How was meaning created in our film

For this unit Josh, Jacob and I decided that we wanted to create a short thriller film something which I feel we have achieved through our use of different camera work and editing techniques.
Firstly we decided to include several shots which will establish different locations such as ones which will show the windowsills of Both the main characters which make use of different lighting to establish which is the protagonist and which is the antagonist.

As well as this we will use the middle of a windowsill in the daytime in order to establish which of the characters is the protagonist and which is the antagonist. We will do this by showing the name of the actor playing the protagonist on the light piece of the windowsill in front of the window whereas the antagonist (Bad guys) name will be in the dark, shaded part of the shot. This will create contrast between the two characters which will be exemplified by other shots which will contrast them such as shots of them putting on their shoes. The antagonist Aaron will put on trainers that look cheap and old/ worn out which will establish the financial trouble that are meant to be obvious from the opening line of the script "There's nothing to eat in this house." In contrast to this the actor playing Joe's societal privilege will be shown through the establishment of the expensive jacket and shoes that he will put on a the end of the planned opening crosscutting sequence.

Throughout the film danger will be established throughout the film through the ironic use of overly happy music such as "Daydream", a feel good song from the 1960s which will be used for the opening crosscutting sequence as well as "Tighten Up" an upbeat modern indie rock song which will be used at the end of the film (the kidnapping scene)

The final piece of meaning will be created through the use of lighting in our film. The shots of our antagonists will be filmed with cold blue an white light. In strong contrast to this the shots of our protagonists will be filmed using warm orange light. This will show the audience who they should support because of the contrast.

Storyboard

Storyboard:

This is the storyboard for our short film. It features the dialogue, shot type and whether it is an interior and exterior shot. It also mentions whether it features digetic sound e.g. footsteps or non diegetic sounds e.g. music.

The storyboard will differ from the actual film in some shots, however, it is a basic outline of the story and how most of the shots will look.

Risk assessments

Production schedules

mindmap

sourcing actors

Actor sourcing. 

Near the beginning of this project I set up a listing on a website called "Star Now" calling for actors to play the parts of "Aaron", "Andrew", "Wayne" and most importantly "Christopher." Below I have put all of the applications that we received.

   

As well as this the website allow people to state that they are interested in the roles but don't match all of the specifications. Below I have attached all of this type of applicants. 

We contacted all of the people who applied for our film and we thought would be suitable for their chosen role. We heard back from three and confirmed two for an interview while another sent us a video audition. 

Below I have embedded one of the interviews we held in collage and the video audition.

Casting the correct actors is absolutely vital for a product of the nature of which we are creating as that the wrong actor may not have the appropriate characteristics to portray a character as serious as the ones we plan to have in our film. I feel like the casting process that we made our actors go through meant that only the people appropriate for the roles will be able to be in the film. 

Afterword:

When our first filming date came around the actor James Barlett (shown in his video interview) said that he would be unable to attend the meeting as that a member of his family had passed away. As a contingency we had Joshua Gray (another member of the team) play the role of Andrew. Had we gotten more notice before Barlett pulled out we could have sourced another using starnow but unfortunatly he told us on the day which meant we had to use Joshua. Simmerlaly the role of Aaron had to be filled by Matthew Frost as that Michal Houghton was not able to make it and again told us on the day in which we were supposed to be filming.

Risk assessment

Location Recces (blank and completed)

Below I have inserted the location Recces that we will use to plan our filming. This document is important as that it shows the entire group working on the production of the film what equipment they will need to have ready for each scene. It will be given to all of the members of the production team so it must be clear and easy to understand.

Below I have inserted completed recce forms that I filled out while we were doing our filming.
The completed recces for all four of our filming locations cn be found below:

Completing Recce forms is of great importance when creating a film such as ours as that it clearly tells the people who will be working on the set about any potential issues they may encounter during filming. As well as the risk assessments for the creation of each scene and release and consent agreements for the actors to sign these documents were brought with us wherever we were filming in order to ensure a safe and professional working environment during production of the white room. 

Call Sheets

 These are the call sheets which were prepared while we were filming the white room.

Location scouting session

On the ninth of October 2017 Josh and I went location scouting for places where we could potentially film our short film. There are several places which are quintessential for forwarding the plot of our film and therefore it was very important for us to get several ideas for each.

Below I have included some of the photos taken while we were location scouting as well as the advantages and disadvantages of each location in terms of both practicality and safety, i will show where they are geographically.
After this I will include a conclusion which will show which of the locations is logically the best to use for our filming


 Proposed Location one:

 Proposed Location two:

 Proposed Location three:







































Conclusion.

It would seem that the three areas that we have selected are all suitable for the purpose of filming however they all present their own issues which would have to be resolved somehow during the filming process. Firstly using the Crystal Peak Shopping Centre would mean a very long commute for two out of the three members of our group as well as this the process of filming there would probably mean that we need to gain permissions from the locations owner or a Senior ember of staff which ,if even possible, would take a long time to obtain. Both of these issues coupled with the fact that the are itself contains a lot of people mans that we would have to spend much more time planning to film there would take up much more of our time than we could actually spend filming there.
Secondly the location behind west street is quite difficult to film in as that it may be difficult to give it the feel that we need it to (that being a dark, dangerous alleyway) however it is not too far away from any of us in terms of commute time and we would not need to gain permissions from anyone before filming can occur.
Lastly the location of the Streets leading of of Matilda street seem to be far too small for the purposes of our project but does portray the feeling of our short film very well as that it is a small back alley.

After some consideration with the other members of my group we have decided that the ideal place for the scenes that take place outside would be the streets directly behind west street.


After thought (Wednesday the 25th of October 2017 and Wednesday the 22nd of November 2017 )

While these three locations were all relevant to the production of our short film we also needed to have two houses (for the opening crosscutting sequence) as well as a cafe for the scene where two friends are meeting before the chase scene. We have tried to find these locations through personal contacts (which means we will likely use our own homes.)
Firstly the house of our protagonist will likely be the home of one of the main team responsible for the films production. Cafe Creme in Penistone, Barnsley will be the location for the meeting scene.

I have included photographs of all of these locations below:


Cafe Creme

This is the location we will use to film the exchange between Christopher and Andrew shortly before the kidnapping scene. We chose this location as that It will be available to film in for long periods of time so that we can make sure that the film is well shot as that this conversation is to have a lot of emotional depth. Images of the cafe are below: