Risk Assessment

Rough Storyboards - 1st Draft

Rough Storyboards - 2nd Draft

Preliminary Storyboards

Dora Hayes-Hollands - Questionnaire

Dora Hayes - Hollands, 15

Do you have any interests/hobbies, if so what are they?

I like singing and history, I have also taken an interest in drama.

How would you describe your personality?

Funny, hard working and enjoyable to be around.

What are your consumer habits (what do you spend your money on and why) ?

I like to spend money on clothes, I also like spending my money on art materials because I like art.

What media platforms do you use and how much time do you spend on them?

I use snap chat, Instagram, whatsapp and youtube. My favourite form of social media is snap chat because you can see what people are up to and I also like youtube because I like watching decor videos and gaming videos. I hardly spend time on instagram and whatsapp.

What would you expect to see in the first few minutes of a crime/mystery film?

I would expect a murder to be committed and the killer running away, hiding the murder weapon in the process, it would then skip to the body being found and the detective examining the body.

Georgia Nixon - Questionnaire

Georgia Nixon, 17

1. Do you have any interests/hobbies, if so what are they?

Watching Tv, singing and clothes shopping.

2. How would you describe your personality?

Chilled, relaxed and funny.

3. What are your consumer habits (what do you spend your money on and why) ?

I spend money on clothes, food, shoes and make-up.

4. What media platforms do you use and how much time do you spend on them?

I watch about four hours of TV a day, I spend around five hours on my phone going on social media for example, snap chat, Facebook and instagram and an hour a day on the computer.

5. What would you expect to see in the first few minutes of a crime/mystery film?

A back story of the Detective or the criminal. Or show the crime being committed. 

Rough Sketches Costume

For our female protagonist (Raven Hearst) we want her to appear very professional and well put together so we are planning to dress her in black suit trousers, a black t-shirt, a blazer and black high heels. For example:

For Detective Berkhearts costume we wanted to dress him in all black in order to represent him as a tough male character with an aggressive nature - We want the clothes to be black as this creates mystery around the character.

Location Research

This was a location that we filmed the Raven Hearst scene in originally, but then when we changed our mind about the narrative, it became easier to film it in the living room of the house that we used for Detective Berkhart's scene as well. 

We also felt that it would be more interesting to film outside of school. Some of our shots did not make sense and the location just ended up not being what we wanted.

The alcove was where the                                                 These were the steps that Raven 

dead body                                                                          Hearst walked down to get away                                        

was placed.                                                                        from the crime scene.                                                                     

                 

                                                                                                    

Ideas for Sound Design

We wanted our film to create a very eerie, suspenseful atmosphere - to do this I wanted the sound to be out of the ordinary for example, not a British song. Bea found a range of different choices on youtube to create this atmosphere. 

For example:

We also decided that we wanted a sound track that would build up suspense and create a very tense atmosphere to presentthe films a crime/mystery. For example:


Overall, Bea decided to go with ricky Nelson Lonesome town, as she believe it created a very uncomfortable atmosphere, the song has a low tempo which fits with the Detectives morning routine as, he is clearly tired and has little to no energy. I also agreed with her.

Audience Profile

Our target audience for my film ranges from teenagers to adults, who enjoy gritty dramas that include violence. Our film, however, is different to conventional dramas as gender and authoritative roles are being challenged - with the detective being violent and aggressive and the criminal being a vicious, autonomous female. My film is exciting and climatic, it will capture the audiences attention with the mystery behind the two main characters past with each other, both of these characters have a violent nature yet, they each chose different paths, different ways to use their violence to their advantage. My audience will enjoy the fact the detective doesn't fall into the norm of how they are usually presented, instead he challenges this traditional opinion by using more aggressive, threatening tactics to deal with his suspects. My female audience will admire the protagonist as, she is not represented as the 'damsel in distress' like most dramas do nowadays, instead she is the trouble maker - she is able to stand up for herself, she doesn't depend on anyone else but herself and she manages to have control over every situation, always being one step ahead, she is an impressive, empowering, thrilling character, my audience - especially the women - will create a fond admiration for her.

