would be a convenient location in terms of travel though, as we're all generally based around the school - obviously.

The last office location suggested was our group member's home office. This was our final backup plan as it didn't look professional enough to be assumed as a workplace environment on camera. Although, we could assemble a set up involving workplace themed props etc. to make it look more office looking.

As for the outside scenes, we instantly thought of using the Riverside car park in Norwich, which also featured an elevator appropriate for the elevator scene planned. This would have been awkward however because it would contain lots of people, as its a particularly busy area, who want to get past and therefore be in the footage, it also would be inconvenient for anyone who wishes to use the elevator.

Props
The prop we required for the film opening was a newspaper. There were many ways this could have been featured, for example one of the characters could have been briefly reading it and it would be an insignificant feature in the film. We decided to use this prop as a plot device by hinting to the audience as to who the two boys featured are at the end - the ghosts of the newspaper featured characters (Two Boys Murdered). This would therefore give a subtle hint to the audience, as well as actually play a role in the film as opposed to being a pointless feature. In order to create this custom newspaper, we decided to design a front page cover to the newspaper and then fold the front cover over a genuine newspaper to add depth and make it realistic as a newspaper.

Lighting
For the natural lighting, we just planned to film outside during the daytime. This will be neutral lighting which allows more variation in post production where we can create our own desired filter instead of adjusting it on set. As for the artificial, this light would come from inside, including the office ceiling lights as well as the glow of the computer screen. We decided that we don't want any lighting to be too intense, as we wanted to create an effect to suit the theme in post production on After Effects.

Filming Schedule
We checked with the actors and each other to come to the decision of filming on Monday 24th October, as this is the most convenient time. This is because some people have to travel to Wymondham via public transport, and the weekday public transport is much more flexible. Everybody was available this day. We're filming during the afternoon so we have plenty of time before it gets too dark to achieve non-grainy, visible footage. Moreover, filming in the morning was too early for the group members who had to travel, as they'd have to get up unnecessarily early.

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: