Pre Production documentation

Synopsis of film

Our film is based around the concept of an investigation following a man who’s known to a series of kidnappings that have hit the news recently. The plot will cover a group of investigators trying to discover the criminal through numerous traces of evidence and forensics. With the film being introduced in the opening sequence with personal footage from the kidnapper, discovered by police, they are trying to track down the kidnapper- name known, through the use of numerous investigations and suspect interviews. Bodies of young girls and teenagers are found throughout the film; however the murder still remains unfound.

Synopsis of opening sequence

There is footage from a handheld camera that follows two school girls out of the school gates and follows them. It cuts from different footage of the girls. The girls say goodbye to each other just outside of the school and it carrys on to follow one of the girls down the road, it shows the girl walking down the road and the camera is behind bushes and while the footage is showing there is a news report voice over the top and informing what has happened saying that a school has been kidnapped.

The Script

Voice Over: On the 12th of October, a teenage school girls went missing. At approximately 3.30pm, two 16 year old girls, both of which dressed in black school skirts and maroon blazers, were last seen walking outside of Kings Langley School gates. With a strong lead from a local neighbour, we are under the impression that the suspect is a middle aged man of medium build and around 5 foot 11 in height. The man dressed in dark clothing was seen wondering around Love Lane- the road on which Kings Langley School is situated on, looking suspicious with a video camera in his hands. When confronted by the neighbour whose name we are guarding for security reasons, the white male with dark “scruffy” hair dismissed our witness, explaining he was a health and safety investigator who was observing the wellbeing of the school.

With a recent rise in the number of school girls going missing in the Hertfordshire area, the police are urging any witnesses to step forward and share any information you may have. The growing concern over the number of girls being abducted is something that the community needs to be aware of. Bodies are being discovered weekly, within local woods, canals and back streets. Evidence suggests the murderer may have a mental condition, and health records show a patient from the surrounding area, matching the suspect’s description. This mental patient also withholds previous convictions of which we cannot discuss for legal reasons, however, let it be known to all that if you are under any suspicion or feel under threat, call your local police station as soon as possible. This kidnapper is out there, and although the murders may not be linked, it is important for him to be found before further peoples’ lives are put to risk. This home footage was sent to the Hertfordshire police station, showing the girls matching her description.

Crew List

Film Maker: George Cambridge

Director: George Cambridge


Actress One: Lauren Phillips


Actress Two: Charley Britton

Editors: George Cambridge, Lauren Phillips and Charley Britton

Costume Designers: Lauren Phillips and Charley Britton

Individual Pre production report

Final decisions were put into place through the pre production stage.  Following a met with the head of media, we realised that the synopsis of the film as a whole was vague and we all had our own interpretations of it.  The group met together to discuss the final plot and  to divide the tasks equally between the four of us.  We discussed the approriate location of where we would film and decided on the area of our own school as not only would it be easily accessable, it also fits in with our plot perfectly.

Technical detail

· To start off the shooting we will have a long shot of both CHARLEY and LAUREN walking out of the school gates. The camera will be positioned on the opposite side of the road diagonally facing CHARLEY and LAUREN.


· The next shot will go back about 10yards and show CHARLEY and LAUREN furtherly walking towards the opposite side of the road. The camera will track their movement across the road and stop when they do.


· CHARLEY and LAUREN then split and go down different routes. The camera will follow LAUREN for a short amount of time establishing where she goes and then show CHARLEY heading off in another direction.


· The camera will then track CHARLEY from a distance following her movement. The camera will do this a couple of times getting closer with every shooting.


· As the camera reaches CHARLEY we will have a close up of her head turning round and screaming.


The location this will be shot in is outside the school gates we will take the footage when there are a decent amount of people walking out of the gates so it seems like it is the end of the school day. The lighting will all be natural due to the footage being taken outside. There will be no external lighting used. The camera movement will be handheld.

Shooting Scedual

 
 
 
 
 
 
The shooting scedual shows what date we filming, how the shots are going to be grouped together and the location and members of the group needed.

Treatment

Shot List

Storyboard

We did produce a storyboard, however unforchantely we did not scan the document before taking it out to the filming and therefore got lost by one memeber.  This particular member agreed to produce a second story board as a result of loosing it, and promised that it would be done by the deadline.  Unforchantely, this deadline was not met.