Rough Sketches of Set

For the set of Black Widow we want it to be set in a house, with a large kitchen. We will make the kitchen appear quite empty to present that our character (Detective Berkhart) lives alone. The main props we need for this set is a kettle, a mug, a filter, coffee, a spoon, sugar and a phone, along with the use of the kitchen. 

For Ravens Heart's scenes we would like for it to be set in a large living room, with a grande mirror and a mantle piece. We would also like a small box for Raven to pick up - this is to create mystery, for example:

Final Draft of Opening Scene: Black Widow

Detective Berkheart has just woken up, he goes downstairs to his kitchen to make a coffee. The camera cuts to Raven, she walks across the room and steps over a dead body, Raven brings out her phone and dials, the number is titled 'Detective'. The camera cuts back to Berkheart, he is sitting at his kitchen table, stirring his coffee, his phone begins to ring, he picks it up. The camera cuts back to Raven she is on the phone, she says: "It's taken care of ... I'll see you in five" Raven puts the phone down, picks up her blazer and walks over to the mantle piece and picks up a small blue box, she walks back around the body and out of the room.

Sound: diagetic

Sound: non-diagetic

Mise-En-Scene: Lighting

Lighting:

We used natural light as well as assistance from the main lighting system in the house.

We will then edit on Final Cut Pro to make shots lighter or darker, warmer or colder and so on when we have filmed. 

Generally we want to aim to have most shots with Raven Hearst in to be lower key than shots of Detective Berkhart to show her as a dangerous character. We also want her shots to be colder and his to be warmer. 

These differences in lighting and colour grading should hopefully make it easier for the audience to differentiate between Berkhart's morning routine and Hearst's morning. 

Mise-En-Scene: Make-up

Our make-up artist and stylist was Bea, she did an excellent job with my make-up and choosing costumes for both me and Ollie.

These were the products we used for makeup:

And this was Raven Hearst's hair style: 

Mise-En-Scene: Props

Props:

The most important prop in our opening scene is this small blue necklace box. I provided it and the necklace inside, we decided to use it because the blue stood out, and so the audience could easily identify it. We also wanted to add the stealing of the jewellery box because it made the audience want to know what was going to happen next.

This necklace was inside the small blue box (shown above) that was taken by Raven Hearst from the mantlepiece.

2nd Draft - Titles

Seven's titles; this film is a psychological thriller - i liked the way that while showing the titles they showed someone doing something suspicious, sometimes the titles appeared over this or they appeared in front of a black screen then continued showing the movement afterwards.

I think this would be interesting to have in my film because it will help to give a greater sense of mystery.

Titles (Final)

Titles

I like the titles used in Alfred Hitchcock's film 'Vertigo', these titles inspired my titling as the film is a thriller - which is a similar genre to my film as my film is a crime/mystery, it was directed and produced by Alfred Hitchcock who usually makes films that psychologically thrill the audiences. 

I have used the same idea in my film because I find it very interesting how the titles have been placed over the actors faces and how the colours are very simple but at the same time very dark in meaning. 

Complete Production Schedule: Monday Evening

On Monday the 21st of March we were filming Raven Hearst's scenes. On set we needed our actress Georgia Davidson (myself) to play Raven, actor Cameron Davidson to play the dead body and Be a for the filming, directing and styling.

16:00 - Crew, actress and actor arrive on set.
16:10 - begin hair and make-up and get Georgia into her costume for Raven. Georgia will be put into black suit trousers, a black halter neck, black wedges and a black and white blazer. The stylist will curl Georgia's hair and do her make-up, her make-up is to be natural looking.
16:50 - Hair. make-up and costume is done. Begin filming.
18:00 - Break for food and drink. Food and drink will be provided on set.
18:30 - Continue filming.
19:30 - Finish filming.

Complete Production Schedule: Saturday

This schedule is for the filming we did on Saturday, the 19th of March. On this day we were filming Detective Berkhearts scenes. On set we needed Bea and myself for the filming, producing, directing and styling, we needed our male actor Ollie Geraghty to play Detective Berkheart.