Focus Group

Focus Group


We took four people out of our target audience, 2 of each gender and a slight variety in age, described our opening sequence to them and recorded their feedback, the clip above shows me asking questions regarding our choosen genre, audience expectations and what they would expect to see if the opening sequence continued to a entire film, and most importantly we asked whether the plot captivates them, and if they would feel inclined after viewing the sequence, to watch the entire film.

Folowing these findings, the group met to discuss what what said during the focus group.

History Of My Chosen Genre

History of Mystery Drama films

Popular genre of fiction today us mystery, traced back to Ancient Greece, Mystery and Crime first came around in playwrightsn such as Sophocles and Euripides which plays combinded both mystery and drama.
ystery and crime stories are among the most popular forms of fiction today, and the popularity of the genre is no mystery to millions of readers worldwide.




There are many sub genres within this one genre, including Crime Fiction which deals with crime based storylines.  Crime fiction was extreamly popular in the 1900, and was seen as the only serious genre around.   Crime fiction novels and Motion Picture complemented each other well, catering the need of the average audience need for escapism into an idealist world, in which the "good guys" recieve rewards and are superior to the "baddies" who result in punnishment.  Adaptations of crime fiction novels over the years into movies have been hugely successful.

With general cateogry Crime Film, Mystery Film comes under it as a sub-genre. Focusing on the detective and investigating side,  Mystery Film presents plots around a crime scene and exploring the outcome.

The classic period of 1930's saw silent Charlie Chan films, acting as a detectiveb solving crimes. The popular genre continues today, with classic films produced such as The usual Suspects (1995), Se7en (1995), The Generals Daughter (1999), and many more.

Title Timeline

Se7en Opening Sequence
Upon analysing Se7ens opening sequence, i found that in order to remain with the films genre of a drama mystery, based around a investigation, the title sequence witheld depth behind the mystery.  The title sequence was cut at a fast pace, using a variety of extreame close ups of objects and evidence, while the character remained unknown to the audience; creating a sense of mystery right from the start.  The production company was listed early on in the title sequence, just three secounds in.  New Line Cinema appeared on screen in white typography, eight seconds in reversed style typography in the same font and colour listed the producers name.  The titles of producersm costume designers, music writers, etc all appear one by one gradually through the sequence.  
The auditory code of dramatic music is played from beggining to end, with sound effects of a female screaming is also layered into the opening sequence.

By watching and analysing, I have discovered that is it important to influence the genre of the film from right at the beggining of the opening sequence through the choice of auditory codes, shot sizes, typography, camera movement aswell as the plot included.

Group Meeting

The Discussion

Lauren: From looking at the research we conducted, Rom-Coms, Dramas and mysteries come out on top.



Charley: I think we should do a drama with a twist of mystery, as I think comedies will be too difficult for the timing we have, and are also hard to appeal to a large audience as humours vary.


Ben: I agree, I think it would be a good idea to shot a mystery drama with a variety of clever shot sizes.


George: Yeah these are all good ideas, I think we should consider basing the plot around a kidnapping of some sort in order to match our genre.


Lauren: Yes, that’s a good idea George. We should try and film something that will not only grip viewers through interest, but also to teach people the importance of staying safe while outside of home.


Charley: We could have a kidnapping of school children? I think using a hand held camera would look really affective on a mystery drama like this one.


George: Yes, we could shot school pupils leaving at the end of the day, perhaps Charley and Lauren could act as the girls that are going to be abducted.


Ben: These are great ideas! By using the school as a focus point on location, the filming will be quite easy for us. We should use a interesting effect on the camera to generate the right tone and impression of the overall genre of our opening sequence.


Lauren: Another idea we could discuss is if we are using a hand held camera, we could have the kidnapper as the narrator in the way that what the viewers see is through his eyes, in order for the audience to feel included.


Charley: We could do a ‘double take’ from the crowds of school children, back to Lauren and me, as when the kidnapper realises we are the ones he is after.


Ben: Yes, the variety of shot sizes and fast pace editing between shots will generate the excitement.


George: We should also use creative typography on our titles to link to the genre of the opening sequence. We also need to consider the music we are going to use, it must have a sense of mystery and drama to it.

Futher look at opening sequences

Upon analysing different opening sequences, i have noticed a number of things. All of which I have watched have included titles, the number varying however. The typography used also varied, with the majority using quite a simple style of font. An example of this is 'To Kill a Mocking Bird', http://www.artofthetitle.com/2008/09/10/to-kill-a-mockingbird/. Se7en’s title sequence uses a hand written style of typography which links well with the story line. I think that this was a clever decision made by Se7en’s title sequence designer as it gave the right impression to the audience of what to expect within the film. I feel it is an important factor to consider as it can reflect the tone that you are trying to portray the film as being.






Films such as ‘Casino Royale’ used colourful graphics within its opening titles, http://www.artofthetitle.com/2008/01/14/casino-royale/. I understand that they was trying to illustrate the genre of the film in a different way, by outlining what props were to be expected, i.e. guns. However I am not sure if I think it worked as well as they perhaps thought. There are no graphics like this within the movie, so I think it may have created the wrong expectations to the audience of the film.




Romantic comedy ‘Juno’ used cartoon style graphics to open the film. Despite looking good and working reasonably well, I am still not sure why the designers choose to do this. Again, there are no other traces of cartoon within the film, it is a ‘rom com’ and for this reason I am not sure why this idea was used. On the other hand, the film is about a teenage girl, so the cartoon opening of her could reflect the girls personality- perhaps she enjoys cartoons.

From watching past students opening titles, I have discovered that very few of them use interesting typography, one in which would link to the genre- alike Kyle Cooper pointed out as important in his interviews. I also noticed that overall, many past student decided to situate the titles of directors, producers, etc, at the bottom of the screen. Although the names should not over take the sequence, I think more recognition could be made as often they are in very small size font. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4t_ygjLLVUQ&feature=BF&list=PLD6D3ADD7107903DC&index=2 This production crafted by students from Cherwell School positions the titles at the bottom of the screen in small, simple typography. Despite this, overall, I really enjoyed the opening sequence. I think the decision they made to use a black and white camera created the right type of atmosphere for the audience. The auditory code of the intense music played throughout also anchored with the setting, choice of camera angles and story line featured in order to appeal to its hybrid audience. The only other choice this group choose that I would argue against is the cross dissolve fading to a black screen on the last shot, in which “To be continued…” appears on screen. This is a opening sequence to a film, therefore this was not necessary.







I enjoyed watching http://www.youtube.com/watch_popup?v=YSu5rfqfSPI&vq=medium as I think the music used linked well with the genre and the overall tone that the producers where trying to portray.

Research into Opening Sequence Designs

Kyle Cooper's interviews

The two part interview with acclaimed title designer, art director and film maker Kyle Cooper, taught me what is important to consider when creating an opening sequence for a film. Kyle Cooper has had great success, producing title sequences for the spider man movies, Superman, and many others. During the interview, he discussed the importance of dub tailing seamlessly from the opening sequence, into the film. He also said that the sequence must create a expectation of the film itself, a tool to try and integrate is to use the type in order to create the overall tone of the film that you are trying to generate. Typography should link to the genre of story that you are trying to tell, try and use clever puns when you can-this will interest the viewer. Be influential in your title sequence, Kyle Cooper advised, as it can help pursue the viewers ambitions. Remember the importance, significance of your sequence and remember the different range of viewers.



Another piece of advice granted by this title designer is to not feel that you have to rely on using CGI. Investigate and see what you hand make-money and time can can be saved while creating just as clever images. I learnt of Cooper’s favourite sequences are those that encapsulate the characters obsessions, a example of this was ‘To Kill a Mocking Bird’. Typography came up as a important issue again, along with the music. Typography used should be integrated rather than appearing to be a after thought, when including it, always consider the shot in the background which will influence the positioning and movement of the text.


Finally, I learnt that you should use the time granted within the title sequence to advance the plot of the film. Tell a backing story which will overall manipulate the viewers viewing as a whole.


The findings of these interviews will influence my group with our production of a opening sequence. The production will be influenced as we will consider every aspect Kyle Cooper discussed, such as the importance of typography and the way it is displayed, to try and engage the audience by integrating characters obsessions so early on.