12:00 - Camera woman, producer. director and stylists arrive on set. Start to design the set and get the equipment ready.
12:50 - pick up Ollie from Herne Hill station.
13:00 - Actors arrive on set, Start hair, make-up and costume as soon as they arrive.
13:50 - Hair, make-up and costume to be finished. Detective Berkhearts costume is a black short sleeve t-shirt, black jeans and socks.
14:00 - begin filming.
15:00 - Break for lunch. Food and drinks will be provided.
16:00 - Begin filming.
19:00 - finish filming. 

2nd Draft Script

Script:

Set in the detective Burkheart's house - tracking shot of the detectives feet walking down the stairs into his kitchen - he walks through kitchen and begins to make himself a coffee.

Camera cuts to another scene of Raven walking over the legs of a dead body, she turns and looks at the body

Cuts back to the Detective, he is now drinking his coffee and sitting down.

Cuts back to raven, she walks over to her bag and gets out her phone - she dials, camera focuses on phone and we see the name 'Detective' - she calls and puts the phone to her ear.

Detective scene, his phone begins to ring, camera focuses on the phone we see 'R' appear as the calling name. We see his hand reach for it ... he picks it up and walks to the window.

Cuts back to Raven, she is also looking out the window, close up of her face while she is on the phone. There is dialogue:

Raven: "It's taken care of ... I'll see you in five"

1st Draft Script

Script:

Detective Berkheart walks down the stairs, camera is tracking him. He is pouring filtered coffee into a mug. Close up shot of Berkheart drinking cup of coffee.
Berkheart puts down cup of coffee on the counter in the kitchen.
Berkheart picks up a ring from a small bowl in the kitchen, he puts it on his finger.

Flashback:

A fight scene between two men, both dressed in black and are wearing hoods so you cannot see their faces. One man gets thrown to the floor, his hood comes off, close up shot of the mans face - it is the detective. Long shot shows the detective get up, fight continues between the two men, the Detective holds the other man to the ground, punches him in the face, turns him over and puts handcuffs on him, we see the Detectives ring.

Back to present day:

Raven Hearst is walking away from a dead body, medium tracking shot of her feet. Raven brings out her phone and dials a number, close up shot of her phone, the number is titled 'Detective' she holds the phone up to her ear.

Raven: "I've taken care of it, you may want to bring some one to tidy up the … mess [pauses waiting for the other person to reply] I'll see you in five"

End of scene.

Eleonore Jones - Questionnaire

Eleonore Jones, 17

1. Do you have any interests/hobbies, if so what are they?

Singing, drawing, and just all sorts of art and dancing. 

2. How would you define your personality?

My personality is quite simple, I'm kind, as understanding as I can be, generous, sensitive and well-organised work wise but messy at home. 

3. What are your consumer habits (what you spend your money on and why)?

Usually I spend money on what I really need such as day-to-day necessities. I do occasionally buy online or go shopping for clothes or jewellery I'd say once every 2 months and I also occasionally go gift shopping for friends and family. I choose not to spend too much money weekly so that I can save for the future.

4. What media platforms do you use and how much time do you spend on them?

I use snapchat, Instagram and Facebook daily, about an hour each. 

5. What would you expect to see in the first few minutes of a crime-mystery film?

In the first few minutes of a crime-mystery film I would perhaps expect to see the crime itself but not showing us who committed the crime. 

Mimi Stokes-Munton - Questionaire

Mimi Stokes-Munton, 18

1. Do you have any interests/hobbies, if so what are they?

Baking and looking after animals.

2. How would you define your personality?

N/A

3. What are your consumer habits (what you spend your money on and why)?

Clothes, makeup or lush as it makes me feel good about myself.

4. What media platforms do you use and how much time do you spend on them?

Instagram, sometimes Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat. I spend a fair bit of time on them.

5. What would you expect to see int he first few minutes of a crime-mystery film?

A murder or crime take place.

Gina Low - Questionnaire

Gina Low, 19

1. Do you have any interests/hobbies, if so what are they?

Sport (netball, running), reading, mainly fiction. Watch TV to unwind.

2. How would you define your personality?

Quiet, kind, reliable.

3. What are your consumer habits (what you spend your money on and why)?

Going out with friends for a good time, food to survive, occasionally clothes if I have the any spare money at the end of the month

4. What media platforms do you use and how much time do you spend on them?

Catch up. Not really in during the day so will catch up in the evening when I’m cooking/ before bed.

5. What would you expect to see in the first few minutes of a crime-mystery film?

The crime committed/ the ending then rewinds to the start. Sometimes some text to describe the background info of the film.

Draft Opening Scene

Black Widow

We show a young man doing his morning routine so, getting dressed, eating breakfast, we also see while he is getting dressed, scars on his stomach - to represent he has had an interesting past, intriguing the viewers.
It then goes to a flashback of our police officer dressed in dark clothing, having a fight. It then goes back to present time, he puts on his t-shirt and we can no longer see the scars.

The camera cuts to a lady next to a dead body, she is clearly searching for something as she is destroying the room for example, pulling all the stuff out of the draws and shelves - she finally finds what she is looking for, she puts it in her briefcase and takes out her phone, she calls our police officer - there is dialogue, she hangs up, smiles and then walks away.

Detailed Textual Analysis

Gone Girl  

Our film is to be a Crime-Mystery so for my Detailed Textual Analysis I chose to analyse Gone Girl. I chose this movie because it portrays a similar female character to that which I will be playing in our film - Amy Dunn (Gone Girl) to Raven Hearst. Both of these female protagonists are psychotic murderers. I am going to analyse the use of Camera Work, Appearance and Lighting. 

                      Camera Work

Amy Dunn - Gone Girls psychopath was generally framed within a close up shot which enables the audience to view her facial expressions. 

However when she is doing something physically she is framed within a medium shot so that the action is included but also still at a distance that her serene facial expressions can be seen to be unchanged despite what she is doing. 

At one point, when committing a murder a high angle shot is used (as shown below). This makes the audience feel as though they are on top of her, it may even make them feel like they are present whilst it is going on. This can relate to the psychotic nature of her character to deceive others minds, just like the camera is doing with the audience. 

Appearance 

(Hair, Make-up and Costume)

The close up shots of Amy Dunn allow the audience to clearly observe how set her complexion always is. Her hair is always neat and make-up is always simple but effective in making her seem mysterious. 

Throughout the movie she does not let her facial expressions slip to give away that she is in fact a psychotic murderer.  

Lighting

The lighting shown in the above images is generally low key which adds to the darkness of her character. There is also an interesting use of shadows on her face, where one side is in the light and where one is in shadow. This creates an eerie effect hinting that she could in fact have two faces, one in the light - her composed outer face, and one in the dark - her psychotic inward face. 

Research into media institutions

Revolver Entertainment, Verve Pictures and Vertigo films and the three media institutions that I have researched because they produce similar films to the one I have been working on, so they would be likely to produce mine.

REVOLVER ENTERTAINMENT.

Based in Los Angeles, they distribute independently produced films for DVD, TV, Theatres and VOD. 

Some examples of their films are:

The Cloth

Electrick Children 

A Serbian Film 

Revolver Entertainment was founded in 1997 by Justin Marciano in the UK, in 2007 his brother Seb Marciano founded Revolver Entertainment US and they both still operate independently of one another. 

Revolver Entertainment uses Guerrilla Marketing as a way of communicating with its audiences (promoting their business in a different way to others, with little budget). 

VERTIGO FILMS 

Founded in 2002 by Alan Niblo and James Richardson, Vertigo Films  are a UK Distribution Company. In 2003 two partners joined, Rupert Preston and Nick Love. 

"The company’s mission is to create and distribute commercially driven independent cinema" - as quoted from their website:

http://www.vertigofilms.com/about.php#.Vwvo4cdhPzI

Some examples of their films are:

The Last Showing 

Point Blank

Wake Wood

VERVE PICTURES

Founded in 2003, is an Indépendant Films distribution company.

Some examples of their films are:

Back to the Garden

My Brother the Devil

Las Acacias